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California Power Plant Deal: Fast-Tracking and Fossil Fuel Backups

/in , /by /CalMattersby Julie Cart

The expansive energy bill that so angered clean-energy advocates and city and county officials — negotiated last week behind closed-doors —  was softened somewhat over the weekend, restoring oversight of new energy projects to some critical state agencies.

But those hard-won concessions were nearly negated late Sunday night as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration added an entirely new and unexpected section.  It reopened the heated debate over the trailer bill, intended, in part, to prop up California’s overstretched power grid.

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Major Water Reductions Cause Major Concern For Locals

/in , , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Joyce Lobeck

Farmers in Imperial County feel like they’ve borne the “lion’s share” of cutbacks in use of water from the Colorado River as the megadrought gripping the West the last couple of decades continues to diminish that vital resource for the Southwest.

With elevations of the river’s reservoirs having now fallen to the point that significant additional cuts to the water supplied to the states that rely on the river are a grim likelihood next year, the Imperial Valley farmers are resigned to seeing further cuts in their water delivery. But they fear those cuts will adversely impact their farms, their lifestyle, their businesses and their communities.

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‘SAVE OUR WATER’: Signs Urge Californians To Limit Outdoor Watering Amid Drought

/in , , /by /ABC7 KRCRby Nazy Javid

Beginning Friday, June 24, and running through Monday, June 27, Caltrans electronic signs across the state will display the message “Severe Drought. Limit Outdoor Watering.” The messaging raises awareness of the urgent need for Californians to save water as the state faces severe drought. Limiting outdoor watering is one of the best ways Californians can cut back on water use – outdoor watering accounts for up to 60% of the average Californians’ water use, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

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‘A Subtraction Problem:’ A Shrinking Colorado River Faces Sharp, Sudden Cuts

/in , /by /The Nevada Independentby Daniel Rothberg

Within the next two months, Colorado River negotiators face a daunting task: Develop ways to reduce use by an enormous amount, or the federal government will make the cuts on its own.

Earlier this month, the federal government told the seven states in the Colorado River Basin that reservoir levels are so low they face a pressing crisis that warrants large-scale conservation, even as water users negotiate long-term operating guidelines for a shrinking river in an arid future.

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Opinion: The Drought-Parched West Wants To Take Mississippi River Water? Fat Chance! Or Is It?

/in , /by /Desert News

Leave it to the Westerners to come up with solutions to their problems by causing problems for others.  Las Vegas resident Bill Nichols’ June 22 suggestion of diverting Mississippi River water to the Southwest to help solve the Southwest’s drought problem is nothing more than a plan to steal, under federal-government oversight at taxpayers’ expense, water that belongs to the Midwest. Bill doesn’t say what the Midwesterners who are deprived of this diverted water will do for their water needs.

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Lake Mead Nears Dead Pool Status as Water Levels Hit Another Historic Low

/in , , /by /NBC Newsby Denise Chow

Lake Mead’s water levels this week dropped to historic lows, bringing the nation’s largest reservoir less than 150 feet away from “dead pool” — when the reservoir is so low that water cannot flow downstream from the dam.

Lake Mead’s water level on Wednesday was measured at 1,044.03 feet, its lowest elevation since the lake was filled in the 1930s. If the reservoir dips below 895 feet — a possibility still years away — Lake Mead would reach dead pool, carrying enormous consequences for millions of people across Arizona, California, Nevada and parts of Mexico.

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Desalination Can Now Be Owned and Operated by Private Entities in Monterey County

/in , , /by /Northern County Weeklyby Christopher Neely

With an extreme drought tightening its grip, drawing concerns about the future of water in Monterey County and throughout California, the county’s Board of Supervisors overturned a 33-year-old law to allow the private ownership and operation of desalination facilities within the county.

Previously, desalination facilities were limited to public ownership, a rule that was criticized as more of a political decision than anything else.

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Californians Finally Climbed on Water Conservation Wagon in May

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Kevin Winter

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been urging Californians to conserve water after another dry winter. And according to preliminary data from California State Water Resources Board, Californians cut their water use in May by 5% from the previous May.

Erik Ekdahl, deputy director of the water board’s Division of Water Rights, said a board meeting Tuesday that the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is gone for the season and the area will not see significant precipitation any time soon.

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Even in a ‘Megadrought,’ Some Eye New or Expanded Colorado River Dams

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Jennifer Yachnin

Even as a persistent drought strangles the Colorado River and threatens the viability of giant reservoirs and dams erected decades ago, Western states and local governments are eyeing more projects to tap the flow of the 1,450-mile river and its tributaries.

Whether those potential new reservoirs or other diversions would further tax an already overwhelmed system, or actually help states and municipalities adapt to a changing climate while making better use of their dwindling supplies, is a point of contention between environmentalists and water managers.

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In the Wake of Fires and Floods

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Jonathan Thompson

The image that popped up on my Twitter feed last week was beyond alarming, it was  surreal: An entire house, a big one, sliding off its foundations and floating slowly down the muddy, swollen Yellowstone River. It was such an unexpected sight, so bizarre, that I could do little more than gawk at it, mutter an expletive and scroll down to the next crazy image of disaster.

But then I read the caption, and that stopped me: This wasn’t just some random building, it was an apartment complex that housed several Yellowstone National Park employees and their families.

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