RACER Trust

The Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust ("RACER Trust" or "RACER") Trust was created in March 2011 by a Settlement Agreement in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. RACER's mission is to clean up and position for redevelopment properties and other facilities owned by the former General Motors Corporation (“GMC”, “Old GM”) before its Chapter 11 reorganization. Its predecessor, Motors Liquidation Company ("MLC") was created to manage and hold the assets of Old GM before the bankruptcy was complete. MLC was carved into four separate trusts; the first to settle the claims of unsecured creditors (), the second (RACER) to handle environmental response for MLC's remaining assets, a third to handle present and future asbestos-related claims, and a fourth for litigation claims.
At its inception, RACER's portfolio included properties at 89 locations in 14 states, comprising 358 individual parcels and more than 7,000 acres of primarily industrial land, making RACER one of the largest holders of industrial property in the United States. When it was formed, RACER was the largest environmental response and remediation trust in U.S. history.
RACER is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Its administrative trustee is Elliott P. Laws, a former assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a partner in the law firm Crowell & Moring. The Bankruptcy Court appointed Mr. Laws to a five-year term as administrative trustee when RACER was established in 2011. He was reappointed to a second term in 2016 and a third term in 2021.
The Settlement Agreement assigns RACER three basic roles regarding former GM properties. First, for those properties with environmental issues, RACER manages and funds the environmental cleanup. Second, RACER manages the properties while they are owned by RACER. Third, RACER has authority to “try to sell or transfer [its] Properties ... with the objective they be put to productive or beneficial use.”
RACER is not a government entity but rather an independent trust.
GMC Bankruptcy.
On June 1, 2009, General Motors Corporation and three wholly owned direct or indirect subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11, Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. On October 9, 2009, Remediation and Liability Management Company, Inc. (“REALM”) and Environmental Corporate Remediation Company, Inc. (“ENCORE”) each filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court.
On July 5, 2009, the Bankruptcy Court approved the sale of assets, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 363, to NGMCO, Inc. (“Newco”), now known as General Motors Company (“New GM”). Following the sale of assets, General Motors Corporation was renamed Motors Liquidation Company
(“MLC”). As part of the sale of assets, GMC excluded from the sale certain real property and personal property it owned. On March 31, 2011, these excluded properties were transferred to the newly formed RACER Trust.
Parties to the Environmental Response Trust Consent Decree and Settlement Agreement (Case No. 09-50026 [REG]) included MLC, REALM, and ENCORE (collectively the “debtors”); the United States of America; the states of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin; the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection; and the Department of Environmental Protection for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (collectively the “States”); the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; and EPLET, LLC, not individually but solely in its representative capacity as Administrative Trustee of RACER Trust.
RACER Trust Properties.
When GMC was renamed as MLC, its portfolio included properties at 89 locations in 14 U.S. states. These properties totaled more than 7,100 acres of land and nearly 40 million square feet of structural area. At the time MLC's assets were transferred to RACER Trust, MLC had sold six properties outright and a portion of a seventh. While RACER Trust was conveyed the remaining properties, it was transferred the environmental cleanup and monitoring responsibilities of all properties that required environmental remediation and long-term monitoring, regardless of whether the property had changed ownership. Sixty of the properties carried environmental obligations, four of which were sold or partially sold by MLC prior to RACER Trust's creation.
RACER Trust Redevelopment Mission.
RACER begins the redevelopment process for new job-creating uses by meeting with local elected officials, community leaders and economic development organizations, with a goal of understanding the local community's common vision for the optimal re-use of each location. Based on this common vision, RACER determines how best to market the property for sale to prospective buyers. Following these initial steps, RACER published detailed marketing brochures and documents describing the terms for purchase, formally opening the marketing process.
Offers for purchase are evaluated by RACER against six criteria set forth in the Settlement Agreement that resulted in RACER's creation. RACER also may consider additional factors, in its sole discretion, when assessing whether these criteria have been best satisfied by a particular offer. While purchase price will be evaluated, RACER also must consider each offer's ability to create jobs and generate new economic opportunity in the communities hurt by the GM bankruptcy.
RACER strongly prefers buyers who have a specific plan to create new jobs in those properties while reusing, improving and expanding existing buildings, rather than buyers who intend to dismantle buildings and sell components of the properties they have purchased.
Proceeds from property sales or leases are used to pay so-called holding costs at RACER sites, including the property taxes RACER pays on these properties, and maintenance, insurance and security expenses. Proceeds from the sale or lease of RACER properties are transferred to RACER's Administrative Funding Account, from which RACER pays its day-to-day expenses. RACER is self-sustaining, and the anticipated proceeds from the sale or lease of properties were factored into the ongoing operations of RACER at the time of its creation. Thus, donation of property as a redevelopment strategy is precluded.
RACER does not invest directly in redevelopment (for example, by providing funding to offset infrastructure improvement costs) or otherwise pay third-party expenses (for example, for consultants to evaluate redevelopment proposals). RACER invests in local communities by maintaining properties in a marketable condition, paying property taxes and acting as an economic development partner in pursuit of new investment and job creation.
Sales Criteria.
RACER is obligated by terms of the Settlement Agreement to sell its properties at prices that approximate fair market value and that take into consideration the jobs and other economic benefits new projects can bring to auto communities hurt by the GM bankruptcy.
The Settlement Agreement described the criteria that RACER, at a minimum, must consider when selling properties. These criteria include:
1. Whether the purchase price is sufficient;
2. The potential for job creation in the affected community and the state;
3. Increases in tax revenue or other benefits, like the reduction of blight, to the community, state or Tribe;
4. Avoiding an unanticipated increase in costs for the environmental cleanup;
5. The views of the local communities, the Tribe or the state; and,
6. The reputation and credibility of the prospective purchaser.
The Settlement Agreement does not require any particular weighting of the factors. Although the effects of a proposed sale on the states and localities are to be considered — and are considered — by RACER, these entities are not beneficiaries of RACER. Its sole beneficiary is the United States Government.
RACER Trust Environmental Mission.
RACER Trust is responsible for conducting safe, effective cleanups of legacy environmental contamination resulting from previous operations at 60 former GM locations. The cleanups are conducted with the approval and oversight of state and federal regulatory agencies and funded by the principal and investment income from nearly $500 million that RACER received from the U.S. Department of the Treasury at the time of RACER's establishment. RACER's goal is to obtain "No Further Action" letters or other such instruments of completion from responsible regulatory agencies for all locations where cleanups were required.
To the extent possible, RACER coordinates its cleanups to accommodate the interests of buyers or end users who seek to invest in new industrial or commercial development and job creation. In most cases, RACER properties can be sold for new uses even before environmental cleanups are started or completed, assuming RACER is guaranteed continuing access to the properties to conduct cleanup work.
Budgets for each cleanup were incorporated into the Settlement Agreement that established RACER Trust. In cases where the established budget is insufficient, RACER Trust has access to supplemental funding with the approval of the signatories to the Settlement Agreement.
Notable Sales.
Moraine, Ohio.
RACER sold two of its properties, Moraine Industrial Land and Moraine Assembly Plant, to Industrial Realty Group (IRG) in June 2011. The adjacent sites totaled more than 3.3 million square feet of factory space on 379 acres of land in Moraine and Kettering, Ohio. In one of the largest international deals in Ohio's history, Fuyao Glass America purchased 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing space from IRG. The company, now the largest auto glass manufacturer in the world, supplies customers such as General Motors, Ford, and Honda. The plant also serves after-market glass suppliers, which includes companies such as Safelite AutoGlass.
Fuyao originally pledged $230 million in investment and the creation of 800 jobs. One year later this jumped to $360 million in investment and 1,550 jobs. One year after that, Fuyao announced its labor need had risen to a total of 2,400 workers at this facility. A total of 622 temporary construction jobs also were created. In July 2016, Fuyao announced it is leasing an additional 241,000 square feet of the plant in a 15-year agreement with IRG. Fuyao's chairman, Cho Tak Wong, said it expects to have more than 3,000 employees at this site sometime in the future. IRG leases portions of the sites to other auto- and non-auto related manufacturers.
Kansas City, Kansas.
In September 2013, RACER sold its 74-acre Kansas City, Kansas holdings to NorthPoint Development. The buyer named the site Central Industrial Park and prepared it for new industrial development. In 2015, NorthPoint developed a 74,000 square-foot, $10 million build-to-suit facility that was purchased by Plastic Omnium Auto Inergy, which manufactures plastic fuel tank systems for the nearby General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant. The manufacturer employs approximately 200 new workers. NorthPoint then constructed an 842,000 square-foot speculative building that General Motors Company occupies under a long-term lease. This $55 million project is expected to employ approximately 500 new workers. Additional areas of the site are planned for redevelopment.
Pontiac, Michigan.
In August 2014, RACER sold two of its Pontiac, Michigan properties, PCC Validation I and PCC Validation II, to M1 Concourse, LLC. The two adjacent sites comprised 86 acres of vacant land once owned by the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company until being acquired by Old GM in 1909. The buyer built an exclusive community of more than 250 secure private garages set along the 1.5-mile Champion Motor Speedway, also part of the M1 Concourse development. Private garages are individually owned flexible storage and entertainment spaces. A 6,000 square-foot entertainment venue, a restaurant and banquet/event center, and commercial/retail spaces were part of the nearly $70 million investment.
Indianapolis, Indiana.
RACER sold its 103-acre Indianapolis Stamping Plant site in Indianapolis, Indiana to the Ambrose Property Group in March 2018. The property was once home to the 2.2-million square-foot General Motors Indianapolis Metals Center. RACER razed the vast majority of the structures on site prior to selling to Ambrose. Ambrose's site plan included a mixed-use development along the White River that could require some 1,000 temporary construction jobs, 900 permanent jobs, and more than $500 million in project investments over 10 to 15 years. The City of Indianapolis did not perform under the project agreement and consequently Ambrose abandoned these plans and listed the property for sale. In September 2019, Ambrose sold 12 acres of the property to the neighboring Indianapolis Zoo. In November 2020, Ambrose sold the remaining 91 acres of the property to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Soon thereafter, the state announced Elanco Animal Health would be relocating its global headquarters to a 45-acre portion of the site through a total incentive package worth as much as $150.5 million. The state will continue to market the balance of the property for its productive reuse to new users.
Livonia, Michigan.
RACER sold its Delco Chassis site in Livonia, Michigan to Ashley Capital in August 2015. The buyer built a 1-million square-foot facility that it leases to Amazon.com as a fulfillment center. Over 500 temporary construction jobs were created, and in the summer of 2017, Amazon estimated it would hire more than 1,000 employees to staff the facility. Ashley Capital sold a portion of the same site to National Republic Distributing Corporation. The wine and spirits distributor is building a 515,000 square-foot development that will serve as both a regional headquarters and a logistics facility. It is estimated that the company will invest over $67 million in the project and need to hire 525 employees.
Ypsilanti Township, Michigan.
In November 2016, RACER sold 312 acres of its iconic Willow Run Powertrain Plant to a partnership that has redeveloped the property into the American Center for Mobility, a state-of-the-art, four-season testing facility for connected and automated vehicles in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The facility includes a 2.5-mile test track with ramps, a 700-degree tunnel, and other components necessary to developing and marketing driverless automobiles and related technologies.
Prior to this sale, RACER sold 144,000 square feet of former manufacturing space on almost 17 acres of this property for the newly relocated Yankee Air Museum, which suffered a devastating fire at its previous location in 2004.
Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
Old GM owned a single property in Virginia, located near Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania County, which RACER took possession of as part of Old GM's bankruptcy. The 265,000 square-foot manufacturing facility and 76 acres of land were sold by RACER to idX Corporation in May 2017. idX stated in late 2017 that it will hire 175 employees and invest $9.8 million in its project.
Public Controversies.
Ontario, Ohio.
In August 2012, RACER announced it had reached agreement with the Brownfield Communities Development Company, a joint venture between Hilco Trading LLC and The Adler Group, for the sale of the former GM Ontario Stamping Plant, a 2.5-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Ontario, Ohio. The sale was completed in December 2012. "We are taking an obsolete single-tenant facility and turning it into a modern multi-tenant business generator,” said Michael M. Adler, CEO and Chairman of Adler Group. "We are excited to start the next phase of the project and we are looking forward to working with the community." The company promised to create 500 jobs within five years or pay a $1 million fine to the city.
Brownfield Communities Development Company represented to RACER and to the community in a Development Agreement dated August 16, 2012, that it intended to seek new tenants to occupy most of the intact building. In a letter dated April 12, 2013, Michael M. Adler, president of Ontario Business Park LLC, requested approval from the City of Ontario for demolition of the buildings on the property. The request was approved by the Ontario City Council and the buildings were demolished and sold for scrap.
Brownfield Communities Development Company claimed that its marketing of the property was thwarted by ongoing environmental activity at the property, despite never having raised the environmental conditions as a potential impediment when purchasing the property and despite ample examples of RACER properties that were purchased and redeveloped while environmental activities were ongoing. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the regulatory agency that oversaw RACER's cleanup activities at the property, issued a Covenant Not to Sue to RACER in April 2016, certifying the completion of environmental cleanup at the property.
In August 2017, the Ontario City Council sent a notice of default of completion to the Adler Group, Inc. After lengthy discussions, the two parties agreed to transfer title of the entire property to the city in exchange for the return of a $1 million deposit in escrow to the Adler Group. Now owned by the city, and with the assistance of the RACER Trust, a new marketing strategy for the site was developed. In November 2020, it was announced that Industrial Commercial Properties would purchase 6 acres of the site, including its 45,000 square-foot press-prep building, and lease it to Charter Next Generation for the manufacturing of specialty bags.
Caddo Parish, Louisiana.
In January 2013, RACER and Elio Motors announced that Elio Motors would purchase the former Shreveport Assembly Plant in Caddo Parish, LA, just outside Shreveport, and hire 1,500 people to manufacture the company's innovative three-wheel, gas-powered vehicles. The deal was restructured to enable purchase of the facility by the Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board (IDB) in December 2013, with a master lease provided to Industrial Realty Group (dba Shreveport Business Park) and a secondary lease provided to Elio Motors. Shreveport Business Park, in addition to making monthly lease payments to the IDB, is responsible for all of the property's marketing, maintenance and upkeep.
Local elected officials who initially were supportive of Elio Motors began to publicly criticize the deal as Elio Motors continued to miss start-of-production targets, citing lack of capital. In particular, Caddo Commissioner Matthew Linn and Louisiana State Rep. Cedric Glover, a prominent supporter of Elio Motors during his time as mayor of Shreveport, levied false allegations — Commissioner Linn that RACER threatened to demolish the plant if the Caddo Parish IDB did not purchase it, and Rep. Glover that the sale of the plant prevented other prospects from leasing or purchasing the plant. Rep. Glover sponsored a House resolution requesting “the House Committee on Commerce to study the state of the automotive manufacturing industry in the state of Louisiana since the onset of the most recent worldwide economic downturn.”
The House Committee on Commerce convened a hearing on the transaction on October 26, 2016, in Shreveport. The committee issued a two-page report that included no conclusions or finding of fact, except to note that, “Since the October 2016 meeting, officials with the North Louisiana Economic partnership announced that GLOVIS America, a subsidiary of Hyundai, will open a new distribution center in the former General Motors facility that will result in the production of 75,000 vehicles annually and the creation of 400 new positions in north Louisiana.”
In 2017, the Louisiana House authorized the creation of a subcommittee of the House Committee on Commerce “to further examine certain matters relative to the (RACER Trust’s) fulfillment of fiduciary duties concerning the former General Motors Shreveport plant.” A report of the subcommittee was due 30 days before the start of the 2018 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana. No report was issued.


