Focus
Vinod Khosla sues San Mateo County sheriff in latest fight over Martins Beach access
The Mercury News – January 25
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has launched another offensive in his long-running battle to restrict public access to Martins Beach — this time by suing San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. Khosla's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last Friday, alleges that Bolanos is violating Khosla’s right to equal protection under the law because San Mateo County deputies will not cite or remove people if they enter the private property Khosla owns surrounding the beach without paying a fee. Khosla’s suit contends those visitors are trespassers, and that the inaction of the Sheriff’s Office deprives him of his rights as a private property owner. It is one of several lawsuits in the now decade-long dispute over public access to Martins Beach, south of Half Moon Bay.
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News
DOI moves to weaken rules protecting migratory birds
The New York Times – January 30
The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) moved this Thursday to weaken a century-old regulation by dropping the threat of punishment for the "incidental" killing of migratory birds during the course of business operations. The proposed regulation, if finalized, would codify a legal opinion that DOI issued in 2017. The agency’s top lawyer argued that previous administrations had interpreted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 too broadly, and that only actions explicitly intended to kill birds should be forbidden under the federal law. Under the revised regulations, the unintended death of a bird from an oil slick, the blade of a wind turbine, or the spraying of pesticides would no longer trigger penalties.
Kohler to pay $20M penalty for California engine emissions
The San Diego Union-Tribune – January 30
Kohler Co. has agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that emissions from its small spark-ignition engines violated the Clean Air Act and California law, under an agreement reached Thursday with the Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The alleged violations involved Kohler’s manufacture and sale of millions of small engines used in lawn mowers, ride-on mowers, commercial landscaping equipment, and generators that did not conform to certification applications Kohler was required to submit to the EPA and CARB. In a separate agreement resolving claims asserted exclusively under state law, Kohler will pay an additional $200,000 civil penalty and fund a program that will supply $1.8 million worth of solar-battery generators to low-income residents of California who live in areas where power is shut off to lessen wildfire risk.
U.S. environmental groups to sue EPA over aircraft engine emissions
Reuters – January 30
The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth on Thursday filed a notice of intent to sue EPA for failing to regulate aircraft emissions after a 2016 agency determination that those emissions pose a danger to public health. Airplanes are the third-largest source of U.S. transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and the largest not subject to greenhouse gas emissions standards. The EPA had announced that it would release a proposed rule by September 2019, but failed to do so. It now says it intends to issue proposed rules by February, according to agency documents.
Cleanup of orphaned oil wells could cost California $500 million, new report says
Los Angeles Times – January 24
California faces a massive bill to clean up the deserted oil and gas wells left behind by businesses that have gone defunct as the industry has diminished, according to a report released last Thursday by the California Council on Science and Technology. According to the report, the state already is liable for more than an estimated $500 million in cleanup costs for more than 5,500 orphaned wells located throughout the state. The potential costs far exceed the funds the state has on hand to perform the cleanup.
11 arrested in California in multi-state recycling scheme
Napa Valley Register – January 27
Authorities have arrested 11 suspects they say ran a multi-state recycling fraud operation that smuggled empty cans and bottles into California in a scheme that cost the state's recycling fund more than $2 million, state officials said Monday. The suspects allegedly brought cans and bottles from Arizona and Nevada into Los Angeles-area recycling centers for the purpose of claiming the redemption value for those containers. Because consumers in Nevada and Arizona do not pay the 5- or 10-cent California redemption value deposit on cans and bottles purchased in those states, the containers have no redemption value in California, and claiming refunds of the non-existent redemption value is a crime. The suspects were charged with felony recycling fraud, conspiracy, and grand theft after a four-month investigation by the California Department of Justice and CalRecycle.
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