Weekly Green: May 5, 2015

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

• California fell short of water-saving target, more restrictions coming;
• American Lung Association releases "State of the Air" report;
• Growing concern: crops raised with oil field wastewater;
• ICYMI, a special climate edition of the Weekly Green; 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 »

Above the Fold

Water regulators appear set to impose cutback orders
California water regulators appeared to be on track Tuesday to imposing strict water-use cutbacks that would force many Sacramento-area communities to reduce consumption by as much as 36 percent.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article20277303.html

Regulators: California fell far short of water-saving target
Californians conserved little water in March and local officials were not aggressive in cracking down on waste, state regulators reported Tuesday as they considered tough measures to force savings amid a continuing drought.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article20242014.html

Central Valley's growing concern: Crops raised with oil field water
Here in California's thirsty farm belt, where pumpjacks nod amid neat rows of crops, it's a proposition that seems to make sense: using treated oil field wastewater to irrigate crops.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-oil-water-20150503-story.html

One in six species could be wiped out by climate change, study says
If present trends continue, the Earth’s temperature will wind up 4.3 degrees Celsius higher than it was before the onset of the industrial era. Should that scenario come to pass, as many as 16% of species around the world would be at risk of dying out, the study says.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-climate-change-species-extinction-20150501-story.html

ICYMI: May 1st Weekly Green special edition: Climate
Last week, we dedicated our environmental news roundup to our top story: On Wednesday, Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order to fight climate change by massively reducing California’s greenhouse gas emissions. (Those stories have not been republished in today's edition.)
http://www.ecovote.org/weekly-green-may-1-2015

State of the Air: Better or Worse?

Drought making California's air quality worse, American Lung Assn. says
Despite increasingly aggressive clean air and fuel standards, years of drought are taking a toll on California's air quality, the American Lung Assn. says in a new report.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-california-air-quality-20150429-story.html

California air is getting cleaner, new report says
Good news for people who appreciate breathing: It’s getting easier to do in California, according to the American Lung Association’s latest “State of the Air” report, released Wednesday. The air is cleaner, but make no mistake. It’s still not good, according to the report.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-air-is-getting-cleaner-new-report-says-6232235.php

California's Historic Drought

California Drought Killed 12 Million Forest Trees Since Last Year
An estimated 12 million trees across California’s forestlands have died over the past year because of extreme drought conditions, according to an aerial survey conducted April 8-17 by the U.S. Forest Service.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/may/04/california-drought-kills-12-million-forest-trees-l/

California Water-Saving Targets Are All Over the Map
This week local water officials and consumers around California will get the final version of new emergency drought rules ordered by Governor Jerry Brown in early April. The statewide water restrictions go into effect on June 1.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/california-water-saving-targets-are-all-over-the-map/

A drought like no other
Californians are used to droughts, which on average happen once every decade. But the drought we're in now looks different from all the rest in California's modern history in its length and severity.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/02/drought-severity-consequences/

Rutten: How to respond to drought’s political, economic realities
The event now referred to simply as “the drought” is far more than a climatological challenge to California. It also poses profound political, economic and technological questions to a society more vulnerable than many ever imagined, yet more resourceful and less fragile than others now would like to believe.
http://www.sbsun.com/article/20150501/LOCAL1/150509986

Brown's Water Fine Proposal Questioned
California Gov. Jerry Brown wants to give local water agencies new authority to fine water wasters during the drought. That’s raising some concerns about possible government overreach.
http://www.capradio.org/47301

House passes water bill, but drought solutions still under debate
The bill, approved by a largely party line 240-177 margin, does not, however, reflect significant consensus on some key California water disputes, nor does it come close to the comprehensive drought bill that has so far eluded lawmakers.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article20039541.html

California Senate Democrats call out Jerry Brown over water
California's Democratic senators have called out Gov. Jerry Brown over water spending, saying that in the face of the relentless drought the state should more quickly approve funds to recycle and save water. In a joint letter released Thursday, the senators urged their fellow Democrat's administration to get projects started in months instead of years.
http://www.montereyherald.com/environment-and-nature/20150430/california-senate-democrats-call-out-jerry-brown-over-water