Dog licence

A dog licence is required in some jurisdictions to be the keeper of a dog. Usually a dog-licence identifying number is issued to the owner, along with a dog tag bearing the identifier and a contact number for the registering organization. If a stray pet is found with the tag, a rescuer can call the registering organization to get current contact information for the animal.
Licensing a dog might require additional actions on the owner's part, such as ensuring that the dog has a current rabies vaccination or passing a dog obedience test. In many jurisdictions a fee, which is usually small, must be paid. Licences typically must be renewed annually or after some small number of years.
Licensing information worldwide.
Germany.
Most municipalities raise a tax for dogs which is paid on a yearly basis. In some municipalities subsequent dogs are taxed higher to discourage owning too many.
Spain.
Dog licences are mandated by state and territory legislation but are issued by local governments (e.g., city or shire councils). Hence the cost of a licence and the format of the licence tag vary across the country. Some areas, such as Victoria, require cat registration and microchipping also.
Ireland.
Dog licences are required. There are three types of licence:
Italy.
Since 2008 an identification microchip is mandatory for each dog over 2 months, and a small fee is associated with it, but it does not need to be renewed.
Netherlands.
Dogs must be registered and a yearly tax is paid to the municipality based on the number of dogs. The amount differs between municipalities; for example in The Hague it is €112.80 for the first dog, €176.76 for the second one, and €224.16 for the third one. Other municipalities, such as Amsterdam, no longer observe this law.
New Zealand.
Under the Dog Control Act 1996 all dogs over three months old are required to be registered with the city or district council the dog usually resides in. As a prerequisite, all dogs classified as dangerous or menacing, and all dogs first registered in New Zealand after 1 July 2006 must be microchipped before they can be registered.
All dog registrations expire yearly on 30 June, and must be renewed by 31 July. Each registered dog must wear a tag specifying the council, registration expiry date, and registration number of the dog, with the colour of the tag changing every year for easy identification (e.g. tags for the 2013/14 year are red). Fees for registration differ between councils, and also differ according to factors such as whether the dog is neutered, living in an urban or rural area, classed as dangerous or menacing, and whether the owner is a responsible dog owner. Fees for working dogs (herding dogs, police dogs, drug dogs, etc.) are generally lower than for pets, and seeing-eye or hearing-ear dogs are generally free or minimal cost to register.
United Kingdom.
In England, Wales and Scotland, dog licensing was abolished by the Local Government Act 1988. Prior to this dog licences were mandatory under the Dog Licences Act 1959, having been originally introduced by the Dog Licences Act 1867 but the requirement was widely ignored, with only about half of owners having one. The final rate for a dog licence was 37 pence, reduced from 37½p when the halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984. This figure was an exact conversion from the rate of seven shillings and sixpence set in the Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1878. The revenue went to local authorities.
Dog licensing was in effect a tax on dogs: the scheme did not ensure the welfare of dogs nor did it restrict who was allowed to keep dogs.
In 2016 it became a requirement that all dogs in England and Wales have a microchip; Scottish legislation was also changed to make microchipping of dogs compulsory from 2016.
In Northern Ireland, dog licences are required under the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983. dog licences cost £12.50 a year, with reductions for pensioners and owners of neutered dogs.
Crown dependencies.
Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Dog owners in Guernsey are required to pay dog tax each year for each dog owned.
Isle of Man.
Dog licences were abolished on 1 April 2018.
United States.
At least some states, municipalities, and other jurisdictions require a dog licence and rabies vaccination, and a licence expires before the vaccine does. To prevent animal overpopulation, some jurisdictions charge a lower licensing fee if the owner presents veterinary proof that the dog has been spayed or neutered. Some parts of California and Maryland require cat licences.


