|
(Continued from page 20)
Despite dire warnings of landslide risk, unclear that Washington county could be found liable
• SEATTLE (AP) -- The warnings could hardly have been clearer. One technical report told of the "potential for a large catastrophic failure" of the 600-foot hillside above a rural neighborhood near Oso, on the Stillaguamish River. Another noted plainly that it "poses a significant risk to human lives and private property."
• The danger was so apparent that Snohomish County officials mulled buying out the properties of the residents who lived there.
• Instead, the county continued to allow the construction of homes nearby. Seven went up even after a significant slide approached the neighborhood in 2006.
• Whatever the wisdom of its decision, the county might never be held liable in court for not doing more to protect residents, an outcome that would leave victims of last month's devastating landslide one fewer avenue for recovering financially for their damages.
• Whether government agencies or landowners can be held liable for damages caused by landslides in Washington state is highly dependent on the facts of each case. Generally, governments are not liable except in narrow circumstances, such as if an agency specifically tells the residents they're safe before a slide, or if an agency takes it upon itself to fix a hazard but actually makes things worse.
• ___
Governments, scientists to debate future of fossil fuels at climate meeting
• BERLIN (AP) -- After concluding that global warming almost certainly is man-made and poses a grave threat to humanity, the U.N.-sponsored expert panel on climate change is moving on to the next phase: what to do about it.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, will meet next week in Berlin to chart ways in which the world can curb the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are overheating the planet.
• It is also trying to give estimates on what it would cost.
• In the third report of a landmark climate assessment, the IPCC is expected to say that to keep warming in check, the world needs a major shift in investments from fossil fuels -- the principal source of man-made carbon emissions -- to renewable energy.
• "Underlying this report is a lot of technical analysis of the different solutions, for (Continued on page 22)
|
|
