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It’s time to book your room for Brewbound Live! Our two-day event for beer and beverage-alcohol professionals heads to Marina del Rey, California, on December 6 + 7. Register now to stay just steps from the action and save on your stay at the Marina Del Rey Marriott Hotel (4100 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA).

Attendees can look forward to business conversations during scheduled networking breaks, the Brewbound Live Pitch Slam, samples of the latest innovations in the industry, the Brewbound Live Official Party, and expert presentations from brewery leaders, retailers, beverage-alcohol suppliers, wholesalers, and data providers, all set against the backdrop of sunny Southern California.

The Brewbound Live room block always sells out, so we encourage you to register today to secure your place among brewers, retailers, investors, distributors, beer leaders, and industry partners. Plus, right now you can also take advantage of early registration pricing. Save $100 per registration. Brewbound Insiders save an additional $100. Plan ahead to save and take advantage of both the room block and early registration discounts.

Register for Brewbound Live Winter 2023 >>

Once you register, you will receive an email with the link to the discounted room block.

A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are still available for those seeking to elevate their presence beyond participation.

About Brewbound

Published by BevNET.com Inc., Brewbound is a leading multi-media industry trade publication providing comprehensive information about the beer category, analysis of industry trends and in-depth interviews with industry leaders. In addition to providing daily news coverage, Brewbound also gathers entrepreneurs and executives to exchange ideas, discuss the state of the industry and hear strategies for succeeding in the alcohol beverage industry via a series of nationwide meetups, multi-day business conferences, live-streamed shows and podcasts.

About Brewbound Live

Brewbound Live is a multi-day conference for serious brewing professionals who are interested in engaging in high-level business discussion while networking with emerging and established players alike. The program features a hand-selected roster of industry experts and innovators who, through presentations and panel discussions, address trends, challenges and the future of the brewing industry.

This article was written solely by the author without any AI assistance.

In a hearing on June 29, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant resolved disagreements between lawsuit plaintiffs and the State of California about how to fix the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project.

The plaintiffs narrowly prevailed in their lawsuits when Chalfant ruled on May 17 that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) must revise the EIR’s flood impact analysis by using a higher maximum flood flow value.

The plaintiffs lost on virtually all other issues they had argued to the court. CDFW has already stated their intention to revise the EIR to the court’s satisfaction and move the proposed project forward. In a social media post, a plaintiff spokesperson lambasted Governor Newsom’s continuing support of the Project, while a broad coalition of environmental groups support the Project, including Heal the Bay, L.A. Waterkeeper, Surfrider Foundation and Friends of Ballona Wetlands.

At the June 29 hearing, the judge sided with CDFW on two key issues. First, he ruled that CDFW need only correct the parts of the EIR for which the judge’s ruling required correction. This means the agency may choose to use a focused EIR supplement or other expedited lawful means to comply with the state’s environmental review law, rather than redoing the entire 1000-page EIR. This could save time and taxpayer expense should CDFW choose that path.

Find out what's happening in Marina Del Reywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Above: CDFW proposes to dig out fill dirt south of Fiji way and restore tidal wetlands, which occupied the area prior to Marina Del Rey’s construction

Second, the judge rejected plaintiff arguments that CDFW shouldn’t be allowed to do any work on the project until they correct the EIR to the court’s satisfaction. CDFW rightly rebutted that argument, pointing out that planning, permitting and other work must continue in order to correct the EIR. The judge agreed.

For example, most regulatory agencies require submittal of a permit application before their staff will begin reviewing a proposed project. CDFW will need several agencies to weigh in on their revised flood analysis, so permit applications must be prepared and filed.

This decision by the judge is a further blow to the plaintiffs, who had sought to completely stop the restoration project in its tracks. CDFW can now continue to “move the ball forward”, as Judge Chalfant stated at the hearing, while doing work needed to revise the EIR. Until the EIR is revised, CDFW is only prohibited from doing physical work (such as heavy construction) that could adversely impact the environment.

This decision also potentially renders moot another related lawsuit - one which challenged the Coastal Conservancy’s expenditure of funds on the CDFW project. The Coastal Conservancy is California’s agency charged with spearheading and funding public coastal habitat restoration projects. That lawsuit is scheduled to be heard in October, but the Conservancy could ask the court to dismiss the suit based on Chalfant’s June 29 ruling.

A status conference will be held in six months for CDFW to report to the judge on their progress correcting the EIR. Stay tuned!

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

References

(1) Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project EIR https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=149710&inline

(2) Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. 22STCP03307. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust vs. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, et al.

