A San Jerardo cooperative in the Salinas area, together with environmental organizations, have sued the state, demanding stricter rules to govern the amount of fertilizer farmers can use. They allege that nitrate contamination in the groundwater—which is used for drinking, washing, and bathing—is attributable to years of large-scale farming. Researchers say the issue of nitrate-laden drinking water, which studies link to a blood disease known as blue baby syndrome in infants and to effects in pregnant women, will likely persist for decades. Two years ago, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued rules limiting how much fertilizer farmers could apply and protecting areas near streams, but the State Water Resources Control Board put those plans on hold in 2023, arguing that more consistent standards and scientific review are needed. Farmers, meanwhile, filed their own legal action, arguing that neither the state nor the regional board fully considered the economic impact of the changes on those responsible for the country’s food supply.
U.S. Department of Justice investigators have issued a subpoena to Napa County in an effort to gather information connected to the Upper Valley Waste Management Agency, a joint powers authority (JPA), according to a county spokesperson. The JPA oversees waste disposal for the northern portion of Napa Valley known as “Upvalley” — including the Clover Flat landfill, a source of recent environmental and worker complaints. Twenty-four former and current employees of the waste management company serving the upper Napa Valley submitted a joint complaint in December to the California EPA alleging “unsound environmental practices.” It also alleges unsafe and discriminatory conditions for workers at waste sites.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) delayed enforcing certain registration and reporting provisions of its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation just days ahead of a year-end deadline it had set for trucking companies. Under the rule, drayage fleets and others deemed high priority had until December 31 to register any combustion-powered truck operating at intermodal seaports or railyards. After that date, registering trucks with internal combustion engines would effectively be banned, as all new vehicles added to fleets would have to qualify under zero-emission truck standards. But on December 28, CARB circulated an advisory saying it would not enforce those provisions until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants a key waiver establishing CARB’s authority to enforce them. CARB has warned that delayed enforcement does not give trucking firms leeway to deploy more combustion-powered vehicles—it just makes reporting optional for the time being.
Over the past decade more than two dozen endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep have been struck and killed while trying to cross I-8 in the rocky, mountainous region where San Diego and Imperial counties meet, though for various reasons that number is likely an undercount of the actual death toll. An effort is now underway to build one of the state’s first wildlife bridges along that stretch of I-8. The envisioned overpass, now in the planning stages after securing grant funding, would facilitate the natural movements of the estimated 790 or so members of the federally protected Peninsular bighorn species. There currently is just one wildlife overpass in California—the Clinton Keith Wildlife Crossing in Riverside County—but more wildlife overpasses are in the works. Additionally, state lawmakers passed a bill last year requiring that CalTrans identify barriers to wildlife movement and prioritize crossings when building or improving roadways.
In January, water will be released from Klamath River reservoirs in a major step toward the removal of three major dams. A century’s worth of sediment that has piled up behind the dams will also flow downriver. A restoration company and Northern California’s Karuk Tribe are spending two weeks catching as many young coho salmon as they can and relocating them to specially constructed ponds next to creeks. By doing so, they hope to protect the Endangered Species Act-listed fish from the 5 to 7 million cubic yards of sediment that will be released with water from the reservoirs.
Health officials say last month’s Tustin hangar fire put the community at minimal risk of exposure to harmful contaminants, based on the results of air monitoring near the site. Orange County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said on December 28 that people in the immediate area might want to “take more precautions” until the city’s contractors test homes for asbestos and lead, but people further away from the hangar can resume normal activities. A fire that broke out on November 7 at the Marine Corps Air Station’s northern blimp hangar emitted asbestos debris into surrounding neighborhoods and forced the city to initiate a cleanup effort at more than a thousand homes. The asbestos debris at the site has been encased and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control will provide oversight for the Navy’s clean-up plan at the hangar site.
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