Environmental brief ~ DC council votes down ban on hazmat train loads News
Environmental brief ~ DC council votes down ban on hazmat train loads

[JURIST] In Wednesday's environmental law news, the Washington DC City Council yesterday rejected a bill that would have barred railroads from transporting hazardous materials on the district's rail lines. While many hazmat loads have been routed around DC since September 11, 2001, a complete ban by the city officials may have prompted a Constitutional challenge for unilaterally restricting interstate commerce. The Washington Post has more.

In other news, the National Marine Fisheries Service seeks comments on a proposed rule that would implement new management practices and seasonal netting restrictions for fisheries on the mid-Atlantic coast in order to reduce the incidental taking of bottlenose dolphins. The rule would also help protect sea turtles through a variety of additional fishing restrictions. The rule is proposed in accordance to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Comments can be made until February 8, 2005 here…. The EPA seeks comments on a final rule that sets tolerance limits for the pesticide hexythiazox and its metabolites on field corn grain, fodder and stover. The levels are set in accordance to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and will expire on December 31, 2007. Objections and hearing requests on the rule, which becomes effective immediately, can be made until January 10, 2005 here…. The EPA also seeks comments on a final rule that sets tolerance limits for the herbicide glyphosate and various glyphosate salts on ginned cotton products and undelinted cotton seed. The tolerance levels take effect immediately. Objections and hearing requests can be made until January 10, 2005 here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.