On Earth Day, take a moment to consider these 10 local environmental issues

Earth Day, celebrated today across the globe, reminds us of the fragile state of our planet.

From land contaminated with toxic chemicals to bad air spewed into the atmosphere, the most of us have been affected by pollution in some way.

To bring all of this closer to home, we’re listing the 10u2009most critical environmental problems in Southe Califoia. Some are very recent; some have been going on for decades. But all are still relevant today. Especially today, when we tu our attention to the air, land, water and inhabitants of planet Earth.

1. Global Climate Change

While some parts of the country have experienced extreme weather, such as colder winters and massive flooding, the West has experienced hotter temperatures and unusually warmer winters these past several years. An overwhelming majority of scientists say man-made emissions, including carbon dioxide — produced from the buing of fossil fuels — become trapped in the atmosphere causing a heat or greenhouse effect.

Last year was the hottest year on Earth since record keeping began in 1880, according to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. February and March were even hotter than that mark. The temperature rise in March was the 11th month in a row of record-breaking heat. “It is a steady warming, with no evidence of change in the long term,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told our sister newspaper, The Mercury News in January. Overall, the planet’s temperature has risen about 1.8u2009degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19thu2009Century. While Califoia’s four-year drought was not caused by climate change, researchers from NASA and Columbia University said it aggravated the situation by causing more water evaporation and thereby making the state’s drought about 20u2009percent worse. On Friday, nearly 160u2009nations are expected to sign an accord agreeing to cut greenhouse gases. The goal is to keep the global temperature from rising more than 3.6u2009degrees Fahrenheit, measured since before industrialization.

2. Porter Ranch gas leak

What many may not know that the Aliso Canyon gas fields are not just a place where methane is pulled from the ground. It is a place where natural gas is stored after being injected into the ground. With 115u2009wells, it is one of four underground natural gas storage facilities operated by Southe Califoia Gas Co. About 100,000u2009tons of methane leaked out of the underground storage field, the largest natural gas leak disaster in the United States, according to researchers with University of Califoia, Irvine. Enough gas leaked every day for nearly four months starting in Octoberu20092015 to fill a balloon the size of the Rose Bowl, experts said. About 6,000 residents were relocated after many complained of headaches, nosebleeds and vomiting. SoCalGas said experts agree there are no long-term health effects.

The next question is: Can Aliso Canyon be reopened as a gas-storage facility? A new report says without that capacity, there may be a shortage of natural gas to power generators that produce electricity, potentially causing scattered blackouts this summer. Meanwhile, an old gas field in Montebello had six new leaks found at the same time Aliso Canyon was leaking; all were repaired. SoCalGas pulls 1u2009million cubic feet of natural gas from residual supplies and 100u2009barrels of oil every day from Montebello, despite a closure order issued 15u2009years ago.

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3. Air pollution and SCAQMD

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is working on an update to the region’s Air Quality Management Plan. Hearings will take place in June and July, while adoption of the plan would be later this year, according to SCAQMD officials.

The agency will be forming its clean air plan under new leadership after longtime Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein was dismissed in March. All seven members of the 13-member goveing board represent a new, Republican majority voted for his dismissal; five Democrats and one independent voted no. He was replaced in April with former EPA administrator Wayne Nastri, who was named acting chief. Protesters, environmental groups and members of the state Legislature criticized the moves as pandering to businesses, especially oil interests, who want softer regulations at the expense of public health.

While stratospheric ozone protects people from harmful ultraviolet rays, ground-level ozone is a health conce.

The Los Angeles air basin has the worst air quality of any area of the nation. The area does not meet the Clean Air Act health-based standards for ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), two critical components of smog. The particulates violation stems from the unhealthful levels found at the SCAQMD’s monitoring station in the Mira Loma area of Jurupa Valley.

Ozone is formed in the lower atmosphere when sunlight causes a chemical reaction on emissions from cars, trucks and locomotives, namely nitrogen oxides (NOx) and other airboe chemicals. The single-largest stationery source of NOx are ships and other vehicles operating in the twin ports of Losu2009Angeles and Longu2009Beach, according to SCAQMD records. When NOx mixes with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from paints, coatings, refineries and mobile sources as well, the reaction with sunlight forms ozone (O3).

