Sacramento's sausage-making comes for plastics
With help from Alex Nieves and Blanca Begert
IN A PLASTIC WORLD: California is on the cusp of a potentially society-transforming climate policy change — and having some cold feet.
We're not talking about electric cars, massive solar farms or corporate emissions reporting: We're talking about making producers recycle their plastic packaging.
CalRecycle is facing a March 7 deadline to submit to the Office of Administrative Law its rules implementing Sen. Ben Allen's SB 54, a 2022 law that requires thousands of companies to reduce their single-use plastic packaging by 25 percent and pay to recycle or compost all their products, or else it has to start over. By one environmental group's estimate, the law could save 115 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over a decade, equivalent to shutting down 28 coal-fired power plants.
But the companies that will have to carry out the program are pushing back, saying that the rules as written are both too costly and setting them up to fail.
'I feel like we're prioritizing expedience over getting it right,' said Rachel Wagoner, the head of CalRecycle until last March and since December the California executive director for Circular Action Alliance, the organization CalRecycle selected to set up the recycling program on behalf of all producers. (She's said she's following state rules banning her from lobbying her former agency for a year.)
A broad coalition of business and farming groups, including Circular Action Alliance, signed on to a Dec. 14 Chamber of Commerce letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom outlining some of the concerns. Among them: The rules as drafted would cost much more than initially estimated (CalRecycle has estimated that as many as 13,615 manufacturers would have to participate and pay a total of $500 million per year beginning in 2027) and don't allow for new technology that could help process tricky materials.
On the other side, environmental groups and 14 lawmakers including Allen are pushing CalRecycle and the governor's office to proceed with the current draft rules, even if they acknowledge the rules may not be perfect. They say that negotiations with industry leading up to the law have already settled some of those concerns, including by disallowing controversial chemical recycling.
'We need a strong foundation on which to base future actions,' the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Newsom this month. 'Stay the course.'
Both sides argue that California's mantle of environmental leadership is at stake.
California wasn't the first state to pass a bill setting up an 'extended producer responsibility' program for plastic packaging (that title went to Maine in 2021) nor will it be the first to formally approve the industry's plan for compliance (Oregon just claimed that title last week by approving a plan by Circular Action Alliance). But California has the largest market and the most detailed rules so far, attracting outsized attention from other states and countries.
Just last year, the state of Minnesota and the European Union passed EPR laws that borrowed from California's approach, said Anja Brandon, the director of plastics policy at Ocean Conservancy.
'That adds to the crux of this moment that we are in, where we want to see California stand by this groundbreaking law that it passed,' she said.
Newsom spokesperson Daniel Villaseñor said his office was 'considering all options.'
'California is committed to achieving the goals of SB 54 — to cut down on plastic pollution — and we take stakeholder input very seriously,' he said in an email. 'We are considering all options for how to move forward to successfully implement this ambitious program.'
CalRecycle spokesperson Melanie Turner said Monday the agency was still working to finalize the rules by March 7.
On Tuesday, Wagoner, Brandon and a bevy of other advocates from either side will testify to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on the concept of extended producer responsibility.
Expect SB 54 to come up, as well as philosophical debates about what EPR is at its core: 'Something we hear from industry often is if you get too prescriptive, you shy away from EPR, and that's just not true,' said Brandon. 'EPR is defined by holding producers accountable for the whole life cycle of their product.' — CvK
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THE BILLS ARE IN: Friday was the deadline to introduce new bills in the Legislature. All told, 2,350 bills have come in, 226 more than by the cutoff deadline last year, according to attorney and lobbyist Chris Micheli. Here are some of the newest ones that caught our attention:
CAP-AND-TRADE: We still don't know what the legislature is planning to do on cap-and-trade, where reauthorization past 2030 is a stated priority for the year, but the spot bills are in. Watch these spaces: SB 840 from Sens. Monique Limón and Mike McGuire and AB 1207 from Assembymember Jacqui Irwin.
You can also watch the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies hearing on Wednesday where lawmakers will be discussing changes to the state's carbon market.
