Focus
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Oct 15 The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review California state court rulings finding Sherwin-Williams, Conagra, and NL Industries responsible for lead paint contamination in thousands of homes built before 1951. Ten California cities and counties originally filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2000, asserting that residual lead in older houses was contributing to severe health problems in children. In 2014, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg held the three companies liable for the cost of inspecting more than 3.5 million California homes and apartments and removing or abating lead hazards. In 2017, a California appeals court narrowed the abatement program to homes built before 1951, when the paint companies said they ceased actively advertising residential lead-based paint, and ordered the companies to contribute to a $409-million abatement fund. The Supreme Court’s decision returns the case to California state court, where the plaintiff communities will move to have a receiver appointed to oversee the fund.
REUTERS - Oct 15 Twenty-one children and young adults who sued the Obama administration in 2015, alleging that federal officials and oil industry executives violated their due process rights by failing for decades to act on knowledge that carbon emissions harm the environment, can proceed with their lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon, ruled on Monday. Judge Aiken held that concerns regarding the balance of power between the judicial and executive branches were not enough to warrant a dismissal of the case, but she did hold that President Donald Trump must be dismissed as a named defendant. The case is scheduled to go to trial on October 29.
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE - Oct 18 To account for potential sea level rise, the Port of San Diego is elevating a portion of the city’s bayfront by as much as 8 feet in preparation for a $1 billion hotel and convention center. The Chula Vista bayfront elevation project is just one of several the Port is doing to prepare for sea level rise. Recent vulnerability assessments show that high sea levels combined with extreme weather events – which scientists predict will be more common in the future – have the potential to cause significant flooding in the region, particularly San Diego Bay, according to the state’s Climate Change Assessment. The Port is also working with the U.S. Navy to prepare for sea level rise. The Port and Navy, the two biggest land managers in San Diego Bay, recently signed a memorandum of agreement to align their sea level rise efforts.
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE - Oct 15 By a 5-3 vote, the San Diego City Council joined 119 other California cities on Monday in banning polystyrene food and beverage containers, which have been blamed for poisoning fish and other marine life and damaging the health of people who eat seafood. Concerns regarding the effect of the ban on small restaurants prompted the city to include waivers of up to two years for businesses that can demonstrate a financial hardship, and a one-year grace period for any business with annual gross income of less than $500,000. The ordinance also requires restaurants to make plastic utensils and straws available only upon request.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Oct 17 The California Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously declined to hold a hearing on a conservation group’s appeal in a lawsuit seeking to drain Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a source of water for San Francisco and surrounding Bay Area communities. The group, known as Restore Hetch Hetchy, argued in its suit that the location of the dam and reservoir, which flooded a valley in the park after construction in 1923, violates a provision of the California Constitution requiring reasonable water use. But a state appeals court in Fresno ruled in July that Congress had overridden state laws when it authorized construction of the dam and reservoir.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Oct 15 The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering using West Coast military installations or other federal properties to open the way for more U.S. fossil fuel exports to Asia in the name of national security, despite opposition from coastal states. The proposal was described to The Associated Press by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers. “I respect the state of Washington and Oregon and California,” Zinke said in an interview with AP. “But also, it’s in our interest for national security and our allies to make sure that they have access to affordable energy commodities.” Zinke said the administration was interested in partnering with private entities in the use of federal facilities designated to help handle exports, and cautioned that the idea is still in its early stages.
