The Environmental Quality Company

LAX Expansion Could Be Grounded by Union Lawsuit

LAX's runway expansion plans were already facing legal action by community groups and even neighboring governments (Culver City, for one). Now comes the Service Employees Union United Service Workers West, which says it will file a California Environmental Quality Act challenge in court this afterno ... More >>

Half of U.S. Meat Contaminated With Superbugs

Nearly half of U.S. meat is contaminated with "superbugs"--antibiotic-resistant bacteria--according to an Environmental Working Group analysis of recently released government tests. Medical News Today reported the findings. The "dirtiest" meat is ground turkey, 81 percent of which contained the da ... More >>

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 >>

Beverly Hills Sues Federal Government Over Subway Aimed At Local High School

How much does Beverly Hills want this subway to go away? Let us count the ways ... The city announced this week that it is suing the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for approving the Metro subway's Westside extension funding eligibility while relying on a "flawed" environmental-impact report:

Endeavour's Tree-Killing Debut

Steve Soboroff falsely said the chopped trees were dying, sick

Space Shuttle Endeavour: Why Isn't the California Science Center Conducting an EIR Before Cutting Down 265 Trees?

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that any project which "may have a significant effect on the environment" be prefaced by an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) -- an often lengthy document investigating the project's possible effects on both the natural environment on the urba ... More >>

Downtown Stadium Inspires Lawsuit Over Right to File Lawsuits: Only in L.A.

The $1.5 billion football stadium proposal for downtown L.A. gained a bit of an advantage when California lawmakers granted it the right to have legal challenges to its environmental impacts fast-tracked to appeals courts. Of course, other developments, including a competing stadium proposal in Cit ... More >>

New California Bill Will Let L.A. Squeeze in More Bike Lanes, Sans Environmental Review

Although they're hard to hear over the impassioned roar of cycling advocates at L.A. City Hall, some local homeowners and car-drivers are freaking out over AB 2245, a feel-good state bill pitched by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) as a fast-track to a greener Los Angeles County. Jim O'S ... More >>

Grand View Pastures' Ultimate Father's Day Gift: 100 Pounds of Beef

Having trouble coming up with the perfect Father's Day gift? If a shirt or tie doesn't seem quite appropriate for your dad, you might want to consider something else in a gift box, maybe, say, one-fourth of a cow. Oak Park resident David Johnson and his wife, Nicole, owners of Grand View Pastures, ... More >>

Residents Sue OverCrumbling L.A.

City Council ignorant about state of infrastructure

Coachella Status Uncertain As Indio Delays Contract With Goldenvoice

Vickie ChangWill Coachella 2012 keep you waiting? ​The city of Indio has postponed signing a contract with Coachella festival promoter and organizer Goldenvoice, following pressure from the neighboring city of La Quinta for an environmental review of the popular music and arts festival. The fe ... More >>

West Hollywood's Fur Ban: Is it Unlawful?

The West Hollywood City Council banned the sale of fur the other week to worldwide headlines, and now the politically correct city is feeling the backlash. Animal rights activists cooed over the new ordinance, but the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and retailers are enraged, with some merchants ... More >>

Villaraigosa's 'Clean Truck' Plan for Port of Los Angeles Fails in 9th District Court of Appeals: Greenwashing Failed to Impress

Sparkling clean truck: Los Angeles greenwashing almost worked.​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's controversial "clean trucks" plan to squeeze independent truckers out of the Port of Los Angeles as a favor to the Teamsters -- a green-washing plan he sold as merely a wholesome effort to r ... More >>

Farmer's Field's Fanciful Green Promise

California Environmental Protection Could be Watered Down Under Sneaky Law Awaiting Jerry Brown's Signature, Activists Say

Chris McCorkleDensity in downtown L.A.​Critics of over-development in L.A. are up in arms about a California law, which just needs the governor's signature to be finalized, that they argue would weaken the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and allow cities to use years- and decades-o ... More >>

Closing Marijuana Dispensaries Could be Bad For Environment, Pot Advocates Argue in Legal Filing Against City of L.A.

