EnviroPolitics Blog

Multiple wildfires still raging in California

Alisal Fire: Blaze shuts highway, forces evacuations; wildfire burns man in northern California

By the Associated Press

At least 200 firefighters battled the Alisal Fire, which had scorched 12.5 square miles along coastal Santa Barbara County and remained completely uncontained.

SOLVANG, Calif. – Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday for a growing wildfire driven by intense winds that has shut down a key Southern California highway for more than a day.

The fire erupted Monday on a ridge and blasted toward the ocean, forcing closure of U.S. 101, the only major highway on that section of the coast. Evacuation orders and warnings were in place for several areas of the lightly populated region.

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“The fire is burning in dense chaparral and is being pushed by strong winds and growing at a rapid rate of speed,” a fire update said Tuesday. Gusts reached 70 mph in some areas, officials said. .

In northern California, fire crews increased containment of a blaze that destroyed 25 mobile homes, 16 RVs and a park building at the Rancho Marina RV Park in Sacramento County. At least 20 structures were still threatened, according to the River Delta Fire District.

No injuries were reported, and the cause remained under investigation.

To the south in San Joaquin County, a man suffered burns and about five mobile homes were damaged by flames that raced through the Islander Mobile Home Park, Lathrop-Manteca Fire Chief Josh Capper told Fox40-TV.

The injured man suffered severe third-degree burns over most of his body, Capper said.

Powerful gusts that swept through the state on Monday also toppled trees and whipped up blinding dust clouds. Red flag warnings for critical fire danger remained in effect Tuesday for much of the interior of northern California, with lesser wind advisories continuing in Santa Barbara County.

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Rutgers professors see Covid-19 as cause of historic disruptions to the global supply chain

Supply chains disruptions that have been occurring as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will likely stay into next year, Rutgers professors say. Photo by Pixabay.com

By Kithmy Wickramasinghe The Daily Targum

Global supply chains are currently facing historic disruptions, with more than 70 cargo ships recently getting stuck off the California coast and ports in key export markets like China facing numerous shutdowns.

Warren Cohen, assistant professor of professional practice in the Department of Supply Chain Management, said that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the global supply chain that will affect the upcoming holiday season and likely extend well into the next calendar year.

“These disruptions are affecting consumer goods, manufacturing capabilities and raw materials, ultimately raising prices on goods and services along with increasing inflation globally,” he said. “If other (COVID-19) variants develop along with the current delta surge, we could experience even greater shortages of supply and increased disruptions.”

Areas such as inventory management and transportation have been affected greatly, with many companies who were unprepared for the supply chain disruptions also facing nontrivial inventory shortages, Cohen said.

“These disruptions have weakened the global supply chain,” he said. “We are experiencing massive shortages of manufacturing components, micro chips that are used in so many products today, delivery delays, lack of shipping containers and rapidly increasing transportation costs.”

David Dreyfus, assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management, said the pandemic has also caused a gap in the workforce. One reason for this is because people who were ill or caring for family members were unable to work, often for weeks at a time.

“Many businesses have been unable to hire enough employees to meet demand, thus orders have (been) delayed or not accepted due to the inability to ramp up production any further,” he said.

Additionally, many people have decreased their traveling or stopped altogether, which has had a huge impact on the economy’s service sector, Dreyfus said. The money typically spent on traveling was instead spent on material goods, resulting in businesses being unable to respond effectively to the increased demand, because of both lack of labor and lack of input material.

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California adopts new recycling label and PFAS laws

Laws governing recycling labels, plastic waste exports and PFAS signed in California

By Adam Redling Waste Today

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of legislation Oct. 5 designed to raise consumer awareness and industry accountability pertaining to recycling. Additionally, Newsom signed bills designed to protect Californians and the environment from harmful chemicals.

Among the measures signed is SB 343, introduced by Sen. Ben Allen of Santa Monica, which requires products to meet certain benchmarks in order to be advertised or labeled as recyclable. This legislation will help consumers to clearly identify which products are recyclable in California.

“California’s hallmark is solving problems through innovation, and we’re harnessing that spirit to reduce the waste filling our landfills and generating harmful pollutants driving the climate crisis,” Newsom says. “With today’s action and bold investments to transform our recycling systems, the state continues to lead the way to a more sustainable and resilient future for the planet and all our communities.”

In September, Newsom announced that the California Comeback Plan’s $15 billion climate package—the largest such investment in state history—includes $270 million to support a circular economy that advances sustainability and helps eliminate short-lived climate pollutants from the waste sector. To raise demand for recyclables and attract green industry to California, the package includes funding to support the work of CalRecycle’s new Office of Innovation in Recycling and Remanufacturing. Additional funds will support organic waste infrastructure, food recovery efforts and composting, and remanufacturing and recycling infrastructure. These funds include investments in disadvantaged communities.

Newsom also signed AB 881 into law Oct. 5. The bill, introduced by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, discourages practices resulting in exported plastic that becomes waste and ensures that only exports of truly recycled plastics count toward state waste reduction and recycling metrics. SB 619, introduced by Sen. John Laird of Santa Cruz, provides local governments additional paths to meet the climate goals of California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant law; AB 1311, introduced by Assembly Member Jim Wood of Santa Rosa, allows more flexible operations for beverage container recycling centers to reduce overhead and increase redemption access statewide; and AB 1201, introduced by Assembly Member Phil Ting of San Francisco, strengthens labeling requirements to ensure products labeled “compostable” are actually compostable and to keep harmful chemicals out of California’s compost stream.

