News
Southern California enacts new smog rules on refineries
ABC News – November 5
The board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) last Friday adopted rule changes requiring emissions limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx), which will affect nine refineries and seven plants that produce asphalt, biofuels, hydrogen, and sulfuric acid. NOx emissions are created when fuel is burned at high temperatures, and are a key ingredient in producing ozone pollution. The new rules will reduce NOx emissions by about eight tons per day over the next 14 years, with nearly half of the reductions expected by 2023, which will help the region to meet some federal air quality standards by 2031, the SCAQMD said.
Pasadena sues Caltech over groundwater contamination
Courthouse News Service – November 5
The city of Pasadena filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the California Institute of Technology over groundwater contamination caused by rocket research done by the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), which is owned by NASA but operated by Caltech. Starting in the 1940s, and continuing well into the 1960s, JPL researchers used a wide variety of chemicals to test and make rocket fuel. “The JPL facility reportedly continued to discharge wastewater contaminated with chemical waste into the Arroyo Seco at least as late as 1990,” the city alleged in its complaint. The suit names a number of toxic chemicals found in some of Pasadena’s groundwater, including 1,2,3-trichloropropane, perchlorate, and carbon tetrachloride, which is classified by EPA as a “probable human carcinogen.”
EPA must deal with air ‘crisis’ in San Joaquin Valley, lawsuit says
The Fresno Bee – November 10
Several groups on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, claiming the agency has chosen not to intervene in California’s repeated failures to meet decades-old air pollution targets for fine particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley. This is not the first lawsuit against EPA over this issue. In December 2018, EPA found that California had failed on three different occasions to develop and submit plan revisions to achieve national ambient air quality standards for particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the lawsuit. Under federal regulations, EPA is required to step in to enforce a plan within two years of the findings, unless the state submits revised plans that gain agency approval.
San Diego overhauls flawed climate plan, aims for ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas by 2035
The San Diego Union-Tribune – November 10
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria called on Wednesday for a massive overhaul of the city’s 2015 climate plan — including tossing out a flawed system for tracking greenhouse gas reductions in favor of a pledge to reach “net zero” emissions by 2035. The proposed blueprint, which will need City Council approval, also aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 percent by the end of the decade. San Diego’s new goal mirrors California’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, leaving open the possibility of using carbon capture and storage. Toward that end, the city has pledged to analyze the climate impacts of all future major decisions that come before the council.
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