A group of 18 California children – ranging in ages from 8 to 17 – has filed a new constitutional climate case in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleging the agency has harmed children’s health and welfare over decades. The case, Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, alleges that EPA “intentionally allows” planet warming pollution to come from the sources it regulates, such as vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and oil and gas wells. It follows the first constitutional climate case in the U.S., which youth plaintiffs successfully tried in Montana earlier this year.
California water regulators are poised to approve long-awaited rules that will allow local water agencies to convert sewage — such as what drains from toilets and showers — directly into drinking water. The regulations will go before the State Water Resources Control Board for consideration next week. If approved, they would enable projects sometimes dubbed “toilet to tap” to move forward in numerous communities, including Santa Clara County, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Right now, most wastewater in California gets treated and then discharged into the ocean, rivers, or other bodies of water.
EPA could finalize national drinking water standards for certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances in January and finalize its designation of two types of PFAS as hazardous substances by March according to a timetable published last week. The agency also expects to update its guidance on how to dispose of or destroy PFAS-containing material sometime this winter, according to an EPA spokesperson. The waste and recycling industry has long anticipated the finalized regulations due to potential impacts on operational costs and liability concerns, as well as potential PFAS management business opportunities.
Hundreds of feet underground, in a long-dormant portion of the Chiquita Canyon landfill, tons of garbage have been smoldering for months due to an enigmatic chemical reaction. Temperatures within the dump have climbed to more than 200 degrees and area residents have complained of a burned garbage odor wafting through nearby neighborhoods. Meanwhile, twelve miles to the southeast, Sunshine Canyon landfill has suffered water intrusion from torrential storms earlier this year. That seepage has fueled bacteria growth within the Sylmar landfill, giving rise to putrid odors that have nauseated students and staff at a local elementary school. The highly unusual reactions at Los Angeles County’s two largest landfills have triggered thousands of odor complaints, dozens of environmental penalties, and renewed calls to shutter the landfills.
Twenty-four former and current employees of the waste management company serving the upper Napa Valley have submitted a joint complaint to the California Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice, alleging unsafe practices. The complaint accuses Upper Valley Disposal & Recycling Services of “unsound environmental practices” and unsafe and discriminatory conditions for workers at waste sites. The allegations primarily pertain to conditions and events that occurred under the waste management company’s previous owner.
EPA has fined FormFactor Inc., a Livermore nickel-plating company, $258,170 for Clean Air Act violations. The settlement follows inspections and findings that FormFactor had been out of compliance with record-keeping requirements, a crucial aspect of ensuring facilities do not emit hazardous toxins into the air.
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