To further reduce exposure and increase awareness surrounding perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), Newsom signed AB 1200, introduced by Assembly Member Ting, which prohibits disposable food packaging from containing intentionally added PFASs and requires cookware manufacturers to disclose the presence of hazardous chemicals such as PFAS on product labels and online. AB 652, introduced by Assembly Member Laura Friedman of Glendale, bans the use of toxic PFAS in products for children, such as car seats and cribs, beginning July 1, 2023. Earlier this year, the state required manufacturers of carpets and rugs to consider less toxic alternatives to PFAS, which poses a particular exposure risk to children when used in carpets and rugs.

A list of the bills signed by Newsome, including the full text, is available online.

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NJ enviros oppose increased funding for beach replenishment

It’s good for wealthy owners of beachfront properties but bad for the envronment, they say

By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A coalition of environmentalists, waterfront access advocates and surf fisherman gathered on the Jersey Shore Thursday to denounce beach replenishment as an exercise in futility that destroys natural ecosystems and subsidizes wealthy beachfront homeowners at taxpayers’ expense, particularly as worsening storms resulting form climate change demand investment in more permanent solutions to beach erosion.

“We have continued to watch failed beach replenishment projects pump millions of dollars of sand on our beaches that just wash away in the next storm,” Taylor McFarland, acting director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, said during a midday press conference on the beach in Deal. “That is why it’s critical that our legislators look at an overall comprehensive approach to beach erosion, shoreline damage from storms, and sea-level rise.”

The Sierra Club, the state chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, the Asbury Park Fishing Club and more than a dozen other groups oppose legislation pending in the state Assembly that would increase funding for beach replenishment projects, which are typically state and federal joint ventures carried out by the federal Army Corps of Engineers.

The bill, A-639 in the Assembly, would double the share of the Realty Transfer Tax that’s devoted to the state Shore Protection Fund from $25 million to $50 million annually. The fund finances the state portion of replenishment projects, which replace sand washed away gradually or by storms with new supplies typically dredged up from the ocean floor. The bill has already been approved by the state Senate.

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Pipeline in California oil spill was moved 105 feet along sea floor. Was a ship’s anchor the cause?

By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct 5 (Reuters) – A section of the oil pipeline that burst off the Southern California coast was displaced 105 feet (32 meters) across the ocean floor, officials said on Tuesday, fueling speculation that a ship’s anchor may have caused the environmental disaster.

The revelation came as the U.S. Coast Guard and drilling company Amplify Energy Corp (AMPY.N) came under further scrutiny about the time it took to respond to the spill, amid reports that mariners first reported seeing oil in the water on Friday night, when official notification did not come until Saturday around midday.

Roughly 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, soiling the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches in the cities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles.

Oil, tar wash ashore in San Diego County

The oil appears to have leaked through a 13-inch (33-cm) gash in the pipe, which was “pulled like a bowstring” about 105 feet from where it should have been, Martyn Willsher, chief executive of Amplify Energy, told a news conference. Amplify owns the pipeline and connected rigs.

In all a 4,000-foot (1.2-km) section of the 17.7-mile (28.5 km) pipeline was displaced laterally, as discovered by a remotely operated vehicles, U.S. Coast Guard Captain Rebecca Ore told reporters.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the accident underscored the risks of relying on fossil fuels in a state already suffering from drought and wildfires that experts link to human-caused climate change.

“We need to grow up and grow out of this dependency,” Newsom told a separate news conference in Huntington Beach, promoting renewable energy alternatives.

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Vinyard Wind offshore wind farm project in Massachusetts is the first in the U.S. to achieve financial close

At $2.3B, it represesnts one of the largest investments in a single renewable energy project

(NEW BEDFORD, MA) – Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), has announced that its first project has achieved financial close.

Working with nine international and U.S. based banks, $2.3 billion of senior debt has been raised to finance the construction of the project. The milestone enables Vineyard Wind to provide a notice to proceed to its contractors in the coming days and weeks, allowing suppliers to start hiring, training and mobilizing people to prepare for both on and offshore construction.

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Onshore work will begin this Fall in Barnstable, with offshore work commencing in 2022. The first power from Vineyard Wind 1 will be delivered to the grid in 2023.

“There have been many milestones passed over the last several months, from securing the final federal permits to signing the U.S.’s first offshore wind project labor agreement,” said Vineyard Wind CEO Lars T. Pedersen.

“Achieving financial close is the most important of all milestones because today we finally move from talking about offshore wind to delivering offshore wind at scale in the U.S. With the signing of these agreements, we now have everything in place to start construction, launching an industry that will immediately start to create jobs and make a significant contribution to meet Massachusetts’ carbon pollution reduction targets. We couldn’t have made it this far without the tremendous support we’ve received from local residents, elected officials at every level of government and so many others. We can’t thank you enough and look forward to working together for many years to come.”

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