EnviroPolitics Blog

Trump request for intervention by Supreme Court in documents case gets a one-sentence rejection

Former President Donald J. Trump in Minden, Nev., on Saturday.
Credit…Bridget Bennett for The New York Times

By Adam Liptak, The New York Times

Oct. 13, 2022, 3:16 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from former President Donald J. Trump to intervene in the litigation over documents seized from his Florida estate.

The court’s order, which was a sentence long, was a stinging rebuke to Mr. Trump. There were no noted dissents, and the court gave no reasons, saying only: “The application to vacate the stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sept. 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied.”

Mr. Trump asked the court last week to step into the tangled case, saying that an appeals court had lacked jurisdiction to remove about 100 documents marked as classified from a review of the seized material. The Supreme Court’s action means that the special master in the case, and Mr. Trump’s legal team, will not have access to those documents.

In their filing, Mr. Trump’s lawyers did not ask the Supreme Court to overturn a more important part of the appeals court’s ruling, which allowed the Justice Department to continue using the documents with classification markings in its criminal investigation of Mr. Trump’s handling of government records.

Read the full story

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Oil industry files referendum to overturn historic California drilling protection law

The industry’s ballot push to roll back newly enacted safety zones would delay implementation for nearly two years until voters decide the law’s fate in 2024.

By Liza Gross, Inside Climate News

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed more than three dozen bills to protect the climate and vulnerable communities from oil drilling and fossil fuel emissions.

The historic climate package includes Senate Bill 1137, which bans new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, and any other place people could be harmed by drilling operations. Democrats’ previous attempts to create health and safety zones around oil and gas operations failed in 2020 and 2021, blocked by just a few members of their own party.

Critically, the new law includes safeguards for the millions of Californians who live within the roughly half-mile buffer zone of existing drilling operations, tightening restrictions on everything from disruptive noise and light to the release of toxic gases from wells and storage tanks. In addition, operators must provide regulators with analyses of chemicals in any wastewater transported from existing drilling sites and, by January 2027, implement a plan to rapidly detect and fix leaks of noxious gases and the climate super-pollutant methane at these sites.

But the ink had barely dried on this groundbreaking health and safety law when Nielsen Merksamer, a lobbying firm that represents several major oil and gas companies, filed a referendum to reverse it on behalf of Jerome Reedy, a board member for the California Independent Petroleum Association, an industry lobby group.

Now, the industry and its allies have until Dec. 15 to collect enough signatures (623,212, to be exact) to qualify for the next general election. If they do, implementation of the law—which was supposed to go into effect the first day of January 2023—will be delayed until voters have their say in 2024.

“I am optimistic that the referendum will not be successful,” said state Sen. Lena Gonazalez (D-Long Beach), who authored S.B. 1137. “More than ever before, people believe in a carbon- and fossil-free future. And of course, we will not give up without a fight.”

The referendum has become a standard tactic in California for well-endowed special interests to reverse progressive gains, community organizers say

Read the full story here

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The California city of Coalinga could run out of water in two months

*Coalinga, Ca. is running out of water. Washington Post photo by Matt McClain*

By Joshua Partlow, The Washington Post

COALINGA, Calif. – The residents of this sun-scorched city feel California’s endless drought when the dust lifts off the brown hills and flings grit into their living rooms. They see it when they drive past almond trees being ripped from the ground for lack of water and the new blinking sign at the corner of Elm and Cherry warning: “No watering front yard lawns.”

The fire chief noticed it when he tested hydrants in August – a rare occurrence as Coalinga desperately seeks to conserve water – and the first one shot out a foot-long block of compacted dirt. The second one ejected like a can of Axe body spray.

The schools’ superintendent could only think drought on the first day of school when a 4-year-old fell onto unwatered turf, breaking an arm; or when the chain saws dropped three coastal redwoods outside Henry F. Bishop Elementary that had withered and died. Superintendent Lori Villanueva even lost a portion of her own right lung last year from a drought-aggravated illness, valley fever, that’s caused by breathing soil fungus whipped up off the dry ground.

But what lies ahead might be far worse for the 17,000 residents living amid the oil derricks and cattle farms on the western edge of the state’s Central Valley. Coalinga has only one source of water – a shrinking allotment from an aqueduct managed by the federal government – and officials are projecting the city will use up that amount before the end of the year.

That looming threat has left city officials racing between meetings in Sacramento and phone calls to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation seeking to increase their water supply. Some residents have begun stockpiling five-gallon water jugs in their homes, while many expect major spikes in their water bills. If Coalinga can’t find relief, it would be forced to buy additional water on the open market at exorbitant prices that could swamp the city’s budget.

