News
Energy 'fracking' boom tainted by EPA finding contaminants in drinking water
A controversial method of drilling for oil and natural gas appears to be the cause of groundwater pollution in a central Wyoming town, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday in its first statement implicating what proponents see as the next great energy boom.
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State sues over bottles' 'biodegradable' labeling
A plastic bottling company and two bottled-water companies are selling their products in California in containers labeled "biodegradable," a designation that is both false and illegal, Attorney General Kamala Harris said Wednesday in a lawsuit. The suit seeks to remove the bottles from store shelves throughout the state using a 2-year-old California law that prohibits labeling any plastic food or beverage container as biodegradable.
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California becomes first state to adopt cap-and-trade program
The California Air Resources Board on unanimously adopted the nation's first state-administered cap-and-trade regulations, a landmark set of air pollution controls to address climate change and help the state achieve its ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The complex market system for the first time puts a price on heat-trapping pollution by allowing California's dirtiest industries to trade carbon credits. The rules have been years in the making, overcoming legal challenges and an aggressive oil industry-sponsored ballot initiative.
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Brown signs water re-use bill
Backyard gray-water irrigation systems could become commonplace as a result of new legislation. Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 849 by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, which says cities, counties and other local government agencies cannot prohibit gray-water systems, except in areas where special circumstances exist.
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Napa residents collaborate on sustainable solutions
The city of Napa began working on the community portion of its sustainability plan Thursday with the help of more than 60 residents who turned out to a public meeting. The city’s sustainability arm, CleanGreenNapa, hosted the meeting, during which attendees brainstormed ideas as to what a sustainability plan for the community should include.
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SC Johnson Settles Lawsuits Over Greenlist Logo
SC Johnson has settled two class action lawsuits that challenged its Greenlist logo -- an image the company put on products that met its internal standards for less-harmful products -- by agreeing to stop putting the label on Windex bottles.
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California cap and trade plan cleared by court
An appellate court is allowing California to go ahead with a market-oriented cap-and-trade system of pollution credits to combat global warming while state officials appeal a judge's order to look harder at alternatives that some environmentalists prefer, such as a tax on carbon fuels.
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Skepticism grows over products touted as eco-friendly
Environmentalists and some consumers are questioning the claims of an increasing number of companies and items promoted as green.
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L.A. Unified sues over contamination at new Glassell Park campus
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Brown signs renewable-source electricity bill, promises more jobs
Gov. Jerry Brown signed far-reaching energy legislation that will require California utilities to obtain up to a third of their electricity from wind, solar and other green sources.
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Verdict mixed in toxic contamination trial
A federal jury delivered a mixed verdict in a major toxic contamination case, finding the cancer-causing chemical hexavalent chromium migrated into a Merced-area neighborhood via the air and in a canal, but not through groundwater.
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Davis Superfund site gets solar-powered cleanup
Chemical pollution in a small waste pond west of Sacramento reached such virulent levels that a dog died after swimming in it in the 1980s and federal regulators warned it would take two centuries to clean up. Now the site is using high-tech gear - including an array of solar energy panels - that will shorten the decontamination process.
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MIT Grad's Invention Means Real 'Green' Beer
The anaerobic methane digester, installed last year at Magic Hat Brewing Co. in Vermont, extracts energy from the spent hops, barley and yeast left over from the brewing process -- and it processes the plant's wastewater. That saves the brewer on waste disposal and natural gas purchasing
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California releases first state-approved K-12 environmental curriculum in U.S.
The California Environmental Protection Agency released the nation's first state-approved K-12 environmental curriculum this month to school districts statewide. Instead of generic chemistry lectures, students will learn how chlorine-containing molecules from products such as aerosol cans and refrigerators chew away -- through chemical reactions -- the protective ozone layer over the Earth's poles. They learn how atmospheric carbon dioxide keeps the planet warm through the "greenhouse effect."
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State violated law in passing greenhouse gas plan
The California Air Resources Board violated state environmental law in 2008 when it adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and again last year when it passed cap-and-trade regulations, a San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled in a tentative decision.
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Redevelopment money fight heats up as state controller announces it will audit 18 agencies
Turning up the heat on cities and counties in California, state Controller John Chiang announced Monday that his office will scour the books of 18 redevelopment agencies across the state to make sure dollars are being spent as the law intends.
