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THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE - Aug 8 State and local officials on Wednesday announced a tentative settlement in lawsuits filed against Sempra subsidiary Southern California Gas Co. (SoCal Gas) for violations of state health and safety laws stemming from the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas storage facility leak, the largest release of methane in U.S. history. The $119.5 million settlement will fund a long-term health study, greenhouse gas emission projects, and other environmental projects, some of which are far from the site and unrelated to greenhouse gases. SoCal Gas also agreed to continue monitoring air quality along the fence line of the Aliso Canyon facility and to hire an independent ombudsman to monitor and report on safety at the site. The settlement leaves unresolved a number of issues, including the root cause of the leak, the fate of the storage facility outside Los Angeles’ Porter Ranch neighborhood, and residents’ medical claims against the company.
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Aug 7 A California Air Resources Board (CARB) proposal released Tuesday would force automakers to meet California’s existing standards on car and truck pollution, even if weaker ones are adopted by the Trump administration. CARB Chair Mary Nichols said the changes make it clear to auto manufacturers that they will have to adhere to two different emissions standards: one for California and the dozen other states that follow its rules and another for the rest of the country. The proposal is also California’s attempt to shore up its legal footing ahead of what is likely to be an extended court battle with the Trump administration. Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled a plan to freeze fuel economy standards nationwide while also moving to end California’s power to set its own more stringent standards and invalidate the state’s electric vehicle mandate.
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - Aug 8 In a Federal Register notice released Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it is considering new hydraulic fracturing and conventional oil drilling leases on 1.6 million acres of BLM-managed lands in Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and six other San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast counties. If BLM goes ahead with the plan, it would mark the first time since 2013 that the agency has issued a new lease for oil or gas exploration in California, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The notice allows a 30-day public comment period. Hydraulic fracturing has become a hot-button issue in particular in San Luis Obispo County, where county supervisors placed a measure on the November ballot that would ban new oil wells and new hydraulic fracturing operations in unincorporated regions of the county.
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT - Aug 9 The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Thursday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") endangered public health by keeping the pesticide chlorpyrifos on the market despite extensive scientific evidence that even very low levels of exposure can harm babies' brains. The court ordered the EPA to remove the pesticide from sale in the United States within 60 days. A coalition of farmworkers and environmental groups sued last year after then-EPA chief Scott Pruitt reversed an Obama-era effort to ban chlorpyrifos, which is widely sprayed on citrus fruits, apples, and other crops, due to health hazards. The attorneys general for several states, including California, New York, and Massachusetts, joined the case against EPA.
SFGATE - Aug 7 Four Oakland companies have settled with the EPA over violations of the Clean Water Act. Under the terms of their settlements, Sierra Pacific Ready Mix, Argent Materials, National Recycling Corporation, and Nor-Cal Rock will pay a combined $137,000 in civil penalties and will implement measures to better manage stormwater runoff. The EPA said each of the companies failed to develop and implement an adequate stormwater pollution prevention plan and failed to use best management practices designed to prevent contaminants from entering stormwater.
