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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 2 July 2022
California sets nation's toughest plastics reduction rules

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Aquarium. She called the
Associated Press bill a "fantastic start" to ad-
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) dressing a major problem.
— Companies selling Plastic makers would form
shampoo, food and other their own industry group
products wrapped in plas- tasked with developing a
tic have a decade to cut plan to meet the require-
down on their use of the ments, which would need
polluting material if they approval from the state's
want their wares on Califor- recycling department.
nia store shelves. They'll be required to col-
Major legislation passed lect $500 million annually
and signed by Gov. Gavin from producers for a fund
Newsom on Thursday aims aimed at cleaning up plas-
to significantly reduce sin- tic pollution. Maine, Or-
gle-use plastic packaging egon and Colorado have
in the state and drastically similar producer responsibil-
boost recycling rates for ity systems.
what remains. It sets the na- It does not ban styrofoam
tion's most stringent require- food packaging but would
ments for the use of plastic require it to be recycled
packaging, with lawmakers Plastic bottles of dish washing liquid are displayed at Compton's Market in Sacramento, Calif., at a rate of 30% by 2028,
saying they hope it sets a Friday, June 17, 2022. which some supporters said
precedent for other states Associated Press is a de facto ban because
to follow. the material can't be re-
"We're ruining the planet able. Also by 2032, plastic ers withdrew it from the lunch meats. cycled. The ballot measure
and we've got to change would have to be recycled ballot after the bill passed, Most plastic products in the would have banned the
it," Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a at a rate of 65%, a massive though they expressed United States are not re- material outright. It would
Democrat, said before vot- jump from today's rates. It concern the plastics indus- cycled, with millions of tons have given more power to
ing on the bill. wouldn't apply to plastic try will try to weaken the re- ending up in landfills and the state recycling agen-
Under the bill, plastic pro- beverage bottles, which quirements. the world's oceans. It harms cy to implement the rules
ducers would have to re- have their own recycling States have passed bans wildlife and shows up in rather than letting industry
duce plastics in single-use rules. on single-use plastic gro- drinking water in the form organize itself.
products 10% by 2027, in- Efforts to limit plastic pack- cery bags, straws and oth- of microplastics. Sen. Ben Allen, a Santa
creasing to 25% by 2032. aging have failed in the er items, and plastic water Marine animals that live Monica Democrat who led
That reduction in plastic Legislature for years, but bottles soon won't be al- off the Pacific coast from negotiations on the bill, said
packaging can be met the threat of a similar ballot lowed in national parks. crabs to whales are ingest- it represented an example
through a combination of measure going before vot- But the material is still ubiq- ing plastics that make their of two groups that are of-
reducing package sizing, ers in November prompted uitous, used in everything way into the ocean, said ten at odds — environmen-
switching to a different ma- business groups to come to from laundry detergent Amy Wolfrum, California talists and industry — com-
terial or making the prod- the negotiating table. The and soap bottles to pack- ocean policy senior man- ing together to make posi-
uct easily reusable or refill- measure's three main back- aging for vegetables and ager at the Monterey Bay tive change.q

World War II-era boat emerges from shrinking Lake Mead

out of the water at Lake reservoir in the U.S., held to protect the system if the
Mead. back by the Hoover Dam. seven states in the Colora-
The boat lies less than a In May, two sets of human do River basin don't quickly
mile from Lake Mead Ma- remains were found in the come up with a way to cut
rina and Hemingway Har- span of a week. the use of up to 4 million
bor. Experts say climate change acre-feet of water — more
It was used to survey the and drought have led to than Arizona and Nevada's
Colorado River decades the lake dropping to its share combined.
ago, sold to the marina lowest level since it was full An acre-foot is about
and then sunk, according about 20 years ago. 325,850 gallons (about 1.23
to dive tours company Las As water levels drop at million liters). An average
Vegas Scuba. both Lake Mead and Lake household uses one-half to
Higgins Industries in New Or- Powell upstream on the one acre-foot of water a
leans built several thousand Arizona-Utah line, states in year.
landing craft between the U.S. West increasingly The two states, California
1942 and 1945, the Las Ve- face deeper cuts to their and Mexico already have
A WWII ear landing craft used to transport troops or tanks was gas Review-Journal report- supply from the Colorado enacted voluntary and
revealed on the shoreline near the Lake Mead Marina as the
waterline continues to lower at the Lake Mead National Recre- ed. Around 1,500 "Higgins River. The lower levels also mandatory cuts. Water
ation Area on Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Boulder City. boats" were deployed at impact hydropower pro- from some reservoirs in the
Associated Press Normandy on June 6, 1944, duced at Hoover Dam and upper basin — Wyoming,
known as D-Day. Glen Canyon Dam, which New Mexico, Colorado
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A sunken vada and Arizona. The boat is just the latest holds back Lake Powell. and Utah — has been re-
boat dating back to World The Higgins landing craft in a series of objects un- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation leased to prop up Lake
War II is the latest object to that has long been 185 feet earthed by declining wa- Commissioner Camille Tou- Powell.
emerge from a shrinking (56 meters) below the sur- ter levels in Lake Mead, ton said last month that the Farmers use a majority of
reservoir that straddles Ne- face is now nearly halfway the largest human-made agency would take action the river's supply.q