DTSC

Regulators Jumping Toxic Ship

Senior managers and mid-level workhorse staff are leaving the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in droves as its director, Barbara Lee, stonewalls the independent review panel created to help lawmakers reform the dysfunctional agency.

Just this week, the agency lost its hazardous waste management program deputy who stayed in the job for barely 18 months. In recent months, its legislative director, chief counsel, site mitigation deputy, civil rights officer, and chief deputy director have either left or been asked to do so.

Air Board Candidate Represented Lead Polluter

UPDATE: SQAMD hired Wayne Nastri as executive director on Friday. 
As early as tomorrow morning, the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District could name Wayne Nastri to take the place of ousted executive Barry Wallerstein. Nastri, according to environmental regulators at the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), would be a nasty piece of news.
 

Jerry Brown's Exide Chutzpah

 
UPDATE, March 31, 2016 -- Governor Brown has now rescinded his exemption of the Exide lead cleanup from the state's signature environmental law, CEQA. He reversed himself only under intense pubilc scrutiny of the administration's handling of the Exide cleanup.

Toxics Regulator’s Negligence Leaves Californians Paying For Exide Cleanup

Governor Jerry Brown’s announcement that the state will spend $176.6 million to clean up a wide swath of East Los Angeles in the wake of Exide Technologies’ decades-long lead contamination is a major victory for the people who live near the shuttered lead battery recycler.

Panel Serves Up Tepid Recommendations For Reforming The Toxics Agency

While Governor Jerry Brown vetoed Senate pro Tem Kevin de León’s signature legislation a year ago to revamp the Department of Toxics Substances Control (DTSC), he approved funds for an Independent Review Panel to advise what to do with the profoundly dysfunctional agency. In vetoing the powerful legislation, Brown signaled that he wants business as usual.

Capitol Watchdog: Upcoming Meetings to Watch

Consumer Watchdog will present new evidence at the upcoming Petroleum Market Advisory Committee meeting to show that refiners have used market power to raise gas prices. The committee will be discussing recommendations for the legislature on how to fix the California petroleum industry.

Details on that, the DTSC's Independent Panel Review, which will be discussing the scandal surrounding the now-shuttered Exide battery recycler, and the FPPC's move to close a loophole that allows lobbyists to avoid registering, below.

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