Governor gets mixed report card on environment

* Fire safety -- The governor vetoed AB 2447, sponsored by Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento), which would have required cities and counties to certify that new subdivisions have adequate fire protection.

In its report card, the Planning and Conservation League called the bill "the most meaningful measure on the governor's desk related to wildfire danger." But Schwarzenegger contended that it would be too "costly and time consuming" for the state to verify whether fire standards were being met.

* Green building -- The governor vetoed AB 2939, sponsored by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), which would have authorized cities and counties to adopt green building standards that exceed those adopted by the state. Schwarzenegger said localities already could adopt stricter standards and the bill was "unnecessary and overly far-reaching."

Environmentalists also criticized the governor for signing a bill that gives exclusive authority over green building rules to the Building Standards Commission, instead of sharing authority, as is the current practice, with bodies such as the California Energy Commission and Air Resources Board that have an environmental portfolio.

* Toxic chemicals -- The governor vetoed SB 775, sponsored by Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) to increase screening and tracking of childhood lead poisoning. The bill would also have required that information about lead, which can cause retardation, be given to pregnant women.

Schwarzenegger also vetoed SB 1313, sponsored by Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), which would have banned two chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), from being used in food packaging.

Despite his vetoes, the governor won praise for signing the nation's most comprehensive bills to require future regulation of toxics, an effort to get away from a chemical-by-chemical approach.

comprehensive bills

-- Margot Roosevelt

Second shark has 'virgin birth'

The first time it happened, scientists thought it might be a fluke. A female hammerhead shark at a zoo in Omaha had not been in contact with male sharks for at least three years and yet experienced a "virgin birth." She delivered a single pup.

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FOR THE RECORD:
Sharks: An article in Tuesday's California section about "virgin birth" in sharks described the fish as an ancient species. Sharks are a group of species with ancient origins. —

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But it has happened again, according to the latest issue of the Journal of Fish Biology. This time, a blacktip shark had spent nearly her entire eight years at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center without any male companionship from her kind.

And again, in what some religions might call a miracle, and what science calls parthenogenesis, she produced a single pup. Employing DNA fingerprinting techniques used in human paternity tests, scientists have determined that in this case, as well as the hammerhead in Omaha, the solitary offspring contained no genetic material from a father.

-- Kenneth R. Weiss

For more about the environment, go to The Times' Greenspace blog at latimesblogs.latimes.com /greenspace.