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Olin extracts $2.5 million in perchlorate deal
Eight years later, and the contamination of drinking water in the South Valley is still haunting residents. An agreement between Olin Corp. - the company that was found responsible for polluting the area's groundwater - and the Santa Clara Valley Water District was reached in March, ultimately awarding Olin $1 million. Meanwhile, ratepayers will continue to pay for the perchlorate cleanup debt until 2013.
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Fiji Water Targeted in ‘Greenwashing’ Class Action Suit
Fiji Water Company has been named in a class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif. that alleges the company has profited by greenwashing claims that it’s water products are carbon negative—which means that the production, packaging and shipment of the water removes more carbon pollution from the atmosphere than it releases into it.
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Greywater Report looks at wastewater's potential
About 50% of the water used inside U.S. homes can be reused to irrigate landscapes and flush toilets, according to a greywater report released by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute last week. The Overview of Greywater Reuse examined the application of greywater systems worldwide to determine how the wastewater generated from sinks, baths, showers and clothes washers could be reused to reduce demand for more costly, high-quality drinking water.
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Benicia may pay share of Arsenal cleanup bill
The City of Benecia and other property owners hope to avoid becoming collateral damage in a war to clean up the Arsenal. The project is expected to cost several millions of dollars and take a decade to complete, and so far the Army is ducking any responsibility, state officials say. That means existing property owners -- including the city -- may be on the hook financially for upfront cleanup costs, though property owners later may be able to sue the Department of Defense for reimbursement.
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USGBC, LEED Targeted by Class-Action Suit
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and its founders have been named as defendants in a class action lawsuit filed in federal court. Filed on behalf of mechanical systems designer Henry Gifford, owner of Gifford Fuel Saving,
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On 10/10/10, a global party against global warming
Bill McKibben is inviting everyone to the 'Global Work Party,' which pairs grassroots environmental activism with political engagement. For a complete list of events in your area, visit www.350.org.
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Federal Trade Commission Proposes Revised "Green Guides"
The Federal Trade Commission today proposed revisions to the guidance that it gives marketers to help them avoid making misleading environmental claims. The proposed changes are designed to update the Guides and make them easier for companies to understand and use. The changes to the “Green Guides” include new guidance on marketers’ use of product certifications and seals of approval, “renewable energy” claims, “renewable materials” claims, and “carbon offset” claims. The FTC is seeking public comments on the proposed changes until December 10, 2010, after which it will decide which changes to make final.
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Pollution spikes despite years of cleanup
Despite nearly three decades of clean-up efforts at a central Palo Alto Superfund site, groundwater contamination from a leaky underground chemical tank has dramatically concentrated in some small areas, according to a new water-quality report.
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As solar power developers search for sites, N.J. tries to cash in
New Jersey is looking for cash in some unlikely places these days, like its toxic waste dumps and overflowing landfills. These unloved hallmarks of long-lost industries and careless planning may actually be able to pay for their own cleanup, if state regulators and solar developers can figure out how to make their transformation economical.
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Energy-saving LED light bulbs: false claims?
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Lights of America Inc. this week alleging false performance claims for some of the company's LED light bulbs. The environmentally friendly bulbs, which were sold at major retailers such as Walmart and Costco, don't burn as brightly or as long as advertised, the FTC said in the suit.
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EPA wants companies to reveal chemicals used in controversial gas extraction method
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has asked nine companies to voluntarily reveal the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing, a method used to extract natural gas by injecting fluids into rock formations deep underground.
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Santa Cruz City Council asks community for advice on climate plan
The conversation about making Santa Cruz a more energy efficient town - including less water use, fewer car trips and more solar energy - warmed up Tuesday as city leaders looked to the community for advice on how to make a proposed "climate action plan" successful. The city's climate change action coordinator has studied city fuel logs, PG&E records and regional transportation reports that gauge vehicle miles traveled to come up with estimates of Santa Cruz's greenhouse gas emissions.
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Recycling Land for Green Energy Ideas
Thousands of acres of farmland here in the San Joaquin Valley have been removed from agricultural production, largely because the once fertile land is contaminated by salt buildup from years of irrigation. But large swaths of those dry fields could have a valuable new use in their future — making electricity.