Environmentalists criticize changes to California delta plan
Environmentalists on Thursday criticized a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to dramatically scale back wildlife habitat restoration involved in a massive tunnel project intended to channel fresh water around California’s delta.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/environmentalists-criticize-changes-to-california-delta-plan/2015/04/30/f922a75a-ef98-11e4-8050-839e9234b303_story.html

Water Agencies React to Brown Drought Legislation and Conservation Requirements
Most cities and counties have been able to fine water users for conservation violations, but some special water districts were uncertain about their legal ability to do so. Felicia Marcus, chair of the the State Water Resources Control Board, says the Governor’s proposed legislation would give all water agencies consistent standards for enforcement.
http://www.capradio.org/47175

Drought: Water wasters face $10,000 fine under Brown’s proposal
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday proposed fining water wasters up to $10,000 per violation, a dramatic move that sought to help cities and towns meet newly revised state conservation rules by scaring people into compliance.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Brown-proposes-10-000-fine-for-water-wasters-6229468.php

Drought promotes renewed interest in water tech
In an era when Americans can track their 10,000 steps a day, check their home security systems and control their thermostats with a swipe of their smartphones, the El Sobrante man can't figure out why Silicon Valley hasn't come up with a way to let homeowners monitor their water use in real time. He may not have to wait long.
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_27993514/drought-promotes-renewed-interest-water-tech

What's that Caltrans is using for water?
Each year, Caltrans sprinkles about 720 million gallons of drinking water along miles of medians, acres of embankments and anywhere else the highway agency wants to protect its investment in landscaping in San Diego County.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/27/caltrans-drinking-water-along...

Amid California’s Drought, Should Cemeteries Stay Green?
It’s a wrenching call: the concern is that visiting family members who see parched grass on their loved ones’ graves may feel insult on top of loss.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/27/caltrans-drinking-water-along-highways/

CA still tied to Gold Rush-era water rights system
Ravaged by California’s four-year drought, an increasing number of farms and towns are struggling to find reliable water supplies. That’s not the case for the state’s so-called senior water rights holders who, due to what critics call an antiquated and byzantine water rights system, enjoy few limits on their water and nearly zero cost or accountability for its use, even during severe droughts.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/25/sacramento-drought-california-water-right-system/

Hiltzik: Desalination plants aren't a good solution for California drought
As surely as the hot, dry Santa Ana winds bring blue skies to the coast and wildfires to the hills, severe California droughts bring calls to build desalination plants up and down the seashore.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20150426-column.html

California Drought: 'Exceptional' Drought Expands In Sierra
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows that conditions worsened in the Sierra as California is in the midst of a fourth year of drought.
http://www.capradio.org/46845

Vanity Fair: From Almond Milk to the Putting Green: California Drought Shaming, Diagrammed
In the weeks following California governor Jerry Brown’s historic speech heralding water-use restrictions in the state, aspersion casting has quickly become a full-contact sport in the golden West.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/04/california-drought-shaming-diagrammed

California government says it's meeting water-saving goal
California's state government reported meeting its own overall water conservation goal for 2014, though data released Wednesday showed half the agencies fell short of the 20 percent target while the drought worsened.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/apr/22/california-government-says-its-meeting-water/

New Lawsuit Seeks to Force City to Drain, Restore Hetch Hetchy
Activists have launched a new round in their long-running campaign to restore Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural condition by draining the reservoir that serves San Francisco and most of the Peninsula.
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/04/27/new-lawsuit-seeks-to-force-city-to-drain-restore-hetch-hetchy

National Geographic: Lucrative But Thirsty Almonds Come Under Fire Amid Drought
Does it make sense for California to grow so many almonds when it has so little water?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/140421-california-almonds-drought-central-valley-groundwater/

Court Ruling Affects Private And Public Water Entities Differently
A California Court of Appeals ruling--that tiered water rates must correspond to the cost of service--affects public water agencies. But, it does not affect private companies. This month, the state Public Utilities Commission voted to allow a higher, second tier on the billing of 180,000 people in the Sacramento area.
http://www.capradio.org/46712

