Environmental and Policy Focus
Los Angeles Times - Jun 22
The majority of California growers, irrigation districts, and others who have been ordered to stop drawing water from rivers and streams due to worsening drought conditions have failed to report their compliance before the official deadline, officials said Monday. In what one spokesman described as a “disappointing” development, the State Water Resources Control Board released figures showing that only 31 percent of affected water right holders had officially responded to their curtailment orders. When water right holders receive a shutoff order, they have seven days to submit a certification form to the water board, officials said. Rights holders who fail to heed a curtailment order and continue drawing water are subject to fines of up to $1,000 per day and $2,500 per acre-foot of unlawfully diverted water.
New York Times - Jun 24
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill that would update regulation of harmful chemicals under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act for the first time in nearly 40 years. The House vote, 398-1, moves the bill to the Senate, where a similar measure awaits a floor vote after winning approval from a Senate committee. Both bills would set safety standards for tens of thousands of chemicals that now are unregulated. The bills also would offer protections for people, such as pregnant women, children, and workers, who are vulnerable to the effects of chemicals and set deadlines for the Environmental Protection Agency to act.
SFGate - Jun 24
Dozens of Central Valley farmers who were hoping a local judge would come to their aid and fend off sweeping state water restrictions imposed on some of California’s most senior water rights holders were dealt a blow Tuesday when the court declined to hear their case, citing a potential for “local prejudices.” After a three hour hearing, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Carter P. Holly honored a request by state water officials to transfer the challenge to recently adopted conservation measures to a less partial county. A new venue has not been determined. The lawsuit, brought by the Banta-Carbona Irrigation District in Tracy, is the first to question the state’s authority to demand that those with claims to century-old water rights stop pumping from rivers and creeks in light of the drought. Although the case was filed on behalf of only 75 or so growers, the ultimate resolution of the case could affect thousands of farmers, water districts, and communities whose supplies hinge on claims to senior water rights.
The Guardian - Jun 24
Exxon Mobil Corp has been forced to halt operations at three offshore oil platforms because it could not deliver oil to refineries in the wake of a broken pipeline that leaked up to 101,000 gallons of crude on the Santa Barbara coast in May, the company said. Operations temporarily ceased last week because Santa Barbara County rejected Exxon Mobil’s emergency application to truck oil to refineries. A Santa Barbara County official said the company’s problem did not constitute an emergency, and therefore that it would have to go through the normal procedure to obtain a permit to truck the oil, which requires extensive environmental review.
KPCC - Jun 22
Oil from last month's spill west of Santa Barbara was carried south and washed ashore on Manhattan Beach, officials said Monday. Chemists determined that a tarball found at Manhattan Beach matched samples taken from the May 19 Refugio oil spill. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife collected more than 100 samples, though only the one has matched so far.
Bloomberg - Jun 23
New federal hydraulic fracturing safety rules set to take effect Wednesday at drilling sites on public land were put on hold by a Wyoming federal judge, who said he needed more evidence to decide whether to block them as requested by drillers and four western states. The states opposing the rules, which include Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, claim that the rules improperly duplicate regulations already in place and impose permitting delays that could cost them revenue. The Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance also complained that the new federal requirements to disclose the chemicals they use would put their trade secrets at risk. The new rules would affect 700 million acres of public land overseen by the federal government.
Courthouse News Service - Jun 25
Federal regulators need not defend their designation of several thousand acres in California as "critical habitat" for the Santa Ana sucker, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday. A 3-inch-long fish whose large lips and small mouth make it adept at leeching algae and invertebrates from river bottoms, the Santa Ana sucker has been designated "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2000. Since regulators had initially excluded certain areas from conservation plans for the sucker's critical habitat, the decision to add several thousand acres to the habitat in 2010 quickly drew protest from several municipalities and water districts. Contending that the move would hamper water conservation and undercut their efforts to curb flooding in the Santa Ana River, these groups accused regulators of not cooperating with the state, acting arbitrarily and capriciously, and not preparing an environmental impact statement in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.
