Environmental Articles
Please enjoy this collection of helpful and informative articles on various aspects of environmental law as written by our esteemed attorneys.
This is a full accounting of land use permitting rules which were modified on April 3, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes particulars on Legislation, Executive Orders, and Court Orders.
INTRODUCTION
Those who deal with waste often witness that the discovery of contamination on real estate is the kiss of death for a land acquisition or development project.
The label "hazardous waste" can spook buyers, sellers, banks, investors, landlords, tenants, and brokers. Government agencies which acquire property by purchase, eminent domain, condemnation, tax title, gift, or otherwise, get cold feet when waste is found before the purchase and sale. Developers disappear from the landscape when they see signs of hazardous waste. Business expansions are cancelled for the fear of disturbing past contamination.
Every business subject to environmental law and enforcement needs expert witnesses at hearings, administrative or judicial proceedings. A witness qualified as an expert may testify within his sphere of expertise to matters of opinion, based on facts brought to the witness' attention by hearsay or hypothetical questions.
This is a report on how to be ineffective in public hearings, public meetings, and many other forums available to have your voice heard and your preferences known.
A consise but detailed outline of key points which fall into the realm of legal conflicts of interest.
Companies and others subject to the law regularly treat agency inspections too casually. Environmental enforcement is on the upswing. Government agencies plan to increase inspections, not only for routine compliance but also for gaining information for prosecution. Agency inspectors should, and will, use every lawful means to prosecute violators. At the same time, business and landowners should be aware of their rights and duties regarding inspections.
A comprehensive list of acronyms pertaining to the environment which might be encountered in procedural documentation.
The carefully watched, often criticized, and strongly supported "Act Relative to Streamlining and Expediting the Permitting Process in the Commonwealth," which had surprising momentum behind the scenes, has become Chapter 205 of the Acts of 2006. It enjoyed many important revisions and improvements since first filed. It took effect immediately, August 2, 2006.
In the continuing saga of what is a "regulatory taking" of real estate by local environmental rules, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on November 28, 2006 decided the case of Giovanella v. Conservation Commission of Ashland (SJC-09678). The Court told us how the "relevant parcel" will be determined in "taking" lawsuits under the Constitution, that is, how to define the unit of property on which the impact is to be measured. This allows comparing the value of that property before and after the alleged unconstitutional taking.
After a full trial, a Massachusetts Superior Court ruled in favor of the Town of Chatham zoning bylaw (on Cape Cod) banning new residential structures in a "coastal conservancy district" up to the 100-year coastal flood. This was upheld by the Massachusetts Appeals Court and recently further upheld in the Supreme Judicial Court in the case of Gove v. Chatham, 444 Mass. 754, 831 N.E.2d 865 (2005).
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