On his final day in office, Former Mayor Eric Garcetti signed a series of ordinances implementing key provisions of LA’s Green New Deal including banning polystyrene, expanding the single-use plastic ban, banning natural gas in new construction, and phasing out oil drilling in the city.
With the pandemic-induced container ship backlog at the Ports of LA and Long Beach officially cleared, VX News spoke with the Port of Los Angeles’s Executive Director, Gene Seroka, to elaborate on POLA’s efforts to ease supply chain congestion.
Gas from buildings produces twice as much smog pollution as all the cars and power plants combined in California. Panama Bartholomy, Founder and Executive Director of Building Decarbonization Coalition, outlines what market and government incentives are needed to facilitate, scale, and speed the decarbonization of buildings. Bartholomy also touches upon the Coalition's work nationwide, as well as COP 27, state and local building codes, and the “niche” for green hydrogen
With all the hype around hydrogen, VX News excerpts this latest report from UC Berkeley's Center for Law, Energy and the Environment.
At the 6th annual CoMotion LA 2022 last week, outgoing Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti sat down with CoMotion CEO John Rossant for closing keynote remarks. VX News excerpts the conversation in which Mayor Garcetti highlights the region's extraordinary investments in transportation and housing over the last 8 years and shares his hopes that LA continues to be an international creative hub for transportation innovation.
Ahead of AgriTalks in Los Angeles next week, VX News interviewed Dr. Celso Moretti, President of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), to preview the challenges and opportunities for sustainability and technology innovation in Brazilian agribusiness. Moretti elaborates on Embrapa's work and research that has revolutionized food export markets in Brazil and ongoing efforts to mitigate the impacts of industrial agriculture on Brazil's vital ecosystems.
This month global leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27 where nations affirmed and expanded their commitments to limit global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. VX News shares these concluding remarks by UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighting the commitment of $100 billion per year in climate financing for developing countries as well as the ongoing and immediate need for member nations to drastically reduce emissions this decade.
Bloomberg Opinion’s Liam Denning says climate advocates shouldn’t be so quick to oppose legislation by US Senator Joe Manchin that streamlines permitting, even if fossil-fuel projects benefit. Published originally by Bloomberg Opinion, find the piece online, here,
In this excerpt from 2022’s luncheon plenary titled “Game Changers: Meet The Innovators,” VX News highlights two innovative business leaders in very different fields: ERI Co-Founder & Chairman, John Shegerian, and RWI Synthetics' Founder and CEO,Myrna Bittner, moderated by Jim Kelly of S&C Electric. Read along as Shegerian tells the story of his early entrance into the ever-growing e-waste economy with ERI, followed by Bittner’s remarkable world-building software to help visualize all futures, imaginable or otherwise. A recording of the entire plenary can be found here.
The California Department of Water Resources is forecasting a fourth dry year in a row. In this interview with VX News, Felicia Marcus, William C Landreth Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West and Former Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, reviews some of the recent wins and losses in water regulation that the state has seen in face of serious drought conditions.
The conclusion of California’s Legislative session saw the adoption of ambitious new climate and energy legislation—including laws to set interim targets for 100% clean energy, regulate projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere and smokestacks, and approve buffer zones for new oil wells near communities. The aforementioned coincides with much of the State experiencing the dire effects of climate change and the health and resilience challenges wrought by extreme heat and wildfires.
In April of this year, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach began implementing the Clean Truck Fund fee to generate $90 million annually to encourage adoption of clean trucks with a goal to achieve a zero-emission drayage truck fleet by 2035. VX News shares this panel excerpt from VX2022 moderated by S&C Electric’s Jim Kelly, in which Port of Long Beach Executive Director,
Reflecting on his time as a dedicated public servant in Los Angeles, VX News is pleased to present this exit interview with Greg Spotts as he leaves in September to become the new Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.
In March of this year, the Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods group sued the University of California asserting UCB’s long-range development plan did not adequately account for the impacts the student population growth would have on the surrounding city.
Last month, a proposed statewide ballot initiative to increase taxes on incomes over $2 million to fund programs to reduce air pollution and prevent wildfires—Proposition 30, the California Clean Cars & Clean Air Act—qualified for the November ballot.
VX News checked in with Tom Ford, Chief Executive Officer of The Bay Foundation and Director of the SMBNEP, to update readers on the significance of $132 million included for NEP in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act.
According to records from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, western states reliant on water from Lake Mead and Lake Powell, might need to cut their wat
"Chairman Huffman, Ranking Member Bentz, Representative Napolitano, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. It is my pleasure to convey Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s (Metropolitan) support for H.R. 8090, extending the authorization for Reclamation’s Basin Study Program for ten years. Metropolitan is the largest wholesale water provider in the United States.
In a surprise move before Congress’ August recess, US Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Energy Committee Chair Manchin announced a deal on budget reconciliation—the Inflation Reduction Act.
Recognizing extreme heat as the deadliest climate threat facing Americans, last week the Biden administration launched Heat.Gov, a one-stop hub offering maps, data and information across disciplines to empower the public and decisionmakers plan for and mitigate the health impacts of extreme heat.