Environmental brief ~ Canada unveils plan to improve native drinking water News
Environmental brief ~ Canada unveils plan to improve native drinking water

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, Canadian Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice [official website] announced [press release] a new plan to improve drinking water in "First Nation communities," i.e., Indian reservations. The plan includes mandatory training [backgrounder] for treatment plant operators and standards [PDF text] for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and monitoring of First Nation community water systems. The Canadian Press has more.

In other environmental law news…

  • The Yankee Atomic Electric Co. [corporate website] has agreed [EPA press release] to pay $48,750 to settle EPA claims that it violated the Toxic Substances Control Act [EPA backgrounder] by improperly disposing of steel coated with PCB-contaminated paint during the cleanup of the decommissioned Yankee nuclear power plant [corporate website].
  • Representatives from the India Ministry of Environment [official website] and the Pakistan Ministry of Environment [official website] met Tuesday with the purpose of promoting and establishing cooperation on environmental matters between the two nations. The talks were part of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission, which met for the first time in 17 years. The outcome of the talks will be reviewed by the foreign secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi India on July 20. PTI has more.
  • The Oklahoma Senate [official website] has allowed a bill [RTF text] to expire on the legislative calendar that would have stopped animal wastes from being considered as hazardous material under state law. Supporters of the bill, including the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, argued that animal waste, including feces and carcasses, should not be legally considered as hazardous waste. Critics of the bill maintain that some of the materials found in the waste is toxic and should be treated as hazardous, and that the bill was designed to protect poultry companies from improper disposal charges. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 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.