Focus

Idaho joins Texas lawsuit over new Clean Water Act rules

U.S. News & World Report – February 28

Idaho has joined a Texas lawsuit over a new interpretation of the Clean Water Act’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, alleging that it is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority, and puts the liberties of states and private property owners at risk. The December 2022 WOTUS rule repeals a Trump-era rule and expands some water pollution protections under the Clean Water Act to thousands of small streams, wetlands, and other waterways. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last year in a long-running dispute between a northern Idaho couple, the Sacketts, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over which wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act. The forthcoming ruling could determine the reach of the Clean Water Act on private property.

News

Pollutants were released into San Jose rivers from Graniterock, lawsuit claims

Monterey Herald – March 1

The Santa Clara County District Attorney on Monday filed a lawsuit against Graniterock, a construction materials firm, claiming that the company discharged stormwater from two of its San Jose facilities with elevated pH values, cement, sand, concrete, chemical additives, and other heavy metals. The District Attorney alleges that those pollutants have endangered steelhead trout, the California tiger salamander, and the California red legged frog — animals that live in and around Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek.

Cargo ship companies to pay $96.5 million in O.C. oil spill

Los Angeles Times – March 2

A group of international shipping companies and their subsidiaries tentatively agreed last Wednesday to pay Amplify Energy Corp. $96.5 million to dismiss one of the last remaining lawsuits over an oil spill that sent at least 25,000 gallons of crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach in 2021. Amplify’s lawsuit, filed in 2022, accused the shipping companies of improperly allowing their container ships, the MSC Danit and Cosco Beijing, to drag their anchors across the sea floor near the pipeline. The agreement will require approval from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who has been overseeing the sprawling litigation into the 2021 spill.

California keeps sending toxic soil to out-of-state landfills

KPBS – February 28

State lawmakers are planning an oversight hearing that will look into how California handles contaminated soil from old industrial, military, and other cleanup sites — waste contaminated with lead, petroleum hydrocarbons, and the insecticide DDT, among other chemicals. A CalMatters investigation last month revealed that businesses and government agencies routinely dispose of contaminated soil at landfills in Arizona and Utah — states with weaker environmental regulation and oversight — as opposed to in California where the waste would need to go to specialized hazardous waste disposal facilities. As part of a 2021 law requiring the state to draft a new hazardous waste management plan, the Department of Toxic Substances Control is scheduled to release a report in March evaluating how much hazardous waste the state is generating and how it is being handled. A proposed plan isn’t due until spring 2025.

State adds the Bayview to neighborhood air pollution action plan

San Francisco Examiner – March 2

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last Friday added two communities, one in San Francisco—the Bayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood—and one in Los Angeles, to its emissions-reduction program. Assembly Bill 617, which created the Community Air Protection Program, targets areas around the state that endure above-average levels of pollution or contamination. The program is the first of its kind, according to CARB, because instead of a top-down program from the state, air quality district leaders partner with community members to identify problem areas and deploy greener technology.