May 05, 2006
Superfund: "A Dark Legacy's Impact"
You will need to click at two points to bring it up, but here's the on-line version of our firms' sixth and final "Waterlawged" column this year for the tony glamour periodical Water and Wastewater Products Magazine about groundwater contamination and the federal Superfund law. Pretty gothic but apt title, and not the one we chose, as I recall--but you get the idea. Superfund, or CERLCA, deals with abandoned hazardous waste sites. It's not a humorous topic--nor should it be--but I did my best to make it interesting and at points entertaining enough so that more readers than just environmental lawyers and chemical engineers could get through it.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 21, 2006
Clean Water Act Argument in SC Today: So What Are "Waters of the U.S." These Days, Anyway?
See today's WSJ Law Blog. If your firm does any environmental law, you may know know that two critical companion cases were argued today on the reach of the 33-year-old federal Clean Water Act in a test of the new U.S. Supreme Court. I almost forgot about this--probably because it was such a strange development (no pun), I was in denial the case even got as far as it did. In the two cases, developers are challenging the federal government's authority to regulate (and protect) wetlands.
Simply put, the question is: will wetlands or any other waterways which you can't float a boat in still fall under the jurisdiction of the federal Clean Water Act? If the answer is "no"--i.e., wetlands and certain smaller tributaries to navigable waters are now suddenly "out"--the Clean Water Act and much of its jurisprudence is changed forever unless Congress steps in. Although the case affects many U.S. businesses and persons from diverse political camps in different ways, it's in many ways a straightforward Environmentalists v. U.S. Business dispute. Also see the Associated Press's coverage of the argument.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 04, 2006
Diversion: "Has the NRDC Gone Hollywood?"
While my firm is involved in several practices areas focused on larger businesses--ranging from employment practices to international tax to IP--my law practice over the past 20 years has focused on commercial litigation and regulatory disputes. And for many years a lot of that focused on environmental law and energy law--as many of our clients have a connection with fossil fuels. In writing a bi-monthly column for an environmental magazine of Dallas-based Stevens Publishing called (brace yourself) Water and Wastewater Products Magazine, I developed a new respect for my clients' sworn "enemy"--especially on clean water and NPDES issues--the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The WWP Magazine column's fourth installment, an article entitled "Has the NRDC Gone Hollywood?", is a snapshot of two things: (1) the NRDC on the eve of celebrating its 35th birthday, and (2) Hollywood put to its very best political and public service uses. Since 1970, the NRDC has been a boutique of first-rate "pro-environment" environmental lawyers. But in addition to the group's substantive achievements in the environmental field, I was impressed with how the NRDC uses the cult of celebrity and celebrity money to effectively advance its increasingly mainstream agenda. This gets done in large part through its LA office, which I visited in the Fall at The Robert Redford Building ("the greenest building in America") in Santa Monica.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack