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Green Building Law Update

SEC to Update Required Climate Related Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow

February 28, 2021

On February 24, acting chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Allison Herren Lee, offered insight into the future direction of mandatory climate change disclosures and new ESG regulation, when she directed the Division of Corporation Finance to enhance its focus on climate related disclosure in public company filings. The Commission provided guidance in 2010 to public companies regarding then existing disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change matters. For more than a…

Green Building Law Update

Rare Earth Metal Theft by Catalytic Converter

By Stuart Kaplow

February 21, 2021

The theft of catalytic converters to sell for the value of the rare earth metal components is a thing once again. A catalytic converter is a component part of the exhaust system of a fossil fuel motor vehicle that catalyzes, or accelerates the break down of vehicle emissions making them less harmful. The catalyst of a catalytic converter is usually Platinum (Pt), Palladium (Pd), and Rhodium (Rh). All three of these platinum group metals are…

Green Building Law Update

EPA 2020 Enforcement Offers Insight

By Stuart Kaplow

February 14, 2021

The Environmental Protection Agency’s has released the results of its 2020 enforcement and compliance efforts and those results offer significant insight that business can benefit from. In the first 5 months of fiscal year 2020, EPA was on track to significantly exceed traditional numeric metrics in many categories with more compliance monitoring activities in the first 5 months than in any year since 2013, more in assessed penalties the first 5 months than in 7…

Green Building Law Update

There are More than 40 Million People in Modern Slavery

By Stuart Kaplow

February 7, 2021

A January 18, 2021 report by the UK Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner is both a wake-up call and a useful guide on preventing modern slavery and human trafficking. In the Western world there are low levels of awareness of the prevalence of modern slavery. Yet today there are more than 40 million people in modern slavery worldwide. Modern slavery exists in every industry, in every country in the world. It is no longer acceptable to…

Green Building Law Update

PFAS in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment?

By Stuart Kaplow

January 31, 2021

The question de riguer in commercial real estate transactions is if PFAS is included in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment? As made clear by the January 14, 2021 EPA action, the response is “no” that the standard practice for environmental site assessments in the vast majority of places does not consider PFAS, however, .. Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of more than 4,000 man-made chemicals that include PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many…

Green Building Law Update

Companies are Preparing for ESG Disclosure Rules

By Stuart Kaplow

January 24, 2021

Public companies in the U.S. find themselves at a dynamic time of emergent environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) disclosures. New appointees in the Biden Administration, from the SEC and the Labor Department to the top White House economic advisor, all signal mandatory ESG disclosures. The idea of ESG began in 2004 with a United Nations initiative to influence capital in non Western markets. While the federal government has to date stymied the call for ESG…

Green Building Law Update

Former Public Officials Indicted on Criminal Charges in Flint Water Crisis

By Stuart Kaplow

January 17, 2021

Michigan prosecutors last Thursday announced that 9 individuals have been indicted on a total of 42 counts related to a series of alleged actions and inactions that created the Flint water crisis. Interestingly, the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit in Genesee County appointed Judge David Newblatt to act as a one-man grand jury to investigate crimes related to the crisis. Indictments were issued after that sole grand juror secretly listened to and evaluated the…

Green Building Law Update

45L Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit Extended for 2021 by Covid Relief Bill

By Stuart Kaplow

January 10, 2021

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, H.R. 133, signed into law by President Trump on December 27th, extended the 45L energy efficient home $2,000 tax credit, which had been scheduled to expire last year, to cover qualified new energy efficient homes sold or leased through 2021. And yes, regular readers of this blog will notice that I am writing about the same Act of Congress I posted about last week, but the $2.3 trillion, 5,593 page…

Green Building Law Update

179D Tax Deduction Made Permanent by Covid Relief Bill

By Stuart Kaplow

January 3, 2021

On page 4,872 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, H.R. 133, which passed both houses of Congress on December 21st and was signed into law by President Trump on December 27th, the 179D energy efficient commercial buildings federal tax deduction, which had been scheduled to expire at year end, was instead made permanent. At a total cost of $2.3 trillion, the 5,593 page bill is the second largest ever passed by Congress providing tax relief…

Green Building Law Update

Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Blog Authors

SEC to Update Required Climate Related Disclosures

Rare Earth Metal Theft by Catalytic Converter

EPA 2020 Enforcement Offers Insight

There are More than 40 Million People in Modern Slavery

PFAS in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment?

Companies are Preparing for ESG Disclosure Rules

Former Public Officials Indicted on Criminal Charges in Flint Water Crisis

45L Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit Extended for 2021 by Covid Relief Bill

179D Tax Deduction Made Permanent by Covid Relief Bill

Top 10 Environmental Blog Posts of 2020

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