Environment

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and the California Department of Food and Agriculture last week forged an agreement requiring Bombino Express Worldwide to immediately stop the “illegal importation” of produce that has not been treated to eradicate the Oriental Fruit Fly or other crop-damaging pests.

In July 2008, Bombino Express Worldwide imported 34 packages of Indian mangoes and yams that were labeled “ladies’ apparel” through Los Angeles International Airport. Airport dogs discovered the packages and prevented the produce from entering the food supply.

“Bombino Express Worldwide illegally imported mangoes and yams, without treating them for dangerous pests such as the Oriental Fruit Fly,” Brown said. “It’s critical that imported produce be properly inspected to avoid devastating and costly pest infestations.”

State and Federal laws prohibit the importation of untreated mangoes from India because they can be infested with crop-damaging pests, like the Oriental Fruit Fly, which reproduces rapidly due to lack of natural biological constraints.

An Oriental Fruit Fly infestation could cost the state up to $176 million in crop losses, eradication efforts and quarantine requirements.

Brown’s Office and the California Department of Food and Agriculture filed a lawsuit against Bombino Express Worldwide and its CEO Mohmed Yasin Latiwala of New Jersey in July 2008, contending that the company had violated:

• Food and Agriculture Code section 5306 which prohibits importation of plant material in violation of a plant quarantine;
• Food and Agriculture Code section 6321 which prohibits the importation of any fruit/plant/vegetable which may become a host to any species of the fruit fly family;
• Food and Agriculture Code section 6421 which prohibits shipments of plants brought in to the state without proper markings and disclosure; and
• Food and Agriculture Code section 6461 prohibiting importation of plant material infested with agricultural pests subject to quarantine.

Bombino Express Worldwide is headquartered in Mumbai, India. The settlement prevents Bombino Express Worldwide from importing produce that have not been properly inspected for foreign pests. The company will also pay $40,000 in civil penalties. If the company violates the agreement in the future, it will be forced to pay $1.6 million in additional penalties.

“The inspectors who prevented these shipments from passing into California deserve the appreciation of farmers throughout California,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “Invasive pests are a primary threat to our crops, and keeping them out of California is vital to the security of our food supply and the stability of our agricultural economy.”

A copy of the settlement agreement is attached.

Washington, DC – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed on to an “historic agreement” between the Obama Administration, the State of California and automakers that will lead to the nationwide adoption of California’s stringent vehicle emissions standards.

Under the agreement, the federal government will require a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. This will mean that U.S. motor vehicles will be required to achieve a fleetwide standard of approximately 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, four years earlier than federal law requires.

This is the first greenhouse gas emission limit by the federal government, and it is the direct result of California's action to control tailpipe emissions.

“This is an historic agreement that will lead to a 30 percent reduction in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions nationwide,” Brown said. “This agreement brings an end to a five-year legal battle; it means that automakers finally recognize that their future depends on making cleaner and more efficient vehicles.”

For over 40 years, California has had authority under the Clean Air Act to set stricter standards than the federal government for automobile emissions. Other states have been permitted to adopt those tougher standards for the past 30 years.

In 2005, California applied its authority to greenhouse gas emissions, adopting standards that require a 30 percent reduction in global warming emissions from vehicles by 2016. Fourteen states adopted identical regulations.

The automobile industry attacked California’s standards at every turn, challenging them in both state and federal court.

Brown has staunchly and successfully defended California’s law against these challenges, provided assistance to Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Mexico whose laws were also challenged, and sued Bush Administration’s EPA for denying California’s waiver.

Brown expects EPA will act quickly to grant California’s waiver. Once the waiver is granted, the state will consider compliance with a substantially similar federal standard to be compliance with California’s standard.

There are 32 million registered vehicles in California, twice the number of any other state. Cars generate 20% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and at least 30% of such emissions in California.

A copy of Brown's letter outlining his understanding of the agreement it attached.

San Francisco – Responding to a lawsuit that Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and others filed last year, the U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to reconsider the Bush Administration’s “grossly inadequate” home furnace and boiler efficiency regulations.

