Weekly Green: February 11, 2013

In the news:

• CEQA positioning continues;
• Governor pitches water tunnel project to farmers;
• Municipal bag bans move forward, despite new E. coli study;
• Water, fracking, transit, and much, much more.

CEQA

Labor unions oppose overhaul of environmental law
While we’ve yet to see a bill introduced that would make major changes in how the California Environmental Quality Act operates, more people are taking sides in the debate.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/02/11/labor-unions-oppose-overhaul-of-environmental-law/

Wildermuth: Both Sides Must Negotiate Environmental Reforms
The landmark California Environmental Quality Act, a sharp tool for protecting the state’s natural patrimony from reckless and unquestioned development, now is too often used as a thick, rusty doorstop to block any projects that someone, anyone, just doesn’t want to see happen.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2013/02/both-sides-must-negotiate-environmental-reforms/

California Environmental News

Flame-retardant law may be scaled back
Consumers may soon be able to buy couches and children's items without toxic flame retardants after California moved Friday to undo a 38-year-old law that led to the inclusion of chemicals in the products nationwide.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Flame-retardant-law-may-be-scaled-...
See also: http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/559902-UPDATE_New_California_FR_rule_compliance_date_would_be_mid_2014.php

Pollution takes heavy toll on Bay Area children with asthma
Each year, asthma attacks send tens of thousands of California children to the emergency room. Some of the patients face such severe and enduring symptoms that they are admitted to the hospital for days.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_22553890/pollution-takes-heavy-toll-bay-area-children-asthma

Cool steps help fight global warming
When it comes to high-tech possibilities for counteracting climate change, the headlines tend to focus on the seemingly sci-fi stuff: brightening clouds, pumping particles into the stratosphere and launching giant mirrors into space. But there are down-to-earth versions of the same basic concept, approaches as simple as painting roofs white or using light-colored pavement to cast away more heat from the Earth.
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/dotcommentary/article/Cool-steps-help-fight-global-warming-4266070.php

Toxic emissions rise in California
Toxic chemicals released into the environment by manufacturing plants and facilities in California rose in 2011 after steady annual declines since 2007, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's yearly Toxic Release Inventory report.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/10/5178580/toxic-emissions-rise-in-state.html

NRC investigating San Onofre information
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the accuracy of information provided to the agency by Southern California Edison relating to faulty steam generators that have kept the San Onofre nuclear plant shuttered for more than a year.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/edison-495289-nrc-mitsubishi.html

Ship pilot blamed for 2007 oil spill in San Francisco Bay sues Coast Guard to get his license back
Capt. John Cota, who was blamed for causing the worst oil spill in San Francisco Bay in two decades when he crashed the cargo ship Cosco Busan into a tower of the Bay Bridge in 2007, has sued the U.S. Coast Guard in an effort to regain his mariner's license so he can sail again.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_22564886/ship-pilot-blamed-2007-oil-spill-san-francisco

Petroleum

California lawmakers will consider new rules for fracking
The hearing, set for Tuesday in the Capitol, will feature testimony from top oil regulators, water and environmental officials, local elected officials and representatives from the energy industry and environmental groups.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-fracking-hearing-california-20130208,0,5286477.story

California Gets Fracked
Big Oil is rushing to extract fossil fuel from the state's underground shale formation. But will it contaminate -- and waste -- portions of our water supply?
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/california-gets-fracked/

Ethanol: "worse than the Canadian tar sands"
One of the more bizarre coalitions ever to form in Washington is trying to kill a creature of Washington: corn ethanol. The oil industry, environmentalists, taxpayer groups, livestock growers and foreign aid groups all want Congress to repeal the mandate requiring a 15 percent blend of ethanol in gasoline.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/02/05/ethanol-worse-than-the-canadian-tar-sands/

California sues BP and Arco, alleges violations at gas stations
California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris has filed a civil lawsuit against BP West Coast Products, BP Products North America Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Co., accusing them of violating state laws on hazardous materials and hazardous waste.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-ag-sues-bp-and-arco-20130204,0,2267305.story

More California Environmental News

A New California Solar Record... In February
According to preliminary figures provided by the California Independent System Operator, the state's grid received more than 1,300 megawatts of power from solar arrays for a few hours on Wednesday, likely an all-time record -- in a month when the sun shines with less intensity than at most other times of year.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/a-new-california-solar-record-in-february.html

Base price up for emission allowances
The Feb. 19 auction of emission allowances, a key piece of California's law to curb climate-changing greenhouse gases, will carry a slightly higher reserve price than last November's cap-and-trade auction, the state's top air-quality regulator told lawmakers on Monday.
http://capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=1174uyqh9rjltzq&xid=1174q1hu1o81x6t

California Ballot Prop Would Force State Takeover of Utilities
The measure, which was cleared for signature-gathering Monday by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, would abolish the state's investor-owned power companies -- including Southern California Edison (SCE), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), and replace them with the publicly owned "California Electrical Utility District."
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/utilities/initiative-would-force-state-takeover-of-utilities.html

Plastic Bag Bans

Plastic bag ban could be in Sacramento's future
Seeking to join many of their coastal California counterparts, two members of the City Council are advocating for a ban on plastic shopping bags at large stores in the city that sell groceries.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/09/5177054/plastic-bag-ban-could-be-in-sacramentos.html

