Damon Nagami's Blog: Curbing Pollution

L.A.’s 30/10 Transit Initiative Moves Forward! Now What?

2010-04-23T19:46:36Z

Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro) Board unanimously passed a motion to support the so-called 30/10 Initiative, which my colleague Adrian Martinez and I blogged about earlier this week (here and here). This approval is a major step forward in gaining the important environmental, job, and mobility benefits that will come from building twelve regional transit projects in the next decade instead of over the next thirty years.

Now the real work begins. Our elected officials and other transportation folks will soon head to D.C. to try to secure the federal funds necessary to make 30/10 a reality. However, yesterday’s vote signaled a growing desire by some local officials to add highway projects into the mix. As the L.A. Times reported, “[s]ome cities in Los Angeles County were concerned that they would not benefit from the 30-10 plan and wanted highway improvements in their areas expedited.”

Not only is this political pork-barreling at its worst, but it's also simply untrue. The entire Los Angeles region would benefit from much-needed improvements to the public transit system. The twelve projects in the plan were chosen carefully and with effectiveness and geographical equity in mind. Once built, they will stretch across much of the county, from Chatsworth to Santa Fe Springs. And they will have an impact on the entire region. The beauty of the 30/10 Initiative is that it's a win-win-win for all of Southern California, in terms of achieving better regional air quality, providing hundreds of thousands of badly-needed job opportunities, and improving mobility throughout the region.

The 30/10 Initiative must keep the focus on public transit and not be diluted with highway and road projects. Southern California’s obsession with highways and roads over the last several decades has left the region with poor air quality, insufferable traffic problems, and an undeniable deficit of public transit options for people trying to get to work and live their daily lives. Even the federal government recognizes that our current approach to transportation planning -- which historically has been "dependent on carbon-based fuels and automobiles" -- is untenable, especially if we want to make a serious effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. NRDC will continue to work to demand that the hard-earned tax dollars committed to 30/10 go toward shoring up the public transit system, which benefits everyone in the Los Angeles region.

30/10 Transportation Initiative Would Create Jobs, Cut Emissions In Southern California

2010-04-20T23:36:36Z

Los Angeles transportation officials will decide Thursday whether to support the 30/10 Initiative, a bold financing strategy that could benefit the region’s environment, create much-needed jobs, and reduce crippling traffic congestion all in one broad stroke.

In 2008, Los Angeles County voters approved Measure R, a half-cent sales tax increase that will fund critical transportation projects over the next thirty years. But in recent months a coalition of business, labor, and environmental groups – including NRDC – has rallied behind an initiative to speed up construction of twelve of those projects and build them within the next decade.

Under the 30/10 Initiative, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) would use some form of federal help – like a loan guarantee or the use of Build America Bonds – to secure funding up-front. Measure R revenues over the next 30 years would then go toward repaying debt obligations.

This ambitious program would help the region move even faster toward achieving the environmental benefits promised through Measure R. According to Metro staff’s calculations, expanding Metro’s transit system would result in 208 million fewer vehicle miles traveled, reducing harmful emissions from cars and trucks by more than 568,000 pounds.

And the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is touting a new analysis saying the initiative could create 30,000 jobs by the end of 2012, and 240,000 jobs by 2020.

But first Metro will have to approve the initiative and secure federal backing. NRDC supports the 30/10 Initiative and the significant regional benefits it aims to achieve with respect to air quality and increased regional mobility. You can help to ensure the success of 30/10 by contacting Metro board members and your Congressional representatives and senators.

Regulators Snoozed While Oil Company Expanded Drilling Operations in the Heart of Urban Los Angeles

2010-03-16T00:47:52Z

State and local regulators were asleep at the wheel when Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP) embarked on a huge expansion of oil drilling operations in the Baldwin Hills community south of Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported yesterday. According to the AP article, PXP’s push for increased oil drilling in 2005 was “helped along by county and state regulators who determined that the additional wells didn't require any environmental review.” This report comes on the heels of last month’s troubling revelation that a former Los Angeles County supervisor may have pressured County staff to increase the number of oil wells PXP would be allowed to drill over the next twenty years.

I’ve blogged before about this alarming situation and the dangers that local residents face every day. Oil drilling involves the release of toxic chemicals that can cause chronic health problems and even cancer. There already are hundreds of active oil wells in the Baldwin Hills, in the middle of one of the most densely populated parts of L.A., and hundreds more are on their way. And now we know that the regulators with oversight of the oil field were not doing their job. It’s clear that the community needs greater protections. That’s why NRDC and others sued the County in 2008 for more effective health and safety regulations on the oil field. We will continue to fight in court, and we welcome articles and reports like these to keep the issues in the spotlight as we work toward a resolution that will protect the community’s health and well-being.

Former County Supervisor Pressured Planning Staff To Allow Expanded Oil Drilling in L.A.’s Backyards

2010-02-27T00:01:21Z

I’ve blogged before about a massive proposed expansion of oil drilling operations in the Baldwin Hills area of south Los Angeles, where more than a million people live within a few miles of oil operations that spew toxic substances known to cause health problems. NRDC and several other groups filed lawsuits to fight for more effective health and safety regulations on the oil field, and have been litigating vigorously since 2008. Now, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that in 2008, then-County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, in whose district the oil field was located, may have pressured County staff to increase the number of wells the oil company would be allowed to drill over the next twenty years.

