[Source: The Daily Breeze] Suppose it was 1650 and you were accused of being a witch. Would you prefer trial by water or hanging? If you choose trial by water, the people in charge of things will throw you into the nearest lake, river or ocean and wait to see if you sink or float. Read More…
Newsroom
Clean-air plan is one that SoCal business could live with
[Source: Orange County Register Editorial Board] Balancing the need for clean air and the need for industry is no small task. It requires a careful, judicious weighing of the costs and benefits of regulatory action and voluntary cooperation. Command-and-control regulations may seem expedient, but they can become burdensome and harmful to economic development. Thus, the Read More…
Air quality board set to adopt smog plan with voluntary measures for ports, tougher rules on refineries
[Source: The Los Angeles Times] Southern California air quality regulators are poised to adopt a pollution-reduction plan Friday that relies on voluntary measures from ports, warehouses and rail yards responsible for much of the region’s harmful emissions. The South Coast Air Quality Management District board also appears likely to adopt a tougher regulatory stance toward Read More…
EPA science under scrutiny by Trump political staff
[Source: Associated Press] The Trump administration is mandating that any studies or data from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public. The communications director for President Donald Trump’s transition team at EPA, Doug Ericksen, said Wednesday the review also extends to content on Read More…
New year, new burdens for small businesses
[Source: Press-Telegram] Small business owners must be diligent to comply with slew of new laws and regulations. The California Legislature enacted a dizzying array of new bills last year — with Gov. Jerry Brown signing more than 900 into law. With job growth stagnant and small business optimism unclear here in California, hundreds of new Read More…
Trump admin orders EPA contract freeze and media blackout
[Source: Associated Press] The Trump administration has instituted what it described as a temporary media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed specific prohibitions banning press releases, Read More…
The immediate threat to California’s climate-change fight isn’t Trump, it’s this
[Source: The Los Angeles Times] With President Trump in the Oval Office, California officials are bracing for the possibility that the new administration will undermine the state’s landmark policies on climate change. But the more immediate threat isn’t coming from Washington; it lies in a lawsuit that has been slowly winding its way through state courts. The 4-year-old Read More…
It’s judges, not Trump, who will decide Obama’s environmental legacy
[Source: The Verge] Donald Trump, our new president, has vowed to dismantle many of the environmental policies passed under President Barack Obama. But for the next four years, when it comes to climate policy, the place to watch isn’t the White House — it’s the courtroom. For the past eight years, Obama has positioned himself Read More…
Trump team prepares dramatic cuts
[Source: The Hill] Donald Trump is ready to take an ax to government spending. Staffers for the Trump transition team have been meeting with career staff at the White House ahead of Friday’s presidential inauguration to outline their plans for shrinking the federal bureaucracy, The Hill has learned. The changes they propose are dramatic. The Read More…