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Nichols: No Solo Cap-and-Trade
Cap and Trade is a lonely business. But according to the state's top regulator in charge of implementing it, California won't go it alone. Mary Nichols, who chairs the state's Air Resources Board, made the remark in a Silicon Valley panel discussion today. The ostensible topic of the event was renewable energy but it turned into a pep rally against Proposition 23, the statewide ballot measure designed to halt California's comprehensive climate law, AB 32. Nichols was joined on the panel by executives from Google, PG&E and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, all of whom voiced strong opposition to Prop 23.
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Cleaners brace for solvent phase out
Dry cleaners across the state must begin phasing out machines that use a solvent that is both effective and potentially carcinogenic. However, what may be good for air quality and safety puts a hefty costs on businesses struggling in the down economy.
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The Story of the Safe Cosmetics Act
Every day millions of people cover their bodies in a variety of cosmetics and personal care products hoping to look more attractive, but there is a price to pay for beauty (and I’m not talking about how expensive cosmetic products are). Independent testing in the United States and the European Union has determined that some cosmetic products contain substances known or suspected to cause cancer and reproductive toxicity that can harm the mother, fetus, and nursing children. Dangerous chemicals have a knack for showing up in our every day products, from toys that our children play with to the cosmetics in our bathroom cabinets, and that is why California has taken the lead in passing legislation to protect its residents.
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A gamble on the river pays off
Heather Wylie was a key instigator of what must be the biggest, most important boating expedition ever undertaken on the Los Angeles River. That adventure cost Wylie, then a 29-year-old government biologist, her job — and $60,000 salary — with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But it helped save the L.A. River.
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Airport officials want cleanup costs covered
Bob Hope Airport officials are fighting an EPA order to share in the $108 million tab to clean up contaminated groundwater created by former aerospace manufacturing at the site. Airport officials have asked a federal judge to order Lockheed Corp., also listed in the order, to cover the airport's portion of the cleanup costs.
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Toward Sustainable Capitalism
Sustainable capitalism seeks to maximize long-term value creation. It explicitly integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into strategy, the measurement of outputs, and the assessment of both risks and opportunities. Sustainable capitalism challenges us to generate financial return in a long-term and responsible manner.
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Crackdown on copper: threat to wildlife, water
The push is on across California to reduce pollution from the toxic metal copper. Regulators, legislators and port managers across California are trying to tackle copper pollution with more environmentally friendly products, proposed laws and cleanup orders.
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Not-so-biodegradable graduation gowns
Those 'green' gowns may not be so environmentally friendly after all. Many high school and college graduates get an "A" for social consciousness, having opted to wear "green" caps and gowns as they accept their diplomas this month. But what they're really getting is a postgraduate course in greenwashing, and the cynical ways corporations will exploit their desire to protect the environment.
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Gulf oil leak sets off 'unbelievable array' of legal issues
Fishermen and property owners along the Gulf Coast have filed hundreds of lawsuits since April against oil company BP and its contractors amid a legal landscape that has changed dramatically since the Exxon Valdez tanker spill sullied Alaska's Prince William Sound 21 years ago.
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Game Changer: California's Green Building Code
He’s been called a maverick, a game changer and sometimes just plain crazy for trying to rewrite the California Building Standards Code to greatly increase water and energy efficiency standards, to lower the use of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) in building materials, and to increase the percentages of construction waste that must be diverted from landfills. But under a directive from the Governor’s office, Dave Walls, executive director of the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), along with a collaborative team of state agency and industry stakeholders, did just that. The new green building code, now known by its acronym, CALGreen, has officially been adopted.
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Judge OKs California's shift of funds from redevelopment to schools
State officials dodged a $2-billion bullet Tuesday when a judge ruled that last year's shift of funds away from redevelopment agencies to pay for schools was legal. In a 26-page ruling, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly said the state was within its rights to move the money. The maneuver saves more than $1.7 billion in the current budget year and $350 million for the 2010-2011 budget year.
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Maryland Passes 'Benefit Corp.' Law for Social Entrepreneurs
Maryland today became the first state to legally create a new corporate form known as a “benefit corporation” that will let social entrepreneurs codify their missions in their corporate charters.
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The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World
What do leaders from business, investing, government, social organizations and academia say about the best run, most competitive companies? Author R. Paul Herman created the HIP methodology for investors worldwide to realize Human Impact + Profit.
