Focus
Exxon sues California over new laws requiring corporate climate disclosures
Los Angeles Times – October 25
Exxon Mobil last Friday filed suit in federal court challenging two California laws that would require the oil company to report greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the use of its products globally. The 30-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, argues that the laws violate the company’s free speech rights by requiring it to “trumpet California’s preferred message even though ExxonMobil believes the speech is misleading and misguided.” Senate Bill (SB) 253, the 2023 legislation known as the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requires companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to publicly disclose their direct and indirect emissions, including emissions from the company’s supply chain. SB 261 requires corporations with revenue over $500 million to disclose their climate-related financial risks and the measures they have taken to reduce and adapt to them. Please see our recent alert for more details on these new climate-related disclosure laws.
News
California can enforce its landmark groundwater law, court rules
San Francisco Chronicle - October 29
A California appellate court ruled on Wednesday that California water officials can move ahead with enforcement of the state’s 2014 landmark groundwater regulation — the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or “SGMA”— finding that the state crackdown on pumping of groundwater in Kings County is likely, in large part, legal. In a 41-page decision, the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno reversed a superior court decision that temporarily halted the state’s imposition of sanctions in a heavily pumped, agricultural stretch of land in the San Joaquin Valley. The case will now proceed to trial in the superior court. In the interim some growers could face thousands of dollars in groundwater extraction fees.
SB 697 modernizes the surface water adjudication process, shifting the investigation burden to water users
Allen Matkins – October 28
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed SB 697 into law to modernize the process by which the State Water Resources Control Board investigates and adjudicates surface water rights on a stream system. SB 697 makes several important changes to the investigation phase of the adjudication process aimed at improving efficiency. The changes also place a greater burden on claimants and existing water rights holders to provide comprehensive information about their water use.
EPA updates guidance for lead cleanup
HazMat – October 27
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated its guidance on the evaluation and cleanup of lead, establishing a regional screening level of 200 parts per million (ppm) for residential soil and a removal management level (RML) of 600 ppm for residential soil, among other changes. EPA claims the new guidance will streamline cleanup decisions at Superfund and other hazardous waste sites.
Watts metal recycling plant to pay nearly $2 million restitution, owners placed on probation
CBS News – October 21
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered the recently shuttered S&W Atlas Iron and Metal Corp in Watts, California to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution and sentenced the company’s two owners to two years’ probation. Earlier this year, the company entered a no-contest plea to five felony counts of hazardous waste disposal without a permit, two misdemeanor counts of hazardous waste disposal at an unpermitted site, and two misdemeanor counts of public nuisance, as the neighboring Jordan High School suffered “environmental injustice,” according to school officials. The Los Angeles Unified School District is to receive $1 million in restitution from the company for the release of the hazardous materials onto the Jordan campus.
New way to turn sewage into drinking water could transform San Diego’s Pure Water system
The San Diego Union-Tribune – October 26
San Diego may shift the second phase of the city’s Pure Water sewage recycling system to a more efficient purification method that could save billions of dollars, preventing steep jumps in local sewer and water bills. The new method could dramatically change the size, scope, and cost of the massive project’s Phase Two, which had been expected to be nearly twice as large as the nearly complete first phase. That change is possible because California recently loosened its purification rules to allow purified wastewater to be pumped directly into a water system, instead of being stored for months in reservoirs or underground basins.
California fires back with lawsuit against four major trucking manufacturers
The Trucker – October 30
With four major trucking manufacturers set to appear in court today seeking a preliminary injunction in the case against California over the Clean Truck Partnership, the state is firing back. According to court documents, California and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Daimler, Volvo, PACCAR, and International Motors, alleging that the manufacturers violated the terms of the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership agreement. Under the agreement, signed by the manufacturers and CARB in July 2023, the manufacturers agreed to meet California’s Advanced Clean Trucks and Omnibus regulations and to refrain from challenging California’s authority to set stricter emissions rules. CARB agreed to revise certain heavy-duty engine standards and provide manufacturers with regulatory flexibility and longer lead times to comply with emissions rules. The state’s case seeks to compel the manufacturers to uphold their commitments or pay the state for the costs incurred in carrying out its part of the deal.
Petaluma landfill fined $159,000 for over a dozen violations
Patch – October 28
The Bay Area Air District fined a landfill operator Republic Services $159,000 for 14 alleged air quality violations at the Sonoma Central Landfill in Petaluma, a disposal site for residents and businesses within Sonoma County. In June 2023, air district investigators identified several methane leaks at the landfill, including nine near the surface, four in landfill gas collection systems, and one well leaking landfill gas due to excessive pressure.
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