Kenneth Warren of Warren Environmental Counsel. Courtesy photoA Risk-Based Approach to Protect Communities
The Framework encourages EPA programs to consider the totality of exposures to chemical and nonchemical stressors affecting human health and the environment, together with vulnerabilities and susceptibilities that may increase the likelihood that exposures will result in illness or other injuries. By engaging with communities and considering the cumulative effects of an action on the exposed population, the EPA can best protect citizens from environmental injuries.
December 09, 2024 at 01:48 PM
7 minute read
Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment its Interim Framework for Advancing Consideration of Cumulative Impacts. The Framework encourages EPA programs to consider the totality of exposures to chemical and nonchemical stressors affecting human health and the environment, together with vulnerabilities and susceptibilities that may increase the likelihood that exposures will result in illness or other injuries. By engaging with communities and considering the cumulative effects of an action on the exposed population, the EPA can best protect citizens from environmental injuries.
The Framework does not identify the legal basis for requiring cumulative impact analysis. As I discussed in my January 2022 column for The Legal Intelligencer, few environmental statutes expressly authorize agencies to consider cumulative impacts. Hence disadvantaged communities and administrative agencies at times rely upon civil rights laws for support. On the federal level, this ground has become more tenuous.
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J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
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Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
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