Focus
EPA to bring back mercury pollution rules rolled back under Trump administration
CNN – January 31
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Monday that it intends to restore the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that were rolled back under the Trump administration in 2020. The standards, first implemented under President Barack Obama, require power plants to reduce pollutants, including mercury and acid gases, thereby improving public health, according to Biden administration officials. EPA is also examining whether to make the rules more stringent. The agency will take public comment on the proposal for 60 days.
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News
President Biden is sending more than $1 billion to states to plug abandoned oil and gas wells
CNBC – January 31
The Biden administration on Monday announced it will send $1.15 billion to states to plug thousands of orphan oil and gas wells that emit methane. The funds will go to the 26 states that submitted notices of intent to the Department of Interior last year, including more than $100 million each for Pennsylvania and Texas. Roughly 9 million people live within a mile of an abandoned oil and gas well. The global warming potential of methane is 84 times that of carbon dioxide, but it doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere before it breaks down, which makes it a significant target for reducing global warming more quickly while simultaneously working to reduce other greenhouse gases.
A battle is brewing over the L.A. River's murky runoff
Los Angeles Times – February 1
With Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti pledging to recycle 100% of the city’s wastewater by 2035, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale also looking to increase wastewater recycling, the 51-mile Los Angeles River has become a battleground between environmentalists and wastewater recycling advocates. Reusing those discharges, city officials say, will help California meet its goals of recycling 2 million acre-feet of wastewater per year by 2030. Critics, however, warn that this will negatively impact local ecology and riverside recreational activities in some of the most densely populated, park-poor areas in the United States. The tensions have been playing out in public hearings and behind closed doors as the State Water Resources Control Board struggles to develop guidelines.
SoCalGas settles with environmental watchdog group over Aliso Canyon facility
Los Angeles Daily News – February 1
Southern California Gas Co., which operates the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in the San Fernando Valley, will have to monitor benzene levels around its site and alert nearby residents in the event of a future gas leak, according to a binding settlement with an environmental health watchdog group. The settlement comes more than six years after the storage facility released over 100,000 tons of methane and other chemicals into the air, resulting in the largest natural gas blowout in the nation’s history. The gas leak, which was first detected in October 2015, lasted about four months and exposed residents to a host of chemicals, including benzene, which can cause cancer and harm to the reproductive system.
State kicks back San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans, may intervene
The Sun Gazette – February 2
On January 28, the Department of Water Resources released determinations on eight Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) in the San Joaquin Valley, saying they contained deficiencies which precluded the state from approving them. Local water agencies will spend the next six months reworking the GSPs, which are intended to help bring groundwater subbasins into balance by 2040 under the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014. Only eight Groundwater Sustainability Agencies statewide have had their plans approved by the state. The bulk of the plans for the remaining 70 GSPs are still under review.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Simitian seeks 10-year record of Lehigh violations, citing long-running lack of transparency, regulation
Los Altos Town Crier – February 2
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian received approval on January 25 from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for a referral that would direct County Counsel to move forward with a claim for alleged violations of environmental laws dating back to 2012 at the Lehigh cement plant and quarry outside Los Altos. The facility is facing increased scrutiny as it has become surrounded by residential development over the course of its 80-plus-year history of harvesting limestone and manufacturing cement.
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