LITHIUM BATTERY FIRES: Fires at battery plants are hot — literally, and in the Capitol. The Assembly Committee on Emergency Management introduced AB 1285, which would require the State Fire Marshal to develop fire prevention, response and recovery plans for utility-grade lithium storage facilities. That measure comes after fires at Moss Landing Power Plant, the world's largest battery storage facility. It joins Assemblymember Dawn Addis' AB 303, which would ban energy storage facilities from environmentally sensitive areas or within 3,200 feet of schools and homes and reverse a 2022 measure that accelerated the permitting process for them.
GAS STOVES: Freshman Assemblymember Carl DeMaio is taking Republicans' latest swing at efforts to ban gas appliances, a climate policy that's sparked a national culture war in recent years. His bill, AB 1238, would block state agencies and local governments from adopting or enforcing any rule or ordinance that prohibits the use of gas stoves in residential or commercial buildings.
CPUC HEARINGS: Assemblymember Joe Patterson's AB 1273 would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission from placing utilities' rate-increase applications on its consent calendar, which means they get voted on without discussion. If you haven't tracked the CPUC lately, the public comment period is typically filled with fiery speeches opposing rate increases, and you may be surprised how much ends up on the consent calendar.
COMMUNITY SOLAR: Assemblymember Chris Ward is back with a bill to force the California Public Utilities Commission to do what he always wanted on community solar — make it more accessible by reimbursing it in a way that accounts for its full cost savings to the grid.
Last year the CPUC, tasked with implementing Ward's 2022 law AB 2315 to boost community solar, rejected a proposal from the solar industry, environmentalists and a ratepayer advocate group to let renters buy credits in small solar projects and access savings like the ones people get from installing rooftop solar.
The commission instead voted through a proposal closely aligned with one introduced by utility Southern California Edison that expanded existing subscription programs from the state and utilities and created a new program using federal funds that are now in question. At the time, they argued their proposal was more cost effective.
Ward told the CPUC that its plan was 'outdated,' 'commercially unworkable' and 'wholly inconsistent' with his 2022 law. The new bill, AB 1260, would amend the program to be more in line with his intentions and use a pricing formula to account for more of the cost savings of community solar, like reducing the need for electrical wires to travel long distances.
WHAT MORE: What other bills do you think will be big this year? As always, please let us know.
BRB, MOVING TO OAKLAND: The cities of San Jose, Palo Alto, Orinda and Half Moon Bay and the unincorporated parts of Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties got some bad news from California's rollout of its new local fire hazard zone maps today.
In those places, the number of acres categorized at very high fire hazard and therefore subject to fire-resistant building codes and risk disclosure requirements for home sales jumped significantly from the last update in 2011. The reason is Cal Fire's more sophisticated modeling that accounts for factors like the winds that blew embers across LA neighborhoods last month and that will move 1.4 million acres statewide into the two highest fire risk severity areas.
Take San Jose for example: In 2011, it had 3,310 acres classified at very high risk. The new data suggests 7,142 acres are at very high fire risk.
The data released today covers the Bay Area and the North Coast and represents part two of Cal Fire's four-part rollout after inland Northern California. The Central Valley and Central Coast are scheduled for March 10, and Southern and Eastern California for March 24. The local jurisdictions must still formally adopt the maps, though they can make changes as they see fit.
One city got some good news: Oakland, the site of a deadly firestorm in 1991 that kicked off many modern urban fire preparedness efforts. In 2011, it had 10,838 acres categorized as at very high fire risk. Today's data showed only 1,945 acres in that category, with another 5,151 at high or moderate fire risk. — CvK
TURNING TO THE AIRWAVES: The auto industry is taking to the court of public opinion with an opening shot at California's electric vehicle mandate.
The California New Car Dealers Association announced today that it's funding a digital and television ad buy, kicking off the lobbying effort with a three-minute spot on a newly launched website.
The campaign calls on the California Air Resources Board to pause enforcement of the Advanced Clean Cars II rule to give 'infrastructure, consumer demand, and market readiness' time to develop. It also asks state officials to adopt a 'balanced, phased approach' to the EV transition, though it stops short of detailing a specific policy plan.
Spokespeople for Newsom and CARB didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Most automakers — with Stellantis as the notable exception — have been opposed to ACCII, which requires them to sell increasing percentages of electric vehicles annually, before effectively banning the sale of new gas cars by 2035. But the ad buy is the industry's first major attempt at spreading that message to California residents. (The dealers' association said it will reveal the other 'businesses, trade groups, and consumer advocates' that are part of its coalition later.)
