Focus
South Bay mushroom grower to pay $2.24 million to settle water pollution lawsuit
The Mercury News – December 17
Watsonville-based Monterey Mushrooms, the nation’s largest mushroom grower, will pay $2.24 million to settle charges filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office alleging that the company has been polluting Fisher Creek – a 14-mile long ephemeral stream that flows into Coyote Creek and then into the San Francisco Bay – with manure for years. The District Attorney alleged that, despite receiving several regulatory orders since 1985, the company routinely dumped toxic wastewater created by used horse stable hay and poultry manure from holding ponds at its Morgan Hill facility into the creek to dispose of the waste at no cost.
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News
Bayer asks U.S. appeals court to reverse $25 million Roundup verdict
Reuters – December 16
Bayer AG has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn a $25 million judgment it was ordered to pay to a California man who blamed the company’s Roundup weed killer for his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer said it stands behind the safety of Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, and plans to vigorously defend the more than 42,700 U.S. Roundup cancer lawsuits it faces around the country. The widely-used weed killer is made by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired last year for $63 billion. The case on appeal was the third Roundup case to go to trial in a U.S. court.
San Diego halting enforcement of controversial ban on foam containers
The San Diego Union-Tribune – December 12
San Diego has halted enforcement of its new ban on polystyrene foam products in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the restaurant industry. City officials say they have decided to reverse course and conduct a thorough analysis of the ban’s effects on the environment, which the lawsuit contends the city was legally obligated to do before adopting the controversial ordinance. While the city’s retreat is a setback for environmental groups that say the ban will reduce non-biodegradable waste, the decision comes as welcome news to many small restaurants and other businesses that use foam products, which are less expensive than paper and plastic alternatives. San Diego’s decision to conduct an environmental impact report could affect 120 other California cities and counties that also have adopted bans on polystyrene products in recent years without conducting environmental analyses.
Clippers arena complex gets fast-track approval from California governor
Los Angeles Times – December 16
Governor Gavin Newsom last Friday approved fast-tracking the billion-dollar arena complex the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers propose to build in Inglewood. Newsom certified the project under legislation passed last year to shield the arena project from extended environmental litigation. The decision, which sets a nine-month window for resolving lawsuits and appeals over the project’s environmental impact, came after the California Air Resources Board (CARB) found the project would be net carbon neutral. The state’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee now has 30 days to approve Newsom’s certification, at which time the environmental impact report will be released. After 11 months of negotiations, the Clippers and CARB agreed this month to a package that includes the organization providing 1,000 electric car chargers for residences in the area, planting 1,000 trees, and instituting a program to reduce event-related trips to the arena by 15 percent.
Suit accuses Pittsburg chemical plant of 5 years of hazardous-waste violations
San Francisco Chronicle – December 19
Three environmental groups have filed suit against a Pittsburg chemical plant alleging that for five years it dumped hazardous materials in an unauthorized wastewater treatment system or incinerated them in a substandard furnace. Corteva Agriscience, formerly known as Dow Chemical Co. Pittsburg Operations, manufactures fertilizers, insecticides, and personal care products at the 1,000-acre plant in eastern Contra Costa County. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Thursday, seeks injunctive relief, legal costs, and an award of penalties for the alleged violations.
L.A. Waterkeeper files lawsuit against West Basin desalination project
L.A. Daily News – December 18
The nonprofit Los Angeles Waterkeeper has filed a lawsuit challenging the environmental impact report approved a month ago by the West Basin Municipal Water District in its bid to create a large-scale desalination facility in El Segundo. The lawsuit contends the document “falls significantly below the standards required of it by the California Environmental Quality Act,” arguing in part that the district failed to sufficiently address the project’s impact on the current climate and marine ecosystems. The group claims the plant will add roughly 44,702 metric tons of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere each year, based on an analysis it commissioned. The plant would convert seawater into 20 million gallons of fresh water daily.
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