Lou Correa on Environment

Don't ban single-use plastic bags

The California Plastic Bag Ban Veto Referendum, also known as Proposition 67, was on the November 8, 2016, ballot in California as a veto referendum. It was approved.
• A "yes" vote supported upholding the contested legislation banning certain plastic bags that was enacted by the California State Legislature as Senate Bill 270.
• A "no" vote opposed banning certain plastic bags and enacting Senate Bill 270.
• The American Progressive Bag Alliance, an opponent of the measure, led the "No" campaign to repeal SB 270.
• Yes on 67, a coalition of environmental groups, grocers, and others, led the "Yes" campaign to uphold SB 270.
• Legislative outcome:
• AB 32 passed Senate 22-15-3 on 8/29/14; Sen. Correa voted NO; passed House 45-31-3 on 8/28/14; approved by Gov. Brown, 9/30/14

Establish new regional groundwater sustainability agency

• Impose fees, and provide technical assistance to entities that use groundwater to promote water conservation and protect groundwater resources.
• Publish on its Internet Web site best management practices for the sustainable management of groundwater.
• Submit a groundwater sustainability plan to adopt regulations.
• Conduct inspections and, because the willful refusal of an inspection lawfully authorized by an inspection warrant is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Keep restrictive rules for predator control in Alaska.

Library of Congress Summary: This joint resolution nullifies the rule finalized by the Department of the Interior on Aug. 5, 2016, relating to non-subsistence takings of wildlife and public participation and closure procedures on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.

Case for voting YES by House Republican Policy Committee: The Fish and Wildlife Service rule--which lays claim to more than 20% of Alaska--violates ANILCA (Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act) and the Alaska Statehood Compact. Not only does [the existing 2016 rule] undermine Alaska's ability to manage fish and wildlife upon refuge lands, it fundamentally destroys a cooperative relationship between Alaska and the federal government.

Case for voting NO by the Sierra Club (April 6, 2017):

• President Trump signed H.J. Res. 69, overturning the rule that banned "predator control" on federal wildlife refuges in Alaska unless "based on sound science in response to a conservation concern."
• Any rule mentioning "sound science" is in trouble under a Trump administration.
• So what kinds of practices will the Trump administration now allow on our federal wildlife refuges? Activities that include shooting or trapping wolves while in their dens with pups, or hunting for grizzly bears from airplanes.
• It's all about ensuring a maximum yield of prey species like elk, moose, and caribou for the real apex predator: humans. So if having more elk requires killing wolf pups in their dens, then so be it.
• The Obama administration's rule (which Trump revoked) never tried to stop all hunting. Subsistence hunting was still allowed. What's changed is that the predators on federal wildlife refuges are now under the control of the state of Alaska. And that makes them prey.