Environmental and Policy Focus
Los Angeles Times - May 25 The latest auction in California’s cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gases fell sharply below expectations, as buyers purchased just 2% of the available carbon credits. The sale of the credits funds a variety of state programs, including the proposed high-speed rail project, but the quarterly auction, conducted May 18, will provide just $10 million of the expected $150 million for state programs, including $2.5 million for the high-speed rail. Buyers at the auction purchased just 785,000 of the 43 million allowances offered, each of which allows one metric ton of carbon dioxide. The reason is unclear, but state officials and outside experts pointed to several possible causes: less need for the credits, volatility spawned by speculators in a secondary trading market, and a pending lawsuit in which the California Chamber of Commerce alleges that the emissions fees are an unauthorized tax and that the law never specifically authorized the cap-and-trade auctions. If the auction results reflect a long-term shift in greenhouse gas revenue, it would raise new concerns about the viability of building the high-speed rail.
ABC News - May 24 The House of Representatives approved a bipartisan bill that would for the first time regulate tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products from household cleaners to clothing and furniture. The bill would update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate new and existing chemicals against a new, risk-based safety standard that includes considerations for particularly vulnerable people such as children and pregnant women. It also establishes written deadlines for the EPA to act and makes it harder for manufacturers to claim chemical information is proprietary and therefore confidential. The 181-page bill declares that any state law or rule in place before April 22 would not be pre-empted by federal law. The legislation also would allow states to work on some regulations while federal rules are being developed, a process that can take up to seven years. The 403-12 vote in favor of the bill sends it to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved and sent to President Obama. The White House has signaled it will approve the bill.
Sacramento Bee - May 20 The House of Representatives approved a bipartisan bill that would for the first time regulate tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products from household cleaners to clothing and furniture. The bill would update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate new and existing chemicals against a new, risk-based safety standard that includes considerations for particularly vulnerable people such as children and pregnant women. It also establishes written deadlines for the EPA to act and makes it harder for manufacturers to claim chemical information is proprietary and therefore confidential. The 181-page bill declares that any state law or rule in place before April 22 would not be pre-empted by federal law. The legislation also would allow states to work on some regulations while federal rules are being developed, a process that can take up to seven years. The 403-12 vote in favor of the bill sends it to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved and sent to President Obama. The White House has signaled it will approve the bill.
San Jose Mercury News - May 24 Concerned that hydraulic fracturing may pollute local groundwater supplies, Alameda County officials took a big step toward making the county the first in the Bay Area to ban the controversial technique for stimulating production in oil and gas wells. In a 6-0 vote that took two years to reach, the Alameda County Planning Commission on Monday agreed to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing and other high-intensity oil recovery practices. A local environmental coalition argued the ban is needed to protect groundwater and air from pollution even if little drilling is done in the county. Planning commissioners readily agreed they wanted to ban hydraulic fracturing, but added they wanted to be careful not to impose other restrictions that would ruin the only oil drilling business in the county, E & B Natural Resources in eastern Livermore. Supervisors are expected to take up the ban in July.
Whittier Daily News - May 24 A Superior Court judge on Monday rejected a lawsuit challenging the environmental impact report (EIR) for a 1,200-unit housing development in the Montebello hills in Los Angeles County. In a written opinion, Judge John A. Torribio denied the claims from a group of open government advocates that the city had violated state open-meeting laws when it put the wrong address for a meeting about the project on its website. He also rejected claims that the EIR failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act and that the project was inconsistent with the City's general plan. In June 2015, the Montebello City Council approved plans by Newport Beach-based Cook Hill Properties to build homes on 174 of 488 acres of oil land owned by Freeport-McMoRan Oil and Gas LLC, while still allowing the company to continue producing oil from the site. Petitioners plan to appeal the court ruling
KQED - May 24 California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal has launched an investigation into an oil pipeline rupture that spilled at least 20,000 gallons of crude near Tracy last weekend, eight months after the same pipeline had a break in a similar location and leaked almost the same amount of oil. After days of cleanup, Shell Oil Company officials report that repairs on the pipeline have now been completed. The pipeline stretches from Coalinga in Fresno County to Martinez in Contra Costa County. The leak was detected when Shell discovered a loss of pressure in the pipeline. The cause of the break remains unknown.
