Focus
Attorney General Bonta asks plastic bag producers to prove that bags are recyclable
San Francisco Chronicle – November 2
On Wednesday, Attorney General Rob Bonta sent letters to seven plastic bag producers that supply the bulk of California's grocery stores, demanding they provide proof that their bags can really be recycled. The move is among the strictest enforcement actions yet for a major state recycling law aimed at tackling widespread plastic pollution. At a news conference, Bonta insisted that plastics companies and petroleum producers be held accountable for any role they have in fueling a so-called "plastic crisis." Senate Bill 270, which was signed into law in 2014, phased in a number of state restrictions on the use and production of plastic, including a first-ever state ban on "single-use" plastic bags and an ensuing mandate that any "reusable" plastic bags be recyclable within California.
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News
S.F., Oakland can sue oil companies over climate change in state court, federal judge rules
San Francisco Chronicle – October 25
San Francisco and Oakland can sue major oil companies in a California state court for selling fossil fuel products and allegedly deceiving customers about their impact on climate change, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting the companies’ attempt to keep the case in federal court. The decision by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco follows a ruling in April by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing California courts to oversee a similar climate-change suit by other local governments, including San Mateo, Marin, and Santa Cruz counties.
EPA awards grants to monitor air quality in communities hurt by pollution
NPR – November 3
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday awarded grants for projects to monitor air quality in 37 states, including California, with a focus on minority communities and other areas overburdened by pollution. A total of 132 projects will receive $53.4 million to enhance air quality monitoring near chemical plants, refineries, and other industrial sites — part of a commitment by the Biden administration to focus on environmental justice in communities adversely affected by decades of industrial pollution.
New plan could lead to federal action on Colorado River
Associated Press – October 28
In the first sign of federal action to protect shrinking reservoirs, the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior Department) announced last Friday that it will consider revising a set of guidelines for operating two major dams on the Colorado River. The public has until December 20 to weigh in on three options to keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell water levels from dropping so low they will not be able to support power production or provide sufficient water that seven Western states, Mexico, and multiple tribes have relied on for decades. One of the options would allow the Interior Department’s U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to take unilateral action to protect the reservoirs, as it threatened to do this summer when it asked states to propose ways to significantly reduce their use beyond previous voluntary and mandatory cuts. A final decision could come in late summer of 2023, around the time the bureau announces water cuts for the following year.
Hoopa Valley tribe sues over water contracts in California
ABC News – October 31
The Hoopa Valley Tribe alleged in a lawsuit filed on Monday that the federal government is violating its sovereignty and failing to collect money from California farms that rely on federally supplied water to pay for damages to tribal fisheries. The tribe, which has a reservation in northwest California, alleges that the Trinity River, on which it relies for food and cultural purposes, has been decimated by decades of water diversion by the federal government. The suit argues the Interior Department has failed to follow laws that require contractors who use that water to pay for habitat restoration projects. It says those contractors owe $340 million for environmental restoration work along the Trinity River and other places that have been damaged by water diversions.
Oakland environmental group sues city over approvals of indoor cannabis farms
KQED – November 2
In a complaint filed October 21 in Alameda County Superior Court, an Oakland environmental justice group charges the city with having exempted more than 200 indoor cannabis growers from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, without any analysis of the known environmental impacts of indoor cultivation. The indoor growing operations are generally located in Oakland's "Green Zone," which the city designated several years ago for industrial cannabis operations. In East Oakland, the zone is adjacent to communities of color that experience high rates of poverty and have long suffered from excessive levels of air pollution and other toxic exposures.
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