Southern California Court Rules Against Air Board's Decision To Adopt Weak Amendments To Controversial Cap-And-Trade Program | WPN World People News

The Los Angeles Superior Court issued a ruling against the South Coast Air Quality Management District for making last-minute changes to NOx RECLAIM, the district’s controversial air pollution program. In the decision, the Court finds that the air district violated California law back in December 2015 when they rejected staff-proposed reforms to the program and instead adopted a far weaker oil industry-backed measure just hours after it was made public. At the time, this decision was widely criticized as a dangerous industry giveaway that allows the region’s biggest polluters to continue spewing dangerous emissions and delay installing life-saving pollution controls.

This ruling will make it harder for industry lobbyists to push through last-minute changes to weaken regulations, as it makes it clear that under California’s Health and Safety Code and the Air District’s own administrative rules, the Air District cannot make substantive changes to its programs without letting the public know.

The case was filed in March 2016 by Earthjustice on behalf of Communities for a Better Environment, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.

Source: Earthjustice