To quote the LAT, a recent audit released by Los Angeles County officials found that the Board of Supervisors often uses behind-the-scenes levers to control the inner workings of the County’s Regional Planning Department, and that former Supervisor Burke’s planning deputy, Mike Bohlke, "pressured department staffers to increase their recommended cap for the number of wells eligible for drilling in the Inglewood oil fields before it reached the supervisors for a vote in public. When the staffers suggested more community input first, he wrote ‘Enough is Enough … !!!!!’ in an e-mail to top department officials, the report said.”

We’ve been concerned all along about how this vast expansion of drilling would affect the health and safety of the surrounding communities. Opinions differ on whether the oil field regulations are effective enough – the County thinks they are, we don’t. But I don’t think anyone would disagree that political interference should not be allowed to compromise the health of the community.

Metro Approves South L.A. Rail Line, Still Directs Disproportionate Funds to Highways

2009-12-17T02:49:36Z

Last Thursday, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) approved a new light rail line in a move that could strengthen the transit network of a region that has historically under-invested in public transportation.

The Crenshaw/LAX Line would start at the Crenshaw Station on the Exposition Line and then head south on Crenshaw Boulevard -- past the predominantly African American neighborhoods of Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park, and Hyde Park -- and continue south to a stop about a mile from Los Angeles International Airport.

“This project is long overdue and will provide congestion relief, improve air quality and serve as an economic catalyst,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said after the vote.

Building the line should cost between $1.3 and $1.7 billion and be paid for using revenues from Measure R, the half-cent countywide sales tax increase passed in 2008 to pay for transportation projects. Metro expects to have the line in operation sometime between 2016 and 2018.

Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, who is also a member of Metro’s Board of Directors, has been among the most visible supporters of the project, which would pass through his district. Since the county first began discussing a transit project in the corridor, he has pushed for a light rail line rather than a rapid bus lane, and on Thursday he convinced the Metro board to consider adding further safety measures.

Light rail critics say these projects siphon money from cheaper bus operations that serve more riders. But NRDC applauds investments in both bus and light rail, which are considerable improvements over costly and unsustainable highway projects, and we commend Supervisor Ridley-Thomas for his leadership in expanding public transit options for this historically underserved region of the city.

Although Metro operates a vast transit system, with 191 bus routes spread across a service area of 1,433 square miles and with more than 90 miles of light rail running from Pasadena to Long Beach, this system pales in comparison to the vast highway network. Five hundred and twenty-seven miles of freeway crisscross Los Angeles County, and officials have invested handsomely in them. Merely widening the 405 Freeway from the 10 to the 101 -- a distance of less than ten miles -- will carry a $1 billion budget. All told, almost $8 billion worth of highway projects are planned for Los Angeles County in the next six years.

The focus on highways comes from the traditional priorities of local officials and also from the decisions of state and federal leaders. Now, at a time when more commuters have turned to public transportation nationally, California has eliminated its public transportation funding and forced local agencies to cut services and increase fares.

With Measure R expected to generate $40 billion in the next 30 years, NRDC will be working hard to ensure that the revenue is spent responsibly, on transit improvements that will reduce auto use and encourage sustainable development.

For a look at the proposed Crenshaw/LAX line, click here.

Protecting Southern Californians From In-Community Oil Drilling

2009-08-05T23:52:54Z

Many Californians already know about offshore oil drilling. The controversial issue was in the spotlight during this summer's tense negotiations over California's budget, when the Assembly thankfully nixed a backroom deal to allow drilling off the Santa Barbara coast for the first time in four decades.

What many Californians don't know, however, is that onshore oil drilling is alive and well - and is happening right now in our own backyards.

In Southern California, ground zero for what's known as urban or "in-community" oil drilling is a two-square-mile expanse of sweeping canyons and ridgelines known as the Baldwin Hills. Although oil companies have been drilling there for decades, up until very recently no health or safety regulations were ever put in place to govern drilling operations despite two neighborhood evacuations in 2006 due to toxic gas leaks. In the meantime, the surrounding communities have grown tremendously - to the point where over a million people now live within a couple miles of the oil fields.

This is alarming because, as my colleague Amy Mall has blogged about frequently, oil drilling operations use and produce toxic chemicals known to harm people's health. These chemicals also pollute the air in the form of volatile organic compounds (VOC), greenhouse gases, and particulate matter.

Predictably, local government's failure to regulate the oil fields led to the disaster in 2006, when noxious gas emissions forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. The outcry from the community prompted the County of Los Angeles to adopt emergency measures and eventually propose a set of health and safety regulations known as a community standards district, or CSD.

Unfortunately, the oil company, PXP - the same company behind the current offshore drilling debacle in Santa Barbara - dragged its feet during the environmental review process and forced the County to do a sloppy rush job. As a result, the County ended up approving an inadequate set of regulations that allowed a vast expansion of drilling activities without enough oversight or environmental or safety protections. NRDC and other groups immediately filed suit.

After nine months of hard-fought litigation, our efforts are finally starting to pay off. On Tuesday, the County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion - authored by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas - to initiate a study on how the CSD can be strengthened, and to propose public hearings on potential amendments. And earlier today, the Los Angeles Superior Court denied PXP's motion to dismiss our lawsuit and three other similar lawsuits brought by community groups.

These are two huge wins for the community, but we're not out of the woods yet. What we need now is action. The County needs to follow through and upgrade the CSD's health and safety protections. PXP needs to be a good corporate neighbor and work with the community instead of alienating it. Let's capitalize on the momentum we've started to gain this week. After enduring years of toxic fumes, these communities deserve a breath of fresh air.