Environmental Issues and Protection

Toxic Train or Green Railway? L.A. Harbor Neighbors, Environmentalists and Long Beach Officials Fight Los Angeles

By Christina Schoellkopf The job-creating $500 million Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway plan is heading to the Los Angeles City Council for a vote on the Environmental Impact Report even as a top environmental group says working-class families and children in polluted Wilmington will be subject ... More >>

Study: 'Extreme Hot Days' in L.A. County to More Than Triple by Mid-Century

Though it may not look like it today (some serious June gloom going on out there), the Los Angeles area is slowly heating up -- and there's nothing we can do to stop it. This, according to a complex new study out of UCLA's Center for Climate Change Solutions. It's being touted today by L.A. Mayor A ... More >>

Monster Trash Rally

10 Sickened by Raw Milk in California

Ten California residents have come down with food poisoning -- Campylobacter bacteria infections, to be exact -- after consuming raw milk produced by Fresno County-based Organic Pastures. Raw milk, raw skim milk (non-fat), raw cream and raw butter produced by the dairy have been recalled and are s ... More >>

Some Southern California Beaches Could be 4 Feet Underwater in 18 Years

Pull back, David Geffen, pull back! Whoever thought it was a good idea to build houses on the edge of the crashing surf in Malibu wasn't thinking long-term. (He was thinking hot tubs and bikinis, obviously. Or, in Geffen's case, infinity pools and man-thongs). A new report from Climate Central says ... More >>

Farmer's Field's Fanciful Green Promise

Raw Milk Controversy Nothing New

Laurie AvocadoClosed Alta-Dena Drive Thru Dairy, Lincoln Heights​People holding signs supporting raw milk, others giving testimonials of how drinking it has benefited their health. Were these scenes from the Thursday downtown protest over the raid on Rawesome Foods?, no, they occurred in Janua ... More >>

Marijuana Grown Indoors is Bad For The Environment: Could Legalizing it Change That?

Is Zack an eco-glutton?​We'll admit it. The funnest part about reporting this week's revelation that the nation's indoor marijuana crop has the same annual carbon footprint as 3 million cars was being able to those rib self-righteous, eco-conscious medicinal users who think just because it's g ... More >>

Kofi Annan to Weigh in on Climate Change and Wine

Kofi Annan used to preside over the mass of bickering poker buddies known as the U.N. Back then, he worried about an AIDS epidemic and that retro scourge "weapons of mass destruction." Nowadays, Annan is a travelling sage, collecting causes the way Hiltons collect boyfriends: namely, those relat ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Failed Green Revolution: City Cuts Losses, Sells Clean Tech 'Cornerstone'

sci-arcThe mayor in October 2010, with Clean Tech architect hopefuls​Throughout his campaign, his rocky term and his innumerable trips to Washington, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has sold himself as Mother Nature's closest ally. His devotion to expanding freeway-mangled Southern Cal ... More >>

Nearly Half of U.S. EPA's West Coast Radiation Monitors Might be Out Sick (Good Timing)

FoxBeware the EPA.​We've been telling your for almost two weeks now that radiation from Japan was headed our way, but not to worry. We are your friend. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported this week that trace amounts of the Fukushima nuclear power plant radiation was detected ... More >>

Judge Strips Environmental Groups of Victory Over L.A. County in Pollution Lawsuit at Malibu's Surfrider Beach, at Least for Now.

​Environmental groups trying to protect Malibu's Surfrider beach have been embroiled in a federal lawsuit against L.A. County for more than two years, trying to prove that the county is responsible for contaminating the waters with sewage and violating permits related to the Clean Water Act. But ... More >>

EPA Getting $17 Million From Polluters to Help Cleanup Toxic Landfill in Monterey Park

​A long-standing toxic landfill in Monterey Park, 10 miles east of Downtown LA, is on the verge of getting another multi-million dollar cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is working on a settlement with 275 former polluters who would pay $17 million toward cl ... More >>

California Proposition 23 Election Results: Big Green Defeats Big Oil in Contentious Showdown Over What's Best for California's Economy

