In essence, the judge's order has completely paralyzed the Regional Water
Board and crippled it from carrying out its most important duties -- safeguarding
public health. Worried about swimming at polluted beaches? Apparently, Judge
Colaw isn’t. Forget about any enforcement of the regulations that mandate
beaches free of fecal bacteria. Sick and tired of those 10 feet high piles of
trash on the beach in Long Beach after the first flush? What about those
noxious algal blooms that reek to high heaven and choke off all aquatic life? The judge doesn’t seemingly care too much about those either.
I’m sure the state and the environmental community will soon appeal this
hellacious decision, but in the mean time, don’t count on any state effort to
keep our beaches and waterways clean. The Regional Water Board just cancelled a
workshop on the Ventura County stormwater permit, despite the fact that the
permit is long overdue.
YOU ARE HEREBY DIRECTED AND COMMANDED, UPON RECEIPT
OF THIS WRIT, IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR RESPECTIVE
OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE LAW:
"To void and set aside Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control
Board Resolution No. 2005-003, dated March 3, 2005, wherein the 2004 Triennial
Review of the Water Quality Control Plan for the Los Angeles Region ("Basin
Plan") was concluded..."
A new water conservation law prohibits Lancaster residents from watering their lawns between 10 am. and 10 pm. First-time offenders will get a warning. The second offense will trigger a water-use audit. But it's the third offense that could really hurt: a citation and $1,000 fine.
The same punishment could also apply for third-timers who let water flow freely from a hose while washing their cars or hosing down a driveway, reports the Antelope Valley Press.
There's a full-on smog alert for the Santa Clarita Valley, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and pollution alerts for sensitive people in the San Fernando Valley, the eastern San Gabriel Valley and mountains, and in Pomona. The fires burning in NorCal are a contributing factor, as is the heat.
Lefteris (yep, that's his whole name) couldn't find an electric car he was willing to buy, so he went ahead and built one, Ralph Vartabedia reports:
When Lefteris, a professional photographer in Los Angeles, says his
other car is a gas guzzler, he's talking about the icon of
environmentalists, the Toyota Prius.
Lefteris is part of a grass-roots movement of people who are fed up
with the auto industry for not offering affordable all-electrical
vehicles and who are building their own.
"It is possible," say Lefteris, who goes by one name. "I didn't do
it for the cost savings, though it turns out to be an inexpensive way
to transport myself. We must stop sending money to countries that are
often hostile and repressive, and do something to save our fragile
planet."
How? Why? Does it actually work? Details in the full story.
That's the question hunters must ask starting today as a ban on lead ammunition goes into effect across a large swath of Southern and Central California. The prohibition on lead bullets was signed into law last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger to protect the endangered California condor from lead poisoning by feeding on game killed with lead bullets. The ban applies to the "condor range," which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura counties and a larger portion of Los Angeles County.
Many hunting groups opposed the ban, primarily because copper and other lead-free types of ammunition is more expensive than lead. But many appear to have been preparing for the ban. Becky Davis, owner of a Goleta ammunition maker, told the Ventura County Star that there is quite a wait for copper bullets.
"We're backlogged two to three weeks right now, when we're usually backlogged two to three days," she said.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Nonlead bullet, left, and a standard bullet. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles times
The annual Lotus Festival starts two weeks from today in Echo Park and, for the first time in its 31-year history, the guest of honor is missing.
We'll see a jazz fest, an art show, a food court, a health fair, dragon boat races, a Lotus Queen and her court, but no actual lotuses. Not growing in the lake, anyway. After a steep decline, this year's crop amounts to a few sickly leaves.
What's going on? We've heard plenty of theories -- climate change, heavy metals in the water, a disease of some sort attacking the rhizomes -- but the truth is, no one knows for sure. Jenny Burman has been tracking the vanishing lotus on her Echo Park blog for a few years now, and we posted about them on LA Now.
Larry Simonsen, who teaches at the Civitas School of Leadership in L.A., studied the problem with his class in 2007. Based on extensive tests and research, the water in the lake doesn't seem to be the problem. (The class used a thriving lotus pond at Lotusland, a botanical garden in Montecito, as a control and found no difference in the water values.)
So what's the answer? Simonsen found photos that show a lotus pond attacked by disease and says it looks just like what's happening in Echo Park. He's hopeful that when the lake is drained in 2009 (though city officials are now saying the draining and dredging will likely take place later than that) a good cleaning and a new crop of rhizomes may restore the lotus bed to its former glory.
In the meantime, here's a T-shirt created by photog Martin Cox, a long-time resident of The Echo. As he puts it, "I wanted to make sure there would be some lotuses at the festival." (See the jump for a photo of the heyday of the lotus.) And lots more pix here.
Hundreds of wildfires continue to burn in Northern California, the result of highly unusual lightning storms. Smoke from the blazes, many of which continue unchecked, spread throughout the state and reached as far as Nevada. (That's Vacaville this week, where the sun shone red because of smoke from nearby fires in Fairfield and Green Valley.)
