Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Archives: Environmental

Former Public Officials Indicted on Criminal Charges in Flint Water Crisis

By Stuart Kaplow on January 17, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

Michigan prosecutors last Thursday announced that 9 individuals have been indicted on a total of 42 counts related to a series of alleged actions and inactions that created the Flint water crisis. Interestingly, the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit in Genesee County appointed Judge David Newblatt to act as a one-man grand jury to … Continue Reading

COVID–19 in Buildings is all about Ventilation

By Stuart Kaplow on November 8, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Local Government

This post is about what we know today about how to occupy commercial and public buildings, from offices to schools, in order to prevent the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 (the now designation for what had been the novel coronavirus 2019). If in 1992, “it’s the economy, stupid” was the phrase coined as the message of … Continue Reading

To Make Dishwashers Great Again?

By Stuart Kaplow on November 1, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal

Last Friday the U.S. Department of Energy issued a final rule effective November 30, 2020, that will once again permit American households to purchase dishwashers that actually clean dishes, as they had done for most of the machine’s 130 year history. The October 30 final rule does not force anyone to change their currently installed … Continue Reading

HREC in a Phase l is Not a Recognized Environmental Condition

By Stuart Kaplow on October 25, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

Among the most misunderstood term in a Phase I environmental site assessment is the Historical Recognized Environmental Condition. The environmental professionals who perform these assessments by and large do not take heed of Eduardo Galeano’s quote, “History never really says goodbye. History says, ‘see you later.’” By way of background, a Phase I environmental site … Continue Reading

Supreme Court to decide Climate Change Case

By Stuart Kaplow on October 11, 2020 Posted in Climate Change, Environmental

While this week the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett begins in earnest before the Senate Judiciary Committee, last week the U.S. Supreme Court granted BP’s petition for a writ of certiorari in BP P.L.C. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, a much watched climate change case. In 2017, a number of state and … Continue Reading

Maryland becomes First State to Ban Polystyrene this Thursday

By Stuart Kaplow on September 27, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, State

During the 2019 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly enacted what will be the first statewide ban of expanded polystyrene foam. In the Spring of 2019 law makers did not foresee a pandemic that would shift restaurant dining (not to mention school meals and much more) to carry out in transportable food containers, but today … Continue Reading

Court Adopts New Evidentiary Standard for Science

By Stuart Kaplow on September 7, 2020 Posted in Environmental

In 2020 when science and politics appear to have collided in a car wreck, confidence of the public in scientists is at an all time low. That observed, the public does not often think about the role courts have in accepting scientific theories. Last week Maryland’s highest court drew attention to this vital unsettled matter … Continue Reading

I Just Read my 1000th Phase I Environmental Site Assessment this Year

By Stuart Kaplow on August 30, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

For those concerned about the state of the environmental industrial complex during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, I can report that last Friday I reviewed my 1,000th Phase I Environmental Site Assessment this year. In context, last year I did not hit that 1,000 mark until late September, and while it is an unscientific indicator, … Continue Reading

ESG Going the Way of the Dodo?

By Stuart Kaplow on August 23, 2020 Posted in Environmental, GRESB, Sustainability

Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Labor put another nail in the coffin of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) disclosures. Media sources have reported that the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the Department of Labor sent letters to a group of Registered Investment Advisors requesting detailed information within 2 weeks about their use of … Continue Reading

EPA Proposes First Greenhouse Gas Emissions Limits for Aircraft

By Stuart Kaplow on July 26, 2020 Posted in Climate Change, Environmental, Federal

Last Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for airplanes used in commercial aviation and large business jets. “This standard is the first time the U.S. has ever proposed regulating greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft,” according to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. And as much as I have railed against more and regressive environmental … Continue Reading

New Lead (Pb) in Soil Standard Now Effective in Maryland

By Stuart Kaplow on July 12, 2020 Posted in Environmental, State

The EPA has described lead as the number one environmental public health hazard in the U.S. And despite that the CDC has in the past identified childhood lead poisoning prevention since 1971 as 1 of 10 great U.S. public health achievements which has included success in reducing human exposures on average, the amount of lead … Continue Reading

A Force Majeure Decision during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Stuart Kaplow on July 5, 2020 Posted in Environmental