“The Bush Administration’s grossly inadequate efficiency standards did not do nearly enough to reduce energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and consumer costs from boilers and furnaces,” Attorney General Brown said. “Today’s agreement forces reconsideration of the regulations and could lead to much tougher standards.”

In November 2007, the Bush Administration put forward regulations that gave manufacturers eight years to make only minimal increases in the efficiency of home furnaces and boilers.

In February 2008, Attorney General Brown joined the California Energy Commission, the State of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and New York City, Earthjustice and the National Resources Defense Council in challenging the Bush Administration’s efficiency standards on the grounds that the standards violated the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy filed a motion asking the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals to allow it to reopen the rulemaking process and examine key problems with the regulation including: the failure to consider regional standards and whether a more stringent standard would affect natural gas prices.

The Second Circuit granted the U.S. Department of Energy’s motion today. This resolves the 2008 lawsuit and could lead to more stringent standards, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and energy costs.

The original lawsuit contended that the Bush Administration’s regulations were illegal because they:

• Proposed only minimal increases in efficiency, far less than the Department’s own analysis recognized could be achieved. The U.S. Department of Energy standards would increase furnace efficiency by less than 3% and boiler efficiency only 2.5% over 23 years.

• Resulted from a flawed process. The U.S. Department of Energy overstated the economic barriers to adopting a stricter standard and also failed to consider the positive economic impact of more stringent standards.

• Gave manufacturers too much time to meet the new standards. The U.S. Department of Energy would not require furnace and boiler manufacturers to comply with the new standards until 2015, eight years after the standards were originally issued.

This agreement is part of Attorney General Brown’s fight for stronger federal action on global warming and energy efficiency.

Last week, Attorney General Brown commended the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for issuing a proposed determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Brown and 14 states urged the Obama Administration to overturn the Bush EPA’s denial of California’s request to enforce its automobile greenhouse gas emissions law.

In 2002, California enacted legislation requiring a 30% reduction in automobile greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. But before the State can enforce its law, EPA must grant a Clean Air Act wavier.

A copy of the Second Circuit’s order is attached.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today commended the Environmental Protection Agency for taking the federal government’s “first concrete step toward curbing global warming” by issuing a proposed determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare.

“After years of inexcusable neglect under the Bush Administration, the EPA has taken the first concrete step toward curbing global warming by making a preliminary determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare.” Attorney General Brown said. “This proposed endangerment determination opens the door to the first serious national effort to reduce greenhouse gases.”

This proposed determination stems from the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA -- a case in which California was a lead plaintiff -- which required EPA to determine whether the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming “may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”
The Bush Administration refused to comply with the court’s order to make such a determination.

Brown has made combating global warming a major priority of the Attorney General’s office. He has:
• Requested the EPA requesting to curb greenhouse gases from ocean-going vessels, aircraft, and non-road vehicles;

• Urged the EPA to regulate emissions from power plants and other large polluting sources;

• Sued the Department of Energy for failing to require updated efficiency standards for appliances and other equipment;

• Sued the Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing federal projects to be approved without considering the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on endangered species; and

• Defended California's new motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations from challenge by the automobile industry.

In California, Attorney General Brown has reached path-breaking settlements with San Bernardino County and the City of Stockton requiring them to adopt Climate Action Plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has filed over 40 comments letters on local land-use projects under the California Environmental Quality Act.

More information on Attorney General Brown’s efforts to combat global warming can be found at http://ag.ca.gov/globalwarming/.

RIVERSIDE – Fighting to safeguard groundwater supplies threatened by toxic contamination, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has filed suit against a national gas station chain – TravelCenters of America – to force the corporation to comply with underground fuel storage laws it has “knowingly and repeatedly disregarded” for years.

“TravelCenters of America has knowingly and repeatedly disregarded California’s underground fuel storage laws for years,” Attorney General Brown said. “This has put the Inland Empire’s scarce groundwater supplies at serious risk of contamination.”

