KPCC: Stories by Molly Peterson

Low-income solar program expands into unincorporated LA County

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:11:06 -0800

A program that has pushed rooftop solar power into East Los Angeles is now pushing forward throughout L.A. County.

The 5-year-old program is called “Green Grants.” Enterprise Community Partners runs it, supported by federal community development block grant money.

Homeowners that make less than $68,000 for a family of four can qualify for energy efficiency retrofits and rooftop solar systems if their houses are sturdy enough.

So far, the grants have been available to about 90 East L.A. homes in L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina’s district. Now the project’s expanding to all parts of unincorporated L.A. County in Molina’s district. The state has a separate solar program for low-income families, but it’s harder to qualify for that one.

Enterprise says the East L.A. houses with new solar panels already report lower utility bills. The group argues over 30 years, cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from renewable energy at these sites will be just like planting 3,000 trees.

Are auto makers doing enough to improve fuel efficiency?

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:20:31 -0800

CODA Automotive, now based in West L.A., will be at the Auto Show with a much-larger, similarly-slick display that resembles what the company's installed in the Century City mall to reach out to the public. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

The Los Angeles Auto Show opens to the public today through Thanksgiving weekend.

KPCC asked people in our Public Insight network what they wanted to know about cars. Here are some of the answers.

Dozens of people wrote in about fuel efficiency. What are car companies doing to improve it? Why aren’t they doing more?

Chair of the California Air Resources Board Mary Nichols regulates the automakers. She says they are improving combustion engine efficiency, years after they suggested they could do little more.

"The gas mileage turns out to be way better than anybody thought," she said. "It could be because they find new ways of manufacturing, they’re using new materials and they’re just optimizing everything to make them more efficient."

They do work harder each year to make sure you know that. At the Auto Show Thursday, Nielsen gave out something called the Automotive Green Marketer Award for just the second time. Ford won for emphasizing miles per gallon in its ads.

Those big car companies that make hybrids or electric cars like to brag about fuel efficiency. But sticker price? Not so much.

Phil Murtaugh left GM to be CEO of L.A.-based electric carmaker Coda Automotive. He says the big boys are having a hard time switching over to hybrids and EVs.

"Their ability to do so is somewhat limited by the infrastructure they’ve already got invested in building engines and transmissions that deliver today’s fuel economy," Murtaugh says. "What makes CODA different from everybody else is we’ve gone whole hog."

Murtaugh's “Whole hog” is whole new cars from the tires up. Those who haven’t gone whole hog still are staring down new fuel efficiency standards.

Within 14 years, Obama Administration willing, each automaker will have to meet a federal standard called CAFE which, by then, will require an average of 54.5 miles per gallon across the fleet. They’ll get credits for trying to do that, but alternative technology will raise the bottom line.

So the Air Resources Board’s Mary Nichols says the big driver for fuel efficiency for a while will be good ol' competition. "They’re all into it. And it’s not because government is forcing them to do it," she says. "It’s because they believe that’s what consumers are going to be wanting in the future and nobody wants to be left behind."

Bottom line, the industry isn't where environmentalists want it to be. But it could be doing more than you think.

Report: Doubling recycling would create jobs, cut air pollution

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:24:41 -0800

Trash and recycling bins. Credit: Photo: Samuel Gordon/Flickr

A new report released by labor unions and environmental groups argues that doubling the nation’s recycling rate within 20 years would create jobs and cut air pollution.

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Adrian Martinez says that means California and other places should find ways to divert 75 percent of waste away from landfills.

"Recycling equals jobs," Martinez said. "Reusing materials equals jobs. And it equals a lot more jobs than if we just send that materials to the incinerator or the landfill."

The report uses public data to predict that recycling and reusing construction materials could create more than a million more jobs.

The report says it would also cut greenhouse gas emissions. The NRDC’s Martinez says changing how we throw stuff away could cut air pollution the same as taking 50 million cars off the road.

Long Beach port adding electricity for docked ships

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:00:04 -0800

This portion of the coast, centered around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is utilized for such diverse purposes as shipping, recreation, tourism, fishing and offshore oil drilling. Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Port officials in Long Beach are dedicating a new facility that will allow ships to plug into shore power on the dock. The upgrade is expected to reduce pollution.

The idea of on-dock power is to cut diesel emissions during idling. Ships at berth need electricity for refrigeration, pumps, ventilation and communication systems.

Traditionally they've run auxiliary engines to keep the lights on and the air flowing. But at these new facilities, retrofitted ships can simply plug in to electric power.

The project is part of the Clean Air Action Plan for the ports. On-dock power cuts emissions — including greenhouse gases.

The new Pier C terminal power is the fourth set of hookups at the Long Beach port. Matson Navigation will be the first to plug in a container ship.

