Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
It was a beautiful day in most of Los Angeles yesterday. I played hooky from work and drove out to the ballpark to see the Dodgers beat the Rockies 3-1. Remarkably, Manny Ramirez stole a base!Unremarkably, 26 miles away, LA’s...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming
Last Wednesday, International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa announced at a conference in Oakland, CA, that the Teamsters were withdrawing from the coalition supporting oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This was a stunning development,...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment
On July 15, 2008, California State Senator Alan Lowenthal’s bill to impose a fee on cargo containers passed the California Assembly, on its way to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk. The vote wasn’t close: 46-23. The Assembly vote was the result of...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment
Last week, I attended a shipping industry love-fest in New York called “Faster Freight, Cleaner Air.” Yes, that’s right, the industry types reading from the rosy scenario script wanted to reassure each other that our nation’s cargo movement system is...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
On June 26, 2008, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa signed into law a City ordinance, passed by a unanimous vote of the L.A. City Council, enacting the Port of Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program, the most progressive in the nation. If...
Posted by David Pettit
On June 13, 2008, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) wrote to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and stated that the FMC would “allow the early effectiveness” of the Ports’ agreement that authorized the Ports to cooperate in...
Posted by David Pettit
On Friday, May 16, 2008, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster gave a talk that blew the roof off the business-oriented FuturePorts conference in Long Beach. The beautiful setting, right by the water (thank you, Nancy), was a strong contrast to...
Posted by David Pettit
Southern California’s air quality woes are a well known fact, but not enough has been done to alleviate the problem. Today, NRDC filed a petition for review in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging EPA’s approval of the...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution , The Media and the Environment
NRDC’s work to clean up the Port of Long Beach got sucker punched last week in the Wall Street Journal. It was truly a shock to see such a mischaracterization of our work and our motives represented in such a...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
I used to play basketball with a guy we called “Schmutzie,” a playground variant on the Yiddish word “schmutz,” which means dirt. I don’t know how he got the name – he wasn’t any dirtier a player than the rest...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
Last week, I attended a community meeting in Long Beach to discuss a potential intermodal rail yard expansion project. After the railroad representatives gave their presentation on why the expansion is good for the local community, good for business and...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
Roughly 5,000 people showed up to a rally I spoke at last week. The rally followed the aptly named, “Hollywood to the Docks March,” a 3-day, 28 mile march designed to highlight the struggle of workers and communities throughout LA.While...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
Today, after tough and arduous negotiations with NRDC and a number of environmental and community groups, the Port of Los Angeles agreed to implement a long-overdue plan ensuring that as the port expands their operations, harbor residents breathe a little...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution
On March 20, 2008, after more than two years of advocacy, negotiation, drafting letters to the editor, meetings with public officials, a notice of intent to sue letter under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act sent to the neighboring...
Posted by David Pettit in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy
Trofim Lysenko, a Russian biologist from a non-scientific background who rejected Mendelian genetics, was a favorite of Stalin because his theories of agronomy -- based on the (now discredited) concept of environmentally acquired inheritable traits -- promised vastly higher crop...
