In a groundbreaking verdict, a Texas jury has awarded damages to a family for injuries suffered due to air pollution from hydraulic fracturing ("hydrofracking") drilling operations. This verdict follows almost inexorably from the rise in popularity in the past decade...
Year: 2014
County Water Authority has Standing to Sue for Groundwater Contamination, but Timeliness is Governed by New York’s Three Year Statute of Limitations
Fixed contaminant standards need not be reached, much less exceeded, in order to cause an injury that courts can recognize. An intermediate appeals court in New York has ruled that the Suffolk County Water Authority may sue chemical companies for groundwater...
Sustainability Embraced by Real Estate Investment Industry
"Sustainability" and "development" do not often go to the dance together, but that may be changing. Today's real estate investors are embracing their interconnection, and encouraging environmental social governance (ESG) within the industry. With the rise in...
Albany County Executive Proposes New County Legislation on Crude Oil Spill Reporting
Could fracking in North Dakota's Bakken shale formation have a direct impact on New York State? Yes, but the impact isn't limited to prices at the gas pump or home energy heating bills. Instead, the fracking operations are leading to a surge in freight trains hauling...
New York State to Explore Offshore Wind Power
Historically a proud leader in environmental protection, New York State is poised to claim a new reason for that title: New York has emerged a leader in the field of renewable energy. According to the Energy Information Administration, New York now ranks fourth in the...
Yet Another Legal Challenge to the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station Fails
A marine transfer station operated on the East River at 91st Street for nearly six decades, temporarily storing municipal waste along the East River before loading it onto barges for disposal outside of Manhattan. But in 2004, the New York City announced plans to...
Local Fracking Bans Upheld in Dryden and Middlefield Cases
Proponents and opponents of hydraulic fracturing alike have been waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the Wallach v. Town of Dryden and Cooperstown Holstein Corp. v. Town of Middlefield cases. The wait is over - in late June, the New York Court of Appeals...
EPA Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases Survives Supreme Court Scrutiny in UARG v. EPA
In environmental law, things aren't always what they seem at first blush. Hence, when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, 134 S. Ct. 1050 (2014) in June, both industry and EPA claimed victory. Given that the Court struck...
Obama Takes Strong Position on Marine Protection
The United States will soon be home to the largest protected area on the planet, at land or at sea: President Obama has announced his intent to preserve a 782,000-mile stretch of the central Pacific Ocean.The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was created...
Sellers Beware: Unauthorized Petroleum Tank Repair Ruled a Breach of Environmental Warranty
Everyone's heard of the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for," but Sunoco, Inc. might be ready to coin a new phase, "Be careful what you warrant."In 2009, Sunoco, Inc. sold an Oneida County-based Marcy Terminal to Superior US Holdings, Inc. Given that it was an oil...