Pandemic's Effects on Environment Are Good, Bad, Weird

the Environmental podcast from Bloomberg Law. I'm your host, David Schultz, and it sounds like my upstairs neighbors are using their rumba right now, So that is what is happening today. I'm not really sure how else to say this, but the coronavirus pandemic is just a totally unprecedented situation. I mean, the sickening of tens of thousands of people, the shutdown of huge swaths of the economy, seemingly overnight. There's not

a lot you can compare that to. And as a result, we're seeing things happen with the environment that no one could have predicted, for example, the threat of disinfectant wipes clogging the sewers. So today we're going to be talking with environment I'm a reporter, Emily Dooley, She's based in California, where she is right now, but the novel issues she's been seeing can offer apply in any state. Hi, Emily, how are you, hi, David. I'm well, thanks, so Emily.

There have been a lot of unexpected consequences. And let's start off with these disinfectant wipes. I understand they can create something called a fat berg. What in God's name is that? So yeah, fat berg. It's one of my favorite things. So you know how everything that goes down your drain, it collects into a sewer if you're not on a septic system. Sewer systems sometimes they're old, sometimes they've got, you know, a lot going on. Many are

fed by gravity. Some have pumps. Toilet paper can degrade and go through the system. Fine sanitary wipes, disinfectant wipes, paper towels, they do not, even if it says that they're flushible. Sometimes yes, they just do not degrade in

the same way as toilet paper. And so imagine if for whatever reason, people obviously are paying more attention to disinfecting surfaces, but some people are putting the wipes and towels down their toilets and down their drains rather than the trash So these things are going into the system, they're getting stuck, they're collecting, they're catching other wipes, they're getting grease, they're getting hair, they're getting all these things, and it grows and it grows and it grows, and

it can clog up the sewer system. It can cause overflows, it can back up drains. It's not a good situation. And one of the last things you want during a pandemic is for your sewer system to not be working, and it can be a huge problem. In London several years ago they found one that was forty tons and it took workers three weeks to dig out and blast out all the goo that had collected in the sewer system. So,

I mean, that's first off, that's gross. Secondly, is this something that people are really worried is going to happen now during the pandemic, because I mean, people are using a lot more of these waves. They are, and they're seeing it in places I know. Out in California. On Saint Patrick's Day, the top Water Regulator put out a public service announcement saying, just please please don't flush these

things down the toilet. It's bad. And I talked to some of the districts of the sanitary districts, and they were already seeing way more like shop towels and paper towels and things in their system, and they were having breaks and they were having issues. And if you think about if if two or three or four people do this in an apartment building, like how fast that situation

can kind of add up and create havoc. It can be a really sort of not a situation you want to deal with while you're also trying to avoid the coronavirus.

This is something that we've talked about a lot on the podcast, which is that all of these environmental problems are happening at a time when staffing is going to be an issue for you know, everyone, but sewer systems also, like you're just going to you know, if you have a fat berg that clogs up the sewer, you're gonna have to send some people, you know to fix it. And who are you going to send? I mean, it's it's that I feel like that complicates every single problem

that we're talking about. Yeah, staffing is a big problem, and I know some you know, water districts are sort of isolating staff members, keeping them on the sideline. So if some crews that like repair water main brakes or you know, monitor equipment gets sick. They can like swap people in and out, so they're keeping people in isolation. But you know that if you're a smaller district, or you have a lot of people who get sick, or you have a lot of breaks, you know that's it's

not a sustainable situation. There's there's a bill that you guys have in the California legislature that deals with these flushable wives. Right. It prohibits products from claiming they're flushable if they don't meet certain standards. And then if it's not flushable, it requires like really clear labeling that says don't flush me. And I'm looking I have my I have a tin of chlorox here and it's in really tiny type that it says, don't flush down the toilet.

I mean, it gives like picture descriptions of how to open the top, but like it's a really tiny tiny you know, don't flush this. So, just out of curiosity asking for a friend here, where did you get those wipes? I sort of did it by accident. If you like order Amazon Fresh at like one am, sometimes they'll deliver, but I can send you I can send you a yeah. Yeah, I'm just just just curious what tell me about that legislation and maybe will this be the momentum that pushes

it across the finish line. It could be. However, the legislature is on break right now. They went out for a few weeks. They were supposed to come back on Monday, but they have now extended that to May fourth, so it's it's unclear. There's been some talk about, you know, if if leadership will say, you know what, you can only have five bills instead of the dozens of bills that you normally file, So it's unclear what might happen.

