[Source: The Mercury News] After the mysterious burning of materials at the Russian consulate on the eve of its closure earlier this month, Bay Area air quality investigators Tuesday formally cited the foreign government agency for violating burn restrictions, according to an official. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued the Notice of Violation Read More…
Newsroom
Rotterdam floats solar power production
[Source: Pot Technology] Rotterdam Port and the Dutch environment and infrastructure ministry Rijkswaterstaat have launched a floating solar panel pilot to explore the possibility of running a commercial solar plant. Alongside the Dutch government, Europe’s busiest port is studying whether it is possible to build a large-scale, commercial solar farm at a site near the Read More…
Requirement to collect pay data by race and gender halted
[Source: CalChamber] The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently issued an immediate stay of a rule that would have required private employers with more than 100 employees to report how much they pay employees by race, ethnicity and gender on their EEO-1 reports. “It’s enormously burdensome,” Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office Read More…
EPA workforce shrinking to Reagan-era levels: agency official
[Source: Reuters] The workforce at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on course to fall to its lowest level since Ronald Reagan was president, an agency official said on Tuesday. In June, the EPA unveiled a buyout program that would contribute to the biggest cuts of any federal agency in President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget Read More…
Several employment-related bills remain active in California Legislature
[Source: CalChamber] The following is a list of employment-related bills that were on the suspense files and considered by the Senate or Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday, September 1. Legislators have until Friday, September 15, to pass and send legislation to the Governor’s desk for consideration. Immigration AB 450 (Chiu; D-San Francisco) Employer Liability — Places employers Read More…
High-speed rail in the Valley was once supposed to be done by Saturday… not even close
[Source: The Fresno Bee] In 2010, when the Obama administration started to pony up more than $2.5 billion in economic stimulus money for construction of California’s high-speed rail project, the funds came with three important conditions: That the money be used for construction in the San Joaquin Valley. That the money be completely spent by Read More…
Have physicists found the key to safer nuclear power?
[Source: NBC News MACH] Unlike the uranium commonly used to power nuclear reactors, thorium salts are protected against meltdowns and can’t be weaponized. In the pursuit of renewable and cleaner energy sources, nuclear power remains one of the viable options. To make it an even safer choice, a Dutch nuclear research firm began experiments with Read More…
First-ever water tax proposed to tackle unsafe drinking water in California
[Source: The Mercury News] For the first time Californians would pay a tax on drinking water — 95 cents per month — under legislation aimed at fixing hundreds of public water systems with unsafe tap water. Senate Bill 623, backed by a strange-bedfellows coalition of the agricultural lobby and environmental groups but opposed by water districts, Read More…
Trump signs order rolling back environmental rules on infrastructure
[Source: The New York Times] President Trump announced on Tuesday that he had signed a sweeping executive order to eliminate and streamline some permitting regulations and to speed construction of roads, bridges and pipelines, declaring that the moves would fix a “badly broken” infrastructure system in America and bring manufacturing jobs back to the country. Read More…