Focus
Associated Press – March 21, 2008
Associated Press – March 21, 2008
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Monday’s new proposal, would require public companies to disclose their greenhouse gases and how they affect their businesses. This includes the costs of switching to fossil fuels and the risks associated with the physical effects of drought, storms, and higher temperatures resulting from climate change. The required disclosures would include greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies directly or indirectly — such as from consumption of the company’s products, vehicles used to transport products, employee business travel, and energy used to grow raw materials.
For more information about this topic, please visit the Allen Matkins California Corporate & Securities Law blog Post.
News
ASPE Pipeline – March 24
The California State Water Resources Control Board has announced a proposed maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion for hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, that prioritizes protecting public health while considering the varying abilities of the state’s 7,000 public water systems to invest in water treatment technologies to meet the new standard. Hexavalent, or chromium-6, can be found in groundwater. It is an odorless and tasteless metal that is common throughout the environment. The new MCL will be effective in 2024 if it is adopted by the board.
Courthouse News Service – March 17
Finding “a serious constitutional issue” raised by a California law requiring cancer warning labels on products containing the chemical acrylamide, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last Thursday upheld an injunction temporarily barring its enforcement. The lower court’s injunction, issued last year by U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, forbids the state and private parties from suing companies for not putting Proposition 65 warning labels on food and beverages containing acrylamide pending the outcome of a legal challenge to the warning requirement brought by the California Chamber of Commerce. Acrylamide is a common ingredient in baked or fried foods such as French fries, potato chips, and muffins. It has also appeared in coffee, almonds and black olives.
Los Angeles Times – March 18
California water officials announced Friday that they would cut State Water Project allocations from 15% – 5% following a record dry start in 2022. Residents should be prepared for another year of drought. The Metropolitan Water District, which is the largest urban water supplier in Southern California, said that about 30% of the region’s water comes from the State Water Project. After the April 1 snow survey, the Department of Water Resources will do a second assessment of the State Water Project allocation. The water year’s final allocation is usually announced in May or Juni.
KPBS – March 22
On Tuesday, Oceanside celebrated World Water Day with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pure Water Oceanside. This water purification facility will provide water locally that was previously imported from hundreds of thousands of miles away. The facility, which is the first to be online in San Diego County of its kind, converts recycled water into safe, clean, and locally sourced drinking water. Pure Water Oceanside is one of two water reuse projects planned for the region. The East County Advanced Water Purification Program, and Pure Water San Diego are the other.
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