Trump's environmental rollbacks hit California hard, despite Sacramento's resistance

When 50,000 acre-feet of water went gushing out of the Sacramento River last month, it fast became a test of California’s ability to protect its environmental policies from an increasingly hostile Trump administration.

The episode proved humbling.

Heeding the calls of big agriculture interests and area congressional Republicans, the administration pumped federally controlled water to Central Valley farms despite protest from the state that the move imperiled the endangered delta smelt. All California could do was temporarily shut its own pumps, which came at the expense of the state’s mostly urban water customers.

It was perceived by some in California as the kind of big agriculture water grab that the state had not seen in years. And it flouted a longstanding water-management partnership between California and Washington, D.C.

“This has never happened before,” Doug Obegi, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said of the pumping. “It has created a huge mess, and a lot of uncertainty.”

The incident was a jolting reminder of California’s limited ability to counteract the environmental retreat in Washington. Even in the state where resistance is the mantra, leaders can’t keep up with the pace of Trump’s environmental rollbacks.

The risk of exposure to toxic substances escaping from industrial facilities has been heightened by the suspension of federal safety rules. Climate change action is getting undercut by easing of restrictions on heavily polluting vehicles.

Federal waterways protections that state officials were relying on to save sensitive vernal pools and boost fisheries are gone. A dangerous pesticide that field workers expected would be banned remains widely sprayed.

Even the authority of officials at the state’s national parks to prohibit plastic water bottles has been stripped.

So many rules and regulations have been rolled back that lawmakers can scarcely keep up. “I have lost track,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), who sits on the House Natural Resources Committee. “It is dizzying.”

The Californian who ran the EPA division encompassing the state and others in the Southwest during the Obama administration is particularly concerned about the state’s exposure to toxic chemicals. “No one knows: Is this being covered? Who is covering it and how?” said Jared Blumenfeld, former EPA Region 9 administrator.

While the state has moved aggressively to implement tough restrictions at oil refineries in recent years, there are other categories of facilities where the federal government had been taking the lead. The EPA was imposing new requirements enabling regulators to keep track of what chemicals are stored where, and requiring plant owners to take proactive measures to prevent dangerous releases into the community. But the Trump administration suspended them.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the move was made in the interest of being “responsive to concerns raised by stakeholders regarding regulations so facility owners and operators know what is expected of them.”

The rules would have boosted safety provisions at plants such as the South San Francisco salami factory, which in 2009 released a plume of 217 pounds of poisonous ammonia, sending 17 people in the nearby community to the hospital, one of them for four days.

In many cases, California’s backstop is local fire departments. Some have experienced hazardous chemical experts on staff. Others don’t.

Federal waterways protections that state officials were relying on to save sensitive vernal pools and boost fisheries are gone. A dangerous pesticide that field workers expected would be banned remains widely sprayed.

Even the authority of officials at the state’s national parks to prohibit plastic water bottles has been stripped.

So many rules and regulations have been rolled back that lawmakers can scarcely keep up. “I have lost track,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), who sits on the House Natural Resources Committee. “It is dizzying.”

The Californian who ran the EPA division encompassing the state and others in the Southwest during the Obama administration is particularly concerned about the state’s exposure to toxic chemicals. “No one knows: Is this being covered? Who is covering it and how?” said Jared Blumenfeld, former EPA Region 9 administrator.

While the state has moved aggressively to implement tough restrictions at oil refineries in recent years, there are other categories of facilities where the federal government had been taking the lead. The EPA was imposing new requirements enabling regulators to keep track of what chemicals are stored where, and requiring plant owners to take proactive measures to prevent dangerous releases into the community. But the Trump administration suspended them.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the move was made in the interest of being “responsive to concerns raised by stakeholders regarding regulations so facility owners and operators know what is expected of them.”

The rules would have boosted safety provisions at plants such as the South San Francisco salami factory, which in 2009 released a plume of 217 pounds of poisonous ammonia, sending 17 people in the nearby community to the hospital, one of them for four days.

In many cases, California’s backstop is local fire departments. Some have experienced hazardous chemical experts on staff. Others don’t.

Learn more at L.A. Times