August 2003 -
In This Issue:
 Our Children's Earth (OCE) Insider Update
We Win!
New Lawsuits and other developments
OCE Team
Media
Thank You!
Membership
Donations
Volunteer
OCE is a non-profit dedicated to protecting the public, especially
children, against the harmful effects of air pollution, primarily
through enforcement of the Clean Air Act. Our view is that our country's
environmental laws are great laws - if they were implemented and
enforced. You pay your taxes -- You vote for your Congress - they
passed excellent environmental laws -- these laws should be enforced!!
OCE is in the trenches providing an integral check on the democratic
system - making the system work!!!
OCE collaborates with leading clean air advocates, law clinics,
and community organizations to empower individuals, families, communities
and other groups and teach them about their right to breathe clean
air. We do this through a multi-dimensional strategy consisting
of education, litigation, and advocacy.
OCE publishes a semi-monthly on-line newsletter to inform our members
and other interested individuals of our efforts.
OCE continues to represent your Environmental Views!
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We win
OCE is making sure that the huge commercial Agricultural
Industry is NO LONGER exempt from air pollution laws !!! In
July 2003, the U.S EPA agreed to withdraw guidance issued to farmers
with diesel irrigation pump engines that were required to apply
for air pollution permits by May 14, 2003. The EPA also agreed
to reissue guidance that is in compliance with Clean Air Act Provisions.
The settlement was the result of a lawsuit filed by OCE, Medical
Advocates for Healthy Air, and the Sierra Club challenging EPA's
implementation of a permitting program to regulate major agricultural
sources of air pollution in California. EPA's permit application
form instructed agricultural operations to "estimate actual
emissions" from diesel engines over the next year. However,
the Clean Air Act specifically requires sources to determine the
diesel engines "Potential to Emit." The difference is
that under EPA's proposed method, far fewer sources would be considered
"major sources" subject to permitting requirements under
the Clean Air Act. This would have lead to more pollution in California,
which has four of the top 5 worst ozone pollution areas in the
nation.
OCE is making sure that your government does its job. OCE
was the reason the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District
finally issued its Long Overdue and Outdated Air Pollution Permits
to industry: Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District
and its Air Pollution Control Officer, Gretchen Bennitt, agreed
to take final action on three long-overdue operating permit applications
no later than June 1, 2004, a move which will force polluters
to self-report air violations. The action came in response to
a settlement agreement with OCE. The suit arose because the District
failed to comply with federal law to issue the Major Facility
Review permits. Many of the applications were submitted as far
back as 1995 and 1996 and the District should have denied or granted
the permits in 1998.
Currently, several major sources of air pollution do not have
the permits and are not required to abide by compliance reporting,
record-keeping and monitoring requirements that such permits would
mandate. The three long-outstanding operating permit applications
include Sierra Pacific Industries (Quincy), Sierra Pacific Industries
(Loyalton), and Collins Pine (Chester). Without these requirements,
the public has few ways of discovering whether these major sources
of air pollution are violating clean air laws.
Maricopa County Agrees to Take Action on Long Overdue Air
Pollution Permits: On November 11, 2002, OCE and the Sierra
Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, sent a Notice of Intent to Sue to
Maricopa County, a political subdivision of the State of Arizona's
Environmental Services Department for failing to issue 8 federal
Clean Air Act permits. The Notice of Intent to Sue charged Maricopa
County and the County's top officer with failing to comply with
federal law to issue these Major Facility Review permits. Many
of the applications were submitted as far back as 1997 and the
County's deadline for issuing the permits was October 30, 1999.
The result is that 18 major sources of air pollution, including
oil refineries, power plants, landfills, and waste treatment facilities
do not have the permits and are not required to abide by compliance
reporting, record-keeping and monitoring requirements that such
a permit would have mandated. Without these requirements, the
public has few ways of discovering whether these major sources
of air pollution are violating the clean air laws.
On June 16, 2003, Maricopa County and its Director cooperatively
signed a court order to take final action on 18 overdue operating
permit applications no later than Nov.1, 2003, a move which will
force polluters to self-report air violations.
OCE and the Dump Diesel Coalition continues to try to educate
the public and MUNI that their diesel busses are polluting San
Francisco neighborhoods with toxic black smoke and carcinogenic
chemicals: On June 17th OCE and the Dump Diesel Coalition
gathered in front of MUNI headquarters to call on MUNI General
Manager Michael Burns to install the pollution traps and replace
the old buses without delay. The groups also criticized MUNI's
rejection of a bus shelter ad designed to educate riders about
the health effects of the old diesel buses in the MUNI fleet.
