[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The city of Los Angeles is a step closer to requiring all employers to provide six days of paid sick leave to their workers, three days more than mandated under state law. The City Council’s economic development committee voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to forward the recommendation for three additional days Read More…
Category: Local News
AQMD board narrowly approves restart of refinery in Torrance
[Source: Los Angeles Daily News] ExxonMobil’s Torrance refinery was given regulatory approval Saturday to produce emissions that violate clean air standards as it restarts the plant for gasoline manufacturing more than a year after it was crippled in an explosion. Approval was granted on a narrow 3-2 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management Read More…
Air quality district picks former EPA administrator as chief amid protests
[Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune] Environmental activists interrupted a four-hour meeting of the South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board Friday, accusing the district of bowing to petroleum industry interests as it voted for a new executive officer. The protesters, dressed as clowns and representing the Sierra Club’s My Generation Campaign, added to the Read More…
EPA rejects Southern California smog-fighting program as ineffective
[Source: Los Angeles Times] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rejected part of a smog-reduction plan by Southern California air quality regulators, saying it has failed to cut pollution from oil refineries and other big emissions sources as required by federal law. The EPA says an emissions-trading program administered by the South Coast Air Quality Read More…
Air pollution reduction program ruled illegal
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] A controversial program to give local refineries and major manufacturers more flexibility in reducing air pollution has been ruled illegal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials disclosed late Wednesday. The federal agency said the program fails to meet national clean air standards. The South Coast Air Quality Management District Read More…
Southern California air quality board is sued over adoption of industry-friendly smog rules
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Community groups and environmentalists filed suit Wednesday over Southern California air quality regulators’ adoption of oil industry-backed smog regulations, saying the measures are so weak they violate state law and will hurt public health. The lawsuit seeks to negate the South Coast Air Quality Management District board’s vote in December that Read More…
Republican-led AQMD board fires longtime executive
[Source: Southern California Public Radio/89.3KPCC] The board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, now dominated by pro-business members, voted 7-6 Friday to remove Barry Wallerstein, its longtime top executive. The action suggests the AQMD may be taking a more conservative approach to battling the L.A. Basin’s air pollution, which is among the worst in Read More…
AQMD board ousts executive officer
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The governing board of the Southern California Air Quality Municipal District voted 7-6 to fire Barry Wallerstein, its executive officer since 1997, amid concerns from its new Republican majority that the agency needs to be more business friendly. The board appointed Chief Financial Officer Michael B. O’Kelly as the agency’s Read More…
Los Angeles: city of losers?
[Source: NewGeography] When I arrived in Los Angeles four decades ago, it was clearly a city on the rise, practicing its lines on the way to becoming the dominant metropolis in North America. Today, the City of Angels and much of Southern California lag behind not only a resurgent New York City, but also L.A.’s longtime Read More…