In recent years, companies have made a point of marketing themselves as caring about the environment. Even major airlines have planned dates for becoming “carbon neutral.” A stated commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals started as a way to...
Regulations
Publicly Owned Sewer Systems Now Required To Report and Notify Of Combined Sewer Overflows
In 2012, the Sewer Pollution Right to Know Act (SPRTKA) was signed into law in New York State. This law requires that owners of publicly owned sewer systems (POSSs) advise the public when raw or partially treated sewage, including combined sewer overflows (CSOs), is...
Two Decades Later, New York Proposes First Major Amendments to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)
On January 17, 2017, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released proposed amendments to SEQRA - the department's first major revisions to such regulations in more than two decades. The proposed amendments follow recent efforts by the DEC...
City Council Members Seek to Redefine “Reside” in Local Lead Paint Law
New York City's lead-based paint law (Local Law 1 [1982]) requires landlords to remove lead-based paint in any apartment unit in which a child under 6 years of age resides. The issue in Yaniveth R. v. LTD Realty Co. was whether a child "resides" in an apartment...
Tonawanda Coke Corporation Enters into a $12 Million Settlement with DEC and EPA for Alleged Violations of State and Federal Environmental Law
The U.S. Federal Government and the State of New York jointly announced on May 11, 2015 a $12 million settlement with Tonawanda Coke Corporation for a litany of alleged environmental violations at TCC's western New York coke manufacturing facility.The settlement comes...
DEC Issues New York State’s Official Rationale for Fracking Ban
DEC has issued its long-awaited environmental impact study for high volume horizontal fracturing, or fracking, in New York State. This document contains the state's official findings on the environmental and human health impacts of fracking, namely, that too much...
New State Legislation Requires Increased Climate Resilience for New York Infrastructure
As in other areas of environmental policy, New York State is a leader in grappling with global climate change. Since 2009, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has had a policy in place that requires it to consider energy use and greenhouse gas...
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...
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...
Key Limits Imposed on State Authority to Order RCRA Corrective Action Under a Treatment, Storage or Disposal Facility Permit
Can a party who is not the holder of a certain environmental permit be required to perform the obligations set out in that permit? The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation thought so, and argued as much in the case of a property owner who had...