​It's fun to watch the medical marijuana industry battle City Hall. It's been pretty successful. And you gotta wonder if the inspirational properties of whatever neon Kush is in vogue these days really do inspire some of the pot-backers' more-creative moves. We're doubly impressed by this lat ... More >>

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

Malibu Lagoon Bulldozers Halted by San Francisco Superior Court: Small Environmental Group Beats California Coastal Commission

Malibu Lagoon: Peaceful from the air, war on the ground.​Big victory for Wetlands Defense Fund, Access for All and attorneys James Birkelund and Rose M. Zoia, who convinced a San Francisco judge today to issue a preliminary injunction halting plans approved by the California Coastal Commission ... More >>

Whittier Narrows 'Discovery Center' Sees Legal Appeal to Stop Development at San Gabriel River

Ted SoquiLet's build right here.​Opponents of a water museum on the Whittier Narrows nature area have filed an appeal to block the project, they announced Monday. The museum would essentially tear out a beautiful area along the rivers (the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo diverge here) to install a ... More >>

Community Watchdog Cary Brazeman Fights Villaraigosa's Crusade to Allow Development Everywhere

L.A.'s postwar zoning code on the chopping block

Video Interview: In Person with Community Activist Cary Brazeman Who is Fighting Mayor Villaraigosa's Crusade to Allow Development Everywhere

In this week's cover story, "Community Watchdog Cary Brazeman Fights Villaraigosa's Crusade to Allow Development Everywhere: L.A.'s postwar zoning code on the chopping block," writer Steven Leigh Morris interviews Cary Brazeman, the former CB Richard Ellis exec turned community activist whose uninco ... More >>

Environmental Groups Fight Fast-Tracking For Possible NFL Stadium Near Staples Center In Downtown Los Angeles

​Nearly 70 environmental groups have been warning California legislators not to let the owner of Staples Center off the hook when it comes to providing an environmental impact report for an adjacent NFL stadium the company hopes to build. Leaders at the Sierra Club say they've heard rumors th ... More >>

Rail Authority Seems Prepared To Fight Westside NIMBYs

​The Exposition Construction Authority defended its Westside light rail line following a lawsuit by concerned neighbors that argues the authority failed to comply with state environmental-impact rules when certifying its plans. A group called Neighbors for Smart Rail believes that the authori ... More >>

Residents Protest Massive Westside Development

An artist's rendering of Bundy Village.​Demonstrators on Tuesday hit the corner of West Olympic Boulevard and Bundy Drive to protest a proposed one-million square-foot development at the intersection that they argue will add 21,000 cars a day to already choked Westside traffic. The developmen ... More >>

The Plastic Bag Lives On In Manhattan Beach

​A state appellate panel dealt a setback today to Manhattan Beach and to other cities that have sought to ban plastic bags, ruling that the city should have done an environmental impact report before imposing its bag ban in 2008.In this case, the plastics industry -- under the name of The Save the ... More >>

L.A.'s Density Bonus Blowup

A judge says City Hall broke the law by allowing outsize projects

Angelenos Sue City Hall Over Prodensity "Affordable Housing" Pretense

Does Jerry Brown Want to Cut Emissions Or Just Run for Governor?

The war on greenhouse gases and suburbs

Voter Guide: the Pros and Cons of the Initiatives, February 5 Ballot

Making sense of the issues

Propositions 94, 95, 96 & 97

Engorged with money, four tiny tribes spend a king's ransom to get more

L.A. Architecture: What We Lost in 2007

In a tear-down city, bulldozers and redesigners reigned

Playa Vista Quicksand

A rare court ruling against the developer puts the kibosh — for now — on a vast Phase Two

Last Call in Venice

Lincoln Place tenants still hope to stop evictions

Marching Orders

A Methane-charged Lawsuit

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

I'll Believe It When I Breathe It

Residents question ports’ clean-air plan

Ignoring is Bliss

L.A. City Council blows off critics – and commissioners – and approves Mount Washington project

Demolition City

WeHo’s standing in the historic preservation movement takes a couple blows

Things to Do Before You Get Pregnant

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

Ruffled Feathers

Audubon sues the DWP for the sake of songbirds

On the Map

Southern California’s last wild river gets a national spotlight, but will it matter?

Letters

Giving Up the Ranch

Newhall gets its way with county supervisors

Bonding at the Urinal

The high-stakes game of no-flush vs. flush

Ports of Cash

Out-of-court settlement could force shakeup at Port of Los Angeles

Gray's Vetos

Buying Time at Playa Vista

Is purchase option a gift horse or Trojan horse?

Barking for Change

Torrance wants more say over its pets

In Search of a Home

Children’s Museum’s plan for edge of Griffith Park has few fans

Never Too Early To Run

Who will be L.A.’s mayor in 2009? And 2017? Find out here.