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Green Building Law Update

More Than Green Buildings, Green Roads

By Stuart Kaplow

August 2, 2020

If green building is going to repair the planet it will have to include green roads. Over 65% of the impervious surfaces in the U.S. are related to transportation (e.g., roads, parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways), with the vast majority being roads. There are 4,180,817 miles of roads in the U.S. Roads are the largest built structures Americans come into contact with and yet they are so ubiquitous and familiar that they have become an…

Green Building Law Update

EPA Proposes First Greenhouse Gas Emissions Limits for Aircraft

By Stuart Kaplow

July 26, 2020

Last Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for airplanes used in commercial aviation and large business jets. “This standard is the first time the U.S. has ever proposed regulating greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft,” according to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. And as much as I have railed against more and regressive environmental regulation in this blog, what is pragmatically proposed may be good for the planet and is definitely good for U.S.…

Green Building Law Update

Bird Friendly Building now the Law in Howard County

By Stuart Kaplow

July 19, 2020

Howard County, Maryland has become the first jurisdiction in the state and one of few places in the country to pass a mandatory “bird-friendly design” law for new construction of privately owned buildings. The new law enacted on July 7, 2020 and effective on September 6, 2020 requires at the time of building permit application, the applicant for new construction submit, Documentation showing that the building meets: The bird-friendly design standards of the 2011 edition…

Green Building Law Update

New Lead (Pb) in Soil Standard Now Effective in Maryland

By Stuart Kaplow

July 12, 2020

The EPA has described lead as the number one environmental public health hazard in the U.S. And despite that the CDC has in the past identified childhood lead poisoning prevention since 1971 as 1 of 10 great U.S. public health achievements which has included success in reducing human exposures on average, the amount of lead used within the U.S. has since that date actually increased. There is little debate that no amount of lead is safe.…

Green Building Law Update

A Force Majeure Decision during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Stuart Kaplow

July 5, 2020

There has been much speculation and supposition about the interplay of force majeure provisions in leases and other contracts in response to government orders closing businesses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but now there is an authoritative court decision that may provide persuasive authority. In a motion in a Bankruptcy case the landlord demanded payment of post petition rent from the Hitz Restaurant Group or that the Chicago restaurant vacate the premises immediately.…

Green Building Law Update

Four New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19

By Stuart Kaplow

June 14, 2020

This blog post is an update to my June 6th post, Two New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19, describing that the U.S. Green Building Council has now added two additional Pilot Credits responding to the novel coronavirus. You may reasonably infer that I have posted an update (.. something I rarely do) because I believe the two new LEED pilot credits can contribute to a meaningful consideration of how to adapt to keep…

Green Building Law Update

New Maryland Real Estate Laws from the 2020 Legislative Session

By Stuart Kaplow

June 7, 2020

The 71 day session of the Maryland General Assembly was for the first time since the Civil War cut short from the prescribed 90 days (.. of note, the legislature has met for 90 days since the predecessor, appointed not elected, General Assembly of Maryland was first called together in 1635 in St. Mary’s). Despite the Coronavirus pandemic concern shortened session, the legislature acted on 1,664 House bills and 12 resolutions and 1,081 Senate bills…

Green Building Law Update

Two New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19

By Stuart Kaplow

May 31, 2020

America is reopening including physically opening its buildings and the U.S. Green Building Council has announced that LEED will play a role in confronting risk in the post coronavirus pandemic era. Last week Mahesh Ramanujam, the President & CEO of USGBC announced in a published letter that the “second generation at USGBC will focus on our relevant and reimagined vision: Healthy people in healthy places equals a healthy economy.” He acknowledged that in a post…

Green Building Law Update

COVID 19 Commercial Building Liability

By Stuart Kaplow

May 24, 2020

With all 50 states now in some stage of reopening and some reclosing in part from the novel coronavirus pandemic closures and more than 1,500 new statutes, regulations and executive orders addressing the pandemic having been enacted in a matter of weeks, many commercial real estate owners are questioning if they can be liable for damages when someone, whether an employee of the business tenant or someone else, claims to have contracted the coronavirus disease…

Green Building Law Update

New BREEAM In Use Version in a Changing World

By Stuart Kaplow

May 17, 2020

Last week BRE Global announced that the “BREEAM USA In-Use Version 6 for Commercial and Residential” green building rating system has launched. In addition to improvements to the prior commercial building rating system BREEAM In-Use now includes residential for the first time (accepting that existing multi-family building is a very much underserved sector). An update to the BREEAM In-Use online platform, which is used to facilitate the benchmarking and certification process, has also been rolled…

Green Building Law Update

Environmental Law and Sustainability for Business

Blog Authors

More Than Green Buildings, Green Roads

EPA Proposes First Greenhouse Gas Emissions Limits for Aircraft

Bird Friendly Building now the Law in Howard County

New Lead (Pb) in Soil Standard Now Effective in Maryland

A Force Majeure Decision during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Four New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19

New Maryland Real Estate Laws from the 2020 Legislative Session

Two New LEED Pilot Credits Respond to COVID-19

COVID 19 Commercial Building Liability

New BREEAM In Use Version in a Changing World

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