Environmental brief ~ OSHA sets new hexavalent chromium limits News
Environmental brief ~ OSHA sets new hexavalent chromium limits

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) [official website] has issued [press release] a new rule that lowers the acceptable level of hexavalent chromium [OSHA backgrounder] that can be present in a workplace. Previously, the acceptable level was 52 micrograms per cubic meter of air, per a rule originally issued in 1971. Under the new rule [PDF text, regulatory text], the allowable limit is now 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Hexavalent chromium exposure occurs most often to welders, steelworkers and jewelers, and is linked to lung cancer. AP has more.

In other environmental law news…

  • The Royal Dutch Shell Company [corporate website] has appealed [press release] a ruling by the Nigerian federal high court in Port Harcourt that found the company must pay $1.5 billion to local Ijaw [Wikipedia profile] aboriginal communities for alleged environmental damage. Shell maintains that there is no evidence to support the pollution claims. AFP has more.
  • The New Jersey Assembly Committee on Environment and Solid Waste [official website] approved a bill [text] Monday that would eliminate the statute of limitations for certain environmental crimes. Currently the statute of limitations is 10 years from the date of discovery. The Gloucester County Times has more.
THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.