Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A.

State Law Trumps on Location of Solar Panels

By Stuart Kaplow on 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…

Green Building Law Update

Cannabis Manufacturer Charged with RCRA but No CDS Violations

By Stuart Kaplow on July 21, 2019

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 United States was managed in a manner that would minimize the threat to human health and the environment. The U.S.…

Green Building Law Update

USGBC Wants You to Comment on the Next Version of LEED

By Stuart Kaplow on July 14, 2019

The U. S. Green Building Council is looking for the future of LEED and has officially opened a call for feedback and ideas for the next version of LEED. This is an opportunity for anyone and everyone to influence the next version of the most widely used green building rating system in the world. With more than 98,000 projects participating in LEED across 167 countries and more than 2.6 million square feet certified LEED every…

Green Building Law Update

Net Zero Lawsuit Filed Against Home Builder

By Stuart Kaplow on June 30, 2019

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” energy efficient however neither of the homes has been close to net-zero as represented.” The two homes have solar panels installed…

Green Building Law Update

Brownfield Laws can Save Green Building and the Planet

By Stuart Kaplow on June 23, 2019

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 in vogue whole building life cycle assessments in complicated, expensive and risky environmental product declarations and the like, but green…

Green Building Law Update

Maryland Reverting to Certifiable In Lieu of Certified Green Building

By Stuart Kaplow on June 9, 2019

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 relevant part, the Maryland Green Building Council shall: .. (6) Develop guidelines for new public school buildings to achieve the…

Green Building Law Update

EPA Cancels Pesticide Registrations to Save the Bees

By Stuart Kaplow on June 2, 2019

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 insecticides chemically related to nicotine. The name literally means “new nicotine-like insecticides.” Neonicotinoids pesticides first reached the market in the…

Green Building Law Update

GSA Reviews more than 100 Green Building Systems and Selects 5

By Stuart Kaplow on May 26, 2019

Section 436(h) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires the General Services Administration’s Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings to complete a review of high performance building certification systems every 5 years. After the review, GSA recommends to the Secretary of Energy the building certification systems most likely to encourage a comprehensive approach to certification of high-performance buildings. The last review, in 2012, shook the green building industrial complex to its foundations, when…

Green Building Law Update

Recycled Restaurant Waste Cooking Oil Can Trigger Insurance Pollution Exclusion

By Stuart Kaplow on May 12, 2019

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 Recycling purchased used fat, like waste cooking oil from restaurants in mandatory commercial organics recycling programs and the like,…

Green Building Law Update

Maryland Appellate Court Upholds Local Government Pesticide Ban

By Stuart Kaplow on May 5, 2019

Last week the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state’s intermediate appellate court, overturned an earlier circuit court decision, reinstating a Montgomery County ordinance significantly restricting pesticide use throughout the County. In October 2015, the Montgomery County Council enacted Bill No. 52-14 becoming the first major jurisdiction in the country to enact such a ban. Among its other provisions, the bill amended the Montgomery County Code to ban certain pesticide use on private and County…

Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A.

Stuart D. Kaplow, P.A. Blogs

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State Law Trumps on Location of Solar Panels

Cannabis Manufacturer Charged with RCRA but No CDS Violations

USGBC Wants You to Comment on the Next Version of LEED

Net Zero Lawsuit Filed Against Home Builder

Brownfield Laws can Save Green Building and the Planet

Maryland Reverting to Certifiable In Lieu of Certified Green Building

EPA Cancels Pesticide Registrations to Save the Bees

GSA Reviews more than 100 Green Building Systems and Selects 5

Recycled Restaurant Waste Cooking Oil Can Trigger Insurance Pollution Exclusion

Maryland Appellate Court Upholds Local Government Pesticide Ban

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