Environmental law assures that the environment be protected against both public and private actions to take account of costs or harms inflicted on the eco-system. Attorneys handle environmental law are involved in the protection of natural resources, land, and wildlife; regulation of harmful emissions into air and water; and monitoring of commercial and industrial activities for their impact on the environment. Environmental law attorneys also advise businesses on compliance with federal and state environmental laws.
Joppa, Maryland in Harford County, Maryland is now a planning region for the county, but there was originally a town at the center called Joppa. Joppa was founded as a British colonial settlement in the early 1700s, and takes its name from the biblical town of Joppa. The town of Joppa, on the Gunpowder River traded internationally in agricultural products, especially tobacco. At its peak, the port was home to about 50 homes, a church, prison, inns, shops, schools, armament factories, and warehouses. However, with the rise of Baltimore and Annapolis, Joppa declined as a port, and was slowly abandoned. By 1815 all the remained were ruins and the surviving Rumsey Mansion. In 1962, Joppatowne, one of the first of a new generation of Planned Unit Developments (PUD) in the United States, was launched by the Panitz Company.