Audubon California opens voting for Bird of the Year

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:15:49 -0800

A column of Vaux's Swifts descend into a chimney at the Chester Williams building located at 5th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, Sept. 22, 2010. Credit: Julio Morales/KPCC

A birdwatching society has opened voting for California's Bird of the Year.

This is the third year for the Audubon California competition. To make it easier for the casual bird lover to vote, the group has nominated seven species as newsmakers for 2011.

One of them is the Sandhill Crane. A state conservation program for Sandhill Cranes is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year.

Vaux's swifts made news for taking up residence at a downtown L.A. chimney in the middle of their migration route. Black Oystercatchers and Snowy Plovers are shorebirds, so they're getting coverage for struggling with development and beachgoers for prime habitat.

Blackbirds, Golden Eagles and condors round out the list.

You can write in a vote for any deserving species at the Audubon website, though previous winners — the Barn Owl and the Yellow-Billed Magpie — are ineligible. The contest ends Dec. 11.

Regulators halt construction on Chino Hills transmission line

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:51:41 -0800

California state regulators have halted construction on a controversial transmission line in Chino Hills.

A new order from the California Public Utilities Commission also directs Southern California Edison to consider alternative routes for the project known as the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project.

The PUC approved the project two years ago, but the city of Chino Hills and its residents oppose it. A group called Hope for the Hills claims the line runs too close to homes. Chino Hills even paid for studies to provide alternatives and some of those will now be looked at.

It's unusual for regulators to block a project they've allowed to get this far. Poles and 200-foot-tall towers are already in the ground. Regulators will consider the other alternatives early next year.

Small aquariums can teach too, operators say

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:17:02 -0800

Senior Aquarist at the Santa Monica Pier Jose Bacallo prepares a marine mammal artifact for bay-induced maceration. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

California is rich in big aquariums attached to accredited research institutions like Scripps in San Diego County or the Monterey Bay Aquarium up north. But, they're not the only places to learn about the sea. Piers along Santa Monica Bay are also home to smaller aquaria that local organizations operate.

One of the youngest of these, the Santa Monica Pier aquarium, is run by Heal the Bay.

There, Jose Bacallo, the senior aquarist for the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium stands on a slip in King Harbor. He pulls a plastic bag out of an Igloo cooler, balances it jauntily on his palm.

"We received the skull of a beaked dolphin," he says.

The skull will go into a big white bucket, then the whole thing, into the harbor. Bacallo gleefully describes maceration — the way waterborne bacteria will naturally remove skin and ligaments from the skull to make it exhibit-worthy.

"Over the next 6-7 months we're going to observe it and we're going to let the microorganisms and the bacteria of the ocean break it down so we can take it back to the aquarium and teach kids about this really beautiful dolphin."

Bacallo and fellow aquarist Seth Lawrence belong here. Their flip-flops are molded to their feet. Once a week they depart from here to gather algae and kelp in the bay as fresh produce for animals on exhibit.

Near one flat rock, jutting out from Palos Verdes, Seth Lawrence puts on a wetsuit and diving weights, ready to jump in for this week's harvest.

"We look for feather boa kelp, which adds a lot of great benefits to our tanks," he said. "It looks really great in there and it’s also enrichment for the animals. We'll also be collecting giant kelp today which we actually feed to a lot of our animals abalone and sea hares."

Bacallo and Lawrence are irreverent, but they also harbor great respect for their environment.

Bacallo says the bay is his backyard, "When I'm out here, or I'm in the water, doing stand up paddleboarding with my daughters, fishing, tidepooling, I've always viewed this as our resource."

"I've never looked at it as my right," he said. "I've always looked at it as, this is a resource for our greater community."

That's the way he wants visitors to the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium to experience it, too. All of its animals, plants, even the water comes from the bay. They're neighbors.

Piers in Hermosa and Manhattan Beach each host a small aquarium. The one at Santa Monica Pier is the trickiest to find: tucked underneath the boardwalk, among creosote-covered piers. But the aquarium's director, Vicki Wawerchak, says 80,000 people a year — especially locals — manage to find it.

"Some parents, we see them once a week, and they use this as kind of an extension of their house, you know," said Wawerchak.

This aquarium is an extension of the work of Heal the Bay, a 30-year-old Santa Monica-based environmental advocacy group. Someone’s deliberately placed a tank of moon jellyfish next to one of plastic trash.

"So moon jellies are these beautiful animals that float and drift in the water. The trash exhibit has a lot of our plastic bags, balloons, all this stuff that when it looks when it's floating in the water it looks just like a sea jelly. This is to show people that our garbage mimics what animals look like," Wawerchak said.

"People come to aquariums because they're going to believe us more than a scientist. It's almost like in a more easy way to digest. And so I think that's something we do really well. We take conservation education and advocacy to a different level."

