• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) responded to the Trump administration’s April 26 release of the draft supplement environmental impact statement on proposals for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on California’s public lands by calling for people to comment on the report. “The Central Coast is already facing grave impacts from climate change, including rising sea levels, drought, and a nearly year-round fire season. The administration’s plan to open public lands to fracking and oil development is a step backward given the increasingly urgent warnings from our scientific community on the unchecked effects of climate change. The Central Coast has a long history of environmental stewardship, and we must continue speaking out to protect our clean air, open spaces, and wildlife habitat,” Carbajal said in a press release. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan identifies options for fracking on public and private land in eight counties in Central California, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The comment period for the report ends on June 10, and the BLM is holding a public meeting about the report on May 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo.
• State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s (D-Santa Barbara) legislation to combat tobacco waste passed out of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on April 24. Senate Bill 424 would ban the sale of single-use tobacco products and require multi-use tobacco products to be recyclable or be collected for take-back by tobacco product manufacturers. “Tobacco waste is the No. 1 source of ocean trash and leaks toxic chemicals that are harmful to our ecosystems and wildlife. It is time for the tobacco industry to take responsibility for the lifecycle of their products and do their part to reduce their environmental impacts,” Jackson said in a press release. The release states that the cost borne by local and state agencies to deal with tobacco product waste is sizable, with San Francisco spending nearly $10 million on cigarette butt cleanup in 2009. Two other pieces of legislation authored by Jackson also made headway in April. Senate Bill 135, which attempts to ensure that more employees who pay into the Paid Family Leave Program can use it without losing their jobs, passed out of the Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee on April 24. Senate Bill 182—which seeks to strengthen local planning requirements in high fire-hazard areas and encourage local governments to pursue more fire-resistant and home-hardening strategies in their communities—passed the Senate Housing Committee on April 23.
• The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee voted to move forward with creating a renter protection package on April 25. California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with a statement that the cost of housing is a quality-of-life concern for people across the state. “Families shouldn’t be forced to live hours from where they work. Vulnerable residents—seniors, families with small children, and people on a fixed income—shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of eviction. And people across the state shouldn’t be forced to spend their whole paycheck to keep a roof overhead. But that’s increasingly the case throughout California,” Newsom said in a press release. “I am grateful that members of the Assembly voted today to continue moving forward on one piece of the housing affordability solution—creating a renter protection package.”
This article appears in May 2-9, 2019.
