Welcome to the
inaugural issue of ENTRIX Excursus, a new, occasional newsletter by the
natural resource scientists, engineers, and economists at ENTRIX. ENTRIX Excursus intends to feature short articles on new developments that are relevant
to legal cases involving environmental issues including:
Toxic tort cases
Natural resource damages (NRD) matters; and
Permit challanges and enforcement.
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First Ever Jury Award for Environmental Damages in Southern California Forest Fire
On September 30, in what the U.S. Attorney's office is calling the first jury verdict
of its kind two
construction companies were ordered to pay $28.8 million for environmental damages to San
Francisquito Canyon and its watershed caused by
the Copper Fire in 2002. (The entire jury award was for $36.5 million
dollars.) The U.S. Attorney's office, Central District of California,
asserts that this is the first time that a jury has awarded damages for environmental harm
caused by a forest fire. Specifically, Acting
United States Attorney George S. Cardona called out the "irreparable
harm" to the habitat of the threatened Red-legged frog and the historic Hazel Dell Mining Camp, caused by the fire, which was started by sparks and slag generated by a metal grinder.
COPD Onset and Plaintiffs with Lung Disease
Several recent papers call into question the commonly held thresholds for age and smoking history associated with the onset of COPD, especially in women. Such early-onset COPD has been confirmed in patients in their 20's. These findings suggest a fresh approach to take with plaintiffs with obstructive lung disease who are current or former smokers but appear to be too young or have too little smoking history for a COPD diagnosis. [more]
Groundwater Restoration Projects for NRDA
Increasing attention is being focused on groundwater contamination as a basis for NRD claims, especially by the states. An emerging recent trend from Trustees and their consultants is the use of highly simplified methods to estimate damages to groundwater. The ideas behind this trend were discussed in a recent article in the International Journal of Soil, Sediment, and Water. This type of scaling approach has some advantages especially for use in an expedited settlement of a case, but also has some significant disadvantages, especially for larger, more complex cases. [more]
ENTRIX Delivers Excellence in Litigation Support Services
For more information on our recent work providing testifying expertise in toxic torts, (human health, property damage and lost business value claims), NRD claims or other areas of environmental litigation, please contact Neal Brody or download our Litigation Support SOQ.
About Our Firm
ENTRIX Inc. is an environmental and natural resources management consulting firm specializing in water resources management, environmental and natural resource liability management, natural resource management, and facility permitting and compliance. We focus on delivering sustainable solutions through a full range of environmental and natural resource management consulting services. Our staff includes experts in environmental sciences, geosciences, natural resource economists, and engineering.