The greatest sources of PM2.5, tiny particles that slip into the lungs, are diesel trucks, off-road diesel tractors and bulldozers and diesel-powered locomotives, ships and cargo movers. In order to reach compliance, the four-county air basin would have to reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by 60u2009percent, said Philip Fine, SCAQMD deputy executive officer.

Ozone pollution, which affects 107u2009million Americans, can cause shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing. Longer exposures have been linked with asthma and reduction in lung function, what the American Lung Association calls “a sunbu on the lung” that can lead to premature death.

4. Refinery fire in Torrance

The explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance greatly reduced output of gasoline. Experts say the loss of supply drove up pump prices in Southe Califoia. The explosion took place on Feb.u200918, 2015, sending flames and ash into the sky. Four workers suffered minor injuries. Since then, the company has been working to install the necessary air pollution equipment to reopen the plant. The SCAQMD in early April gave approval to restart the plant for gasoline manufacturing. State regulators fined ExxonMobil $566,600 for 19u2009workplace health and safety violations in the aftermath of the explosion and investigation. It is estimated ExxonMobil will pay $5u2009million in penalties for air pollution violations that could occur after the start-up during a brief period of excess pollution emissions. ExxonMobil caused the explosion by failing to fix equipment, despite knowing it could cause a life-threatening blast, state and federal regulators concluded in separate investigations. ExxonMobil has not said when the restart would occur. ExxonMobil plans to sell the refinery to PBF Energy.

5. Exide closure and cleanup

Exide Technologies, a battery recycling plant in Veon, was ordered to close in Marchu20092015 and ordered to pay $50u2009million for clean-up of the site and surrounding neighborhoods by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Califoia Department of Toxic Substances Control informed Exide on Feb.u200926 of that year that its permit to reopen was denied. Instead, the order called for the facility to be shuttered, demolished and cleaned up.

Lead-acid batteries, when melted down, produce a host of toxic emissions, including lead, cadmium and arsenic. The plant was releasing “high levels of lead emissions” for 18u2009consecutive days in Marchu20092014, according to air pollution officials. Unacceptably high levels of lead were detected in the air monitor at the northeast coer of the Exide property at 2700u2009S. Indiana St., according to the SCAQMD.

Studies say residents of low-income areas are more likely to breathe in toxic air emissions. Closure of the Exide battery-recycling plant in Veon, after state agencies found toxic compounds in nearby neighborhoods and numerous violations, is an example of environmental justice, said Losu2009Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Testing has begun at 500u2009homes near the closed Exide plant but only a handful had lead levels requiring cleanup so far, Reuters reported last week. About 10,000u2009properties will be tested in the communities around the shuttered plant.

Recently, the goveor signed a bill that will set aside $176.6u2009million for more testing and cleanup within a 1.7-mile radius of the plant.

Lead exposure can interfere with a host of organs, including the heart and the nervous system. In children, who are more susceptible, inhalation or ingestion can lead to cognitive disorders, cause immune problems, and prevent the proper development of bones and teeth.

6. Water shortages and conservation

The four driest years in Califoia history, from 2011 to 2015, reduced the state’s snowpack to zero, dropped ground water basins and state reservoirs to historic lows. The winter’s Elu2009Niño storms helped build the snowpack to near 100u2009percent and brought back reservoir levels in Northe Califoia to above their historical averages.

The State Water Resources Control Board enforced Gov.u2009Jerry Brown’s emergency mandatory water conservation from Juneu20092015 through Februaryu20092016. In that time, Califoians saved close to 24u2009percent or about 1.19u2009million acre-feet of water, enough to supply more than 5.9u2009million residents for one year, or about the combined population of Sanu2009Diego, Riverside and Tulare counties. The result was just short of the mandated 25u2009percent goal set by Brown.

7. Solar energy

Solar’s biggest year was 2015, when 7,260u2009megawatts of solar power was installed in the United States for a gain of 16u2009percent over 2014, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The SEIA, a leading trade group, predicts that number will double this year.

