California’s Work is Never Done

California has never been known for slacking off in the environmental-issues department, and now the state is poised to lead the way in the country-wide charge against plastics. According to the L.A. Times, a report scheduled to be released next week will outline dozens of suggestions concerning how to better protect and conserve our waters and beaches.

Some of the recommendations would compel the state to catch up with coastal cities that are outlawing single-use plastic containers and plastic supermarket bags.

“We need to charge forward and have an overarching policy that is no less vigorous than these cities’,” said Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who was instrumental in ordering the report when he was a member of the council.

Aside from the obvious bag tax/ban proposition, other suggestions include a ban on smoking at the beach and heightened punitive charges (or, alternately, heightened redemption rewards) for discarded bottles and cans. And, as if all this work weren’t enough, California is also adopting tougher environmental standards for ships, outraging the shipping industry and greatly pleasing beachgoers and fish this side of the Panama Canal.

The rules, which take effect in 2009, would require ships within 24 nautical miles of California to burn low-sulfur diesel instead of the tar-like sludge known as bunker fuel. About 2,000 vessels would be affected, including container ships, oil tankers and cruise ships.

International negotiators have struggled for decades to reduce pollution from oceangoing vessels but have been stymied by opposition from shipping conglomerates. Federal legislation to control vessel emissions in U.S. ports, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both California Democrats, has been opposed by the Bush administration, which favors deferring to future international regulations.

California’s new regulation will have a global effect: 43% of all marine freight imported into the United States, much of it from Asia, moves through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach… The rules could save 3,600 lives in coastal communities over the first six years through reduced respiratory illnesses and heart disease, including a potential 80% drop in cancer risk associated with ship pollutants, according to regulators.

Shippers are quite up in arms, complaining that California lacks the jurisdiction to dictate how business is run — and they would be, since ships coming into California ports also travel around the world and well out of state waters. So the legislation is temporarily suspended while the ethics and logistics are all worked out. But you have to hand it to our state’s tenacity, at least. We may set impossible standards in the reach for impossible dreams of a better earth, but hey: at least we’re doing something.

Photo via Flickr!

Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.