Focus
EPA bans cancer-causing chemicals used in dry cleaning
The New York Times – December 9
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday banned two solvents found in everyday products that can cause cancer and other serious diseases. It was a move long sought by environmental and health advocates, even as they braced for what could be a wave of deregulation by the incoming Trump administration. For decades, communities close to factories, airports, dry cleaners, and other sites have lived with the consequences of exposure to trichloroethylene, or TCE, a chemical used in cleaners, spot removers, lubricants, and glue. EPA is banning all uses of TCE under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The EPA also banned all consumer uses of perchloroethylene, or PCE, which is commonly used in dry-cleaning and in automotive-care products. The PCE ban, however, still allows for a range of industrial uses, provided that strict rules are in place to protect workers.
News
Endangered species protections proposed for monarch butterfly
Allen Matkins – December 13
On December 10, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed to list the monarch butterfly as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). A proposed critical habitat designation and “4(d) rule” offering species-specific protective regulations (the Proposed Rule) were also put forth. The Proposed Rule’s critical habitat designation covers the western monarch population’s overwintering sites in seven coastal California counties (Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Alameda, and Marin). USFWS is seeking public comment on the Proposed Rule through March 12, 2025.
Toxic PFAS compounds now found in rural California drinking water
San Francisco Chronicle – December 10
According to researchers from UC Berkeley and the Community Water Center, samples from 20 locations in California’s San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast regions – ten private domestic wells and ten public water systems – have revealed the presence of PFAS chemicals in rural areas far from known contamination sites, such as industrial facilities, airports, and military bases. The researchers suspect that the chemicals made their way into Central Valley wells through nearby agricultural operations, which may have used PFAS-laced fertilizers made from dried sludge from wastewater treatment plants, or pesticides found to contain the compounds.
Major Southern California water supplier approves spending $141.6 million on Delta tunnel project
CBS News – December 10
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) voted on Tuesday to approve allocating $141.6 million for the planning and preconstruction of the Delta Conveyance Project, which would tunnel water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) requested $300 million from potential participants to continue advancing the project, with MWD being asked to cover almost half of those costs. In 2023, the total cost of the project was estimated at $20.1 billion. DWR says the project will restore the reliability of the State Water Project and make sure clean and affordable water is provided to 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.
Fertilized soil may be a major source of smog near Salton Sea, researchers say
Los Angeles Times - December 9
For decades, Southern California's war on smog has focused on strategies to reduce pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks. But one of the main drivers of lung-aggravating smog may be right underneath our feet, according to new research. About 100 miles east of San Diego, the Salton Sea air basin is one of the most polluted regions in the nation. There, at least a quarter of all nitrogen oxides — the precursors to smog — are released by the area's irrigated green spaces, according to research from UC Davis. The researchers say the soil in the Salton Sea air basin emits more than 11 tons per day of nitrogen oxides — about 10 times more smog-forming pollution than California air regulator officials currently estimate. According to the researchers, “farmers will usually apply about twice as much fertilizer as needed by the crops, just to make sure they get it,” and studies have shown that applying excess fertilizer can produce five times as much smog-forming nitrogen oxides.
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