The ad buy also comes as the Trump administration is attempting to overturn ACCII through the congressional review process. — AN
BACK TO ACCI: The Supreme Court has set an April 23 hearing date for a long-simmering case around a previous iteration of California's clean vehicle rules.
The court will hear Diamond Alternative Energy v. EPA, an oil industry lawsuit filed in 2022 shortly after the Biden administration reinstated Advanced Clean Cars I — the emissions waiver Trump's EPA revoked in 2019, Lesley Clark reports for POLITICO's E&E News.
Lawyers for the industry argue California should not have unique privileges to set stronger-than-federal emissions standards, a carve out under the Clean Air Act the state has held for more than 50 years.
The D.C. Circuit issued a unanimous decision last April that industry groups and Republican-led states lacked standing to bring their claim because they failed to show that tossing out the waiver would fix the injuries they say occurred.
The Supreme Court hearing comes after it rejected a Trump administration request to delay the hearing to give EPA time to reassess the 'soundness of the 2022 reinstatement decision.' — AN
SHOPPING FOR WIND: California is moving ahead on offshore wind despite Trump's plans to kill the industry. The CPUC today directed the Department of Water Resources to initiate centralized state procurement for various types of clean energy under a deal negotiated and signed into place in 2023. It's still a long way away. Solicitations for geothermal and the 7.6 gigawatts of offshore wind the state will be trying to buy won't open until 2027. — BB
— The firefighter union's backlash to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' decision to sack the city's fire chief is adding to her political headaches, writes our Melanie Mason.
— Some Yosemite National Park staffers hung an upside-down American flag off El Capitan this weekend to protest the Trump administration's job cuts.
— Vistra began a two-week process to disconnect batteries at its Moss Landing plant after they burned in a fire last month.
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Politico
20 hours ago
- Politico
What lawmakers did on their summer vacation
Presented by With help from Alex Nieves and Noah Baustin SUMMER BREAK'S OVER: Lawmakers are back in Sacramento on Monday for a four-week cram session — think finals week but with lobbyists. On the syllabus: extending California's cap-and-trade program, refilling the state's wildfire liability fund for utilities and, of course, redrawing congressional maps to give Democrats more seats. Lawmakers have been busy coming up with their asks for the end of session — but also stepping out of the Sacramento bubble with community meetings at home and policy-inspiring trips. Senate Energy Committee Chair Josh Becker went big in Europe, meeting with Formula One officials in the United Kingdom, where he learned about the racing organization's plans to wean the famous cars off fossil fuels. He also met with European Union climate officials and noted that California, France and the United Kingdom have about the same level of greenhouse gas emissions. His takeaway: It's a three-way race to cut emissions. 'They've got some great plans, and it's good for them to hear that we are committed, and good for us to hear that they're committed,' Becker said. His energy counterpart in the Assembly, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, also crossed the pond for a trip to the United Kingdom organized by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' Office of Protocol. The agenda included a meeting with Lloyds of London on insurance and mounting climate risks. But it mostly focused on artificial intelligence — never mind the energy costs — and the U.K.'s attempts to attract investment. 'They look at California and our world-class technology sector with so much both envy as well as as respect, and I think it's good for us as California policymakers to to hear that, because we've got to make sure that we are intentional about the ways that we continue to be the birthplace for the next generation of big breakthroughs,' Petrie-Norris said. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and Sens. Ben Allen, Catherine Blakespear, John Laird and Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, meanwhile, visited Vancouver on a California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy trip focused on recycling. Allen (who noted some centers were 'rather stinky' but most were clean) said he was impressed at the public participation in recycling, observing that Vancouver has a small but very diverse population. 'It really makes you wonder why we can't be more ambitious,' he said. Bryan, meanwhile, said he felt like Canada was a 'step ahead' of California on recycling, and noted that a lot of the efforts were led by businesses. 'We are way more prescriptive sometimes, and I think that sometimes hurts us,' he said. One specific policy idea he took away: a recycling program for old motor oil cans that can also capture and refine any oil left over. There was also some personal travel. Assemblymember Steve Bennett went full John Muir, backpacking with his family on both sides of the Sierra Nevada range. Wildfires were top of mind: 'The Eastern Sierra struck me as much healthier,' he said. 'We've got a tremendous dead tree problem on the Western Sierra.' And Assemblymember Gregg Hart embarked on a 1,600-mile road trip exploring the geographic diversity of Eastern Oregon, from the Wallowa Mountains — known as the Oregon Alps — to the Alvord Desert. 'It was really just a get-back-to-nature trip,' he said. 