Supreme Court to rule if plastic bag bans require EIRs

from Archives: Manhattan Beach News

http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2010/04/29/manhattan_beach_news/news05.txt begin quote from above: City’s plastic bag ban will be heard by state Supreme Court by Carley Dryden (Updated: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 5:40 PM PDT)

A plastic bag ban in Manhattan Beach isn’t off the table yet. The California Supreme Court agreed to hear the city’s case for banning plastic bags, which has been challenged by a group of plastic bag manufacturers. It’s been a long-fought battle by City Attorney Bob Wadden since July 2008, when the city enacted a plastic bag prohibition to encourage use of reusable bags and was promptly sued by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition. The coalition argued that the city had to complete an environmental impact report, which is required by the California Environmental Quality Act if the environmental impact is “substantial.” Wadden felt it wasn’t. The city had conducted an initial study of potential impacts, which showed that the scope of the ban was so small an EIR wasn’t necessary, Wadden said. In early 2009, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sided with the coalition, rejecting the ban and ruling that the city had to complete an EIR. The city lost again this January in the court of appeal, which upheld the ruling that the city conduct an EIR. Justice Richard M. Mosk delivered a strong dissent in the 2-1 vote, stating that requiring a small city like Manhattan Beach to expend public resources to prepare an EIR for a ban the city felt was environmentally friendly was stretching the CEQA code and EIR requirements to ”absurdity.” Wadden agrees. “The standards need to be refined. The city is not against CEQA. We recognize the benefits of an EIR. It’s an important tool. But there has to be a common-sense approach to it,” Wadden said. Though the city felt it had a small chance of success, Wadden petitioned to the Supreme Court to review the case. The Supreme Court’s decision to review it offers a glimpse of hope for the city. The Supreme Court denies 90 percent to 95 percent of petitions filed, he said. Wadden will now have 30 days to file an opening brief. The coalition will have 30 days to file an opposition. It typically takes a minimum of six months before the Supreme Court will set the case for hearing, Wadden said. He doesn’t expect to go to court until some time in 2011. If the city is successful, Manhattan Beach will be the third city in the state of California with a plastic bag ban, behind San Francisco and Malibu. end quote. When I read about this today in a local newspaper I wasn't surprised. During the 1970s during the Tree Hugger era which still continues today banning paper bags was all the rage then to protect trees which were (and still are) being cut down at a rate they cannot be replaced. So, I understand the problem. Because the problem actually is more than one problem. The first problem is the unsitely non-decomposing plastic bags made from oil. The second is the problem of having to cut down trees to make paper bags. We live in an era where all sorts of paper is now being conserved by having things online instead of on paper which greatly reduces cutting down trees for paper. But this might be more than made up for by the cutting down of trees to make paper bags.  So, actually, both paper and plastic bags are problems for different reasons and if we all bring our own more permanent  re-usable bags to the store to fill this problem is solved.