Focus
Climate change threatens nearly one third of U.S. hazardous chemical facilities
NPR – March 2
Nearly one third of the hazardous chemical facilities in the United States, including many sites in California, are at risk from climate-driven floods, storms, and wildfires, according to a new analysis by the Government Accountability Office. The federal watchdog agency analyzed more than 10,000 factories, refineries, water treatment plants, and other facilities that manufacture, store, or use dangerous chemicals. The report calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require facilities to prepare for floods, power outages, and other effects of climate change. Such requirements are already included in regulations for facilities that handle hazardous chemicals, but, according to the report, EPA can do a better job enforcing those regulations.
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News
EPA boosts peer review by Science Advisory Board
Agri-Pulse – March 2
EPA is taking steps intended to “restore public faith” in the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), the agency stated in a memo released on Monday. In a news release, EPA said the new policy would strengthen “the independence of the SAB’s role by scoping and identifying the peer review needed for EPA decisions” and also ensure the agency “considers and develops peer reviewed science early in their rule-making development process.” The new policy replaces the former policy adopted in February 2020 during the Trump administration and takes effect immediately.
Port of Oakland approves controversial sand and gravel operation
The Mercury News – February 25
The Port of Oakland’s board last Thursday approved Eagle Rock Aggregates’ controversial proposal to build an open-air sand and gravel plant on 18 acres of Port property under a 12-year lease. The project has received support from some local unions that would benefit from jobs and apprenticeship programs created by the presence of the plant. However, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the state Attorney General’s Office, and local organization West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project have questioned the environmental analysis of the project, citing potentially uncontrolled dust emissions from the sand piles and allegedly excessive nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions from ships docking at the port and trucks transporting gravel to Bay Area concrete plants.
Pipeline company involved in Orange County oil spill sues shipping firms
Los Angeles Times – February 28
Two cargo ships that allegedly damaged an oil pipeline with their anchors during a winter storm should be held liable for a disastrous October oil spill that sent thousands of gallons of crude into the waters off Orange County, the operator of the ruptured pipeline alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday. The pipeline owner, Amplify Energy Corp., contends that the shipping companies and their subsidiaries, based in Switzerland, Panama, Liberia, and Greece, improperly allowed their cargo ships to drop anchor near the pipeline and failed to notify authorities after the damage occurred. The Coast Guard has designated both ships parties of interest in the federal investigation of the spill.
California representatives ask federal government for new water study at former base
Associated Press – February 25
Reps. Katie Porter and Jimmy Panneta, members of the California delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, are asking the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to study a possible link between toxic and contaminated drinking water at Fort Ord and development of specific cancers and other diseases. The request follows an Associated Press report last week about hundreds of people who lived and served near the Army base who are concerned that their health problems might be tied to chemicals there. In 1990, four years before it began the process of closing as an active military training base, Fort Ord was added to EPA’s list of the most polluted places in the nation, due to cancer-causing chemicals found in the base’s drinking water and soil.
Online vehicle auction firm Copart to pay $800,000 to settle hazardous waste violations
KPIX – February 28
Copart Inc., an international online vehicle auction company based in Dallas, will pay nearly $1 million in penalties as part of a settlement agreement with several California cities and counties over allegations that it improperly disposed of hazardous waste, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. The agreement also includes a permanent injunction that prohibits the company from violating hazardous waste laws and requiring it to implement compliance assurance measures, according to prosecutors.
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