Environmental Review

Sometime in the next week or so, the California Senate will decide whether to grant a one-time exemption from provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act to billionaire developer Ed Roski Jr. so that he can proceed with plans to build a new professional football stadium in the City of Industry. Although such a grant would be unprecedented -- and not entirely without risk -- it's something the Senate needs to do. Industry, which has slightly more than 80 voters, was incorporated years ago out of what was then farmland as a place where manufacturing and other bothersome commercial activities could proceed around the clock without the regulations or business taxes most cities impose.

Los Angeles has gone for many years without a professional football team, and we'd be as enthusiastic as a caffeine-amped Chris Berman if the issues surrounding stadium construction or renovation could be resolved quickly and simply. But Angelenos have rightly made it very clear that they won't be held hostage by outrageous demands from prospective NFL owners for public subsidies or other breaks. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped them from trying, as a recent effort to hijack the legislative process by stadium developer Majestic Realty shows.

The Obama administration on Monday announced that it would put solar energy development in the West on a fast track, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signing an order that sets aside more than 1,000 square miles of public land for two years of study and environmental reviews. Although the clean-energy initiative identifies some 676,000 acres of federal land for study, more than half -- 351,000 acres in the Mojave Desert -- are in California.

A federal appeals court dealt a blow Friday to oil and gas industry efforts to allow drilling in the fertile energy-producing regions in the icy seas north of Alaska. The Bush administration had started to auction off leases in the Arctic waters along Alaska's coast, which are expected to produce billions of barrels of oil. But a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Washington ruled that the Interior Department had failed to properly assess the environmental impact of the leases.

In a victory for the Playa Vista development, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones has upheld the City Council's February 2007 determination that underground systems used to move water away from structures at the site required no further environmental review. The systems are aimed at keeping water out of pipes used to vent methane, which underlies portions of the big development. In 2001, after the city required Playa Vista to install updated methane mitigation systems, two environmental groups filed suit, saying the project had changed and thus required a new environmental impact report.

Two years after it was bulldozed, the 14-acre Los Angeles community garden known as the South Central Farm is being developed for a clothing chain with strong ties to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Forever 21, one of the city's fastest-growing women's apparel businesses, wants to operate a warehouse and distribution center on the site owned by real estate developer Ralph Horowitz. Supporters of the garden -- still angry that Horowitz tore it up despite support from such Hollywood luminaries as Daryl Hannah and Danny Glover -- have been trying for weeks to kill the proposed project by demanding more rigorous environmental review.

Nearly 300 environmentalists, union members and civic leaders turned out Monday to debate a proposal that would allow the city to review a 5,500-unit residential development plan north of Sylmar. Debate began about 7 p.m. and continued for roughly an hour before the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee began deliberating the fate of the Las Lomas project, which has been billed as a "smart growth" development. Santa Monica-based developer Dan Palmer has proposed building the residential project near the 5 and 14 freeways.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon pledged again Tuesday to require Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills to do an environmental report before undergoing a major expansion. In a news conference at City Hall, Alarcon said he supports the expansion but believes the report is needed to protect the surrounding community in the northeastern San Fernando Valley from traffic and other effects.

Hawaii's only passenger ferry between the islands embarks on a rushed launch today, but legal problems could quickly immobilize it. The Hawaii Superferry moved up its maiden voyage by two days and offered discounted $5 trips from Oahu to Maui and Kauai after the Hawaii Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that an environmental review should have been required before it could start service.

The Los Angeles City Council dealt a final blow Wednesday to Home Depot's high-stakes bid to secure an over-the-counter permit for a new store in Sunland-Tujunga, disregarding a lobbying blitz waged by the company over the last two weeks. The council voted 12 to 1 to require Home Depot's project to go through a more extensive environmental review -- a move that doesn't halt the project but will require months of additional work.