OCE had submitted an environmental education ad to MUNI's vendor
in May that was to be displayed in MUNI bus shelters around San
Francisco. After conferring with MUNI staff, vendor Viacom outdoor
rejected the ad in a letter dated May 28th. OCE responded on June
12th with a letter from its attorney to MUNI General Manager Michael
Burns appealing the censorship decision and outlining a challenge
to its legality.
A few days later, Burns sent a letter to OCE's attorney saying
he had asked Viacom's ad manager to "reconsider his previous
decision to reject the ads." You can view
the ad immediately or at selected San Francisco MUNI Shelters!
OCE's "Wanted" posters were posted on bus shelters in
front of MUNI Headquarters and across San Francisco beginning
on July 28th.
OCE Hands out Toxic MUNI Passes to Riders: Led by OCE,
the SF Dump Diesel Coalition distributed 3,000 "Toxic Passes"
to MUNI riders in May that mocked the monthly "Fast Pass"
that regular riders get and urged riders to call MUNI General
Manager Michael Burns and urge him to clean up the fleet. MUNI
reported getting dozens of calls. In July, SF Supervisor and OCE
ally Chris Daly, who now chairs the city's transportation Authority,
directed MUNI to begin providing monthly progress reports to the
TA on its moves to clean up the dirty diesel bus fleet. Those
monthly reports will begin in August and should provide more current
and clean information about MUNI's actions (and inactions) and
will allow OCE's environmental and public health allies to better
hold MUNI accountable and push them forward towards cleaner buses.
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New Lawsuits and other
developments
OCE is joining efforts to make sure the country's largest
power plant pollution source, Tennessee Valley Authority, finally
complies with the Clean Air Act: OCE plans to sue eleven coal-fired
Tennessee Valley Authority power plants in Tennessee, Kentucky
and Alabama for violations of the federal Clean Air Act. Annually,
these plants have been illegally emitting at least 90,000 tons
of sulfur dioxide (SOx) and 180,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx).
OCE alleges that the power plants have violated the federal Clean
Air Act for at least the past five years, because the plants have
not obtained proper permits before making major modifications
to the plants. The required permits must be obtained after sources
of pollution install and operate the best available control technology
for reducing emissions. These plants did not obtain permits nor
did they install control technology.
OCE is making sure that regulatory "banking and trading"
air pollution schemes are not just more ways for corporations
to "cook the books" and pollute more than the law allows: OCE plans to sue the South Coast Air Quality Management District
(SCAQMD), its executive officer, Barry R. Wallerstein, and each
governing board member for federal Clean Air Act violations that
have led to the illegal emission of more than 400 tons of nitrogen
oxides ("NOx"). OCE sent a letter today to SCAQMD giving
it the requisite 60-day notice of their intent to sue for mismanagement
of the air pollution-trading program called RECLAIM. The group
alleges that the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)
allows participants to avoid the federal Clean Air Act by calculating
trading credits on an annual basis instead of the quarterly basis
as required by law.
OCE asks the government to close a refinery air pollution
loophole: After participating in a BAAQMD-sponsored working
group on proposed regulations for Flare Monitoring at Petroleum
Refineries, OCE re-submitted its initial comments. The comments
recommended several changes to the regulations, included further
investigation, better reporting and better enforcement of smoking
violations.
OCE asks the government to make sure a local Landfill permit
is as stringent as possible!: OCE, represented by Golden Gate
University's Environmental Law and Justice Clinic (ELJC) provided
two sets of public comments on landfill Title V Major Facility
Review Permits. OCE provided comments to the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District on the Shoreline Amphitheater Title V Permit,
a closed landfill in Mountain View, CA, and on the Potrero Hills
Landfill Title V Permit in Suisun, CA.
OCE Signs on to Coalition Letter to President Bush: On
May 8, 2003, OCE joined a coalition of other environmental and
children's health groups in sending a letter to President Bush
concerning environmental hazards. The letter, sent from the Children's
Environmental Health Network, asks "for a deeper commitment
and consistent actions from your Administration to protect children
of all ages from environmental health hazards." The letter
identifies three ways the administration can take action to protect
children: Policies that consistently put children's health before
narrow economic interests; research programs that consistently
invest in long-term, child-focused programs; and consistent application
and enforcement of laws and regulations affecting children's health.