Palk Strait

The Palk Strait (, "Pok Samudra Sandhiya") is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Jaffna District of the Northern Province of the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest. With a minimum depth of less than 9.1 m, it is 40 to 85 miles (64 to 137 km) wide and 85 miles long. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu. The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras (1755–1763) during the Company Raj period.
The unique feature around Palk Strait is that the waves around it, to its north and south are of high contrast. To the north, the waves of Bay of Bengal are mostly swells waves while that on the south, in Palk Bay, are mostly sea waves. Despite being a sea dominated area, the significant wave heights in Palk Bay regions are relatively low. The average significant wave height in Palk Bay close to Adam's Bridge is around 0.5 m.
Geography.
Palk Bay is studded at its southern end with a chain of low islands and reef shoals that are collectively called Adam's Bridge, it has historically been known in Hindu Mythology as "Ram Setu", that is, the bridge of Rama. This chain extends between Dhanushkodi on Pamban Island (also known as Rameswaram Island) in Tamil Nadu and Mannar Island in Sri Lanka. The island of Rameswaram is linked to the Indian mainland by the Pamban Bridge.
History.
As from 1914, there used to be regular trains from Madras/Chennai to Dhanushkodi, a ferry to Talaimannar on Mannar Island, and then a train to Colombo. In 1964, a cyclone destroyed Dhanushkodi and the railway and caused severe damage along the shores of Palk Strait and Palk Bay. Dhanushkodi was not rebuilt and the railway from Talaimannar to Mahawilachchiya in Sri Lanka was given up due to the civil war (It was later completely rebuilt). There was a ferry between small piers in Rameswaram and Talaimannar, but this was discontinued till date.
Proposed canal.
The shallow waters and reefs of the strait make it difficult for large ships to pass through, although fishing boats and small craft carrying coastal trade have navigated the strait for centuries. Large ships must travel around Sri Lanka. Construction of a shipping canal through the strait was first proposed to the British government of India in 1860, and a number of commissions have studied the proposal up to the present day. The most recent study of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, as it is now called, was an environmental impact assessment and a technical feasibility study commissioned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2004.
However, the plan encountered opposition from various religious circles. The Indian epic poem "Ramayana", written thousands of years ago in Sanskrit and an important Hindu text, recounts how Rama, with the help of an army of vanaras, built a bridge of stones across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the Asura king Ravana. The Ram Karmabhoomi movement, encouraged by a NASA satellite photograph of Rama's Setu, was formed to prevent the shipping canal from being built.
Fixed link.
The construction of an Undersea Bed Rail tunnel linking India and Sri Lanka has been proposed that will pass below the Palk Strait.


Monobenzyl phthalate

Monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) also known as benzene-1, 2-dicarboxylic acid is an organic compound with the condensed structural formula C6H5CH2OOCC6H4COOH. It is the major metabolite of butyl benzyl phthalate, more than monobutyl phthalate (MBP). Like many phthalates, MBP has attracted attention as a potential endocrine disruptor.


United States v. Reserve Mining Company

United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company, 408 F. Supp. 1212 (D. Minn. 1976), was a United States District Court for the District of Minnesota case that determined the Reserve Mining Company was responsible for amphibole asbestos fibers found in the public drinking water of Duluth, Minnesota and other North Shore (Minnesota) communities.
After the discovery of taconite in the late nineteenth century, scientists struggled to find ways to extract iron ore from this sedimentary rock, which contains 25 to 30 percent iron. The process that was eventually developed involves crushing the hard rock into a powder-like consistency. The iron ore is then removed with magnets and turned into pellets.
By 1955, the Reserve Mining Company complex was built to extract iron from taconite. A new town, Silver Bay, was constructed to support it. For every ton of iron ore produced, however, two tons of waste material was leftover. The Reserve Mining Company dumped the waste material, called tailings, into Lake Superior. Permits to do this were approved by the state.
The waste material was initially considered no more harmful than sand. But by the late 1960s, local environmental groups, commercial fishermen, and sport-fishing groups began to complain about the taconite sediment. They argued that the tailings were killing fish, permanently clouding the pristine waters, and spoiling Lake Superior as a freshwater source for Duluth and the surrounding communities.
Environmental organizations, scientists, and lawyers made the case that the tailings not only polluted Lake Superior but that they contained cummingtonite-grunerite. This substance is found in asbestos, a known carcinogen.
On February 17, 1972, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Reserve Mining Company in U. S. District Court in Minneapolis. This led to a trial that would last over a year. Appeals dragged the case on until 1980. Judge Miles Lord presided over the court.
Pretrial arguments took a turn in June 1973. The federal government called a specialist in asbestos exposure, Dr. Irving Selikoff, from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Selikoff argued that the lake contained asbestos-like fibers. He also said he thought a thorough study should be done on the effects of the lake water on the human body. Judge Lord put Dr. Selikoff's testimony under an order of secrecy, but the information wasn't contained. Eventually, Lord allowed the EPA to issue an asbestos warning to the public.
The asbestos issue defined the trial when it officially began in August 1973. The public, already alarmed by reports of asbestos deaths around the country, was fixated on the trial. It was also covered in the national press.
The Reserve Mining Company claimed that it was impossible to dump the tailings on land. During the trial, however, subpoenaed documents showed that Reserve had already examined dumping the sediment on land as an alternative method of disposal.
Both the federal government and Reserve relied on a prestigious lineup of scientists to buttress their case. After months of testimony, Judge Lord decided that dumping the tailings into Lake Superior posed serious health and environmental threats. In April 1974 he ordered the plant shut down.
The plant was closed temporarily. But a federal appeals court allowed Reserve to reopen the mine and to continue dumping in the lake until the company could find a new disposal method. In 1980, Reserve began to deposit waste in an inland pond. This practice continues with the companies that mine taconite today.
The ruling in "United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company" was considered a landmark decision. It gave the EPA broader powers to regulate corporate pollution, a practice was unheard of before the lawsuit.


Cortinarius rubellus

Cortinarius rubellus, commonly known as the deadly webcap, is a species of fungus in the family Cortinariaceae, native to high-latitude temperate to subalpine forests of Eurasia and North America. Within the genus it belongs to a group known as the Orellani, all of which are highly toxic—eating them results in kidney failure, which is often irreversible. The mushroom is generally tan to brown all over, with a conical to convex cap in diameter, adnate gills and a tall stipe.
Taxonomy.
English naturalist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke described "Cortinarius rubellus" in 1887 from material collected by a Dr Carlyle at Orton Moss near Carlisle in northwestern England. The name was rarely used before 1980, however. "Cortinarius orellanoides" was described by Henry in 1937 from mushrooms growing under bracken ("Pteridium aquilinum") and beech in France, while Robert Kühner and Henri Romagnesi described "C. speciosissimus" (initially "C. speciosus", but that name had already been given to another species of webcap) from mushrooms growing in moss among "Vaccinium" in pine and spruce forests of the French and Swiss Jura. "Cortinarius rainierensis", described in 1950 by Alex H. Smith and Daniel Elliot Stuntz from material collected in Mount Rainier National Park in the United States, is a synonym. Klaus Høiland reviewed material of "C. orellanoides" and "C. speciosissimus" and determined that the mushrooms and spores were identical. The only difference was that "C. orellanoides" grew in beech and "C. speciosissimus" preferred conifers, yet he had also found the latter species growing under beech in Norway. He concluded the name should be "C. orellanoides", as that was the older name. Høiland and others had noted that "C. rubellus" was likely to be the same species as well. Gasparini queried this, however, because in Cooke's original illustrations of "C. rubellus", he noted that the spores were drawn as triangular or fig-shaped and were not consistent with descriptions of "C. orellanoides" or "C. speciosissimus".
In 2007, Bruno Gasparini proposed conserving the name "C. speciosissimus" against the other names as it had been chiefly known by this name between 1953 and 1980, and some doubts existed over which names were legitimate. Both "C. rubellus" and "C. orellanoides" lacked a type specimen and there was a possibility that the description of "C. rubellus" could have also applied to "Cortinarius morrisii". There was no consensus on the proposal as of 2009.
"Cortinarius rubellus" is one of seven highly toxic species that make up the orellani, a subgenus within genus "Cortinarius".
Description.
"Cortinarius rubellus" has a conical to convex (partly flattening to umbonate with maturity) cap of diameter. In colour, it is a tawny to date brown with paler margins, and is covered in fine, fibrous scales. The gills are ochre- or caramel-coloured, changing to a deeper brown with age as the spores mature. They have an adnate connection to the stipe. The stipe is tall, and thick with a bulbous base. It is the same colour or slightly paler than the cap, and can have yellow fragments of the veil (cortina) attached to its lower half. The flesh is cream or pale yellow, but more tan below the pileipellis and in the stem base. It smells slightly of radishes and has no strong taste.
Distribution and habitat.
"Cortinarius rubellus" has been recorded in high-latitude temperate to subalpine forests throughout the northern hemisphere, including subalpine conifer forest in the Yatsugatake Mountains in Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. In North America, it is found in British Columbia and western Washington, particularly Mount Rainier National Park. "C. rubellus" also occurs in the north of the British Isles, generally in wet areas of conifer or mixed conifer and broadleaf woodlands, though it is uncommon.
Toxicity.
The danger of "Cortinarius rubellus" was first recognized in 1972 in Finland, where four cases of poisoning had occurred, two of which resulted in permanent kidney failure. In 1979, three people holidaying in the north of Scotland were poisoned, after mistaking it for the chanterelle. Two of the three required kidney transplants. Twenty-two people were poisoned between 1979 and 1993 in Sweden, nine of which required a kidney transplant following end stage kidney failure (ESRF). Among the edible species they mistook the mushroom for were "Craterellus tubaeformis" and "Hygrophorus" species as well as chanterelles. "Craterellus tubaeformis" can be distinguished by its funnel-shaped cap and ridges on the cap's underside rather than gills. In 1996, one person in Austria ate it while looking for magic mushrooms.
Nicholas Evans, author of "The Horse Whisperer", his wife Charlotte Gordon Cumming, and two other relatives were accidentally poisoned in September 2008 after consuming deadly webcaps that they gathered on holiday. Evans had assumed they were ceps but overlooked that the mushrooms had gills rather than pores. All four victims were informed that they would require kidney transplants in the future. Several years later, Evans received a kidney donated by his daughter, Lauren. The other three eventually received transplants after some searching for donors, despite Charlotte having only eaten three mouthfuls of mushroom; they were instrumental in setting up the charity Give a Kidney.


