Weekly Green: June 2, 2015

Hello and good afternoon, all. In recent news & opinion:

• CLCV honors three at Environmental Leadership Awards;
• Bills banning ivory, microbeads advance in California Legislature;
• Climate, Santa Barbara oil spill, drought coverage; much more.

» Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Green, your no-frills news roundup provided free of charge by the California League of Conservation Voters. If you're not a regular subscriber, sign up for your free subscription today: http://ecovote.org/wg »

CLCV Environmental Leadership Awards

Annie Notthoff, Environmental Champion
Tom Adams, former CLCV Board Chair: "Annie Notthoff is Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's California Advocacy program in San Francisco and has been a member of the CLCV Board of Directors for more than 20 years. Annie has had a remarkable career as an environmental advocate."
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/annie-notthoff-environmental-champion

Honoring Lisa Hoyos, Climate Parents
Susan Frank, CLCV Board Member: "It’s not often that you get the call up from a former California State Senator to present an award on his behalf, but that is what I was asked to do tonight by Tom Hayden who was unable to be here. It helps that I have known Lisa Hoyos longer than possibly anyone else in this room other than her parents and siblings – I first met her when I was 16 years old."
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/honoring-lisa-hoyos-climate-parents

Lisa Jackson of Apple accepts CLCV Award [VIDEO]
Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols introduced Jackson, who could not be present due to a last-minute conflict, but provided a gracious acceptance speech via video (watch the video here):
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/lisa-jackson-apple-accepts-clcv-award

AB 96: Ivory Ban Moves Forward

AB 96 passed the Assembly! You can take action to ban the ivory trade in California by sending a message to your State Senator: www.ecovote.org/ab96

Major Move Forward for Ban on Ivory, Rhino Horn
A bill that would close a large loophole in California's existing ban on sales of ivory and rhinoceros horn passed an important hurdle in the State Legislature Friday, passing out of the Assembly's Appropriations Committee on a 12-4 vote.
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/legislation/major-move-forward-for-ban-on-ivory-rhino-horn.html

Illicit Ivory
The episode, "Illicit Ivory," streaming online indefinitely beginning May 27, uncovers the devastating effects of the illegal ivory trade, its impact on the dwindling African elephant population, and the link between this illicit activity with insurgency groups and organized crime.
http://www.kcet.org/socal/wildlife_and_environmental_conservation/

California Environmental News

California Senate committee passes bill making well data public
Despite opposition from agriculture groups, the state Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation Thursday that would make data on water wells available to the public like is done in all other Western states.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/3995333-181/california-senate-committee-passes-bill

California Assembly advances ban on microbeads in cosmetics
The California Assembly on Friday advanced one of the nation's toughest bans on plastic, exfoliating microbeads that are polluting waterways. The bill passed on a 58 to 11 vote with no spoken opposition. It heads to the Senate where similar legislation fell short over industry opposition last year.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/California-Assembly-approves-tough-plastic-6281076.php

Low-income homeowners get free solar panels thanks to cap & trade
The spread of residential solar power has been largely a middle-class affair. Despite plunging prices in the last seven years, rooftop solar arrays remain an expensive home improvement, costing $15,000 or more.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Low-income-homeowners-get-free-solar-panels-6281762.php

Walters: California’s carbon fees generate big money
While Gov. Jerry Brown is being fairly tight about spending the state’s multibillion-dollar windfall of sales and income taxes, he’s not shy about spending rapidly increasing proceeds from “cap-and-trade” fees on carbon emissions.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article22143216.html

Climate change could overwhelm California, Obama adviser says
Climate change is moving faster than anticipated and is intensifying California’s drought, and unless greenhouse gas emissions are slowed, the state’s efforts to adapt will ultimately be overwhelmed, President Obama’s science adviser says.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Climate-change-could-overwhelm-California-Obama-6284544.php?t=b2277aec2df294ee0d&cmpid=twitter-premium

California gas tax increase: Is this the year Jerry Brown pushes it through?
For the first time in decades, even anti-tax Republicans are open to raising prices at the pump to start cutting into the state's $59 billion backlog of roadway maintenance.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28181192/california-gas-tax-increase-jerry-brown-republicans

Morain: Using windfalls and paper to fight climate change
Amid much pomp, Gov. Jerry Brown and dignitaries from Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States gathered at the meticulously restored Stanford Mansion last week. There, they signed a piece of paper.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dan-morain/article22028994.html

Push grows to add Rim of the Valley lands to national recreation area
As a graduate student at California State University Northridge in the mid-1970s, the late Marge Feinberg began rabble-rousing for a "green belt" of wildlife habitats, parks and recreational areas encircling the San Fernando Valley.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-rim-of-the-valley-20150524-story.html