There has been much speculation and supposition about the interplay of force majeure provisions in leases and other contracts in response to government orders closing businesses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but now there is an authoritative court decision that may provide persuasive authority. In a motion in a Bankruptcy case the landlord … Continue Reading

Two New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19

By Stuart Kaplow on May 31, 2020 Posted in Environmental, Green Building, LEED

America is reopening including physically opening its buildings and the U.S. Green Building Council has announced that LEED will play a role in confronting risk in the post coronavirus pandemic era. Last week Mahesh Ramanujam, the President & CEO of USGBC announced in a published letter that the “second generation at USGBC will focus on … Continue Reading

COVID 19 Commercial Building Liability

By Stuart Kaplow on May 24, 2020 Posted in Environmental, Green Building

With all 50 states now in some stage of reopening and some reclosing in part from the novel coronavirus pandemic closures and more than 1,500 new statutes, regulations and executive orders addressing the pandemic having been enacted in a matter of weeks, many commercial real estate owners are questioning if they can be liable for … Continue Reading

COVID-19 and the Risk from Recirculated Air in Buildings

By Stuart Kaplow on April 29, 2020 Posted in Environmental, Green Building, State

The Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) has in recent days issued guidance on how to occupy commercial and public buildings, from offices to schools, “in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.” As Americans begin to end coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns, which were of course intended to keep … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Permits State Law Claims Against Superfund Property

By Stuart Kaplow on April 26, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

In an instructive environmental law decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal Superfund statute (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) does not preclude owners of adjacent contaminated land from pursuing state laws claims for money damages for nuisance, trespass and strict liability, but any cleanup of that land cannot … Continue Reading

Maryland is First State to Legislate Permitted Use of PFAS

By Stuart Kaplow on April 19, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

Prior to the just concluded session of the Maryland legislature, the State’s laws and regulations were silent with regard to PFAS chemicals including PFOA. At worst, Maryland could have been criticized along with the Federal government and other states, for failing to regulate PFAS as a hazardous substance. But then, some days ago Maryland did … Continue Reading

Maryland Enacts New Environmental Laws in 2020

By Stuart Kaplow on April 7, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, State

The 440th session of the Maryland General Assembly commenced on January 8, 2020. The 90 day session was, for the first time since the Civil War cut short, ending three weeks early (.. of note, the predecessor, appointed not elected, General Assembly of Maryland was first called together in 1635 in St. Mary’s for 90 … Continue Reading

Understand How EPA Does Not Expect to Seek Penalties during COVID-19 Pandemic

By Stuart Kaplow on March 29, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal, Legal Developments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday retroactively beginning March 13, 2020, a temporary policy regarding EPA enforcement of environmental legal obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. EPA’s admittedly unprecedented temporary “enforcement discretion policy” applies to civil violations during the COVID-19 outbreak as a response to the deleterious effect on a wide variety of businesses. … Continue Reading

LEED can Help Mitigate Legal Risks in ESG Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on March 8, 2020 Posted in Environmental, LEED

Public companies in the U.S. find themselves at a dynamic time of emergent environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) disclosures. Vocal socially conscious investors, activist stockholder environmental proxy proposals, and the like are driving companies to make ESG statements. This blog post highlights the legal risk associated with ESG disclosures and proffers that with green building … Continue Reading

179D Tax Deduction Allocated from Government Buildings

By Stuart Kaplow on February 23, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Energy, Environmental, Green Building

On December 20, 2019, the President signed legislation reviving the Section 179D energy efficient commercial building tax deduction and while much has been written about the much needed boost to green building, little has been said about the enormous benefits available from government owned buildings. The § 179D federal tax deduction was brought back from … Continue Reading

One Trillion Trees

By Stuart Kaplow on February 16, 2020 Posted in Climate Change, Environmental

The One Trillion Trees Initiative was launched at the World Economic Forum last month. When President Trump announced that the United States would join the tree planting initiative on January 21 in Davos among more than 3,000 world government, business, and NGO leaders, more than half of whom joined the commitment, it garnered little reaction … Continue Reading

Migratory Bird Treaty Act Will Apply Only to Intentional Takes

By Stuart Kaplow on February 9, 2020 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Solar Panel, wind turbine

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule clarifying that the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act only extends to conduct intentionally injuring birds. Conduct that results in the unintentional (incidental) injury or death of migratory birds is not prohibited under the act. As I described in a 2017 blog post, … Continue Reading