Donations cover most of the operating costs. Retired teachers and teenagers who love science volunteer their time as peer educators. Wawerchak suggests adults pay at least $3 for entry. But she says the aquarium keeps admission low to draw more people through its doors.

Tanya Longmore came with friends and four kids under the age of 5. She and her Irish husband Martin came from Canada to see Disneyland and the Santa Monica pier. For her, the aquarium's a bonus.

"Someone on the pier had some jellyfish in a clear plastic container and we thought this is a great for the kids to come down and see it today," she said. Her husband was equally pleased, "The heat, the weather, the pier, I've never seen a pier like it. Fantastic."

Longmore and posse are still hard at work, and move past pier habitat, kelp forest, sandy bottom, and the rocky reef tank. Three-year-old Riley takes it all in:"I touched the starfish, a star fish. What happens when a starfish loses its leg? It turns into two starfishes."

It's not a huge room; the families move through it in an hour or so. Tthe kids run their hands over marine mammal artifacts like smooth skulls of sea lions and harbor seals before skipping back out into the sun.

PETA lawsuit: SeaWorld whales are enslaved

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:14:11 -0700

A mother and baby orcas, also called killer whales, swim at Sea World in San Diego. Credit: Getty Images/Getty Images

Lawyers for five killer whales have sued the SeaWorld amusement parks in federal court, claiming the Constitution protects the mammals against slavery.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says it represents the orcas. The organization asserts that the killer whales aren't speaking for themselves because they can’t. Sea World officials call the PETA claim baseless.

In a complaint, PETA argues that the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery should prevent SeaWorld from confining orcas against their will. Constitutional scholars say judges who review the intent of the law won't find evidence that the amendment included non-humans in its original protection.

The declaration that orcas have standing to sue in court is a new tactic animal rights activists are trying for the sake of public debate. In the past, PETA has sought support for a new constitutional amendment under which birds, fish and mammals would enjoy the same rights of people under U.S. law.

Nearly a decade ago, Germans voted to protect the dignity of animals in its constitution. Since then, when they craft new laws, that country’s lawmakers have balanced the interests of animals with scientific experimentation and other concerns. Some American scholars argue that animals, especially ones that share human characteristics, should have greater legal rights.

Hermosa Beach approves ban on Styrofoam takeout containers

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:25:31 -0700

Hermosa Beach is considering whether to ban polystyrene containers. Proponents of the ban say it would cut down on pollution. Opponents consider it an unnecessary impediment to local businesses. Credit: Wonderlane/Flickr CC

Hermosa Beach has joined more than 50 other local California agencies in approving a ban on plastic foam takeout food containers. The City Council on Tuesday night supported a ban on clamshell-style containers made from polystyrene, by a 3-2 vote.

Santa Monica Baykeeper's Liz Crosson says the boxes don't degrade naturally — that’s one reason dozens of local agencies in California have limited their use.

"Cities like the city of Santa Monica, Malibu, West Hollywood, the city of L.A. have implemented some type of ban on what we consider to be one of the most pervasive pollutants in the marine environment," says Crosson.

The California Restaurant Association has told Hermosa Beach city leaders they don’t need to enact a ban. Industry lobbyists argued that restaurants should be free to choose the containers if customers prefer them.

They also pointed out that some facilities recycle foam takeout containers.

SoCal Edison ordered to stop construction on renewable energy transmission line

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:25:34 -0700

Power lines Credit: Mark Ralston/Getty Images

California utility regulators have frozen construction of a transmission line that would carry renewable energy through Chino Hills.

In a letter this week, the state Public Utilities Commission told Southern California Edison to put the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project on hold. Edison's supposed to consult with aviation officials about how to light transmission towers.

The commission also directed the investor-owned utility not to string transmission lines within a thousand feet of homes in Chino Hills. Opponents to the power line project in that city are claiming a partial victory. When it's completed, new transmission lines will deliver wind and renewable energy from Kern County to Southern California.

But some people in Chino Hills have said from the start that 19 new transmission towers for lines 200 feet in the air will harm property values. The city has spent millions of dollars fighting the project. Chino Hills argued against the power lines in a lawsuit, but a court ruled that the Public Utilities Commission had sole jurisdiction over the project's mechanics.

City leaders sent that legal claim on to the California Supreme Court. They say the state's top court might decide to take the case in January.

Air regulators approve cap-and-trade for California

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:05:04 -0700

California's top air regulators gave the green light Thursday to a program that caps greenhouse gas emissions and creates a market in which polluting businesses can buy and sell them.

The cap-and-trade market is now on track to start a year from January. It’s the centerpiece of the state’s landmark law to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels. It's also the first of its kind in the country.

Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols hailed Thursday's vote as a strong step for the state in its battle against climate change. "Those that find alternatives to fossil fuels as a source of energy or those who use less of them will benefit," Nichols said. "Those that improve the efficiency of their operations will benefit. Those that are unable to will not profit from that but will contribute to paying for cleanup."

The move's required by state law, but Nichols says it's also a good strategy. "We believe that if we implement a cap-and-trade program in California, other states, the federal government and other nations will join with us. We also believe that there are significant advantages to being the designers of the first comprehensive program," Nichols said.

The board approved the program over the objections of steelworkers and refineries that called it a job killer.

Community groups that sued to block the cap-and trade market argued it'll worsen smog in poor neighborhoods because some businesses might use the system to pollute even more. Nichols and other regulators said they'll be monitoring the new market to ensure it cuts greenhouse gases as fairly and quickly as possible.

NRDC lawsuit seeks to hold railyards responsible for air pollution health risks

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:00:57 -0700

Outside Stephens Junior High School, concerned mothers, grandmothers and community residents display pictures of children with respiratory and other ailments they believe are connected to diesel pollution from locomotives. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

Near California railyards, community groups have long complained about the health hazard posed by diesel air pollution. A potentially groundbreaking lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council aims to change how railroads operate at these yards near homes and schools.

Laughing teenagers toss footballs around a sports field, idyllic green against a grey sky. Just over the fence of Stephens Junior High School, containers on railroad lines crawl past, booming as they stop and start.

A thin woman casts a wary eye at all this. Helena Rodriguez raised two kids in this neighborhood.

"Sometimes they had to stop their recess or physical education to go inside the classroom because the air was too bad," she says. "My daughter has asthma, her two best friends have asthma also." Rodriguez breaks down. "I feel so bad because I have seen children having asthma attacks, and it's so sad."

Rodriguez blames air pollution for cancer, respiratory and heart disease near 17 railyards in California — not just Long Beach. She's not alone. Community organizer Graciela Larios says one of youngest girls she knows in Riverside suffers the most: a 4-year-old, with a Dora the Explorer backpack.

"Oh, how cute! A Dora backpack!" she says, mimicking bystanders. But she says it's not so cute. "Inside is a big respirator machine. She knows how to set it up, she knows how to use it," Larios says. "We fear for children like her."

In a new federal lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, attorney David Pettit argues that diesel air pollution illegally harms people living and going to school near railyards like this one. "We're suing the two major railroads that service California, BNSF and UP, and we're suing them to get them to clean up their railyard operations all around the state. There's increased cancer risk and all other kinds of risk from living next to a railyard, and that's what we're trying to fix."

Pettit's arguments rely on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. That federal law regulates hazardous solid wastes that present imminent harm to people. Petit says the solid waste here is airborne.

Pettit likens diesel particulate pollution to a shotgun blast. "If someone points a shotgun at you and pulls the trigger, what comes out of the barrel is the hot gases and the shotgun pellets, and it's not the gases that kill you, it's the pellets, the particles that kill you, the pellets. And it's the same way with diesel exhaust, you suck those particles into your lungs with arsenic and lead and bad stuff on them, you suck them into your lungs and they don't come out again, and that's what kills you." Petit pauses. "This legal theory, if it works, will be of national significance, and we'll be able to use it all over the country."

NRDC may have a shot at that. "I wouldn't say it's totally wacky. I would say it's novel," says UCLA environmental law professor Sean Hecht. "It's not something I've seen before."

Hecht says nobody's ever tried to use RCRA to limit air pollution. But he adds that California's regional air officials, whose authority stems from the Clean Air Act, have run into roadblocks trying to regulate railroads.

Those companies have argued they're part of interstate commerce; thus, federal law preempts states from regulating their locomotives. "There was a lawsuit fairly recently that knocked down the South Coast Air Quality Management District's attempt to regulate railyards as if they were a stationary source," Hecht points out. "So, it is true that this is a serious problem that doesn't seem to have an obvious legal remedy."

Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt says his railroad hasn't seen NRDC's complaint yet. In a written response, Hunt said that UP is complying with federal and state law, and in fact was honored by both federal and state authorities for working toward cleaner air. "We are proud of our rail industry leadership role in testing and developing technology that improves fuel efficiency, reduces emissions and provides sustainable freight transportation solutions that support America's economy," Hunt writes.

That railyard near Stephens Junior High, the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, is several hundred acres large. It handles 15 percent of containers moving through the L.A./Long Beach ports.

UP is seeking to expand it. And Burlington Northern Santa Fe wants to build a brand new rail transfer yard.

Expanded and developed, the two railyards would handle 3 million containers a year. Long Beach resident John Cross calls that a "diesel death zone."

