Environmental Law Posts
Environmental Law Posts, from members of Post & Schell’s Environmental Group, are intended to provide current updates and analysis of judicial opinions, emerging regulatory issues, and potential risks and liabilities in environmental law.
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Conducting Environmental Compliance Activities During the COVID-19 Crisis
As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the ways in which businesses engage in everyday activities is evolving at a pace more rapid than most of us have ever seen in our lives, and hopefully will ever see again. Among these changes is the way businesses address environmental compliance obligations. Two of the more important questions regarding environmental compliance are: (1) Can a business continue environmental investigation and remediation field work?; (2) Can a business cease or reduce its performance of operational compliance obligations?
COVID-19: Considerations and Support for Property Owners
In these trying times, offering our clients the support they need is of the utmost importance to the Environmental Group at Post & Schell. The past few weeks have left us all navigating uncharted waters, taking each day as it comes, and facing and addressing new and previously unheard of challenges.
Deadline Approaching for CA Property Owners to Submit HazMat Business Plans and Comply with Aboveground Storage Tank Requirements
Pursuant to Chapter 6.95 of California's Health and Safety Code and the associated regulations in Title 19, every commercial property in California that stores a hazardous material or mixture of hazardous materials in quantities equal or greater to 55 gallons, 500 pounds, or 200 cubic feet of gas must file electronically through either the state CERS portal or local Uniform Procedures Act (UPA) portal the property's Hazardous Materials Business Plan.
Recent Legionella Outbreaks Illustrate Risks for Health Care, Hospitality, and Commercial Industries (Even at New Facilities)
Despite increasingly onerous regulatory obligations placed on health care, hospitality, and commercial facilities, reported incidents of Legionnaires' disease remain on the rise. These include recent reported outbreaks in Ohio, New Jersey, New York, California, Texas, and Nevada - the majority of which have been attributed to cooling towers, potable water systems, or swimming pools/hot tubs in hospitals, hotels, or other large facilities.
Ensuring That Your Voluntary Cleanup Gets You What You Need - Overcoming Bars to Contemplated Uses
As the desirability of mixed use development continues to increase, so too will the need to ensure that remediation will allow all intended uses. On that point, one of our manufacturing clients recently found itself in a surprising dilemma when it decided to modify the planned use of the property. The client decided to not only acquire a bigger facility to accommodate increased operations, but also to engage in side-activities that it hoped would be lucrative, fun, and beneficial to the community.
Post & Schell Advises National Real Estate Client on Cleanup, Redevelopment, and Sale of Historic Former Industrial Complex in Northern New Jersey
Environmental Practice Group Principal Paul M. Schmidt recently assisted a client with the cleanup, redevelopment, and sale of a historic, 10-acre former industrial complex in northern New Jersey that began operations in the 19th Century. Mr. Schmidt counseled the client on the remediation of two dozen areas of contamination, and on the demolition, reuse, and disposal of several large contaminated buildings.
Testing Uncertainty: Beware the False Positive
We were reminded recently of the inherent limitations on the accuracy of asbestos sampling. The lessons learned (again) were: (1) that the appropriate scope of pre-acquisition environmental diligence should be carefully considered, and (2) that laboratory analysis should not automatically be accepted as accurate.
EPA's Latest Attempt to Supercharge Superfund Cleanups
Scott Pruitt, the fourteenth Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recently appeared on The New York Times' The Daily podcast, where he outlined his vision for the EPA, discussed his view of its societal role, and answered questions about specific goals he sought to accomplish during his time at the helm of the EPA.