Environmental and Policy Focus
Los Angeles Times - Jun 30 The South Coast Air Quality Management District's draft Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP), released for public comment last week, outlines how regulators plan to curb the nation’s worst smog to meet a series of federal deadlines over the next 15 years by giving priority to “nonregulatory” approaches, and relies on finding billions in incentive funds to encourage people and businesses to transition voluntarily to lower-polluting cars, trucks, and equipment. In addition to relying on $11 to $14 billion in incentive money, the draft AQMP calls for taking credit for “co-benefits,” i.e., air quality improvements expected to result from climate change, transportation, and energy efficiency programs being carried out by other agencies. The plan’s reliance on voluntary measures and credits rather than traditional regulations sparked immediate criticism from environmentalists, while business groups said they were reviewing the plan. The public has until August 19 to comment on the plan before it is revised. Officials expect the proposal to go before the District's board for consideration in December. The state Air Resources Board must then approve the plan before sending it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review.
Los Angeles Times - Jul 5 A Los Angeles zoning official has rejected Freeport-McMoRan’s plans install a gas burner at a site in South Los Angeles at West Adams Boulevard. Freeport-McMoRan, which operates the drilling site, had argued that it needed to install an enclosed burner to flare off unused gas that is pulled up from the earth along with the oil. It argued that the new equipment would cause “near zero emissions” and have little effect on neighbors. But the zoning official rejected the company’s plans last week, saying he had “major concerns with the level of emissions” near a neighboring apartment complex, houses, and an AIDS Healthcare Foundation center. Such a burner should be in an industrial zone, not a residential area, he added. Freeport-McMoRan now has less than two weeks to appeal the decision. If it does so, the matter would go to an area planning commission for review.
Fresno Bee - Jun 30 A coalition of local elected officials, water districts, tribal members, and the federal government has started the funding application process to help build Temperance Flat Dam and Reservoir project, a proposed dam and reservoir project on the San Joaquin River in the Sierra foothills. Members of the newly formed San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority will work with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to complete the funding application for the proposed project, estimated to cost $2.8 billion. The application will request state water bond funds to meet a portion of total project costs. The remainder of the funds needed will be requested from Congress. If authorized by Congress, the dam and reservoir would become part of the federal Central Valley Project and create 1.2 million acre-feet of new water storage.
Sacramento Bee - Jul 5 This week the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, that removes the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act's (CVPIA) goal of doubling the number of striped bass living in and around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The intent of the bill is to protect preyed-upon salmon, which the CVPIA also intended to preserve. The bill, if enacted into law, would modestly scale back the CVPIA, which farmers blame for water shortages and which they have long sought to reform. Certain species of salmon, which are native to California, and striped bass, which are not, were both included among several fish species for which the CVPIA’s congressional authors 24 years ago set a population-doubling goal. Because the stripers prey heavily on juvenile salmon smolts, critics have since come to see those population-expanding goals as contradictory.
The Hill - Jun 30 Federal officials rolled out a new regulation Thursday to close a “loophole” they say allows fossil fuel companies to pay low fees for extracting oil, natural gas, and coal on federal land. The rule, promulgated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, overhauls the way royalties are calculated when companies sell the fossil fuels they extract from federal land in an attempt to ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return. The action is meant, in part, to prevent coal companies from selling coal to a subsidiary or affiliate company at a price lower than market value in order to pay lower royalties. Federal officials, groups, and others say the practice has been common, though the coal industry has said the concerns are overblown.
