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But Pajaro residents \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-11-20/pajaro-residents-are-still-waiting-for-millions-in-flood-relief-funds\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">are still waiting on most of that money.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">powerful atmospheric river\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> continues to slam Northern California. Weather conditions have toppled trees, flooded roads, left thousands without power, and forced the closure of some schools as a precautionary measure. The National Weather Service warns Eureka and Humboldt County could see extensive flooding. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Phillips 66 is facing a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/phillips-66-faces-federal-charges-after-carson-refinery-allegedly-dumped-wastewater-into-la-sewer-system\">six count federal indictmen\u003c/a>t over allegations the company’s LA County refinery violated the Clean Water Act.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArtP-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-11-20/pajaro-residents-are-still-waiting-for-millions-in-flood-relief-funds\">\u003cstrong>Pajaro Residents Are Still Waiting For Millions In Flood Relief Funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The State of California gave Monterey County $20 million for recovery following the levee breach in Pajaro in 2023, with $10 million earmarked for \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-03-27/pajaro-residents-businesses-can-now-apply-for-aid-to-cover-last-years-flood-damages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>direct aid to residents and businesses\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. But the relief dollars have only trickled in from the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 50 Pajaro residents, business owners, and philanthropists gathered in the community room at Sun Ridge Farms on Nov. 15 for an event called Proudly Pajaro. They were there to discuss the current state of post-flood recovery efforts and to learn about the work that members of the community are doing to build greater economic stability in Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sister Rosa Dolores is a longtime Pajaro resident and executive director of \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.casadelaculturacenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>Casa de la Cultura\u003c/u>\u003c/a>—a local nonprofit that supports migrant farm workers. “We’re meeting every Friday, and we talk about, what can we do?” said Sister Dolores. “What can each family do to prepare for if we have another disaster, not only a flood, but earthquake and all those other things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent status report from Monterey County came out in late September. At that time, just under $1.4 million out of $10 million had been distributed to residents and businesses. A county spokesman said on Nov. 19 that he didn’t have a more recent figure, but applications are constantly being processed. The next formal update on the spending is scheduled for the January board of supervisors meeting. Many residents think it’s taking too long.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">\u003cstrong>Storm Drenches Much Of Northern California, Bay Area\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015108/bomb-cyclone-fuels-heavy-storm-slamming-northern-california-echoing-2021-deluge\">An atmospheric river storm\u003c/a> has dumped heavy rainfall on Northern California for two straight days, and is expected to continue into Friday, before another storm will move into the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Wednesday and Thursday, parts of the North Bay could receive 20 inches of rain, elevating the risk from the next round of rain, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said Thursday. The deluge is prompting major flood concerns in counties north of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service warns Eureka and Humboldt County could see extensive flooding. The biggest area of concern is the Eel River. “As it reaches major flood stage, it’s going to cut off a lot of roads, said James White with the National Weather Service in Eureka. “A lot of those farmers need to move their livestock as the river rises, and so that can always be a dangerous situation if people get trapped out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/phillips-66-faces-federal-charges-after-carson-refinery-allegedly-dumped-wastewater-into-la-sewer-system\">Phillips 66 Faces Federal Charges After Carson Refinery Allegedly Dumped Wastewater Into LA Sewer System\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oil and gas company Phillips 66 \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/texas-based-oil-and-gas-company-phillips-66-indicted-alleged-violations-clean-water\">has been charged\u003c/a> with allegedly dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater into L.A.’s sewer system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grand jury handed down a six-count indictment Wednesday, alleging the company’s Carson refinery twice released non-compliant wastewater into the sewers and then failed to alert L.A. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 22, 2024…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been more than a year and a half since a levee breach flooded the community of Pajaro. The state of California gave Monterey County $20 million for recovery, with $10 million earmarked for direct aid to residents and businesses. But Pajaro residents \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-11-20/pajaro-residents-are-still-waiting-for-millions-in-flood-relief-funds\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">are still waiting on most of that money.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">powerful atmospheric river\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> continues to slam Northern California. Weather conditions have toppled trees, flooded roads, left thousands without power, and forced the closure of some schools as a precautionary measure. The National Weather Service warns Eureka and Humboldt County could see extensive flooding. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Phillips 66 is facing a \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/phillips-66-faces-federal-charges-after-carson-refinery-allegedly-dumped-wastewater-into-la-sewer-system\">six count federal indictmen\u003c/a>t over allegations the company’s LA County refinery violated the Clean Water Act.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArtP-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-11-20/pajaro-residents-are-still-waiting-for-millions-in-flood-relief-funds\">\u003cstrong>Pajaro Residents Are Still Waiting For Millions In Flood Relief Funds\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The State of California gave Monterey County $20 million for recovery following the levee breach in Pajaro in 2023, with $10 million earmarked for \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2024-03-27/pajaro-residents-businesses-can-now-apply-for-aid-to-cover-last-years-flood-damages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>direct aid to residents and businesses\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. But the relief dollars have only trickled in from the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 50 Pajaro residents, business owners, and philanthropists gathered in the community room at Sun Ridge Farms on Nov. 15 for an event called Proudly Pajaro. They were there to discuss the current state of post-flood recovery efforts and to learn about the work that members of the community are doing to build greater economic stability in Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sister Rosa Dolores is a longtime Pajaro resident and executive director of \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.casadelaculturacenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>Casa de la Cultura\u003c/u>\u003c/a>—a local nonprofit that supports migrant farm workers. “We’re meeting every Friday, and we talk about, what can we do?” said Sister Dolores. “What can each family do to prepare for if we have another disaster, not only a flood, but earthquake and all those other things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent status report from Monterey County came out in late September. At that time, just under $1.4 million out of $10 million had been distributed to residents and businesses. A county spokesman said on Nov. 19 that he didn’t have a more recent figure, but applications are constantly being processed. The next formal update on the spending is scheduled for the January board of supervisors meeting. Many residents think it’s taking too long.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015275/another-strong-storm-to-slam-california-raising-flood-risk-in-north-bay\">\u003cstrong>Storm Drenches Much Of Northern California, Bay Area\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015108/bomb-cyclone-fuels-heavy-storm-slamming-northern-california-echoing-2021-deluge\">An atmospheric river storm\u003c/a> has dumped heavy rainfall on Northern California for two straight days, and is expected to continue into Friday, before another storm will move into the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Wednesday and Thursday, parts of the North Bay could receive 20 inches of rain, elevating the risk from the next round of rain, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said Thursday. The deluge is prompting major flood concerns in counties north of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service warns Eureka and Humboldt County could see extensive flooding. The biggest area of concern is the Eel River. “As it reaches major flood stage, it’s going to cut off a lot of roads, said James White with the National Weather Service in Eureka. “A lot of those farmers need to move their livestock as the river rises, and so that can always be a dangerous situation if people get trapped out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/phillips-66-faces-federal-charges-after-carson-refinery-allegedly-dumped-wastewater-into-la-sewer-system\">Phillips 66 Faces Federal Charges After Carson Refinery Allegedly Dumped Wastewater Into LA Sewer System\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oil and gas company Phillips 66 \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/texas-based-oil-and-gas-company-phillips-66-indicted-alleged-violations-clean-water\">has been charged\u003c/a> with allegedly dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater into L.A.’s sewer system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grand jury handed down a six-count indictment Wednesday, alleging the company’s Carson refinery twice released non-compliant wastewater into the sewers and then failed to alert L.A. County officials, violating the Clean Water Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the indictment, the incidents occurred in 2020 and again in 2021. The first time, the wastewater allegedly contained more than 300 times the allowed concentration of oil and grease.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Tesla Factory is Ordered to Fix Toxic Emissions. It's Got Over a Year to Do It",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Bay Area’s air quality watchdog has ordered Tesla to take steps to fix problems at its Fremont factory that have led to frequent toxic emissions over the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24780613/20240626-stipulated-order-for-abatement-pdf.pdf\">an order\u003c/a> issued Wednesday and signed by lawyers for Tesla, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District gives the automaker more than a year to implement a plan to stop the releases originating in the factory’s vehicle-painting facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla had racked up 112 notices of violation since 2019, the district said in \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24780608/20240502-accusation-pdf.pdf\">a formal complaint\u003c/a> filed last month. Each incident resulted in the release of precursor organic compounds — chemicals that react with nitrogen oxides to form ozone — and other toxic air contaminants. Ozone exposure can make it harder to breathe deeply or aggravate respiratory illnesses such as asthma, among other health effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the air quality district, the releases have stemmed from equipment malfunctions in the Tesla plant’s two paint shops, where the auto bodies and components for the hundreds of thousands of vehicles the facility produces each year are spray-coated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the malfunctions have involved systems designed to prevent the release of pollutants from the paint shops. The air district’s complaint also notes that releases sometimes occur even when the anti-pollution systems are operating normally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failures anywhere in the factory’s production line, “such as vehicles crashing into one another when they are not properly overseen by Tesla staff,” can result in an automatic shutdown of the pollution-abatement systems “even if the abatement equipment is still working properly,” according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air agency’s order gives Tesla a maximum of about 15 months to retain an engineering firm and devise a process to stop all toxic emissions from the paint shops except in emergencies when releases may be unavoidable. Once the air district signs off on the plan, the company will have six more months to implement it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district’s case is the second major pollution action against the automaker this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, district attorneys in 25 California counties \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/3/24058476/tesla-hazardous-waste-suit-settlement-california\">sued the company\u003c/a> for mishandling hazardous waste at dozens of facilities across the state, including the Fremont plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit filed in San Joaquin County said Tesla improperly discarded toxic materials — including batteries, fuel and paint — in Dumpsters or at landfills not permitted to accept hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company settled that case for $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Bay Area’s air quality watchdog has ordered Tesla to take steps to fix problems at its Fremont factory that have led to frequent toxic emissions over the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24780613/20240626-stipulated-order-for-abatement-pdf.pdf\">an order\u003c/a> issued Wednesday and signed by lawyers for Tesla, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District gives the automaker more than a year to implement a plan to stop the releases originating in the factory’s vehicle-painting facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla had racked up 112 notices of violation since 2019, the district said in \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24780608/20240502-accusation-pdf.pdf\">a formal complaint\u003c/a> filed last month. Each incident resulted in the release of precursor organic compounds — chemicals that react with nitrogen oxides to form ozone — and other toxic air contaminants. Ozone exposure can make it harder to breathe deeply or aggravate respiratory illnesses such as asthma, among other health effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the air quality district, the releases have stemmed from equipment malfunctions in the Tesla plant’s two paint shops, where the auto bodies and components for the hundreds of thousands of vehicles the facility produces each year are spray-coated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the malfunctions have involved systems designed to prevent the release of pollutants from the paint shops. The air district’s complaint also notes that releases sometimes occur even when the anti-pollution systems are operating normally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failures anywhere in the factory’s production line, “such as vehicles crashing into one another when they are not properly overseen by Tesla staff,” can result in an automatic shutdown of the pollution-abatement systems “even if the abatement equipment is still working properly,” according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air agency’s order gives Tesla a maximum of about 15 months to retain an engineering firm and devise a process to stop all toxic emissions from the paint shops except in emergencies when releases may be unavoidable. Once the air district signs off on the plan, the company will have six more months to implement it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district’s case is the second major pollution action against the automaker this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, district attorneys in 25 California counties \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/3/24058476/tesla-hazardous-waste-suit-settlement-california\">sued the company\u003c/a> for mishandling hazardous waste at dozens of facilities across the state, including the Fremont plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit filed in San Joaquin County said Tesla improperly discarded toxic materials — including batteries, fuel and paint — in Dumpsters or at landfills not permitted to accept hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company settled that case for $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "when-rivers-caught-fire-a-brief-history-of-earth-day",
"title": "When Rivers Caught Fire: A Brief History of Earth Day",
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"content": "\u003cp>To start, a quick quiz:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Which labor group helped fund and organize the first Earth Day celebration?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>2. Which president made the following statement?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions … It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they, more than we, will wreak the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for the answers!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, on the 54nd anniversary of Earth Day, our planet needs all the love it can get. From the increasingly severe impacts of climate change to rapid deforestation and species extinction, there is broad scientific consensus that we’re up against a mounting number of potentially catastrophic challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Former Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wisconsin\"]‘If the people really understood that in the lifetime of their children, they’re going to have destroyed the quality of the air and the water all over the world and perhaps made the globe unlivable in a half century, they’d do something about it. But this is not well understood.’[/pullquote]The evidence notwithstanding, many of America’s strongest environmental protections have long been under attack, and took a particularly harsh beating over the past four years of the Trump administration, when efforts to dismantle regulations went into extreme overdrive — much of which President Biden is now trying to undo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For what it’s worth, though, the environmental outlook in the late 1960s wasn’t too rosy either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of largely unregulated industrial and economic growth in the wake of World War II, the U.S. had managed to majorly muck up its air and water resources. Toxic effluent from factories frequently spilled into streams and rivers. Open spaces were used as dumping grounds. DDT and other synthetic chemicals contaminated natural habitats and water supplies. And air pollution from factories and belching cars left many industrial areas shrouded in thick blankets of smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a handful of the environmental catastrophes that happened within less than three years:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>November 1966\u003c/strong>: In New York City, 168 people die of respiratory-related illnesses over a three-day period due primarily to horrendously poor air quality.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>March 1967\u003c/strong>: Interior Department Secretary Stewart L. Udall announces the first official list of endangered wildlife species. Among the 78 species is the bald eagle, America’s national bird.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>January 1969\u003c/strong>: A blowout at an offshore oil rig near Santa Barbara caused as much as \u003ca href=\"http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/45-years-after-santa-barbara-oil-spill-looking-historic-disaster-through-technology.html\">4.2 million gallons of crude oil to spill\u003c/a> into the Santa Barbara Channel and onto nearby beaches. It lasts for 10 straight days, becoming (at that point) the largest oil spill in American history. Today, it ranks only third, overtaken by the 1989 Exxon Valdez and 2010 Deepwater Horizon spills).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>June 1969\u003c/strong>: A particularly fetid industrial stretch of the Cuyahoga River running through Cleveland bursts into flames (seriously) when oil-soaked debris in the water is ignited by sparks from a passing train.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/nlHiaZFvcXA\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A movement begins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As urban unrest and the anti-war movement ignited across the nation, environmental activism had yet to gain a strong foothold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the people really understood that in the lifetime of their children, they’re going to have destroyed the quality of the air and the water all over the world and perhaps made the globe unlivable in a half century, they’d do something about it. But this is not well understood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a quote from Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who spearheaded a national day of awareness in the aftermath of these environmental disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force the issue onto the national political agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 1969, Nelson formed a bipartisan congressional steering committee and enlisted Denis Hayes, a 25-year-old Harvard Law School dropout, to coordinate the initiative. Influenced by anti-war campus activism, Hayes sought to organize environmental teach-ins throughout the country to occur simultaneously on April 22, 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a limited budget and no email or internet access, Hayes and a small group of organizers mailed out thousands of appeals, recruiting an army of young volunteers to organize local events in communities and campuses across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 30, 1969, the New York Times reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rising concern about the ‘environmental crisis’ is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The big launch\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Interviewed in the recent PBS documentary “\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/earthdays/player/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Earth Days\u003c/a>,” Hayes recalled the sentiment:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lord knows what we thought we were doing. It was wild and exciting and out of control and the sort of thing that lets you know you’ve really got something big happening … What we were trying to do was create a brand-new public consciousness that would cause the rules of the game to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, an estimated 20 million people participated in that first Earth Day, a name coined by advertising guru \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/04/22/401540530/julian-koenig-well-known-adman-named-earth-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julian Koenig\u003c/a> (father of Sarah Koenig of “Serial” podcast fame).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/topics/earthday.pdf\">Read the New York Times article from April 22, 1970.