Brown calls tiered-water ruling ‘a straitjacket’ for conservation efforts
An appellate court Monday struck down a Southern California city’s method of charging water users based on a tiered-rate system, a potential setback to municipalities across a parched state laboring to curtail water consumption under Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent order.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article19098585.html

California Assembly acts to prohibit fines for brown lawns in droughts
Alarmed that some cities have fined residents for allowing their lawns to turn brown during the drought, the state Assembly stepped in Thursday to prohibit penalties for failing to water grass.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-california-assembly-acts-to-prohibit-fines-for-brown-lawns-in-droughts-20150423-story.html

Is drought behind uptick in abandoned kittens?
The California drought has had a pronounced effect on the animal kingdom — salmon are getting stuck up dry riverbeds, bears are wandering farther in search of food and water, and newts have stayed in hibernation longer, perhaps because it’s not wet enough to come out. Now, there may be another critter to add to the list of the drought-afflicted: kittens.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Is-drought-behind-uptick-in-abandoned-kittens-6241683.php

More Environmental News & Opinion

Bill McKibben: Fracking: Jerry Brown's environmental blind spot
Brown continues to support fracking in the state's oil patch, and oil production increases. And that's a problem.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0505-mckibben-california-fracking-20150502-story.html

Scientists convinced of tie between earthquakes and drilling
With the evidence coming in from one study after another, scientists are now more certain than ever that oil and gas drilling is causing hundreds upon hundreds of earthquakes across the U.S.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/04/23/51238/scientists-convinced-of-tie-between-earthquakes-an/

Environmentalists Urge Changes to Protect Whales From Crab Lines
Environmental advocates gathered data from the National Marine Fisheries Service showing whale entanglements have been trending up for more than a decade; Earthjustice, Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity are appealing to state wildlife officials to make changes in crab fishing practices.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2015/04/29/environmentalists-urge-changes-to-protect-whales-from-crab-lines/

BART needs billions for new cars, operating system and maintenance complex
BART directors have begun exploring whether to put a billion-dollar bond measure on the ballot, perhaps next year. The state audit report, which also finds no foundation for some union claims of worker mistreatment, backs up BART's growing concern that it will not find much government help in meeting its need for major renewal.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28009415/bart-needs-billions-new-cars-operating-system-and

Graffiti artists' move to national parks shocks nature community
Andre Saraiva is an internationally known graffiti artist. He owns nightclubs in Paris and New York, works as a top editor of the men's fashion magazine L'Officiel Hommes and has appeared in countless glossy magazines as a tastemaker and bon vivant.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-graffiti-20150427-story.html

Lawmakers shrug off charges that state is botching high-speed rail land acquisition
Complaints from Central Valley residents that the state has botched the acquisition of land for high-speed rail failed to convince lawmakers last week that the matter deserved further investigation.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/04/27/lawmakers-shrug-off-charges-that-state-is-botching.html

Energy companies can be sued for manipulating natural gas prices during California's energy crisis, Supreme Court says
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that energy companies can be sued under state antitrust laws for illegally manipulating natural gas prices more than a decade ago during California's energy crisis. The justices on Tuesday ruled 7-2 against American Electric Power Co., Duke Energy Co.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/article/20150421/NEWS/150429903

Killer whale beaches in Mendocino County, boon for researchers
A killer whale beached itself and died north of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County, a rare occurrence that provided a shocking sight but also a rare opportunity for scientists and students to study the life and death of the big cetacean.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Killer-whale-beaches-in-Mendocino-presenting-6214972.php

Elections

California's automatic voter registration bill advances
A proposal to automatically register Californians to vote when they get a driver's license was approved Monday by a state Assembly panel after Secretary of State Alex Padilla noted there are about 6.7 million state residents who are eligible but not registered.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-automatic-voter-registration-bill-20150427-story.html

F.E.C. Can’t Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief Says
“The likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim,” Ann M. Ravel, the chairwoman, said in an interview. “I never want to give up, but I’m not under any illusions. People think the F.E.C. is dysfunctional. It’s worse than dysfunctional.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/us/politics/fec-cant-curb-2016-election-abuse-commission-chief-says.html

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