[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on July 17 voted to place a parcel tax on the November ballot to raise a projected $300 million a year to reduce runoff of polluted stormwater. The 4-1 vote puts on the ballot the Safe Clean Water Program, which imposes a 2.5-cent Read More…
Category: Local News
Southern California warehouses may have to regulate trucking pollution
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The South Coast Air Quality Management District moved a step closer in regulating pollution stemming from trucks by focusing on a different sector of the cargo movement supply chain: warehouses. On May 4, in a 7 to 6 vote, the SCAQMD approved one of five staff recommendations including a proposal Read More…
Air quality board orders new rules to reduce emissions
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] Local air quality regulators on May 4 ordered the development of new rules targeting warehouses, rail yards, the San Pedro ports, airports and new development. The governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced it voted 7-6 to direct staff to write rules aimed at reducing smog-forming Read More…
Port of Long Beach launches zero-emissions project
[Source: PORT Technology] The project, funded mostly by the California Energy Commission with a $9.7 million grant, will introduce 25 vehicles that are zero- or near zero-emissions to Port of Long Beach marine terminals to test their performance in a real-world setting for a year. In 2017, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles 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…
Paramount refinery sold as part of $72 million deal
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] A renewable diesel and jet fuel refinery in Paramount has been sold to Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy as part of a deal reportedly worth $72 million. The Paramount refinery was the core asset of renewable jet and diesel producer AltAir Paramount LLC, which also owned an adjacent tank farm. Read More…
City Council to weigh environmental impacts of Port of Long Beach’s rail expansion project
[Source: Press-Telegram] City Council Chambers will soon be center stage for a David-and-Goliath battle – between a loose coalition of small businesses and Long Beach’s economic powerhouse. A study on how a proposed rail yard expansion by the Port of Long Beach will affect the environment will go before the City Council on Tuesday – Read More…
Los Angeles small business attitudes
[Source: 1st Century Bank and Beacon Economics] Small companies are drivers of ingenuity and progression, yet within the economic sector, their contributions are often overlooked. The media relies largely on macro data — primarily GDP and the S&P 500 (a snapshot of the largest 500 publicly traded companies) — to gauge the health of the 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…