OCE asks the government to act on massive unregulated air
pollution from Cruise Ships: On June 12, 2003, OCE employee
Andrew Finkelstein testified at a port commission hearing on the
subject of the San Francisco cruise terminal project. The testimony
called for rejecting Resolution No. 03-39, a proposed resolution
that does not sufficiently regulate air pollution from cruise
ships in the San Francisco Bay, and stated that if action is not
taken, residents in and around the bay area will be exposed to
dirtier air and increased probabilities of suffering from respiratory
ailments and increased exposure to cancer-causing diesel particulate
matter.
Representing OCE, he urged the commission to strengthen the resolution
to accommodate several concerns including the prohibition of all
cruise ship wastewater discharges into the Bay, whether treated
or not. Currently, the resolution proposes to conditionally prohibit
only some discharges and does not require any air emissions reduction
measures. Further concerns urged by OCE include requiring the
use of on-road diesel by cruise ships in SF Bay, conducting a
comprehensive study of shore side power for cruise ships, imposing
a passenger fee on cruise ships to pay for environmental monitoring,
and imposing penalties on cruise ships that violate these standards.
OCE Signs on to Brief Appealing Clean Water Act Decision:
OCE and other environmental groups filed an "amicus"
brief that supports a petition to the California Supreme Court
seeking reversal of a recent adverse ruling by the California
Court of Appeals. This ruling concerns an important issue related
to whether the Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Regional
Boards) can use "compliance schedules" to virtually
eliminate water quality- based effluent limitations in NPDES permits
for years to come.
The ruling has the potential to gut at least half of the Clean
Water Act for decades. The big hurdle to overcome now is to get
the California Supreme Court to take the case. We hope that with
multiple parties expressing interest, the Court will be more likely
to see this as a big issue warranting review. Review is granted
in only about 1 out of 20 cases.
The OCE Team is Growing!
OCE Welcomes George Hays: Environmental Attorney George
Hays joined OCE in July as part-time Legal Director. George is
a nationally recognized legal expert on the Clean Air Act. Welcome
George!
OCE Welcomes Aimee O'Donnell: Aimee O'Donnell joined
OCE on a part-time basis to provide administrative support. Welcome
Aimee!
OCE Moves Into New Offices: OCE Staff recently moved
into spacious new office space in downtown San Francisco. The
offices are located at 50 First Street, Suite 511 in San Francisco.
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Media Seminar
OCE Hosts Media Seminar: On June 11, 2003, OCE hosted
a Media Seminar entitled "Powerful Press for Non-Profits
on a Budget". The objective was to provide environmental
non-profits with information to enable them to get their messages
to the public in an effective manner. The event, attended by non-profit
staff members at all levels, included panels of non-profit press
experts and local journalists. OCE would like to extend a special
thank you to Amy Givens for all her help in setting up the seminar.
Thank You!
OCE Thanks our Partners: We would like to thank our lawyers
and community partners for participating in our recent successes:
A Walk in the Woods
American Lung Association
Bayveiew Hunters Point Community Advocates
Communities for a Better Environment
Danielle Fugere
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund
George Hays
Golden Gate University Environmental Law & Justice Clinic
GreenAction
Latino Issues Forum
Marc S. Chytilo
National Parks Conservation Association
Natural Resources Defense Council
Reed Zars
Sierra Club
Chris Sproul
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund
Union Of Concerned Scientists
Urban Habitat, a project of the Tides Center
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If You Believe In What OCE Is
DOING, PLEASE HELP US!
You Can Become A Member: Joining is easy. Just click on our website and follow the
simple directions! Remember becoming a member - sends a message
that OCE's mission is important and we have a right to be heard
in government proceedings and in court!
We Would Like to Welcome Our New Members!
Lisa Chew
OCE needs your help in our fight to make our air cleaner through
enforcement of clean air laws at all levels. There are several ways
you can help.
Donations
You can Donate: We are in need of additional funds to continue
our work to improve air quality nationwide. Your tax-deductible
donation will enable OCE to continue to push for cleaner air for
all of us. Donating is easy. Go to our Donations
website and follow the directions.
We would like to thank the following supporters for their generous
Donations!
Jennifer and Howard Holderness
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You
Can Volunteer
OCE needs volunteers with a wide variety of skills to help us
with a number of tasks. If you are interested in donating some
of your time, please contact Jennifer
Holderness. We would like to thank our recent volunteers:
Terry Chea
Dennis Pfaff
Mark Mericle
Brian Smith
Linda Weiner
Nick Guroff
Nat Garrett
You Can Become a Member Recruiter! OCE is looking for folks
to help recruit new members. You can earn money on a per member
basis. For more information, contact Jennifer
Burcham.
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