Weekly Green: May 20, 2015

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

• State regulators release new data on injection wells that threaten drinking water, legislators may reassign responsibilities;
• At Coast Guard graduation, Obama warns of climate change threat to national security;
• Gov. Jerry Brown signs climate pact with other states, foreign provinces;
• Efforts underway to scrub spilled oil from California coast; and much more.

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Above the Fold

At Coast Guard graduation, Obama warns of climate change threat to national security
President Obama warned Wednesday that climate change is a growing and "serious threat" to national security, tying severe weather to the rise of the extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria and the civil war in Syria.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/20/in-coast-guard-commencement-obama-to-link-climate-change-to-national-security/

Climate change: Gov. Jerry Brown signs climate pact with other states, foreign provinces
Hoping to build momentum for a stronger international climate change deal in December, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed an agreement between California and 11 other U.S. states and foreign provinces to sharply limit emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_28145613/climate-change-gov-jerry-brown-set-sign-landmark

Efforts underway to scrub spilled oil from California coast
Cleanup crews fanned out Wednesday along a stretch of scenic California coastline stained by thousands of gallons of crude oil that spilled from a broken pipe and flowed into the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/4-mile-oil-slick-lines-California-coast-after-6274914.php

Oil wastewater dumped into shallow Central Valley wells
California officials have identified 260 oil company wastewater injection wells that are so shallow or so close to wells used for drinking or irrigation that they could threaten the state’s precious groundwater supplies, new data show.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Oil-wastewater-dumped-into-shallow-Central-Valley-6272051.php

California Concerns Grow Over Oilfield Operations Near Water
California regulators on Monday expanded their list of thousands of state-permitted oil and gas wells where below-ground injections may be contaminating drinking-water reserves.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-concerns-grow-oilfield-operations-water-31135598

California oil regulators could lose power over aquifer mess
Under fire for letting petroleum companies pump wastewater into aquifers, California oil-field regulators could see some of their responsibilities taken away — and handed to other agencies. State Sen. Fran Pavley on Tuesday proposed launching an audit of California’s Divison of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to see whether some of its functions would be better handled by other government offices.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-oil-regulators-could-lose-power-over-6274252.php

California Environmental News

Cap and Trade Money Hits Rooftops
Money from the greenhouse gas reduction program is already helping some homeowners this fiscal year. Dave Walsh is installing solar panels on the roof of a home in a low-income neighborhood in Sacramento. This is one of the first homes to receive solar panels using money from the state’s cap and trade program. By law, 25 percent of all the money raised must go to low income communities.
http://www.capradio.org/49494

Plastic pollution: California lawmakers to vote on banning 'microbeads' from personal care products
On Monday, state lawmakers in Sacramento are scheduled to vote on the nation's strictest ban on microbeads, prohibiting them in all personal care products starting Jan. 1, 2020.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_28136071/plastic-pollution-california-lawmakers-vote-banning-microbeads-from

Tiny Plastic Microbeads Are Being Banned In States Across The Country For ‘Causing Mega-Problems’
A year after imposing a statewide ban on plastic bags, this week California could come significantly closer to passing the country’s strictest ban on another environmentally damaging plastic product: microbeads. On Friday the state Assembly will vote on a bill that would outlaw these minuscule particles in products across the state.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/19/3659921/tiny-plastic-microbeads-getting-banned-in-numerous-states/

California's cap-and-trade program is key to Gov. Jerry Brown's agenda
For Gov. Jerry Brown, fighting climate change is more than a central tenet of his political agenda. It's also a key source of funding.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-state-budget-20150516-story.html

Climate change threatens electric power supply in California, report warns
By 2050, extended years of drought in the state could lead to an electricity shortage as well as a water shortage, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/18/climate-change-electric-power-supply-california-report

The Drought

California drought: People support water conservation, in theory
The survey results released Tuesday by the San Francisco-based Field Poll show that while nearly two-thirds of respondents agree that water agencies should be forced to reduce consumption by an average of 25 percent, more than 4 in 10 homeowners say they don’t have the ability to cut back much.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-People-support-water-6271681.php

Proposed state budget allocates $2.2 billion for drought response
Under Brown’s proposal, the money would be spent on water conservation, emergency response and programs aimed at protecting and expanding local water supplies.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-me-pc-state-budget-drought-20150514-story.html

California water officials deliver sobering facts on depleted wells
As the drought persists and groundwater levels drop, thousands of Californians have been left without well water and some parts of the San Joaquin Valley are sinking. But with such a wide array of water concerns in the fourth year of drought, should Californians be alarmed about 1,900 dry wells?
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-watch-wells-20150517-story.html

California farmers propose voluntary cuts
Farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are proposing voluntarily cutting their water use to avoid even harsher restrictions later this summer as the state's record drought continues.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article21449619.html

Silicon Valley faces sweeping water cuts
Nearly 1 million Silicon Valley residents will face strict water quotas -- and pricey premiums for going over -- under what will soon be the Bay Area’s most far-reaching rationing plan in four years of drought.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-drought-Silicon-Valley-faces-sweeping-6274158.php

New guidelines approved for emergency drought relief funding
Communities suffering from years of extremely dry conditions could receive their share of $19 million in funding to pay for bottled water supplies and drought-related projects under a new set guidelines.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-relief-funding-guidelines-20150519-story.html

Recharge pools could help quench future California droughts
The worst recorded drought in California's history has forced state regulators to restrict people's water use by a quarter. In the long-run, though, climate change and limited supply mean the state must radically change the way it manages water, particularly below ground.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630215.300-recharge-pools-could-help-quench-future-california-droughts.html

