Archive for the ‘Environmental Law’ Category

Save the Peak: An Effort to Protect the Hollywood Sign

Monday, March 1st, 2010

There is a certain allure to the Hollywood sign.  Looming over Los Angeles in the center of what many Angelinos think is Griffith Park, it is a monument to one of the States’ greatest and most illustrious industry: moviemaking.

From: LAist's 'therealquarrygirl' on Flickr

The 138-acre parcel of land to the west of the sign was purchased in the 1940s by Howard Hughes as a gift for his fiancée, Ginger Rogers, with plans to build an estate on the Peak.  The plans fell apart, together with the relationship.  But, Hughes, and later his estate held on to the land until 2002 when a Chicago real estate investment group purchased the land and secured rights to build luxury estates on the Peak.   When the parcel was offered for sale in 2008 for $22 million, the Trust for Public Land got involved.

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Midnight dumping and other environmental crimes: It’s all about the money

Monday, February 15th, 2010

First off, happy Presidents Day! I hope you all have a chance to commemorate this federal holiday with a day off from work to catch up on your Daily Tackle entry reading.

I bet few, if any of you, knew that polluting can send a person to jail, right?  Or that a corporation can be found guilty of committing environmental crimes?

Recently, a New Hampshire man plead guilty to lying to federal regulators, after the U.S. EPA discovered that in the course of his employment as an environmental coordinator at Aero Dynamics Inc., a company that performs metal finishing and metal plating for military and commercial uses, either falsified or underreported pollutant content of the company’s wastewater discharge in its Clean Water Act reports. According to U.S. Attorney John Kacavas, he is to be sentenced in April, 2010, and can face a maximum of 5 year imprisonment. He’s not alone in being charged with an environmental crime.  See the recent developments in other cases here, here,  and here.

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Fighting the Green Fight…By Investing?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I’m a bit of a treehugger.  I even have the pictures to prove it.  *wink*  But, how do I translate that interest in green causes and sustainable development into my less than altruistic motivation in investing my savings?  After all, I want to ensure that I actually make some money while investing.

If you invest, let’s talk investment strategy.  How do you decide where your money goes?  Do you have an articulated investment philosophy? Does that philosophy seek to maximize your profits while at the same time maximizing social good?

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Seeds of Hope or Seeds of Destruction?

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

From: Scientific American

In 2005, a federal judge halted the planting and sale of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa to hear arguments about whether the ban should stay in place while the government carries out an environmental impact statement (EIS) into the likelihood that bees will carry human-modified genes from one alfalfa field to another. This was one of many cases filed in an effort to prevent Monsanto from selling genetically modified seeds of alfalfa marketed under the Roundup Ready brand.

>> NPR reports about the genetically modified debate.

Now, flash forward to 2009. Having conducted its first ever EIS on genetically engineered products, the USDA released its draft EIS on December 14, 2009, and opened it to a 60-day public comment period.

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A Fishy Invasion

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Asian Carp

Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court (”SCOTUS”, for the uninitiated) denied a preliminary injunction sought by a coalition of Great Lakes states against Illinois to close navigation locks in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in an effort to curb the spread of the Asian Carp, an invasive fish species, into the Great Lakes. Issuing just a one-sentence opinion, SCOTUS denied the injunction while leaving open the possibility of a more thorough evaluation of the situation under Michigan’s petition to reopen a 1920s water diversion case.
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Murky Waters: Do you know where your water is sourced?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Every day, we are inundated with messages about the choices we make when it comes to nourishing our bodies.  So, have you thought about the water that you drink?  Do you prefer bottled or tap?  Can you tell the difference between the two?   When you’re thirsty, do you head for the nearest convenience store with its selection of branded bottled water?  Or, do you head for the sink to get some tap water?  Do you filter your tap water?  Does it matter?

From: www.hijackjones.com

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Posted in Environmental Law, Tap Water, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Environmental Law: Cape Wind, Cape Fear

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

New England is generally regarded as eco-friendly. Remember Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court case that ensured that the federal environmental protection agency regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants?  The majority of the petitioners in that case were New England states and cities.  How is it, then, that a wind farm proposed off the New England coast which could power more than 420,000 households, is opposed so vociferously?

Enter a coalition of wealthy homeowners, a powerful lobby group, politicians and business owners with definite, self-motivated interests.  Enter NIMBYism.

From: Edinformatics.com

From: Edinformatics.com

NIMBY is just one of a number of acronyms used in a belittling way to describe opponents of building projects or infrastructure developments. Most often, community groups will lobby to oppose the siting of a nuclear energy plant, a prison, or a landfill.  Here, the group opposing this green energy development project is composed of the recently deceased Sen. Edward Kennedy and William Cronkite, Sen. John Kerry, and a wind farm opposition group called the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound funded by Bill Koch, Doug Yearley , and other wealthy denizens of these summertime beach communities.

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