'It was a wonderful reset.' What did you do on your summer vacation? Email us — and include a fun picture. — CvK Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here! EMISSIONS MISSION: Lawmakers are feeling the heat on cap-and-trade reauthorization ahead of Wednesday's scheduled quarterly carbon auction and the looming end-of-session deadline. On Monday, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus — 21 Assemblymembers and five senators — released their four principles for extending the state's cornerstone climate program: retain and expand free emissions permits, require a full cost analysis, build in regular legislative review and secure broad support to provide market certainty (they'll have to, since it requires a two-thirds vote). 'A clean extension of California's cap-and-trade program isn't good enough — we need changes that reduce Californians' cost of living,' said co-chair Assemblymember David Alvarez. The group of lawmakers hammered out the principles after dozens of meetings this year, staking out the moderate stance in the cap-and-trade debate and adding pressure on the legislature's chief cap-and-trade negotiators to figure out a proposal. Progressive lawmakers have floated trims to permits in order to curb emissions further; Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed for a 'clean extension,' reauthorizing the program largely as-is. At stake is not only the future of California's signature climate program but also its billions of dollars in annual revenue. The pot of money is already one of Sacramento's hottest commodities — and it's only getting hotter. Lawmakers have already agreed with Newsom to set aside some cap-and-trade revenues to fund Cal Fire, and auction revenues have been declining as traders worry about the program's future after its 2030 expiration — leaving less money for a growing set of asks. Environmental groups ramped up the pressure on Monday, urging lawmakers at a press conference and in a series of meetings to continue funding programs like community resilience centers and clean drinking water with the revenues. Abraham Mendoza, senior policy advocate at the Community Water Center, said some of the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience program's services, including bottled water for communities without clean drinking water, can't be funded through other sources like Proposition 4, last year's $10 billion climate bond. 'If we're trying to move SAFER around to make room for these other priorities in cap and trade reauthorization, you run into a bind where you're essentially looking at running out of resources for the existing work,' he said. Adding to the pile-on: Consumer Watchdog is urging lawmakers to avoid uplifting carbon capture technologies as part of the reauthorization. In a Monday letter to Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, consumer advocate Liza Tucker mapped out the paths of top California Air Resources Board officials-turned lobbyists and advocates for carbon capture. — CvK SPEAKING OF CAP-AND-TRADE: State carbon markets have rebounded from President Donald Trump's threat to investigate emissions trading programs after Attorney General Pam Bondi missed the president's June 7 deadline to issue a report, according to a new market analysis. The report from KraneShares, a financial services firm, found that carbon market prices in California and Washington jumped immediately after Bondi missed the deadline, Anne C. Mulkern reports for POLITICO's E&E News. Credit prices on California's secondary market dropped from $30.79 at the start of the second quarter to $26.70 after Trump's April 8 executive order, which directed Bondi to look for ways to 'stop the enforcement' of state climate laws. Prices rallied after the June 7 report deadline passed and closed the second quarter at $28.39. — AN ON FIRE: California's investor-owned utilities kicked off a seven-figure advocacy campaign Monday to push Newsom's proposal to refill the state's wildfire liability fund for utilities before the legislative session ends Sept. 12 — and before potential liabilities from January's Eaton Fire drain it. Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric are backing the plan with television and digital ads, mailers and messaging support from the California Professional Firefighters and electrical worker unions. Newsom proposed last month injecting $18 billion into the fund — $9 billion from utility shareholders and $9 billion from ratepayers through a 10-year extension of an existing wildfire charge on bills. But the plan is politically fraught: Lawmakers are already under pressure to address Californians' rising electricity costs, while insurers are blasting Newsom's proposal to cap their payouts at 40 percent of claims. — CvK SETTING THE AGENDA: On Wednesday, Aug. 27, POLITICO is hosting its inaugural California policy summit: The California Agenda. Come see the Golden State's most prominent political figures — including Sen. Alex Padilla and gubernatorial candidates Katie Porter and Xavier Becerra — share the stage with influential voices in tech, energy, housing and other areas at the forefront of the state's most critical policy debates. The live event is currently at capacity, but will be streamed. Advance registration is required. Stay tuned for more on speakers and discussion topics, and request an online invite here. OIL CHIEF: The Western States Petroleum Association named Jodie Muller its incoming president and CEO, after longtime leader Catherine Reheis-Boyd announced her retirement from the role earlier this year. Muller is a 25-year veteran at WSPA, most recently serving as