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Natural Resources Defense Council
Senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense CouncilPROFILE
David Pettit
Guest
FROM David Pettit
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Checking In on the Porter Ranch Disaster The natural gas leak in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of L.A. County is turning into a major disaster. Thousands of residents have been moved out of their homes. Schools have been relocated. People have suffered headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, and other symptoms. The leak was detected back in October. But it has taken until this week for Gov.
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California’s Courtship of Tesla Motors Tesla is churning out its electrically powered cars in the Bay Area — a “green” product in what claims to be the “greenest” state in the nation. Now Tesla wants to build a new battery plant… starting in 30 days.
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Will California See Another Oil Bonanza — for Better or Worse? California could be on the verge of another oil boom from the Monterey Shale Formation, which underlies much of the state, as new technologies might allow the extraction of billions of barrels of liquid petroleum. But will the environmental costs outweigh the benefits?
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Will Fracking Tarnish the Golden State? Hydraulic fracturing, called "fracking," has created outrage in Pennsylvania and led to regulations in New York state. The oil-drilling practice is widespread in Southern California, and bills for a moratorium or an outright ban have been killed in Sacramento.
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Are California's Environmental Protections Bad for Business? Ronald Reagan advocated small government but, 43 years ago, he signed the California Environmental Quality Act , abbreviated as CEQA. The law has been given credit for both environmental preservation and protection of public health, but it's also accused of being bad for business.
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The Economy, the Environment and the Port of Los Angeles After eight years of controversy, the LA City Harbor Commission has unanimously approved a new cargo facility to transfer containers from ships to train cars instead of trucks using the Alameda Corridor. Bob Foster, the Mayor of Long Beach, calls it a threat to the lives of school kids on his side of the border.
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Can a Football Stadium Be 'Environmentally Friendly?' The developer AEG is demanding special relief from state environmental procedures as a condition for building an NFL stadium in downtown LA. It would still have to complete an environmental impact report, and challenges could still be filed in court. But AEG wants to speed up the procedure.
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Cleaner Trucks at the Ports The ports of LA and Long Beach handle half of all America's imports from overseas. Together, they are a principal economic engine for Southern California. But they're also a major polluter and a menace to public health, causing significant illness and premature deaths.
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KCRW Features
What charter school growth has to do with the LA teachers strike The Los Angeles’ teachers strike has lasted a full school week . Class sizes and school staffing remain key sticking points in the impasse between United Teachers Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
KCRW Features
What are charter schools? LAUSD teachers were picket lines for a second day Tuesday. And this morning the teachers union organized a march to the California Charter Schools Association office downtown, to draw attention to their criticisms of local charter schools. But what are charter schools anyway?