Environmental and Policy Focus
Sacramento Bee - Jul 8
California regulators gave final approval on Tuesday to a controversial drought plan to restrict the flow of water from Lake Shasta this summer in an attempt to preserve an endangered fish species. Keeping more water in Shasta through September is a key element of a plan aimed at cooling down the Sacramento River during the spawning season of winter-run Chinook salmon. Regulators are desperate to prevent a recurrence of last year, when the river got too warm and 95 percent of the juvenile salmon were wiped out. However, the plan will effectively deprive downstream farmers of as much as 250,000 acre-feet of water during the crucial months of the growing season.
Los Angeles Times - Jul 1
California's Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources ("DOGGR") formally adopted new rules on Wednesday governing hydraulic fracturing in the state. The regulations, which lawmakers had originally approved in 2013 as part of SB 4, require oil companies to expand monitoring and reporting of water use and water quality, conduct broad analysis of potential engineering and seismic impacts of their operations, and comprehensively disclose chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing and other operations. The same day, DOGGR released an environmental impact report on the practice of well stimulation, concluding that hydraulic fracturing could have “significant and unavoidable impacts” on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and public safety. The new regulations establish some of the toughest guidelines in the nation for hydraulic fracturing, and come at a time when DOGGR is facing increasing criticism from lawmakers over its failure to adequately oversee oil and gas operations.
SFGate - Jul 8
Federal regulators have restarted the process of deciding whether California’s last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, will remain open for decades. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reported that it would once again begin processing a request from plant owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to renew Diablo’s operating licenses, set to expire in 2024 and 2025. PG&E had applied in 2009 to renew the plant licenses, but work came to a halt in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami caused three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to melt down. PG&E asked the Commission to delay Diablo's relicensing until the utility could complete an in-depth study of nearby fault lines. PG&E has finished the study, which concluded that the plant can withstand the strongest quakes likely to hit in the area. The license renewal process, which will include public hearings and testimony, will also give the plant’s vocal opponents the opportunity to push for plant closure.
San Mateo Daily Journal - Jul 3
Seeking support from a federal agency of an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that could have squashed a pending lawsuit, Caltrain was denied that exemption on Thursday when the Surface Transportation Board ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over Caltrain's massive $1.5 billion electrification project. Caltrain officials had long claimed that their plans for electrification should be exempt from CEQA, but the STB, the federal agency that oversees interstate commerce routes, determined that the electrification project was specifically geared toward commuter service and subject to state law. Although Caltrain had previously completed an environmental impact report, without an exemption it must continue to litigate against opponents who filed a lawsuit claiming that the report was incomplete.
Courthouse News Service - Jul 2
The Army Corps of Engineers' dredging of 11 navigation channels in San Francisco Bay will erode the shore and put endangered fish at risk, an environmental group claims in a recently filed lawsuit. San Francisco Baykeeper seeks a writ of mandate compelling the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board to set aside its May 13, 2015 approval of the dredging project, which involves maintenance dredging by the Corps of Engineers of six channels annually and five channels less frequently. The Corps regularly dredges the Bay floor to keep shipping channels and harbors deep enough for oceangoing vessels in the Bay and farther up the Delta. San Francisco Baykeeper claims that the water board certified the project's environmental impact report without adequately analyzing the direct and indirect impacts of the dredging.