Van Camp accounting

Van Camp accounting is one of the two methods California community property law uses to deal with community funds and/or labor used to enhance the value of separate property. The method is named after a 1921 divorce case, "Van Camp v. Van Camp".
To calculate, courts will value the manager's services at a market rate and subtract community expenses from that amount. The result is considered community property. The effect of this is that the net income earned by the owner of the separate property results in the manner in which income is treated under California law, which is community property. This method is preferred when the character of the business is the reason for its income. In the case where the management is the main cause for growth and production, Pereira accounting should be used.
Van Camp is used when the appreciation of the business is due to the nature of the economy or the type of business. In that case, the community property is awarded what that spouse might have been paid as an employee for similar work. The remainder is the worker's separate property.
If capital (rather than spousal or community labor) is the chief factor contributing to a large gain in the value of the business and if labor by the spouse not holding title to the business was compensated fairly during the marriage, the Van Camp method will allocate most of the appreciation in value to the titleholder as separate property.
Van Camp accounting can be applied when there increased value due to the unique nature of SP (Separate Property) asset, such as market timing, a world class management team, or a large number of contributing employees. In this case; Fair salary for community labor x years of marriage – salary already received – amounts already paid to community expenses = CP (Community property), the rest is SP.
Choosing the correct apportionment or accounting method.
Van Camp accounting is typically chosen when the Business itself or economic factors produced the profits (typically larger and generally more capital intensive businesses).
Pereira accounting is typically chosen when the business was spousal labor-intensive (typically smaller and/or labor-intensive businesses).