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/WbwC281uzUs?list=PL3480E41AA956A42B\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a huge high adrenaline effort that in the end genuinely changed things,” Hayes said. “Before [that], there were people that opposed freeways, people that opposed clear-cutting, or people worried about pesticides, [but] they didn’t think of themselves as having anything in common. After Earth Day they were all part of an environmental movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hayes’ assertions were affirmed by several national polls showing a rapid rise in the public’s concern about air and water resources. In the \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=Xaw_LEGXnLgC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=gallup+poll+1970+air+and+water&source=bl&ots=2VWCAqHwG0&sig=cHedWfHfSGwQged_dPXyHtrbjSg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GEs1VfCRCJe3ogS7yoHIAQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=gallup%20poll%201970%20air%20and%20water&f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gallup Opinion Index\u003c/a>, the percentage of respondents who considered air and water pollution a top national problem rose from 17% in 1969 to 53% by 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth Day the following year, an independent group launched an anti-litter public service announcement, known as the “Crying Indian,” which featured a white actor in a headdress, rowing a birch bark canoe and shedding a tear when he sees garbage strewn everywhere. Despite the ad’s culturally questionable premise, it proved enormously popular and is still considered one of the most successful public service announcements in history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/9Dmtkxm9yQY\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Unexpected alliances\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That brings us back to the first question of the quiz. The group most supportive of the first Earth Day organizing effort — financially and otherwise — was none other than the United Auto Workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2012/05/UAW.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1888 alignright\" style=\"border: 0px none;\" title=\"UAW\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2012/05/UAW-300x387.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>A labor union not generally thought of for championing environmental causes, the UAW donated funds for the event and turned out volunteers across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UAW President Walter Reuther pledged his union’s full support for Earth Day and for subsequent air quality legislation that the auto industry staunchly opposed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What good is a dollar an hour more in wages if your neighborhood is burning down?” he said. “What good is another week’s vacation if the lake you used to go to is polluted and you can’t swim in it and the kids can’t play in it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sensing a political shift, General Motors president Edward Cole soon thereafter promised “pollution-free” cars by 1980. (That didn’t pan out so well.)\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Golden era of environmental regulation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Remember the mystery quote?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was said by President Richard Nixon during his 1970 State of the Union address.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, that Nixon, the conservative Republican most commonly remembered for prolonging America’s involvement in Vietnam and resigning in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Nixon also oversaw the most sweeping environmental regulations in the nation’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the first Earth Day, Congress passed the \u003ca href=\"http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/\">National Environmental Policy Act\u003c/a>, which among other things, required environmental impact statements for major new building projects and developments. Nixon signed it into law on Jan. 1, 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalism had never been one of Nixon’s major political priorities, but his administration — like the UAW — recognized the shifting political tide, as public outcry and media attention to environmental issues increased. It also didn’t hurt that at the time both the House and Senate were controlled by Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"earth-day\"]Within months, Nixon approved the creation of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/\">Environmental Protection Agency \u003c/a>(EPA) and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.noaa.gov/\">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration \u003c/a>(NOAA). Later that year, he signed an extension of the Clean Air Act, requiring the newly formed EPA to create and enforce air regulations, which among other things led to the installation of catalytic converters on all cars sold in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of 1972, Nixon signed the Clean Water Act, Pesticide Control Act (which banned DDT) and Marine Mammal Protection Act. A year later, he also signed the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Water Drinking Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of these bills were approved with bipartisan support in Congress, in some instances nearly unanimously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a televised speech in 1972, Nixon said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are taking these actions not in some distant future, but now, because we know that it is now or never.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental conditions in the United States began to slowly improve. Which is not to say there wasn’t strong political opposition and major lingering problems, But for a time — stretching through the Ford and Carter administrations — the pursuit of environmentalism maintained a strong bipartisan support. In the last year of his presidency, Carter even installed solar panels on the roof of the White House to promote renewable energy initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>End of the green honeymoon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The economic slowdown in the late 1970s swept in a tide of political change. In 1981, a year into his first term as president, Ronald Reagan appointed two aggressive defenders of industry to head the EPA and the Department of the Interior. As part of the “Reagan Revolution,” the administration moved rapidly to slash federal budgets, cutting the EPA’s funding by nearly half. Environmental enforcement was weakened considerably, as large swaths of public land were opened up for mining, drilling, grazing and other private uses. In a famous symbolic act, the solar panels on the White House roof were dismantled during his second term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, a number of significant environmental policies were advanced during Reagan’s administration, including the Superfund program to clean up hazardous waste sites, creation of wilderness areas and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Montreal Protocol\u003c/a>, an international agreement to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of substances responsible for its depletion, an effort that has been largely successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the anti-regulatory sentiment established during Reagan’s presidency took root. Efforts to strengthen the nation’s environmental protection laws grew increasingly partisan, a trend that continues today. The stream of regulatory measures approved by Nixon four decades ago would have scant chance of passing today’s Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout his populist presidential campaign, President Trump repeatedly took aim at environmental regulations, promising to roll them back and attacking them as elitist, job-killing measures that showed just how out of touch politicians were with the true concerns of ordinary Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Benefit of tangible problems\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Organizers of the first Earth Day had a key advantage: They were tackling visible, tangible problems impacting people’s daily lives. Rivers and lakes were too polluted for kids to swim in; parks were strewn with trash; people were getting sick from foul air. The evidence was indisputable, and it made it a whole lot easier to draw clear connections between quality of life and the urgent need for strong environmental protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, many of today’s major environmental dangers, like climate change, which threaten to be even more catastrophic, remain pretty abstract to many Americans. Unless you’ve been a victim of some disaster directly related to climate change — say, your house has been destroyed because of wildfires or sea-level rise — it’s harder to connect the dots. And that makes it far more challenging to convey the sense of urgency necessary to mobilize the masses and pressure lawmakers to act. The abundance of scientific evidence showing that burning fossil fuels is the key driver of climate change, and the persistent warnings by scientists and activists of impending disaster if we continue along this course, have clearly not proven effective enough to push the kind of sweeping environmental policies enacted in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United States, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, refused to join the Kyoto Protocol, a 2005 international treaty approved by 180 nations requiring rapid cuts in emissions, and in 2010, Congress failed to pass comprehensive national climate change legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. did, however, under the Obama administration, sign on to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/world/europe/climate-change-accord-paris.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landmark international climate accord in Paris in 2015\u003c/a>, in which it committed to dramatically reducing its carbon emissions over the next decade. And although President Trump succeeded in briefly \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/04/trump-makes-it-official-us-will-withdraw-paris-climate-accord/\">withdrawing\u003c/a> from the agreement, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/19/969387323/u-s-officially-rejoins-paris-agreement-on-climate-change\">officially rejoined it\u003c/a> in February under the Biden administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963014373/how-fast-will-biden-need-to-move-on-climate-really-really-fast\">has consistently pledged\u003c/a> to make climate change one of its top priorities. And on this Earth Day, Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/988051091/biden-makes-new-pledge-for-u-s-greenhouse-gas-emissions-a-50-cut\">opened a global summit\u003c/a> on climate change by announcing that the U.S. would aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half — from 2005 levels — by the end of the decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that portends fierce political battles ahead, and it’s very much unclear if the will exists among federal and state lawmakers to take meaningful action to meet that goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which begs the ominous question: What degree of disaster is necessary to spur a new era of sweeping environmental change in America?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>To start, a quick quiz:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>1. Which labor group helped fund and organize the first Earth Day celebration?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>2. Which president made the following statement?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions … It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they, more than we, will wreak the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for the answers!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, on the 54nd anniversary of Earth Day, our planet needs all the love it can get. From the increasingly severe impacts of climate change to rapid deforestation and species extinction, there is broad scientific consensus that we’re up against a mounting number of potentially catastrophic challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If the people really understood that in the lifetime of their children, they’re going to have destroyed the quality of the air and the water all over the world and perhaps made the globe unlivable in a half century, they’d do something about it. But this is not well understood.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The evidence notwithstanding, many of America’s strongest environmental protections have long been under attack, and took a particularly harsh beating over the past four years of the Trump administration, when efforts to dismantle regulations went into extreme overdrive — much of which President Biden is now trying to undo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For what it’s worth, though, the environmental outlook in the late 1960s wasn’t too rosy either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of largely unregulated industrial and economic growth in the wake of World War II, the U.S. had managed to majorly muck up its air and water resources. Toxic effluent from factories frequently spilled into streams and rivers. Open spaces were used as dumping grounds. DDT and other synthetic chemicals contaminated natural habitats and water supplies. And air pollution from factories and belching cars left many industrial areas shrouded in thick blankets of smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a handful of the environmental catastrophes that happened within less than three years:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>November 1966\u003c/strong>: In New York City, 168 people die of respiratory-related illnesses over a three-day period due primarily to horrendously poor air quality.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>March 1967\u003c/strong>: Interior Department Secretary Stewart L. Udall announces the first official list of endangered wildlife species. Among the 78 species is the bald eagle, America’s national bird.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>January 1969\u003c/strong>: A blowout at an offshore oil rig near Santa Barbara caused as much as \u003ca href=\"http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/45-years-after-santa-barbara-oil-spill-looking-historic-disaster-through-technology.html\">4.2 million gallons of crude oil to spill\u003c/a> into the Santa Barbara Channel and onto nearby beaches. It lasts for 10 straight days, becoming (at that point) the largest oil spill in American history. Today, it ranks only third, overtaken by the 1989 Exxon Valdez and 2010 Deepwater Horizon spills).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>June 1969\u003c/strong>: A particularly fetid industrial stretch of the Cuyahoga River running through Cleveland bursts into flames (seriously) when oil-soaked debris in the water is ignited by sparks from a passing train.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/nlHiaZFvcXA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/nlHiaZFvcXA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>A movement begins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As urban unrest and the anti-war movement ignited across the nation, environmental activism had yet to gain a strong foothold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the people really understood that in the lifetime of their children, they’re going to have destroyed the quality of the air and the water all over the world and perhaps made the globe unlivable in a half century, they’d do something about it. But this is not well understood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a quote from Sen. Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who spearheaded a national day of awareness in the aftermath of these environmental disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force the issue onto the national political agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 1969, Nelson formed a bipartisan congressional steering committee and enlisted Denis Hayes, a 25-year-old Harvard Law School dropout, to coordinate the initiative. Influenced by anti-war campus activism, Hayes sought to organize environmental teach-ins throughout the country to occur simultaneously on April 22, 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a limited budget and no email or internet access, Hayes and a small group of organizers mailed out thousands of appeals, recruiting an army of young volunteers to organize local events in communities and campuses across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 30, 1969, the New York Times reported:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rising concern about the ‘environmental crisis’ is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The big launch\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Interviewed in the recent PBS documentary “\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/earthdays/player/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Earth Days\u003c/a>,” Hayes recalled the sentiment:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lord knows what we thought we were doing. It was wild and exciting and out of control and the sort of thing that lets you know you’ve really got something big happening … What we were trying to do was create a brand-new public consciousness that would cause the rules of the game to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, an estimated 20 million people participated in that first Earth Day, a name coined by advertising guru \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/04/22/401540530/julian-koenig-well-known-adman-named-earth-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julian Koenig\u003c/a> (father of Sarah Koenig of “Serial” podcast fame).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/topics/earthday.pdf\">Read the New York Times article from April 22, 1970.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/WbwC281uzUs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/WbwC281uzUs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“It was a huge high adrenaline effort that in the end genuinely changed things,” Hayes said. “Before [that], there were people that opposed freeways, people that opposed clear-cutting, or people worried about pesticides, [but] they didn’t think of themselves as having anything in common. After Earth Day they were all part of an environmental movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hayes’ assertions were affirmed by several national polls showing a rapid rise in the public’s concern about air and water resources. In the \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=Xaw_LEGXnLgC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=gallup+poll+1970+air+and+water&source=bl&ots=2VWCAqHwG0&sig=cHedWfHfSGwQged_dPXyHtrbjSg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GEs1VfCRCJe3ogS7yoHIAQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=gallup%20poll%201970%20air%20and%20water&f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gallup Opinion Index\u003c/a>, the percentage of respondents who considered air and water pollution a top national problem rose from 17% in 1969 to 53% by 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth Day the following year, an independent group launched an anti-litter public service announcement, known as the “Crying Indian,” which featured a white actor in a headdress, rowing a birch bark canoe and shedding a tear when he sees garbage strewn everywhere. Despite the ad’s culturally questionable premise, it proved enormously popular and is still considered one of the most successful public service announcements in history.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9Dmtkxm9yQY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/9Dmtkxm9yQY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>Unexpected alliances\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That brings us back to the first question of the quiz. The group most supportive of the first Earth Day organizing effort — financially and otherwise — was none other than the United Auto Workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2012/05/UAW.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1888 alignright\" style=\"border: 0px none;\" title=\"UAW\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2012/05/UAW-300x387.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>A labor union not generally thought of for championing environmental causes, the UAW donated funds for the event and turned out volunteers across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UAW President Walter Reuther pledged his union’s full support for Earth Day and for subsequent air quality legislation that the auto industry staunchly opposed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What good is a dollar an hour more in wages if your neighborhood is burning down?” he said. “What good is another week’s vacation if the lake you used to go to is polluted and you can’t swim in it and the kids can’t play in it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sensing a political shift, General Motors president Edward Cole soon thereafter promised “pollution-free” cars by 1980. (That didn’t pan out so well.)\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Golden era of environmental regulation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Remember the mystery quote?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was said by President Richard Nixon during his 1970 State of the Union address.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, that Nixon, the conservative Republican most commonly remembered for prolonging America’s involvement in Vietnam and resigning in disgrace over the Watergate scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Nixon also oversaw the most sweeping environmental regulations in the nation’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the first Earth Day, Congress passed the \u003ca href=\"http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/\">National Environmental Policy Act\u003c/a>, which among other things, required environmental impact statements for major new building projects and developments. Nixon signed it into law on Jan. 1, 1970.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalism had never been one of Nixon’s major political priorities, but his administration — like the UAW — recognized the shifting political tide, as public outcry and media attention to environmental issues increased. It also didn’t hurt that at the time both the House and Senate were controlled by Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Within months, Nixon approved the creation of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/\">Environmental Protection Agency \u003c/a>(EPA) and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.noaa.gov/\">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration \u003c/a>(NOAA). Later that year, he signed an extension of the Clean Air Act, requiring the newly formed EPA to create and enforce air regulations, which among other things led to the installation of catalytic converters on all cars sold in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of 1972, Nixon signed the Clean Water Act, Pesticide Control Act (which banned DDT) and Marine Mammal Protection Act. A year later, he also signed the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Water Drinking Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of these bills were approved with bipartisan support in Congress, in some instances nearly unanimously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a televised speech in 1972, Nixon said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are taking these actions not in some distant future, but now, because we know that it is now or never.