What stunned nearly everyone this past summer was that an orange County judge ruled that the Coalition was right, and that the Water Board had failed to factor in the economic costs of their environmental directives. That ruling effectively barred the Board from enforcing any storm water regulations. That’s when the state’s top environmental organizations NRDC, Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper) stepped into the fight, by countersuing the Coalition. That’s when the Orange County judge revised his first ruling by giving enforcement power back to the state agencies … though he still ruled that the Water Board must consider the financial burdens of any future water regulations. So the legal battle between the ‘Coalition’ and the state environmental agencies goes on, as contentious as ever, at a cost that’s already gone over a million dollars.
As the legal confrontations drag on, cities like Long Beach are caught in the middle. Being at the downstream end of the L.A. River Basin, they bear the brunt of all that storm water pollution, and are desperately hoping for a compromise that will help them move forward.
RELATED RESOURCES:
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board
Heal the Bay
NRDC
The Coalition for Practical Regulation
EPA site on stormwater runoff
WEB ORIGINAL:
The Black Cloud - By Web Team - How can you visualize the effects that air quality and pollution have at a local level and do something to change it? A new environmental project in South L.A fuses public participation, sensors and web technology to give us some clues.
FROM THE BLOG:
Are We All in This Together? - By Jenny Price - I've been hearing about the whats, hows, and whys of going green, but a whole class of "who?" questions are receiving a lot less attention.
A Storm Amongst the Stormwaters - By Joseph Angier - On the one hand, southern California is a national model for pursuing clean water standards. On the other hand, we go to the back of the class when it comes to that other source of pollution: stormwater.
An Unforeseen Loss - By Joseph Angier - My first reaction when associate producer Anne Lilburn uncovered this story was that it was huge.
CREDITS:
Produced by: Joseph Angier and Anne Lilburn; 
Edited by: Alberto Arce
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Caught my first SoCalConnected in the Sat. rebroadcast. Kudos! For the whole episode. Light pollution? Darn straight! However, seeing my neighbors in Signal Hill fighting to avoid restraining the garbage they help to send to Long Beach beaches disgusted me.
Sure the SigHill city manager will make a lot of friends among those who are pennywise and pound foolish. If there's not enough funds for public health, then we all have to hope and pray to die young.
Glad to hear that the safeguarding laws were reinstated. Had no idea where that fight stood. Thanks for bringing me up to date.