News
EPA releases blueprint for stemming pollution from Tijuana River
San Diego Union-Tribune – June 10
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the most comprehensive blueprint to date to address water pollution that flows north from Mexico through canyons and the Tijuana River, fouling shorelines in Imperial Beach more than a third of the year on average. The EPA plan outlined more than $200 million in prospective projects, including dramatically beefing up the capacity of Mexico’s diversion system in the Tijuana River, and the possibility of building a diversion system north of the border. The pledge of support by federal regulators comes as the state of California, as well as the cities of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and San Diego, have filed Clean Water Act lawsuits against the Trump administration to force action on the issue.
Environmental groups sue Interior Department over rollback of offshore oil safety rules
Reuters - June 11
A coalition of environmental groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Interior Department’s rollbacks of safety measures put in place by the Obama administration in the aftermath of the fatal 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The lawsuit filed in a federal district court in California alleges that the agency disregarded the evidence and expert findings that underpinned the 2016 Well Control and Blowout Preventer Rule when it revised and repealed those safety measures, and was not transparent when drafting the replacement. The oil and gas industry has pressed for changes to what they regard as burdensome performance standards for blowout preventers, safety valves designed to automatically seal a well in the event of a blowout.
Attorney General Becerra denounces BLM proposal to open Central California to hydraulic fracturing
Sierra Sun Times - June 11
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday filed a public comment letter opposing a U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to open up more than one million acres of public lands in Central California to oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Fracking is a procedure in which water, sand, and certain chemicals are injected at high pressure into tight rock formations to extract oil and gas. While most of the fluid is water, the process also includes chemicals that can pollute nearby groundwater and flow back to the surface for above-ground storage. In the letter, Attorney General Becerra asserts that BLM’s draft supplemental Environmental Impact Statement disregards important impacts to the communities, relies on incorrect assumptions, ignores alternative options, and is otherwise unlawful.
U.S. Forest Service proposes overhaul of forest management rules
NPR – June 12
The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday proposed sweeping rule changes to a landmark environmental law—the National Environmental Policy Act—that would allow them to fast-track certain forest management projects, including logging and prescribed burning. The proposed rule changes include an expansion of "categorical exclusions," which can give land managers the discretion to bypass full environmental studies in places where they can demonstrate there would be no severe impacts or degradation to the land. The proposed rule changes are subject to a 60-day public comment period. Barring litigation or other holdups, the Forest Service hopes to finalize them by summer of next year.
California taps clean air money to pay for drinking water
SFGate – June 10
California legislative leaders agreed Sunday to spend $130 million a year to improve water systems in communities where people cannot drink from their taps. To pay for it, the state would take money from the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a move that alarmed some environmental activists who say it has set up an unfair choice between clean air and water. The plan is part of the state's $213 billion budget and is a compromise between legislative leaders and Governor Gavin Newsom, who had originally proposed a 95-cent tax on most residential water bills to pay for the fund.
Trucking company linked to Vernon battery recyclers is fined
Los Angeles Daily News – June 11
A trucking company was ordered on Monday to pay $3 million for illegally transporting more than 64 tons of hazardous, lead-contaminated plastic battery chips from the now-closed Exide Technologies battery recycling facility in Vernon to a company in Bakersfield, officials said. Wiley Sanders Truck Lines Inc., which is based in Troy, Alabama, was ordered to pay a $1.5 million fine and $1.5 million community service payment as part of a sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who placed the company on probation for three years and described its conduct as “an environmental disaster for Vernon and the surrounding area,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Study finds levels of plastic pollution in Monterey Bay rival those in Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Mercury News – June 6
A groundbreaking study published last Thursday found levels of plastic pollution in the Monterey Bay similar to those found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The study, a joint effort by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium, is the first to document how plastic pollution in the ocean is widespread and exists not just at the surface but in deep waters as well. The pollution is made up of trillions of tiny bits of debris, roughly the size of a grain of rice or smaller, floating from near the surface to thousands of feet underwater. The particles are being consumed by small ocean animals, the study found.
South Coast Air Quality Management District to increase toxic emissions fees
Los Angeles Times – June 7
The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s governing board voted 8-4 last Friday to increase the toxic emissions fees it collects almost tenfold, from $500,000 annually to $4.9 million. Regulators said the fee hikes, which will be phased in over two years, are necessary to reduce a massive shortfall as the air district spends about $20 million annually regulating air emissions.
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