the association's senior vice president of government affairs and chief operating officer. She'll start her new role on Sept. 1 and Reheis-Boyd, who's led the powerful group since 2010, will stay on in an advisory role through the end of the year. TALKING TRAINS: Newsom appointed Kate Folmar chief of strategic communications at the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Folmar has run her own communications firm since 2021 and was previously deputy secretary for external affairs at the California Health and Human Services Agency. — AN IN MEMORY: Andrew Meredith, former president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, has died, the labor group announced on Monday. Meredith served in the National Guard and as a local politician in the city of Galt before becoming president of the trades council in January 2022, according to his Linkedin. He left in 2023 to become director of labor relations at energy developer RWE, leading the company's strategy on U.S. offshore wind development. At the 2023 California Democratic Party Convention, while still with the trades, Meredith made it clear that he envisioned a close alliance between the labor and renewable energy movements, including touting a labor agreement for offshore wind. 'Our members are the pathway to building a new energy portfolio in California, one that embraces all available technologies to address climate change,' he said. As a vegan and an environmentalist, Meredith cut against the grain of the stereotype of a construction trades leader, according to California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez. But he still carried the ethos of the traditional labor movement. 'He felt passionately about trying to help working people get into and stay in the middle class,' Gonzalez said in an interview. 'He was an exceptionally kind person.' He is survived by his wife and three children, according to the announcement. — NB — The American Lung Association and ICF Inc. found that replacing fossil-fueled industrial boilers with heat pumps across the U.S. could result in over $1 trillion in public health benefits by 2050. — UC Berkeley economist Severin Borenstein sees gas imports as California's best strategy for winding down in-state refineries. — Mercury Insurance folded in future-looking climate costs in its request for a 6.9 percent increase in property insurance rates, the first insurer to do so under a new set of rules aimed at enticing insurers to do business in the state.
Politico
12-08-2025
- Politico
Inside the end-of-session energy pileup
Presented by With help from Alex Nieves GET YOUR ENERGY DRINKS: It wouldn't be the end of a legislative session without Gov. Gavin Newsom stepping in with last-minute energy demands. But this year, the stakes are super-charged, with multiple consequential fights converging at once. With a week to go before lawmakers return to Sacramento and a month to go before the end of session, here's where Newsom's big asks stand: Cap-and-trade … The slow grind on reauthorizing California's landmark climate program has fueled speculation it could slip to next year, since the current program doesn't expire for five more. Newsom spokesperson Daniel Villaseñor insisted on Monday they're still on track: 'We continue to work with our legislative partners and leadership to advance the joint effort to reauthorize and extend the state's cap-and-trade program this legislative year.' The Assembly and the Senate aren't on the same page yet about how much to reform the market-based program, with the Assembly closer to Newsom's straight reauthorization (with some small tweaks) and the Senate pushing broader adjustments to lower greenhouse gas emissions further. 'We're in that stage where everyone's got a basic framework, and it's just finding where those missions are in conflict,' said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, one of the Assembly working group's members. Another sticking point: how to split the program's billions in revenue. Lawmakers — who need a two-thirds majority to pass the bill — want more control after Newsom proposed setting aside nearly half for Cal Fire and high-speed rail. … meet refineries Newsom's proposal to increase California's crude extraction to keep refineries afloat is gaining traction with lawmakers scared of a spike in gas prices if they don't avoid more refinery closures, with even climate hawk Sen. Henry Stern telling us more drilling in Kern County is necessary. But environmentalists are bristling at Newsom's 'drill one new well, plug two old ones' proposal, which they say could open up drilling statewide. Lawmakers are watching the California Energy Commission's next move on refineries to determine how far they're willing to go with Newsom's refinery draft legislation; the agency meets Wednesday to officially vote on whether to punt on a profit margin cap and kick off a more formal process reconsidering reporting and minimum inventory requirements. Electric sparks Newsom swallowed the bitter political pill himself earlier this month when he officially proposed reupping the state's wildfire liability fund, meant to prevent utilities from going bankrupt when their equipment sparks wildfires, with a $9 billion extension of a surcharge on ratepayer bills (and $9 billion from shareholders). Sen. Josh Becker, the Senate Energy Committee chair, told POLITICO he wants to get it done, too, because Southern California Edison could drain the fund with its potential liability from the Eaton Fire. But, Becker said, 'we have to make sure that utilities are held accountable.' Among his cards: proposals limiting what infrastructure costs