Donating Land To the State

A nonprofit conservation group has bought 66 acres of the Los Cerritos Wetlands in Long Beach and donated the property to the state, the first success in a decades-long attempt to buy and restore the entire 400-acre marsh and protect it from further development.

Read the rest. Quite interesting. I wonder, though, if the donation came with any strings on the state's uses of the land?

(There's a photo-tour of the bike trail from the San Gabriel Mountains down to the ocean here. I used to bike along a stretch of this myself, when I lived in the area.)

Tenant Pays for Agency Delays

The recent Trends newsletter published by the ABA environmental section highlighted Jaasma v. Shell Oil Co. 412 F.3d 501 (2005). The landlord leased the property to Shell with a remediation clause that upon termination of the lease, the property would be restored to its original condition.

The New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection was notified after contamination was found from a leaking tank. Shell remediated the site. However, it was over two full years later that the NJDEP isssued an NFA (no further action) letter. The landlord sought damages from the tenant for two years of unmarketability.

The lower court held that damages were not cognizable. Yet the Third Circuit ultimately held, even a clean sampling will not prevent damages assessment for agency delays outside party control.

Moral of the story?

Court's 2006-2007 Docket

Includes Environmental Defense, et al. v. Duke Energy Corp. (The 4th Circuit's June opinion has a nice little overview of the CAA.)

and,

Massachusetts, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al.

Examine the complete list.

Predictions, anyone?

Risking Pollinators

The Vanishing [Bee]

Very interesting article on beekeeping in America, their importance as pollinators for crops, and their slow decline, in part due to pesticide use.

Climate Change College

article at Treehugger.com about the project

Climate Change College. In the FAQ, Ben & Jerry's describes the project as "a unique interactive partnership between an NGO, business and polar exploration team." This year's participants will be drawn from the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Germany. Students do Arctic research (on-site!!) and get advocacy training both online and at a weekend conference. They become ambassadors for the WWF, especially the PowerSwitch campaign, which promotes use of renewable energy.

DDT and child development

Although banned in the US, DDT is still used in developing nations. According to the BBC|News, a recent report indicates child development problems associated with exposure to the pesticide, already linked to low birth weight and premature birth.

The researchers tested the mental and physical skills of the women's babies at six, 12 and 24 months using established tests to measure the children's development.

For each tenfold increase in DDT levels measured in the mother, the team found a corresponding two to three-point decrease in the children's mental development scores at 12 and 24 months.

Children with the highest DDT exposures in the womb were associated with a seven to 10-point decrease in test scores, compared to the lowest exposures.

When the children's physical skills were measured, there were two-point decreases in children's scores at six and 12 months for each tenfold increase in DDT levels in the mothers.

Malaria and mosquito control is a critical issue in many parts of the world. How do you conscientiously protect your population from malaria without damaging the minds and bodies of your youngest citizens?