Air quality regulators thwarted in effort to make air pollution worse in L.A. Basin
It's good to know that the public interest is protected by public
agencies staffed by high-minded public servants. Unfortunately, it's not true very often and clearly not in the case of the South Coast Air Quality board which was caught red-handed by Judge Ann I. Jones. She ruled that approval of 13 planned power plants was illegal because air quality regulators didn't require environmental and health studies on the pollution they will generate. Even worse, the Times says that last week regulators "lobbied by a host of former politicians, decided to sell
the (banked air pollution) credits to energy companies for $420 million: about half the market
value." Top air regulator Barry Wallerstein warns there will be blackouts as we keep building without enough power. And that's the key: If public officials obeyed the law and stopped giving away the people's money, we wouldn't have overdevelopment that pollutes our air, exhausts our water resources, clogs our roads and ruins our neighborhoods.
MTA's plan to cut a sweetheart deal to overdevelop Van Nuys thwarted by environmental hazard
The L.A. Weekly reports that the MTA board started playing its usual political games in considering approval of "a vast, 'transit-oriented' luxury-apartment complex sprinkled with 30,000 square feet of shops" on an Orange Line busway parking lot. The community hates the project that has several political heavyweights jockeying to get the lucrative deal. But Steven Leigh Morris reports the real problem is toxic chemicals emitted from "Chevron USA's Van Nuys Terminal -- a gas-storage, -reprocessing and -redistribution plant less than 100 yards away." So much for the value of human life when friends can make a buck.
It's good to know that the public interest is protected by public
agencies staffed by high-minded public servants. Unfortunately, it's not true very often and clearly not in the case of the South Coast Air Quality board which was caught red-handed by Judge Ann I. Jones. She ruled that approval of 13 planned power plants was illegal because air quality regulators didn't require environmental and health studies on the pollution they will generate. Even worse, the Times says that last week regulators "lobbied by a host of former politicians, decided to sell
the (banked air pollution) credits to energy companies for $420 million: about half the market
value." Top air regulator Barry Wallerstein warns there will be blackouts as we keep building without enough power. And that's the key: If public officials obeyed the law and stopped giving away the people's money, we wouldn't have overdevelopment that pollutes our air, exhausts our water resources, clogs our roads and ruins our neighborhoods.MTA's plan to cut a sweetheart deal to overdevelop Van Nuys thwarted by environmental hazard
The L.A. Weekly reports that the MTA board started playing its usual political games in considering approval of "a vast, 'transit-oriented' luxury-apartment complex sprinkled with 30,000 square feet of shops" on an Orange Line busway parking lot. The community hates the project that has several political heavyweights jockeying to get the lucrative deal. But Steven Leigh Morris reports the real problem is toxic chemicals emitted from "Chevron USA's Van Nuys Terminal -- a gas-storage, -reprocessing and -redistribution plant less than 100 yards away." So much for the value of human life when friends can make a buck.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
I cannot let this opportunity get away. Reading about the EPA, we all should wonder why we must
continue to breathe the very dirty air everywhere we live and visit in this dreadful place.
I don't know how many maintenance people who mow, blow and go are at work at any given time every day, but the reports of asthma even in the very young are scary.
It isn't fumes from automobiles and buses, it is the dust, dirt, animal feces, spores and who knows what that is blown into the air after the work on a lawn or property is done. Just look at the window sills, the dust in your house, and the chest full of breathing medications.
Why cannot these people throw away or recycle the blowers, pick up the brooms and sweep only where necessary, a front walk, a porch? Those leaves are not dirt, people pay good money for compost. If someone insists on a complete maintenance job, charge them more money.