Green Building Law Update

The Intersection of Real Estate, Science, and Law

Tag Archives: environmental lawyer Maryland

The Air We Share – Why Indoor Air Is Becoming a Real Estate Risk

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, GHG
The Air We Breathe – Indoor Air Quality Is Becoming a Real Estate Issue The most dangerous environmental threat is the one we breathe every day. Air pollution is the world’s largest environmental health risk, responsible for roughly 7 million premature deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization. For real estate owners, however, … Continue Reading

GPS Is Changing – Why Real Estate Owners and Developers Should Care

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Federal
Long before satellites orbited the Earth, humans relied on the stars and the sun to find their way. Today, GPS does far more than help us find an address. It underlies surveying, mapping, construction, agriculture, utilities, engineering, and countless commercial real estate applications. That is why a major change to America’s geospatial infrastructure deserves the … Continue Reading

Lead Based Paint Compliance Is Still a Real Estate Issue

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal
For owners of older residential real estate, lead based paint can seem like a problem from another era. It is not. A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency settlement involving an apartment complex in Putnam, Connecticut, is a useful reminder that lead based paint compliance remains a current environmental, public health and real estate liability issue. … Continue Reading

FAA Proposal to Streamline Space Launches Is a Win for Innovation, Competitiveness, and Environmental Regulation

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal
The United States is in the midst of a new space race. Unlike the Apollo era, this competition is driven not only by governments but by private companies launching communication satellites, developing reusable rockets, planning lunar missions, and even envisioning data centers in low Earth orbit. If the United States intends to remain the global … Continue Reading

The Supreme Court’s Monsanto Decision – Why Businesses Far Beyond the Herbicide Industry Should Pay Attention

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 25, 2026, decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell is being reported in the mass media as another chapter in the long running Roundup mass tort litigation. That characterization misses the larger story about the Court amassing power for itself and the Executive branch. For real estate owners, manufacturers, and businesses … Continue Reading

Why I Am Choosing Not to Eat Pizza and Bagels Made with Potassium Bromate

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental
For most Americans, choosing what to eat is a matter of taste, convenience, and cost. Increasingly, however, it is also a matter of informed risk management. As an environmental attorney who spends much of his professional life evaluating scientific evidence, regulatory trends, and long term risks, I support those consumers who are making the conscious … Continue Reading

Appeals Court Issues Injunction Halting Maryland Greenwashing Marketing Law

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Codes and Regulations, Energy, Environmental
Maryland’s effort to police “greenwashing” marketing claims in the electricity sector just hit a major constitutional roadblock. In a decision last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered a preliminary injunction against a 2024 Maryland law’s core speech restriction on describing renewable electricity, and sent the remainder of the case back … Continue Reading

Midge Spraying with Bti Along the Chesapeake Bay Poses Lifetime Risks

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Local Government, State
For many waterfront property owners along the Chesapeake Bay, spring brings a familiar nuisance: aerial spraying by helicopters flying as low as 50 feet above the water, applying a naturally occurring soil bacterium as a biological ‘cosmetic’ pesticide to control midge flies. Swarms of the non biting midges (Chironomidae) rise from Maryland’s Back River, Middle … Continue Reading

God Squad Exempts Gulf Oil from Endangered Species Act – What It Means for Business

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental
After this post, the Center for Biological Diversity and others filed suit against the Secretary of the Interior. The complaint is a good read. ________________________ In a decision as rare as it is consequential, the Endangered Species Committee, better known as the “God Squad,” voted unanimously on March 31, 2026, to exempt all oil and … Continue Reading

From EV Mandates to Building Standards – California Lawsuit Could Limit State Climate Regulation

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Federal, GHG
The U.S. Department of Transportation filed a lawsuit last Thursday that may reshape the regulatory landscape not only for vehicles, but also climate policy, and even energy use across the country. Be assured, this litigation is about far more than only electric vehicles in California. The complaint, filed by the Justice Department on behalf of … Continue Reading

Climate Change Chapter Omitted from Federal Courts Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Codes and Regulations, Environmental, GHG, greenhouse gas
On February 6, 2026, the Federal Judicial Center, the research and education arm of the federal judiciary, omitted (i.e., withdrew) a chapter from the newest edition of its reference manual on scientific evidence that addressed climate change. . The manual is a guide to help judges make unbiased determinations about scientific testimony, but in this … Continue Reading

Why Land Subsidence Matters More Than Sea Level Rise

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Environmental, resilience, Sustainability
When we talk about “sea level rise,” most people immediately think of melting polar ice and warming oceans. But along much of the United States’ Atlantic coast, especially in and around the Chesapeake Bay, that narrative only tells part of the story. Emerging science shows that land subsidence, the sinking or lowering of the land … Continue Reading

A More Efficacious Way to Measure Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Federal, GHG, greenhouse gas
As an environmental attorney who spends much of my time advising business owners, I have learned an immutable truth: markets work best when the rules are clear, fair, and grounded in reality. Environmental policy is no exception. Contrary to the prevailing narrative in popular media, the global business community has not uniformly shifted away from … Continue Reading

WARNING: This Product Contains an Ingredient Not Recommended for Human Consumption …

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, State
Businesses across the country face a consequential legal and commercial crossroads as Texas Senate Bill 25, branded the Make Texas Healthy Again Act, thrusts state level food labeling regulation into uncharted constitutional and regulatory territory. The stakes are high: companies that manufacture, market, or sell food products may soon confront unprecedented warning requirements that could … Continue Reading

Microplastics – The Next Environmental Crisis We Can No Longer Ignore

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental
For decades, environmental law has been built around visible harms: smokestacks, discharge pipes, landfills, and oil spills. We regulate what we can see. Microplastics represent the opposite problem, an environmental threat that is largely invisible, already ubiquitous, and increasingly understood to be biologically active. In many contemporary risk assessments, microplastics now rank among the top … Continue Reading
LexBlog