Environmental and Policy Focus
Sacramento Bee - Jul 21 The California Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the state has the right to enter private property for soil and environmental testing as part of its planning for Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial $15.7 billion proposal to construct two giant tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to divert fresh water to Central and Southern California. The ruling reverses a decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeal holding that access to private property by the state for these purposes is not allowed unless the state first condemns and takes the property as its own, or obtains an agreement from the property owner. The Department of Water Resources maintains the soil testing and environmental analysis are necessary to determine the suitability of each property for the tunnels project and to comply with numerous state and federal environmental laws governing such a project.
Los Angeles Times - Jul 25 Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit on Monday against Southern California Gas Co., asking the court to order the company to install subsurface safety shut-off valves on all of its natural gas wells in Los Angeles County in order to prevent a leak like the recent one that lasted for months in Aliso Canyon. The company manages more than 200 wells at four locations in L.A. County. A spokesman for Southern California Gas commented that the Aliso Canyon storage facility was in compliance with state regulations at the time of the leak, and suggested that state and federal regulation is sufficient.
Reuters - Jul 25 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday paved the way for new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from passenger jets with a ruling that such aircraft emissions endanger public health. The endangerment finding triggers an obligation under the Clean Air Act for EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft and removes a barrier to adoption in the United States of internationally agreed emission standards developed by the U.N. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or, alternatively, standards that are “at least as stringent.”
Long Beach Press-Telegram - Jul 26 Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barry Goode this Tuesday rejected a last-minute effort by BNSF Railway to salvage its $500 million, 185-acre railyard project proposed for development in Wilmington, finding that the required environmental analysis prepared for BNSF Railway Co. and the City of Los Angeles was inadequate. BNSF lawyers argued railroad operations are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, but Judge Goode rejected the argument, saying in this case the development near low-income communities was on public land and subject to state regulation. The City of Long Beach was one of several petitioners who filed a lawsuit to stop the development, to be known as the Southern California International Gateway. Unveiled in 2005, the massive facility was expected to attract 1.5 million container trucks a year, about 5,500 semi-trucks daily, and eight trains a day. BNSF and Los Angeles officials both said they were in the process evaluating the judgment.
Courthouse News Service - Jul 27 The Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Teck Cominco Metals, a Canadian mining company, is not liable for environmental damage potentially caused by toxic chemicals, including lead, arsenic, and mercury compounds, that drifted into Washington state after having been released into the atmosphere from its smelter 10 miles north of the U.S. border. A three-judge panel found that Teck did not arrange for the "disposal" of hazardous substances downwind from where they were emitted from the company's smelter. The lawsuit was first brought 12 years ago by Washington state and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, seeking to hold Teck liable for cleanup costs and natural resources damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA.
