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Rising Seas Could Swamp The Shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Plant By Next Century

Southern California Edison’s plan to store 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station has citizen activist Ray Lutz on edge. “It’s only 100 feet from the seawall to the edge of where the deposit is,” Lutz said. The permit from the California Coastal Commission for the storage is for 20 years. But Lutz contends that the permit is practically permanent because there’s no long-term nuclear waste storage site in the United States. “They don’t know if it will be removed in 2051 or even for many decades after that,” Lutz said.

Solana Beach Embarks On New Energy Future

Solana Beach is on its way to becoming the first jurisdiction in San Diego to move toward an energy alternative to SDG&E, striving for the promise of cheaper electricity rates, greater local control and a higher percentage of renewable energy. In a historic 4-1 vote on Wednesday, May 24, the Solana Beach City Council launched into the exploratory phase of a three-phase plan to shift Solana Beach’s 7,800 energy customers out of SDG&E’s monopoly and into city-run community choice aggregation (CCA).

Why Paris Agreement On Climate Change Is Critical For California

The scientific community agrees: Climate change is real, it’s driven by human activity, and it’s getting worse. Californians understand this better than most. Having just emerged from a record-breaking drought, likely exacerbated by climate change, we are acutely attuned to the perils of a warming planet. Ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement offered California a basis for hope. The U.S. was finally acknowledging that climate change is a global problem that demands a global solution. Nearly 200 nations signed on to the Paris Agreement, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change on a global scale.

City Drops Last Of Drought Restrictions

Responding to record rainfall that revitalized California’s reservoirs and the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Mountain View City Council members agreed last Tuesday night to drop the last of the city’s drought restrictions. In a unanimous vote at the May 23 meeting, council members rescinded Mountain View’s “stage 1” water use restrictions, which the city imposed in 2014 in order to rein in outdoor irrigation and other water uses to preserve the region’s dwindling water supply.

California May Get a New Water Rights Management Structure

Mark Twain is credited with the aphorism, “whiskey’s fer drinkin’ and water’s fer fightin’.” Whether he said that or not, it could almost be the state motto but now the California Legislature is tinkering with the most fundamental – and convoluted – part of California law: water rights. The California Assembly, on an initial 55-0 vote, has approved the “Fair Water Rights” bill that makes reforms in how the state manages water rights. Assembly Bill 313, introduced by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, makes fixes to what he calls the state’s broken water management structure.

Santa Barbara Reactivates Seawater Desalination Plant

Santa Barbara has completed a $71 million reactivation of its seawater desalination plant to bolster its water supplies. The city is in a section of California northwest of Los Angeles that received far less precipitation than parts of the state where an extremely rainy and snowy winter brought relief after years of drought. IDE Technologies, the company hired to revive the facility, said Wednesday that the plant will produce nearly 3 million gallons (11.3 million liters) a day to meet 30 percent of the city’s demand.

Newspaper Gets Answers On Exclusive Oroville Dam Site Visit

The Enterprise-Record/Oroville Mercury-Register got its closest look so far Wednesday at the Oroville Dam spillway work on a site visit hosted by the state Department of Water Resources. The newspaper editorial board, along with a reporter and photographer, were invited to meet with acting DWR Director Bill Croyle; dam safety consultant David Gutierrez; communications and outreach adviser Erin Mellon from the Natural Resources Agency; Matt Notley, a senior account supervisor at Edelman; and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

For Only The Second Time In Mammoth’s History, You Can Ski Or Snowboard Until At Least August–And Maybe Even Longer

The latest evidence that snow angels have smiled on the Sierra this season? Mammoth Mountain will stay open into August. The massive resort has remained running that late only one time before, in 1995. The announcement follows Squaw Valley’s news that it may stay open right into the fall. Over Memorial Day, visitors reported that Mammoth’s parking lots were packed but lift lines were open and the slopes uncrowded. Guests said Broadway and Stump Alley were running with hardly any lines. Conditions were especially fine for boarders, who power through the slush better than skiers.

With Just a Drip of Funding for Stormwater Capture, LA County Weighs Property Tax

Looking to tap property owners, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved moving forward with a plan to consider a parcel tax to help fund an ambitious stormwater capturing system to bolster local drinking water supplies. An early analysis of how to develop infrastructure that best captures stormwater found that while the county is capable of building a viable system, there is little to no funding for it.

Jerry Brown Sends a Message To Water Agencies On The Delta Tunnels – And It’s Direct

Jerry Brown took an Old English turn from his Latin wisdom in 2012 by declaring: “I want to get s— done,” a reference to his vision for building two tunnels 30 miles long to move Sacramento River water south from the Delta to the rest of the state. And in 2015, addressing California water agencies, he offered pithy advice to naysayers: “Until you put a million hours into it, shut up.” Critics of the $15 billion project were greatly offended. Now, with Brown’s tenure in the corner office ticking away, decision time is upon California.