Latest from Emerald City, my enviro-blog at LAtimes.com
>> The money behind the pro-plastic bag lobby. Why’d the environmentalists lose the plastic bag fight yesterday, with business interests successfully lowering plastic bag reduction goals by 5%?
>> The fight for California’s tougher car emissions standard. Now, Sen. Barbara Boxer’s people, who got to look at some of EPA’s documents behind the decision, say that EPA officials told Johnson that California had “compelling and extraordinary conditions” to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.
And a couple linky posts:
>> AM Greenlist: Sonar, Tesla, and other news
>> A.M. Greenlist: Subway funding chat and Whole Foods plastic bag ban
Two nights ago, a City of Pasadena Environmental Advisory Commission subcommittee had an update on the status of a plastic bag ban in that city.
The lawsuit by the bag industry against the City of Oakland is set for Hearing January 29; sometime thereafter there should be an initial ruling on whether a bag ban requires an Environmental Impact Report, a costly endeavor that could sidetrack individual city bans. That issue will need to have some resolution before most agencies will act to ban bags for now.
The Sub-Committee also received information on potential state legislation to re-allow a tax or fee on plastic bags. (Current law does not allow individual cities to tax bags or charge a fee, but the bags can be banned outright.)
When the Sub-Committee was given an update on the County action, Environmental Commissioner Gray (me!) called it “cowardly.”
Meanwhile, the Sub-Committee will be recommending that the Environmental Commission as a whole begin taking testimony from residents, scientists, and business people on the issue to help it decide whether or not to recommend a ban for Pasadena. That testimony is likely to begin in March.
After the meeting, I was introduced to a representative from Vons who had attended the meeting. He did seem to see the writing on the wall for plastic (otherwise the 75% reduction within one year in the county law would not even be thinkable) but nevertheless resisted the idea that the four Vons stores in Pasadena should try a local experiment and go plastic-bag free . . . .
Folks interested in this issue might want to write or email Vons directly, encouraging them to take a leadership role on the issue rather than an obstructionist one . . . and stay tuned for opportunities to testify in Pasadena (esp. local residents, workers and businesses).
Comment by Roger, Gone Green — January 24, 2008 @ 11:30 am