Environmental Protection Agency U S

Cleaner cars, better gasoline and tougher controls on power plants all have contributed to reduce smog in Orange County dramatically over the past 10 years, environmental officials said. Newly released figures by the federal Environmental Protection Agency show that in 1995, smog exceeded health standards in Orange County on only six days. In 1986, that number was 66.

For years, environmental restrictions have limited the military's use of low-altitude training flights over certain lands that harbor endangered species. And just recently, the Interior Department told the Army that it could use the California desert to prepare its troops for Afghanistan only if exercises were conducted during daylight and on roads. The Pentagon had hoped that in George W.

Flexing his new authority as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. James M. Jeffords said Wednesday he will take a second, harder look at President Bush's nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency's top enforcement job.

Civil rights groups will publicly confront Democratic senators and demand that they vote against Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) for attorney general. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said lawmakers will be confronted at public events--such as Martin Luther King Day activities--this month. Ashcroft has been known for his staunch anti-abortion stand and for leading a drive to kill the nomination of Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White, who is black, to the federal bench.

Money linked to the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled Alaska shorelines will be used to clean up another oil-tainted coastline--the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Those drafting the public purchase of Bolsa Chica learned Thursday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will contribute $400,000 set aside from a settlement reached after the devastating 1989 Exxon spill. The money is part of a much larger sum the oil giant paid the U.S.

A coalition of local industries has asked federal environmental officials to undertake more studies of the extensive underground water pollution in the San Gabriel Valley before spending any of the $47 million proposed to begin cleaning up the problem in Azusa, Baldwin Park and Irwindale. Studies conducted for the San Gabriel Basin Industrial Coalition indicate that the plan by the U.S.

In its review of the Superfund program last year, the Environmental Protection Agency noted that the cleanup effort is at a critical juncture--running out of money and up for congressional renewal in 1991. The EPA wants to avoid a protracted debate in Congress, fearing that significant changes could further delay the cleanup campaign. Some environmental groups and others critical of the program say the time for reforms is now.

A test dig that began Thursday at the McColl toxic waste site came to a temporary halt Friday after a gasket broke outside a three-story tent erected to contain potentially harmful gases. The problem was minor and no harmful gases were released, said John Blevins, an Environmental Protection Agency section chief. The dig is scheduled to continue six days a week until sometime in the last week in June.

In another high-level skirmish over environmental policy, the White House rejected an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to launch a major federal pollution control effort on Earth Day last April 22, officials said Tuesday. EPA officials prepared a nine-page executive order for President Bush that would have committed the federal government to use its massive buying power to promote recycled products and "clean technologies," but the proposal was rejected, EPA and White House aides said.

Concerned by the rising number of beach closures across Southern California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a sweeping review of sewage-collection systems in 25 coastal cities to determine whether the Clean Water Act is being violated. The EPA has sent in-depth questionnaires to cities and sanitation districts from Santa Barbara to San Diego seeking documents about the operation and maintenance of waste-water lines.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday fined the former owner of a Chino dairy $48,000 for contaminating a tributary of the Santa Ana River with an overflow of cow manure. Though the river helps replenish Orange County's ground water before it flows into the Pacific Ocean off Huntington Beach, federal officials believe the contamination never seeped past the Prado Dam in Riverside County. The former operators of the Beranna Dairy were fined for violating the federal Clean Water Act.

Rejecting Glendale's bid to shut down a water treatment plant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday the city must continue to operate the facility even though it will pump treated water containing chromium 6. Glendale officials have argued they should not have to deliver any supplies to residents as long as the water contains detectable levels of chromium 6--a heavy metal and suspected carcinogen that is a byproduct of manufacturing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it will proceed with plans to cut diesel exhaust from big trucks and buses by 95%, maintaining a major Clinton administration rule that environmentalists worried President Bush would try to weaken. Shortly after taking office, Bush ordered a review of all regulations approved in the final weeks of the Clinton administration.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state officials filed suit Monday against Los Angeles, demanding that the city stop its frequent sewage spills, which are occurring at a rate of almost two per day. "The high number of spills we've seen in the last few years is a serious public health problem," said Alexis Strauss, director of the EPA's regional water division. Los Angeles recently spent $1.6 billion to upgrade its Hyperion sewage treatment plant to meet environmental standards.

Civil rights groups will publicly confront Democratic senators and demand that they vote against Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) for attorney general. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said lawmakers will be confronted at public events--such as Martin Luther King Day activities--this month. Ashcroft has been known for his staunch anti-abortion stand and for leading a drive to kill the nomination of Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White, who is black, to the federal bench.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it will proceed with plans to cut diesel exhaust from big trucks and buses by 95%, maintaining a major Clinton administration rule that environmentalists worried President Bush would try to weaken. Shortly after taking office, Bush ordered a review of all regulations approved in the final weeks of the Clinton administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that San Francisco Bay is contaminated by toxic chemicals and has ordered a crackdown on polluters. Despite objections from state regulators, the federal agency plans to list the bay as polluted enough to warrant an investigation into who is polluting the water and how best to clean it up. "We applaud the EPA for standing up to the industries," said Greg Karras, senior scientist for San Francisco-based Communities for a Better Environment.

Dismissing concerns of chromium 6 contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday turned down Glendale's request to delay sending treated water from a polluted underground aquifer into homes. In a letter rejecting the request, EPA attorney Marie M. Rongone said the city must begin taking water from a new treatment plant because it was tested at or below the state standard for chromium, which is 50 parts per billion.

This is a pollution story that's supposed to be over. The Environmental Protection Agency in 1982 declared the 21 square miles around the old Bunker Hill lead smelter the nation's second-largest Superfund site. Since then, the agency has spent $200 million digging up contaminated lawns, demolishing the smelter site and cleaning up parks, roadsides and schools.