Read the full story here

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Political dysfunction in Trenton has regional officials calling for state takeover of the city’s water treatment plant

*Inside the Trenton City water treatment plant along the Delaware River in downtown Trenton*

Brenda Flanagan reports for NJ Spotlight News

Drawing from the Delaware River, Trenton Water Works treats 28 million gallons of water daily and sends it to the Pennington Reservoir for distribution to more than 200,000 consumers. But water stored in the 150-year-old uncovered reservoir has been plagued by algae and midges. And plans to fix myriad issues at the treatment plant have become mired in Trenton’s municipal political dysfunction.

“Quality water — clean water — should not be part of politics. And unfortunately, that’s what’s happened here in this case,” said Mark Lavenberg, the plant’s director. The political gridlock has stalled repairs. Regional politicians and outside towns that depend on Trenton Water Works for drinking water want the state Department of Environmental Protection to intervene

*Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora blames the city council. The council president blames Gusciora*

View the NJ Spotlight News story here.

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EPA Settles Clean Air Act Violations with a New Jersey Regional Sewerage Authority

From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(October 6, 2022) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the U.S. Department of Justice has lodged a settlement with the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority (SBRSA) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey that will resolve violations of the Clean Air Act and New Jersey Air Pollution Control Act regulations at SBRSA’s wastewater treatment plant in Princeton, N.J. The settlement will be subject to a 30-day public comment period.

Under the proposed settlement, SBRSA will bring the facility into compliance with federal and state laws that protect clean air by reducing pollution from sewage sludge incinerators. SBRSA will also pay a $335,750 civil penalty. The State of New Jersey joined the federal government as a co-plaintiff in this case.

“This settlement means cleaner air for communities in Mercer County with the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority improving how it manages sewage sludge at its Princeton facility,” said Regional Administrator Lisa Garcia. “If not done properly, sewage sludge incineration can pose serious public health risks and this settlement will establish critical safeguards for how the Authority manages, monitors, and reports this type of activity.”

“The proposed settlement is an important step in protecting the environment and public health in Mercer County, and ensuring that the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority facility complies with state and federal laws,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “We thank Regional Administrator Garcia, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General for their efforts on this enforcement action. The DEP will continue to work with our partners at all levels to protect air for every community in New Jersey.”

The federal government and the state had alleged that beginning in 2016, SBRSA failed to develop required plans and operating parameters to comply with the sewage sludge incinerator requirements for the Princeton facility, which burns municipal sewage as a way to dispose of it. Sewage sludge can contain a range of pollutants like mercury, lead, and cadmium that can pose public health threats when the sludge is burned without appropriate safeguards.

Under the settlement, SBRSA must take the following measures at the Princeton facility to bring it into compliance with federal and state clean air laws:

Develop plans to monitor the mercury concentration of sewage sludge as an enforceable operating limit;
Establish site-specific operating limits to control air emissions and monitor compliance with those limits, and apply for a modification of its existing air emissions permit to incorporate these limits;
Establish and maintain procedures to minimize and eliminate bypass events, which result in uncontrolled air emissions.

During discussions with EPA and the state that led to this settlement, SBRSA took corrective actions to comply with the Clean Air Act sewage sludge incinerator requirements prior to the lodging of the settlement. Those actions included installing an alternative power supply to minimize bypass events and changing its operating procedures to better anticipate bypass events.

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Baltimore County Police cited by EPA for hazardous waste violations at firing range

From the Environmental Protection Agency

PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 6, 2022) – The Baltimore County Police Department will pay a $15,800 penalty for hazardous waste violations associated with the improper management of lead-contaminated soil at an outdoor firing range in Timonium, Maryland, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.

The outdoor firing range is used by county police officers primarily for the ring practice of handguns that use bullets made of lead and a copper alloy. The soil at the firing range is considered hazardous waste due to lead concentrations from bullets, and it must be handled and disposed of in accordance with EPA regulations.

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Exposure to high levels of lead may cause serious health problems. Lead is toxic and exposure to lead can affect almost every organ and system in your body. Children six years old and younger are most susceptible to the effects of lead, but it can also be harmful to adults. EPA efforts to reduce lead exposure have contributed to blood lead levels in U.S. children steadily dropping over the past four decades, but lead exposure persists in communities throughout the country.

EPA cited the police department for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the federal law governing the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA is designed to protect public health and the environment, and avoid long and extensive cleanups, by requiring the safe, environmentally sound storage and disposal of hazardous waste.

Alleged violations included: the operation of a hazardous waste management facility without a permit, failure to provide hazardous waste management training to staff, failure to provide hazardous waste responsibilities in written job descriptions, and failure to have a hazardous waste contingency plan.

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