Focus
EPA axes Biden’s climate and pollution limits on power plants
The New York Times – June 11
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved this Wednesday to erase limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and to weaken restrictions on other hazardous power plant emissions, including mercury, arsenic, and lead. Together, the moves mark a major blow to efforts to address climate change and reduce threats to public health. Mercury emissions are a particularly significant hazard from power plants that burn coal and oil. Those plants account for 44 percent of all mercury emissions in the United States, according to EPA. The EPA has given the public 45 days to comment on the plans. Both rules are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
News
Trump signs laws to kill California auto emission standards. California AG sues
Los Angeles Times - June 12
President Donald Trump signed legislation on Thursday seeking to rescind California’s ambitious auto emission standards, including a landmark rule that would have barred sales of new gas-only cars in California by 2035. Moments after Trump signed the three bills into law, California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of ten attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to challenge the laws. The plaintiffs argue that Congress unlawfully acted to upend California’s emission rules by invoking the Congressional Review Act, which they allege cannot be used to overturn federal waivers that enable California to enforce its auto emission standards.
Air board rejects smog rules phasing out gas-powered heaters in LA basin
CalMatters – June 6
After a contentious five-hour hearing, in a 7-5 vote the South Coast Air Quality Management District last Friday rejected measures that would have phased out residential gas-powered water heaters and furnaces in the Los Angeles basin. The two rules, designed to address one of the biggest sources of the region’s smog, would have set increasing targets for sales of zero-emission products in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties over the next decade — beginning with 30% in 2027. The decision, driven mostly by concerns about affordability, was a rare rebuke of measures proposed by the agency’s staff, and follows years of efforts to scale back what originally was a mandate phasing out the heaters and furnaces.
Trump administration moves to abolish California’s two newest national monuments
San Francisco Chronicle – June 12
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to abolish California’s two newest national monuments, Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in the state’s far north and Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree. The push to eliminate the designations, which were issued earlier this year by former President Joe Biden, was revealed in a U.S. Justice Department memo this week, responding to legal questions from the administration about rolling back the California monuments. Sáttítla Highlands monument was established in January to protect a remote 224,000-acre volcanic landscape northeast of Mount Shasta. The designation was sought by Northern California’s Pit River Tribe to prevent geothermal power production at tribally sacred sites. The Chuckwalla monument safeguards 624,000 acres of desert that was similarly being considered for energy development.
Legislative committee rejects Newsom’s plan to fast track Delta water tunnel construction
Local News Matters – June 12
Governor Gavin Newsom’s attempt to fast track the construction of the Delta Conveyance Project hit a setback this Tuesday. The governor’s strategy of inserting a bundle of policy changes into the state budget was rejected by a budget subcommittee, essentially sending a message to Newsom that the Legislature would rather discuss his suggestions using the normal legislative process. In Newsom’s May revised budget, he added proposals that would speed land acquisition, require the State Water Resources Control Board to cancel certain objections, make permanent the water rights permit for the State Water Project, and shorten litigation timelines. The proposal also includes some exceptions regarding the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The fiscal year ends June 30 and a final budget must be in place by July 1.
Federal judge tasks Port of Los Angeles with cleaning up contaminated water
The Hill – June 11
The Port of Los Angeles will need to clean up widespread water contamination in the city’s harbor by shoring up sewage treatment operations, according to a settlement approved by a federal judge this Tuesday. The settlement was the result of a lawsuit filed by an environmental group last summer accusing the Port of violating the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into the San Pedro Bay. The group alleged that the Port had more than 2,000 illegal wastewater discharges in the previous five years alone — releases that routinely surpassed limits on fecal bacteria, copper, and other contaminants. Under the settlement, the Port is required to pay $1.3 million to an environmental non-profit organization to finance restoration projects in the Los Angeles Harbor and the San Pedro Bay and a $130,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury.
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