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Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Tag Archives: environmental attorney Maryland

ESG Poll Results Drive Strategies for Business

The use of ESG to evaluate companies is the cause celebre in early 2022 and while still in an early phase, primitively and ill defined, it is reaching nearly all corners of the economy at a fever pitch. The appeal of ESG is compelling. People want to save the planet while they make a profit. … Continue Reading

ESG will be the Environmental Issue of 2022

By Stuart Kaplow on January 2, 2022 Posted in Environmental, ESG, Sustainability

ESG will be the environmental issue of the year, if not also among the biggest business issues of the year. ESG is everywhere. And yes, this is with appreciation that environmental is only the E in ESG. This is more than a Magic 8 Ball prediction, although we do regularly consult one of the 1960s … Continue Reading

New SEC Guidance Portends More Stockholder ESG Activism

By Stuart Kaplow on November 7, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, ESG, Sustainability

I am excited to be presenting a fast paced and fun one hour virtual program, “Environmental Social Governance (ESG) an Emergent and Fast Growing Area of the Law” for the Maryland State Bar Association Environmental & Energy Section on December 14, 2021 at noon. Registration will be open to all; not just lawyers. Registration for … Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Hear Climate Change Regulation Case

By Stuart Kaplow on October 30, 2021 Posted in Climate Change, ESG, GHG, Paris Accord

If there was any question that the judiciary was a coequal and political branch of government, last Friday after President Biden was wheels up to attend the COP26 Glasgow climate conference, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Environmental Protections Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This litigation over the EPA’s scope of authority … Continue Reading

Brand Reputation is Number One Reason Businesses Engage in ESG

By Stuart Kaplow on September 19, 2021 Posted in Environmental, ESG, Sustainability

ESG has become such a large component of my law practice that I am now collaborating with a fabulous group attorneys in ESG Legal Solutions, LLC, a new non-law consulting firm. Nancy Hudes and I are now publishing a new blog at www.ESGLegalSolutions.com (.. yes, this blog will continue). This post originally appeared in that blog. … Continue Reading

Gleaning the Direction of ESG Regulation

By Stuart Kaplow on September 5, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, ESG, Sustainability

IPCC Fanning the Flames of ESG

By Stuart Kaplow on August 15, 2021 Posted in Climate Change, Environmental, ESG, GRESB, Sustainability

Phase l Environmental Site Assessment Standard Being Revised

By Stuart Kaplow on July 25, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, ESG

EPA final action on ASTM International’s E1527-21 “Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is currently in limbo. On March 14, 2022, after this blog post, EPA took direct final action to amend the Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries to reference ASTM International’s E1527-21. The rule was to have … Continue Reading

DuPont Resolves PFAS Claims with Delaware

By Stuart Kaplow on July 18, 2021 Posted in Environmental, Federal

The State of Delaware and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, The Chemours Company, DuPont de Nemours, Inc. and Corteva, Inc. (all “DuPont” related companies), businesses having operated in the State for more than 200 years, announced a sweeping settlement agreement last week. Under the settlement agreement, the DuPont agreed to pay $50 … Continue Reading

EPA and Army Announce Intent to Revise “Water of the United States” Rule

By Stuart Kaplow on June 20, 2021 Posted in Environmental, Federal

Last week the Environmental Protect Agency and Department of the Army announced the agencies’ intent to initiate new rulemaking that restores the Obama era waters of the United States rule that was in place pre-2015, and before the current Trump era rule. This proposed rule will impact large swaths of America not only those directing … Continue Reading

Revoking the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Incidental Take Rule, Once Again

By Stuart Kaplow on June 13, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposed rule to restore criminal penalties for accidental killing of migratory birds, revoking the January 7, 2021, final regulation that limited the enforcement of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. “The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a bedrock environmental law that is critical to protecting … Continue Reading

A Call for Comprehensive and Clearer ESG Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on May 30, 2021 Posted in Environmental, ESG, Green Washing, LEED, Sustainability

Last Wednesday, with a Dutch court finding Royal Dutch Shell partially responsible for climate change and ordering it to reduce emissions and two environmental activists being voted to Exxon Mobil board at the annual meeting, made clear how dramatically the landscape is shifting for all businesses in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) space, as … Continue Reading

Labor Department Will Not Enforce Anti ESG Rule

By Stuart Kaplow on April 11, 2021 Posted in Environmental, ESG, GRESB, Sustainability

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that it will not enforce recently published final rules by the prior Administration on “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” and “Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights.” This policy statement is in furtherance of the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 13990, entitled “Protecting Public Health and … Continue Reading

Now We Know What is Killing the Birds

By Stuart Kaplow on March 28, 2021 Posted in Environmental

A cause is now known for bird deaths that eluded scientists for more than 25 years. It is beyond dispute that there are human activities that have a known negative impact on the natural environment, but sometimes events come together, only in part arising from human activities, to create unknown environmental consequences. During the winter … Continue Reading

Covid Pandemic Exposes More Children to Toxic Lead

By Stuart Kaplow on March 21, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental

Covid-19 school closures and lockdowns resulted in thousands of children having increased blood lead levels. In a study of this consequence of Covid-19, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to describe blood lead level testing among young children during the Covid-19 pandemic, the CDC analyzed data reported from 34 state and local … Continue Reading

SEC to Update Required Climate Related Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on February 28, 2021 Posted in Climate Change, ESG, Federal

On February 24, acting chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Allison Herren Lee, offered insight into the future direction of mandatory climate change disclosures and new ESG regulation, when she directed the Division of Corporation Finance to enhance its focus on climate related disclosure in public company filings. The Commission provided guidance in … Continue Reading

Rare Earth Metal Theft by Catalytic Converter

By Stuart Kaplow on February 21, 2021 Posted in Environmental

The theft of catalytic converters to sell for the value of the rare earth metal components is a thing once again. A catalytic converter is a component part of the exhaust system of a fossil fuel motor vehicle that catalyzes, or accelerates the break down of vehicle emissions making them less harmful. The catalyst of … Continue Reading

PFAS in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment?

By Stuart Kaplow on January 31, 2021 Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Uncategorized

The question de riguer in commercial real estate transactions is if PFAS is included in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment? As made clear by the January 14, 2021 EPA action, the response is “no” that the standard practice for environmental site assessments in the vast majority of places does not consider PFAS, however, .. … Continue Reading

179D Tax Deduction Made Permanent by Covid Relief Bill

By Stuart Kaplow on January 3, 2021 Posted in Federal, Green Building, Green Globes, LEED

On page 4,872 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, H.R. 133, which passed both houses of Congress on December 21st and was signed into law by President Trump on December 27th, the 179D energy efficient commercial buildings federal tax deduction, which had been scheduled to expire at year end, was instead made permanent. At a … Continue Reading

Carbon Tax Proposed in Portland will be First in the Nation

By Stuart Kaplow on December 6, 2020 Posted in Climate Change, Green Globes, LEED, Local Government

The City of Portland is proposing a carbon tax that would be the first of its kind anywhere in the country. Given the increased emphasis on climate change by the incoming Biden Administration the proposed ordinance should be on your required reading list. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are changing the climate. Energy … 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

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