As California withers, federal water bill mired in secrecy
Draft copies are tightly held, as if stamped Top Secret. Myriad details are in flux. The legislative timing, though a June 2 Senate hearing could yet happen, remains unsettled. Democrats are divided; some are distinctly unhappy. It all sounds so familiar, and yet there’s still no telling how this movie ends.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/266870/as-california-withers-federal.html

USDA allocates $21 million to help farmers, ranchers battle drought
A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide $21 million to help farmers and ranchers in California and other states install new irrigation systems, plant cover crops and implement other water conservation practices, officials said Monday.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-usda-drought-funds-20150518-story.html

USDA: Forest Health Can Improve Water Supply
USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie says controlled burns and forest thinning are imperative as California deals with drought and an increased threat of wildfires.
http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/05/18/usda-forest-health-can-improve-water-supply/

Way of life withers in California’s parched citrus belt
People don’t easily forget the moment the water dies. For Maria Jimenez, 54, it happened just over two months ago.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article21185496.html

Drought cuts power production of California dams
Shasta Dam, looming more than 600 feet tall and gatekeeper of the largest man-made lake in California, was designed to perform two crucial functions: Store water and generate power.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-hydro-20150517-story.html

New desal rules costly, but offer road map for industry
Recently approved environmental rules could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of desalination plants proposed along California’s coast. Industry officials say projects will continue to move forward -- though it’s an open question about whether the technology will ever flourish in the Golden State.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/16/sacramento-desalination-carlsbad-poseidon-water/

Southland saying goodbye to lawns
When Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25% cut in urban water use, he declared war on the California lawn. Among the early casualties is the expanse of green that Tom Beck and his wife planted around their Arcadia home 26 years ago.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-drought-lawns-20150516-story.html

Morain: Why almond orchards are sprouting in Solano County
In the week when Gov. Jerry Brown decreed that we who live in cities and suburbs cut water use by 25 percent, sprinklers soaked a newly planted almond orchard south of Interstate 80 between Davis and Dixon.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dan-morain/article21149247.html

Bottled water companies under fire amid California’s drought
Environmental groups have long taken aim at bottled water companies for contributing to the glut of plastic bottles that clog landfills, streams and waterways. Now, amid California’s drought, they’re looking at the water itself.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article21049293.html

L.A. getting no Owens Valley runoff for first time since 1913
For the first time since 1913 -- when Department of Water and Power chief architect William Mulholland opened the waterway with the words, "There it is. Take it!" -- the 233-mile Los Angeles Aqueduct has stopped carrying Owens Valley runoff to Los Angeles.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aqueduct-drought-20150514-story.html

More Environmental News

Critics Hear E.P.A.’s Voice in ‘Public Comments’
When the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a major new rule intended to protect the nation’s drinking water last year, regulators solicited opinions from the public. Gina McCarthy, the agency’s administrator, told a Senate committee in March that the agency had received more than one million comments, and nearly 90 percent favored the agency’s proposal. But critics say there is a reason for the overwhelming result: The E.P.A. had a hand in manufacturing it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/us/critics-hear-epas-voice-in-public-comments.html

White House makes bid to save honeybees but ignores toxic pesticides
[The plan] includes making millions of acres of federal land more bee-friendly, an explicit ambition to increase the population of the monarch butterfly, and the provision of millions of dollars to be spent on research.... It does not ban the use of any form of toxic pesticides, despite a large body of scientific research showing many of them -- specifically neonicotinoids, or “neonics” -- to be closely linked to widespread bee life loss.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/19/white-house-plan-honeybees-pollinators-pesticides

California agency misses deadline on reporting oil-industry water use
The state's oil and gas agency has missed the deadline for reporting on the use of water by oil producers in California, saying that the large volume of information required could not be processed in time.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oil-water-20150514-story.html

Dangerously close – Oil by rail risks [video]
US railways now transport nearly ten percent of America's crude oil output, or around 800,000 barrels per day; that's a 1700 percent increase in just the last four years. And all that extra traffic just increases the likelihood of rail accidents.
http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/Ali-Velshi-On-Target/2015/5/dangerously-close--oil-by-rail-risks-part-one.html

Arctic pollution rules 'not enough'
The Polar Code, passed at a meeting in London of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), ban ships from releasing oil, sewage, chemicals and waste into the sea. The measures are set to come into force in 2017. But environmentalists say the regulations do not go far enough.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32756119

Study maps hundreds of methane gas leaks under streets in L.A. region
An environmental group has identified nearly 250 locations where planet-warming methane is leaking from natural gas lines under streets in the Greater Los Angeles region.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-methane-gas-leaks-20150514-story.html

Anti-logging lawsuits hurt fight against forest fires, officials say
Lawsuits from environmental groups are snagging badly needed efforts to log forests in California’s fire-prone Sierra Nevada mountains, lawmakers and witnesses tell a House of Representatives subcommittee. Officials urge action to speed both salvage and green-tree harvests.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article21016266.html

Tom Steyer eyes new oil tax and gas-price transparency
Wealthy Bay Area environmentalist Tom Steyer, who for weeks has been lambasting oil companies about gasoline prices, said Friday he was exploring another potential cudgel against the industry: ballot measures to tax oil extraction and require more public disclosure on pricing and supply.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-steyer-oil-tax-gas-prices-20150515-story.html

The Green Behind California’s Greens
A handful of superrich donors have created the illusion of a grassroots environmental movement.
http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_2_california-environmentalism.html

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