Focus
Satellite hunt for superpollutant wins $100 million in new funding
Los Angeles Times – November 6
Work to find and stop methane emissions is getting a $100-million boost, with an investment aimed at expanding satellite monitoring and helping countries adopt policies to rein in releases of the potent greenhouse gas. The Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative, announced Thursday, aims to maintain an increasing global focus on methane, a superpollutant that has at least 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released. The additional funding will enable the expansion of global alert networks that work directly with companies, utilities, and government regulators to address large methane emitters. The new initiative aims to strengthen collaboration with nine major methane-emitting countries and focus on nine U.S. states, including California.
News
Federal court pauses enforcement of California’s Clean Truck Partnership
ActNews - November 4
A federal judge last Friday partially granted a preliminary injunction in a closely watched lawsuit between leading truck manufacturers and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), temporarily halting the enforcement of the state’s Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) while broader questions over federal preemption are litigated. The decision issued by Judge Dena M. Coggins of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Daimler Truck North America LLC et al. v. California Air Resources Board granted the injunction in part, ordering CARB and the State of California to stop implementing, enforcing, or threatening to enforce the CTP until the merits of the case are resolved. The injunction also bars CARB from seeking specific performance of the partnership in a related Alameda County action.
Los Angeles will nearly double recycled water for 500,000 residents
Los Angeles Times – October 31
The L.A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners voted on Tuesday to approve an expanded wastewater treatment project in Van Nuys that will have the capacity to purify 45 million gallons of wastewater per day, enough drinking water for 500,000 people and more than double the amount originally planned for the project. Board President Richard Katz said this will enable the city to stop taking water from Sierra streams that feed Mono Lake — a major shift that will address long-standing demands by environmentalists, who criticize L.A. for failing to allow the lake to rise to a healthy level. The expanded project is set to be built by the end of 2027.
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors decides against permit transfer to Sable Offshore Corp.
Noozhawk – November 4
Nine months after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors split on the decision to transfer a series of permits to Sable Offshore Corp., the board on Tuesday denied the transfer in a 4-1 vote. The decision followed an appeal by Sable as part of its goal to restart oil production in the county. The board continued the topic until Dec. 16 to give county staff time to draft a rejection of the permit transfer.
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