California sues Trump administration to block water rules
ABC News – February 20
California sued the Trump administration on Thursday to block new rules finalized this week that would let farmers take more water from the state's largest river systems, arguing it would push endangered populations of delta smelt, chinook salmon, and steelhead trout to extinction. The federal rules govern how much water can be pumped out of the watersheds of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which flow from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the San Francisco Bay and provide the state with much of its water for a bustling agriculture industry that supplies two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables. For the past year, state regulators have been negotiating with water agencies on a set of voluntary agreements to set water quality standards in the delta. The lawsuit could put those agreements in jeopardy.
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News
EPA will regulate two chemicals in drinking water
The San Diego Union-Tribune – February 20
The U.S. EPA announced this Thursday that it plans to regulate two types of PFAS, known as PFOA and PFOS, in drinking water amid growing concerns that the chemicals, which are found in a variety of products including pizza boxes, carpeting, and fire-fighting chemicals, pose a health risk. It also plans to research whether other PFAS chemicals should be added to the list. Until now, the agency has come under fire from environmentalists for only setting a “Health Advisory” concentration of 70 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. Several states have responded by setting their own PFAS limits for drinking water that are stricter than the federal threshold.
Toxic Superfund cleanups decline to more than 30-year low
Associated Press – February 20
According to figures quietly posted by the EPA on its website earlier this month and discovered on Wednesday, EPA completed fewer cleanups of toxic Superfund sites in 2019 than any administration since the program’s first years in the 1980s. EPA completed cleanups at only six Superfund sites around the country in the 2019 budget year, the fewest since 1986, when only three sites were completed, EPA online records showed. The Superfund program was born out of the 1970s disaster at Love Canal in New York, where industrial contaminants poisoned groundwater, spurred complaints of health problems, and prompted presidential emergency declarations. Congress started the Superfund program in 1980, with the mission of cleaning up the country’s worst contaminated sites to remove the threat to surrounding residents and the environment.
California adopts first air pollution measures targeting local pesticide emissions in South Fresno and Shafter
The Fresno Bee – February 15
The California Air Resources Board last week approved emission reduction plans to help to control pollutant emissions, and in particular, pesticide applications, in the cities of Shafter and south Fresno. Local committees of environmental advocates and residents spent months drafting the plans, which are the first to be approved in the San Joaquin Valley. Similar plans have been approved for other parts of the state. Under AB617, the state set aside $32 million for implementation of the south Fresno projects and $29 million for Shafter. The plans include reducing pesticide exposure and use, including expanding air monitoring and providing notification of pesticide applications in Shafter. The focus in Fresno was on land use, including truck re-routing, involvement in industrial developments, and adding green barriers, like vegetation, to mitigate the effects of high emission sources.
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