final environmental report<\/a> on a controversial oil and gas leasing proposal that could open approximately 850,000 acres of public lands and federal mineral estate across Central California to future drilling and fracking activity. The proposal includes lands near communities, recreation areas, wildlife habitat, and water resources, according to a conservation group. The organization said the plan also affects nearly 40,000 acres within California\u2019s recently established Health Protection Zones and drew roughly 175,000 public comments in opposition during the environmental review process. A final decision from BLM is expected within 30 days.<\/p>\nNews<\/p>\n
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The Orange County Register \u2013 May 26<\/p>\n
Seven lawsuits have been filed so far in Orange County Superior Court against GKN Aerospace, the owner of a facility in Garden Grove where a malfunction in a chemical tank containing methyl methacrylate (MMA), a flammable, toxic, and highly volatile chemical, presented the potential threat of a massive explosion or chemical leak and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. Collectively, the early lawsuits include about 70 plaintiffs. But with roughly 50,000 people left displaced at the height of the evacuations \u2014 and 16,000 still unable to return home as of Tuesday afternoon \u2014 additional lawsuits are anticipated. What exactly led the chemical to overheat and why no built-in safety guards at the facility were able to control the reaction remains unclear. GKN also is facing a probe by the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
The Press Democrat \u2013 May 26<\/p>\n
The federal agency responsible for approving Pacific Gas & Electric Co.\u2019s bid to decommission two Eel River dams and a downstream hydroelectric powerplant has signaled its support for the utility\u2019s plans, despite last-ditch efforts by opponents of the move to keep the waterworks in Lake and Mendocino counties intact. In a May 22 scoping document, which provides an overview of proposed actions and potential resource issues, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission noted it \u201cproposed to eliminate \u2026 alternatives\u201d to full decommissioning, including a proposed takeover of the dams either by the federal government or other public agency.<\/p>\n
Waste Dive \u2013 May 26<\/p>\n
Environmental groups are again suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its air emissions rules for large municipal solid waste combustors. The petition for review seeks to tighten limits for a range of pollutants, and it comes after EPA finalized a more lenient version of the regulation in March. More than 50 incinerators nationwide are subject to the regulation, which seeks to reduce particulate matter, lead, nitrogen oxide, and other air pollutants based on the best available emissions control technology.<\/p>\n
E&E News \u2013 May 21<\/p>\n
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 21 vacated a landmark ruling that ordered EPA to address the health risks of fluoride in drinking water. The ruling remands the case to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for a ruling based only on the first trial\u2019s record and not additional evidence and a second bench trial as had been required by the district court. The Ninth Circuit\u2019s ruling follows a contentious 2024 decision by the district court finding that fluoride in drinking water at the federally recommended level poses \u201can unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children,\u201d triggering a rulemaking process under the Toxic Substances Control Act.<\/p>\n
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[View source<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Focus Santa Maria Times \u2013 May 27 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last week released its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-341984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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