Plastic bag ban to come to H.B. council in March
HUNTINGTON BEACH – A possible ban on single-use plastic bags will again come before city officials for consideration and, this time, it may have the support needed to pass.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/plastic-492847-bags-study.html

Plastic Bag Ban Responsible For Spike In E. Coli Infections, Study Says
A research paper published last year by professors at the University of Pennsylvania and George Mason University found San Francisco's ban on plastic bags has had significant negative repercussions on public health. The study, released in August, found a spike in San Francisco hospital emergency room treatment due to E. coli infections and a 46 percent increase in deaths from foodborne illness in the three months after the bag ban went into effect in 2007.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/plastic-bag-ban_n_2641430.html

Water

Valley refuge plan sparks opposition
Local water districts have joined farmers in resisting the proposed expansion of a national wildlife refuge, claiming it will split the valley in two and cut off access to a 40-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/02/10/2572591/valley-refuge-plansparks-opposition.html

Governor pitches water tunnel project to farmers
Gov. Jerry Brown waded into potentially hostile territory Wednesday as he pitched his $14 billion plan to reshape California's water-delivery system by building massive tunnels below the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/02/06/3163241/governor-pitches-water-tunnel.html

In California, Reading the Snow to Tell the Future for the Water Supply
His assessment of this month’s survey -- after a strong start, the snowpack’s water content fell to 93 percent of average for this time of the year because of a "midwinter lull" -- was carried on television channels throughout the state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/us/in-california-the-snow-tells-the-future-for-the-water-supply.html

Traffic and Transportation

Bay Area stuck with congestion like L.A.'s
According to the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report, the San Francisco-Oakland region is tied with L.A. for second place -- behind Washington, D.C. -- for yearly delay caused by congestion. According to the study, car commuters here and in Los Angeles each endure 61 hours per year of delays, tied for second place among the nation's 15 largest metropolitan regions and 101 urban areas in the study.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-stuck-with-congestion-like-L-A-s-4267480.php

Invisible culprit of traffic gridlock: copper thieves
Commuting in the Bay Area has turned nasty -- and it can't all be blamed on too many solo drivers, out-of-sync traffic lights or an improving economy. Thieves are increasingly at fault, tearing out valuable copper wiring that powers metering lights, traffic signals, lights on freeway signs and city streetlights.
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_22552163/invisible-culprit-traffic-gridlock-copper-thieves

Public walk to open new Bay Bridge span
The new Bay Bridge's big bash in September won't be the first chance for the general public to set foot on the Bay Area's busiest bridge, as transportation officials had suggested, after all. Anyone interested in setting foot on the bridge can sign up for e-mail alerts at www.baybridgecelebration.com.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Public-walk-to-open-new-Bay-Bridge-span-4267382.php

More California Politics & Government

Bill would require 3-day wait before state lawmakers act
The identical bills by Democratic Sen. Lois Wolk of Davis and Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen of Modesto would require all legislation to be in print and online 72 hours before it comes to a vote. Both bills would be constitutional amendments and would have to be approved by the voters.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/bills-495406-wolk-three.html

Weintraub: Revenue roller coaster on the way up again
California’s notorious tax-revenue roller coaster is on the way up again. How many times do we need to see this movie before we remember how it ends?
http://www.healthycal.org/archives/11059

Walters: Not all clashes at California's Capitol are partisan
Much -- probably too much -- is being made of the newly minted Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature and the prospects of doing this or that. While the Democrats' hegemony does take Republicans completely out of the picture, the Legislature's partisan conflicts have not been, contrary to popular belief, the primary impediments to effective governance.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/10/5178413/dan-walters-not-all-clashes-at.html

Where Smart Growth Falls Short In San Diego
How two neighborhoods were meant to be walkable, but attitudes and economics stood in the way.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/04/where-smart-growth-falls-short/

Seen & Shared

“There’s more real America in California than anywhere else.”

Alan Alda stars in the most-shared image on the CLCV Facebook page this week. Alda sang the praises of the Golden State in his role portraying The West Wing’s Arnold Vinick, fictional U.S. Senator and presidential candidate (R-CA).

Image: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151417465476245&set=a.356614771244.161730.60158871244&type=1&theater

CEQA Works, and here’s how

Do you know how CEQA Works? Look at these inspiring success stories, made possible thanks to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Stories: http://ceqaworks.org/ceqa-successes/

Visualizing voting in America

Infographic 1: “How long it took different groups to vote” http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/05/us/politics/how-states-performed-in-the-2008-election.html

Infographic 2: “Problems at the polls in 2008” http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/05/us/politics/how-long-it-took-groups-to-vote.html

Reality check: U.S. rail system map

In past editions of The Weekly Green, we’ve shared the beautiful maps illustrating the high speed rail networks in California and across the country (CaliforniaRailMap.com). However, these maps fail to portray the degree to which the public may be underserved by current rail services. The Atlantic presents this criticism in full cartographic glory.

Maps: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/02/visualizing-how-poorly-amtraks-route-network-serves-most-us/4620/

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