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Law and the Environment

Our blog provides perspective on developments in environmental law and policy - which developments may matter to you, and how and why they matter. Whether you are a manufacturer or a power plant developer, a renewable energy developer or hoping to be a renewable energy consumer, this blog offers commentary on current issues that are important to your business.

Does EPA Have Authority to Promulgate Cumulative Risk Assessment Guidance?
Blog September 18, 2023
Does EPA Have Authority to Promulgate Cumulative Risk Assessment Guidance?
Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) reported that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has basically informed EPA that EPA may not promulgate guidance on cumulative risk assessments because of questions about its legal authority to require CRAs.  If EPA plans to interpret such environmental regulations as providing EPA with the authority to require that states consider CRAs in its decision making, including CRAs that may include nonchemical stressors…
AIG Integrates Climate Into Its Investment and Underwriting Decisions: It's Progress, But Is It Enough?
Blog March 07, 2022
AIG Integrates Climate Into Its Investment and Underwriting Decisions: It's Progress, But Is It Enough?
Last week, AIG significantly restricted its underwriting of and investment in fossil fuel projects.  Specifically, it announced the following actions: With immediate effect, committed to no longer invest in or provide insurance for construction of any new coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines or oil sands; With immediate effect, committed to no longer invest in or underwrite new operation insurance risks of coal-fired power plants…
When Is Property Damage From a Release "Expected or Intended"? Only After the Owner Learns of the Spill and Ignores It
Blog March 13, 2019
When Is Property Damage From a Release "Expected or Intended"? Only After the Owner Learns of the Spill and Ignores It
Any good trial lawyer will tell you that the law is about telling stories. Once upon a time, Timothy and Stacy Creamer bought a house.  Only after they closed did they realize that some strategically placed rugs were hiding the evidence that, “up from the ground come a bubblin' crude.” Unlike Jed Clampett, rather than finding themselves millionaires, the Creamers found themselves with a million dollar liability – literally…
South Florida The Front Lines of Climate Change?
Blog April 21, 2017
South Florida The Front Lines of Climate Change?
Two related items about climate change resilience and adaptation caught my eye this week.  First, the American Academy of Actuaries issued a report on “The National Flood Insurance Program: Challenges and Solutions.”  Those wild and crazy actuaries at the AAA certainly have a gift for understatement: Increased flooding due to higher sea levels can only increase the amount of loss from storms absent expensive investment in coastal defenses…
AIG Bows Out of the Pollution Legal Liability Market
Blog January 28, 2016
AIG Bows Out of the Pollution Legal Liability Market
On Tuesday, insurance giant AIG announced a major restructuring designed to make it a “more profitable and focused insurer.” Apparently as a result of these efforts to streamline and slim down, AIG has begun notifying holders of its Pollution Legal Liability insurance that it will no longer be underwriting new policies.  Existing policies will be honored, but renewal will not be available.  AIG will reportedly continue to write Contractors Pollution Liability and Environmental and General……
Be Careful With Pollution Insurance Coverage Disclosures How Conditions Actually Disclosed Were Deemed Not Disclosed
Blog September 10, 2014
Be Careful With Pollution Insurance Coverage Disclosures How Conditions Actually Disclosed Were Deemed Not Disclosed
A Massachusetts company learned the hard way that you need to pay close attention to policy endorsements when you negotiate them. In Market Forge Industries, Inc. v. Indian Harbor Insurance Company, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts held, in an unpublished decision, that a Pollution and Remediation Legal Liability Policy did not cover the costs of cleaning up certain pollution because the “Pollution Conditions” were not specifically listed in the “Known Conditions” endorsement…
What Triggers Excess Coverage In An Environmental Case: Not Necessarily the Payment of the Full Underlying Policy Limits
Blog September 02, 2014
What Triggers Excess Coverage In An Environmental Case: Not Necessarily the Payment of the Full Underlying Policy Limits
More and more excess insurers are taking the position that a policyholder which settles with primary or low level excess insurers for less than the full amount of the policy limits has waived its right to obtain coverage from any of the high level excess insurers.   A Texas appellate court recently rejected this position in Plantation Pipe Line Company v. Highlands Insurance Company in Receivership…
Absolute Pollution Exclusions Are Absolute When There Has Been Pollution
Blog July 02, 2014
Absolute Pollution Exclusions Are Absolute When There Has Been Pollution
Pollution exclusions first became routine in liability policies in the early 1970s.  After a decade of often unsuccessful litigation trying to enforce those exclusions, insurers introduced a so called absolute pollution exclusion into their commerical liability policies. Given that the language of absolute pollution exclusions has almost universally been found to be unambiguous, there has been a surprising amount of litigation on the subject.   What emerges from that litigation  is a……
Environmental Liability of Dissolved Corporations in Delaware is Forever
Blog December 11, 2013
Environmental Liability of Dissolved Corporations in Delaware is Forever
Ever since the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United, an effort has been made to humanize corporations, culminating in Mitt Romneys infamous pronouncement that Corporations are people my friend.  Now it turns out that corporations may not be entirely like people.  In a recent decision, the Delaware Court of Chancery in In the Matter of Krafft-Murphy Company, Inc…
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Blog Editors

ABOUT

In today’s fast changing world, almost all of us get our news – including our news about developments in environmental law and policy – electronically. This blog is not intended to be a substitute for the BNA™, or Greenwire™, or Google™, although we do hope that we will be able on occasion to let you know about issues that haven’t yet come to your attention.

What we really want to accomplish is to be able to provide some perspective on those developments. We’ll try to tell you which developments may matter to you. And why they matter. And how they matter. Whether you are a manufacturer or a power plant developer, whether you are a renewable energy developer or hoping to be a renewable energy consumer, whether you are a municipality or public agency or university, we want to comment on current issues in a way that is useful to you in your business.

Frankly, this blog also provides us with the opportunity to introduce you to Foley Hoag’s Environmental Practice Group. Our practice has been New England’s preeminent environmental practice for the past twenty years. We have the depth and capacity to handle the wide array of environmental issues that can arise in the course of your business. We will work with you to resolve any environmental issues that must be addressed in order for you to achieve your business goals – from permitting new projects to cost-effective cleanup of urban Brownfields properties to implementation of cost-effective due diligence in the support of acquisitions to navigating the emerging world of climate change regulations.

We will also assist you in the defense and prosecution of environmental litigation. As a result of our service to our clients, we have attained a national reputation in environmental matters. Our lawyers have built an impressive record resolving environmental disputes at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, and a number of our cases have produced precedents of national importance.

The scope of this blog will be commensurate with the scope of our practice. We’ll cover climate change, renewable energy, hazardous and solid waste, clean air and water, sustainability and green design. You name it, if it’s got an acronym attached to it, we’ll cover it.

As the headline indicates, we want to inform, update, comment, and discuss. In other words, while we’re going to enjoy posting, we’ll enjoy the blog more – and its usefulness will increase – if we hear from you also. Please comment on the blog entries. Let us know about developments we missed or implications of our discussions that we did not consider.

We look forward to the conversation.

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