Dystonia

Dystonia is a neurological hyperkinetic movement disorder syndrome in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions result in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed postures. The movements may resemble a tremor. Dystonia is often intensified or exacerbated by physical activity, and symptoms may progress into adjacent muscles.
The disorder may be hereditary or caused by other factors such as birth-related or other physical trauma, infection, poisoning (e.g., lead poisoning) or reaction to pharmaceutical drugs, particularly neuroleptics, or stress. Treatment must be highly customized to the needs of the individual and may include oral medications, chemodenervation botulinum neurotoxin injections, physical therapy, or other supportive therapies, and surgical procedures such as deep brain stimulation.
Classification.
There are multiple types of dystonia, and many diseases and conditions may cause dystonia.
Dystonia is classified by:
Physicians use these classifications to guide diagnosis and treatment.
Generalized dystonias.
For example, dystonia musculorum deformans (Oppenhiem, Flatau-Sterling syndrome):
Also known as torsion dystonia or idiopathic torsion dystonia (old terminology "dystonia musculorum deformans").
Focal dystonias.
These most common dystonias are typically classified as follows:
The combination of blepharospasmodic contractions and oromandibular dystonia is called cranial dystonia or Meige's syndrome.
Segmental dystonias.
Segmental dystonias affect two adjoining parts of the body:
Genetic/primary.
There is a group called myoclonic dystonia where some cases are hereditary and have been associated with a missense mutation in the dopamine-D2 receptor. Some of these cases have responded well to alcohol.
Other genes that have been associated with dystonia include CIZ1, GNAL, ATP1A3, and PRRT2. Another report has linked THAP1 and SLC20A2 to dystonia.
Signs and symptoms.
Symptoms vary according to the kind of dystonia involved. In most cases, dystonia tends to lead to abnormal posturing, in particular on movement. Many sufferers have continuous pain, cramping, and relentless muscle spasms due to involuntary muscle movements. Other motor symptoms are possible including lip smacking.
Early symptoms may include loss of precision muscle coordination (sometimes first manifested in declining penmanship, frequent small injuries to the hands, and dropped items), cramping pain with sustained use, and trembling. Significant muscle pain and cramping may result from very minor exertions like holding a book and turning pages. It may become difficult to find a comfortable position for arms and legs with even the minor exertions associated with holding arms crossed causing significant pain similar to restless leg syndrome. Affected persons may notice trembling in the diaphragm while breathing, or the need to place hands in pockets, under legs while sitting or under pillows while sleeping to keep them still and to reduce pain. Trembling in the jaw may be felt and heard while lying down, and the constant movement to avoid pain may result in the grinding and wearing down of teeth, or symptoms similar to temporomandibular joint disorder. The voice may crack frequently or become harsh, triggering frequent throat clearing. Swallowing can become difficult and accompanied by painful cramping.
Electrical sensors (EMG) inserted into affected muscle groups, while painful, can provide a definitive diagnosis by showing pulsating nerve signals being transmitted to the muscles even when they are at rest. The brain appears to signal portions of fibers within the affected muscle groups at a firing speed of about 10 Hz causing them to pulsate, tremble and contort. When called upon to perform an intentional activity, the muscles fatigue very quickly and some portions of the muscle groups do not respond (causing weakness) while other portions over-respond or become rigid (causing micro-tears under load). The symptoms worsen significantly with use, especially in the case of focal dystonia, and a "mirror effect" is often observed in other body parts: Use of the right hand may cause pain and cramping in that hand as well as in the other hand and legs that were not being used. Stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, sustained use and cold temperatures can worsen symptoms.
Direct symptoms may be accompanied by secondary effects of the continuous muscle and brain activity, including disturbed sleep patterns, exhaustion, mood swings, mental stress, difficulty concentrating, blurred vision, digestive problems, and short temper. People with dystonia may also become depressed and find great difficulty adapting their activities and livelihood to a progressing disability. Side-effects from treatment and medications can also present challenges in normal activities.
In some cases, symptoms may progress and then plateau for years, or stop progressing entirely. The progression may be delayed by treatment or adaptive lifestyle changes, while forced continued use may make symptoms progress more rapidly. In others, the symptoms may progress to total disability, making some of the more risky forms of treatment worth considering. In some cases with patients who already have dystonia, a subsequent traumatic injury or the effects of general anethesia during an unrelated surgery can cause the symptoms to progress rapidly.
An accurate diagnosis may be difficult because of the way the disorder manifests itself. Sufferers may be diagnosed as having similar and perhaps related disorders including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, carpal tunnel syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorder, Tourette's syndrome, conversion disorder or other neuromuscular movement disorders. It has been found that the prevalence of dystonia is high in individuals with Huntington's disease, where the most common clinical presentations are internal shoulder rotation, sustained fist clenching, knee flexion, and foot inversion. Risk factors for increased dystonia in patients with Huntington's disease include long disease duration and use of antidopaminergic medication.
Causes.
"Primary dystonia" is suspected when the dystonia is the only sign and there is no identifiable cause or structural abnormality in the central nervous system. Researchers suspect it is caused by a pathology of the central nervous system, likely originating in those parts of the brain concerned with motor function—such as the basal ganglia and the GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) producing Purkinje neurons. The precise cause of primary dystonia is unknown. In many cases it may involve some genetic predisposition towards the disorder combined with environmental conditions.
"Secondary dystonia" refers to dystonia brought on by some identified cause, such as head injury, drug side effect (e.g. tardive dystonia), or neurological disease (e.g. Wilson's disease).
Meningitis and encephalitis caused by viral, bacterial, and fungal infections of the brain have been associated with dystonia. The main mechanism is inflammation of the blood vessels, causing restriction of blood flow to the basal ganglia. Other mechanisms include direct nerve injury by the organism or a toxin, or autoimmune mechanisms.
Environmental and task-related factors are suspected to trigger the development of focal dystonias because they appear disproportionately in individuals who perform high precision hand movements such as musicians, engineers, architects, and artists. Chlorpromazine can also cause dystonia, which can be often misjudged as a seizure.
Neuroleptic drugs often cause dystonia, including oculogyric crisis.
Malfunction of the sodium-potassium pump may be a factor in some dystonias. The - pump has been shown to control and set the intrinsic activity mode of cerebellar Purkinje neurons. This suggests that the pump might not simply be a homeostatic, "housekeeping" molecule for ionic gradients; but could be a computational element in the cerebellum and the brain. Indeed, an ouabain block of - pumps in the cerebellum of a live mouse results in it displaying ataxia and dystonia. Ataxia is observed for lower ouabain concentrations, dystonia is observed at higher ouabain concentrations. A mutation in the - pump (ATP1A3 gene) can cause rapid onset dystonia parkinsonism. The parkinsonism aspect of this disease may be attributable to malfunctioning - pumps in the basal ganglia; the dystonia aspect may be attributable to malfunctioning - pumps in the cerebellum (that act to corrupt its input to the basal ganglia) possibly in Purkinje neurons.
Cerebellum issues causing dystonia is described by Filip et al. 2013: "Although dystonia has traditionally been regarded as a basal ganglia dysfunction, recent provocative evidence has emerged of cerebellar involvement in the pathophysiology of this enigmatic disease. It has been suggested that the cerebellum plays an important role in dystonia etiology, from neuroanatomical research of complex networks showing that the cerebellum is connected to a wide range of other central nervous system structures involved in movement control to animal models indicating that signs of dystonia are due to cerebellum dysfunction and completely disappear after cerebellectomy, and finally to clinical observations in secondary dystonia patients with various types of cerebellar lesions. It is proposed that dystonia is a large-scale dysfunction, involving not only cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical pathways, but the cortico-ponto-cerebello-thalamo-cortical loop as well. Even in the absence of traditional "cerebellar signs" in most dystonia patients, there are more subtle indications of cerebellar dysfunction. It is clear that as long as the cerebellum's role in dystonia genesis remains unexamined, it will be difficult to significantly improve the current standards of dystonia treatment or to provide curative treatment."
Treatment.
Reducing the types of movements that trigger or worsen dystonic symptoms provides some relief, as does reducing stress, getting plenty of rest, moderate exercise, and relaxation techniques. Various treatments focus on sedating brain functions or blocking nerve communications with the muscles via drugs, neuro-suppression, or denervation. All current treatments have negative side-effects and risks.
A "geste antagoniste" is a physical gesture or position (such as touching one's chin) that temporarily interrupts dystonia, it is also known as a "sensory trick". Patients may be aware of the presence of a geste antagoniste that provides some relief. Therapy for dystonia can involve prosthetics that passively simulate the stimulation.
Physical intervention.
While research in the area of effectiveness of physical therapy intervention for dystonia remains weak, there is reason to believe that rehabilitation can benefit dystonia patients. Physical therapy can be utilized to manage changes in balance, mobility and overall function that occur as a result of the disorder. A variety of treatment strategies can be employed to address the unique needs of each individual. Potential treatment interventions include splinting, therapeutic exercise, manual stretching, soft tissue and joint mobilization, postural training and bracing, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, constraint-induced movement therapy, activity and environmental modification, and gait training.
A patient with dystonia may have significant challenges in activities of daily living (ADL), an area especially suited for treatment by occupational therapy (OT). An occupational therapist (OT) may perform needed upper extremity splinting, provide movement inhibitory techniques, train fine motor coordination, provide an assistive device, or teach alternative methods of activity performance to achieve a patient's goals for bathing, dressing, toileting, and other valued activities.
Recent research has investigated further into the role of physiotherapy in the treatment of dystonia. A recent study showed that reducing psychological stress, in conjunction with exercise, is beneficial for reducing truncal dystonia in patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Another study emphasized progressive relaxation, isometric muscle endurance, dynamic strength, coordination, balance, and body perception, seeing significant improvements to patients' quality of life after 4 weeks.
Since the root of the problem is neurological, doctors have explored sensorimotor retraining activities to enable the brain to "rewire" itself and eliminate dystonic movements. The work of several doctors such as Nancy Byl and Joaquin Farias has shown that sensorimotor retraining activities and proprioceptive stimulation can induce neuroplasticity, making it possible for patients to recover substantial function that was lost due to Cervical Dystonia, hand dystonia, blepharospasm, oromandibular dystonia, dysphonia and musicians' dystonia.
Some focal dystonias have been proven treatable through movement retraining in the Taubman approach, particularly in the case of musicians. However other focal dystonias may not respond and may even be made worse by this treatment.
Due to the rare and variable nature of dystonia, research investigating the effectiveness of these treatments is limited. There is no "gold standard" for physiotherapy rehabilitation. To date, focal cervical dystonia has received the most research attention; however, study designs are poorly controlled and limited to small sample sizes.
Medication.
Different medications are tried in an effort to find a combination that is effective for a specific person. Not all people respond well to the same medications. Medications that have had positive results in some include: diphenhydramine, benzatropine and atropine. anti-Parkinsons agents (such as ropinirole and bromocriptine), and muscle relaxants (such as diazepam).
Medications such as anticholinergics (benztropine), which act as inhibitors of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, may provide some relief. In the case of an acute dystonic reaction, diphenhydramine is sometimes used (though this drug is well known as an antihistamine, in this context it is being used primarily for its anticholinergic role).. See also Procyclidine. Another which in many has shown total control of symptoms, alone or taken with other medications,often clonazepam, is gabapentin. Noting, some are generic sensitive, as with other medications, and either have to sample test each one for a successful result, or take the original version.
A baclofen pump has been used to treat patients of all ages exhibiting muscle spasticity along with dystonia. The pump delivers baclofen via a catheter to the thecal space surrounding the spinal cord. The pump itself is placed in the abdomen. It can be refilled periodically by access through the skin. Baclofen can also be taken in tablet form
Botulinum toxin injections into affected muscles have proved quite successful in providing some relief for around 3–6 months, depending on the kind of dystonia. Botox or Dysport injections have the advantage of ready availability (the same form is used for cosmetic surgery) and the effects are not permanent. There is a risk of temporary paralysis of the muscles being injected or the leaking of the toxin into adjacent muscle groups, causing weakness or paralysis in them. The injections must be repeated, as the effects wear off and around 15% of recipients develop immunity to the toxin. There is a Type A and a Type B toxin approved for treatment of dystonia; often, those that develop resistance to Type A may be able to use Type B.
Clonazepam, a benzodiazepine, is also sometimes prescribed. However, for most, their effects are limited and side-effects like mental confusion, sedation, mood swings, and short-term memory loss occur.
Dopamine agonists: One type of dystonia, dopamine-responsive dystonia, can be completely treated with regular doses of L-DOPA in a form such as Sinemet (carbidopa/levodopa). Although this does not remove the condition, it does alleviate the symptoms most of the time. (In contrast, dopamine antagonists can sometimes cause dystonia.)
Ketogenic diet
One complex case study found that a ketogenic type diet may have been helpful in reducing symptoms associated with alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) of a young child. However, as the researchers noted, their results could have been corollary in nature and not due to the diet itself, though future research is warranted.
Surgery.
Surgery, such as the denervation of selected muscles, may also provide some relief; however, the destruction of nerves in the limbs or brain is not reversible and should be considered only in the most extreme cases. Recently, the procedure of deep brain stimulation (DBS) has proven successful in a number of cases of severe generalised dystonia. DBS as treatment for medication-refractory dystonia, on the other hand, may increase the risk of suicide in patients. However, reference data of patients without DBS therapy are lacking.
History.
The Italian Bernardino Ramazzini provided one of the first descriptions of task-specific dystonia in 1713 in a book of occupational diseases, The Morbis Artificum.
In chapter II of this book’s Supplementum, Ramazzini noted that "Scribes and Notaries" may develop "incessant movement of the hand, always in the same direction … the continuous and almost tonic strain on the muscles... that results in failure of power in the right hand". A report from the British Civil Service also contained an early description of writer’s cramp. In 1864, Solly coined the term "scrivener’s palsy" for this affliction. These historical reports usually attributed the etiology of the motor abnormalities to overuse. Then, dystonia were reported in detail in 1911, when Hermann Oppenheim, Edward Flatau and Wladyslaw Sterling described some Jewish children affected by a syndrome that was retrospectively considered to represent familial cases of DYT1 dystonia. Some decades later, in 1975, the first international conference on dystonia was held in New York. It was then recognized that, in addition to severe generalized forms, the dystonia phenotype also encompasses poorly-progressive focal and segmental cases with onset in adulthood, such as blepharospasm, torticollis and writer’s cramp.
These forms were previously considered independent disorders and were mainly classified among neuroses. A modern definition of dystonia was worded some years later, in 1984. During the following years it became evident that dystonia syndromes are numerous and diversified, new terminological descriptors (e.g., dystonia plus, heredodegenerative dystonias, etc.) and additional classification schemes were introduced. The clinical complexity of dystonia was then fully recognized.


