Environmental brief ~ European Commission approves changes to draft chemicals bill

News

Environmental brief ~ European Commission approves changes to draft chemicals bill

November 16, 2005 03:52:00 pm

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, the European Commission [official website] has agreed to amend the draft version of the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals Act (REACH) [EU backgrounder] to limit some of the chemicals that would have to be tested when produced in, or imported to, the EU in small quantities. REACH is scheduled for a vote in the European Parliament [official website] on Thursday. Reuters has more.

In other environmental law news…

Maine's Attorney General [official website] is investigating negotiations between the Maine Department of Environmental Protection [official website] and private paper companies regarding water quality standards. The negotiations took place in private, and may have violated Maine's Freedom of Access Act [text] which requires that regulatory standards be subject to public review and that records be available to the public. The Portland Press Herald has more.

Tojo and other Japanese WWII leaders executed for war crimes

On December 23, 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed for war crimes in Tokyo.

Learn more about the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.

Terry Nichols convicted for Oklahoma City bombing

On December 23, 1997, Terry Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter for assisting Timothy McVeigh in bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He was later sentenced to life in prison. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh detonated a truck bomb that gutted the building and killed 168 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on US. soil until the attacks of September 11, 2001. McVeigh was convicted for his role before Nichols on June 2, 1997. Learn more about the trials of Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.