Cross has lived in west Long Beach for four decades. "The railroads have been bad neighbors ever since they've laid the first spike in this country," he says. The ICTF opened in 1986. "If you remember, they're known as the railroad barons, and they don't want to change."

Cross says people living near the railyards can't trust state and local air regulators either. The only hope of controlling pollution, he argues, is a lawsuit brought on behalf of citizens like this one.

Sun shines on Tour de Fat in LA's Cornfield park

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:10:02 -0700

Tour de Fat's an event sponsored by Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing Company to promote bicycling culture. Proceeds from sales of Fat Tire Beer, among other things, benefit local cycling groups. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

L.A.'s shutdown of more than 10 miles of city streets Sunday isn't the only bicycle friendly event this weekend. Organizers expect hundreds of people on two wheels at Tour de Fat, a parade and festival in the Los Angeles Historic State Park on Saturday. New Belgium Brewing Company's Matt Kowal says proceeds from sales will benefit the Bicycle Kitchen, Cyclists Inciting Change through Live Exchange (C.I.C.L.E.) and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

"Those groups show up here and provide us with love and volunteering," he says. "We have 100 volunteers that come and make this event happen. So we're like flowers and bees: we need each other."

Last year, according to New Belgium, local bicycle activists split about $10,000 in proceeds from the one-day event.

New Belgium brews Fat Tire Ale, named, according to the company's website, for a co-founder's biking trip through Europe. Tour de Fat is in its 12 year nationally; in Los Angeles, it's just the second year for the festival.

One component of the event is a car-for-bike swap. A Long Beach woman has taken up the company’s challenge to swap gas power for pedal power this year. New Belgium's Kowal says this is the second annual car-for-bike trade in L.A. County.

"This year our trader is Jessica Alexander. She is trading in a 93 Cavalier," he says, with a sound that could be a snort-laugh. "She's getting a pretty sweet bike. It's a hand made bicycle from Fort Collins, Colorado. it's made to be a commuter. she's going to have a pretty sweet ride."

Black Sheep Bikes custom-builds the bicycle, based on a design that retails for several thousand dollars.

Alexander will take possession of her new ride at Tour de Fat Saturday at the Los Angeles State Historic Park.

Two stages will feature music and circus-like performers. They're provided by Southern California based Sustainable Waves, which specializes in solar-powered staging for festival events. The company's Mark McLarry says a 3 kilowatt system powers the stages and sound. "Basically, we can store up to 2,000 amp-hours of power," McLarry says. That means on a sunny day, "we may be bringing in more power than we're using, which is called floating; the system might float," he points out. If that happens, Sustainable Waves wouldn't tap into on-site batteries at all.

Tour de Fat kicks off with a bicycle parade at 11 a.m Saturday.

New children's program 'The Seas of Science' sails this weekend

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:06:08 -0700

Tabitha Esther, also known as Paris Killton, created "The Seas of Science" to make science more accessible to kids. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

Science education is now a cause taken up by CEOs, teachers, women and, yes, reporters. They argue it's increasingly important in California, where students have tested at or near the bottom nationally in just about every measure of science learning. One Angelena has her own modest and musical proposal. Her name is Tabitha Esther. She's a staff geologist at a soil remediation firm by day, and the creator of a new children's program called "The Seas of Science" by night.

Esther grew up in Tustin, but she wasn't dreaming of Erlenmeyer flasks and lab coats as a girl. By the time she got to UCLA, her dreams sometimes consisted simply of being employable.

She liked mathematics; she majored in it, and applied sciences. She took a graduate degree in geology at USC, then a job at a remediation firm. But her wacky spirit and passion for science still needed a home.

"If you're not content with easy answers, welcome aboard," the show's characters sing. "Cast off and sail a sea of science!"

"There's a shortage of good accessible fun imaginative programs for kids about science," Esther says, "and I wanted to fill that void with something that would make science fun."

Naturally, a good signifier for fun is a robot.

Among the other key ingredients to a good show are an alien king puppet, three scientists, a friendly fern and a boat. "Marisol is a young girl; she has a mother and friends in Cleveland. She has a porthole in her attic, through which she joins her friends on a magical sailboat," Esther says. Marisol's best friend is Barry the robot; Sergio the cook is represented by a puppet with nutcracker-like teeth.

This inaugural show is about photosynthesis. Act 1 concerns how plants grow; Act 2 takes the team to the rainforest.

"Deciding how much science to go into the show is hard," she says. "I wanted to reach out to a younger audience, but not too young, so I wanted to have a little chemistry involved with it. Really, I wanted the show to flow really well." Esther taught for a while at the university level. She says that helped her realize that science should be accessible to everyone, not preserved for academia.