(3) Ballona Wetlands: When the Winners are Really the Losers. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-wetlands-when-winners-are-really-losers

(4) CDFW statement on the judge’s ruling: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=213256&inline

(5) Facebook post, 6/29/2023, M. Hanscom: “More and more I think I must not have been such a good judge of character when I met Gavin Newsom. I really thought he liked Nature, but his sticking with this terribly destructive project leads me to believe I may have been mistaken.”

Author’s note on affiliations

Dr. David W. Kay served on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands from 2007 until 2015, and served as Board President in 2012-13. He presently serves on the Board of Ballona Discovery Park in Playa Vista. Dr. Kay is a staunch advocate for the state of California's plans to restore the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

From 1984 until 2022, Dr. Kay was employed by Southern California Edison Company, exclusively in the company's environmental services organizations. His many responsibilities included restoration of the 440-acre San Dieguito Wetlands near Del Mar. He retired in 2022 as Senior Manager for Major Project Environmental Management at the company, after 38 years of service.

Dr. Kay earned bachelor and masters degrees in biology and a doctorate in environmental science.

See Dr. Kay’s Patch Community Contributor profile here.

Two Playa del Rey residents have settled legal action they took against Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors and Flood Control District regarding th approval of a project to collect trash by placing a floating barge dumpster in waters where the Ballona Creek meets the Pacific Ocean.

Lawyers for petitioners David and Tracy Blumenthal and the county informed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile of the accord during a hearing Thursday. No terms were divulged, and the judge scheduled a Nov. 18 hearing regarding the status of the settlement.

The board’s April 5 approval of the Ballona Creek Trash Interceptor Pilot Program followed months of discussions with residents, who expressed their “utmost concern and dismay at the adverse impacts that installation and operation of a massive floating trash barge in such a sensitive location would cause,” including its potential effects on public health, noise, recreation and air quality, according to the petition brought May 16 by the Blumenthals.

Although county representatives told residents during the discussions that they would work with the public to address their concerns, the promises were “intended to stall and quiet opposition while quietly moving forward with the trash project’s permitting (process) behind the scenes,” the petition alleged.

The Blumenthals wanted a judge to order the county to set aside its approval of the interceptor project until it is in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

A county Department of Public Works representative previously issued a statement regarding the petition, noting that the Ballona Creek is a 9-mile-long urban waterway that protects 1.5 million residents from flooding during storms.

“Each year, more than 30 tons of litter, floating trash and debris enters the channel via runoff from city streets,” the statement read. “Los Angeles County Public Works uses multiple strategies to reduce pollution and prevent trash from reaching the Pacific Ocean and local beaches, including community education and outreach on preventing litter, as well as trash nets and booms.

“The Ballona Creek Trash Interceptor is a floating, automated trash collection device that will be installed, studied and evaluated for feasibility and planning purposes by Los Angeles County Public Works as a pilot project over a period of two storm seasons.”

Before the interceptor project was approved, the petition said, residents stressed the importance of considering less disruptive means of reducing or collecting trash from Ballona Creek, including a trash capture project at Alla Road.

Current efforts to prevent trash from entering the ocean from the Ballona Creek include the use of floating mesh nets known as trash booms. The interceptor project, now under construction and set for completion in December, has been touted by its backers as being an improvement over the boom system because it can both collect a greater volume of debris and is not likely to overflow during heavy rains.

Countless federal- and state-listed endangered, threatened, sensitive or otherwise protected species call Ballona Creek home, including the Southern California steelhead, the El Segundo blue butterfly, the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, the western snowy plover, the southwestern willow flycatcher, the Pacific harbor seal, the California sea lion and the coastal California gnatcatcher, according to the petition.

The county did not complete a negative declaration or an environmental impact report and circulate them for public review and comment, and also presented no mitigation measures or project alternatives to the community, according to the petition.

By ERIC HE

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council adopted an ordinance Wednesday that moves forward on a controversial plan to shift the Scattergood Generating Station, a power plant in Playa del Rey, to be powered by green hydrogen instead of natural gas.

The council had voted in December to authorize a competitive bid proposal process for the estimated $800 million plan, over the objections of some environmental groups concerned about the impact of green hydrogen on the climate and lack of transparency from officials. But it did not garner enough votes to skip a second vote for final approval.

The second consideration was initially scheduled prior to the winter recess, but the item was delayed twice with new council members joining in between the two readings.

The vote on Wednesday was 12-0, but some council members expressed concern about the proposed project. Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the council’s energy committee, said she remained skeptical and was only reluctantly moving the process ahead.

Yaroslavsky said that the council was taking the vote without being fully aware of the project’s environmental impacts, an analysis of alternatives, or a robust community engagement process.

Last week, the energy and environment committee sought more context to the use of green hydrogen at the plant, asking Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials about potential alternatives to and the public health risks of using green hydrogen.

