President Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping $6.8 trillion budget plan on Thursday that would increase federal spending on climate and clean energy programs while boosting pay for federal workers. The White House's budget proposal for fiscal 2024 cites the "existential threat of climate change" and touts the passage of massive laws that aim to slash greenhouse gases and incentivize renewable energy and new infrastructure. Under the proposal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would see a 19 percent boost from its 2023 funding level; the Interior and Energy departments would see increases of 9.3 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively. The president wants to increase revenue by increasing taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals and ending tax subsidies for oil and gas companies.
The owners of 14 gas stations in Northern and Central California have been ordered to pay $1.7 million in penalties to settle alleged environmental violations, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Monday. Bonta's office said the settlement stems from an investigation that found the facilities had a "recurring failure" to properly maintain, install, implement, and operate spill prevention and safety measures involving underground and above-ground tanks. A total of 107 violations were alleged to have taken place since at least 2013.
A defunct company that released over a million gallons of crude oil and wastewater in California must pay more than $65 million in penalties and cleanup costs, federal prosecutors announced Monday. A federal court entered a final judgment last week against HVI Cat Canyon Inc., formerly known as Greka Oil & Gas Inc., a U.S. Department of Justice statement said. The federal government and the state of California sued the company, alleging that it was negligent and responsible for repeated crude oil spills into U.S. and state waterways along the central coast from ruptured storage tanks, corroded pipelines, and overflowing injection ponds.
U-Haul Co. of California has agreed to pay $1.123 million in civil penalties to settle asbestos-related violations found at a Santa Maria warehouse, according to Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch. The alleged civil violations came from U-Haul's failure to properly handle asbestos-containing material during renovations at its Santa Maria storage warehouse. U-Haul employees allegedly removed about 20,000 feet of asbestos-containing flooring from the warehouse in the fall of 2019 without first conducting a survey or employing "required safety precautions for asbestos work," and then disposed of the materials in an uncovered dumpster before transporting the materials for disposal at a facility not authorized to handle asbestos-containing material. A citizen witnessed the removal process and reported it to the Santa Barbara County Certified Unified Program Agency, which investigated the facility with inspectors from the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District.
U.S. Representative John Garamendi announced in late February that he reintroduced his bipartisan legislation (H.R.1181) to reform permitting for local wastewater treatment and water recycling projects. The bill would extend the maximum term for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued under the federal Clean Water Act from 5 to 10 years to better reflect project construction schedules for public agencies. Current federal law only provides for 5-year NPDES permit terms, which in many cases do not provide sufficient time for permittees to complete construction of public wastewater treatment and water recycling projects.
EPA has announced another $2.4 billion awarded to states from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for clean water projects. This is the second wave of funding from the law, to be distributed through the clean water State Revolving Fund program, for support of upgrades of water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. EPA previously announced $1.9 billion for states through the program last May. New York will receive the largest share of the latest allotment, with $232.4 million, records show. California ranks second with $150.6 million.
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