Focus
After massive sewage spill that polluted beaches, L.A. agrees to spend $20 million on improvements
Los Angeles Times – August 20
Three years after a massive spill at a Los Angeles wastewater facility sent millions of gallons of sewage into Santa Monica Bay, the city has agreed to spend more than $20 million on improvements to remedy the environmental blunder, according to a settlement with federal prosecutors announced this Tuesday. The agreement comes after an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and federal prosecutors into the 2021 spill at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey, the city’s largest wastewater treatment facility. Federal prosecutors allege that the sewage spill “resulted from the city of Los Angeles’ failure to adequately staff Hyperion, train its employees at Hyperion, and/or maintain Hyperion’s equipment,” though the settlement notes that the city does not concede these allegations.
News
Newsom rejects air quality monitoring expansion for California refineries
KQED – August 20
Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would have expanded California’s air quality monitoring system to include more refineries, citing concerns about local control and high implementation costs. Groups supporting the bill, however, say these reasons “aren’t supported by the facts.” SB 674, introduced by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), would have expanded the statewide requirement for real-time fenceline air monitoring of petroleum refineries to a broader range of facilities, including refineries that produce biofuel, lubricating oil, asphalt, petrochemical feedstock, and other similar products. It also would have required that communities near refineries receive notification when pollutants were above specified thresholds and mandated efforts to remedy poor conditions.
Ninth Circuit upholds dismissal of former police officers’ lawsuit over radioactive contamination at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard
Courthouse News Service – August 20
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Federal Tort Claims Act action filed in 2020 by a class of current and former San Francisco Police Department employees who claim the United States misled the department about the safety of a contaminated former Naval shipyard. The plaintiffs claim they were exposed to radioactive contamination while working at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, which the department leased from the government. A federal judge dismissed the suit in 2023, finding the government had immunity because the officers’ claims were based on a misrepresentation by a government contractor. A Ninth Circuit panel agreed with the dismissal, ruling on Tuesday that the misrepresentation exception applied.
California proposes more aggressive credit system in LCFS amendments
WasteDive – August 16
The California Air Resources Board is planning to boost its carbon reduction ambitions for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) beginning next year, according to a draft proposal released by the state agency on Monday. The new proposal responds to calls from a chorus of alternative fuel producers who say LCFS credit prices have fallen too low to justify investment in the production of low-carbon fuels. The proposal must still go before CARB’s board for a vote in November. If approved, the proposal will increase the degree to which fuel producers must offset their petroleum-based fuels with low-carbon alternatives.
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