Marzuki Darusman

Marzuki Darusman (born 26 January 1945) is an Indonesian lawyer and human rights campaigner. After fifteen years as a member of the People's Representative Council with President Suharto's Golkar party, he served the country's prosecutor general from 1999 to 2001. Darusman has served on several national and international human rights commissions, and in August 2010, he became founding director of the Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN.
He has served as chair of an independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar under the UN Human Rights Council since July 2017. He served as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK (2010-2016) and member of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (2013 to 2014). In 2010, he was assigned to serve as chair of the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and in 2009 he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a three-member UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Background.
Darusman was born in Bogor, West Java, in 1945. The son of Suryono Darusman, a diplomat, he spent much of his childhood in Europe; this later influenced his thoughts on social norms and equality, as Darusman found the class differences present in Indonesia disturbing. His brother, Chandra, went on to be a composer.
In 1965, after a period protesting then-president Sukarno, Darusman entered politics as a member of Golkar, which after the overthrow of Sukarno became the party of President Suharto. In 1974 he graduated from law school at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung. With Golkar, Darusman spent fifteen years as a member of the People's Representative Council, representing Bandung.
In 1994, Darusman was one of the first members of the National Commission on Human Rights. In 1998, after the fall of President Suharto in May, Darusman was a member of the Joint Fact Finding Team, which looked into the widespread rioting and pogroms before the president's resignation. Meanwhile, Darusman seized power within Golkar – torn between pro- and contra-Suharto factions – and reorganised the party. He subsequently convinced the party to support Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid, of Nahdlatul Ulama, for president.
National offices.
In November 1999 Darusman was chosen Attorney General of Indonesia, replacing acting Prosecutor General Ismudjoko; he had previously been considered for Foreign Minister, a post which ultimately went to Alwi Shihab. In the position, he worked to combat corruption; among those convicted for corruption while Darusman served were former Minister of Trade and Industry Bob Hasan and Bank of Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin; he also limited Suharto's movements and brought corruption charges against the former president and several charities he ran. In criminal law, Darusman was instrumental in removing former Chief of the Armed Forces Wiranto from his cabinet position, later bringing Wiranto to trial for alleged human rights violations in East Timor and several military members to trial for issues in Aceh. During this time, he was the third most heavily guarded political figure in the country, behind President Wahid and Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Darusman's term ended in June 2001, when he was replaced with former Minister of Law and Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa. The following month he was appointed Cabinet Secretary. From 2004 to 2009 Darusman served as a member of the People's Representative Council, representing Golkar.
Work with the United Nations.
In 2008, Darusman was called by Lynn Pascoe, an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, to participate in the United Nations inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He accepted, and the committee spent nine months investigating the incident through 2009. In June 2010, he was appointed to a three-person panel to write the Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka, which dealt with alleged war crimes during the Sri Lankan Civil War. The report, which found evidence of numerous war crimes and condemned both the Sri Lankan government and its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, was ill-received in Sri Lanka, leading Darusman to be burned in effigy and refused entry to the island nation.
In August 2010, Darusman became founding director of the Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN, a think tank at the University of Indonesia which involves several ASEAN countries. That same month he was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea. In 2011, Darusman described the country as "perhaps the only country today that does not recognize that non-cooperation with the human rights mechanism is not an option"; he believes that North Korea must give greater respect to human rights, while other nations must be willing to send humanitarian aid. A similar report, delivered in March 2012, led to North Korean delegate So Se-pyong walking out of a meeting, after which a "scuffle" broke out. The North Korean delegation decried the report as a "useless interpretation".
FIHRRST.
Marzuki Darusman is the Chairman and Founder of The Foundation for International Human Rights Reporting Standards (FIHRRST), an international association dedicated to the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. Darusman is joined by a group of internationally-respected human rights advocates (among others, Marzuki Usman, H.S. Dillon, Makarim Wibisono, James Kallman, Dradjad Hari Wibowo) to establish the organization, which develops and promotes standards by which adherence to human rights principles can be demonstrated.
Other activities.
Marzuki Darusman is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today’s national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organization composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with Heads of Government on governance-related issues of concern to them.


IMO 4902907


Cashless Welfare Card

The Cashless Welfare Card, also known as the Indue Card, Healthy Welfare Card or Cashless Debit Card, is a debit card, trialled by the Australian Government, which quarantines income for people on certain income support payments by not allowing the owner to purchase alcohol, gamble or withdraw cash. The cards are attached to a separate account managed by Indue into which 80% of the income support payment is paid. In addition, the cashless welfare card only allows users of the card to buy products at approved sellers, that support electronic Mastercard or Visa payments. It cannot stop users from buying restricted goods at shops that sell both restricted and approved goods, such as supermarkets that sell alcohol. Bill payments are set up by Centrelink to automatically be paid by the card. An earlier income management card, the BasicsCard, was trialled in the Northern Territory.
Review.
In 2013, Andrew Forrest was chosen by Tony Abbott LNP, to lead a review into Indigenous employment and training programs, which was to report to the Australian government. Alan Tudge was to work with Forrest on the review, and Marcia Langton was also on the review committee. The review was delivered on 1 August 2014, with 27 recommendations. Forrest recommended that the Healthy Welfare Card be mandatory for unemployed people, carers, people with disabilities and single parents. According to Langton, the review recommended that the card only be used in areas where most households were receiving welfare, with the goal of ending intergenerational poverty. The Forrest Review did not review the impact of the BasicsCard or other income management schemes when recommending the Healthy Welfare Card. While Forrest initially envisaged a fully cashless card, Tudge altered it to be mostly cashless. Marcia Langton has since withdrawn her support for the scheme citing it as "brutal" and abuse of the poor.
Inquiry.
Senate inquiries were conducted into the card in 2015, 2017, and 2018. two in 2019 and one in 2020.
An independent review of the implementation and performance of the Cashless Welfare Card trial was performed by the Australian National Audit Office which resulted in a number of flaws in the trial being identified, and a series of recommendations made including that a cost-benefit analysis be conducted, and that the Department of Social Service should fully utilise all available data to measure performance, instead of the limited data set used in the evaluation commissioned by the department. It was widely reported that there were fundamental flaws in the Cashless Welfare Card evaluation and justification for continued operation, but the Minister for Social Services, Dan Tehan indicated that the trials would continue, stating that "The cashless debit card is making a real difference in the communities where it operates".
This response is in stark contrast with one of the four community leaders who supported the Cashless Welfare Card being trialled in his area withdrawing support due to feeling "used" to drum up support and the failure to provide adequate support services as was promised. Commentary stating that the Cashless Welfare Card is a success also neglects to mention an actual increase in crime when year to year averages are considered. There is also very little mention of negative outcomes such as an increase in suicides which has been directly linked to the implementation of the Cashless Welfare Card trial, which was raised in the 2017 inquiry.
A review of the trial programme by the Australian National Audit Office found that the trial results and outcomes were inadequately monitored, and therefore it was difficult to evaluate whether the trial had been successful in reducing social harms and delivering a cheaper welfare quarantining system. Despite this, trials have been extended until 30 June 2020.
Trials.
The trials began in March 2016. The Greens senator for Western Australia, Rachel Siewert attempted to halt the trials. The card has faced criticism for targeting Indigenous people, and for its compulsory use by recipients of social security payments, even when they do not engage in behaviours like using illegal drugs. In August 2017, a delegation of community and Indigenous leaders showed Malcolm Turnbull video footage of their town, describing them as "war zones", asking for the card to be implemented in their towns. In December 2017, Labor and the Greens announced that they would not support further trials in the Goldfields or Bundaberg. The third trial location had not been decided as of December 2017. The legislation to decide on the third trial site would also make it possible for the government to roll the card out more widely without parliamentary approval. This legislation was not passed through the senate, following opposition by Nick Xenophon Team senators. A drug testing regime for young people receiving Centrelink payments may also use the cashless welfare card as a consequence of testing positive. 5,000 people are expected to be involved in the drug testing trial in Mandurah, Western Australia, Logan, Queensland, and Canterbury-Bankstown, New South Wales. A bill is currently before the Senate to make the cards permanent. If it does not pass, the trial will end on 31 December. The trial has been extended until 2022.
Ceduna, South Australia.
When the trial began, Ceduna elder Sue Haseldine stated that community consultation had been limited to service providers, rather than including people who would be put on the card. The community panels that cardholders can apply to get more of their payments as cash are anonymous. As of February 2018, the trial in Ceduna has been extended for another year.
Kununurra and Wyndham, Western Australia.
Trials in Kununurra and Wyndham began in April 2016. Around 1,200 people are part of the trial in Kununurra and Wyndham. WA Police have released statistics saying that violence and intimidating behaviour has increased in the area since the card's introduction. Some people have changed their address with Centrelink so that they fall outside the cashless welfare card trial area in an attempt to avoid being placed onto the card. As of February 2018, the trial in the Kimberlies has been extended for another year.
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
The then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Goldfields, including Kalgoorlie, would be a trial site for the cashless card in September 2017. This trial site would include 3,800 participants. In a statement to the senate inquiry on the suitability of Kalgoorlie, the government commented on the site's potential to test the card's scalability to wider use within the population. Participants in Kalgoorlie report that they cannot make bank loan repayments as they are not allowed to be paid for using the quarantined money. The trial in Kalgoorlie has been expanded.
Hinkler, Queensland.
The Division of Hinkler has been announced as the next region to roll out the card in 2018, with approximately 6,700 people expected to be placed on the card. This would make it the first urban area to roll out the card, and the first trial area to not consist of mainly Indigenous people. The Queensland trial has been passed by the vote of Tim Storer, who has modified the trial there to ensure that an independent inquiry consults with trial participants.
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory.
Following the rape of an Aboriginal toddler in February 2018, it was proposed to trial the cashless welfare card in Tennant Creek with the indigenous community. As part of the 2019-20 Federal Budget, the Government announced a further extension and expansion of the Cashless Welfare Card to 30 June 2021. This includes the transition of approximately 22,500 Income Management participants in the Northern Territory and Cape York to the Cashless Welfare Card from April 2020.
Exiting cashless welfare arrangements.
On 5 April 2019, legislation was passed which allowed for an individual who had been placed on the Cashless Welfare Card to apply to exit the trial after 1 July 2019. On 12 August 2019, the assessment criteria were broadened to also consider personal circumstances, in addition to financial management. On 12 September, an application form and information sheet were made available. In addition to these, it was also stated that an assessment will be undertaken and that there will be a phone interview. It is unclear to date how many people were successfully exited from the trial either before or after the changes introduced on the 12 September 2019. There has been mention of "about 700 people have come off the card", but this appears to be "because they found work or they were suspended from welfare payments for breaching the rules", rather than due to exiting the trial.
Opposition.
A number of groups have expressed their opposition to the Cashless Welfare Card trials, including the St Vincent De Paul Society (Vinnies) and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS). The ACOSS has particularly expressed its opposition to the extension of the trials, and has called for the card to be voluntary. There are also numerous grassroots groups which oppose and criticise the Cashless Welfare Card, including (but not limited to) No Cashless Card Australia and Say No Seven, as well as at least fourteen related groups representing each of the regions the program is being trialled or being proposed. These online groups collate all the various perceived or actual failings of the Cashless Welfare Card, ranging from the perception of it being a breach of a persons right to financial autonomy, to instances where the CDC has failed at an EFTPOS terminal, yet other cards have worked.
In September 2019 the media reported a 10% reduction in youth unemployment within the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay areas since the Cashless Welfare Card was introduced which is double the national reduction level of 5% but this was shown later to be a Wide Bay regional figure misrepresented in media by LNP federal member Keith Pitt and not specific to Hinkler electorate. It was highlighted by MP Llew O'Brien, the representative for the neighbouring Wide Bay electorate that similar reductions in welfare dependency had been recorded in his electorate in the same period, though again, no data has been found to support this statement in the national employment record.


