Questions We Can Help You To Answer
Paper instructions:
GatorSave Fights Drover Corporation in the Everglades: Compliance with State Environmental Regulations
Writing Assignment
The Tucciarone Law passed by an overwhelming majority in the Florida legislature. It will go into effect on January 1, 2016. You are a first year associate at the law firm Shewer & Smith, LLP, which represents Drover Corporation. The managing partner has asked you to prepare a memorandum for Drover Corporation outlining whether and how the Tucciarone Law affects the Drover Corporation and what changes the law might require in the way Drover carries out its manufacturing business.
In your memorandum, please address the following questions:
(1) May Drover continue its current manufacturing process? May Drover continue disposing of its heavy-metal waste in the same manner it has been doing? Explain your answer.
(2) What effect, if any, does the Tucciarone Law have on Drover’s contractual relationship with Florida Waste Land, Inc.? Explain your answer.
Instructions for Writing Assignments
1. Each writing assignment must be between 250 and 400 words, or between one and two pages.
2. Assignments must be double-spaced, using Times New Roman and a 12-point font.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GatorSave Fights Drover Incorporated in the Everglades
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. Drover Corporation (“Drover”) is a U.S. business incorporated in the state of Delaware. Its principal place of business is in Miami, Florida. Although Drover had multiple options for its headquarters around the USA, it settled on Miami when Dade County (where Miami is located) offered Drover real estate tax incentives to build its corporate headquarters in Miami. Drover is engaged in manufacturing heavy-duty diesel engines for trucks. Drover employs 250 people at its Miami headquarters and an additional 3,000 people in four manufacturing facilities, built throughout Florida between 2001 and 2010. Two of the manufacturing facilities are located near the Florida Everglades.
2. The process of manufacturing diesel engines results in heavy metal waste. Drover currently spends $55 million per year to dispose of the heavy metal waste in compliance with all federal and state heavy-metal waste disposal regulations, which include placing the waste in special barrels and disposing of it in specially designed waste sites. In 2011, Drover signed a five-year contract with Florida Waste Land Incorporated (“FWL, Inc.). Under this contract, FWL, Inc. transports the waste barrels from Drover manufacturing facilities for storage at its waste sites throughout Florida.
3. Since Drover signed the contract with FWL, Inc., newer, cleaner manufacturing technology for the production of diesel engines with little to no heavy metal byproducts has become available. Drover has deferred upgrading to this technology because it will cost over $250 million to retrofit its facilities.
4. The Everglades are tropic wetlands in Florida and home to a great diversity of flora and fauna. Last year, the Miami Herald (“Herald”) newspaper ran an in-depth investigative story about how alligators were dying in the Everglades in unprecedented numbers. The investigative report quoted a zoologist as saying, “The scientific community is shocked that no one knows what is causing these alligator deaths.” The Herald also quoted a geologist who said that she detected “alarmingly high” levels of heavy metal waste in the water of the Everglades over the past decade.
5. After this news broke, GatorSave, a Florida based NGO, began expending considerable efforts to clean up the Everglades and save the alligators. Although they were originally met with resistance, GatorSave continued lobbying the Florida legislature. A bill that would have tightened environmental regulations around the Everglades narrowly failed. A legislator with a strong background in environmental safety said shortly after the bill’s defeat, “The big businesses in the area have too much influence on the decisions we make for the people of Florida. For instance, Drover Incorporated sent a lobbyist to every legislator in Florida, trying to convince us why regulations would be bad for business and that regulations would drive Drover Incorporated outside of Florida.”
6. GatorSave continued fighting. Although GatorSave knew it could never convince the Florida legislature to ban manufacturing that produces heavy metals, it fought to regulate heavy metal waste as much as possible. As a result, the Florida Legislature is set to introduce Bill 49-103, titled the Tucciarone Law. The stated purpose of the Tucciarone Law is “to limit pollution of the ground and waterways of Florida in order to preserve our natural heritage.”
ATTACHMENTS:
(A) Florida waste disposal statute;
(B) Federal Clean Water Act;
(C) Excerpt from the proposed Tucciarone Law.
ATTACHMENT A: Florida Waste Disposal Statute
§ 403.062. Pollution control; underground, surface, and coastal waters
The department of environmental protection and its agents shall have general control and supervision over underground water, lakes, rivers, streams, canals, ditches, and coastal waters under the jurisdiction of the state insofar as their pollution may affect the public health or impair the interest of the public or persons lawfully using them.
Transnational Legal Practice I
Fall 2015
Role Play | September 10, 2015
ATTACHMENT B: Federal Clean Water Act
33 U.S.C. § 1251
§ 1251. Congressional declaration of goals and policy
(b) Congressional recognition, preservation, and protection of primary responsibilities and rights of States. It is the policy of the Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution, to plan the development and use (including restoration, preservation, and enhancement) of land and water resources, and to consult with the Administrator in the exercise of his authority under this Act . . . . It is further the policy of the Congress to support and aid research relating to the prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution, and to provide Federal technical services and financial aid to State and interstate agencies and municipalities in connection with the prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution.
Code of Federal Regulations: Provision Regarding Disposal of Heavy Metals
40 CFR §261.30
Provision Regarding Disposal of Heavy Metal Waste
Heavy metal waste (as defined in Appendix A to this section)* shall be disposed of in a manner and method that complies with the standards listed in the EPA Guide to Disposing of Hazardous Waste (outlining the specific requirements for handling, disposing, and storing hazardous waste).
*The list in Appendix A includes the heavy-metal byproducts produced by Drover’s manufacturing process.
Transnational Legal Practice I
Fall 2015
Role Play | September 10, 2015
ATTACHMENT C: Excerpt from the proposed Tucciarone Law
§809.148 . Compliance with Federal Law
All heavy metal waste, classified as hazardous waste in 40 CFR §261.30, Appendix A, must be contained and transported in a manner consistent with EPA regulations, specifically EPA Guide to Disposing of Hazardous Waste (outlining the strict requirements for handling, disposing, and storing hazardous waste).
§ 809.149. Disposal Outside of Florida
No barrels containing heavy metal waste classified as a hazardous waste in 40 CFR §261.30 may be disposed of or permanently stored in the state of Florida.
§ 809.150. Effective Date of this Law; Safe Harbor Provision
Any barrels already disposed of or in storage in the state of Florida, complying with EPA regulations prior to the enactment of the Tucciarone Law, may remain where they are and are not subject to the Tucciarone Law. Any new barrels containing heavy metal waste, contained after the enactment of the Tucciarone Law, shall comply with §809.148 and §809.149, and shall not be disposed of or stored in the state of Florida.