The production team huddled during a recent dress rehearsal. The show's happening at the Doll Factory, a warehouse in historic Filipinotown, home to the L.A. Derby Dolls. "Everybody, can you reset for just that last bit? Ba-bing, Brazil?" Lights flip on and off as they test cues; in the background, you can hear wheels around the track, roller derby practice in session. Esther consults a clipboard. "OK, so it will be like, 'let's go to Brazil,' yay, wait for the lights and then you can take off."

Most of the cast and crew call Esther by her Derby name. "I was part of the Derby Dolls for just under five years and my skate name was Paris Killton," she says, laughing. "I had a good time skating and a lot of the people involved in the show are from that part of my life."

The seas of science open to kids and adults with music written by Ben Davila Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. More information about tickets is available at the Seas of Science website.

LA to close streets for another CicLAvia this weekend

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:15:35 -0700

Photo: The inaugural CicLAvia on Oct. 10, 2010 Credit: Gary Leonard

For the third time in two years, the city of Los Angeles will close miles of city streets to cars and open them to people on foot, bike and pogo stick.

The event's called CicLAvia. On Sunday it'll close major streets around the core of Los Angeles. Its organizers want to raise the volume of a drumbeat, one that co-founder Aaron Paley says could change the ways Angelenos use public space.

"What we're talking about here is creating a new way of thinking about the city," Paley says, "a way of experiencing the city which is completely different from the normal experience of being in our cars or even fighting traffic on our bike."

Fueled by a strong activist network, cyclists featured prominently in the first two CicLAvias. This time around, Paley and elected officials emphasize their hopes for more pedestrians and other non-motor-dependent people to fill ten-and-a-half miles of city streets.

Foundations and CicLAvia's parent organization are covering 40 percent of the event's costs. The rest comes from federal and state money L.A.'s accumulated for public health, alternative transportation and air quality projects.

Closures are to be expected on the CicLAvia route from 9 am to 3 pm on Sunday, Oct. 9. There will be 18 designated crossing points for vehicles along the route as well. No parking will be allowed on the route starting at 1 am on Sunday morning. The city expects to fully re-open the streets to cars by 3:30 pm that day.

The street closures will impact Metro bus routes from 9 am to 5 pm. According to a Metro press release, the following lines will be affected: Metro Line 2, 4, 10 (Rte. 48), 14 (Rte. 37), 16, 18, 20, 28, 30, 33, 40, 42, 53, 55, 60, 70, 71, 76, 78 (Rte. 79), 81, 83, 84 (Rte. 68), 90 (Rte. 91), 92, 94, 96, 460, 487, 603, 720, 733 and Silver Line.

Download a map of street closures

Mattel breaks up with Asia Pulp and Paper after Greenpeace's Barbie-based campaign [UPDATE]

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:20:25 -0700

Barbie, 2 Kens and 7 other people - all activists with Greenpeace - went to jail in El Segundo. Credit: Molly Peterson/KPCC

Four months after activists linked its toy packaging to deforestation, El Segundo based Mattel corporation has developed sustainable sourcing principles for its packaging.

The move comes after the environmental group Greenpeace published evidence linking boxes found around Barbie dolls to old-growth rainforest in Indonesia, the world's third-largest forest of that type.

"We know that there are growing concerns about deforestation, and we recognize that Mattel can play a role in this challenge," Kathleen Shaver, Mattel's director of corporate responsibility says, in a produced video on the toy maker's website.

The company will first focus on using post-consumer recycled fiberboard, according to a new statement on its website. Mattel says it will ensure that wood fiber for its packaging is harvested within the bounds of international, national and local law. The company also pledged to seek third-party certification for its paper products, to set measurable goals for progress, and to report regularly on what it accomplishes.

In June, four protesters dressed as Ken dolls scaled headquarters to unfurl a banner while an activist Barbie drove a pink truck down the street toward the building.

The stunt coincided with the launch of a global social media campaign; on the campaign's website, Greenpeace offered evidence linking toy companies to rainforest consumption in Indonesia widely considered illegal under a patchwork of laws.

Several days later, Mattel said it would begin developing rules to improve its sustainability.

Mattel's status as the world's largest toy company makes the move significant, especially to Greenpeace, which also targeted other toy companies. In July, the Danish company LEGO announced its own efforts to strengthen accountability.

Greenpeace targeted the toy sector to call attention to the practices of Asia Pulp and Paper, a fiber and paper supplier based in Indonesia. Its Indonesian campaign manager for forests, Bustar Maitar, hailed Mattel's announcement. “This is more evidence for Asia Pulp and Paper that rainforest destruction is bad for business," he said in a release.

Rapid-turnover palm oil plantations have helped drive the clearing of rainforest in Indonesia over the past half century. So have pulping operations like those of Asia Pulp and Paper.