On July 10, 2008, Riverside District Attorney Rod Pacheco filed legal action seeking an injunction against TravelCenters for violating the laws governing the management and handling of underground storage tanks of hazardous materials.

TravelCenters subsequently responded to the suit, offering more than a dozen legal theories as to why the law does not apply. This includes claims that the law is unconstitutional, is pre-empted by federal law, and violates due process.

At the request of the Riverside District Attorney, Attorney General Brown joined the case to enforce California’s health and safety laws, which Travelcenters has consistently violated and ignored. The suit was filed last week and made public today.

Over a number of years, the Riverside Department of Environmental Health conducted inspections at the TravelCenters facility in Riverside County, which revealed numerous, longstanding violations of California’s underground storage tank law. TravelCenters has failed to correct many of the deficiencies, even after repeated warnings.

Given these violations, Brown is seeking a permanent injunction to block TavelCenter’s illegal activities under Chapters 6.5, 6.7, and 6.95 of Division 20 of California’s Health and Safety Code, and section 17200 of California’s Business and Professions Codes, which governs unfair competition and business practices.

Brown’s suit contends that TravelCenters:

• Failed to have adequate containment and detection equipment for hazardous materials storage tanks;
• Improperly raised, altered, tampered, or disabled sensors in spill boxes that detect leaks;
• Failed to identify the date the hazardous materials were received;
• Failed to manage hazardous waste containers;
• Failed to maintain documentation of employee training;
• Failed to identify an emergency coordinator;
• Failed to inspect container storage areas;
• Failed to store incompatible wastes in separate containers;
• Failed to remove accumulated liquid or debris from the secondary containment system;
• Failed to have an operational audible/visual alarm system connected for continuous monitoring;
• Failed to have emergency response plans; and
• Failed to maintain a complete hazardous materials business plan.
In addition, the lawsuit seeks up to a statutory maximum of $25,000 in civil penalties for each day of each violation. This could amount to millions of dollars in penalties.

TravelCenters of America operates 234 travel centers, including 188 owned and 46 franchisees along interstate highways of 41 US states and in the province of Ontario, Canada.

A copy of Attorney General Brown’s complaint is attached.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and 14 other states yesterday urged the Obama Administration to overturn the Bush EPA’s “shameful denial” of California’s request to enforce its automobile greenhouse gas emissions law.

“The Bush Administration’s shameful denial of California’s waiver fundamentally ignored the serious impacts that global warming is having on our state,” Attorney General Brown said. “The Obama Administration should overturn Bush’s wrongheaded decision and allow California to enforce its greenhouse gas law.”
In a comment letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Attorney General Brown, joined by 14 other states, wrote that under the Clean Air Act, California is entitled to be granted authority to enforce its law and EPA should grant the waiver immediately.

In 2002, California enacted legislation requiring a 30 % reduction in automobile greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. But before the State can enforce its law, EPA must grant a Clean Air Act wavier.

The Bush EPA denied California’s request for such a waiver in 2007, arguing that California did not need the regulation to address 'compelling and extraordinary conditions.' This denial reversed decades of agency practice and ignored the dangerous consequences of global warming to the State of California.

Global warming threatens California's Sierra mountain snow pack, which provides the state with one-third of its drinking water. California also has approximately 1,000 miles of coastline and levees that are threatened by rising sea levels.

In the 40-year history of the Act, EPA has granted approximately 50 waivers to California for innovations like catalytic converters, exhaust emission standards, and leaded gasoline regulations. Until the Bush Administration’s decision, a waiver request had never been denied.

On February 6, 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the Obama EPA would review the Bush EPA’s denial of California's waiver request.

There are 32 million registered vehicles in California, twice the number of any other state. Cars generate 20% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and at least 30% of such emissions in California.