investor-owned utilities can pass along to ratepayers, which the latter are not fond of. Meanwhile, Newsom has thrown all his eggs into another electric affordability measure: setting up a West-wide electricity grid, which he's called the 'best shot' at affordability this year. He'll still have to figure out a fix with the Senate, which passed a version of the bill backers are now calling untenable. Permit me Still alive from the governor's budget wish list: fast-tracking a controversial tunnel to reroute water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River and speeding up a series of water-conservation and habitat-protection deals to head off tighter Bay-Delta rules. But the appetite for more permitting changes this year is mixed: Some senators are burned out after Newsom's big overhaul of the California Environmental Quality Act in June, while others see momentum and want to go further, especially on renewable energy projects now facing the imminent loss of federal tax credits. Environmental lawmakers are also not letting up on clean-up language to Newsom's CEQA overhaul, following up just last week in a letter asking leadership to remove or narrow the CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing, which they said could touch on any project that uses AI. The big elephant in the room Looming over the end-of-session pileup is Newsom's bid to redraw congressional maps to give Democrats more seats. Lawmakers seem to be mostly falling in line, but the issue is set to suck all the oxygen away at the beginning of session: When they return Aug. 18, the Legislature will have just a few days before an Aug. 22 deadline to vote to place the redistricting proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot. Bryan said redistricting 'would take precedence' because of the deadlines but that he's ready to do it all: 'I'm preparing that when we get back, just to hit the ground running on all fronts.' — CvK Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here! IT'S AD SEASON: One of California's top environmental groups infused more cash into its multi-million-dollar ad campaign Monday as it tries to counter oil industry lobbying aimed at pressuring state lawmakers to roll back climate policies. The California Environmental Voters Education Fund launched a seven-figure statewide television and digital ad buy, which includes 30- and 60-second spots that pin rising gasoline and energy prices on fossil fuel companies. 'The oil industry stalls clean energy plans as utility bills soar across the country,' a fictional newscaster says during the ad, alongside images of a woman pumping gas and using her air conditioner in sweltering heat. It's EnviroVoters' second seven-figure ad buy this year, and comes after the Western States Petroleum Association spent millions more on its ongoing affordability campaign in May. — AN WESTERN STANDOFF: A coalition of business and environmental groups pushing for a West-wide grid launched a mid-six figures digital ad buy on Monday pushing lawmakers to pass a 'workable' SB 540. The coalition spans renewable energy trade groups, electrical worker unions, companies including Rivian and environmental groups including Environmental Defense Fund and Sierra Club. They're pushing for a version of Becker's legislation that cedes enough control to an independent grid manager to convince utilities in other states to link up with California. 'The huge coalition of supporters is rallying to pass a workable version of SB 540 because it's the best thing lawmakers can do right now on affordability, and this can't wait,' American Clean Power-California Executive Director Alex Jackson said in a statement. — CvK FOIA FEE WIN: A federal judge awarded Friends of the River nearly half a million dollars in attorneys' fees Friday after the conservation group won a nine-year Freedom of Information Act dispute with the Army Corps of Engineers over records related to the Yuba River. The award, $491,676 in attorneys' fees and $2,548 in costs, was nearly twice what the Army Corps of Engineers had proposed paying, as Michael Doyle reports for POLITICO's E&E News. A judge had already ruled that the federal agency had improperly withheld the records regarding the impact of dam operations on the Yuba River on endangered species like salmon and steelhead. U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui wrote that the case produced a 'public benefit,' shedding light on whether the Corps was meeting its environmental obligations, and that the federal agency had 'frustrated the policy of open government' throughout the legal fight. — MD, CvK SETTING THE AGENDA: On Wednesday, Aug. 27, POLITICO is hosting its inaugural California policy summit: The California Agenda. Come see the Golden State's most prominent political figures — including Sen. Alex Padilla and gubernatorial candidates Katie Porter and Xavier Becerra — share the stage with influential voices in tech, energy, housing and other areas at the forefront of the state's most critical policy debates. The live event is currently at capacity, but will be streamed. Advance registration is required. Stay tuned for more on speakers and discussion topics, and request an online invite here. — California Air Resources Board member and former state Sen. Dean Florez calls for more funding and other policy changes to prevent heat illness and death in outdoor workers. — The Los Angeles Times' Ian James digs deep into Southern California's options to avoid running out of water. — The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication says media should avoid using 'fun in the sun' images to depict dangerous heat waves.