Mattel didn't specify what type of forestry certification it will seek. Asia Pulp and Paper's Ian Lifshitz said APP supports Mattel's efforts to seek certification, but criticized the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC is an independent nonprofit organization often allied with Greenpeace whose seal of approval appears on Xerox paper and Whole Foods paper grocery sacks. "We strongly urge companies to not limit their procurement policies to one standard, in this case FSC, which discriminates against products from Indonesia and other developing markets," Lifshitz said. "APP supports policies that protect both the environment and the vital income which developing countries receive from the pulp & paper industries."

As part of its efforts toward reducing its contribution to global warming, California has entered into sub-national agreements with Indonesian states in an effort to promote the use of rainforest for capturing carbon and slowing climate change.

(UPDATED, 11:25 AM, to include new comments from Asia Pulp & Paper.)

EPA says $70 million treatment needed at Whittier Superfund site

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:26:07 -0700

Federal environmental officials say a $70 million cleanup is the best way to protect drinking water resources under a Superfund site in Whittier.

Through the 1970s and '80s, Omega Chemical Corporation handled and disposed of industrial solvents and recycled refrigerants from commercial refrigerators and freezer coils. The company left behind dozens of leaky and rusty drums of toxic chemicals.

Soil at the site tested for high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has monitored wells at the site for the last 16 years or so.

The plume of contamination in water that moves underground is four miles long; the solvents in it are known to cause cancer. Under the chosen remedy, millions of dollars will pay for pumping that water out of an underground aquifer, treating it to make it drinkable, then re-injecting it underground.

Deciding on a plan doesn’t mean EPA has the money in hand. Instead, regulators are seeking compensation from the polluting companies the agency holds responsible.

Find LA at Saturday's Found LA neighborhood festival

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:28:36 -0700

The Red Car River Park, a pocket park in Atwater Village. Credit: Roy Ubu/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Saturday around Los Angeles, local celebrities, artists, activists and business owners offer you a chance to play tourist.

The goal of the Found L.A. Fest is to knit together 20 of L.A.'s culturally diverse neighborhoods.

L.A. Commons sponsors the tours. Founder Karen Mack says she’s seen their power firsthand.

One tour united a group of people whose only common goal was to find the best food in Koreatown. On that tour, Mack saw a spark of recognition between two strangers: a white woman and a Korean woman from different L.A. neighborhoods.

"They saw each other and remembered they had been in Korea when 20 years ago, when the Caucasian woman was in the Peace Corps and the Korean woman was in Korea where she grew up," Mack said. "It’s an extreme example, but I think that those kind of connections are possible all the time."

They could happen tomorrow as volunteers and recruits from Mack’s group lead walks in Koreatown, Highland Park, San Pedro and Santa Monica, and "We’ll be in Leimert Park with Karen Collins, who’s this amazing character. She has a tragedy in her life and rather than having that keep her down, she’s making those miniatures in shadow boxes; she has what’s now called the African-American Miniature Museum. Scenes from African-American history. She takes toilet paper and weaves it into tree branches, she takes paper clips and makes glasses out of it, hair out of yarn, and it's amazing creations."

Think of Mack's tours as a community art project — influenced by her study of the public traditions of places like New Orleans, and the pulsing connectedness of New York.

Los Angeles has its own strengths, she says. Even if urban planners who taught her didn’t find them, she has.

"Los Angeles is hard to think about that way," Mack said, "but when you get on the local scale, that’s where you find the urban-ness. People are what make places great."

"L.A. Commons is showing L.A. to everyone and to outsiders one neighborhood at a time," said L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti.

Garcetti will concede bias about the place, in his district, that he’ll tour.

"Atwater Village is the perfect L.A. neighborhood," Garcetti said. "That topography of L.A anonymity coupled with neighbors who all know each other. It’s one of the most underappreciated but beautiful neighborhoods of L.A."

Garcetti says a good visit to Atwater means social strolling time along the Glendale Boulevard. And he says he’ll show off a riverside pocket park dedicated to a piece of L.A.'s transit history — the Red Car.

"Which really helped settle the city and was the envy of the public transportation section of the city," Garcetti said. "Because We have a bridge that now is nothing but pylons over the L.A. river. Where we put murals of what the old Red Car was. And we can talk about the need to bring back public transportation, how important that once was."

Garcetti’s tour is fully booked — hopefully with transit geeks. But L.A. Commons’ Karen Mack says Inglewood, and East Hollywood, and Little Tehran, and St. Elmo Village offer their own conversations, with their own hosts, about their own passions, and stories, and plans, and dreams for their ‘hood.

"We love that idea of people in neighborhoods being ambassadors for their communities," Mack said, "and that's really the spirit of this event, so we hope that people just come and hang out in a neighborhood on that day."

