SACRAMENTO — Concerned about threats by the Trump administration to weaken environmental and whistle-blower protection laws, California lawmakers introduced three bills Thursday to try to keep federal standards as they are — at least in this state.
Senate Democrats unveiled the bills a week after Scott Pruitt — a climate change skeptic — was sworn in to run the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
President Trump once vowed to get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency “in almost every form,” leaving behind only “tidbits.” On Thursday, the man he appointed to lead the EPA went to Capitol Hill to defend a budget proposal that would begin that promised dismantling.
Between the very little Attorney General Jeff Sessions was willing to say about his conversations with President Trump and the essentially nothing Senate Republicans were willing to say
The head of President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency may not be prepared to battle California over air regulations, but the man who led Trump's transition team for the department is ready.
Myron Ebell, who works at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington and helped devise Trump's environmental agenda, said California should not be allowed to set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle tailpipes.
California's unique authority to set tougher air quality standards than the federal government isn't being targeted right now, according to Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt.
“Currently the waiver is not under review," Pruitt said Thursday.
The comment, made during a Capitol Hill hearing, could deescalate what appeared to be a brewing battle between California and President Trump's administration.
Legislation introduced that would require state agencies in Illinois to enforce environmental standards adopted under the Obama Administration, if those standards are rolled back under Trump is nearly identical to one advancing in the California legislature.
The Illinois bill, HB 1438, co-sponsored by Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville), is nearly identical to one that cleared the California Senate with a substantial majority in late May. California’s SB 49 could reach the floor in the Assembly by late September.
Citing fears the federal government may weaken environmental protections, the California state Senate on Tuesday passed a “Preserve California” package of bills.
The three bills keep in place President Barack Obama-era federal environmental regulations, discourage the sale of federal public land without the state’s permission and safeguard federal whistleblowers authorized to work in California. Los Angeles-area Democrats wrote all three bills, which were met by opposition from Republicans at every step.
California has long been an environmental leader, adopting strong laws to protect the air, water and land that often, eventually, become national policy. Yet the task of setting and enforcing environmental standards is a huge one, and even Green California has relied on the federal government to handle much of that work.
To anyone who believes environmental regulation is poison for profits, California must be infuriating. The state’s pollution policies rarely wilt its perennially blooming economy. For the past nine years, a Golden State-centric think tank Next 10 has been releasing its California Green Innovation Index. The results this year show a continuing trend: For two and a half decades, California’s GDP and population have continued to rise, while per capita carbon dioxide emissions have stayed flat.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — A coalition of Los Angeles community groups this week called on the area’s state legislators to support a package of bills designed to protect the region’s water and air from federal attempts to weaken environmental safeguards. The package is authored by area legislators Senate President pro Tem Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), Senator Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park), Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), and Assemblymember Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills).
