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Sacramento, Calif. b (b ( Today, environmental justice and environmental groups challenged Governor Newsom’s recently approved amendments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to address the health and environmental impacts of one of California’s flagship climate programs. sued for failure to adequately settle on one of the Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS).
LCFS encourages pollution in communities across the country that are already stressed by factory farm pollution, including in California’s San Joaquin Valley, which is lavish for so-called “biogas” produced from compost. Including through financial incentives. Petitioners seek to compel Carb to disclose, analyze, and mitigate significant environmental impacts caused by the LCFS amendment. California Environmental Quality Act. Californians have a right to know how their government’s decisions affect their environment and quality of life.
“Corb must recognize the environmental and public health harms caused by prioritizing pollution-heavy methods over sustainable solutions,” Defensores del Valle Central Paralympic Air y Agua Lampeo representative Maria Arevalo. “In the Central Valley, we live in 90% of the villages in California and some of the largest dairy operations in the entire world. Time and time again, we see the conditions and impacts in our communities getting worse because dairy is big. And dairy digests are being installed. Despite our ongoing advocacy from the local to the federal level, but everywhere else in the carb, our concerns have been ignored.
“It’s more critical than ever that Governor Newsom gets it right on climate, but on the issue of factory farm climate pollution, prioritizing corporate profits over protecting the health and well-being of Californians. giving,” Food and Water Watch staff attorney Tyler Lobdell said. “Governor Newsom’s carb is taking California in the wrong direction, encouraging dirty factory farm biogas build-out to pay factory farms to pollute. Our climate and communities are better off.” Carb must recognize and address the environmental and health impacts of factory farm biogas, prioritizing people over profits.
“Carb’s amendments to the LCF leave no doubt that the agency is doubling down on its factory-farm biogas scheme, with publicly funded incentives for the industrial sector under the guise of fighting the climate crisis. Animal agriculture is further entrenched and greenwashing,” said Christine Ball-Berkeley, senior staff attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund. “In effect, this decision strengthens the factory farming industry and factory farm biogas developers at the expense of everyone else. It would have exacerbated the exploitation of farm animals, fanned the flames of the climate crisis, and worsened environmental and health damage to communities dominated by factory farming, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley. is This decision is not only irresponsible – it is also illegal.
“A growing body of data supports the refusal to recognize carb–perverse incentives in LCF for fertilizer-derived fuel in factory farms have severe environmental impacts, leading to Falls hurt communities in California and beyond,” said Phoebe Seaton, Leadership Counselor for Associate Director of Justice and Accountability. “The state law requires CARB to analyze, assess and mitigate these impacts, which through the LCFS rulemaking process have prompted numerous warnings from environmental justice and environmental groups and numerous calls from communities. Despite this, they have failed to act.”
California’s low-carbon fuel standards have been the nation’s primary driver Factory Farm Biogas Developmentfor , for , for , . and in California Beyond that. By rewarding methane production on factory farms, LCF encourages the concentration of animal and animal waste production and exacerbates the negative health effects of industrial factory farming, including increased mortality risks, kidney diseases, , including respiratory conditions, elevated blood pressure and low birth weight. These effects fall disproportionately on communities of color and low-income communities.
Petitioners are Defending Del Valle Central Paralympics, Agua Lampeo, Food and Water Watch, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Defense agencies are represented by the Leadership Advocate for Justice and Accountability.
one Environmental Justice Organization filed a second, separate lawsuit against Carb on its wrongdoing Environmental assessment That locks in billions in subsidies for biofuels from food crops like soy and corn.
