The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected oil companies’ challenge to court orders that currently ban hydraulic fracturing (or fracking)—the injection of high-pressure water and chemicals into the earth to release oil deposits—in federal waters off the California coast. The ban, ordered by a federal judge in 2019, remains in effect at least until U.S. officials study potential dangers to the environment and marine life and consider restrictions on drilling and possible alternatives to fracking in waters more than 3 miles from the coast. The state regulates waters nearer to the coast, and Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order banning all fracking permits in those waters as of next January.
A few federal elected officials want to address the Long Beach and Los Angeles metropolitan area’s notoriously bad air quality while also mitigating climate change by amending the Clean Air Act of 1970 to put new caps on greenhouse gas emissions generated by the international shipping industry. Representative Robert Garcia, joined by another representative from Southern California and by Senator Alex Padilla, introduced the Clean Shipping Act of 2023 to Congress on Thursday. According to a Thursday press release, the Clean Shipping Act would amend the Clean Air Act to set stricter limits on allowable greenhouse gas emissions from all ocean shipping companies who do business with the U.S. and would establish a path to elimination of those emissions entirely.
A proposed consumer class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the federal district court for the Central District of California alleges that Delta Air Lines made “false and misleading” claims of being the world’s first carbon-neutral airline while relying on invalid carbon offsets. According to the complaint, Delta should pay damages to customers for misrepresenting itself as a carbon-neutral airline in marketing campaigns and advertisements that persuaded customers to purchase more expensive tickets for flights that they had been led to believe would not contribute to climate change.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has announced that it will publish detailed records of work done to remove lead-contaminated soil from properties surrounding the former Exide battery recycling plant in southeast Los Angeles County. The records were initially intended to be mailed to residents after remediation work was conducted, but an investigation by The Times found lapses in the notification process. Publication of the information marks a new level of transparency from state officials, who have been accused of failing to effectively manage one of the largest contamination cleanup projects in California history.
Activists pushing state and regional regulators for a more robust response to the discovery of leaky oil wells in Kern County won tentative offers on Tuesday for neighborhood-level notifications about such discoveries and, possibly, about new sampling of local air quality. The discussion came during an online meeting involving environmental justice advocates and representatives of several state agencies involved with a methane task force set up by Governor Gavin Newsom. It follows last week’s announcement that state inspectors found methane leaking from 27 wells—40% of the wells that had been inspected.
A group of 19 state attorneys general, along with oil industry, farming, and truck driver groups, said Tuesday they had filed legal challenges to the Biden administration’s decision approving California’s plans to require an increasing number of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks as the state pushes to cut pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March approved a pair of waivers sought by California under the Clean Air Act to set heavy-duty vehicle and engine emission standards. Governor Gavin Newsom in March said the EPA waivers would allow the state to require half of all heavy-duty trucks sold in the state be electric by 2035.
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