[Source: CARB] The California Air Resources Board reached a settlement agreement with Gemini Coatings, Inc. of Oklahoma for $145,000 for violations of the consumer products regulations that set limits for smog-forming compounds. CARB investigators found that from 2015 to 2018, Gemini Coatings sold, supplied, offered for sale, and/or manufactured noncompliant consumer products in California. One Read More…
Newsroom
Lost your job in California? New bill might force these employers to hire back workers
[Source: Saramento Bee] California workers from an industry devastated by the coronavirus pandemic would have a chance to return to the jobs under a bill advanced by the state Assembly this week. Under the bill, employers in parts of the hospitality industry would have to offer any available jobs first to qualified employees who were Read More…
California could phase out fracking, other oil drilling under bill headed for first test in Legislature
[Source: KQED] Legislation that would gradually phase out fracking and other extraction methods that account for most of California’s petroleum production faces its first big test in Sacramento on Tuesday. The nine-member Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee is set to vote on a proposal, Senate Bill 267 (Bill Text – SB-467 Oil and gas: Read More…
Fewer in U.S. say government environmental action lacking
[Source: GALLUP] Early in Joe Biden’s tenure as president, a slightly diminished 56% majority of Americans think the U.S. government is doing too little to protect the environment. This marks a five-percentage-point decline from one year ago and coincides with a nine-point increase in those saying the government is doing too much (15%). Meanwhile, an Read More…
Why manufacturing matters to economic superpowers
[Source: Financial Times] Manufacturing matters. While it has become increasingly automated and globalised over the past several decades, it still holds a special place in the national psyche in the US and other big exporting nations, such as Germany, China and Japan. Part of that is down to its disproportionate benefits to the economy. In Read More…
Port of Long Beach mulls alternative energies as power demand set to skyrocket
[Source: PORT Technology] The Port of Long Beach (PoLB) expects its power demand on the electricity grid “to triple or quadruple” by 2035 from increases in shoreside power and electricity-powered yard equipment. The first of nine electric rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) stacking cranes entered service at the SSA Terminal (Electric cranes mark milestone for Port of Read More…
Prop 65 bounty hunters barred from filing acrylamide lawsuits based on First Amendment
[Source: MONDAQ] In a landmark ruling with implications for the future of Proposition 65 enforcement, the US District Court for the Eastern District of California has preliminarily enjoined any person from filing or prosecuting lawsuits seeking cancer warnings for acrylamide on food and beverage products sold in California. The ruling stops hundreds of enforcement actions Read More…
Newsom asked for a fracking ban – he may get more than he bargained for with ambitious plan
[Source: Los Angeles Times] When Gov. Gavin Newsom voiced his support last year for a ban on hydraulic fracturing by oil and gas companies, an effort long fought by the industry and trade unions alike, he gave Democrats a green light to send him legislation to achieve that goal as they saw fit. But the Read More…
Biden EPA ponders ‘Hail Mary’ move on greenhouse gas air limits
[Source: Bloomberg Law] The Biden administration likely will face a tough climb in the courts and on the ground if it tries to push for national ambient air limits on greenhouse gases, experts and lawyers say. Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Jane Nishida wrote last week that the agency “did not fully and fairly assess the issues Read More…