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental conditions in the United States began to slowly improve. Which is not to say there wasn’t strong political opposition and major lingering problems, But for a time — stretching through the Ford and Carter administrations — the pursuit of environmentalism maintained a strong bipartisan support. In the last year of his presidency, Carter even installed solar panels on the roof of the White House to promote renewable energy initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>End of the green honeymoon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The economic slowdown in the late 1970s swept in a tide of political change. In 1981, a year into his first term as president, Ronald Reagan appointed two aggressive defenders of industry to head the EPA and the Department of the Interior. As part of the “Reagan Revolution,” the administration moved rapidly to slash federal budgets, cutting the EPA’s funding by nearly half. Environmental enforcement was weakened considerably, as large swaths of public land were opened up for mining, drilling, grazing and other private uses. In a famous symbolic act, the solar panels on the White House roof were dismantled during his second term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, a number of significant environmental policies were advanced during Reagan’s administration, including the Superfund program to clean up hazardous waste sites, creation of wilderness areas and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/ozone/intpol/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Montreal Protocol\u003c/a>, an international agreement to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of substances responsible for its depletion, an effort that has been largely successful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the anti-regulatory sentiment established during Reagan’s presidency took root. Efforts to strengthen the nation’s environmental protection laws grew increasingly partisan, a trend that continues today. The stream of regulatory measures approved by Nixon four decades ago would have scant chance of passing today’s Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout his populist presidential campaign, President Trump repeatedly took aim at environmental regulations, promising to roll them back and attacking them as elitist, job-killing measures that showed just how out of touch politicians were with the true concerns of ordinary Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Benefit of tangible problems\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Organizers of the first Earth Day had a key advantage: They were tackling visible, tangible problems impacting people’s daily lives. Rivers and lakes were too polluted for kids to swim in; parks were strewn with trash; people were getting sick from foul air. The evidence was indisputable, and it made it a whole lot easier to draw clear connections between quality of life and the urgent need for strong environmental protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, many of today’s major environmental dangers, like climate change, which threaten to be even more catastrophic, remain pretty abstract to many Americans. Unless you’ve been a victim of some disaster directly related to climate change — say, your house has been destroyed because of wildfires or sea-level rise — it’s harder to connect the dots. And that makes it far more challenging to convey the sense of urgency necessary to mobilize the masses and pressure lawmakers to act. The abundance of scientific evidence showing that burning fossil fuels is the key driver of climate change, and the persistent warnings by scientists and activists of impending disaster if we continue along this course, have clearly not proven effective enough to push the kind of sweeping environmental policies enacted in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United States, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, refused to join the Kyoto Protocol, a 2005 international treaty approved by 180 nations requiring rapid cuts in emissions, and in 2010, Congress failed to pass comprehensive national climate change legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. did, however, under the Obama administration, sign on to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/world/europe/climate-change-accord-paris.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landmark international climate accord in Paris in 2015\u003c/a>, in which it committed to dramatically reducing its carbon emissions over the next decade. And although President Trump succeeded in briefly \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/04/trump-makes-it-official-us-will-withdraw-paris-climate-accord/\">withdrawing\u003c/a> from the agreement, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/19/969387323/u-s-officially-rejoins-paris-agreement-on-climate-change\">officially rejoined it\u003c/a> in February under the Biden administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963014373/how-fast-will-biden-need-to-move-on-climate-really-really-fast\">has consistently pledged\u003c/a> to make climate change one of its top priorities. And on this Earth Day, Biden \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/988051091/biden-makes-new-pledge-for-u-s-greenhouse-gas-emissions-a-50-cut\">opened a global summit\u003c/a> on climate change by announcing that the U.S. would aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half — from 2005 levels — by the end of the decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that portends fierce political battles ahead, and it’s very much unclear if the will exists among federal and state lawmakers to take meaningful action to meet that goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which begs the ominous question: What degree of disaster is necessary to spur a new era of sweeping environmental change in America?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Not far from the Pacific Ocean, where just to the south, \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.com/2022/01/19/so-long-offshore-platforms/\">oil platforms\u003c/a> dot the horizon, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted into space Monday with dozens of satellites on board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four miles away from the launch site, a crowd including scientists, engineers and their families erupted into celebration. They were applauding largely for one satellite on board: \u003ca href=\"https://www.methanesat.org/\">MethaneSAT\u003c/a>, which is built to detect methane. That’s a gas that, in the short term, packs an even bigger planet-warming punch than carbon dioxide.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Steven Hamburg, chief scientist, Environmental Defense Fund\"]‘For the first time [we’ll] have high-quality empirical data for an entire sector across the globe.’[/pullquote]MethaneSAT — led by the Environmental Defense Fund — will focus on spotting methane from the oil and gas industry, which leaks at various parts of the fossil fuel production process. Sometimes, oil companies deliberately burn methane gas if they can’t pipe it somewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane pollution can help the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/20/1213207121/this-is-how-far-behind-the-world-is-on-controlling-planet-warming-pollution#:~:text=Under%20the%20Paris%20Agreement%2C%20nations,re%20currently%20on%20track%20to.\">world meet its climate targets,\u003c/a> but for years, researchers had little understanding of where exactly methane leaks were coming from. \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-excels-at-spotting-greenhouse-gas-emission-sources\">Recent projects have helped\u003c/a> give a clearer picture. Still, the data hasn’t always been public or precise — especially from oil fields, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.edf.org/people/steven-hamburg\">Steven Hamburg\u003c/a>, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) who led the MethaneSAT project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of MethaneSAT is to have a granular picture of where exactly methane comes from in oil and gas operations around the globe, in places like Texas, Russia and Nigeria. “For the first time [we’ll] have high-quality empirical data for an entire sector across the globe,” Hamburg says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil and gas industry has historically had a culture of confidentiality, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/antoine-halff/\">Antoine Halff\u003c/a>, chief analyst at Kayrros, a climate analytics firm. “They like to keep their data private,” he says. “There’s, I think, a cultural discomfort with the transparency provided by independent monitoring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When this satellite is fully operational in the coming months, it will provide data that will be free to the public. That will allow governments, researchers and others to have an unbiased view from space of most oil and gas operations, says \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.stanford.edu/adam-brandt\">Adam Brandt\u003c/a>, a professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University who was not involved with the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The beauty of having MethaneSAT,” Brandt says, is “we don’t have to ask [oil companies] permission nicely to go on site and make measurements, right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The decision to look at oil and gas pollution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/44216/eye_on_methane_summary.pdf?sequence=3\">About 30% of global warming\u003c/a> comes from human-caused methane pollution. \u003ca href=\"https://www.edf.org/people/mark-brownstein\">Mark Brownstein\u003c/a>, a senior vice president at EDF, says the question for a long time was how much methane comes from the oil and gas sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other sectors also create methane pollution. Agriculture — specifically gas-belching cows and gas-emitting manure — \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane\">is the single biggest source of methane in the U.S\u003c/a>., according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']But focusing on the oil and gas sector was strategic, Hamburg says. Oil and gas have a concentrated number of players with bigger budgets to clean up their operations. “The ability to remediate is much greater, and it’s cost-effective,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past six years, EDF put together a team — including scientists from Harvard University and other groups — to build a satellite to get a better picture of the oil industry. The satellite has sensors specifically designed to pick up the fingerprint of the methane molecule. The sensors now orbiting in space will then send data back to Earth in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope is that regulators will use this data, Hamburg says. “There’s interest. There’s conversations, not just with the U.S. EPA, but in other governments and other regulators,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/02/1216401828/epa-aims-to-slash-the-oil-industrys-climate-warming-methane-pollution\">the EPA made a new rule that, for the first time,\u003c/a> requires oil and gas operators to \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-operations/epas-final-rule-oil-and-natural-gas\">monitor, detect and fix methane leaks\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the EPA says in an emailed statement that the EPA’s new rule “has a mechanism for third-party notifiers using approved remote sensing technologies to be certified — enabling them to notify EPA of methane super-emitter events.” Super-emitter events happen when large amounts of methane are released. “EDF, along with other owners of remote sensing technologies, may apply to be certified,” the EPA says.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Aaron Padilla, vice president of corporate policy, American Petroleum Institute\"]‘Our industry’s experience shows that one really needs to use a range of technologies working together across their strengths and weaknesses in order to get a truly accurate picture of where you have methane emissions.’[/pullquote]\u003ca href=\"https://www.api.org/about/aaron-padilla\">Aaron Padilla\u003c/a>, vice president of corporate policy at the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest oil and gas lobby, says his industry has many years of experience using its own satellites and technologies to identify and then reduce methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our industry’s experience shows that one really needs to use a range of technologies working together across their strengths and weaknesses in order to get a truly accurate picture of where you have methane emissions,” Padilla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Hamburg says he hopes that data from the MethaneSAT will move more oil and gas companies to clean up methane pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an industry that recognizes that their reputation, their markets are under threat,” Hamburg says. “So, if you’re going to compete in a world in which the demand is going down, you want to prove that you’re a better actor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Not far from the Pacific Ocean, where just to the south, \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.com/2022/01/19/so-long-offshore-platforms/\">oil platforms\u003c/a> dot the horizon, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted into space Monday with dozens of satellites on board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four miles away from the launch site, a crowd including scientists, engineers and their families erupted into celebration. They were applauding largely for one satellite on board: \u003ca href=\"https://www.methanesat.org/\">MethaneSAT\u003c/a>, which is built to detect methane. That’s a gas that, in the short term, packs an even bigger planet-warming punch than carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>MethaneSAT — led by the Environmental Defense Fund — will focus on spotting methane from the oil and gas industry, which leaks at various parts of the fossil fuel production process. Sometimes, oil companies deliberately burn methane gas if they can’t pipe it somewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane pollution can help the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/20/1213207121/this-is-how-far-behind-the-world-is-on-controlling-planet-warming-pollution#:~:text=Under%20the%20Paris%20Agreement%2C%20nations,re%20currently%20on%20track%20to.\">world meet its climate targets,\u003c/a> but for years, researchers had little understanding of where exactly methane leaks were coming from. \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-excels-at-spotting-greenhouse-gas-emission-sources\">Recent projects have helped\u003c/a> give a clearer picture. Still, the data hasn’t always been public or precise — especially from oil fields, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.edf.org/people/steven-hamburg\">Steven Hamburg\u003c/a>, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) who led the MethaneSAT project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of MethaneSAT is to have a granular picture of where exactly methane comes from in oil and gas operations around the globe, in places like Texas, Russia and Nigeria. “For the first time [we’ll] have high-quality empirical data for an entire sector across the globe,” Hamburg says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But focusing on the oil and gas sector was strategic, Hamburg says. Oil and gas have a concentrated number of players with bigger budgets to clean up their operations. “The ability to remediate is much greater, and it’s cost-effective,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past six years, EDF put together a team — including scientists from Harvard University and other groups — to build a satellite to get a better picture of the oil industry. The satellite has sensors specifically designed to pick up the fingerprint of the methane molecule. The sensors now orbiting in space will then send data back to Earth in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope is that regulators will use this data, Hamburg says. “There’s interest. There’s conversations, not just with the U.S. EPA, but in other governments and other regulators,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/02/1216401828/epa-aims-to-slash-the-oil-industrys-climate-warming-methane-pollution\">the EPA made a new rule that, for the first time,\u003c/a> requires oil and gas operators to \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-operations/epas-final-rule-oil-and-natural-gas\">monitor, detect and fix methane leaks\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the EPA says in an emailed statement that the EPA’s new rule “has a mechanism for third-party notifiers using approved remote sensing technologies to be certified — enabling them to notify EPA of methane super-emitter events.” Super-emitter events happen when large amounts of methane are released. “EDF, along with other owners of remote sensing technologies, may apply to be certified,” the EPA says.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.api.org/about/aaron-padilla\">Aaron Padilla\u003c/a>, vice president of corporate policy at the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest oil and gas lobby, says his industry has many years of experience using its own satellites and technologies to identify and then reduce methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our industry’s experience shows that one really needs to use a range of technologies working together across their strengths and weaknesses in order to get a truly accurate picture of where you have methane emissions,” Padilla says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Hamburg says he hopes that data from the MethaneSAT will move more oil and gas companies to clean up methane pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an industry that recognizes that their reputation, their markets are under threat,” Hamburg says. “So, if you’re going to compete in a world in which the demand is going down, you want to prove that you’re a better actor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Area Regulators Claim Big Win Against Richmond, Martinez Oil Refinery Pollution",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Regulators Claim Big Win Against Richmond, Martinez Oil Refinery Pollution | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The people who regulate air quality in the Bay Area say they’ve scored a “decisive victory” in a legal fight with Big Oil. On Tuesday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced that Chevron, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">which runs a 120-year-old refinery in Richmond, and the Martinez Refining Company have dropped lawsuits against a rule that will require them to drastically cut air pollution from their facilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6808231882\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975650/bay-air-district-hails-decisive-victory-in-battle-to-cut-refinery-pollution\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Air District Hails ‘Decisive Victory’ in Battle to Cut Refinery Pollution\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Regulating big oil can be hard. They’ve got hella money and lawyers to throw around. But this week, the local agency responsible for regulating air quality in the bay announced an agreement that requires the Chevron refinery in Richmond and the Martinez Refining Company to drastically reduce the bad stuff they let into the air, making it one of the strictest air pollution regulations in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline. You know, a local regulatory agency fought back Big Oil and won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today I talked to KQED, Ted Goldberg, about why regulators are calling this a decisive victory in the battle to cut pollution in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>By July of 2026, Chevron and the Martinez Refining Company will have to reduce by a significant amount the amount of particulate matter their refineries emit into the air. At the headquarters for the Air District in San Francisco on Beale Street. Several high ranking members of the Air District brought reporters into room, basically to make this announcement and to talk about it at length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>The Air District has secured historic penalties and successfully defended our ground breaking rule six-five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Board member Davina Hurt, who is a member of the Belmont City Council, led the news conference announcing this historical change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>Pay unprecedented penalties and other payments of up to 138 million, agreed to measures to reduce flaring and establish a community air Quality fund that supports projects that reduce particulate matter emissions and exposures throughout the Richmond area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>You know, health officials and advocates have really described this as dirty air. The air District, four years before the board voted on this rule, looked into how much particulate matter both of these refineries put up into the air on a regular basis. They’ve done some calculations that says around 70% of the amount of particulate matter, once this rule is complied by would be reduced. And they say that could save lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And there are also fees associated with this new announcement too, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Yeah. So you’re supposed to comply by July of 2026 a specifically for Chevron. If we don’t by this particular date, they’re going to have to pay millions of dollars in fines. And then on top of that, as part of this larger sort of agreement, Chevron is paying to resolve hundreds of notices of violation going back years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>They’re also going to pay into a community fund that’s supposed to improve the lives of people who live near refineries, is focusing on air quality and health. And then they’re also going to pay, along with the Martinez Refinery Company, the lawyers fees for the legal battle that’s been going on since 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Was this surprising to you, Ted?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Yes it was. Both of the companies filed lawsuits to challenge this rule that was voted on by the board of directors in 2021, and we were gearing up for a years long fight that abruptly ended. I’ve been trying to track the court hearings. When will we have the big trial over this major pollution rule? And they kept on getting delayed over and over again. And the next one was supposed to be late this month. And so I had it on my calendar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Okay, we’re going to reach out to the lawyers and maybe even send a reporter to the court hearing, because this is this big dramatic moment. They’re waiting. I had no idea. And basically, you know, here we have this huge oil company, Chevron Global, you know, one of the largest energy companies on the face of the earth deciding, you know, what? We might want to just give up on this lawsuit and end this legal battle and eventually comply with this anti-pollution rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the backstory here, Ted, because I know many folks may have seen these refineries in Martina’s enrichment in the news because of accidents like these flaring or white ash falling from the sky in Martinez. But this isn’t what we’re talking about, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>No, this is a part of everyday operations for these two particular refineries. So as part of the refining process, crude oil eventually needs to turn into things like gasoline and jet fuel. There’s a lot of chemical processes that take place. One of those has to do with a major refinery component called the fluidized catalytic cracking unit. And basically, this is a part of the refinery that breaks down heavy crude oil into things like gasoline material that is sort of a byproduct of that process eventually has to be burned off. And when that is burned off, that’s when particulate matter gets sent into the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>Greg Nudd, deputy executive officer of science and policy of the Air District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Nudd: \u003c/strong>Particulate matter causes a number of health problems, from asthma to cognitive decline to poor birth outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>And a number of other people at the district have emphasized for years that particulate matter can lodge itself into people’s lungs and contribute to significant health problems, and can lead to premature deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Nudd: \u003c/strong>It passes through the blood barrier and actually gets into your blood, gets into your brain. It’s definitely the most harmful air pollutant that we have. And the plume extend for miles and miles and impact over a million people. So we’re talking about people dying years before their time ticking away. Grandmas and grandpas from their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>In many of those communities, there are larger numbers of low income folks, larger numbers of people of color, and larger numbers of cases like asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I want to talk a little bit more about this rule and how exactly it’s supposed to, I guess, reduce these pollutions. Ted, what do Chevron and the Martinez Refinery Company have to do exactly in order to comply with this rule?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Initially, the refineries were supposed to bring in a different device that they don’t have in their refinery, called a wet gas scrubber. I believe there are other refineries that have this, and that is aimed at reducing the particulate emissions that come from the refinery. That is a very expensive piece of equipment. Martina’s refining company said it was so expensive before the board voted yes on this years ago that they might have to, you know, reduce the number of jobs they have and possibly shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Now, the two refineries are working on a number of different strategies that they’ve been in. Communication with the Air District about that is essentially convince the Air District that says, okay, we can see that they’re lining out these plans, particularly in the Martinez Refining Company, and we can see that they’re reducing emissions, and they’re on their road to eventually complying with the law by mid 2026. The idea here is they’ve created some technology or installed some technology into their refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>And at least at the Martinez Refining Company, they’re showing the air district, hey, look, see the numbers? They’re changing. And we think by this time we’ll be able to comply and we’ll keep showing you, you know, this data as we move forward. That was part of the agreement, especially with the Martinez Refining Company, that they will they will monitor this and that they will show the district, hey, we’re doing a great job. See how we’re complying with this law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, what health advocates and the oil companies have to say about the new air pollution rule. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What was the reaction from folks who have been fighting these refineries on this and were expecting to have a big public debate about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>My colleague Danielle Venton spoke to one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton: \u003c/strong>I’m shocked, and I don’t fully understand their motives, but I’m really glad. It’s hard to believe that. I’m not sure what the reasons are, but this couldn’t be better news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Doctor Ashley McClure is a primary care doctor and is the co-founder of Climate Health Now, which is a nonprofit, and she is extremely happy about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton: \u003c/strong>The fact that they’re, dropping that and they’re settling this kind of I know it’s like a return to some semblance of sanity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Danielle also interviewed Heidi Taylor, who is a member of a new group based in Martinez that came about after an accident at the refinery in late 2022. They sort of activated and became politically active. And what Heidi said was, yeah, this is great, this is good, but we’re not going to give up and trying to keep the refinery accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Heidi Taylor: \u003c/strong>You know, we do not trust the refinery. And so we want all measurements and all monitoring verified and we want it public. We want to be able to verify for ourselves what they are reporting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about the refineries? Ted, Chevron and the PBF owned refinery in Martinez? How have they responded?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Chevron said, yes, we’ve agreed to this settlement, but they also came out and took a couple of shots at the air District in a similar fashion that they did in 2021. They said, hey, we still have problems with the way that the Air District makes rules. We find these regulations, which are the most strict in our country, to make it hard to do business here. PBF energy, which owns the Martinez Refining Company, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>We’ve been working on this. The district has now looked at what we’re doing. We’re all in agreement that we’re eventually going to get there, and they’re not having to pay millions of dollars in the same way that Chevron is the only monetary thing that they’re going to have to pay to the Air district is the lawyers fees. They’ve dropped their suit, and they say, we’re looking forward to complying with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know much of this seems to have happened in in the background and out of the public eye. Ted but do we know anything about why Chevron and Martinez Refining Company decided to drop their legal challenges to this rule, instead of continuing to fight back?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>When reporters and editors like myself reached out to Chevron and PBF, we asked these questions. They’re issuing the same statement to different news organizations, and I’ve sort of just regurgitated what they’ve said. So I can only surmise why I think they might have given up on the legal effort. You know, I could guess that they thought, well, maybe this is going to last a really long time and maybe we’ll lose, and maybe that’ll be worse than, you know, just giving up our lawsuit and creating sort of a roadmap to eventually get to compliance. I don’t know. I don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Do you think, Ted, that this unprecedented win maybe lays the groundwork for more regulation of these refineries from here on out? Like, what do you think this means moving forward?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>I got the sense from the Air District news conference at Danielle Vinton attended that, you know, they feel that this is part of their mandate, you know, and it’s on their about a portion of their website that they are in charge of, of keeping the air clean. And I remember when before the board voted on this rule, many health advocates had said, you need to stay true to your mission. What I heard at the news conference on Tuesday morning was officials saying, this is our job. Y.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Ou know, I know that board members like Davina Hurt: and others that, you know, focusing on this kind of stuff is is why they joined the board. And it’s definitely part of their rhetoric. And I don’t see them, you know, slowing down. So I would say the leaders of it certainly talk that way. I don’t know what’s coming down the pike for like, you know, the next refinery pollution rule. This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline because a local regulatory agency fought back big oil and one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Ted, thank you so much for breaking this down. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Any time. It’s always fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Ted Goldberg, managing editor of news and newscasts at KQED. This 30 minute conversation with Ted was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Maria Esquinca is our producer. She scored this episode and added all the tape. Thanks as well to KQED climate reporter Danielle Venton for some of the tape that you heard in this episode. Music courtesy of the Audio Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The rest of our podcast team here at KQED includes Jen Chien, our director of podcasts, Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer, and Maha Sanad, our podcast engagement intern. The Bay is a production of listener supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Peace.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The people who regulate air quality in the Bay Area say they’ve scored a “decisive victory” in a legal fight with Big Oil. On Tuesday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced that Chevron, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">which runs a 120-year-old refinery in Richmond, and the Martinez Refining Company have dropped lawsuits against a rule that will require them to drastically cut air pollution from their facilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC6808231882\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975650/bay-air-district-hails-decisive-victory-in-battle-to-cut-refinery-pollution\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Air District Hails ‘Decisive Victory’ in Battle to Cut Refinery Pollution\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Regulating big oil can be hard. They’ve got hella money and lawyers to throw around. But this week, the local agency responsible for regulating air quality in the bay announced an agreement that requires the Chevron refinery in Richmond and the Martinez Refining Company to drastically reduce the bad stuff they let into the air, making it one of the strictest air pollution regulations in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline. You know, a local regulatory agency fought back Big Oil and won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Today I talked to KQED, Ted Goldberg, about why regulators are calling this a decisive victory in the battle to cut pollution in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>By July of 2026, Chevron and the Martinez Refining Company will have to reduce by a significant amount the amount of particulate matter their refineries emit into the air. At the headquarters for the Air District in San Francisco on Beale Street. Several high ranking members of the Air District brought reporters into room, basically to make this announcement and to talk about it at length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>The Air District has secured historic penalties and successfully defended our ground breaking rule six-five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Board member Davina Hurt, who is a member of the Belmont City Council, led the news conference announcing this historical change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>Pay unprecedented penalties and other payments of up to 138 million, agreed to measures to reduce flaring and establish a community air Quality fund that supports projects that reduce particulate matter emissions and exposures throughout the Richmond area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>You know, health officials and advocates have really described this as dirty air. The air District, four years before the board voted on this rule, looked into how much particulate matter both of these refineries put up into the air on a regular basis. They’ve done some calculations that says around 70% of the amount of particulate matter, once this rule is complied by would be reduced. And they say that could save lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And there are also fees associated with this new announcement too, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Yeah. So you’re supposed to comply by July of 2026 a specifically for Chevron. If we don’t by this particular date, they’re going to have to pay millions of dollars in fines. And then on top of that, as part of this larger sort of agreement, Chevron is paying to resolve hundreds of notices of violation going back years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>They’re also going to pay into a community fund that’s supposed to improve the lives of people who live near refineries, is focusing on air quality and health. And then they’re also going to pay, along with the Martinez Refinery Company, the lawyers fees for the legal battle that’s been going on since 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Was this surprising to you, Ted?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Yes it was. Both of the companies filed lawsuits to challenge this rule that was voted on by the board of directors in 2021, and we were gearing up for a years long fight that abruptly ended. I’ve been trying to track the court hearings. When will we have the big trial over this major pollution rule? And they kept on getting delayed over and over again. And the next one was supposed to be late this month. And so I had it on my calendar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Okay, we’re going to reach out to the lawyers and maybe even send a reporter to the court hearing, because this is this big dramatic moment. They’re waiting. I had no idea. And basically, you know, here we have this huge oil company, Chevron Global, you know, one of the largest energy companies on the face of the earth deciding, you know, what? We might want to just give up on this lawsuit and end this legal battle and eventually comply with this anti-pollution rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the backstory here, Ted, because I know many folks may have seen these refineries in Martina’s enrichment in the news because of accidents like these flaring or white ash falling from the sky in Martinez. But this isn’t what we’re talking about, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>No, this is a part of everyday operations for these two particular refineries. So as part of the refining process, crude oil eventually needs to turn into things like gasoline and jet fuel. There’s a lot of chemical processes that take place. One of those has to do with a major refinery component called the fluidized catalytic cracking unit. And basically, this is a part of the refinery that breaks down heavy crude oil into things like gasoline material that is sort of a byproduct of that process eventually has to be burned off. And when that is burned off, that’s when particulate matter gets sent into the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Davina Hurt: \u003c/strong>Greg Nudd, deputy executive officer of science and policy of the Air District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Nudd: \u003c/strong>Particulate matter causes a number of health problems, from asthma to cognitive decline to poor birth outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>And a number of other people at the district have emphasized for years that particulate matter can lodge itself into people’s lungs and contribute to significant health problems, and can lead to premature deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Nudd: \u003c/strong>It passes through the blood barrier and actually gets into your blood, gets into your brain. It’s definitely the most harmful air pollutant that we have. And the plume extend for miles and miles and impact over a million people. So we’re talking about people dying years before their time ticking away. Grandmas and grandpas from their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>In many of those communities, there are larger numbers of low income folks, larger numbers of people of color, and larger numbers of cases like asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I want to talk a little bit more about this rule and how exactly it’s supposed to, I guess, reduce these pollutions. Ted, what do Chevron and the Martinez Refinery Company have to do exactly in order to comply with this rule?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Initially, the refineries were supposed to bring in a different device that they don’t have in their refinery, called a wet gas scrubber. I believe there are other refineries that have this, and that is aimed at reducing the particulate emissions that come from the refinery. That is a very expensive piece of equipment. Martina’s refining company said it was so expensive before the board voted yes on this years ago that they might have to, you know, reduce the number of jobs they have and possibly shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Now, the two refineries are working on a number of different strategies that they’ve been in. Communication with the Air District about that is essentially convince the Air District that says, okay, we can see that they’re lining out these plans, particularly in the Martinez Refining Company, and we can see that they’re reducing emissions, and they’re on their road to eventually complying with the law by mid 2026. The idea here is they’ve created some technology or installed some technology into their refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>And at least at the Martinez Refining Company, they’re showing the air district, hey, look, see the numbers? They’re changing. And we think by this time we’ll be able to comply and we’ll keep showing you, you know, this data as we move forward. That was part of the agreement, especially with the Martinez Refining Company, that they will they will monitor this and that they will show the district, hey, we’re doing a great job. See how we’re complying with this law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Coming up, what health advocates and the oil companies have to say about the new air pollution rule. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>What was the reaction from folks who have been fighting these refineries on this and were expecting to have a big public debate about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>My colleague Danielle Venton spoke to one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton: \u003c/strong>I’m shocked, and I don’t fully understand their motives, but I’m really glad. It’s hard to believe that. I’m not sure what the reasons are, but this couldn’t be better news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Doctor Ashley McClure is a primary care doctor and is the co-founder of Climate Health Now, which is a nonprofit, and she is extremely happy about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danielle Venton: \u003c/strong>The fact that they’re, dropping that and they’re settling this kind of I know it’s like a return to some semblance of sanity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Danielle also interviewed Heidi Taylor, who is a member of a new group based in Martinez that came about after an accident at the refinery in late 2022. They sort of activated and became politically active. And what Heidi said was, yeah, this is great, this is good, but we’re not going to give up and trying to keep the refinery accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Heidi Taylor: \u003c/strong>You know, we do not trust the refinery. And so we want all measurements and all monitoring verified and we want it public. We want to be able to verify for ourselves what they are reporting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And what about the refineries? Ted, Chevron and the PBF owned refinery in Martinez? How have they responded?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Chevron said, yes, we’ve agreed to this settlement, but they also came out and took a couple of shots at the air District in a similar fashion that they did in 2021. They said, hey, we still have problems with the way that the Air District makes rules. We find these regulations, which are the most strict in our country, to make it hard to do business here. PBF energy, which owns the Martinez Refining Company, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>We’ve been working on this. The district has now looked at what we’re doing. We’re all in agreement that we’re eventually going to get there, and they’re not having to pay millions of dollars in the same way that Chevron is the only monetary thing that they’re going to have to pay to the Air district is the lawyers fees. They’ve dropped their suit, and they say, we’re looking forward to complying with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know much of this seems to have happened in in the background and out of the public eye. Ted but do we know anything about why Chevron and Martinez Refining Company decided to drop their legal challenges to this rule, instead of continuing to fight back?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>When reporters and editors like myself reached out to Chevron and PBF, we asked these questions. They’re issuing the same statement to different news organizations, and I’ve sort of just regurgitated what they’ve said. So I can only surmise why I think they might have given up on the legal effort. You know, I could guess that they thought, well, maybe this is going to last a really long time and maybe we’ll lose, and maybe that’ll be worse than, you know, just giving up our lawsuit and creating sort of a roadmap to eventually get to compliance. I don’t know. I don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Do you think, Ted, that this unprecedented win maybe lays the groundwork for more regulation of these refineries from here on out? Like, what do you think this means moving forward?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>I got the sense from the Air District news conference at Danielle Vinton attended that, you know, they feel that this is part of their mandate, you know, and it’s on their about a portion of their website that they are in charge of, of keeping the air clean. And I remember when before the board voted on this rule, many health advocates had said, you need to stay true to your mission. What I heard at the news conference on Tuesday morning was officials saying, this is our job. Y.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Ou know, I know that board members like Davina Hurt: and others that, you know, focusing on this kind of stuff is is why they joined the board. And it’s definitely part of their rhetoric. And I don’t see them, you know, slowing down. So I would say the leaders of it certainly talk that way. I don’t know what’s coming down the pike for like, you know, the next refinery pollution rule. This is a pretty significant win that, you know, I think could easily be a national headline because a local regulatory agency fought back big oil and one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Ted, thank you so much for breaking this down. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ted Goldberg: \u003c/strong>Any time. It’s always fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Ted Goldberg, managing editor of news and newscasts at KQED. This 30 minute conversation with Ted was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Maria Esquinca is our producer. She scored this episode and added all the tape. Thanks as well to KQED climate reporter Danielle Venton for some of the tape that you heard in this episode. Music courtesy of the Audio Network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>The rest of our podcast team here at KQED includes Jen Chien, our director of podcasts, Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana, our podcast engagement producer, and Maha Sanad, our podcast engagement intern. The Bay is a production of listener supported KQED in San Francisco. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Peace.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 5 p.m. Sunday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">announced Saturday\u003c/a> that California is suing five of the world’s largest oil companies for cover-up, deception and damages that they say have cost Californians billions of dollars in environmental and health impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas executives have known for decades about the dangers of the fossil fuels they produce,” stated a press release from Newsom’s office. In the press release, Newsom accused the companies of spreading disinformation on climate change in order to protect profits over the last 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP — along with the largest domestic oil industry lobby group, American Petroleum Institute — are all named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement Saturday is the latest in \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/us-cities-states-sue-big-oil-climate-change-lawsuits/\">a slew of lawsuits brought against the oil industry in states across the U.S.\u003c/a>, including similar suits in Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and even Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet.’[/pullquote]Michael Wara, who is a senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Law School, said it was unsurprising that the suit was filed in state court, which he says is generally “more favorable on issues of climate litigation” towards the plaintiffs than federal courts have been. He expects the oil companies will likely try to move the case to a federal court on some of the claims, where the oil companies would expect to have a more favorable outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is kind of an acceleration and amplification of the broader attempts to hold oil companies to account for their deceptive marketing and advocacy campaigns around climate change,” said Wara in an interview with KQED. “And the more that we learn about that, the more it becomes apparent that they have been deceptive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is attempting to hold the oil companies responsible for what it says are their impacts on the environment, human health and Californians’ livelihoods. The state also seeks to prohibit the companies from “engaging in further pollution and destruction” of California communities and natural resources, and insists that they they pay financial penalties for “lying to the public” and ordered to “immediately stop … ongoing efforts to deceive or misinform about their catastrophic impacts.” The state also seeks punitive damages “to punish these companies for their misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” Gov. Newsom said in the statement. “It has been decades of damage and deception. Wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the statement, Attorney General Bonta said “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court,” he said. “From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the lawsuit triggered a flurry of statements from environmental groups welcoming the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With this historic lawsuit, Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are providing the climate leadership the world so desperately needs,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, in a statement released Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11960699,news_11923242,news_11957321\"]Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released a statement saying, “Whether it’s fires, droughts, extreme heat, or sea-level rise, Californians have been living in a climate emergency caused by the fossil fuel industry, and now the state is taking decisive action to make those polluters pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, said “Climate change isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a crime. Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it’s time to make them pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, professor of environmental law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, says the lawsuit is a straightforward tort case, alleging that the oil companies lied about the dangers they knew their products were causing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is no different than cigarette companies lying about the dangers of smoking, or paint companies lying about the dangers of lead-based paint, or chemical companies lying about the dangers of PFAS in Teflon-coated frying pans,” said Parenteau in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED late Saturday, a spokesperson for Chevron said that climate change is a global problem that required coordinated international policy response rather than “piecemeal litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has long been a leading promoter of oil and gas development. Its local courts have no constructive or constitutionally permissible role in crafting global energy policy,” Chevron said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email statement on Sunday morning, a Shell spokesperson wrote: “The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, and we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we continue to reduce our emissions and help customers reduce theirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email also added: “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Lauermann, media relations manager for the American Petroleum Institute, told KQED in a statement that “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law & Graduate School told KQED that in order to win the case, California needs to prove that the alleged lies caused real damage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to connect the lie to the damage, so they have to say if you hadn’t lied we would be in a better position than we are today,” he said. “That’s where the cases are going to be decided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parenteau said that “everybody knows that these cases aren’t going to solve climate change,” but “the fundamental rule of environmental law is [that the] polluter pays. In the end, that’s all these cases are about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah, Kevin Stark, Azul Dahlstrom Eckman and Attila Pelit contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 5 p.m. Sunday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">announced Saturday\u003c/a> that California is suing five of the world’s largest oil companies for cover-up, deception and damages that they say have cost Californians billions of dollars in environmental and health impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas executives have known for decades about the dangers of the fossil fuels they produce,” stated a press release from Newsom’s office. In the press release, Newsom accused the companies of spreading disinformation on climate change in order to protect profits over the last 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP — along with the largest domestic oil industry lobby group, American Petroleum Institute — are all named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement Saturday is the latest in \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/us-cities-states-sue-big-oil-climate-change-lawsuits/\">a slew of lawsuits brought against the oil industry in states across the U.S.\u003c/a>, including similar suits in Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and even Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Michael Wara, who is a senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Law School, said it was unsurprising that the suit was filed in state court, which he says is generally “more favorable on issues of climate litigation” towards the plaintiffs than federal courts have been. He expects the oil companies will likely try to move the case to a federal court on some of the claims, where the oil companies would expect to have a more favorable outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is kind of an acceleration and amplification of the broader attempts to hold oil companies to account for their deceptive marketing and advocacy campaigns around climate change,” said Wara in an interview with KQED. “And the more that we learn about that, the more it becomes apparent that they have been deceptive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is attempting to hold the oil companies responsible for what it says are their impacts on the environment, human health and Californians’ livelihoods. The state also seeks to prohibit the companies from “engaging in further pollution and destruction” of California communities and natural resources, and insists that they they pay financial penalties for “lying to the public” and ordered to “immediately stop … ongoing efforts to deceive or misinform about their catastrophic impacts.” The state also seeks punitive damages “to punish these companies for their misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” Gov. Newsom said in the statement. “It has been decades of damage and deception. Wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the statement, Attorney General Bonta said “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court,” he said. “From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the lawsuit triggered a flurry of statements from environmental groups welcoming the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With this historic lawsuit, Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are providing the climate leadership the world so desperately needs,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, in a statement released Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released a statement saying, “Whether it’s fires, droughts, extreme heat, or sea-level rise, Californians have been living in a climate emergency caused by the fossil fuel industry, and now the state is taking decisive action to make those polluters pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, said “Climate change isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a crime. Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it’s time to make them pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, professor of environmental law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, says the lawsuit is a straightforward tort case, alleging that the oil companies lied about the dangers they knew their products were causing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is no different than cigarette companies lying about the dangers of smoking, or paint companies lying about the dangers of lead-based paint, or chemical companies lying about the dangers of PFAS in Teflon-coated frying pans,” said Parenteau in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED late Saturday, a spokesperson for Chevron said that climate change is a global problem that required coordinated international policy response rather than “piecemeal litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has long been a leading promoter of oil and gas development. Its local courts have no constructive or constitutionally permissible role in crafting global energy policy,” Chevron said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email statement on Sunday morning, a Shell spokesperson wrote: “The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, and we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we continue to reduce our emissions and help customers reduce theirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email also added: “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Lauermann, media relations manager for the American Petroleum Institute, told KQED in a statement that “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law & Graduate School told KQED that in order to win the case, California needs to prove that the alleged lies caused real damage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to connect the lie to the damage, so they have to say if you hadn’t lied we would be in a better position than we are today,” he said. “That’s where the cases are going to be decided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parenteau said that “everybody knows that these cases aren’t going to solve climate change,” but “the fundamental rule of environmental law is [that the] polluter pays. In the end, that’s all these cases are about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah, Kevin Stark, Azul Dahlstrom Eckman and Attila Pelit contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 6:10 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County health officials announced Thursday that soil testing conducted in the months after a Martinez oil refinery released nearly 50,000 pounds of powdered industrial chemicals last November has found no long-term health risks to residents in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said the county is immediately lifting \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2023/0307-Safety-Advice-Near-Martinez-Refinery-Health-Advisory.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a March 7 advisory (PDF)\u003c/a> that recommended residents refrain from consuming fruits and vegetables grown in soil that had received fallout from the Martinez Refining Company’s release. The refinery company is owned and operated by PBF Energy, based in Parsippany, New Jersey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tzvieli said the soil testing and an associated risk assessment “confirms that the primary health risk from the spent catalyst release occurred in the initial hours and days after the refinery release.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soil-testing results were released to \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/hazmat/mrc/\">a community oversight committee\u003c/a> formed after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892741/martinez-residents-seek-answers-on-toxic-refinery-release\">releases\u003c/a>, which occurred last Nov. 24–25, on Thanksgiving and the following day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tzvieli added during a media briefing that followed the committee meeting that because PBF failed to immediately notify officials about the release, questions remain about what health effects residents might experience because of their exposure to the toxic dust immediately after it settled on their neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We weren’t able to do measurement in real time because we didn’t know this was going on until several days later,” Tzvieli said. “So had we been able to do measurement in real time, we would have been able to look at concentrations — what was in the air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the heavy metals in the dust, such as nickel, pose health concerns, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of those can have effects on the immune system, some of these metals can be carcinogenic. So it is a concerning incident,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, he added, the inability to measure the November release as it was occurring makes it hard to distinguish the hazard the incident posed from the impact of ongoing refinery emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s why it’s hard to give people specific information about the risks that stemmed from this particular release,” Tzvieli said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consultants hired by the county analyzed soil samples from 14 sites stretching from El Sobrante to Benicia for more than a dozen metals that may have been associated with the release of 24 tons of refinery dust — material described as “spent catalyst” used in the refining process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results for most of the heavy metals the samples were analyzed for, including aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc and chromium, all came back both within an expected regional background range and below residential health limits set by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jenny Phillips, a toxicologist employed by consultant TRC, reported that samples of arsenic and lead were close to or exceeded state health limits at a handful of sites. But she added that the higher levels of those two toxic metals were probably unrelated to last November’s refinery release. TRC’s report will be made available to the public sometime in the next two weeks, and it will be open for comment for 45 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tony Semenza, Martinez resident and member of the oversight committee\"]‘One hundred ninety-four days after the release, we are now at the point where we’re telling people it’s OK to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables. The process is flawed.’[/pullquote]Matt Kaufmann, Contra Costa County’s deputy health director, emphasized that the investigation of the Martinez incident is far from over. The county has hired a consultant to perform an independent root cause analysis of the release, and county prosecutors are weighing potential charges against the refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaufmann criticized the refining company for failing to immediately notify local officials when the incident occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test results released Thursday “do not excuse the Martinez Refining Company for the lack of notification at the onset of this incident,” he said. “The lack of timely notification negated our ability as health officials to protect our community, including those most vulnerable, namely the medically compromised, the elderly and the children within our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, PBF Energy spokesperson Brandon Matson said the company was “pleased” the county had released the soil-testing analysis and lifted its health advisory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The results are in line with our initial statements about the material,” Matson said. He also offered the latest in a string of apologies the company has offered to Martinez residents, saying the company has investigated the release, has identified corrective actions and is committed to implementing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Semenza, a Martinez resident serving on the oversight committee, expressed frustration that it has taken so long to assess the hazard posed by the releases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One hundred ninety-four days after the release, we are now at the point where we’re telling people it’s OK to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables,” Semenza said. “The process is flawed. This should have been done much quicker, a while ago. … I’m upset with the way the process works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Refinery Coverage' postID=news_11947977]The test results come less than two weeks after the FBI confirmed it has launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the Martinez plant’s spent catalyst release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the refinery accountability group \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthymartinez.org/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Healthy Martinez\u003c/a> welcomed the largely reassuring test results, but expressed continuing misgivings about PBF and the refinery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful that the Thanksgiving release no longer poses serious danger and that Contra Costa Health has demonstrated leadership in this process, but I still don’t trust the refinery that didn’t report it,” said Martinez resident group member Jillian Elliott. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s results are only one piece of the larger issue,” said Heidi Taylor, a longtime Martinez resident and Healthy Martinez member. “It doesn’t change the fact that this oil refinery dumped toxic metals on our community (and) didn’t report it to county health.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Healthy Martinez has also called on PBF to install improved emissions control and air monitoring equipment at the refinery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI agents and EPA personnel have gone door to door asking residents about their experience during and after the incident. The probe also has included circulation of an online survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez resident Wendy Ke said representatives from both federal agencies approached her late last month and asked a series of questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was primarily, ‘Do you have photos, do you have videos, do you have factual documentation? Did you touch the spent catalyst? Did you see it?’” Ke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the morning after Thanksgiving, her neighborhood was coated with what looked like ash, as if there had been a major wildfire nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But it did look a little bit different,” she said. “It didn’t have a light-weight ash to it, like flaky ash. It seemed a little more sticky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same morning, resident Zachary Taylor found his neighborhood covered in dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a consistent coating across everything, almost like a snowfall, like a light dusting, but then we go out across the street and absolutely everything is covered with it,” Taylor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952523\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11952523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fine white powder collected on the edges and near the windshield wiper of a car shown in close detail.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refinery dust known as ‘spent catalyst’ from the PBF Energy plant sits on a car windshield in Martinez in late November 2022. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Anna Encarnacion)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Refinery catalyst is a powdered chemical compound used in the process of breaking down crude petroleum into products like gasoline. Spent catalyst is the material left over after the high-temperature refining process and contains a mix of potentially hazardous components.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Thursday’s test results were released, county health officials told Martinez residents that \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/MRC-Catalyst-Release-FAQs.pdf\">the dust that coated homes, vehicles, lawns, gardens and a nearby schoolyard included heavy metals (PDF)\u003c/a>, including aluminum, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The county health department said there could have been short-term respiratory problems from breathing in the dust right after the incident, and that potential long-term health impacts would depend on each person’s exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County hired TRC, a Connecticut-based consulting and engineering firm, to take \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/mrc/pdf/Proposed-Sample-Locations-2023-0427.pdf\">soil samples in 14 locations (PDF)\u003c/a> from El Sobrante to Martinez to Benicia. Those locations were chosen after local air regulators \u003ca href=\"https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1867499/Martinez-City-Meeting-MRC_Incident_Slides-v5.pdf\">mapped fallout from the release (PDF)\u003c/a>. Crews began collecting samples in May. Health officials say the samples were taken to a lab to see which health risks they might pose through touching, inhaling or consuming food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, months after the refinery accident, \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2023/0307-Safety-Advice-Near-Martinez-Refinery-Health-Advisory.pdf\">the health department urged residents to refrain from eating food grown in soil that might contain the refinery dust (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department also asked local prosecutors to file charges against PBF Energy. That request is under review, according to Ted Asregadoo, a Contra Costa County District Attorney spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asregadoo said the office is investigating whether PBF violated the law by failing to report an actual or threatened hazardous material release to county officials and whether the company made illegal discharges into the county stormwater system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials have emphasized that \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2022/1130-Hazardous-Materials-Release-at-Martinez-Oil-Refinery.php\">they learned about the releases not from the refinery but instead from residents\u003c/a>. The refinery initially told residents that its testing suggested the release consisted of only nontoxic material. The company also offered free carwash vouchers to Martinez residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has said \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/compliance-and-enforcement/incident-reports/2022/updated-incident-report-pbf-mrc-120922-draft-eg-pdf.pdf?la=en&rev=26aa2da8823e4d11b06437a9be2e9717\">the release was caused by a malfunction (PDF)\u003c/a> within the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking unit. The air district has issued 21 notices of violation against PBF in connection with the November release and continues to investigate the incident, according to district spokesperson Ralph Borrmann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PBF representatives have apologized for the releases, noting the company has cooperated with regulators and made changes to prevent a repeat of the Thanksgiving incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, some refinery neighbors say their sense of safety has been shattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point I feel very uncertain about what I’m breathing, knowing what the potential is for release on a daily basis,” said Ke, who has lived in Martinez for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 6:10 p.m. Thursday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County health officials announced Thursday that soil testing conducted in the months after a Martinez oil refinery released nearly 50,000 pounds of powdered industrial chemicals last November has found no long-term health risks to residents in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said the county is immediately lifting \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2023/0307-Safety-Advice-Near-Martinez-Refinery-Health-Advisory.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a March 7 advisory (PDF)\u003c/a> that recommended residents refrain from consuming fruits and vegetables grown in soil that had received fallout from the Martinez Refining Company’s release. The refinery company is owned and operated by PBF Energy, based in Parsippany, New Jersey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tzvieli said the soil testing and an associated risk assessment “confirms that the primary health risk from the spent catalyst release occurred in the initial hours and days after the refinery release.