Focus
Biden bans new offshore drilling along most of the U.S. coastline
NBC News – January 6
The White House announced on Monday that President Joe Biden would ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. The order will protect 625 million acres of ocean along America’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s Bering Sea from “environmental and economic risks and harms,” the White House said. It is also an attempt to protect Biden’s climate legacy from the energy policies set to be pursued by Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump. Biden will rely upon an obscure provision of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the president the power to indefinitely withdraw unleased lands from the outer continental shelf.
News
EPA approves California’s strict harbor craft emissions rule
The Maritime Executive – January 8
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday approved a controversial California rule requiring diesel particulate filters (DPF) aboard ship-assist tugs and other small harbor craft. It is the first such rule in the nation. Because of the unique smog issues of the Los Angeles airshed, the state of California has a carve-out in federal law that allows it to create its own motor-vehicle emissions regulations. The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) revised Commercial Harbor Craft Rule requires tug and harbor craft operators to use an EPA Tier IV engine, the cleanest on the market. In addition, unlike any other regulator, CARB requires local harbor tugs to have a “level 3 Verified Diesel Emission Control Strategy” that reduces particulate emissions by at least 85 percent. CARB’s justification for the DPF rule is to reduce the cumulative public health burden of diesel particulate matter, a suspected carcinogen and contributor to asthma.
Exxon Mobil Corp. sues California attorney general for defamation over plastic recycling claims
Associated Press – January 7
Exxon Mobil Corp. on Monday filed a federal defamation lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups, months after Bonta sued the oil and gas giant alleging that it deceived the public for half a century by promising the plastics it produced would be recycled. The lawsuit alleges that Bonta and several environmental groups conspired to defame it with statements regarding the efficacy of its plastic recycling technology. Exxon Mobil seeks unspecified damages and retractions of “defamatory statements” from Bonta and the groups.
EPA rejects petition to investigate Tijuana River Valley for a Superfund designation
The San Diego Union-Tribune – January 7
EPA has denied a request to investigate the Tijuana River Valley for a Superfund designation, a listing that covers certain highly-contaminated sites in the nation that require long-term cleanup. In a January 3 letter to local elected officials, the federal agency said a site inspection of the river valley – the first step in a lengthy process that evaluates whether a site poses a threat to public health – was not warranted for several reasons. Among them was that concentrations of polluting substances previously found in the area did not exceed EPA’s thresholds for health concerns.
Biden designates Chuckwalla Monument, honoring request of tribes in Southern California
KPBS - January 8
President Joe Biden on Tuesday created a new national monument—the Chuckwalla National Monument—on the border of Riverside and Imperial Counties. The monument designation will restrict new development on 600,000 acres of high desert and mountains stretching to the northeast of the Salton Sea. The White House said the monument would still allow construction of new electric transmission lines, along with the continued development of certain renewable energy projects. The new monuments are part of a broader push by federal and state authorities to return some control of culturally-significant lands and waters to indigenous people.
CRC receives EPA’s first California carbon injection permits
Bakersfield Californian – December 31
In another big step for Kern County’s nascent carbon management industry, EPA issued four permits in late December for injection of carbon dioxide more than a mile below the Elk Hills Oil Field for the purpose of addressing climate change. The permit awarded to a joint venture led by California Resources Corp. (CRC) is the first of its kind in the state. An agency news release said the proposed CO2 injections will be done in a way that protects underground drinking water sources and public health. It noted that a CRC subsidiary is required to plug abandoned wells in the area—200 in all—before beginning injections. It also must meet federal operational standards and monitoring requirements.
New California water delivery plan stirs debate
Los Angeles Times – December 23
The Biden administration has adopted new rules for operating the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, California’s main water delivery systems in the Central Valley, endorsing a plan backed by state officials that aims to strike a balance between ensuring protections for imperiled fish species and providing a reliable water supply for farms and cities. Federal and state officials said the new operating rules, developed over the last three years, will bring greater stability to the state’s supplies in the face of worsening droughts intensified by climate change.
New York to fine fossil fuel companies $75 billion under new climate law
Reuters – December 26
New York state will fine fossil fuel companies a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for damage caused to the climate under a bill Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on December 26. The law is intended to shift some of the recovery and adaptation costs of climate change from individual taxpayers to oil, gas, and coal companies that the law says are liable. The money raised will be spent on mitigating the impacts of climate change, including adapting roads, transit, water and sewage systems, buildings, and other infrastructure. Fossil fuel companies will be fined based on the amount of greenhouse gases they released into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2018, to be paid into a Climate Superfund beginning in 2028. It will apply to any company the New York Department of Environmental Conservation determines is responsible for more than 1 billion tons of global greenhouse gas emissions.
(*NOTE - Although this law is not binding in California, we include this article because the New York law may be an indicator of future California efforts to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for the impacts of climate change.)
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