Brown’s letter was also signed by the New York City Corporation Counsel and 14 other states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Attorney General Brown's letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is attached.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2009
Contact: Christine Gasparac (916) 324-5500

Brown Urges Obama Administration to Allow California to Enforce Tough Greenhouse Gas Emissions Law

SACRAMENTO –Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today urged the Obama Administration to overturn the Bush EPA’s “illegal and shortsighted” denial of California’s request to carry out its state law requiring a 30% reduction in tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions.

“The Clean Air Act gives California the right to pass tough laws to fight pollution,” Attorney General Brown said. “The Bush EPA adopted an illegal and shortsighted policy by blocking California’s tough emissions standard. California’s law will drive technological innovation and cut greenhouse gases. I urge the Obama Administration to grant our request.”

In 2002, California passed AB 1493, which requires a 30 % reduction in tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions by 2016, starting with model year 2009.

EPA must grant California’s waiver request before the state can enforce its tough emissions standards. The Bush administration had been ducking California’s request since 2005. In 2007, the Bush Administration denied California’s request.

On February 6, 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the Agency’s decision to review its denial of California’s request to implement its greenhouse gas emission law.

There are 32 million registered vehicles in California, twice the number of any other state. Cars generate 20% of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and at least 30% of such emissions in California. If California’s landmark global warming law—and the corresponding 30% improvement in emissions standards—were adopted nationally, the United States could cut annual oil imports by $100 billion dollars at $50 per barrel.

Attorney General Brown’s letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is attached.

March 6, 2009

Via E-Mail and First Class Mail

The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Re: Request for Comments on California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; Greenhouse Gas Regulations; Reconsideration of Previous Denial of a
Waiver of Preemption; 74 Fed. Reg. 7040 (Feb. 12, 2009); Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0173
Dear Administrator Jackson:

These comments are submitted in support of California’s waiver application. I strongly support EPA’s decision to reconsider its decision denying the waiver. The denial was in error, on both legal and factual grounds. EPA’s willingness to review that decision represents an important step after years of Bush Administration resistance to environmental protection. I intend to submit more detailed comments addressing both the factual errors and legal defects in EPA’s waiver denial decision. Today, however, I make two points: First, EPA’s decision to reconsider its waiver denial is proper. Second, given the urgency of dealing with global warming, EPA should grant California’s waiver as soon as possible.

EPA’s Decision to Reconsider the Waiver Denial is Appropriate and Proper.

EPA’s decision to reconsider its denial of California’s waiver request is both sound and legally correct. See, e.g., Sierra Club v. Vanantwerp, 560 F. Supp.2d 21 (D. D.C. 2008). There are substantial defects in EPA’s waiver denial decision that require correction, and it makes sense for EPA, the expert administrative agency, to cure its own mistakes.

In this denial, EPA departed from long standing past practice and considered whether California’s GHG emissions standard was needed to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions related to a specific pollutant – GHG emissions. Until this decision, EPA had looked at California’s emissions program in its totality, as the Clean Air Act requires. 42 U.S.C. § 7543. California’s separate emissions program has been approved because of the state’s climate, geography, extraordinarily severe air quality problems, and the large number and concentration of motor vehicles contributing to these problems. The Administrator also determined that climate change impacts in California were not sufficiently different from the nation as a whole and, therefore, did not support adoption of state standards regulating motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. This conclusion ignores that California continues to have compelling and extraordinary conditions justifying its own mobile source program, and that the impacts from climate change will be particularly severe in the state, given California’s extensive coastline, significant dependence on snow pack for water supply, vulnerability to floods and wildfires, severe ozone problem, and other impacts. These fundamental errors, among others, undermine the legitimacy of the waiver denial because they misconstrue the Clean Air Act and depart from decades of prior, sound agency practice.

In the landmark case Massachusetts v. EPA, 127 S. Ct. 1438 (2007), the Bush Administration fought to avoid its responsibility to deal with the threat of global warming. It took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected its arguments and ruled that global warming emissions are pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Even after the Court’s decision, EPA delayed taking any action on greenhouse gases for close to two years. EPA’s decision denying California’s waiver was another attempt to avoid the agency’s obligation to administer the Clean Air Act, as Congress wrote it. Now that EPA is reconsidering that decision, California looks forward to working with EPA so that these important standards can, finally, become effective.

