Focus
U.S. states sue EPA for stricter asbestos rules
Reuters – July 1
A coalition of 10 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., led by California and Massachusetts, on June 28 sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in California federal court to begin working on the rules to tighten oversight of asbestos, and reduce the health risks that asbestos poses to the public after the EPA denied the states’ petition to collect more data on asbestos. Many companies stopped using asbestos, once a common component of fireproofing and insulation, by the mid-1970s after it was linked to various kinds of cancer. Federal law, however, still allows limited uses of asbestos, and in 2016, Congress amended the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to create a process for regulating asbestos. The EPA has said protecting people from asbestos exposure is a priority, including through an April rule giving it power to review asbestos products that were no longer on the market before they could be sold again in the United States.
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News
California legislators sign bill requiring additional environmental review for Cadiz water project
Desert Sun – July 11
The California State Assembly advanced a bill, authored by Senator Richard Roth, D-Riverside, this Thursday that could halt the progress of the Cadiz, Inc. groundwater pumping project in the Mojave Desert for up to two years. Senate Bill 307, which now only needs Governor Gavin Newsom's signature to become law, would amend the California Water Code to prohibit transfers from desert groundwater basins that adversely affect the environment. It would also require Cadiz to apply for additional permits from the State Lands Commission and submit annual updates on the project's impact on the aquifer. Although the project underwent review of environmental impacts pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, lawmakers noted a study by Department of the Interior surveyors who estimated the aquifer’s natural recharge rate to be between 2,000 and 10,000 acre-feet of water per year, significantly less than the 50,000 acre-feet of water Cadiz proposes to extract annually.
California Coastal Commission questions federal agency's approach to mouse eradication for Farallon Islands
Los Angeles Times – July 10
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Wednesday withdrew its request for the California Coastal Commission (Commission) to approve its controversial mouse eradication plan for the Farallon Islands, 27 miles from the San Francisco coast. FWS biologists had proposed dropping 1.5 tons of rat poison pellets from a helicopter on the islands to kill tens of thousands of invasive house mice they say are wreaking havoc on a fragile ecosystem, which boasts one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for seabirds. The decision to withdraw the request for Commission concurrence came in the wake of suggestions that the Commission may not support the eradication strategy. The federal government does not require the Commission’s permission to proceed with the plan, but its approval would have helped bolster public support and potentially stave off litigation.
California Senate approves clean drinking water fund
Associated Press – July 8
The California Senate on Monday approved by a 38-1 vote a bill that would authorize spending up to $130 million each year for the next decade on the state’s distressed water districts to improve drinking water quality, with most of it coming from the cap-and-trade fund aimed at fighting climate change. About one million of California’s nearly 40 million residents do not have access to clean drinking water because of pollution from humans or natural causes. The problem is statewide, but it is concentrated in the Central Valley — the center of the state’s $20 billion agriculture industry.
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