Environmental and Policy Focus
San Diego Union-Tribune - Aug 31 California lawmakers on Wednesday approved a $900 million spending package devoted to environmental programs, hours after Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders agreed on how to spend nearly two-thirds of the available funds generated by the state's cap-and-trade program. The deal includes $363 million for clean vehicle incentives and hundreds of millions for urban plants and efforts to create cleaner air in disadvantaged communities. It also includes $50 million to reduce emissions of methane and other short-lived climate pollutants associated with landfills and dairy production. The compromise ends two years of indecision over what to do with California’s $1.4 billion in cap-and-trade revenues. About 60 percent of program revenues were earmarked for specific projects including high-speed rail; the agreement reached this week covers the remaining 40 percent and also leaves $462 million for future years.
Los Angeles Times - Aug 26 The California Coastal Commission released a staff report last Friday that recommends approval of the hotly-debated Banning Ranch development proposal only if the project's footprint is scaled back to about one-third of the current plan. Newport Banning Ranch LLC has proposed building 895 homes, a 75-room hotel, a 20-bed hostel, and 45,100 square feet of retail space on about 62 acres of the 401-acre Newport Beach coastal spread. The remainder of the site, about 329 acres, would be preserved as natural open space with public trails, plans show. Coastal Commission staff, however, state they only would recommend approval for development of about 19.7 acres that fall outside of areas staff has identified as environmentally sensitive habitat for the burrowing owl, a change in course from the staff’s determination in May that about 55 acres of the site had potential for development. The project is expected to go before the 12-member Coastal Commission for consideration on September 7.
Sacramento Bee - Aug 26 Governor Jerry Brown, urging local governments and the state to eventually eliminate coal shipments through California ports, signed legislation last Friday prohibiting the California Transportation Commission from funding new bulk-terminal projects. Senate Bill 1279, proposed by Senator Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, gained Governor Brown’s signature after the Oakland City Council voted in June to block coal shipments in its city. In his signing statement, Governor Brown said “action on multiple fronts will be necessary to transition away from coal.” Opponents of the bill include the League of California Cities, which objected to singling out one commodity and said the bill might violate U.S. treaty obligations. Utah currently exports coal through the ports of Richmond, Stockton, and Long Beach, according to a legislative analysis.
San Diego Union-Tribune - Aug 26 Last week, the Escondido City Council approved amending a settlement agreement signed in 2014 that appeared to end 45 years of litigation brought by five North San Diego County Indian tribes over water rights to the San Luis Rey River. The tribes’ 1969 lawsuit claimed the Vista Irrigation District and the city of Escondido illegally diverted 90 percent of the river water to an aqueduct. When the 2014 settlement was reached, all that remained was approval from Congress, but that never came. According to Escondido City Attorney Jeff Epp, the delay was caused by the Congressional Budget Office’s identification of the legislation as having a fiscal impact because it authorized the tribes to fully deplete a fund created in the late 1980s aimed at ending the dispute. The flagging of this potential fiscal impact effectively blocked passage of the legislation. Epp said local officials are hopeful that legislation approving the amended settlement agreement will be passed by Congress before the end of the year.
Courthouse News Service - Aug 29 The California Supreme Court on Monday sided with Los Angeles County in a dispute with state regulators over the costs of implementing the county’s urban stormwater plan. A majority of the court overturned a lower appellate court ruling, which had held that under its stormwater plan Los Angeles County could not recover costs from the state for inspecting and monitoring businesses' waste discharges or be reimbursed for installing thousands of trash cans at public transit stops. Once the program was implemented, several Los Angeles County cities petitioned for reimbursement of costs but were ultimately denied by the state. The state unsuccessfully argued that the inspections and trash cans were federally required under the Clean Water Act and thus not eligible for state reimbursement.