After urging Los Angeles residents to conserve water and energy, it turns out that H. David Nahai, general manager of the Department of Water & Power, has a lot to learn about conservation and life as a public official. A department audit of his nearly 6,000-square-foot home showed that Nahai's water consumption was higher than his neighbors -- thanks in part to garden sprinklers that ran every day even when it rained -- and that his family had not taken advantage of many energy-saving appliances and devices (such as florescent bulbs), said the Daily News.
"I'm opening up my private life and I'm saying, 'Here is what I've discovered and here's what I want to do to reduce both my usage and my expenditures. Can you do the same?' ''
But Nahai was far more protective of his water and electrical consumption earlier this month when asked to show a copy of his home DWP bill:
"I don’t want to talk to you anymore. You’re harassing me."
That's what he told Alan Mittelstaedt, former City Beat news editor and now guest blogger at Witness LA, who has been seeking (some would say hounding) Nahai and his staff to see a copy of the general manager's DWP bill to find out if the executive's conservation talk was just that. Mittelstaedt actually stopped by Nahai's home to see the bill and later ended up filing a request for copies under the California Public Records Act. After the agency turned down his request, Mittelstaedt threatened to sue to get the information (we are still waiting to hear if the DWP ever did supply the bills).
Nahai's new willingness to admit to his water and power-wasting ways and share his lessons with the public seems more PR savvy than his previous comments or lack thereof. When asked back in May what his monthly water bill was, Nahai, head of the nation's largest municipal utility, said he had no idea.
"I don’t know," he said. "You’d have to ask my wife."
A stretch of coast close to two miles long remains off limits in Long Beach after a sewage spill in Glendale entered the L.A. River and made its way downstream, Francisco Vara-Orta reports.
The Press-Telegram goes into greater detail about the spill on its home turf:
Swimmers in Long Beach are now prohibited from going near coastal beaches west of the Belmont Pier to 3rd Place. The stretch to steer clear of is about 1.75 miles long, said Nelson Kerr, recreational water manager for the city.
Kerr said officials are running tests on the area, which is prone to runoff from the Los Angeles River.
"The beaches that surround the Los Angeles River tend to be the most problematic," said James Alamillo, the Beach Report Card manager from Heal the Bay.
According to Alamillo, beaches from 3rd Place to 14th Place and farther tend to be more contaminated with what officials call "fecal indicator bacteria."
The closure comes just weeks after the release of the annual SoCal Beach Report Card from Heal the Bay, which shows beaches in the same area of Long beach were closed for 11 days because of sewage spills. Water quality info is as close as a text message these days. Just send the name of the beach to 23907 and the most recent water quality grade appears on your cellphone.
And in a bid to help area beaches cleanse themselves, the city of Long Beach has agreed to look at whether removing the massive breakwater would make a difference, according to our own Deborah Schoch.
An environmental group that believes the deaths of three blue whales that were in SoCal feeding on krill last year resulted from the giant mammals being struck by ships is suing the Coast Guard, the Ventura County Star reports:
The lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in U.S. District Court cites the deaths of three blue whales in the Santa Barbara Channel in 2007. Those whales, two of which died off Ventura County's coast, were confirmed or suspected of having died after colliding with ships.
"We think that if that sort of ship strike-induced death continues at that rate, an endangered species can't tolerate that kind of thing," said Andrea Treece, a attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "What we're asking in this lawsuit is for the court to command the Coast Guard to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service."
The NMFS is responsible for investigations and rescues involving marine mammals and endangered marine species, NMFS spokesman Jim Milbury said.
Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer William Epperson did not comment on the lawsuit but said the agency works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees NMFS.
For his part, NMFS spokesman Milbury called the Coast Guard an "excellent partner" in the effort to protect the whales, but environmentalists want more safeguards in place. The full story is here.
The decades-long battle over offshore oil drilling flared up again today after President Bush said it was time to lift a ban on drilling in coastal waters. That ban was inspired in part by the environmental disaster that took place off the Santa Barbara coast nearly 40 years ago.
In January 1969, an offshore oil rig about five miles off the Santa Barbara coast "blew out" as it drilled deep into the earth. For the next month, about 1,000 gallons of crude an hour spewed out from cracks in the ocean floor, creating a 35 mile-long slick that blackened beaches and harbors and killed and injured countless birds and other wildlife. National television coverage of injured animals and tar-covered beaches triggered public outrage and helped jump-start the environmental movement.
The "incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people," said newly sworn-in President Richard Nixon after viewing the aftermath of the approximately 3 million-gallon spill.
But with gas prices closing in on $5 a gallon, the environmental movement spawned in part by the Santa Barbara spill now finds itself struggling against growing pressure to expand oil exploration, according to an LAT story.
Ironically, the waters off the Santa Barbara coast also were the site of the nation's first offshore oil well, which was drilled from a wooden pier in 1896 in Summerland.