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How to develop a sustainable water strategy
In 20 years' time, water availability will be 40 percent below where it needs to be to support a growing global population. That is the stark warning from the 2030 Water Resources Group, a collection of industry experts, academics and NGOs which earlier this year produced a report detailing the scale of the looming water crisis.
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Whittaker-Bermite cleanup at crawling pace
Cleanup of the Whittaker-Bermite site - a nearly 1,000-acre chunk of polluted land in the middle of Santa Clarita - is taking considerably longer than expected due to the complexity of the task, officials said. Meantime, the clock is ticking on an insurance policy that is paying the lion's share of the cleanup. In 2004, a rough estimated cost for both the soil and the groundwater projects was $200 million.
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Chevron is putting solar technologies to the test
The oil giant is checking out possible candidates to power its global operations. To gauge performance, an 8-acre site near Bakersfield has been filled with 7,700 solar panels from seven firms.
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Can Tax Incentives Bring Back Manufacturing to California?
California might be expensive and highly regulated, but the state continues to try to woo manufacturers with tax credits and other incentives. The California Energy Commission will use approximately $95 million of the $226 million it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to try to get heavy green industry to move here. And the governor is developing his own plan too.
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Rays of Hope
Local governments can use their power as regulators and property owners to promote solar projects.
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Wine industry sets standards for sustainability
California wineries and vineyards that prove they tread lightly on the land can now be certified as “sustainable” through a new program launched Wednesday. The voluntary program, created by two industry trade groups, sets minimum standards for wineries and vineyards that want to tout their green accomplishments to consumers.
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State adopts greenest building codes in U.S.
Newly constructed hospitals, schools, shopping malls and homes in California will be some of the greenest in the world, after a state commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the most stringent, environmentally friendly building code standards of any state in the nation.
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Top 10 environmental stories of 2009
The environment is a single system—something which can easily be lost given our focus on national and state borders and the boundary between water and land. That interconnectedness makes the case for an annual roundup of the most important developments affecting the planetary ecosystem.
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Largest Environmental Bankruptcy in U.S. History Will Result in Payment of $1.79 Billion towards Environmental Cleanup and Restoration / Largest recovery of money for hazardous waste clean up
As a result of the largest environmental bankruptcy in U.S. history, $1.79 billion has been paid to fund environmental cleanup and restoration under a bankruptcy reorganization ASARCO, a leading producer of copper and one of the largest nonferrous metal producers in the US.
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EPA says greenhouse gases are harmful
The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded greenhouse gases are endangering people's health and must be regulated, signaling that the Obama administration is prepared to contain global warming without congressional action if necessary. Announcement comes as Obama prepares to attend climate conference
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US, stricter controls are called on organic personal care products
On November 5, 2009, the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) passed a recommendation for "solving the problem of mislabeled organic personal care products." The recommendation urges the US Department for Agriculture National Organic Program (NOP) to make sure that any use of the word "organic" on a personal care product is backed up by third-party certification to USDA organic standards.
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America's Most Toxic Cities
Poor air quality, lack of clean water and a high rate of superfund sites make these metros most contaminated.
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Solar Flare Ups
A fight over the future of clean energy is pitting environmentalists against one another. California's new solar gold rush is generating far more conflict than current. At issue is not whether we should green the grid, but how to do so: Should we build massive solar-powered generating plants deep in the Mojave Desert on ecologically sensitive public lands to take advantage of some of the most sun-drenched landscapes on earth? Or would it be just as effective, with less impact on the environment, to deploy thousands of smaller solar arrays closer to civilization-on abandoned farms, urban "brownfields," and rooftops?
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Hasta La Vista, Power-Hungry TVs
California is set to outlaw flat-screen models that soak up energy. Manufacturers and merchants are fuming.
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San Diego sues several parties involved in bay cleanup
San Diego has sued more than a dozen current and former companies, along with the Navy and the port district, to minimize any city payments for cleaning up tainted sediment in San Diego Bay. Lawyers for the city said in the federal lawsuit that the defendants are responsible for costs associated with what could be a $100 million mandate to remove contaminated muck from the bay bottom.
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Eskimo Village Loses Global Warming Suit
A federal judge in California has dismissed public nuisance claims an Alaska Eskimo village brought against 24 oil and gas companies for allegedly endangering their health and welfare by producing large quantities of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and melt sea ice as a result .