Los Angeles Times
10-08-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Despite record amounts of trash, some Angelenos are optimistic we'll dig our way out
It doesn't take an awful lot of investigating to see that we're swimming in an ocean of waste: There are the maxed-out landfills, illegal trash dumping in the desert, choked-up rivers, strangled sea turtles and skyrocketing trash collection fees. But there's disagreement about what it portends about our future relationship with waste. Many in the waste and environmental space believe the current situation is so untenable that strict anti-plastic and waste laws will soon be implemented — and we'll have less persistent waste. Others, however, are more cynical, and point to a slew of economic, production, marketing, judicial and policy indicators that suggest things are likely only to get worse. By the time 2050 rolls around, 'great swaths of California land will have become sacrifice zones contaminated with microplastics and toxic chemicals from uncontrolled dumping of organics with high levels of plastics, synthetic textile and other nonorganic contamination,' said Jan Dell, president and founder of the Laguna Beach-based nonprofit Last Beach Cleanup. 'Some residences and neighborhoods will be declared uninhabitable.' She noted the rampant dumping that's already happening in the Antelope Valley, and suggested that even if the state's landmark plastic legislation is implemented in a way that legislators intended — which includes a requirement that would reduce the amount of single-use plastic sold and distributed in the state — 'CalRecycle will never make [it] ... work. They can't even effectively ban foam cups.' She and others, including Susan Keefe of Beyond Plastics, another nonprofit, said the plastic and packaging industries have invested too much in ramping up plastic production to allow legislation or bans to stop them. And consumers have become so accustomed to the convenience of single-use plastic that change is unlikely to happen without a push from the government. 'It's hard to be super positive when you see how much waste we generate,' said Keefe, Beyond Plastic's Southern California director. 'I think that we're going to see more illegal dumping, more waste incineration plants built, and we'll run out of landfills. If we continue on the trajectory that we're on, I don't see how we're not going to be swimming in it.' But others, including several waste experts and community organizers across the Los Angeles region, say change is afoot. And by the time 2050 rolls around, we'll all have adopted new, less polluting, ways of consuming and discarding products. There are no data or widespread evidence to back up these claims; just hope, determination and a few small-scale examples in which community-organized composting and educational outreach campaigns — with help from groups such as LA Compost and Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, or LAANE — appeared to have taken hold and made local change. 'By 2050 we'll be in a completely new paradigm,' said Ryan Jackson, executive director of LA Compost — a composting advocacy organization — and former director of the city's Department of Public Works. 'We'll be in a resource recovery model, where nothing's wasted, and we'll be enjoying a circular economy. ... It feels dramatic, but from what we've seen up close with our organization, it's very much possible.' Jackson sees the shift as one driven organically by neighborhoods and communities that have had an opportunity to see how they could live differently. Members of his organization, which has worked in schools, community gardens and farmers markets from Long Beach to Calabasas, say they've witnessed positive shifts in behavior and attitudes when community compost hubs have been established. But, along with others, he says that government needs to play a role, too. 'We're looking at a future [in 2050] where we think the city will be in a much better place because RecycLA will have been in effect for 30 years,' said Victor Sanchez, the executive director of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, or LAANE. RecycLA is a 2017 Los Angeles-based recycling program, which — in a public partnership with private waste hauling companies — promotes recycling and requires the diversion of waste material from landfills on an escalating basis. Its primary purpose is to get L.A. closer to 'zero waste' — a plan adopted by the county's supervisors in 2022, which lays out a framework designed to reduce the use of landfills, maximize the use of natural resources and recover materials for beneficial use or reuse. The idea behind it is to create a circular economy, in which products and packages are designed and manufactured with materials that can be reused, composted or recycled. So far, the law has been met with mixed success. Diversion from landfill has increased, but so too has a surge of illegal waste dumping in the Antelope Valley suggesting the law may be having some unintended consequences. Critics point to a dearth of recycling and composting infrastructure in the city and county as part of the problem. There has also been trouble at the state level. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 54, which requires that product and packaging manufacturers maintain financial responsibility for their products from beginning to end — theoretically incentivizing companies to produce items that won't contribute to a glut of waste. Specifically, the law requires that by 2032, plastic and packaging companies reduce single-use plastic packaging by 25% from 2025 levels. It also requires that the remainder of single-use plastic packaging and foodware items still being sold and marketed are 100% compostable or recyclable. In addition, packaging producers will have to bear the costs of their products' end-life (whether via recycling, composting, landfill or export) and figure out how to make it happen — removing that costly burden from consumers and local governments. Newsom's administration has since backtracked on regulations that would have helped to achieve these goals, and instead has written new draft regulations that critics contend are industry-friendly and watered down. Despite these regulatory failures, and an acknowledgment that 'capital' and corporate interests have a knack for influencing the implementation of laws and for finding loopholes in legislation — such as the time California banned plastic bags at retail stores, only to discover they'd created an exception for thicker 'reusable' plastic bags, and plastic bag waste actually increased — there is reason to hope, said Sanchez. Yes, there have been some short-term failures, he said, but 'that's going to happen when you overhaul an entire system, right?' He said he has seen 'beacons of hope' in his work with communities where people are 'breathing the air ... dealing with the smell and constant pollution,' of nearby landfill and waste sites. He said these communities know the risks, dangers and destructive consequences of our current waste system. And in many cases, they are successfully fighting for change — by pushing to shut down polluted landfills and mobilizing workers in these systems to demand fair compensation and safe working conditions. 'The challenge that's upon us is to build more shared ownership and awareness around waste. We have to make the case as to why it's important to invest in a system that works, because, at the end of the day, it's about investing in ourselves. It's really existential,' he said. Even representatives from the city's private waste industry are hopeful — despite being on the wrong side of a lawsuit suggesting many of them are delivering unpermitted waste to the Antelope Valley. A lawsuit filed this year in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by Antelope Valley residents claims that waste-hauling companies including Athens Services and California Waste Services are dumping hazardous substances without authorization, which the companies deny. Athens noted that the law encourages the distribution of compostable material to 'farmers and other property owners for beneficial use.' Jessica Aldridge, director of sustainability and zero waste services at Athens Services, an L.A.-based waste hauling company, was not in a position to answer questions about the lawsuit, but said her company is optimistic about what 'the environmental community, social justice and waste communities are trying to achieve.' She agreed with Sanchez that while there may be some temporary political and regulatory setbacks, California lawmakers 'have a positive goal in mind, and they're setting up the regulations and the infrastructure' in pursuit of a cleaner environment and a more circular economy. But Keefe, the Beyond Plastics advocate, says all this hope for circular economy laws and small community action is misplaced, that we're not going to make a dent in waste generation as long as single-use plastic manufacturers produce and sell their products. 'Plastic recycling is a myth,' she said, pointing to the abysmally low amount of plastic that is actually recycled, as well as the lawsuit that California's attorney general filed last year against ExxonMobil. The suit alleges that the fossil-fuel company knowingly deceived the public about plastic recycling for years, leading to the plastic pollution crisis we are facing today. 'Until we stop focusing on plastic recycling, we're never going to get there,' said Keefe.