And to put it in perspective, last year, I just tracked about three to four hundred environment and energy bills myself and probably missed a few. So there's a lot that goes on. And if they miss like a month and a half, that means there's going to be a huge crunch time and they just may not have time to do all of to process all of the bills that have been submitted. So there might be some kind of you know limit or you know, you can only submit bills on essential items, And it's unclear kind of

where this one will end up. Okay, well, let's take a little break here, and when we come back, we're going to be moving on from fat Burghs, thank god, and talking about maybe some other environmental issues that have cropped up in the last few weeks that really no one could have foreseen. Stay tuned, we're here and we're

back with Emily Dooley. She's based in Sacramento, California, and we're talking about the environmental problems that have come up in the last few weeks as a result of the pandemic. So let's focus on California. When I think of environmental problems in California, the first thing I think of is wildfires. What is the state doing or I guess not doing right now to prepare for wildfire season, which I have

to imagine is coming up pretty soon. Are there things that the state just simply can't do because they don't have the staffing or for any number of reasons as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. I think that's a bit of a kind of a time we'll tell situation. You know, we're in a bit of a dry period right now, though rains recently might kind of take care

of some of that. There's been already, you know, fire season's year round now in California, and there's been already this year through April fifth of more than six hundred fires. In the same period. Last year there was about two hundred and twenty. But it's the same amount of acreage, right so things seemed to be and last year was a good year, if you can call it a good year. It didn't have it wasn't as horrible as twenty eighteen.

So right now there's a lot of work that's sort of in the planning stages for how to reduce vegetation, or make fire breaks, or do do a lot of things to prevent wildfires from spreading. And it's sort of it's unclear what might happen, if things will be delayed, or if there are on long enough timelines that this is a bit of a glitch. So it's kind of it's hard to tell right now. Speaking of wildfires, let's broaden it out and talk about air pollution, another thing

that California is unfortunately known for. I'm getting the sense based on your reporting that you know, the state wanted to enact some new air pollution regulations this year. It had you know, a pretty robust agenda, and now as a result of the virus, that's just not going to be happening. What's happened? What's going on there? I'm not

sure that that's that actually the case. There have there have been several industry groups that have asked the Air Resources Board to delay or kind of halt the process when it comes to like you know, clean truck sales or low emission heavy duty trucks, but the Air Board has said, nope, timelines and deadlines apply. You know, these in California and probably many other places. These regulations don't come out of thin air. They're like a year's long process.

So these things have been known that they're coming, and it's a crunch time right now. Yes, but it's not a surprise. There's been like some you know extending of comment periods and things like that, but there hasn't been any wholesale you know what, we're not going to do this till next year announcement. Now that could change, if you know, people are sequestered in their homes for you know,

six months or something. Because you can do a lot of things online, but there is not universal broadband access so that would mean you're not reaching all the population that might want to comment on things. So there could

be some changes down the line, I see. But it sounds like even though industry groups or certain industry groups are asking the state to postpone or delay or give you know, some leniency on error regulations, the state as of now, which you know, we're talking on Wednesday, April eighth, as of now, the state is moving forward with that and there's no delays at least right now, or no major delays correct. And you know, the same goes for you know, when it comes to water discharge permits. The

water regulators have said, you're an essential service. We expect you to be compliant and if you're not, please reach out and let us know. But you're essential, and you know, please operate that way. And finally, though, let's talk about a surprising development that may be positive as a result of the virus, if you you know, want to even

call it that. It sounds like because of some you know, pressed economic activity, which again is not a good thing, there are lower rates of air pollution in some areas, and you know, maybe even California, which has famously epic air pollution problems. What's going on there? Are we seeing air quality benefits in California as a result of people staying in their homes and not driving. See this is why I'm no fun at cocktail parties. So, yeah, there has been cleaner air in LA and San Diego and

other places. California has some of the worst air quality in the nation, and keeping people home has made for clearer and cleaner air. However, the long term effects of breathing in bad air pollution still remain. So there's asthma, there's respiratory distress, and there's all of those things that also make people more susceptible to having difficulties with the coronavirus. But there has been you know, measurable better air quality

in the big cities and especially in southern California. Yeah, if you look at some of the NASA sort of measurements, they do say that, and people anecdotically say that it's a lot. It's sort of it's a lot clearer than normal. So it's like noticeable. Yes, I mean I don't notice it here in Sacramento, but I think in LA and other places probably you would visually notice it a lot more. Wow, all right, well, that'll do it for today's episode of

Parts per billion. If you want more on how the pandemic is affecting the environment in any and every state, our website is the place to go. That's newstot Bloomberg environment dot com. That website, once again is newstot Bloomberg Environment dot com. Today's episode of Parspervillion was produced by myself along with Josh Block and Marissa Horn. Special assistance today came from Anna Yukononov. Parspavilion was created by Jessa

Coombs and Rachel Daegel. The music for today's episode is a message by Jazar and Surf Queen by Leyton Cordel. They were used under their Creative Comments license. Thanks for listening, everyone, don't flush your wipes. Don't flush your wipes. Taxes and accounting are complicated, but finding a good tax podcast shouldn't be. I'm Siri Vlusu and I'm Amanda Icone. Listen to Talking Tax, the podcast that brings down all of these issues on

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