Environmental and Policy Focus
Bloomberg - Aug 13
Fifteen states led by coal-rich West Virginia – but not including California - asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Thursday to prevent enforcement of recently-announced Obama administration rules intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants while those rules undergo judicial review. The rules, known informally as the “Clean Power Plan,” aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants by 32 percent by 2030 from 2005 emission levels. Compliance would require a shift away from coal and towards renewable resources such as solar and wind power. Although the rule’s first deadline for emissions reductions does not arrive until 2022, state officials say they need to start planning now to meet that initial target. The states want to avoid this investment until the courts rule on a lawsuit they are planning to file that challenges the legality of the rules. That challenge cannot be filed until EPA publishes the rules in the Federal Register. EPA has announced no date for publication.
Los Angeles Times - Aug 9
The EPA has ordered a new round of indoor air quality tests for a South Bay neighborhood after detecting a variety of contaminants inside homes near two federal cleanup sites. The EPA sampled air in 107 homes near the Del Amo and Montrose Superfund sites in Torrance earlier this year after residents complained of worries that they are breathing dangerous chemicals seeping into their homes from a plume of contaminated groundwater below. The tests detected pollutants associated with the cleanup sites, including benzene, chloroform, and trichloroethylene (TCE), at levels above the agency's health standards for long-term exposure. EPA explained that the detected concentrations are not high enough to pose an urgent health risk to residents, but that the concentrations are high enough to warrant additional investigation to determine whether and to what extent they are attributable to the Superfund sites and not to other sources such as household cleaning products and painting supplies, or to vehicle exhaust and emissions from nearby refineries.
Monterey County Herald - Aug 11
Caught between a federal regulatory agency charged with protecting threatened steelhead in the Salinas River and increasing pressure from drought-affected agri-business, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency’s board of directors agreed on Tuesday to continue working with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) officials toward increasing water releases from South County reservoirs demanded by South County farmers. NMFS and the industry group each have threatened to take action against the County water agency if it doesn’t meet their demands. NMFS officials are warning the water agency against violating the federal Endangered Species Act by releasing so much water that there isn’t enough left for steelhead. Agricultural industry representatives are threatening litigation if the agency doesn’t ignore NMFS and release more water.
Fresno Bee - Aug 11
Shipping company FedEx will pay $1.75 million to settle suits brought over alleged illegal transportation and storage of hazardous waste, as well as unlawful business practices. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by several district attorney’s offices in California in Sacramento Superior Court against FedEx Ground Package System Inc. FedEx Ground agreed to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties, $155,000 in investigative costs to the involved agencies, $85,000 for environmental programs, and will spend $10,000 toward working with its customers on a waste minimization program. FedEx Ground disputed the claims, but the company was cooperative in the investigation and it has corrected all of the alleged violations, investigators said.
