Los Angeles
Why Did SoCal Air Regulators Reject Clean Air Rules?
SCAQMD’s failure to pass Rules 1111 and 1121 on water heaters and furnaces is a win for gas industry disinformation and a loss for public health.
After 6 hours of public comment and discussion in a packed auditorium, Southern California air quality regulators on Friday rejected a pair of proposals that would have reduced harmful pollution from gas furnaces and water heaters. I watched a livestream of the 6-hour meeting (and provided live updates and commentary on Bluesky). Here’s context and …
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CONTINUE READINGThese SoCal Clean Air Rules are Being Smeared
Legitimate affordability concerns are being weaponized by the gas lobby and its supporters ahead of an important SCAQMD vote to encourage cleaner appliances.
After years of rule development, Southern California air quality regulators are set to vote tomorrow on a pair of proposals that would reduce harmful pollution from gas furnaces and water heaters. A coordinated campaign by opponents including SoCalGas is painting these relatively moderate rules as a “ban” on gas appliances and an attack on middle-class …
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CONTINUE READINGIf Dodgers Don’t Quit Big Oil, the Olympics May Make Them
The Olympic Committee’s ban on most advertising could finally force the Dodgers to drop the 76 sponsorship from Dodger Stadium, which is now an LA 2028 venue.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have all but ignored the growing calls from fans, activists, columnists, researchers, and a state lawmaker asking the team to cut ties with Big Oil and remove the two huge, orange 76 gas ads that dominate the club’s picturesque scoreboards. But the team’s streak may be coming to an end: They …
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CONTINUE READING100 Days of Fear & Loathing in Climate World
The Drain is a weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Are you tired of the words “100 days”? “In his first 100 days the Trump administration has slashed federal agencies, canceled national reports, and yanked funding from universities,” Grist puts it. “One hundred days of anti-environmental mayhem,” says Dan Farber at Legal Planet. My UCLA colleague Ann Carlson is quoted by the New York Times …
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CONTINUE READINGDay After Earth Day, the Climate Pope, and the 89%
The Drain is a new weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Environmental journalists everywhere are breathing easier this morning. They made it through Earth Day — one of two insufferable seasons of cliche, inane PR pitches clogging their inboxes. (The other? The 2-week UN Climate Conference each fall.) Environmental advocates are breathing a little easier too, because the White House blinked first in the war of …
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CONTINUE READINGLeft-Wing NIMBYism Strikes Out – Again
The Current Overheated Housing Market in Los Angeles Demonstrates That Market-Rate Housing Can Reduce Rents
One of the most pernicious aspects of the land use and housing debate over the last few years has been the rise of what we mean might call “left-wing NIMBYs.” It is essentially traditional NIMBYism but on allegedly progressive grounds. The principal argument of this group is that building more market-rate units will do nothing …
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CONTINUE READINGHow to Grow a Victory Garden out of Trash
Private recycling subscription services are helping my family divert our waste, though I wish we didn’t need them.
While unelected billionaires and sycophant cabinet members are pretending to get rid of waste in Washington, I’ve declared war on waste, fraud, and abuse in my own Los Angeles home. My family is fighting food and plastic waste using a pair of recycling subscription services. Yes, I realize it’s just a small ripple in the …
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CONTINUE READINGNew State Bill Targets Pollution from Aggregate Facilities
Guest contributors Mayahuel Hernandez and Ian Bertrando explain the air-quality benefits of SB 526, a bill they worked on with California State Sen. Caroline Menjivar.
The California Senate just took a critical step toward confronting unhealthy air quality in environmental justice communities through the introduction of a new Senate Bill 526. This proposed legislation aims to curb dangerous dust emissions from aggregate facilities in the South Coast Air Basin, where industrial pollution has long threatened public health and the environment. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Isn’t Hydrofluoric Acid Banned at Oil Refineries?
The Torrance Refinery Action Alliance and Rep. Maxine Waters have renewed calls to ban hydrofluoric acid at SoCal refineries. Here’s why and how that could work.
On the morning of Feb. 18, 2015, pent-up gases at ExxonMobil’s refinery in Torrance triggered an explosion so powerful it registered as a magnitude 1.7 earthquake and sent industrial ash over entire neighborhoods. It’s been called the near-miss disaster that most people have never heard of. But that near miss is raising new calls to …
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CONTINUE READINGThe California Car Waiver and the Congressional Review Act
Trump has found a possible way to end run California’s legal arguments for the waiver. But there’s no reason to give up.
If the CRA resolution does go through, California should wait until after the midterms, when Democrats are favored to take the House, and then try again with different formulated regulations. When the Trump Administration rejects them, it could then litigate whether the new versions were “substantially the same” as the old ones.
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