Focus

California outlines expedited permitting for seawater desalination

Engineering & News Record – July 18

The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is accepting public comment through July 28 on new recommendations to expedite permits for seawater desalination plants in the state. In a report released earlier this month, the SWRCB lays out a pathway for project developers to speed up project permits by taking steps that include identifying site locations and employing technologies that would have only minimal impact on marine life and the environment, such as using intake structures drawing only seawater, and planning for foreseeable coastal hazards like seismic risks and sea-level rise. The recommendations also call for projects to be carbon neutral, using the most energy efficient technologies available whenever possible.

News

EPA proposal clarifies state, tribal control of water permits

Bloomberg Law – July 19

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new rule intended to streamline requirements for states and tribes that want to run the federal dredge-and-fill permitting program in their jurisdictions. Dredge-and-fill is a key federal permitting program for development activities in and around waters subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers currently have primary authority over the program, known as the Section 404 program. Only Florida, Michigan, and New Jersey—and no tribes—have assumed responsibility for the Section 404 program so far. EPA’s new proposal intends to remove questions and roadblocks for other states, and for tribes, that want to assume this responsibility.

California will cap hundreds of orphaned oil wells, some long suspected of causing illness

Los Angeles Times – July 19

California state regulators announced this Tuesday their plans to cap orphaned oil wells across the state, including wells in a South Central Los Angeles residential neighborhood near USC that have prompted health complaints from residents for years. The effort is part of a new push to close problem sites that pose health risks to communities across the state, particularly disadvantaged neighborhoods in close proximity to oil drilling sites. Governor Gavin Newsom earmarked $100 million in the state budget to address the issue. According to the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), California has identified 5,300 wells that are orphaned, or likely orphaned, meaning they are abandoned or do not have an operator who is financially viable or compliant.

California faces declining hazardous waste disposal capacity, according to management report

Waste Dive – July 21

California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has released its first report reexamining the management of hazardous waste in the state. The report will inform the agency’s first Hazardous Waste Management Plan in 2025, triggered by California Senate Bill 158, which, for the first time, created an environmental safety and oversight board within DTSC. The law was designed to create additional safeguards for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, in which 55% of the state’s hazardous waste management facilities are located. The number of permitted hazardous waste facilities has dropped from more than 400 in 1983 to less than 100 in 2021 as operating requirements have grown more stringent, according to the report. If all hazardous waste was managed within state boundaries, the two remaining landfills would have only 9.5 years of capacity remaining, the report found.

Owners of a Monterey senior community agree to pay over $1.5 million for failing to comply with asbestos laws

Monterey Weekly – July 18

Pacifica Hosts, Inc. and Pacific Senior Living Management LLC, owners and managers of senior living communities in Monterey and elsewhere in California, have agreed to pay $1,575,000 in civil penalties and other costs and sanctions for failing to comply with asbestos laws during renovation and demolition projects at their facilities in ten California counties. The agreement is the result of a lawsuit brought by the district attorneys of those counties, filed in Monterey County Superior Court on June 28 and settled on July 12, according to Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni. The lawsuit was brought against the property owners after the Monterey Bay Air Resources District investigated a complaint brought in 2018 about unpermitted work being done at the facility.