Environmental and Policy Focus
Bloomberg - Mar 30 U.S. Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum signaled in oral argument this week that they are likely to side with landowners in the latest case to reach the high court regarding judicial review of determinations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) of its jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA) over wetlands development. In this latest case, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., property owners and a mining company are fighting a determination by the Corps that wetlands located on a 530-acre tract of Minnesota land proposed for peat-mining are subject to federal regulation under the CWA. The question before the Supreme Court is whether such jurisdictional determinations can be challenged by the property owner before either submitting a permit application and having it rejected or proceeding without a permit and risking a federal enforcement action in which significant monetary penalties (sometimes millions of dollars) and incarceration could potentially be imposed. A decision by the Supreme Court is likely to be issued in June.
Sacramento Bee - Mar 28
In response to dozens of pending protests, state and federal officials asked for a two-month delay in hearings that could decide the fate of Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial plan to build two massive tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. On Monday, the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – the agencies that run the huge Delta pumps – requested a 60-day continuance on hearings that were scheduled to begin in early May before the State Water Resources Control Board. The agencies said in a letter that they believe the extra time could help resolve or consolidate protests by a number of environmental groups and by Delta and Northern California water agencies. A spokesman for the State Water Board said the request is under consideration.
Fresno Bee - Mar 28 Central San Joaquin Valley water district managers are complaining about proposed new regulations under the state's 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, characterizing them as confusing and potentially expensive. The Act is meant to help California survive droughts without depleting underground reserves. An early step in the implementation of the Act, which requires that groundwater basins and sub-basins throughout California be in balance by 2040, is the formation, by June 2017, of "groundwater management agencies" for each groundwater basin. At the public meeting last week attended by about 100 farmers and water district managers, several expressed worry that groundwater basins in San Joaquin Valley will have multiple groundwater management agencies, making smooth coordination between them difficult to achieve. The regulations are slated to go into effect June 1, and the state Department of Water Resources is accepting public comment about them until April 1.
KPCC - Mar 23 Community and environmental groups are trying to persuade Governor Jerry Brown that his proposed emergency legislation—to provide $177 million for the cleanup of the former Exide battery plant in Vernon—should not bypass state requirements for environmental review of the effort. When Governor Brown called last month for the money to be loaned to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which is overseeing the cleanup, his proposal included an exemption to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) "for the purposes of expediting the cleanup" of lead and other toxins from communities around the former facility. Absent an applicable exemption under CEQA, the DTSC would have to conduct a review of the cleanup project and how it would impact the environment. The review process also calls for public meetings and transparency for the communities involved. Those protesting the legislation expressed concern that the proposed CEQA exemption would fast-track the project at the expense of not evaluating the health and other potential impacts on the communities and mitigation measures to address them. The disagreement has caused the two bills related to the funding to stall in the state legislature. The governor's office would not address specifics of the CEQA exemption or what transpired at a meeting this week with environmental and community activists regarding the matter.
Press-Telegram - Mar 30 A judge ruled in favor of the City of Long Beach, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Long Beach Unified School District, and several community groups in Wilmington in a pivotal lawsuit challenging a $500 million rail yard project approved by the Port of Los Angeles, according to court documents. Long Beach argued the Southern California International Gateway Project, also known as SCIG, would negatively impact air quality in West Long Beach. Judge Barry P. Goode of the Contra Costa County Superior Court, to which venue of the action had been moved, agreed that the Port of Los Angeles and City Los Angeles failed to properly analyze the environmental impacts of the project, which would allow trucks to load cargo containers and put them on trains closer to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Long Beach wanted more mitigation measures to lessen the impact of the project, including landscaped buffers and the establishment of a community grant program to pay for the installation of double-paned windows and home air-filtration systems. This ruling may give Long Beach officials considerable leverage in negotiating greater environmental protections for any future project design.
Los Angeles Times - Mar 29 Los Angeles County supervisors voted this week to set up a strike team of fire, public health, and planning officials to consider the safety of oil and gas fields in unincorporated county areas. The action was prompted by the recent four-month gas leak at Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon facility near Porter Ranch. The county's unincorporated areas have 1,687 oil and gas wells. More than half are in the Inglewood Oil Field in the Baldwin Hills area, which is already overseen by the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District. The strike team will focus on the wells outside that district. The sites will be surveyed for potential safety issues and compliance with permitting requirements. The team is to report back twice a year to recommend any regulatory or legal actions the board should take. Supervisors also asked staff to update zoning codes so that future oil and gas facilities would be required to go through more review before opening.
