New EPA policy would offer alternative to penalties for some oil and gas polluters
■The Hill - January 29
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon unveil a finalized audit policy that will offer significant new penalty reductions for the oil and gas industry, according to two internal memos obtained by The Hill. The New Owner Clean Air Act Audit Program, tailored specifically for oil and natural gas producers, will offer more flexibility to new company owners who choose to self-audit their emissions and report any failures to meet EPA’s regulations within certain timeframes, according to the December draft memos for the new policy. The flexibilities include allowing for a 100 percent penalty mitigation for any company that opts into the audit, which could translate into millions of dollars in savings for noncompliant companies otherwise subject to large penalties.
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CARB announces plan to improve San Joaquin Valley air quality by 2024
■Fresno Bee - January 25
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week approved a plan to reduce air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, which consistently exceeds standards for fine particulate matter emissions and for ozone. With $5 billion in incentives for residents and various businesses, the plan is geared to attain federal air quality standards in the Valley by 2024 with new rules requiring reduced emissions from a variety of sources including boilers, steam generators, internal combustion engines, and glass manufacturing facilities. The plan’s strategies also include creation of incentives to reduce emissions from commercial restaurant and residential activities.
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State officials criticize federal agency’s cleanup plan for Santa Susana Field Lab
■Los Angeles Daily News - January 29
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), in a letter released on Monday, accused the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) of violating an agreement it entered into in 2010 with DTSC and NASA promising to clean up all contamination in its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site above Simi Valley. The lab site stretches across 2,850 acres near Chatsworth and Simi Valley and was developed in the 1940s as a site to test rocket engines and conduct nuclear research. DTSC's letter follows a final environmental impact report released by DOE in December that included a mitigation plan for the area, which was a site of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959. According to the letter, DOE's proposed plan for cleanup of soil is expected to leave in place 98 percent of the contamination, comprising nearly 1.5 million cubic yards, which DTSC says would violate the agreement.
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Congressman Levin forms a task force to study moving, storing San Onofre's nuclear waste
■San Diego Union-Tribune - January 28
Newly elected Representative Mike Levin has organized a task force to consider how millions of pounds of radioactive waste from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant can be safely stored in coming years — or moved far away from the coast. Southern California Edison, which co-owns the closed power plant with minority partner San Diego Gas & Electric, said it welcomed additional oversight of the radioactive waste. The plant is in the decommissioning process, and the spent fuel is being moved from cooling pools into what is known as dry storage. The transfer process was suspended in August 2018 after one of the 50-ton canisters was mistakenly wedged inside its storage cavity.
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