Michelle Nunn

Mary Michelle Nunn (born November 16, 1966) is an American philanthropic executive and politician. Since 2015 she has been president and CEO of CARE USA, the American national member of CARE International, the humanitarian aid and international development agency. She was CEO of Points of Light, an American nonprofit organization, from 2007 to 2013, and is a member of its board of directors as of 2015. She had been an executive for the volunteer service organization since 1990, previously running the predecessor and member organizations Hands On Atlanta, City Cares, and HandsOn Network. Nunn was the Democratic Party nominee in the race for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat in 2014. She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn.
Early life and early education.
Michelle Nunn is the daughter of Sam Nunn, a lawyer, farmer, and politician, and Colleen Ann ("née" O'Brien) Nunn, who worked for the U.S. State Department, and then briefly for the Central Intelligence Agency under foreign service cover, before becoming a stay-at-home mother. She has a brother, Samuel Brian, known as Brian, two years younger. The family is Methodist. Two years after Michelle's birth, her father entered politics, being elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He subsequently was elected to four terms as U.S. Senator from Georgia, serving from 1972 to 1997, and was chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1987 to 1995.
Nunn was born in Macon, Georgia, and initially lived in nearby Perry, Georgia, where her grandfather had been mayor and where the family had a farm. When she was six, the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, and then lived in the Washington, D.C. area in conjunction with her father's election to national office. She credits her mother for having "really safeguarded a very normal and private environment for us." She began volunteering in junior high school. She went to the all-girls, private National Cathedral School in Washington, where she played on the basketball team and graduated in 1985. She credits the massive charity rock concert Live Aid in July 1985, including the performance of U2 at it, with inspiring a belief in her that collective action could help change the world and that "Seeing this activism prompted me to imagine how I could be a part of creating change."
She attended the University of Virginia, majoring in history with a minor in religious studies, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She studied at the University of Oxford during 1987. She also studied for four months in India during 1989. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 1989.
Hands On Atlanta, City Cares of America.
After college, Nunn applied to join the Peace Corps and considered going to law school, but instead opted to join Hands On Atlanta. Founded in 1989 by twelve young professionals, Hands On Atlanta was a non-profit dedicated to engaging volunteers, especially young businesspeople who would sign up for single days of service on a monthly basis. Rapidly expanding and needing someone to help manage their efforts, they hired Nunn on a part-time basis as their executive director and only paid staffer (despite the title, she later described the position at first as "a glorified internship").
In May 1990, Nunn became full-time executive director, and by September 1990, Hands On Atlanta was coordinating 700 volunteers.
Nunn later said, "I had a real passion for community service and volunteerism, so I had a real passion for the work." She also credited her upbringing, saying in 1992, "My father has influenced me through example. His own work in the public sphere, I'm sure, played a large part in my work in community service." Nunn was an early practitioner in garnering corporate backing for such ventures. Over the next twenty years, volunteers for Hands On Atlanta put in more than 6 million hours, and its founders credited Nunn with a significant role in helping it grow.
Similar organizations developed in other cities, and in 1992 they formed a national group under the name City Cares.
By 1995, the concept of appealing to young working people had proven successful, and Hands On Atlanta had a budget of $1 million, a paid staff of 17, and over 11,000 volunteers on its mailing list, 7,500 of whom participated in a Hands On Atlanta Day. At the end of 1998, City Cares of America relocated its headquarters from New York to Atlanta, and Nunn became interim executive director for it, while continuing on as executive director of Hands on Atlanta. (She was sometimes referred to in the press without the 'interim' designation.) Subsequently, Nunn returned to focusing on Hands On Atlanta, and staged a successful, multimillion-dollar capital campaign for a new headquarters building in that city.
Further education, marriage and family, potential 2004 U.S. Senate run.
Nunn was a Kellogg National Fellow in the KNFP-15 group, c. 1995–1998. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001.
At a beach ceremony on Cumberland Island in Georgia on June 2, 2001, Nunn married Ron Martin, Jr., who works in the real estate business. She kept her own name after marriage; she later said that she was established professionally under that name and that "it really, frankly, didn't occur to me to change my name." The couple live in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta with their two children. Martin is a stay-at-home father. The family attends church in Atlanta and the children are being raised in the Methodist faith.
Nunn considered a run in the 2004 U.S. Senate election in Georgia, when Democratic incumbent Zell Miller decided to retire. She was assessed at the time by Emory University political scientist Merle Black as having few political assets other than her father's name. In October 2003, she decided not to become a candidate, saying, "In the next few years, I believe that my primary focus is best directed toward my 11-month-old son and family." The election was won by Republican Johnny Isakson.
HandsOn Network, Points of Light.
In late 2003, Nunn left Hands On Atlanta to become president of City Cares. In 2004, City Cares renamed itself to the HandsOn Network. Under Nunn's leadership, the City Cares model changed somewhat, and a majority of new HandsOn Network affiliates were themselves volunteer centers.
In 2006, Nunn was named to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. Later in 2006, she was the editor of "Be The Change! Change the World. Change Yourself.", a collection of stories from hundreds of volunteers. It contained forewords from George H.W. Bush and Tom Brokaw and was republished in 2012.
In 2007, the Points of Light Foundation began talks with the HandsOn Network to join forces through a merger to create one national organization with local affiliates focused on volunteering and service. They formally combined forces on August 11, 2007, to become the Points of Light and Hands On Network (later Points of Light Institute and later still just Points of Light). Nunn presided over the merger, saying of its motivation, "We both could have continued along the route we were on, growing incrementally, but I believe neither of us would have achieved the kind of exponential change we wanted." She also ensured that the combined operation had its main offices in Atlanta. During the three years following the merger, the staff dropped from 175 to 80 employees, due partly to eliminating duplicate positions and partly to the organization having lost its previous $10 million congressional earmark. During this time, Nunn's compensation grew from $120,000 to $250,000, which she later said was still less than that of her predecessor's $325,000. The layoffs and her pay would become issues during her 2014 Senate campaign.
As CEO of Points of Light, Nunn formed good relations with the Bush family, as the Points of Light Foundation had derived from President George H. W. Bush and his "thousand points of light" philosophy. Nunn's trip to Texas to meet with George H. W. Bush had been a key element in forming the merger. Neil Bush, the chair of Points of Light, characterized Nunn as "a fabulous leader". Points of Light became the largest organization in the U.S. purposed towards volunteer service. By 2009, it had a budget of $39 million and its associated HandsOn Network affiliates had a collective budget of $180 million. In 2011, Points of Light had revenues of $55 million and had over 4 million volunteers mobilized under it. Nunn's salary was over $300,000.
One of Points of Light's activities was to validate charities for MissionFish, the charity arm of eBay. One of those validated organizations was Islamic Relief USA, which received $13,500 from individual donors on eBay. This became an issue during Nunn's 2014 Senate campaign, as the umbrella organization Islamic Relief Worldwide has been accused of having ties to Hamas but has denied any such links. Islamic Relief USA itself is an IRS-approved charity and not on any terrorist watch list.
2014 U.S. Senate run.
When Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia announced in January 2013 that he would retire after two terms, his seat—which had once been held by her father—became open. Though she was little known to voters, Democrats embraced the hope that Nunn, with her executive experience as well as family name, could make their party once again competitive in-state. Democrats also hoped the demographics of the state were moving in their favor.
On July 22, 2013, Nunn declared herself a candidate for U.S. Senate. (She was granted a leave of absence from her position with Points of Light.) She said: "Our opportunity is to define ourselves... I think people are really tired of the mudslinging and the silliness [contemporary politics]." Commenting on her public image, "The New York Times" said, "At 47, the cautious and cerebral Ms. Nunn is every bit her father's daughter, down to her owlish glasses and centrist message about curing dysfunction in Washington." She raised more funds during the balance of 2013 and into 2014 than any Republican in the race. The contest garnered national interest since Democratic control of the Senate might depend upon it.
On May 20, 2014, Nunn won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat with 75 percent of the vote. The Republican primary resulted in a July 22 runoff contest won by businessman David Perdue, a cousin of former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue. This set up a race between two self-described political "outsiders" with well-known-in-state political family names, each seeking to reach moderate and independent voters. Polls throughout the race indicated that it was close.
Nunn's campaign was hurt by a leaked campaign memo from December 2013 which made frank recommendations on strategy for Nunn's path to victory in Georgia. It said that likely attack lines against Nunn would include that she was "too liberal" and "not a 'real' Georgian" and that she should make appeals to specific groups for support and funds, including Jews, Asian Americans, and members of the LGBTQ community. In turn, Perdue was hurt during the campaign by revelations that he had in the past been an enthusiastic supporter of outsourcing.
Nunn's policy positions during the campaign emphasized her attempt to portray a moderate image and distance herself from the unpopular Obama administration. She declined to say whether she would have voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had she been in the Senate but said that going forward, some aspects of it should be fixed rather than the whole law being eliminated. She criticized Georgia's refusal to accept Medicaid expansion under the act. Following the start-up problems with the associated HealthCare.gov website, Nunn broke with the Obama administration and said that the individual mandate portion of the law should be delayed. Nunn favored construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and opposed the Obama administration's proposed cuts to defense spending. On the topic of same-sex marriage, Nunn said she personally favored it, but that the decision should be made on a state-by-state basis. Nunn was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that assists pro-choice Democratic women with their campaigns.
Nunn's stump speech emphasized an appeal to bipartisanship. She proposed that members of Congress should be forced to pass a budget each year or forfeit their pay, said there was blame on both sides for ongoing Congressional dysfunction, and declined to say whether she would support Harry Reid remaining as Senate Majority Leader. Nunn made her father a focal point, staging joint appearances with him at military bases and saying that she would emulate his bipartisan approach to legislating. She received support and donations from former Republican Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner, both of whom were close to her father, and support from former Georgia Senator and Governor Zell Miller, a Democrat who had endorsed Republicans over the previous decade. However, the use by Nunn's campaign commercials of photographs of her with George H. W. Bush drew a series of objections from the former president, who endorsed Perdue. Neil Bush neither endorsed nor opposed her candidacy, but did object to some of Perdue's negative ads based upon her time with Points of Light. In all, Nunn raised $14 million during the campaign.
In the November 4, 2014 general election, Nunn lost to Perdue by a 53–to–45 percent margin. The loss was part of a wave of Republican victories across the nation. Nunn failed to improve on Obama's losing percentages in the state from two years earlier and any changes in the state's demographics were not enough. Nevertheless, Nunn took credit for making the party competitive in the otherwise inhospitable South: "We put Georgia in play. We have reminded people what a two-party system looks like."
Her performance in the campaign impressed political observers enough that they felt Nunn could try for another run at elective office in the state if she desired to do so. Following the election, she returned to Points of Light in early 2015 as a member of its board of directors but not as its CEO.
CARE USA.
In April 2015, CARE USA, the American national member of CARE International, a major international humanitarian aid agency delivering emergency relief and engaging in long-term international development projects, announced that Nunn would join the organization as its new president and CEO, effective July 1. Nunn was named to replace Helene D. Gayle, who had announced she was stepping down after nearly a decade of service at the organization. The position would allow Nunn to remain in Atlanta, where CARE USA had some 200 employees. The 70-year-old CARE faced challenges due to the aging of its donor base, reduced U.S. government funding, and the effects of the Great Recession.
With CARE, Nunn has sought to leverage the skills and concerns of women leaders in the Atlanta area – which besides CARE is also home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Carter Center, MAP International, MedShare, the Task Force for Global Health, and Habitat for Humanity International – to produce a "greater global constellation" that would look at the requirements of women and children around the world who were in situations of extreme. Nunn has also focused on the response to the Syrian refugee crisis, traveling to the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan as well as to sites in Turkey, and saying upon her return, "We are going to have a continued European migration crisis if we don't support people to rebuild their lives and create some hope in the places where they are living." At CARE's 2018 national conference, Nunn was one of several speakers who sought to link the organization's purpose to the worldwide Me Too movement. Nunn also expressed concern over isolationist tendencies in American foreign policy: "For more than 70 years, the United States has led efforts to promote peace, prosperity, and share values to foster global stability. But recently that legacy has been under threat."
In 2018, Nunn became a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, a U.S.-based think tank that seeks to foster better governments, prosperity, and social equity in Central and South America. During the United States elections, 2020, Nunn, along with Georgian Republican Party figure Eric Tanenblatt, were co-chairs of Georgia Support the Vote, a nonpartisan effort to gain support from the statewide business community toward make voting easier and safer during the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia. By 2021, Nunn and CARE USA were heavily involved in trying to facilitate deployment of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries and constructing temporary medical facilities to address a devastating wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
Awards and honors.
Nunn was chosen in 2006 as one of the 100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend. In 2010, she received a Global Ambassador of Youth Award from the World Leadership Awards for her work with volunteer organizations. In 2012, Nunn was named for the sixth straight time to "The NonProfit Times" annual Power & Influence Top 50 list of the most influential nonprofit executives. In naming her in 2011, "NonProfit Times" described Nunn thusly: "The Pied Piper of national service, she has a unique ability to organize disparate people and organizations into a coalition that elected officials are compelled to embrace."
Nunn, along with her father, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University in 2006. In 2010, she received an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Wesleyan College.


