News
Los Angeles County sues warehouse owner over gas stench
Associated Press – January 15
Los Angeles County announced it is suing tenants and owners of a warehouse where a fire released illegally-stored chemicals into a drainage channel and caused a stench that lasted for weeks. The hydrogen sulfide gas odor caused a public nuisance affecting thousands of residents in the city of Carson, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The suit alleges that the tenants and owners of the storage facility were aware of the hazards at the site and failed to take steps to prevent the dangerous conditions that led to the fire.
Climate swings help endangered salmon return to Bay Area creeks for the first time in years
The Mercury News – January 14
Endangered Coho salmon are returning to Marin County creeks this winter where they have long been absent, thanks to intense rains that scientists say will become more frequent as the state swings between climate-driven drought and deluge. It’s a rare bit of good news for a species whose population has plummeted in recent decades due to development and pollution. In the San Francisco Bay Area, thousands of salmon historically made the annual return migration from the Pacific Ocean to creeks in Marin County to spawn.
FAA to change how some planes land in effort to cut emissions
ABC News – January 15
In an effort to cut emissions, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is changing the way some planes land at U.S. airports. Currently, most planes approach airports for landing by descending in a stair-step method, which requires them to repeatedly level off and power up engines during the descent. Under FAA’s new 42 Optimized Profile Descents, or OPDs, planes will instead descend from cruising altitude to the runway in a smoother, continuous path with engines set at near idle. The move is part of the agency's work to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector by 2050.
*This article may require a subscription to read.
|