L.A. Times - Environment

A bill in Congress seeks to eliminate different state recycling requirements and labeling by creating a single, national standard that would be voluntary.

Southern California Edison sued Los Angeles County, water agencies and two companies including SoCalGas on Friday, saying their mistakes contributed to the deadly and destructive toll of last year's Eaton wildfire.

The justices will not resolve the decades-long dispute over whether Roundup's key ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer.

SoCal Edison says it expects to pay little or none of the billions of dollars in damages of the disastrous Eaton fire, which its equipment is suspected of igniting. A growing number of wildfire survivors say that's not right.

Nancy Ward, the head of CalOES, left office on Dec. 30. She had publicly begged FEMA to test for toxic substances after the fires — then, according to an internal memo obtained by the L.A. Times, privately advocated against it.

Senate Bill 1137 establishes a 3,200-foot minimum distance between new oil wells and homes, schools, hospitals, parks and other places where people live, work and gather.

A Pew Research poll shows partisan split over U.S. scientific leadership, with Democrats far more concerned about losing ground than Republicans.

Ted Judah went diving off McAbee Beach in Monterey Bay when he caught sight of a 'silvery knife blade undulating thing,' later identified as a king-of-the-salmon.

The best hope for a potential superbloom is if Southern California can get some cool, wet weather next week, one expert says, but the chances of that are iffy.

The Justice Department said natural gas bans in Petaluma and Morgan Hill drive up costs and conflict with federal policy. Both cities said they have not enforced their bans in several years.

California has hailed itself as a leader in single-use plastic reduction and legislation. But a scuttling of its pioneering law, and a new report on the dismal state of recycling in the state, shows things aren't so green in the Golden State.

The L.A. City Council moved to adopt relatively lenient "Zone Zero" laws for homes in fire danger zones, measures that do not align with the plans that state agencies are working to enact.

Arizona's governor says the state will start limiting groundwater pumping in an area where a Saudi farm grows hay and aquifer levels are dropping.

For months, federal officials have said post-cleanup soil testing for fire-stricken homes in L.A. was unnecessary. Now, they plan to test 100 homes destroyed in the Eaton fire.

James Blanchard, a fourth-generation shrimper, was prepared to hang up his nets because of collapsing prices caused by imports. He's not a fan of Trump's persona, but appreciates his policies.