News
House passes bill adding 535,000 acres of new California wilderness areas
The Mercury News – February 26
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, a far-reaching bill to provide federal wilderness protection, the highest level of protection on federal lands, to an additional 1.5 million acres — 535,000 acres of which are in California. Among the areas slated for new wilderness protections in California are federally owned lands in Redwood National Park along the Eel and Trinity rivers in northern California, the Carrizo Plain in central California, and the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. If passed by the U.S. Senate, the bill would be the largest wilderness preservation legislation in over a decade.
Two new measures aim to take diesel trucks off Southern California roads
The Press-Enterprise – March 3
Two sweeping air pollution regulations aimed at removing smog-causing diesel trucks from Southern California roadways and warehouses are being released for public review within the next 30 days. An informational webinar will be presented on March 4 by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on its proposed Advanced Clean Fleets program, which sets targets for buying electric vehicles for public fleet owners. On April 2, the South Coast Air Quality Management District is scheduled to hold a hearing on its Warehouse Indirect Source Rule. Under the rule, about 3,000 existing warehouses over 100,000 square feet located in the air district’s jurisdiction would be required to reduce truck tailpipe emissions that serve their facilities by replacing them with electric or fuel-cell trucks and installing electric charging infrastructure.
Ninth Circuit orders new trial in criminal dumping case
Courthouse News Service – March 4
A self-described “dirt broker” will be getting a new trial after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned his 2018 conviction for illegally dumping pollutants into nearly 12 acres of protected wetlands. James Lucero was sentenced to 30 months in prison after a federal jury found him guilty on three counts of violating the Clean Water Act by knowingly discharging pollutants into the Mowry Slough — part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Newark. Lucero’s dumping sites were separated from the slough by a levee made of compacted soil. The appellate court held that the jury instructions did not make it sufficiently clear that the defendant could be found guilty only if he knowingly discharged pollutants into waters of the United States.
Lawsuit seeks to block dismantlement of San Onofre nuclear plant
The San Diego Union-Tribune – February 25
An advocacy group based in Del Mar is suing the California Coastal Commission in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking to stop the dismantlement work underway at the now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Officials with the Samuel Lawrence Foundation say the commission should not have granted a permit in 2019 to Southern California Edison, the majority owner of the plant, to take down buildings and infrastructure at the plant. The planned demolition of two spent storage pools was a focus of the permit critics, who argued that the pools were needed in the event storage canisters need to be replaced as they age or degrade. Edison told the commission that keeping the pools would “pose significant challenges” to decontaminate and dismantle the plant.
CARB tells San Joaquin Valley growers to phase out ag burns by 2025
Visalia Times-Delta – March 1
CARB on Monday unanimously voted for a near-complete ban of agricultural burning by 2025 in the San Joaquin Valley. The phase-out will mostly affect owners of vineyards and orchards who will have to grind up vines, trees and other waste and mix it into soil, or haul it to composting and biomass facilities.
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