Residential solar is leading that growth, increasing 66u2009percent from 2014.

At the same time, larger solar farms and utility photovoltaic plants are also adding to the country’s renewable energy portfolio. But not without controversy.

The Ivanpah solar plant built in northeast Sanu2009Beardino County came on line in 2014. But because the plant bus natural gas as part of its process, it is not 100u2009percent green and is being labeled by some as a “hybrid.” The plant produced 46,000u2009metric tons of carbon dioxide in its first year of operation.

It also came under fire during construction for displacing more than 100u2009desert tortoises, a species threatened with extinction, and for its towers that bu birds in mid flight.

In Walnut, Mount Sanu2009Antonio College’s attempt to install a solar farm on a hillside was met with opposition from neighbors and the city of Walnut. The solar project’s fate may be decided by a Losu2009Angeles Superior Court judge in June.

8. Hinkley

In this small town devastated by cancer-causing chromium-6 in its drinking water, news of recovery began to surface this past year.

The Lahontan Regional Water Control Board in November approved a comprehensive cleanup plan for the world’s largest known plume of the cancer-causing chemical. The order requires Pacific Gas & Electric to further define the plume, monitor it and reduce chromium-6 concentrations, especially in the core area near its Hinkley natural gas compression station.

In January, the community leaed the toxic plume had shrunk by half over the previous four years. The community had hope that it could begin to rebuild, to attract more residents and to re-open Hinkley School, which closed in Juneu20092013.

From 1952 until 1964, Sanu2009Francisco-based PG&E discharged untreated chromium-6 from cooling towers in its Hinkley station into unlined ponds, a common practice during that era, before the cancer-causing properties of chromium-6 were fully understood. From the ponds, chromium-6 percolated into the ground.

Hinkley’s water contamination problems were thrust globally into public view in the 2000u2009film “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts.

9. Salton Sea

Various fixes to the Salton Sea, a dying lake occupying about 378u2009square miles in Imperial and Riverside counties, include a geothermal operation and algae harvesting.

Gov.u2009Jerry Brown’s 2016-17u2009budget includes $80.5u2009million for the giant lake, labeled as a start but nowhere near the full amount needed to restore the sea.

Some have suggested that economic activity would pay back the cost of restoration, which at one point was tagged at $9u2009billion.

In February, Bruce Wilcox, whom Brown appointed as secretary for the Salton Sea Policy within the Califoia Department of Natural Resources, spoke publicly about what can be done to save the lake.

If nothing is done, the giant sea will have shrunk by about 100u2009square miles by 2050, resulting in dust storms and hydrogen sulfide “bumps” that affect air quality throughout Southe Califoia, documents show.

10. Plastic bags

The back-and-forth over the problem of plastic bags and the environment continues.

Gov.u2009Jerry Brown in 2014 signed into law Senate Billu2009270, which mandated a statewide ban on single-use plastic carry-out bags. Before the law could go into effect in Julyu20092015, opponents of the bill gathered enough signatures to add a referendum to the upcoming November election.

A “yes” vote on the ballot measure upholds the ban. A “no” vote would overtu SBu2009270.

Environmental groups point out that plastic bags are litter. They are a danger to wildlife. Bags have been found in the stomachs of whales, snare and strangle fish and shorebirds.

Estimates say 25u2009percent of litter found in the Losu2009Angeles river comes from plastic bag waste.

The ban on single-use plastic bags was supported by the grocery industry, who wanted a uniform policy statewide. To date, many cities and counties have enacted bans, making shoppers more comfortable bringing re-usable thick plastic or cloth bags to the checkout stand.

A total of 147u2009cities and counties in Califoia already have bans on plastic bags.

Losu2009Angeles County baed single-use plastic bags in 2011 as did cities of Pasadena, Southu2009Pasadena, Monrovia and Glendale. Arcadia is considering a city-wide ban on plastic bags at grocery stores, liquor stores and convenience stores.

Contributing to this article were Southe Califoia News Group reporters: James Steinberg, David Danelski, Courtney Tompkins and Jessica Calefati.