Environmental and Policy Focus
ABC News - Sep 14 Swaths of public land in the California desert will be opened to solar and wind farms under a federal plan released Wednesday that preserves much of the landscape for conservation and recreation. The long-awaited blueprint finalized by the U.S. Interior Department after a years-long process seeks to balance renewable energy development and species protection on 17,000 square miles of desert managed by the federal government. The desert stretches 350 miles from Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada to near the Mexican border. The plan would allow construction on 606 square miles of public land away from ecologically sensitive habitats. Developers who propose projects in that zone would get preferential treatment. Another 717 square miles also is potentially available for clean-energy development, but developers would have to satisfy additional requirements for project approval. The majority of federal desert land would be off-limits to development, with government land managers designating 10,200 square miles for conservation and 5,617 square miles for recreation. Both renewable energy developers and environmental groups criticized the plan; the former for not designating more land for clean energy projects, and the latter for not doing enough to conserve wildlife habitat.
Los Angeles Times - Sep 13 Southern California Gas Co. (SoCal Gas) agreed to pay $4 million to settle criminal charges brought by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office over the gas leak near Porter Ranch in the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field last year, but the utility still faces potentially costly civil actions from both residents and regulators. The district attorney’s office accused SoCal Gas of failing to properly notify authorities when the leak first occurred last October. The settlement includes a host of safety measures that go beyond what is already required by state and local laws. The utility is still dealing with more than 100 lawsuits brought by thousands of residents alleging health problems and reduction in property values. SoCal Gas also faces lawsuits by other state agencies which collectively seek fines, financial penalties, and installation of safety valves on the natural gas wells in response to the gas leak. The Public Utilities Commission and Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources are still studying the cause of the leak, and their findings also could lead to fines against the gas company.
Press-Enterprise - Sep 8 The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) board voted unanimously this month to authorize attorneys to appeal a court decision denying the SCAQMD's effort to block the two initiatives proposed for development of a 40.6 million-square-foot warehouse complex known as the World Logistics Center in Moreno Valley, California. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Sharon Waters’s ruling last month would allow Highland Fairview’s proposed development to proceed without analyzing the project's potential environmental impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act and thereby avoid legal challenges. SCAQMD and a coalition of environmental groups sued the city claiming that the city and developer have misused the initiative process, but Judge Waters ruled that the initiatives are allowed under election law. Highland Fairview says the center would create 20,000 jobs and $2.5 billion a year in economic activity.
Sacramento Bee - Sep 14 According to an analysis the California Natural Resources Agency commissioned last year but never released, Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed Delta Tunnels project is economically feasible only if the federal government bears a third of the nearly $16 billion cost because local water districts may not benefit as expected. The study looked at the share of costs that rural and urban water districts would pay and whether they would get enough water consistently to make the project's price worthwhile for them. The analysis by economist David Sunding of UC Berkeley for the first time raises the prospect that federal funding would be needed for the project to proceed, countering longstanding state pledges that the water districts receiving water from the tunnels would bear the full cost. U.S. officials have not publicly committed to share the costs. Restore the Delta, a group opposing the tunnel project, obtained the fall 2015 study through a California Public Records Act request.
Orange County Register - Sep 14 Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday approved $900 million in funding for environmental programs, signing legislation that frees up a large influx of cash for wide-ranging initiatives aimed at improving California’s air quality. The funding package—to be generated from California’s carbon-emission fee program, known as cap-and-trade—includes $363 million in clean vehicle incentives, $95 million for the planting of more carbon-capturing plants in urban areas, and $135 million for transit and intercity rail construction. Another $140 million will be available through a grant program for local governments and neighborhoods to promote energy efficiency programs and $90 million is designated for the reduction of methane gases at dairies and landfills. About 60 percent of the cap-and-trade program revenues are earmarked for specific projects including high-speed rail. The spending approved this week covers the remaining 40 percent and also leaves $462 million for future years.
