Southern California air quality officials will craft rules governing warehouse, rail yard pollution

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Southern California air quality officials voted Friday to craft rules governing warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards in a controversial bid to combat transportation emissions in the nation’s smoggiest region. The governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District moved to begin devising rules to regulate freight facilities as Read More…

Southern California regulators have a chance to rein in freight pollution. Will they take it?

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Over and over in their decades-long war on smog, Southern California regulators have failed to use a powerful tool against ports, warehouses and other freight and logistics hubs that are magnets for air pollution. Now, the South Coast Air Quality Management District is considering a proposal to regulate warehouses, rail yards Read More…

The SCAQMD wants to raise your taxes

[Source: OC Register] In what appears to be the very definition of an out-of-control government agency, the staff of the South Coast Air Quality Management District has decided to pursue its own plan for raising the sales tax in four counties by a quarter-percent. The SCAQMD doesn’t have the authority to put tax-increase proposals on Read More…

Stench of carcasses and spoiled meat has long plagued Southeast L.A. Here’s how that’ll change

[Source: Los Angeles Times] After years of enduring the stench of spoiled meat and decaying carcasses from nearby rendering plants, residents of southeast Los Angeles County could finally see some relief under new rules approved Friday. Air quality regulators adopted long-delayed measures aimed at reducing odors from Vernon-area rendering plants, which they say can drift Read More…

South Coast Air Quality Management District bullies small businesses in minority communities

[Source: Compton Herald] The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s flawed monitoring program recently cost a minority-owned business in Paramount $100,000 in lost wages; dozens of workers were let go. We’ve all heard the stories of local polluters impacting the air we breathe, the ground we live on, and the water we drink. However, most Read More…

New California law gives air quality officials the power to quickly shut down polluters

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Local air quality officials are gaining new powers to quickly stop polluters when they endanger people’s health under legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, follows years of frustration in communities such as Paramount, Boyle Heights and Maywood — where regulators have Read More…

AQMD seeks order to cut emissions at Long Beach metals plant

[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] Local air quality regulators on Wednesday announced they are seeking an order to reduce emissions of a toxic chemical at Lubeco Inc., a Long Beach metal-finishing plant. The South Coast Air Quality Management District filed a petition with an independent hearing board Friday seeking the order to require Lubeco to Read More…

Questions remain as Gov. Brown signs legislation to address neighborhood-level air pollution

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at improving air quality in disadvantaged communities, a key step in shifting the debate over how the state fights climate change and an issue that has tested the influence of environmental justice advocates The law imposes new requirements to monitor and reduce pollution Read More…