Hanging out, of course, is free. Even the Found L.A. Fest tours are free, but you have to reserve a spot. At day’s end, L.A. Commons invites everyone that pays $25 to an Atwater Crossing reception. There’ll be food from the tour’s neighborhoods — delicious and diverse, just like Los Angeles.

9th Circuit throws out Clean Trucks Plan's contentious driver provision

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:14:39 -0700

Trucks drive near City Hall to protest shipping container fees being assessed against independent truckers as part of the ports' Clean Truck Program to allow only newer, less-polluting trucks at the ports, on November 13, 2009 in Los Angeles. Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

Judges on the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have found that the Port of LA lacks the authority to require trucking companies to hire their drivers as employees, a key provision of the port's Clean Trucks Plan.

Labor activists have criticized market pay and working conditions for drivers at the port, and the ruling deals a blow to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's high-profile effort to blend labor and environment interests.

But the opinion leaves in place four other key requirements the port imposes (through the Clean Trucks Plan) on companies that serve cargo terminals at the harbor. Those companies still must replace older, dirtier trucks with cleaner ones. Rules that require companies to show they're financially solvent are OK, parking limits can still apply and truck owners must prove they're maintaining their rigs.

Patricia Castellanos of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports argues that independent truckers don't take home enough money to pay for pollution reduction. "When you have a driver earning an average of $28,000, not to mention insurance on the cargo, not to mention fuel, a fundamental element of the success of this program is that the burden be shifted away from drivers and internalized by industry," she said.

In a written statement, Villaraigosa said, "Today’s ruling hurts the long-term sustainability of the Clean Truck Program." The Natural Resources Defense Council has backed the Port of L.A.'s program in court, and NRDC lawyer David Pettit said the rules left standing will continue to help cut air pollution. But Pettit said he's worried that eliminating the employee requirement will undermine those rules. "My concern at this point is that the trucking companies will use this as an excuse to slough this off the maintenance costs on the drivers," he said, "and then we'll be right back where we started."

"[Environmentalists are] worried about everything, quite frankly," said the American Trucking Association's Curtis Whalen, who said the Ninth Circuit was right to toss the employee driver rule, by far the most contentious within the trucking lobby.

Judge Betty Fletcher wrote the majority opinion, in which she concluded, "the employee driver provision seeks to impact third party behavior unrelated to the performance of the concessionaire’s obligations to the Port." Judges ruled that the provision illegally aimed to influence the relationship between companies and their drivers. "The Port has an interest in continued provision of drayage services, but it may not obtain that stability by unilaterally inserting itself into the contractual relationship between motor carriers and driver," Fletcher wrote.

Besides, said Whalen, the program's working without it. "If you look at the L.A. and Long Beach programs they've got something like 8- to 9,000 2007 or better trucks," Whalen said. "Those are new and clean burning trucks, they'll be maintained by the companies or the drivers that own them."

Port officials and environmental groups have promoted the program's success in cutting diesel emissions from trucks by 80 percent — ahead of schedule. Those parties say they're still weighing whether to appeal the decision. No matter what they do, the trucking industry and L.A. city officials have said a good sign of the program's success is how much diesel soot trucks deposit in the air people breathe at the harbor.

Amidst controversy, developers preview stadium plan for LA City Council

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:48:45 -0700

In this rendering released by AEG, the proposed football stadium to house a NFL team in Los Angeles, California is seen. Credit: Illustration by AEG via Getty Images

The company that wants to build a pro football stadium in downtown Los Angeles offered city councilmembers a preview of how it’s studying traffic issues around the multimillion dollar project on Monday.

Development company AEG has tried to cover all all angles, including transportation, on what it hopes will be an expedited road to completion.

The company has enrolled Irvine-based consulting firm The Mobility Group to help. survey how fans could travel to a proposed stadium. Mike Bates, president of firm, estimates that around 15 percent or more of ticket holders would use bus or rail lines to get to games.

"One of the main comments we get in the community meetings is [that] people are excited about the proximity to transit and the ability to use transit to get to the event center," he said.

Even with public transit, the company needed to find 20,000 parking spots for each weekend game, a task Bates says is already completed.

AEG representatives say making the surrounding streets friendly to foot traffic will encourage at least 3 percent of fans to walk to games. L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes told Bates he was disappointed with the findings that he said ignored the needs of his district.

"It's as if 70,000 people don't exist on the other side of the freeway, 70,000 people per square mile," he said.

Reyes' remarks refer to the Pico Union neighborhood west of the 110 Freeway. He says AEG should study collateral effects in his district; a district where apartment dwellers report prostitution and overflow parking during major events at L.A. Live and Staples Center.

"During the Emmy awards we had limousines parking on the street in front of people’s homes blocking their driveways as if no one lived there," said Reyes.

Bates and AEG attorney Bill Delvac promised to deliver a comprehensive draft environmental impact report, which it aims to finish in January.