Focus
SEC proposes new corporate climate change disclosure rules
Associated Press - March 21
Under a new proposal issued on Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), public companies would have to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and the ways in which climate risks affect their businesses, including the costs of moving away from fossil fuels, as well as risks related to the physical impact of storms, drought, and higher temperatures caused by climate change. The required disclosures would include greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies directly or indirectly — such as from consumption of the company’s products, vehicles used to transport products, employee business travel, and energy used to grow raw materials.
For more information on this topic, please see the latest Allen Matkins California Corporate & Securities Law blog post.
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News
California proposes a new standard for hexavalent chromium in drinking water
ASPE Pipeline – March 24
The California State Water Resources Control Board has announced a proposed maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion for hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, that prioritizes protecting public health while considering the varying abilities of the state’s 7,000 public water systems to invest in water treatment technologies to meet the new standard. Hexavalent chromium, commonly called chromium-6, is an odorless and tasteless heavy metal that occurs throughout the environment and may occur in groundwater naturally or as a result of industrial sites that fail to follow proper disposal methods for contaminated waste. If adopted by the board, the new MCL is expected to go into effect in early 2024.
Ninth Circuit upholds block on acrylamide warning for food products sold in California
Courthouse News Service – March 17
Finding “a serious constitutional issue” raised by a California law requiring cancer warning labels on products containing the chemical acrylamide, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last Thursday upheld an injunction temporarily barring its enforcement. The lower court’s injunction, issued last year by U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, forbids the state and private parties from suing companies for not putting Proposition 65 warning labels on food and beverages containing acrylamide pending the outcome of a legal challenge to the warning requirement brought by the California Chamber of Commerce. Acrylamide is often found in baked or fried foods like French fries, potato chips, and donuts, and has also been identified in coffee, almonds, and black olives.
California slashes State Water Project allocation to 5%
Los Angeles Times – March 18
After a record dry start to 2022, California water officials announced last Friday that they were cutting State Water Project allocations from 15% to 5%, warning residents to brace for a third year of drought. The Metropolitan Water District, which is the largest urban water supplier in Southern California, said that about 30% of the region’s water comes from the State Water Project. The Department of Water Resources will make another assessment of the State Water Project allocation following the next snow survey on April 1. The final annual allocation for the water year is typically announced in May or June.
Pure Water Oceanside, the first advanced water purification facility in San Diego, opens
KPBS – March 22
The city of Oceanside celebrated World Water Day on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Pure Water Oceanside, a water purification facility that will locally supply water that was once imported from hundreds of miles away. The facility, the first of its kind to go online in San Diego County, turns recycled water into locally sourced clean and safe drinking water. In addition to Pure Water Oceanside, two other water reuse projects are planned for the region: the East County Advanced Water Purification Program and Pure Water San Diego.
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