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Dr. Bronner's sees lawsuit as defence against 'organic' label
In April 2007, Dr Bronner's Magic Soaps filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court, under the state's unfair-competition law, against numerous personal-care brands using 'organic' claims on their labels.
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California moves toward stringent chromium 6 standard for drinking water
California took the first step Thursday toward setting a drinking water standard for chromium 6 that could force cities and water districts to undertake costly treatment.
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California Sticks Toe in Green Chemistry Pond
While lots of places and people are interested in sustainable chemistry, California has become a pioneer in requiring it. In about a decade, California's "green chemistry" laws are expected to start affecting most products made in or brought into the Golden State, including fuel, building materials and retail items. Proponents predict that the regulations not only won't drag down the state's currently ailing economy further but will act as a tonic - creating more jobs than the Internet, as one regulator phrased it.
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Local government can help pay for solar panels
Homeowners and business owners who can't afford the high-cost of installing solar panels to help them cut their electricity bills may get help from their local governments under a bill that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law this week. The legislation, AB811, allows cities and counties to offer low-interest financing to residents and business owners who want to make energy improvements such as installing solar panels or replacing air conditioning or heating units with energy-efficient models. The loans would be repaid on their annual property tax bills.
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At Wal-Mart, Labeling to Reflect Green Intent
Shoppers expect the tags on Wal-Mart items to have rock-bottom prices. In the future they may also have information about the product's carbon footprint, the gallons of water used to create it, and the air pollution left in its wake. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores is on a mission to determine the social and environmental impact of every item it puts on its shelves. And it has recruited scholars, suppliers, and environmental groups to help it create an electronic indexing system to do that.
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Modesto awarded $18M in groundwater lawsuit
A San Francisco jury has awarded $18.3 million to Modesto in a long-running lawsuit the city filed 11 years ago against producers of dry cleaning chemicals that leached into soil and polluted groundwater.
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Chemical Companies Cleared in California Groundwater Pollution Case
After five months of trial in San Francisco Superior Court, a jury cleared a handful of chemical companies on Monday of nearly all the claims brought against them by the city of Modesto, Calif., in the latest phase of a decade-old groundwater pollution case. The jury did award Modesto about $18.3 million in damages to cover cleanup costs, but that amount could be nullified by settlements the city has already reached with other defendants.
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State demands Maryland Parkway pollution cleanup, reimbursement
A Nevada agency on Monday sued several businesses and landowners it says are responsible for pollution from a dry cleaning plant on Maryland Parkway, demanding they clean up the pollution and reimburse the state for its costs to deal with contaminated air and groundwater in the affected area.
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Supreme Court lets Shell off the hook in pollution cleanup
California will pay more and companies pay less to clean up a polluted San Joaquin Valley site under a closely watched Supreme Court decision Monday. Capping an excruciatingly long legal battle, the court by an 8-1 margin limited the liability of two major railroads for chemical spills in the Kern County town of Arvin. The court also absolved Shell of liability for the Arvin site, in a ruling could help restrict corporate liability in other future pollution cases as well
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Valley to clean up after dry cleaners
Cities around the Valley are wrestling with a legacy of environmental contamination: a chemical used for decades by dry cleaners. Now suspected of causing cancer, the chemical has permeated underground water and soil. Cleanup is necessary, but expensive, and there's no easy way to pay for it.
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EPA selects 50 polluted sites for stimulus money
For decades, the New Bedford Harbor was a dumping ground for industrial metals and other contaminants. But now that harbor and 49 other polluted and hazardous waste sites are a step closer to a major cleanup. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday singled out 50 sites, in 28 states, that will share $582 million in newly approved federal stimulus money to continue cleanup operations.
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Local dry cleaners say mandatory machinery upgrades hit budgets hard
Considering the recession's effect on his downtown Visalia dry-cleaning business, Greg Smith says now isn't the best time to shell out more than $75,000 for new dry-cleaning machinery. But he doesn't have much choice. A December 2006 regulation handed down by the California Air Resources Board set a timeline for all drycleaners in the state to phase out the use of cleaning solvents with perchloroethylene - also known as "PCE" or "Perc." The chemical has been used heavily by the industry for at least 70 years.
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