Problem 1
a) What federal statutes did Mr. Bankfiend violate in connection with each of the two restoration projects discussed above?
There are three main federal statutes that can be applied to this situation. The statutes are: 1)
Clean Water Act (CWA), 2) Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and, 3) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Clean Water Act
CWA § 402
In order to violate Section 402, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant discharged a pollutant into navigable waters from a point source without a permit. Given that Mr. Bankfiend was an investment banker and had no knowledge or experience in running a hotel or a fishing outing business, it seems that he did not apply for a NPDES permit.
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So, the entrance hall expansion project is not in violation of Section 402. But, the second project did have leaching into Middle Fork, which is considered a navigable water because it is a river owned by the USA and not a private entity.
The term pollutants can be defined as dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. The leaching of chemicals from the timbers can be categorized under chemical wastes (from timbers) into the pollutant category. These chemicals have also altered the integrity of the water since it has shown to decrease the fish population in Middle Fork. In addition to this, the gasoline can also be considered a conventional pollutant since it is related to oil and it alters the physical integrity of the water by creating a sheen.
The term point source means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. Also, the point source need not be the original source of the pollutant and it embodies the broadest possible definition of any identifiable conveyance. In
3b) When following the procedures outlined in Question 3a above, are there any legal requirements to consider?
Discuss the alternate FTC analysis that is applied to such cases if they are suspect but not found to be per se illegal.
Pollution of Lake Huron has been over the years either through direct point sources or through non-point indirect sources (Saxena 1116). Direct point sources include sewage treatment firms and industries, which direct their wastes directly into Lake Huron and its tributaries. Nonpoint sources indirectly pollute water from the Lake, and majorly caused by man's activities and land policies applied by the man.
2. Is there evidence of disparate impact against African Americans in the decisions that were made? On what basis did you arrive at this position? Illustrate how the “80 percent rule” can be used with the data in Exhibit 3.2.1 and whether there was a violation of this rule.
The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972 (EPA). This act is so important because it helped make it illegal, without a permit, to dump pollutants in navigable water. industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters. (EPA) The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA, is an act that helps clean up hazardous waste. . The act was passed with a budget of 1.6 billion dollars to be used to clean up the hazardous waste from spills or hazardous waste sites (gale). The support for the fund came from a tax that was put on chemical feedstock producers. CERCLA is different from most environmental laws because it deals with past problems rather than trying to prevent future pollution, and because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in addition to acting as a regulatory agency, must clean up sites itself. (Gale) Under the law, the EPA determines the most dangerous hazardous waste sites, based on characteristics like toxicity of wastes and risk of human exposure, and places them on the National Priorities
**c. If there is a conflict between a state statute and a federal statute, the federal statute
In the Lucas case property was purchased on the costal area of South Carolina. When Lucas purchased the property he had the intent to build single-family homes. Under the understand of the regulation that he could not build with in three- hundred feet form the
DISCUSSION: Commissioner Everett introduced those present in regards to Jack Robinson and Randy Edie’s concerns regarding access to their property, which they feel is obstructed by a gate along State Dam Rd. (installed by Warwick Township) to the entrance of Trenton Heritage Park. Also present were Philip Knisely, Warwick Township Trustee, Dan Heter, property owner, and Matt Durbin, leasee of county property (pays taxes on the property and maintains the levy).
6 and 7 in Beaumont I, the Hearing Officer did not specify a time line for BISD’s completion of any assessments or compensatory services.” (emphasis added) Petitioner’s statement support the District’s position that the assessments were orders as relief in the Beaumont I final decision and order. The ordered assessments in the areas of ABLLS, FBA, and FIEs were relief ordered by the Hearing Officer as Orders 6 and 7. Therefore, an allegation that the District was delayed in providing the assessments is on its face an allegation that the District failed to comply with Orders 6 and 7 in Beaumont
against an EPA compliance order until the case was brought to the US district court first, then
b) What potential claims does the Keith family have against Mr. Bankfiend under common law and/or the federal environmental statutes that we have discussed so far in class?
such as oil rigs and other major sources of chemical pollution from industries. Water samples from this region showed increased
In 2012, a marine project manager called Bellingham Marine Inc. (“Bellingham”) hired Major Engineering Marine Inc. (“Major”) for a project to build a travel lift pier at a harbor. Bellingham then hired a civil engineering firm, Moffatt & Nichol
In order to violate Section 402, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant discharged a pollutant into navigable waters from a point source without a permit. Given that Mr. Bankfiend was an investment banker and had no knowledge or experience in running a hotel or a fishing outing business, it seems that he did not apply for a NPDES permit. Also, the given facts do not show that he had applied for such permit. So, it is assumed from these details that Mr. Bankfiend was
The largest source of contamination is runoff from land. Toxic runoff can be sewage, rainwater flowing over exposed topsoil, flooding or agricultural runoff. Rain can cause runoff of chemicals or waste that can seep into creeks, rivers and other waterways that lead to the ocean. Some of the chemicals found could be antibiotics or waste from animals, pesticides from crops or from pollutants, originating in the air, which have settled on land and washed away. Unless a solution to pollution runoff is found, this type of contamination will continue indefinitely and contribute to the deterioration of the ecosystem in the