McNamara: Protecting our water at Berryessa Snow Mountain
As a farmer, my livelihood depends on land and water. Without either, I’m out of business. That’s why it is especially important to me to do all I can to conserve the healthy landscapes and clean water that makes Northern California such a special place to live and work.
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/protecting-our-water-at-berryessa-snow-mountain/article_181c80fd-1ae1-5556-a7e2-3f08ad25387e.html

State Offering Incentives To Get Dirty Cars Off Road
When Jose Mendoza took his 1984 pickup truck to a smog check event in Stockton last February, he heard about a new pilot program. If he scrapped his truck, he could get state money to help him buy a new hybrid. "She told me you can get this car, we’ll take that car. I said, here’s the keys!”
http://www.capradio.org/50036

Santa Barbara Oil Spill

Pipeline that leaked wasn't equipped with auto shut-off
The pipeline that leaked thousands of gallons of oil on the California coast was the only pipe of its kind in the county not required to have an automatic shut-off valve because of a court fight nearly three decades ago, a county official said.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article21805881.html

Cleanup of oil-fouled California beach could take months
The U.S. Coast Guard captain overseeing cleanup of oil spilled from a pipeline rupture that closed two California state beaches and fouled offshore waters near Santa Barbara said on Thursday it may take months to restore the area to its natural condition.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/22/us-usa-california-oilspill-idUSKBN0O52MY20150522

Senators call Santa Barbara oil spill response 'insufficient'
Three U.S. senators are raising concerns about a Texas-based company’s “insufficient” response to a pipeline failure last week that released thousands of gallons of crude into the ocean and fouled the Santa Barbara County coastline.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-spill-senators-letter-20150528-story.html

Pump Shutdowns Linked to 105,000-Gallon Leak
Plains pipeline operations director Rich McMichael said Wednesday evening that two of the company’s pumps had problems on Tuesday morning. He said the pump was shut down at about 11:30 a.m. after employees noticed a “pressure anomaly.”
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/may/21/state-emergency-declared-refugio-oil-spill/

As Refugio Oil Slick Spreads, Spill Estimate Rises
Health officials are advising the public to avoid affected areas as they test air, water, and soil samples for toxicity levels. “Breathing oil fumes can cause headache, nausea, vomiting…and respiratory problems,” said Santa Barbara County Public Health Department spokesperson Susan Klein-Rothschild.
http://www.independent.com/news/2015/may/20/refugio-oil-slick-spreads-spill-estimate-rises/

Oil spill spreads near Santa Barbara; could happen in Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, like Santa Barbara, is home to a vast network of oil pipelines that could easily rupture and cause the same kind of disastrous spill that is blackening the Southern California coast.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Oil-spill-stretching-over-9-miles-of-coast-near-6277075.php

Pipeline operator in oil spill has high rate of safety infractions
Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oilspill-pipeline-20150521-story.html

Oil spill cleanup an eerie sight
Rocks on the beach were splattered in black. Mild breezes riffled the fronds but the smell in the air was more loading dock than lotus. With shovels in hand, workers slowly tromped along the shore. They dug into inky mud and dumped each shovelful into hundreds, then thousands of clear plastic bags. At points, they formed human chains, passing the heavy loads from one hand to the next, and, finally, into dumpsters.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oil-spill-surroundings-20150521-story.html

As oil production soars, so have pipeline leaks
Since 2009, the annual number of significant accidents on oil and petroleum pipelines has shot up by almost 60 percent, roughly matching the rise in U.S. crude oil production, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20150522/NEWS/150529800

Feds order pipeline company to clean up Santa Barbara coastline
Federal authorities on Wednesday issued a cleanup order to the company whose underground pipeline last week spilled thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean and marred several miles of Santa Barbara County coastline.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-feds-order-cleanup-20150527-story.html

Calbuzz: Santa Barbara Spill: Case Study of Post-MSM News
The most enterprising story, amid the far-flung news coverage of last week’s ruinous leak of acrid, viscid, noxious oil that fouled miles of Santa Barbara’s splendid coastline, disclosed a disturbing and intriguing fact: The pipeline that spewed the toxic stuff onto the beach and into the water is the only one in the county not equipped with an automatic shut-off valve.
http://www.calbuzz.com/2015/05/santa-barbara-spill-case-study-of-post-msm-news/

Crews close to excavating ruptured section of oil pipeline
Investigators are nearing an important step in determining what caused an underground oil pipeline last week to rupture and release as much as 101,000 gallons of crude along the Santa Barbara County coast.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oil-spill-20150526-story.html

Drought

Plans Would Let California Farmers Avoid Water Cuts
Moving to meet voluntary water conservation targets, dozens of farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have submitted plans to the state saying they intend to plant less thirsty crops and leave some fields unplanted amid the relentless California drought, officials said. The farmers devised the plans submitted Monday as part of a deal struck last month that would spare them deeper mandatory cuts by the state in the future.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-water-board-announce-conservation-april-31461099