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soil-testing results were released to \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/hazmat/mrc/\">a community oversight committee\u003c/a> formed after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892741/martinez-residents-seek-answers-on-toxic-refinery-release\">releases\u003c/a>, which occurred last Nov. 24–25, on Thanksgiving and the following day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tzvieli added during a media briefing that followed the committee meeting that because PBF failed to immediately notify officials about the release, questions remain about what health effects residents might experience because of their exposure to the toxic dust immediately after it settled on their neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We weren’t able to do measurement in real time because we didn’t know this was going on until several days later,” Tzvieli said. “So had we been able to do measurement in real time, we would have been able to look at concentrations — what was in the air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the heavy metals in the dust, such as nickel, pose health concerns, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of those can have effects on the immune system, some of these metals can be carcinogenic. So it is a concerning incident,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, he added, the inability to measure the November release as it was occurring makes it hard to distinguish the hazard the incident posed from the impact of ongoing refinery emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s why it’s hard to give people specific information about the risks that stemmed from this particular release,” Tzvieli said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consultants hired by the county analyzed soil samples from 14 sites stretching from El Sobrante to Benicia for more than a dozen metals that may have been associated with the release of 24 tons of refinery dust — material described as “spent catalyst” used in the refining process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results for most of the heavy metals the samples were analyzed for, including aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc and chromium, all came back both within an expected regional background range and below residential health limits set by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jenny Phillips, a toxicologist employed by consultant TRC, reported that samples of arsenic and lead were close to or exceeded state health limits at a handful of sites. But she added that the higher levels of those two toxic metals were probably unrelated to last November’s refinery release. TRC’s report will be made available to the public sometime in the next two weeks, and it will be open for comment for 45 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Matt Kaufmann, Contra Costa County’s deputy health director, emphasized that the investigation of the Martinez incident is far from over. The county has hired a consultant to perform an independent root cause analysis of the release, and county prosecutors are weighing potential charges against the refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaufmann criticized the refining company for failing to immediately notify local officials when the incident occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test results released Thursday “do not excuse the Martinez Refining Company for the lack of notification at the onset of this incident,” he said. “The lack of timely notification negated our ability as health officials to protect our community, including those most vulnerable, namely the medically compromised, the elderly and the children within our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, PBF Energy spokesperson Brandon Matson said the company was “pleased” the county had released the soil-testing analysis and lifted its health advisory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The results are in line with our initial statements about the material,” Matson said. He also offered the latest in a string of apologies the company has offered to Martinez residents, saying the company has investigated the release, has identified corrective actions and is committed to implementing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony Semenza, a Martinez resident serving on the oversight committee, expressed frustration that it has taken so long to assess the hazard posed by the releases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One hundred ninety-four days after the release, we are now at the point where we’re telling people it’s OK to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables,” Semenza said. “The process is flawed. This should have been done much quicker, a while ago. … I’m upset with the way the process works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The test results come less than two weeks after the FBI confirmed it has launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the Martinez plant’s spent catalyst release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the refinery accountability group \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthymartinez.org/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Healthy Martinez\u003c/a> welcomed the largely reassuring test results, but expressed continuing misgivings about PBF and the refinery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful that the Thanksgiving release no longer poses serious danger and that Contra Costa Health has demonstrated leadership in this process, but I still don’t trust the refinery that didn’t report it,” said Martinez resident group member Jillian Elliott. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s results are only one piece of the larger issue,” said Heidi Taylor, a longtime Martinez resident and Healthy Martinez member. “It doesn’t change the fact that this oil refinery dumped toxic metals on our community (and) didn’t report it to county health.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Healthy Martinez has also called on PBF to install improved emissions control and air monitoring equipment at the refinery. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI agents and EPA personnel have gone door to door asking residents about their experience during and after the incident. The probe also has included circulation of an online survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez resident Wendy Ke said representatives from both federal agencies approached her late last month and asked a series of questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was primarily, ‘Do you have photos, do you have videos, do you have factual documentation? Did you touch the spent catalyst? Did you see it?’” Ke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the morning after Thanksgiving, her neighborhood was coated with what looked like ash, as if there had been a major wildfire nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But it did look a little bit different,” she said. “It didn’t have a light-weight ash to it, like flaky ash. It seemed a little more sticky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same morning, resident Zachary Taylor found his neighborhood covered in dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a consistent coating across everything, almost like a snowfall, like a light dusting, but then we go out across the street and absolutely everything is covered with it,” Taylor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11952523\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11952523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fine white powder collected on the edges and near the windshield wiper of a car shown in close detail.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/060723-MARTINEZ-DUST-KQED-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refinery dust known as ‘spent catalyst’ from the PBF Energy plant sits on a car windshield in Martinez in late November 2022. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Anna Encarnacion)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Refinery catalyst is a powdered chemical compound used in the process of breaking down crude petroleum into products like gasoline. Spent catalyst is the material left over after the high-temperature refining process and contains a mix of potentially hazardous components.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Thursday’s test results were released, county health officials told Martinez residents that \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/MRC-Catalyst-Release-FAQs.pdf\">the dust that coated homes, vehicles, lawns, gardens and a nearby schoolyard included heavy metals (PDF)\u003c/a>, including aluminum, chromium, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The county health department said there could have been short-term respiratory problems from breathing in the dust right after the incident, and that potential long-term health impacts would depend on each person’s exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County hired TRC, a Connecticut-based consulting and engineering firm, to take \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/mrc/pdf/Proposed-Sample-Locations-2023-0427.pdf\">soil samples in 14 locations (PDF)\u003c/a> from El Sobrante to Martinez to Benicia. Those locations were chosen after local air regulators \u003ca href=\"https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/1867499/Martinez-City-Meeting-MRC_Incident_Slides-v5.pdf\">mapped fallout from the release (PDF)\u003c/a>. Crews began collecting samples in May. Health officials say the samples were taken to a lab to see which health risks they might pose through touching, inhaling or consuming food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, months after the refinery accident, \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2023/0307-Safety-Advice-Near-Martinez-Refinery-Health-Advisory.pdf\">the health department urged residents to refrain from eating food grown in soil that might contain the refinery dust (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department also asked local prosecutors to file charges against PBF Energy. That request is under review, according to Ted Asregadoo, a Contra Costa County District Attorney spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asregadoo said the office is investigating whether PBF violated the law by failing to report an actual or threatened hazardous material release to county officials and whether the company made illegal discharges into the county stormwater system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials have emphasized that \u003ca href=\"https://ccc.cchealth.org/press-releases/2022/1130-Hazardous-Materials-Release-at-Martinez-Oil-Refinery.php\">they learned about the releases not from the refinery but instead from residents\u003c/a>. The refinery initially told residents that its testing suggested the release consisted of only nontoxic material. The company also offered free carwash vouchers to Martinez residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has said \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/compliance-and-enforcement/incident-reports/2022/updated-incident-report-pbf-mrc-120922-draft-eg-pdf.pdf?la=en&rev=26aa2da8823e4d11b06437a9be2e9717\">the release was caused by a malfunction (PDF)\u003c/a> within the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking unit. The air district has issued 21 notices of violation against PBF in connection with the November release and continues to investigate the incident, according to district spokesperson Ralph Borrmann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PBF representatives have apologized for the releases, noting the company has cooperated with regulators and made changes to prevent a repeat of the Thanksgiving incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, some refinery neighbors say their sense of safety has been shattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point I feel very uncertain about what I’m breathing, knowing what the potential is for release on a daily basis,” said Ke, who has lived in Martinez for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "judge-rules-in-favor-of-fire-retardant-use-despite-it-polluting-streams-in-western-states",
"title": "Judge Rules in Favor of Fire Retardant Use Despite It Polluting Streams in Western States",
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"headTitle": "Judge Rules in Favor of Fire Retardant Use Despite It Polluting Streams in Western States | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-retardant-pollution-lawsuit-1fa9557473357d03f01b592713afd4a3\">U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant\u003c/a> dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-retardant-pollution-lawsuit-81e195428e748bbb36116128e35c7e39\">pollutes streams in Western states\u003c/a> in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge agreed with U.S. Forest Service officials who said dropping retardant from aircraft into areas with waterways was sometimes necessary to protect lives and property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling came after \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-forests-lawsuits-fish-montana-0e3b777d2df198826587e702b34ebb9d\">environmentalists sued\u003c/a> following revelations that the Forest Service had dropped retardant into waterways hundreds of times over the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government officials say chemical fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of dangerous blazes. Wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades as climate change warms the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 200 loads of retardant got into waterways over the past decade. Federal officials say those situations usually occurred by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of loads annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A coalition that includes the town of Paradise — where the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed the town — had said a court ruling that stopped the use of retardant would have put lives, homes and forests at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1982594 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment007-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case was very personal for us,” Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin said. “Our brave firefighters need every tool in the toolbox to protect human lives and property against wildfires, and today’s ruling ensures we have a fighting chance this fire season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local agencies lean heavily on the U.S. Forest Service to help fight fires, many of which originate on or include federal land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire retardant is a specialized mixture of water and chemicals including inorganic fertilizers or salts. It’s designed to alter the way fire burns, making blazes less intense and slowing their advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can give firefighters time to steer flames away from inhabited areas and, in extreme situations, evacuate people from danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Retardant lasts and even works if it’s dry,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for Cal Fire, California’s state fire agency. “Water is only so good because it dries out. It does very well to suppress fires, but it won’t last.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11950941\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in yellow hardhats stand atop white utility trucks as they watch an air tanker spray red clouds of fire retardant on a wildfire. The sky is gray with black clouds.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters watch as an air tanker drops retardant while battling the Ferguson Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest, near Yosemite National Park, on July 21, 2018. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Oregon-based group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics argued in its \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-forests-lawsuits-fish-montana-0e3b777d2df198826587e702b34ebb9d\">lawsuit filed last year\u003c/a> that the Forest Service was disregarding the Clean Water Act by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christensen said stopping the use of fire retardant would “conceivably result in greater harm from wildfires — including to human life and property and to the environment.” The judge said his ruling was limited to 10 Western states where members of the plaintiff’s group alleged harm from pollution into waterways that they use.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin\"]‘Our brave firefighters need every tool in the toolbox to protect human lives and property against wildfires, and today’s ruling ensures we have a fighting chance this fire season.’[/pullquote]After the lawsuit was filed, the Forest Service applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit that would allow it to continue using retardant without breaking the law. The process could take several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a permit could require tighter restrictions on when retardant could be used or for officials to use less-toxic chemicals, said Andy Stahl with Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly a good first step,” Stahl said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christensen ordered federal officials to report every six months on their progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof said the agency believes retardant can be used “without compromising public health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Forest Service is working diligently with the Environmental Protection Agency on a general permit for aerially delivered retardant that will allow us to continue using wildfire retardant to protect homes and communities,” Muehlhof said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 150 million gallons of fire retardant were dropped on national forest lands between 2013 and 2022, according to the Department of Agriculture. Retardant drops onto forests in California accounted for 49% of the total volume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health risks to firefighters and other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950942\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11950942 size-full\" style=\"font-weight: bold;background-color: transparent;color: #767676\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A nature shot within the forest with a running stream in the background along with wild deer running in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the Klamath River, which flows through Oregon and Northern California. The Oregon-based group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics argued in a lawsuit filed last year that the Forest Service was disregarding the Clean Water Act by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the chemicals can be harmful to some fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic species. A government study found that misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit, but that could take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet of waterways. Retardant may only be applied inside those zones when human life or public safety is threatened. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents and the remainder were necessary to save lives or property, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many areas of the Western U.S. experienced heavy snowfalls this past winter, and as a result, fire dangers are lower than in recent years across much of the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This story has been updated.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A judge agreed with US Forest Service officials that dropping retardant from aircraft into areas with waterways is sometimes necessary to protect lives and property. More than 200 loads of retardant had gotten into waterways over the past decade.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-retardant-pollution-lawsuit-1fa9557473357d03f01b592713afd4a3\">U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant\u003c/a> dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-retardant-pollution-lawsuit-81e195428e748bbb36116128e35c7e39\">pollutes streams in Western states\u003c/a> in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge agreed with U.S. Forest Service officials who said dropping retardant from aircraft into areas with waterways was sometimes necessary to protect lives and property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling came after \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-forests-lawsuits-fish-montana-0e3b777d2df198826587e702b34ebb9d\">environmentalists sued\u003c/a> following revelations that the Forest Service had dropped retardant into waterways hundreds of times over the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government officials say chemical fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of dangerous blazes. Wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades as climate change warms the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 200 loads of retardant got into waterways over the past decade. Federal officials say those situations usually occurred by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of loads annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A coalition that includes the town of Paradise — where the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed the town — had said a court ruling that stopped the use of retardant would have put lives, homes and forests at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case was very personal for us,” Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin said. “Our brave firefighters need every tool in the toolbox to protect human lives and property against wildfires, and today’s ruling ensures we have a fighting chance this fire season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local agencies lean heavily on the U.S. Forest Service to help fight fires, many of which originate on or include federal land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire retardant is a specialized mixture of water and chemicals including inorganic fertilizers or salts. It’s designed to alter the way fire burns, making blazes less intense and slowing their advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can give firefighters time to steer flames away from inhabited areas and, in extreme situations, evacuate people from danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Retardant lasts and even works if it’s dry,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for Cal Fire, California’s state fire agency. “Water is only so good because it dries out. It does very well to suppress fires, but it won’t last.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950941\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11950941\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in yellow hardhats stand atop white utility trucks as they watch an air tanker spray red clouds of fire retardant on a wildfire. The sky is gray with black clouds.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS34370_GettyImages-1003505278-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters watch as an air tanker drops retardant while battling the Ferguson Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest, near Yosemite National Park, on July 21, 2018. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Oregon-based group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics argued in its \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-forests-lawsuits-fish-montana-0e3b777d2df198826587e702b34ebb9d\">lawsuit filed last year\u003c/a> that the Forest Service was disregarding the Clean Water Act by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christensen said stopping the use of fire retardant would “conceivably result in greater harm from wildfires — including to human life and property and to the environment.” The judge said his ruling was limited to 10 Western states where members of the plaintiff’s group alleged harm from pollution into waterways that they use.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After the lawsuit was filed, the Forest Service applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit that would allow it to continue using retardant without breaking the law. The process could take several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a permit could require tighter restrictions on when retardant could be used or for officials to use less-toxic chemicals, said Andy Stahl with Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly a good first step,” Stahl said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christensen ordered federal officials to report every six months on their progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof said the agency believes retardant can be used “without compromising public health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Forest Service is working diligently with the Environmental Protection Agency on a general permit for aerially delivered retardant that will allow us to continue using wildfire retardant to protect homes and communities,” Muehlhof said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost 150 million gallons of fire retardant were dropped on national forest lands between 2013 and 2022, according to the Department of Agriculture. Retardant drops onto forests in California accounted for 49% of the total volume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health risks to firefighters and other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11950942\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11950942 size-full\" style=\"font-weight: bold;background-color: transparent;color: #767676\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A nature shot within the forest with a running stream in the background along with wild deer running in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS21524_IMG_4452-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the Klamath River, which flows through Oregon and Northern California. The Oregon-based group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics argued in a lawsuit filed last year that the Forest Service was disregarding the Clean Water Act by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers. \u003ccite>(Molly Peterson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the chemicals can be harmful to some fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic species. A government study found that misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit, but that could take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet of waterways. Retardant may only be applied inside those zones when human life or public safety is threatened. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents and the remainder were necessary to save lives or property, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many areas of the Western U.S. experienced heavy snowfalls this past winter, and as a result, fire dangers are lower than in recent years across much of the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This story has been updated.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court\">Supreme Court\u003c/a> on Thursday sharply \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf\">limited the federal government’s authority to police water pollution (PDF)\u003c/a> into certain wetlands, the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority narrowed the reach of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-arizona-state-government-donald-trump-8d46b14c20cb0effcb52ace48220dcce\">environmental regulations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outcome could threaten efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi River and protect the Chesapeake Bay, among many projects, wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, breaking with the other five conservatives. Environmental advocates said the decision would strip protections from tens of millions of acres of wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-environment-lakes-pollution-water-pollution-31034c1d9df1a63cc0841b29ac7a3fe1\">Idaho couple\u003c/a> who sought to build a house near Priest Lake in the state’s panhandle. Chantell and Michael Sackett objected when federal officials identified a soggy portion of the property as a wetlands that required them to get a permit before filling it with rocks and soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By a 5–4 vote, the court said in an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito that wetlands can only be regulated under the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act\">Clean Water Act\u003c/a> if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water. There is no such connection on the Sacketts’ property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water officials say they are disappointed with the decision, but that the ruling doesn’t block California’s stronger environmental rules.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"President Joe Biden\"]‘The Supreme Court’s disappointing decision in Sackett v. EPA will take our country backwards.’[/pullquote]The Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act only applies to wetlands with aboveground flow to main-stem rivers and other big bodies of water. California passed stronger environmental rules in 2019 protecting marshes that sit behind levees, dikes and dunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the state is confident in its rules, Eric Buescher with Baykeeper says state law doesn’t require industry to report wetland pollution. “That self-identification is vital to communities knowing who is polluting or where pollution is occurring,” said Buescher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Clean Water Act also allowed for citizens to bring lawsuits, whereas state laws do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Joe Biden said the court’s decision defies science and undermines a law that has been used for a half-century to make American waters cleaner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court’s disappointing decision in Sackett v. EPA will take our country backwards. It puts our Nation’s wetlands — and the rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds connected to them — at risk of pollution and destruction, jeopardizing the sources of clean water that millions of American families, farmers, and businesses rely on,” Biden said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court jettisoned the 17-year-old opinion by their former colleague, Anthony Kennedy, allowing regulation of what can be discharged into wetlands that could affect the health of the larger waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy’s opinion covering wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to larger bodies of water had been the standard for evaluating whether permits were required for discharges under the 1972 landmark environmental law. Opponents had objected that the standard was vague and unworkable.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1981358,news_11946410,news_11944710\"]Reacting to the decision, Manish Bapna, chief executive of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called on Congress to amend the Clean Water Act to restore wetlands protections and on states to strengthen their own laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court ripped the heart out of the law we depend on to protect American waters and wetlands. The majority chose to protect polluters at the expense of healthy wetlands and waterways. This decision will cause incalculable harm. Communities across the country will pay the price,” Bapna said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outcome almost certainly will affect ongoing court battles over \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-arizona-state-government-donald-trump-8d46b14c20cb0effcb52ace48220dcce\">new water regulations, including for wetlands,\u003c/a> that the Biden administration put in place in December. Two federal judges have \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/clean-water-act-epa-wotus-89ec06b09016564b0d721a6de9a9efb0\">temporarily blocked those rules\u003c/a> from being enforced in 26 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/epa-biden-water-sackett-wotus-congress-senate-ec5a4b66376fdc9252f77575e29043ce\">Congress voted in March\u003c/a> to overturn the administration’s new water rule, and, even though President Joe Biden vetoed the measure, the prospect of legislative action to restore wetlands protections anytime soon is remote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael S. Regan, credited the Clean Water Act with leading to “transformational progress” in cleaning up the nation’s waterways. “I am disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision that erodes longstanding clean water protections,” Regan said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damien Schiff, who represented the Sacketts at the Supreme Court, said the decision appropriately narrowed the reach of the law. “Courts now have a clear measuring stick for fairness and consistency by federal regulators. Today’s ruling is a profound win for property rights and the constitutional separation of powers,” Schiff said in a statement issued by the property rights-focused Pacific Legal Foundation.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Manish Bapna, chief executive, Natural Resources Defense Council\"]‘The Supreme Court ripped the heart out of the law we depend on to protect American waters and wetlands.’[/pullquote]In Thursday’s ruling, all nine justices agreed that the wetlands on the Sacketts’ property are not covered by the act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But only five justices joined in the opinion that imposed a new test for evaluating when wetlands are covered by the Clean Water Act. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Alito would have adopted the narrower standard in 2006, in the last big wetlands case at the Supreme Court. They were joined Thursday by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal justices charged that their colleagues had rewritten that law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kavanaugh wrote that the court’s “new and overly narrow test may leave long-regulated and long-accepted-to-be regulable wetlands suddenly beyond the scope of the agencies’ regulatory authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the majority’s rewriting of the act was “an effort to cabin the anti-pollution actions Congress thought appropriate.” Kagan referenced last year’s decision limiting the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In both cases, she noted, the court had appointed “itself as the national decision-maker on environmental policy.” Kagan was joined in what she wrote by her liberal colleagues Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacketts paid $23,000 for a 0.63-acre lot near Priest Lake in 2005 and started building a three-bedroom home two years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had filled part of the property, described in an appellate ruling as a “soggy residential lot,” with rocks and soil in preparation for construction, when officials with the EPA showed up and ordered a halt in the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also won an earlier round in their legal fight at the Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the EPA’s determination in 2021, finding that part of the property, 300 feet from the lake and 30 feet from an unnamed waterway that flows into the lake, was wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacketts’ own consultant had similarly advised them years ago that their property contained wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting by KQED’s Kevin Stark.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court\">Supreme Court\u003c/a> on Thursday sharply \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf\">limited the federal government’s authority to police water pollution (PDF)\u003c/a> into certain wetlands, the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority narrowed the reach of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-arizona-state-government-donald-trump-8d46b14c20cb0effcb52ace48220dcce\">environmental regulations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outcome could threaten efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi River and protect the Chesapeake Bay, among many projects, wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, breaking with the other five conservatives. Environmental advocates said the decision would strip protections from tens of millions of acres of wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-environment-lakes-pollution-water-pollution-31034c1d9df1a63cc0841b29ac7a3fe1\">Idaho couple\u003c/a> who sought to build a house near Priest Lake in the state’s panhandle. Chantell and Michael Sackett objected when federal officials identified a soggy portion of the property as a wetlands that required them to get a permit before filling it with rocks and soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By a 5–4 vote, the court said in an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito that wetlands can only be regulated under the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act\">Clean Water Act\u003c/a> if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water. There is no such connection on the Sacketts’ property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water officials say they are disappointed with the decision, but that the ruling doesn’t block California’s stronger environmental rules.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act only applies to wetlands with aboveground flow to main-stem rivers and other big bodies of water. California passed stronger environmental rules in 2019 protecting marshes that sit behind levees, dikes and dunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the state is confident in its rules, Eric Buescher with Baykeeper says state law doesn’t require industry to report wetland pollution. “That self-identification is vital to communities knowing who is polluting or where pollution is occurring,” said Buescher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Clean Water Act also allowed for citizens to bring lawsuits, whereas state laws do not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Joe Biden said the court’s decision defies science and undermines a law that has been used for a half-century to make American waters cleaner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court’s disappointing decision in Sackett v. EPA will take our country backwards. It puts our Nation’s wetlands — and the rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds connected to them — at risk of pollution and destruction, jeopardizing the sources of clean water that millions of American families, farmers, and businesses rely on,” Biden said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court jettisoned the 17-year-old opinion by their former colleague, Anthony Kennedy, allowing regulation of what can be discharged into wetlands that could affect the health of the larger waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy’s opinion covering wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to larger bodies of water had been the standard for evaluating whether permits were required for discharges under the 1972 landmark environmental law. Opponents had objected that the standard was vague and unworkable.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Reacting to the decision, Manish Bapna, chief executive of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called on Congress to amend the Clean Water Act to restore wetlands protections and on states to strengthen their own laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court ripped the heart out of the law we depend on to protect American waters and wetlands. The majority chose to protect polluters at the expense of healthy wetlands and waterways. This decision will cause incalculable harm. Communities across the country will pay the price,” Bapna said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The outcome almost certainly will affect ongoing court battles over \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-arizona-state-government-donald-trump-8d46b14c20cb0effcb52ace48220dcce\">new water regulations, including for wetlands,\u003c/a> that the Biden administration put in place in December. Two federal judges have \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/clean-water-act-epa-wotus-89ec06b09016564b0d721a6de9a9efb0\">temporarily blocked those rules\u003c/a> from being enforced in 26 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/epa-biden-water-sackett-wotus-congress-senate-ec5a4b66376fdc9252f77575e29043ce\">Congress voted in March\u003c/a> to overturn the administration’s new water rule, and, even though President Joe Biden vetoed the measure, the prospect of legislative action to restore wetlands protections anytime soon is remote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael S. Regan, credited the Clean Water Act with leading to “transformational progress” in cleaning up the nation’s waterways. “I am disappointed by today’s Supreme Court decision that erodes longstanding clean water protections,” Regan said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damien Schiff, who represented the Sacketts at the Supreme Court, said the decision appropriately narrowed the reach of the law. “Courts now have a clear measuring stick for fairness and consistency by federal regulators. Today’s ruling is a profound win for property rights and the constitutional separation of powers,” Schiff said in a statement issued by the property rights-focused Pacific Legal Foundation.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In Thursday’s ruling, all nine justices agreed that the wetlands on the Sacketts’ property are not covered by the act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But only five justices joined in the opinion that imposed a new test for evaluating when wetlands are covered by the Clean Water Act. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Alito would have adopted the narrower standard in 2006, in the last big wetlands case at the Supreme Court. They were joined Thursday by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal justices charged that their colleagues had rewritten that law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kavanaugh wrote that the court’s “new and overly narrow test may leave long-regulated and long-accepted-to-be regulable wetlands suddenly beyond the scope of the agencies’ regulatory authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the majority’s rewriting of the act was “an effort to cabin the anti-pollution actions Congress thought appropriate.” Kagan referenced last year’s decision limiting the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In both cases, she noted, the court had appointed “itself as the national decision-maker on environmental policy.” Kagan was joined in what she wrote by her liberal colleagues Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacketts paid $23,000 for a 0.63-acre lot near Priest Lake in 2005 and started building a three-bedroom home two years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had filled part of the property, described in an appellate ruling as a “soggy residential lot,” with rocks and soil in preparation for construction, when officials with the EPA showed up and ordered a halt in the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also won an earlier round in their legal fight at the Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the EPA’s determination in 2021, finding that part of the property, 300 feet from the lake and 30 feet from an unnamed waterway that flows into the lake, was wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacketts’ own consultant had similarly advised them years ago that their property contained wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting by KQED’s Kevin Stark.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Report on Bay Oil Pollution\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A recent report from the Environmental Integrity Project found that 81 refineries \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in the U.S. discharged concerning amounts of pollutants into our waterways, including some right here in the Bay Area. Advocates say the pollution is deforming fish and harming the ecosystem. We consider the implications.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jessica Wolfrom, San Francisco Examiner climate and environment reporter \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marisol Cant\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ú, Richmond Listening Project activist\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sejal Choksi-Chugh, San Francisco Baykeeper executive director\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>California-Mexico 2030 Summit\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California and Mexico City are signing a historic sustainability agreement. We talk to CalEPA’s Yana Garcia, a top state official in attendance,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">about what this means for our future.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Something Beautiful: Urban Tilth\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Urban Tilth was founded in Richmond in 2005 with the goal of making healthy, farm-fresh food accessible to all. They aim to build a more sustainable and equitable food system by working with local residents to grow and harvest their own food at one of seven community and school gardens. Join us as we visit Urban Tilth for tonight’s look at Something Beautiful.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>The vast majority of plastic that people put into recycling bins is headed to landfills, or worse, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/reports/circular-claims-fall-flat-again/\">report\u003c/a> from Greenpeace on the state of plastic recycling in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report cites separate \u003ca href=\"https://www.lastbeachcleanup.org/_files/ugd/dba7d7_9450ed6b848d4db098de1090df1f9e99.pdf\">data \u003c/a>published this May which revealed that the amount of plastic actually turned into new things has fallen to new lows of around 5%. 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The result is that plastic trash has few markets — a reality the public has not wanted to hear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trent Carpenter, the general manager of Southern Oregon Sanitation, says when they told customers a couple years ago that they could no longer take any plastic trash other than soda bottles and jugs — like milk containers and detergent bottles — people were upset. They wanted to put their strawberry containers, bags, yogurt cups and all manner of plastic trash in their recycling bin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to re-educate individuals that a great deal of that material is ending up in a landfill,” Carpenter said. “It’s not going to a recycling facility and being recycled. It’s going to a recycling facility and being landfilled someplace else because [you] can’t do anything with that material.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That message has been difficult for the public to absorb with so many different bins in public spaces, and their own communities telling them to put their plastic in recycling containers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carpenter says they wanted to be transparent with their customers and tell them the truth, unlike companies that continue to tell customers that plastic, such as bags and containers, is being turned into new things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Politically it’s easier to just say ‘Gosh, we’re going to take everything and we think we can get it recycled,’ and then look the other way,” Carpenter said of the other companies. “That’s greenwashing at its best.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Lisa Ramsden, senior plastic campaigner, Greenpeace USA\"]‘The crisis just gets worse and worse, and without drastic change will continue to worsen, as the industry plans to triple plastic production by 2050.’[/pullquote]Greenpeace found a couple facilities are trying to reprocess cups and containers — sometimes called “number 5s” because of the markings on the containers. But the numbers are low. While 52 percent of recycling facilities in the U.S. accept that kind of plastic, the report found less than 5% of it is actually repurposed — and the rest is put into a landfill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The low reprocessing rates are at odds with plans from the oil and gas industry. Industry lobbyists say they plan to recycle every piece of plastic they make into something new by 2040. In interviews with NPR, industry officials were unable to explain how they planned to reach a 100% recycling rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An NPR investigative \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled\">report\u003c/a> found in 2020 that industry officials misled the public about the recyclability of plastic even though their own reports showed they knew as early as the 1970s and 1980s that plastic could not be economically recycled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Chemistry Council, an industry lobby group, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment on the Greenpeace report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists and lawmakers in some states are now pushing for legislation that bans single use plastics, and for “bottle bills” which pay customers to bring back their plastic bottles. The bills have led to successful recycling rates for plastic bottles in places like Oregon and Michigan, but have faced steep resistance from plastic and oil industry lobbyists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real solution is to switch to systems of reuse and refill,” Ramsden said. “We are at a decision point on plastic pollution. It is time for corporations to turn off the plastic tap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of embracing plastic recycling, many environmental groups say they hope the public will finally see plastic for what they say it is — trash — and that people will ask themselves if there is something else they could be using instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Greenpeace found a couple facilities are trying to reprocess cups and containers — sometimes called “number 5s” because of the markings on the containers. But the numbers are low. While 52 percent of recycling facilities in the U.S. accept that kind of plastic, the report found less than 5% of it is actually repurposed — and the rest is put into a landfill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The low reprocessing rates are at odds with plans from the oil and gas industry. Industry lobbyists say they plan to recycle every piece of plastic they make into something new by 2040. In interviews with NPR, industry officials were unable to explain how they planned to reach a 100% recycling rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An NPR investigative \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled\">report\u003c/a> found in 2020 that industry officials misled the public about the recyclability of plastic even though their own reports showed they knew as early as the 1970s and 1980s that plastic could not be economically recycled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Chemistry Council, an industry lobby group, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment on the Greenpeace report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists and lawmakers in some states are now pushing for legislation that bans single use plastics, and for “bottle bills” which pay customers to bring back their plastic bottles. The bills have led to successful recycling rates for plastic bottles in places like Oregon and Michigan, but have faced steep resistance from plastic and oil industry lobbyists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real solution is to switch to systems of reuse and refill,” Ramsden said. “We are at a decision point on plastic pollution. It is time for corporations to turn off the plastic tap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of embracing plastic recycling, many environmental groups say they hope the public will finally see plastic for what they say it is — trash — and that people will ask themselves if there is something else they could be using instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Recycling+plastic+is+practically+impossible+%E2%80%93+and+the+problem+is+getting+worse&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "A Cannabis Landlord in East Oakland Seeks to Overturn Order to Shut Down Diesel Generators",