"No on 23" campaign poster​Update, 11:46 p.m.: With 39 percent of California precincts reporting, Prop. 23 is heading for a major loss -- 59 percent of voters oppose the ballot measure while 41 percent support it. Opponents of Proposition 23 won a major victory tonight, shooting down the bal ... More >>

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: California Voters Don't Dig Big Oil-funded Proposition 23

Ecolocalizer.com"No on 23" rally in Berkeley.​A new Reuters/Ipsos Poll shows that Big Oil-funded Proposition 23, the November ballot measure that seeks to suspend California's global climate change law, is heading for almost certain defeat, with 49 percent of those polled opposing the initiat ... More >>

Feeling Taxed? Fines Increase For Leaving Extra Trash Out In Los Angeles

.imelda via Flickr​ The city of Los Angeles continues to find new and inventive ways to essentially tax residents as it struggles to keep its budget in the black. City officials on Thursday warned residents that if they leave extra trash on the curb they could face newly increased fines of $50 ... More >>

L.A. Loses Out on Federal Money for Water and Power Improvements

DWP's downtown headquarters​Only two cities in L.A. County will receive a portion of the White House's $3.4 billion stimulus funding for energy efficiency programs. Los Angeles is not one of them. Burbank and Glendale will each get $20 million in federal funding to help them develop "smart grid" p ... More >>

Northrop Grumman-U.S. Agreements: Cause and Effect?

Nuclear aircraft carrier T. Roosevelt​Call it robbing the Pentagon to pay Paul. Wednesday  defense-contracting giant Northrop Grumman announced it had won two bids with the Army and Navy worth nearly $6 billion -- then Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency said it had reached a settlem ... More >>

Best of L.A. Weekly: Why Los Angeles Is Losing the Smog Battle

Originally published October 17, 1980

He's Not Your Father's Jerry Brown

Zen Buddhism aside, the new attorney general is pro-developer and tough on crime

The Story of O

How much difference can a pot of money make in the fight against urban runoff?

A Methane-charged Lawsuit

Playa foes urge a judge to rule permits invalid for massive development

The Eternal Dustbowl

Paying for the sins of L.A.’s water barons has created a half-billion-dollar boondoggle

Ports of Exhaust

Who’ll foot the bill for cleaner big rigs?

Things to Do Before You Get Pregnant

Take folic acid. Buy a new house. Get your mercury tested.

Earth to ELF: Come In, Please

Does the radical environmental group really exist?

The Greening of Ships

Can California stop air pollution out at sea?

Stench of Politics

Industry money to the “Mod Caucus” fouls the fight for clean air

The Smog Doctor

John Peters and the science of children and dirty air

Air Angels

12 Man-Made Disasters

War on the States

Key decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court’s mixed crusade against states’ rights

War Over Air

Governor’s role in cleaning L.A. skies

Lord of the Race

Serving on two powerful air-quality boards., L.A. Marathon founder William Burke sets a fast pace. But it just might be when he crosses the finish line, the public — and clean air — are the big losers.

The Silent Campaigns

Gubernatorial candidates aren’t going out of their way to address the environment

The Griles Files

Inside Bush’s plan for California coast

The Burning Men

Forest fires rage in the West while politicians try to turn prevention into pork

Ocean of Money

Gray Davis’ role in the Coastal Commission shakeup

Paradise Lost — Again

The Bush plan for the environment

A Deal-Maker’s Demise

Gerald Meral steps down as head of environmental group

Burned Again

Bush's forestry plan courts its own disaster

Why Johannesburg Matters

Two emerging world governing systems -- one corporate, one basically democratic -- fight for control of your world

The Back Story

A Reading List

Hitting the Streets

The top six demands of anti-globalization protesters

Buying Time at Playa Vista

Is purchase option a gift horse or Trojan horse?

Eight Excellent Reasons Not To Cheat on Your Taxes

Kiddie Diesel

A cut-rate, questionable cure for school-bus pollution

Heavy Breathing

Air police are failing to inspect the fancy vapor-recovery nozzles at your local gas station

Playa Vista To Spend Summer in Court

Legal gauntlet begins with hearing next week

Take a Hike