EPA looking at a full plate this year
Environmental
The Environmental Protection Agency has a busy calendar in 2008 with possible rulemakings and proposed regulations on airborne lead, underground carbon dioxide storage and fuel standards in the works.
But as the agency deals with these and other environmental concerns, a single, divisive issue has crept into nearly every agency discussion and proceeding: emissions regulations.
"2008 could be an unexpectedly busy year for EPA," according to a policy brief from Van Ness Feldman, a Washington, D.C. law firm. "It will be drafting a registry rule while finalizing a low carbon fuel standard and federal vehicle standards. At the same time, it will face legal challenges from California and the other states whose vehicle regulation plans it thwarted."
The hot-button issue of climate change and the question of how aggressively the government should work to regulate greenhouse gas emissions are dominating the regulatory and policy landscape and have turned the agency's interactions with Congress into high political drama.
The matter came to a head recently when a Senate panel swore in EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and took turns drilling the official on his decision denying California's request. Fences weren't mended as Johnson calmly and repeatedly defended his decision.
Jeffrey Holmstead, a 20-year veteran of EPA who also headed the agency's office responsible for overseeing clean air issues, said a 2007 Supreme Court ruling against the agency for refusing to regulate new-vehicle emissions means that the agency will continue to wrestle with emissions regulations at every turn.
"That really dominates everything that goes on now," Holmstead said. "And it's certainly going to affect everything EPA does...as far forward as you can imagine...probably for the next 20 years."
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.