"title": "A Cannabis Landlord in East Oakland Seeks to Overturn Order to Shut Down Diesel Generators",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regional air regulators are locked in a court dispute with an Oakland cannabis landlord that has been running massive diesel generators without permits for nearly two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) filed an \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22123043/baaqmd-v-green-sage-management-et-al.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">injunction request\u003c/a> late Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court seeking enforcement of an abatement order issued against Denver-based firm Green Sage last week by the agency's independent hearing board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to seeking an injunction against Green Sage, the district is seeking penalties of up to $175,000 a day for continued violations of the abatement order and state air pollution laws. The district's legal action also targets cannabis growers in the Green Sage complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's action came hours after Green Sage \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22123601/green-sage-request-for-writ-of-mandate-220728.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">asked the court\u003c/a> to block the abatement order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company argued the generators are necessary because existing PG&E power supplies are insufficient to power cannabis growth at its properties and claims that pot worth millions of dollars will be lost if they're turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district hearing board issued \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22122163/2022-07-21-order-for-abatement.pdf\">its formal order\u003c/a> last week directing Green Sage to immediately cease operating generators at its two San Leandro Street buildings until it gets air district permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district had already indicated that Green Sage was likely ineligible for such permits. That's because the firm has used the diesel generators as the primary source of power for nearly two years in violation of air district rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Oakland residents, Center for Environmental Health, Environmental Democracy Project\"]'We've spent hundreds of hours on the board's abatement process because Green Sage's conduct is so obviously at odds with the district's regulations.'[/pullquote]Green Sage began leasing generators to provide power for cannabis tenants beginning in October 2020. At one point, \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22076676/mills-report-green-sage-generators.pdf\">an expert for the air district found\u003c/a>, the firm had a dozen generators running simultaneously, producing 11.1 megawatts of electricity – enough to power about 9,000 California homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Green Sage residential tenants first complained to the air district about the generators last September, saying they're beyond frustrated with the engines' continued around-the-clock operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11918216,news_11911263,news_11908979\" label=\"Related Posts\"]In \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22122200/residents-letter-to-baaqmd-green-sage-enforcement.pdf\">a letter to the air district\u003c/a> joined by environmental advocates and community supporters, they said they were disillusioned with the district's hearing process and demanded immediate enforcement of its order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We placed faith in this system and were extremely patient,\" the joint letter from residents, the \u003ca href=\"https://ceh.org/\">Center for Environmental Health\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.edpcal.org/\">Environmental Democracy Project\u003c/a> said. \"We’ve spent hundreds of hours on the board’s abatement process because Green Sage’s conduct is so obviously at odds with the district’s regulations. After all that investment of our time, it seems that we were misled into believing that the district would actually shut the generators down.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letter complained that \"Green Sage has been afforded every opportunity to appeal, delay, and ignore the law without consequence.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response, the air district issued a statement calling Green Sage's continued generator use \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"alarming and unacceptable.\" The district said it \"will deploy all our available tools and work with other enforcement agencies to hold Green Sage accountable and shut down these generators, which are a threat to air quality and public health in the surrounding community.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district's hearing board process gives Green Sage 30 days to appeal last week's abatement order. The company would also need to seek a separate court order to delay enforcement of the air district's shutdown decree.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Green Sage, which has failed to comply with at least three other city and air district violation notices related to the diesel generators since late last year, did not respond to questions this week about whether it will contest the abatement order. Prior to filing Thursday's injunction request, air district officials said they had not received notice that Green Sage would appeal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Testifying before the hearing board on July 12, Green Sage Managing Director Ken Greer argued the generators are necessary to preserve cannabis crops worth millions of dollars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Greer also said that PG&E power upgrades will be complete for one of the two Green Sage buildings by the end of September and asked the board to hold off on an abatement order until that work is complete. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he maintained that even with the PG&E upgrade in place, more power will be needed to keep cannabis operations running. He said that could be supplied by a company he's formed, New Grass Power, which would generate electricity using natural gas turbines fueled by methane from dairy waste. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"We're desperately trying to get off the diesel generators,\" Greer told the hearing board. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"We can't afford them. We don't want them. But we have no other alternative.\" \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920839\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920839\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-800x518.jpg\" alt=\"Ken Greer of Green Sage testifying before air district hearing board via Zoom. \" width=\"800\" height=\"518\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-800x518.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-160x104.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-2048x1325.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1920x1242.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Green Sage Managing Director Ken Greer testifying before the Bay Area Air Quality Management District hearing board on July 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(BAAQMD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Evidence produced during the hearing board's three sessions showed Green Sage began relying on generators as an ongoing source of supplemental power nearly two years ago, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21423328/americas-brickworks-v-220111-greer-declaration.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a January 2022 court filing by Greer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> indicated that supplying diesel generators for cannabis operations had become Green Sage's standard operating procedure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city of Oakland issued notices of violation last December and again in April warning Green Sage that the unpermitted generators must be shut down. The April notice is under appeal, and the generators continued to run. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district issued its own notice of violation in February because the generators had been set up and operated without district permits. After Green Sage filed only incomplete permit applications, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911263/regulator-moves-to-shut-down-diesel-generators-at-east-oakland-cannabis-facility\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the district issued a formal \"accusation\" in April\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> charging Green Sage with violating generator regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That accusation led to the hearing board, which met for three days to consider the case, and its subsequent abatement order. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tanya Boyce, a longtime East Oakland resident, former city of Oakland planner and executive director of the Environmental Democracy Project, which is suing Green Sage, said this week she's infuriated that the enforcement process has taken so long and produced such a lack of results. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"This is total and complete fuckery,\" Boyce said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her hearing board appearance earlier this month, Boyce testified about recently produced city data that show the neighborhoods most likely to be affected by fallout from Green Sage's generators are also those that already suffer Oakland's highest levels of air pollution.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says she sees a connection to fallout from another crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"This ultra-deference for the environmental criminal is absolutely insulting to Black and brown communities that have been completely devastated by the war on drugs,\" Boyce said. \"I know a lot of street drug dealers. Imagine how different the world would be if they were given the same respect as Green Sage. Imagine if crack dealers went through such an administrative process with the right to appeal before they stopped selling crack.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://greensagemb.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Green Sage\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> acquired its two East Oakland properties — The Tinnery, at 5601 San Leandro St., and The Cannery, at 5733 San Leandro St., a historic live/work building — in 2016 and 2017. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The firm attracted investors with a vision of converting the two 1930-era buildings into one of California's largest cannabis production facilities. But the project has run into a long series of legal disputes and financial and infrastructural problems. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the past 4 1/2 years, Green Sage has been sued nearly two dozen times in California, Colorado, Virginia and Nevada. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1_F2HesfIuiH2L0dGGbK_j6L9wm8mI0PgZxqc-XPc0/edit?usp=sharing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those suits \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">include complaints filed by investors, a former business partner, contractors, a generator rental firm, cannabis tenants and The Cannery's current and former residents. The most recent actions were filed over the past month by environmental groups and tenants alleging the company has violated the federal Clean Air Act and California's \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11918216/environmental-groups-line-up-behind-residents-to-try-to-shut-down-diesel-generators-at-oakland-cannabis-facility\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Proposition 65 toxics law\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Green Sage defaulted on its $54.5 million mortgage last year and faces a possible foreclosure auction on Aug. 3.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regional air regulators are locked in a court dispute with an Oakland cannabis landlord that has been running massive diesel generators without permits for nearly two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) filed an \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22123043/baaqmd-v-green-sage-management-et-al.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">injunction request\u003c/a> late Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court seeking enforcement of an abatement order issued against Denver-based firm Green Sage last week by the agency's independent hearing board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to seeking an injunction against Green Sage, the district is seeking penalties of up to $175,000 a day for continued violations of the abatement order and state air pollution laws. The district's legal action also targets cannabis growers in the Green Sage complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's action came hours after Green Sage \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22123601/green-sage-request-for-writ-of-mandate-220728.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">asked the court\u003c/a> to block the abatement order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company argued the generators are necessary because existing PG&E power supplies are insufficient to power cannabis growth at its properties and claims that pot worth millions of dollars will be lost if they're turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district hearing board issued \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22122163/2022-07-21-order-for-abatement.pdf\">its formal order\u003c/a> last week directing Green Sage to immediately cease operating generators at its two San Leandro Street buildings until it gets air district permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air district had already indicated that Green Sage was likely ineligible for such permits. That's because the firm has used the diesel generators as the primary source of power for nearly two years in violation of air district rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'We've spent hundreds of hours on the board's abatement process because Green Sage's conduct is so obviously at odds with the district's regulations.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Green Sage began leasing generators to provide power for cannabis tenants beginning in October 2020. At one point, \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22076676/mills-report-green-sage-generators.pdf\">an expert for the air district found\u003c/a>, the firm had a dozen generators running simultaneously, producing 11.1 megawatts of electricity – enough to power about 9,000 California homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Green Sage residential tenants first complained to the air district about the generators last September, saying they're beyond frustrated with the engines' continued around-the-clock operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22122200/residents-letter-to-baaqmd-green-sage-enforcement.pdf\">a letter to the air district\u003c/a> joined by environmental advocates and community supporters, they said they were disillusioned with the district's hearing process and demanded immediate enforcement of its order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We placed faith in this system and were extremely patient,\" the joint letter from residents, the \u003ca href=\"https://ceh.org/\">Center for Environmental Health\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.edpcal.org/\">Environmental Democracy Project\u003c/a> said. \"We’ve spent hundreds of hours on the board’s abatement process because Green Sage’s conduct is so obviously at odds with the district’s regulations. After all that investment of our time, it seems that we were misled into believing that the district would actually shut the generators down.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The letter complained that \"Green Sage has been afforded every opportunity to appeal, delay, and ignore the law without consequence.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response, the air district issued a statement calling Green Sage's continued generator use \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"alarming and unacceptable.\" The district said it \"will deploy all our available tools and work with other enforcement agencies to hold Green Sage accountable and shut down these generators, which are a threat to air quality and public health in the surrounding community.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district's hearing board process gives Green Sage 30 days to appeal last week's abatement order. The company would also need to seek a separate court order to delay enforcement of the air district's shutdown decree.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Green Sage, which has failed to comply with at least three other city and air district violation notices related to the diesel generators since late last year, did not respond to questions this week about whether it will contest the abatement order. Prior to filing Thursday's injunction request, air district officials said they had not received notice that Green Sage would appeal. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Testifying before the hearing board on July 12, Green Sage Managing Director Ken Greer argued the generators are necessary to preserve cannabis crops worth millions of dollars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Greer also said that PG&E power upgrades will be complete for one of the two Green Sage buildings by the end of September and asked the board to hold off on an abatement order until that work is complete. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he maintained that even with the PG&E upgrade in place, more power will be needed to keep cannabis operations running. He said that could be supplied by a company he's formed, New Grass Power, which would generate electricity using natural gas turbines fueled by methane from dairy waste. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"We're desperately trying to get off the diesel generators,\" Greer told the hearing board. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"We can't afford them. We don't want them. But we have no other alternative.\" \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11920839\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11920839\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-800x518.jpg\" alt=\"Ken Greer of Green Sage testifying before air district hearing board via Zoom. \" width=\"800\" height=\"518\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-800x518.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-160x104.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-2048x1325.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/greer220712-1920x1242.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Green Sage Managing Director Ken Greer testifying before the Bay Area Air Quality Management District hearing board on July 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(BAAQMD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Evidence produced during the hearing board's three sessions showed Green Sage began relying on generators as an ongoing source of supplemental power nearly two years ago, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21423328/americas-brickworks-v-220111-greer-declaration.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a January 2022 court filing by Greer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> indicated that supplying diesel generators for cannabis operations had become Green Sage's standard operating procedure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city of Oakland issued notices of violation last December and again in April warning Green Sage that the unpermitted generators must be shut down. The April notice is under appeal, and the generators continued to run. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district issued its own notice of violation in February because the generators had been set up and operated without district permits. After Green Sage filed only incomplete permit applications, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911263/regulator-moves-to-shut-down-diesel-generators-at-east-oakland-cannabis-facility\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the district issued a formal \"accusation\" in April\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> charging Green Sage with violating generator regulations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That accusation led to the hearing board, which met for three days to consider the case, and its subsequent abatement order. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tanya Boyce, a longtime East Oakland resident, former city of Oakland planner and executive director of the Environmental Democracy Project, which is suing Green Sage, said this week she's infuriated that the enforcement process has taken so long and produced such a lack of results. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"This is total and complete fuckery,\" Boyce said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her hearing board appearance earlier this month, Boyce testified about recently produced city data that show the neighborhoods most likely to be affected by fallout from Green Sage's generators are also those that already suffer Oakland's highest levels of air pollution.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says she sees a connection to fallout from another crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"This ultra-deference for the environmental criminal is absolutely insulting to Black and brown communities that have been completely devastated by the war on drugs,\" Boyce said. \"I know a lot of street drug dealers. Imagine how different the world would be if they were given the same respect as Green Sage. Imagine if crack dealers went through such an administrative process with the right to appeal before they stopped selling crack.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://greensagemb.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Green Sage\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> acquired its two East Oakland properties — The Tinnery, at 5601 San Leandro St., and The Cannery, at 5733 San Leandro St., a historic live/work building — in 2016 and 2017. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The firm attracted investors with a vision of converting the two 1930-era buildings into one of California's largest cannabis production facilities. But the project has run into a long series of legal disputes and financial and infrastructural problems. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over the past 4 1/2 years, Green Sage has been sued nearly two dozen times in California, Colorado, Virginia and Nevada. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K1_F2HesfIuiH2L0dGGbK_j6L9wm8mI0PgZxqc-XPc0/edit?usp=sharing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those suits \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">include complaints filed by investors, a former business partner, contractors, a generator rental firm, cannabis tenants and The Cannery's current and former residents. The most recent actions were filed over the past month by environmental groups and tenants alleging the company has violated the federal Clean Air Act and California's \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11918216/environmental-groups-line-up-behind-residents-to-try-to-shut-down-diesel-generators-at-oakland-cannabis-facility\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Proposition 65 toxics law\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"radiolab": {
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
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"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
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},
"science-friday": {
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"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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