California Environmental Law & Policy Update - March 2022 #2 | Allen Matkins - JDSupra - JD Supra
News
Associated Press – March 9
The defeat on Tuesday of an ExxonMobil proposal to run thousands of truck trips a year in central California to transport oil from now-idled offshore platforms has intensified the focus on an even larger dispute: building a pipeline across the state to move the crude. The company’s plan was to send up to 24,820 tanker trucks a year on coastal Highway 101 and State Route 166 for up to seven years or until the pipeline is repaired or replaced. On a 3 – 2 vote, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors rejected the plan, denying the company a crucial step in its hopes of resuming production at the decades-old trio of drilling platforms. ExxonMobil has said trucking was the only option to transport crude to markets until a pipeline is available.
Reuters – March 9
The U.S. EPA on Wednesday restored California's ability to set its own zero-emission vehicle sales mandate and tailpipe emissions limits, reversing a 2019 decision during the Trump Administration. The agency said it was finalizing a decision to reinstate a waiver under the Clean Air Act to California that was first awarded in 2013. The EPA is also rejecting a Trump-era decision to prohibit other states from adopting the California tailpipe emission standards.
The Bakersfield Californian – March 4
Kern County last Friday initiated the environmental review process for a California carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project, marking the first time such a project has been reviewed in the state. The review will focus on a plan by local oil producer California Resources Corp. to gather carbon dioxide from various industrial sources and bury it in depleted oil reservoirs using half a dozen injector wells 26 miles southwest of Bakersfield in the Elk Hills Oil Field. Although the oil industry has increasingly embraced CCS as a way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, environmental groups remain skeptical, in part because the installations require large amounts of energy and the transport of CO2 over long distances.
Courthouse News Service – March 7
The city of Los Angeles has entered the legal fray over banned polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, joining other California cities in suing Monsanto on claims the chemicals have tainted city water sources. Although PCBs, classified by EPA as a probable human carcinogen, were banned in the U.S. in 1979, their presence has lingered in a variety of older products including electrical equipment, caulks, paints, and sealants, and, according to the city, they continue to pollute rivers, lakes, and streams. A spokesperson for Monsanto said in a written statement that the company believes the suit is “without merit.”
Stockton Record – March 9
A San Joaquin County pesticide spraying company was negligent when its helicopter pilots allowed the toxic chemicals to drift over residents, including onto a Lodi school, a judge ruled on Tuesday. Alpine Helicopter Service, Inc. violated the law when it carelessly released the harmful chemicals on at least five occasions between 2014 and 2020, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office. Pesticide drift is prohibited under the Food and Agricultural Code. Civil penalties and the terms of a permanent injunction against the defendants will be determined during the second phase of the trial.
source: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/california-environmental-law-policy-6974648/
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.