Weekly Green: July 30, 2013

This week's environmental headlines include:

• Economist questions California's energy conservation claims;
• EPA approves state's revised drinking water plan;
• Obama’s Keystone comments give opponents reason for hope;
• Businesses enlist Congress in fight against California laws;
• BPA ban takes effect, and more!

» Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Green, a no-frills news roundup provided free of charge by the California League of Conservation Voters. If you're not a regular subscriber, sign up today! Get your free subscription here: http://ecovote.org/wg

Above the Fold

CLCV Blog: BPA ban, 2 years (and 2 kids) later
Time sure does fly: The BPA ban passed in 2011 after a tough fight and some incredibly close votes, but it finally took effect just weeks ago.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/bpa-ban-2-years-and-2-kids-later

Dan Walters: Economist questions California's energy conservation claims
A new paper published by the prestigious National Bureau of Economic Research and authored by Georgetown University economist Arik Levinson tests the claim that's existed for decades and finds it to be way overblown.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/29/5604101/dan-walters-economist-questions.html

EPA approves state's revised drinking water plan
After threatening to cut off funding to California earlier this spring because the state had been so slow to improve its drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the state’s revised spending plan.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-epa-drinking-water-plan-20130724,0,7728718.story

Obama’s Keystone comments give opponents reason for hope
For those trying to decipher which way President Obama is leaning on whether to grant the Keystone XL pipeline a presidential permit, the comments he made in an interview with The New York Times published this weekend suggest he accepts much of the criticism opponents have lodged against the project.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/07/28/obamas-keystone-comments-give-opponents-reason-for-hope/
Interview: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/us/politics/interview-with-president-obama.html

Businesses enlist Congress in fight against California laws
Companies are going through Congress to fight California's stricter workplace, consumer and environmental laws. Gridlock and sympathetic Republicans in the House could work in their favor.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-california-targeted-20130728,0,113871.story

Bay Area braces for another possible BART strike
A week remains before BART's two largest unions could go on strike -- for the second time since July 1 -- shutting down the spine of the Bay Area's regional transit network and forcing hundreds of thousands of commuters to find other ways to get to work -- or not.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-braces-for-another-possible-BART-strike-4691430.php?t=2829d454ec61145358

More: Water

DWP shows how it protects reservoir with 'shade balls,' and treats water with UV light to reduce use of chemicals
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials gave about 100 residents a rare peek into how it treats and stores water at the LA Aqueduct Filtration Plant and L.A. reservoir in Sylmar on Saturday, and new projects the utility has in the works.
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23745566/dwp-shows-how-it-protects-reservoir-shade-balls

Internal EPA report highlights disputes over fracking and well water
An EPA staff report suggests methane from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, contaminated wells near Dimock, Pa., but the agency says the water's safe to drink.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-dimock-20130728,0,4847442.story

Unemployment benefits, water top Jerry Brown's post-vacation list
Other items on the governor’s agenda include forging ahead with his $24-billion water plan, revamping state electricity rates, opening the troubled San Francsisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and breaking ground later this year on the first leg of the state’s high-speed rail line.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-unemployment-water-highspeed-rail-electricity-rates-20130729,0,4965144.story

Toxins, Pollution, and Public Safety

Not Even Silicon Valley Escapes History
Storage tanks were placed underground, out of sight and out of mind. Until suddenly, in 1981, people in south San Jose living near Fairchild Semiconductor and IBM realized they were drinking water contaminated by the two firms' manufacturing plants.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/13/07/not-even-silicon-valley-escapes-history/277824/

Trash talk and the real dirt on a 'toxic tour' of Los Angeles
A 'toxic tour' past rail yards, smokestacks and refineries aims to show officials the consequences of their decisions in low-income, predominantly Latino communities in southeast L.A.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toxic-tour-20130728,0,6170662.story

State targets off-road vehicle smog
The California Air Resources Board Thursday moved to tighten pollution controls on most new off-road vehicles even while they sit idle in the garage.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jul/25/air-board-targets-off-road-vehicle-smog/

State Agency Getting Spanked Over Gas Pipeline Safety
The agency charged with ensuring the state's energy infrastructure doesn't endanger public safety is being taken to the woodshed by Federal regulators in the wake of a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/government/state-agency-getting-spanked-over-gas-pipeline-safety.html

Habitat and Wildlife

Flamingo (not plastic) seen in San Francisco Bay
Gaze out to San Francisco Bay, and chances are you'll see herons, egrets, ducks and dozens of other familiar bird species. But this summer hikers and weekend bird-watchers are all aflutter about a new, and distinctly exotic arrival: a flamingo.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_23742288/flamingo-not-plastic-kind-spotted-san-francisco-bay

Lawsuit Filed Over Power Plant Threat to Endangered Butterfly
Conservation groups announced Wednesday that they are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to protect an endangered butterfly species from a San Francisco Bay Area gas-fired power plant.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/natural-gas/lawsuit-filed-over-power-plant-threat-to-endangered-butterfly.html

Elections

Above and beyond on the Voting Rights Act
The high court’s decision, which said the 1965 legislation was no longer relevant to modern society and tossed out the formula determining federal oversight, provoked an outcry from civil rights advocates. But beyond that obvious backlash, the ruling has stirred a more groundbreaking debate in California, posing the question: If 20th century civil rights protections aren’t applicable in the 21st century, what laws are?
http://capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=11m04s1km5q1gq3&xid=11m04vycdz7lhnr&done=.11m05by3qwmil4s

Some say scrap costly, low turnout special elections
Special elections in California have become not-so-special. Which is precisely the problem.
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=251958

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