EPA Should Grant the Waiver as Soon as Possible.

Global warming is the arguably most urgent environmental issue of our time. Our way of life and perhaps even our survival depend on our response to this problem. The regulations before you are a first, bold step toward dealing with global warming. They are ready to be enforced. Without Congress’ foresight in allowing California its important leadership role in setting automobile emissions standards, we would not have these ready-to-implement regulations today. All we need is a waiver from EPA. That waiver is long overdue. We have been waiting since 2005 for it.

Fourteen states plus the District of Columbia have adopted California’s greenhouse gas emissions regulations, with another four states in the process. The 14 states represent at least 37 percent of the nation’s vehicles and the four states in the process will raise the level to approximately 47 percent. There are several more states debating whether to adopt the program and, if they move forward, will represent over half the nation. We are optimistic that EPA will, upon reconsideration, grant California’s waiver request, thereby allowing California’s standards to become effective.

EPA therefore should waste no time in granting California’s waiver application as soon as possible. I am confident that upon reconsideration, the agency will determine that the request is consistent with the Clean Air Act and must be granted.
Sincerely,

EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Attorney General

cc: Dickinson.David@EPA.gov

Sacramento–Attorney General Edmund G. Brown today announced that a coalition of 18 states and cities have won reversal of controversial Bush-era pollution standards “justified by nothing more than junk science” and which threatened to undermine public health.

"This dangerous air pollution causes thousands of premature deaths each year. Yet the Bush Administration callously ignored the facts and put forward a standard justified by nothing more than junk science,” Attorney General Brown said. “Today, the DC Circuit Court cleared the way for the Obama Administration to right this wrong.”

Fine soot pollution (also known as fine particulate matter pollution or “PM 2.5”) comes from diesel vehicles, power plants and other sources, and is prevalent in urban areas. Because fine soot can lodge deep in the lungs, it can cause numerous harmful health effects, including premature death, chronic respiratory illness, decreased lung function, cardiovascular disease and asthma. Children, senior citizens, and people with existing lung and heart diseases are especially susceptible to harm from fine soot pollution.

That is why EPA’s scientists and scientific advisory committee recommended strict new standards for fine soot in 2005. However, the Bush Administration rejected their advice and chose a weaker, less protective standard. Today’s decision clears the path for the Obama Administration to issue new, stronger standards.

Today’s decision, issued by the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, agreed with the coalition that the Bush EPA had acted illegally in issuing weak air pollution standards for fine soot, acting against the advice of EPA professional staff and EPA’s own scientific advisory committee. The court found that the Bush EPA had also erred by not taking into account the special sensitivity to air pollution of children, elderly people and other vulnerable populations. The Court remanded the standards to the new Obama EPA to issue new, more protective air pollution standards for fine soot that will better protect public health.

The states, cities and other state agencies joining in the challenge that led to today’s victory are: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The States of Arizona, Maryland and Massachusetts also joined as friends of the court.

'Today’s decision is a return to sanity by an agency whose fairness and balance had been sabotaged by the partisan extremism of the Bush Administration.

This is but a first step, but it signals that this EPA has a renewed commitment to sound science and to rule of law.

California has led the way on global warming, and the state should be allowed to continue in its leadership role in reducing automobile emissions and addressing global warming.”

Sacramento – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown today issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s direction to the EPA to reconsider California’s Clean Air Act waiver to enforce its landmark global warming legislation.

“Today’s dramatic announcement by President Obama marks the first time that an American President has taken decisive action to deal with global warming.

California welcomes President Obama’s commitment to make cars cleaner, more efficient, and less dependent on foreign oil.

What a difference from the dangerous paralysis of the Bush years.”

Last year, Attorney General Brown filed suit against the Bush Administration for denying California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver to enforce the state's landmark greenhouse gas emissions standards. This was the first time that the EPA had denied a Clean Air Act waiver request from California.