Environmentally Speaking

This episode we are talking about Public Beach Access, what it means for people who property directly on the ocean or, adjacent to the setback to the ocean.  What does it mean when you live on a beach and you have people walking the shoreline picking seashells or laying on the beach in front of your house? Can they do that? Is it trespassing?  Take a listen to find out what you should do if this h...

This week we talk about Commercial Conveyances.  Unlike Residential Conveyances, like the ones we spoke about in episode ten, Commercial Conveyances are less tricky.  You would be surprised how many companies buy property without looking to see first if its contaminated.  So, who’s responsible for the cleanup?  Tune in to find out the anser to that question and many more.

We are talking about Residential Property Transactions. If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you know that as part of that transaction you must pay some hefty costs to both the attorney and to your lender.  Why?  It’s because if you’re borrowing money from a traditional lending institution the lending institution wants to make sure that their liability as it relates to the asset (the house) is no...

In this week’s episode, we are going to discuss freshwater wetlands. If you're dealing with freshwater wetlands here in Rhode Island, it’s the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management that regulates freshwater wetlands.  You should know that the state law that regulates freshwater wetlands is called the freshwater wetlands act. It talks about how the public policy of the state is to pre...

In this episode we are going to discuss Gray Water.  Gray water is a term that refers to water that comes from your bathroom sink, shower, washing machines.  It is used water, however, it doesn't contain  any sort of human excrement bacteria. why is that important and what can you do with "gray water".  Take a listen to find out what gray water can be used for.

Storm water, for those of you that don’t know what it is, is pretty much what it sounds like.  It’s water that flows after a storm. You have probably seen the catch basins in the road as you're driving along.  That is a storm water collection system that you’re looking at with that catch basin, the grates in the road. Its job is to collect the storm water from the street and divert it elsewhere.  ...

Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is a commission that's created by state law in Rhode Island. Specifically, they are mandated to supervise, regulate, and make written orders dealing with company conduct, which companies offer to the public energy communication and transportation services. Take a listen as we breakdown in more detail who the PUC is, the different bodies of it and how they make you...

In this episode you will hear from Karen who shares her experience as an intern at Desautel Law, what it meant to her and what her future plans are.

Superfund is, a colloquial term that the United States Environmental Protection Agency dubbed appropriate for a federal statute.   That federal statute is called the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act.  The acronym for that is CERCLA.  So when you hear someone talking about CERCLA, that’s the long name for that particular federal statute. Why superfund? Because par...

Public Notice is a way to keep the public informed and to ensure that the government is being transparent about topics that are not confidential and allows an opportunity for the public to be involved, to provide comment, to ask questions to a certain extent and give feedback on topics. Take a listen as we discuss Public Notice from an environmental context, who would be involved and what to look...

On this episode of environmentally speaking, Marisa and Clarice talk about the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and what to do if you get a notice of a violation. Marisa recommends that you first pay attention to any appeal rights that are contained in that notice. Listen to this episode to learn more.

This is actually a really important area of law because if you’re a corporate entity you have to register with the state that you’re doing business in and part of that registration process requires that you appoint something called a registered agent. Take a listen as we discuss in more detail what is a Registered Agent and why it's important for you to have one.