Governor Fast Tracking Highway Construction: So it looks like the Governor is looking to fast track some major state highway projects through the environmental review process in an attempt to boost the economy – LINK. “Schwarzenegger is proposing that the California Department of Transportation forge ahead with some construction projects that are tied up in court over environmental issues. One is a $165-million carpool-lane expansion on U.S. 50 in Sacramento that a judge has delayed because of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it could generate, among other concerns.Protections would also be lifted on a freeway-widening project through an ecologically sensitive area of coastal San Diego County and on a controversial plan to drill a tunnel into the Berkeley Hills. And Schwarzenegger wants to empower a panel of his appointees to waive environmental rules on other projects.” – LA Times.
You know, when the governor initially said he wanted to fast track infrastructure projects, I assumed that he was speaking of major clean energy power generation/efficiency facilities, water conservation/quality projects, and mass-transit upgrades… I’m starting to think that these weren’t the projects he had in mind.
Toxics Being Discharged into LA County Waters: According to an LA Times article last week, Heal the Bay has uncovered that water quality regulators have been lax on enforcing water quality regulations, and on developing mandated standards. LINK. While it is always important to know and keep updated about toxic’s in ourlocal waters, I wasn’t exactly sure why this was really newsworthy. So, to investigate further, took a look at the study which is on Heal the Bay’s web site, Link, and now I get the sense that it’s less of a story about some new dramatic finding, and more a story on a study’s findings, which are less than surprising. Here is the conclusion of the study:
“CONCLUSION
Only 126 priority pollutants are regulated under the California Toxics Rule, yet thousands of toxic chemicals are used every day. Toxicity testing is the safety net of the Clean Water Act, but only if the toxicity results are used to target polluted effluent and the clean-up of toxic surface waters. Most of the region’s aquatic ecosystems have degraded biological integrity. One of the most important actions to protect aquatic life is to ensure that receiving waters are not toxic. As explained by the EPA, an enforceable numeric toxicity limit is the most protective strategy for aquatic life, and there should be enforcement actions taken against those dischargers that create conditions which are harmful to aquatic life. Currently, whole effluent toxicity testing is not being used effectively as a regulatory tool to protect aquatic life in the Los Angeles Region, especially given the erosion of permit requirements from numeric limits to triggers in response to the State Board’s indecision in 2003. Because the State Board ruling in 2003 was statewide, similar results as found in this study in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties are expected statewide. It is time to repair the safety net and ensure that California’s waters and all dependent living organisms are adequately protected.”
Interesting yes, surprising, no. (Maybe I’m jaded though, since I’ve worked at Heal the Bay in the past, and these studies findings were obvious to the organization even then.)
