Focus
THE NEW YORK TIMES - Jul 19 The U.S. Department of the Interior on Thursday proposed the most sweeping set of changes in decades to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Battles over endangered species have consumed vast swaths of the West, and confrontations over protections for such species as the spotted owl, the sage grouse and the gray wolf have shaped politics and public debate for decades. One proposed change would eliminate language that prohibits consideration of economic factors when deciding whether a species should be protected. Another change, to the definition of "foreseeable future," could arguably give the government greater leeway to play down climate change in judging whether a plant or animal is at risk of extinction. While the proposed changes would not be retroactive, they could set the stage for new clashes over offshore drilling and help smooth the path for projects like oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Interior Department and the Department of Commerce will allow 60 days for public comment on the changes before finalizing them.
REUTERS - Jul 18 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Wednesday temporarily blocked a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would have lifted strict limits on the number of remanufactured heavy duty vehicles known as “glider trucks” that could be sold. The glider trucks emit up to 450 times more diesel particulate matter and up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide (a precursor of ground-level ozone, or smog) than new trucks on the market. Nevertheless, on July 6, EPA issued a memo advising that the agency would not enforce a limit of up to 300 gliders per manufacturer. The court emphasized that its stay order is not a ruling on the merits of invalidating the memo. In a related development on Thursday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and 15 other state attorneys general also sued over the EPA's decision to suspend limits on glider trucks.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Jul 17 The California Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled Monday that cereals containing acrylamide and produced by Post, General Mills, and Kellogg do not have to carry cancer-warning labels under California’s Proposition 65 because the labels could discourage consumers from buying healthy foods. The court reasoned that requiring warnings on all foods containing acrylamide at levels that pose any risk of cancer “would cause many otherwise healthy foods to appear to consumers to be unhealthful.” Acrylamide, used in manufacturing, has been listed as a workplace carcinogen by federal agencies and was added to California’s Proposition 65 list in 1990. Monday’s ruling ordered dismissal of a lawsuit by a retired physician who had sought to require Prop. 65 warnings on 59 cereals sold by the three companies.
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - Jul 17 The newly-formed Delta Conveyance Finance Authority, led by the regional water agencies backing the $17 billion Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnels project known as California WaterFix, is expected to start the application process for a $1.6 billion federal water infrastructure loan administered by the EPA. Congress established the loan program in 2014 to spur upgrades to the nation’s aging irrigation projects and dams. Project proponents say the loan would represent a significant milestone for the tunnels project, which has been in the planning phase for nearly a decade. Meanwhile, critical permits and legal challenges are still pending, and some farming groups still have not committed to paying for part of the project.
