Also known as: environmental laws · env. law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The field of law dealing with the maintenance and protection of the environment. It encompasses federal, state, and local laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances relating to environmental protection, including requirements for inspections, abatement of violations, and assignment of liability for harm.
Evergreen Bank serves as trustee of a trust holding industrial property. A tenant's operations cause hazardous waste to leak into groundwater, triggering an enforcement action under environmental statutes. Because the bank took no part in the tenant's activities and exercised no personal control over the polluting conduct, it faces no personal liability for the violation.
Elena Estrada owns beachfront lots she purchased for residential construction. State environmental rules enacted after her purchase bar all building to protect dunes and prevent erosion. The rules leave the lots without any economically beneficial use, prompting a claim that the restrictions exceed regulatory authority.
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A trustee faces personal liability for a violation of environmental law only when the trustee is personally at fault. Mere ownership or control of the property does not trigger liability absent personal wrongdoing.
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A trustee may inspect trust property for environmental compliance, take steps to prevent or remedy violations, decline to accept burdened property, compromise claims, and pay related expenses.
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Corporate officers must promptly report material information about potential environmental violations to senior management or the board. Failure to escalate credible reports of unlawful discharges can breach the duty to keep decision makers informed.
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…of law that "straddles the legal universe, virtually defies synthesis, and generates case law to suit every taste." W. Rodgers, Environmental Law § 2.4, p. 48 (1986) (footnotes omitted). The Court itself has noted that "nuisance concepts" are "often vague and indeterminate." Milwaukee v. Illinois , 451 U. S. 304, 317…