•  Los Angeles County finds plastic bag ban has “significant negative impact” on environment. 
• Is the Hawaii Legislature about to pass ANOTHER law without an EIS?
• Will Hawaii Legislators recycle bad law rejected in California and Washington?

HB 2125: Measure history and text  (Passed Environment Committee today)

KITV: Even biodegradable Plastic Bags Could Cost Customers 20 Cents

from www.savetheplasticbag.com 

On January 27, 2010, the California Court of Appeal issued its ruling in Save The Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach. The court ruled that Manhattan Beach should have prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) before banning plastic bags.

Click HERE to read the decision.

And what might an Environmental Impact Statement reveal about plastic bag bans?

If plastic bags are banned, stores and consumers will simply switch to paper bags. That has already happened in San Francisco.

How would that affect global warming? It will make it worse.

Paper bags result in up to 3.3 times more greenhouse gas emissions over their life cycle than plastic bags based on the same carrying capacity. There are numerous studies confirming that paper bags are significantly worse for the environment than plastic bags, including the Scottish report and the Boustead report.

Here is a neat photo of a typical pulp and paper mill.  This is where paper bags come from.  Pretty, isn’t it?

Banning plastic carryout bags in Los Angeles County alone would have the same annual impact on greenhouse gas emissions as adding between 27,753 and 63,832 passenger vehicles.

Banning plastic carryout bags throughout California would have have the same annual impact on greenhouse gas emissions as adding between 91,584 and 210,645 passenger vehicles.

We wish that anti-plastic bag activists would disclose this fact to decision-makers and the public.

We encourage you to click HERE to read a short paper on the huge impact of banning plastic bags on greenhouse gases. It is about a two minute read.

We have demanded that cities and counties in California that propose to ban plastic bags prepare Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) before doing so. The reason is that we want decision-makers and the public to know the WHOLE TRUTH, including the fact that banning plastic bags will increase greenhouse gas emissions that result in global warming. This is a serious environmental issue that cannot be ignored.

We are pleased that Los Angeles County and the City of San Jose are preparing EIRs. (Los Angeles County has issued an Initial Study acknowledging that banning plastic bags may have a significant negative effect on the environment.)

The City of Palo Alto has agreed to prepare an EIR before banning plastic bags at any more stores. (Its present ban affects only four stores.)

Green Cities California is preparing a Master Environmental Assessment that will assist cities in preparing their EIRs.

This is all good news in our campaign for environmental truth.

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Seattle: THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!  53% SAY NO TO BAG TAX

On August 18, 2009, the citizens of Seattle voted to defeat a city council proposal to impose a 20 cent tax on plastic and paper carryout bags.  The tax would have been payable by shoppers at the checkout.

53% voted against the tax and 47% voted for the tax.

According to the Seattle Times, "Seattleites are among the most tax-friendly citizens in the land. Over the years, they approved a strong majority of tax increases for housing, education, transportation - you name it." Moreover, Seattle is known for being an eco-conscious city. Nevertheless, the citizens rejected the carryout bag tax.

There is no reason why the people of any other city or state would feel differently about this issue. That includes California where there are bills pending in the Legislature that would impose a 25 cent tax for each plastic and paper carryout bag. In a California poll, more than 58% opposed a 25 cent tax on plastic bags. More than two-thirds of those polled in Los Angeles and San Diego opposed the tax.

Apparently, the public is not buying the arguments of anti-plastic bags activists. Perhaps like us, the public believes that the issue of carryout bags has been grossly exaggerated.

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RELATED Seattle Times: WE DON'T NEED THE BAG POLICE

AP:  Big Isle bag ban is voted down