The council approved a separate item implementing safeguards for the project, calling for regular reports from LADWP to the council. It also sought to:

— Make sure the project would not result in an increase of pollutant emissions or create public health or safety risks from the production, storage, transportation or use of green hydrogen

— Incorporate hydrogen leak prevention, mitigation and monitoring

— Use only hydrogen produced from renewable energy resources

Other instructions included seeking an assessment of non-combustion alternatives to green hydrogen, and directing LADWP to conduct outreach with neighborhood councils and community-based organizations.

But Yaroslavsky said that she did not take “great comfort in the responses” from LADWP officials during the meeting, voicing concerns over the project’s impact on air quality and water resources, the safety of the hydrogen usage and the feasibility of working with new technology.

“While I completely understand and agree that our power system needs to be reliable and resilient, I am still not convinced that burning hydrogen is the best way to achieve that end,” Yaroslavsky said.

According to a resolution approved by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners in August, the shift to green hydrogen would help the department reach its goal of transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2035.

Sarah Wilfong, a representative from the Los Angeles County Business Federation, told the council that the shift to green hydrogen would ensure that the city is “creatively utilizing innovative and powerful clean energy fuel, while also providing good paying jobs, upgrading our infrastructure and ensuring the residents of LA can keep their lights on.”

But environmental groups have pushed back. According to Food & Water Watch, hydrogen still produces emissions that can threaten the climate, would require more than 122 million gallons of water to power the plant and cost more than solar, wind or battery storage.

Alex Jasset, nuclear threats and energy program manager for Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, told City News Service that the council vote could set in motion a “massive hydrogen build-out” throughout Los Angeles, perpetuating health and environment injustices for communities located near plants and wasting city resources that could be used for other solutions.

Jason Rondou, the LADWP’s director of resource planning, development and programs, said during a prior committee meeting that the Scattergood project is a means to creating a necessary renewable energy source for the city.

Rondou said the $800 million cost “appears significant,” but is just one of several projects working toward a renewable energy future. Scattergood is projected to account for less than 1% of Los Angeles’ energy portfolio by 2030, and the reduction in utilization will subsequently offset or even reduce water usage, according to Rondou.

But the 1% is important because “if we have wildfires, if we have earthquakes, it is that less than 1% that will keep the grid reliable and stable so that we can continue to charge our electric vehicles, and we can continue to power our homes and businesses — which will be fully electrified in the future,” Rondou said.

Jasset called the LADWP’s argument contradictory.

“It just seems like a huge investment of a billion dollars for an energy system that they’re claiming is only going to run 1% of the time,” Jasset said.

Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes the Scattergood plant, said she was prepared to use Section 245 of the City Charter — which gives council veto authority over actions by local boards with a two-thirds vote — if she feels the project presents too many risks.

“If this project ultimately breaks ground, I have to be able to tell my constituents — without a hint of doubt — that our actions will not come at the expense of their health and well-being,” Park said.

Transform your outdoor spaces affordably and effortlessly with professional landscaping services.

|Updated Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 8:22 am PT

Creating a beautiful and well-manicured yard is a top priority for many homeowners — but it’s no secret that finding quality, affordable landscaping services in the Marina Del Rey area can be challenging. Fortunately, Thumbtack, a home services app used by millions, has you covered.

Thumbtack connects homeowners with local professionals who can transform outdoor spaces into stunning works of art. Whether you're looking for a one-time landscaping project or regular maintenance services, Thumbtack makes it simple to find landscaping professionals in Marina Del Rey who cater to your specific needs.

In addition to traditional landscaping services like lawn mowing, tree trimming and garden maintenance, Thumbtack offers a wide range of professionals who can help enhance your outdoor living experience. You can find a pro who excels in services like hardscaping, irrigation or sprinkler system installation and landscape design.

Each landscaping pro on Thumbtack has their own profile that includes pricing information, allowing you to compare prices and choose the professional that best fits your budget. The average cost of lawn mowing and trimming services in the Los Angeles area is $85 per hour, according to data obtained by Thumbtack.*

Thumbtack goes beyond just landscaping services. Whether you require a handyman, interior painter, plumber, electrician, or any other service, Thumbtack has a vast network of professionals in the Marina Del Rey area who can handle just about any home project for you. The app also allows you to read reviews from previous consumers, giving you insights into the quality of service provided by each service professional.

Find out what's happening in Marina Del Reywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Need something done in Marina Del Rey? Whatever it is, Thumbtack can help you find and hire the pro for the job!

*Pricing data is based on projects requested on Thumbtack in the past 24 months as reported directly by the independent service professional or individual consumer. These figures are provided for educational purposes only and are subject to change at any time due to various factors. Details about your specific project and local rates can impact costs.