Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A.

What You Can Say about RECs is Regulated by the FTC

By Stuart Kaplow

November 10, 2019

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 more prevalent, increasingly businesses are making claims about their green energy. This guidance from the FTC may seem counterintuitive, but…

Green Building Law Update

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

By Stuart Kaplow

November 3, 2019

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.’” By way of background, a Phase I environmental site assessment is the process of evaluating a property’s environmental conditions and…

Green Building Law Update

FTC Finds Truly Organic is Not

By Stuart Kaplow

October 27, 2019

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 era when many consumer purchases are influenced by environmental claims, since at least 2015, the defendants advertised, labeled, offered…

Green Building Law Update

Government to Allow Less Lead in Drinking Water

By Stuart Kaplow

October 21, 2019

EPA is expected to publish this week in the Federal Register the first proposed regulatory revisions to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for lead in more than 30 years. The United States has made tremendous progress in lowering children’s blood lead levels (.. children are a good data set analogous to the broader population). As a result of multiple Federal laws, including the 1973 phase-out of lead in automobile gasoline, the 1978 Federal regulation…

Green Building Law Update

ESG Disclosure Simplification Act Passes Committee But Will Fail

By Stuart Kaplow

October 13, 2019

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 will become law given the current politics in Washington, DC, the bill’s passage in the House Committee highlights that issues…

Green Building Law Update

LEED Offers Companies a Response to Declining Bird Populations

By Stuart Kaplow

October 6, 2019

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 North American biomes, signals a pervasive and ongoing avifaunal crisis.” Since 1970, the researchers estimated, the North American bird population…

Green Building Law Update

Greenbuild – The Target Rich Environment for Green People

By Stuart Kaplow

September 22, 2019

I am often asked, “how can I expand my green building business?” And I have offered the same response for more than a decade – attend the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (.. yes, you will have to talk with people while you are there). This year Greenbuild is in Atlanta from November 19 thru 22 with some of the best original programming on “disaster prep” (.. more than food prep). Greenbuild has become much…

Green Building Law Update

EPA Rolls Back Proposed “Waters of the United States” Definition

By Stuart Kaplow

September 15, 2019

Last Thursday the EPA and Department of the Army announced that the agencies are repealing a 2015 rule that had proposed to expand the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. Despite claims from some activists that “the sky is falling” with this change in environmental regulation, the real impact will be little more than the acorn that fell on Chicken Little’s head, because the agencies are at the same…

Green Building Law Update

Radon Caused More Than 21,000 Deaths Last Year

By Stuart Kaplow

September 8, 2019

Radon causes more than 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. every year. Despite that it is totally preventable, radon is the number one lung cancer killer in nonsmokers. Radon is widely described as the primary source of indoor and household air pollution in the U.S. High radon levels are found in every state. Levels can vary widely, even from home to home in the same neighborhood. Radon is a noble gas that comes from…

Green Building Law Update

State Law Trumps on Location of Solar Panels

By Stuart Kaplow

July 28, 2019

There will be a brief hiatus in regular blog posts during the month of August. I am in Peru walking slowly up the very big hill that is Siula Grande (.. in lieu of blog posts, read the book or watch the movie, “Touching The Void” about the first guys to summit this mountain). “Here comes the sun, and I say, It’s all right” is how a new decision on solar energy generating stations by…

Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A.

Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A. Blogs

Blog Authors

What You Can Say about RECs is Regulated by the FTC

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

FTC Finds Truly Organic is Not

Government to Allow Less Lead in Drinking Water

ESG Disclosure Simplification Act Passes Committee But Will Fail

LEED Offers Companies a Response to Declining Bird Populations

Greenbuild – The Target Rich Environment for Green People

EPA Rolls Back Proposed “Waters of the United States” Definition

Radon Caused More Than 21,000 Deaths Last Year

State Law Trumps on Location of Solar Panels

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