Environmental Defence Society Inc v New Zealand King Salmon Co Ltd

Environmental Defence Society v New Zealand King Salmon was a case in the Supreme Court of New Zealand concerning the proper interpretation of the Resource Management Act 1991 by planning bodies.
Background.
In October 2011, King Salmon applied for changes to the Marlborough Sounds Resource Management Plan, so that salmon farming would be changed from a prohibited to a discretionary activity in eight locations. At the same time, King Salmon applied for resource consents to enable it to undertake salmon farming at these locations, and at one other, for a term of 35 years.
A Board of Inquiry granted plan changes in relation to four of the proposed sites and resource consents for salmon farming at those sites.
One of the proposed salmon farms was to be located at Port Gore, adjoining an Outstanding Natural Landscape and an Area of Outstanding Natural Character. The Board of Inquiry decided, using an "overall balance" approach, that although the farm would compromise that natural character of the area that was to be balanced against the attractiveness of the site from a biosecurity perspective to King Salmon farms and the positive contribution it would have on the regions economic and social well-being.
The Environmental Defence Society appealed the decision specifically in relation to the plan change at Papatua in Port Gore.
Judgment.
The Supreme Court held by a majority that the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) protection of outstanding natural landscapes set an environmental "bottom line" and that "the preservation and protection of the environment is an element of sustainable management of natural and physical resources."
Policy 13 of the NZCPS called for the avoidance of "adverse effects of activities on natural character in areas of the coastal environment with outstanding natural character." Policy 15 of the NZCPS similarly stated that adverse effects of activities were to be avoided on outstanding natural features and outstanding natural landscapes. The majority held that "avoid" meant "not allow" or "prevent the occurrence of".
Section 67(3) of the RMA required that the regional plan "give effect to" the NZCPS, and the majority decision stated that,The Board was required to "give effect to" the NZCPS in considering King Salmon's plan change applications. "Give effect to" simply means "implement". On the face of it, it is a strong directive, creating a firm obligation on the part of those subject to it.Hence the majority concluded that the Board of Inquiry's plan change in relation to Papatua at Port Gore, did not comply with section 67(3)(b) of the RMA in that it did not give effect to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement.
The majority also decided that a consideration of alternative sites may be necessary; although, '"This will be determined by the nature and circumstances of the particular site-specific plan change application."
Young's dissenting opinion.
William Young J delivered a dissenting opinion in which he expressed that ss 6(a) and (b) of the RMA, "seems to me leave open the possibility that a use or development might be appropriate despite having adverse effects on outstanding natural character." William Young J stated that whether a particular use was appropriate or not may be considered in "light of the purpose of the RMA, and thus in terms of s 5. [...] For this reason, I consider that those charged with the interpretation or application of the NZCPS are entitled to have regard to s 5."
Significance.
The full significance of this recent case is not yet known, as the ratio of the case may be restricted narrowly to the facts or only to plan changes in the coastal marine area or it may mark the, "death knell for the overall judgment approach in all applications, including applications for resource consents, designations and heritage orders."
The potential effect of the decision is, as two commentators noted, Established case law is that when considering whether a proposal is "contrary to the objectives and policies" of a relevant plan, the objectives and policies of the plan as a whole are considered, although individual objectives and policies can have significant weight (such as a restriction on urban activities in a rural zone). The Supreme Court decision may expand the circumstances when a proposal is considered to be contrary to the objectives and policies of the plan if it is clearly contrary to a specific and directive objective or policy.