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McGregor Publishes Environmental Law Update 2024-2025 Featured

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McGregor Publishes Environmental Law Update 2024-2025

Firm founder and senior partner Gregor McGregor this year has prepared his annual survey of environmental law developments in PowerPoint form. It will be further updated throughout the current year. It covers federal, Massachusetts, and municipal court cases, laws, regulations, policies, and enforcement.

You may access the slide archive in our Reading Room's Slideshows area, at Environmental Law Slideshows - Wetlands Permits & Protection, Stormwater, Coastal Laws, Public Lands Preservation Act, Article 97

Mr. McGregor presented his survey to the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) Annual Environmental Conference (AEC) on March 1, 2025, and again will present it to a Real Estate Bar Association (REBA) for Massachusetts webinar on April 17, 2025, to the Massachusetts Society of Municipal Conservation Professionals (MSMCP) in April, and to the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Municipal Law Conference on May 21, 2025, co-hosted with the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA).

This year’s 20 topics in the 2024-2025 update are:

  • Chevron Deference to Agencies Overturned in the Federal Courts
  • Article 97: The Public Lands Preservation Act (Open Space Act)
  • Cape Cod Septic Systems Versus Stressed Watersheds (Title 5)
  • Environmental Justice: Federal and Massachusetts Law Changes
  • MBTA Communities Zoning Upheld by SJC and Towns Comply
  • Trump Executive Order on NEPA Regulations/Expedited Permits
  • PFAS: Expanding Regulations Under Federal and State Law
  • Prior Public Use Doctrine: MA Law on Care and Control of Land
  • State Stormwater Handbook and Standards Under Revision
  • MA Coastal Floodplain Rules: Sea Changes in Law Imminent
  • Law of Land Dedication For Conservation in Massachusetts
  • Third Permit Extension Act Passed For Local and State Permits
  • Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) Are Now Legal As of Right
  • New Standing and Bond Requirements in Abutter Zoning Appeals
  • Solar Zoning Law and Cases Seriouly Limit Municipal Controls
  • Supreme Court Sheetz Decision: Impacts Fees As Regulatory Taking
  • Major Changes To The Merger Doctrine Under State Zoning
  • Regulatory Freeze of Buidling Permits, Special Permits & SPR
  • Affordable Homes Acts Makes Several Other Changes in MA Law
  • Brookline Home Rule Ban on Smoking Products Upheld by SJC

Mr. McGregor is available should you wish to present his Environmental Law Update to your organization meeting or webinar.

We encourage membership in and support of MACC maccweb.org, REBA reba.net, MSMCP msmcp.org, MCLE mcle.org, and MMLA massmunilaw.org.

 

Read 165 times Last modified onMonday, 31 March 2025 16:12
Published in Environmental Law
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Gregor I. McGregor, Esq.

GREGOR I. McGREGOR, Esq. is the founder and principal of New England’s oldest environmental law firm, McGregor Legere & Stevens PC., formed in 1975.

The firm handles all aspects of environmental law, land use, real estate, energy, and related litigation. Mr. McGregor enjoys Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys (AV).

In over 50 years of legal practice, Mr. McGregor's court cases created precedents on Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), wetland and floodplain law under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, hazardous waste cleanup liability and cost-recovery under the Massachusetts Superfund, reduced taxes for land conservation transactions, Article 97 open space and parkland protection, Home Rule environmental ordinances and bylaws of cities and towns, court enforcement remedies, and the constitutional doctrine of Regulatory Takings.

Before 1975, Mr. McGregor was an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and the first chief of the Attorney General’s Division of Environmental Protection. In that capacity he advised and represented the Commonwealth during the formative years of Massachusetts environmental statutes, agencies, regulations, enforcement and cases in court.

Mr. McGregor is editor of the two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE). He is co-chair of MCLE’s annual Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Law Conference and MCLE’s Real Estate and Environmental Law Curriculum Advisory Committee. He received from MCLE in 2013 its Scholar-Mentor Award recognizing his dedication to legal scholarship and leadership.

Mr. McGregor co-chairs the Environmental and Renewable Energy Law Section of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA) and serves as a member of the REBA Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA), which honored him for his career contributions and advocacy on the Home Rule Doctrine. At a National CLE Conference in Vail, CO, Mr. McGregor for many years co-chaired an annual seminar on Environmental Law, Land Use, Energy & Litigation for attorneys from across the United States.

The firm is a founding member of the Environmental Law Network (ELN), an alliance of specialty law firms, in the United States and abroad, sharing legal expertise and practical experience for the benefit of their clients.

Mr. McGregor is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

View Attorney McGregor's Case List >>

 

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