Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Tag Archives: Stuart Kaplow

FERC Decision Puts State Renewable Portfolio Standards At Risk

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Energy, Solar Panel
In the ongoing conflagration between “reliable power” and “clean energy” many may have missed when last month federal energy policy declared reliability the winner with renewable energy subsidies (e.g., state renewable portfolio standards) the loser. In a decision that critics have called “unprecedented” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on December 19, 2019 issued an Order … Continue Reading

Top 10 Environmental Blog Posts for the Roaring ‘20s

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Green Building, Trends
As we begin the new decade of the Roaring ‘20s we are incredibly excited about the prospects for environmental law. We are supremely confident that our business philosophy of “environmental risk as an opportunity” remains right for the times. This blog will continue in 2020 providing strategic intelligence on environmental law, including critical insights into … Continue Reading

179D Tax Deduction Brought Back to Life thru 2020

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal, Green Building, LEED
This past Friday night while aboard Air Force One the President signed legislation reviving the 179D energy efficient commercial buildings tax deduction, providing an enormous and much needed boost to domestic green building. Almost as compelling as the fictional undead being created through reanimation of a corpse, except here there were no zombies involved; it … Continue Reading

Greenbuild was Proof Positive that LEED is Thriving

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, LEED
The just completed 2019 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Atlanta is absolute proof that the LEED green building rating system, with more than 100,000 projects registered and certified, is thriving. The theme of this year’s Greenbuild was “A New Living Standard,” that everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, deserves a safe and healthy place … Continue Reading

PFOA Contamination is Found in 49 States

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Legal
Two weeks ago, New York Attorney General Letitia James commenced a civil suit against the nation’s largest chemical manufacturers and several firefighting foam makers for what the complaint alleges is contamination of water supplies across the state with PFOAs, averring strict liability for public nuisance, strict products liability for defective products, strict products liability for … Continue Reading

What You Can Say about RECs is Regulated by the FTC

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Energy, Federal, Solar Panel
Businesses who generate renewable energy, say, by using solar panels, but sell the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for the renewable energy they generate shouldn’t claim they “use” renewable energy. The Federal Trade Commissions has advised that such a claim would be deceptive. The guidance from the FTC is not new, but as renewable energy becomes … Continue Reading

An HREC is Not a REC in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Federal
I review a large number of Phase I environmental site assessments, and year in, year out, the largest number of questions I field are about Historical Recognized Environmental Conditions. The environmental professionals who perform those assessment generally do not take heed of Eduardo Galeano’s quote, “History never really says goodbye. History says, ‘see you later.’” … Continue Reading

FTC Finds Truly Organic is Not

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Federal, Green Washing
By way of a federal court order that became final last month, Truly Organic Inc. and its founder will pay $1.76 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission greenwashing complaint alleging that their nationally marketed bath and beauty products are neither “certified organic” nor “vegan” as falsely claimed. According to the FTC’s complaint, in this … Continue Reading

ESG Disclosure Simplification Act Passes Committee But Will Fail

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Federal, Sustainability
On September 20, 2019, the Financial Services Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4329, the ESG Disclosure Simplification Act of 2019. The bill would require all public companies to disclose “environmental, social, and governance [ESG] metrics” as material information about the company. Although there is little if any chance that the bill … Continue Reading

LEED Offers Companies a Response to Declining Bird Populations

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, LEED
Condor in the Cordillera Huaywuash, Peru
In response to a much publicized new study on North American bird populations that appeared in the journal Science last month, we received a significant number of inquiries from businesses about what an appropriate response might be from a responsible company? The study found “cumulative loss of nearly three billion birds since 1970, across most … Continue Reading

Cannabis Manufacturer Charged with RCRA but No CDS Violations

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, Federal
In a criminal case that says significantly more about the prosecution than the indictment on its face, the Federal government is prosecuting a leading cannabis industry manufacturer and distributor for criminal transportation of hazardous waste. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) was enacted in 1976 to ensure that all hazardous waste generated in the … Continue Reading

Net Zero Lawsuit Filed Against Home Builder

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building
A lawsuit has been commenced in Maryland alleging that two net zero homes are not. The facts are gleaned from a review of the court pleadings and are instructive for everyone buying or selling a green building. The complaint alleges the defendant home builder and subcontractors represented “that their new homes would be “net zero” … Continue Reading

Brownfield Laws can Save Green Building and the Planet

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Federal, Green Building, LEED
It is widely accepted that the greenest building is one already built. So, why then on the 20th anniversary of many state brownfield programs, is there so little correlation between green buildings and brownfields? Green building ratings systems, standards and codes expend a great deal of verbiage on aims reducing embodied carbon, including the currently … Continue Reading

Maryland Reverting to Certifiable In Lieu of Certified Green Building

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Green Building, Green Globes, IgCC, LEED
In response to an act of the Maryland legislature in 2018, the state is proposing a watershed revamp of its current mandatory green building requirements for new public school buildings. The public is being invited to comment on the proposal. Existing State Finance and Procurement Section 4-809(f) was amended adding new section (6), providing in … Continue Reading

EPA Cancels Pesticide Registrations to Save the Bees

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Environmental, Federal
In a rare move, the EPA issued product cancellation orders for certain pesticides effective May 20, 2019. The pesticides contain neonicotinoids that, despite their widespread use have become controversial when laboratory studies reported a link between neonicotinoids and declining bee populations, although a link has not been replicated in field studies. Neonicotinoids are compounds in … Continue Reading

Recycled Restaurant Waste Cooking Oil Can Trigger Insurance Pollution Exclusion

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Environmental, recycling
In a case having broad implications given the wide mandatory recycling of restaurant waste cooking oil across the country, in a decision filed on April 29, 2019, a federal appeals court held that contaminated recycled fat could trigger the “pollution exclusion” in an insurance policy. In Restaurant Recycling, LLC v. Employer Mutual Casualty Company, Restaurant … Continue Reading
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