On March 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a very significant decision affecting the administration of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). The Court held that an administrative compliance order issued by the EPA under the CWA is a final agency action that is subject to judicial review. This decision establishes a new precedent in that property owners may now immediately challenge a CWA order in the courts rather than choosing to either comply with the order or wait for EPA to bring an enforcement action while accruing penalties in the meantime. However, the reach of the decision beyond the CWA may be limited. read more
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Earlier this year, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer published a report entitled “Rooftop Revolution,” which proposes to install solar panels on the rooftops of New York City public school buildings. The report estimates that installing solar panels on all of NYC’s public school roofs that could support them would increase solar capacity in the five boroughs by over 2,500 percent, eliminate approximately 76,696 tons of carbon from the air each year (the equivalent of planting over 400,000 trees), and could create an estimated 5,423 green collar jobs. read more
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