Hopes rise for a strong El Niño to ease California drought
Across Southern California, this month has been decidedly cooler and wetter. San Diego had its wettest May in 94 years, and Los Angeles saw nearly four times its average rainfall. Even the Mojave Desert is running as much as 5 degrees cooler than normal.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-el-nino-returns-20150528-story.html

Car Washes and Pools: Winners and Losers of California’s Drought
How local cities and water agencies achieve those cuts is up to them. Most are passing rules that limit outdoor watering, but some are targeting other industries, creating some clear winners and losers.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/car-washes-and-pools-winners-and-losers-of-californias-drought/

California drought throws cold water on swimming pools
Once a pillar of suburban comfort, the backyard swimming pool is now the prey of many California communities trying to save water.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-throws-cold-water-on-swimming-6296934.php

California Drought: Ag Industry ‘Resilient’
Despite the severe drought, the economic impacts on California's agriculture industry so far, are relatively small. More than 500,000 acres of California agricultural land was fallowed last year. But there wasn't a significant falloff in Central Valley employment because much of the land wasn't labor-intensive.
http://www.capradio.org/50198

Drought angst shrivels Californians’ views of state
Despite an improving economy and burgeoning budget surplus, California’s worsening drought is stirring fresh anxieties about the direction of the Golden State.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/field-polls/article22392486.html

Millions in federal dollars aim to improve long-term water conservation
California is getting about $33 million in federal money for water recycling, irrigation improvements and other conservation projects in a new round of funding for water and energy efficiency projects in Western states.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-federal-dollars-water-20150520-story.html

California’s largest lake is slipping away amid an epic drought
The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, 360 square miles of unlikely liquid pooled in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. Now the sea is slipping away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/californias-largest-lake-is-slipping-away-amid-an-epic-drought/2015/05/28/e83dd136-fe51-11e4-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html

California panel mandates low-water lawns on new buildings
Driven by a historic drought, California regulators on Friday mandated that lawns and other landscaping on new and renovated homes and buildings across the parched state guzzle less water. The state Building Standards Commission voted to change development rules to reduce the demand for water.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/05/29/52078/california-panel-mandates-low-water-lawns-on-new-b/

Hiltzik: Past thinking about California's water may still bear pointers for future
The decline of Lake Mead to a water level not seen in nearly eight decades, or since the giant reservoir was still filling behind the just-completed Hoover Dam, is more than a visual reminder of the severity of the drought.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20150531-column.html

California redwood trees stressed to breaking point by drought, dying in Southern California
Koko Panossian is on death watch. The Glendale senior park services manager gingerly steps around fresh tree stumps, ghosts of 30-year-old coast redwood trees. His eyes meet the brown, scratchy limbs of two towering gentle giants.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20150525/NEWS/150529639

Turning sewage into drinking water gains appeal as drought lingers
It's a technology with the potential to ease California's colossal thirst and insulate millions from the parched whims of Mother Nature, experts say.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-toilet-to-tap-20150525-story.html

City sprays golf courses with tap water
The City of San Diego has continued using drinking water to irrigate two of its three golf courses amid worsening drought, increasing use by millions of gallons each year since 2013, city documents show.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/22/drinking-water-irrigation-san-diego-golf-courses/

MWD mulls $350M water program hike
Southern California's largest water agency, Metropolitan Water District, will consider dramatically increasing its conservation budget by a record $350 million, which it says will make the water-saving program the nation's largest. The additional expense could also raise water rates by 21 percent, according to one of its board members.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/22/metropolitan-water-district-turf/

California's Drought Makes It Rain Big Bucks For Local Businesses
When people call up Leigh Jerrard, founder of Greywater Corps, they're greeted with a recorded message: "Note that we are overwhelmed with inquiries right now, so it may be a while before we get back to you. But have faith."
http://www.npr.org/2015/05/26/409704812/californias-drought-makes-it-rain-big-bucks-for-local-businesses
 

California Politics

Anne Gust Brown is the most powerful first lady in the country because she didn’t want to be one
When discussing herself, Gust Brown has little patience for the Californian self-preoccupation in which her husband is known to indulge. When I asked how she would hope to be remembered, she answered, “Oh, golly, I don’t know, I haven’t thought about that. Have you ever thought about that for yourself?”
https://stories.californiasunday.com/2015-06-07/anne-gust-brown-the-most-powerful-first-lady-in-the-country

Thanks for reading the Weekly Green from the California League of Conservation Voters. If you're not a regular subscriber, don't forget to sign up today! Get your free subscription here: http://ecovote.org/wg

• Next Weekly Green
•  
• Previous Weekly Green