Pat Marfisi grows vibrant veggies in his backyard garden while barely touching a hoe or a hose. What's his secret? Lisa Boone has the details:
Since he began gardening in this fashion, he says, he has been
"inundated" with food. With the exception of some recent losses to
raccoons drawn to the soil's abundant grubs and earthworms, Marfisi's
garden is thriving with beets, collard greens, chard, celery, tomatoes,
chives, peppers, basil, lettuces and leeks. He estimates he
grows enough food to feed three people daily.
When asked how much he waters, Marfisi shoves his hand deep beside some
Swiss chard and pulls out moist, decomposed soil laced with remnants of
straw. "I haven't watered in 10 days," he says. "This is what I want
people to know: You can have beauty and abundance without a lot of
water."
How does he do it? Lots of details -- and lovely photos -- in Lisa's full story here.
It's show and sale weekend for the Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society, where water-conscious gardening style meets extreme style. California natives, aloes, agaves and exotics await your inspiration.
"Everyone knows succulents are great for container gardens," says Jeff Karsner, president of the Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society. "We figure it's time for the public to advance its plant palette beyond the usual offerings."
George Calvarescu bought a kayak, saw the L.A. River, had an epiphany and, 52 miles later — dressed in his business suit — the San Fernando Valley resident had paddled the L.A. River downstream to work in Long Beach. Full story in the LaLa Times.
Turns out that "new shower curtain smell" is actually a noxious brew of toxic chemicals that can harm your liver, damage your central nervous system, affect your breathing and even interfere with fertility. (And you thought the shower scene from "Psycho" was scary.) Tami Abdollah has the alarming details in her story here.
So, a layer of black plastic balls on the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake. How, why, and for how long - the details about bird balls from Francisco Vara-Orta.
We've had lots of comments on this post and many of them included links. We can't publish URLs in comments (complicated legal reasons) so I'm posting the ones you sent - plus a few extras.
Combine algae, sunlight, carbon dioxide and non-potable water and what do you get? Well, a San Diego company says the result is chemically equivalent to the top grade of crude oil that can be refined into fuels for cars, trucks and other uses. Jason Pyle, founder of Sapphire Energy, calls it "green crude" and plans to introduce the first fuels in about three years, he told the Times' Elizabeth Douglass.
On the front end, the process would help curb the nation’s reliance on imported crude, and alleviate concerns about the world’s dwindling supply of oil, he said. The green crude also would produce fewer pollutants in the refining process and fewer harmful emissions from vehicle tailpipes, Pyle said.
One scientist said the results are encouraging but the environmental benefits of green crude need more study.
The annual SoCal Beach Report Card from Heal the Bay is out. How'd we do? Though water quality keeps getting better, we're also home to some of the most polluted beaches on the California coast. Susannah Rosenblatt has the details:
Half of the 10 foulest shorelines in the state are in Los Angeles
County, with the dirtiest surf at Avalon Harbor Beach on Santa Catalina
Island.
Other "beach bummers" with the worst water quality were the waters at
Santa Monica Pier, Poche Beach and North Beach-Doheny in south Orange
County, Marie Canyon at Puerco Beach in Malibu, Cabrillo Beach in San
Pedro and various locations in Long Beach.
The lack of rain helped pump up some of the grades. Bottom line -- we've got a lot more work to do. Read Susannah's full story here. And check the beach stats here.
That's right - thousands of plastic ducks purposely dumped into the ocean this weekend. For a good cause, of course, but still. Patt Morrison makes the case against the Duck-a-thon in our fine animals blog, L.A. Unleashed:
It's for a very good cause -- a community clinic -- but not doing it is a very good cause, too. In our part of the Pacific Ocean, there's six times more plastic than plankton -- six times. Along the North Pacific shores, a hundred thousand sea mammals are killed every year from gobbling plastics that they thought were edible.
The plastic poisoning of the oceans isn't getting better, and the once-amusing spectacle of tides full of yellow rubber ducks isn't helping.
We're a smart country -- if we can stamp out crackers shaped like goldfish, someone can come up with an edible, floating, ocean-friendly food substance and make it look like a duck. Because otherwise, in this case, if it looks like a duck and floats like a duck and quacks like a duck -- it's deadly.
Seriously - why isn't dumping this much plastic into the ocean against the law?
Yes, there are those who look at these lovely and amazing trees and see nothing but dropped petals and long weeks of sweeping and scraping. And then there's the rest of us, willing to drive miles out of our way to cruise the purple jacaranda canopy.
Where are great jacaranda streets in your neighborhood? (The trees in the photo, about a week short of full, glorious bloom, are on Myrtle Street in Santa Ana.) And does anyone know of a (don't laugh) jacaranda tour?
Thierry Patrick Colaw, a superior court judge in the OC, has legally set aside water quality standards in L.A. and Ventura counties, saying L.A.'s Regional Water Quality Control Board failed to do its homework. Specifically, he takes issue with the regional Basin Plan, approved in 2005. 
