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BPA Added to California Toxic Chemical List Despite Challenge

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Maeve Allsup

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment can list bisphenol A under the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act despite challenges regarding the lack of evidence of its harm to humans, a state appeals court said Monday.

The agency added BPA, a chemical used to coat food and beverage packaging, to the so-called Proposition 65 list in 2013, based on a study published by the National Toxicology Program’s Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction.

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La Niña: Is California Heading Into Another Drought?

/in , /by /The Mercury News (Bay Area)by Paul Rogers

Federal scientists say that La Niña — the phenomenon where Pacific Ocean waters off South America are cooler than normal — is underway this winter.

A commonly held assumption among many Californians is that La Niña means a dry winter is coming, and in years when the opposite occurs, El Niño, a wet winter is considered more likely.

So brown lawns and water rationing are just around the corner, right?

Not necessarily. Looking at historical records, there isn’t a clear pattern. In the Bay Area, La Niña years have been drier than normal only about half the time.

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Governor Newsom’s Executive Order Aims to Conserve Land, Biodiversity, California Farm Bureau Federation Reports

/in , /by /Sierra Sun Timesby Kevin Hecteman

A new California Biodiversity Collaborative will help determine how to carry out an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom aimed at conserving 30% of California’s land and marine areas by 2030—and agricultural organizations said they would participate to assure the collaborative recognizes stewardship efforts carried out on the state’s farms and ranches.

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Scientists Say They Can Predict Colorado River’s Annual Water Supply. What Does That Mean for Agriculture, Wildfires?

/in , , /by /Deseret News (Utah)

Scientists can now predict drought and overall water supply on the Colorado River years in advance, according to a new study published by researchers at Utah State University.

The team of scientists believe long-term “ocean memory,” in conjunction with atmospheric effects and the influence of land systems, correlates with cycles of drought in parts of the western U.S., which then leads to water shortages on the Colorado River.

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Distant Seas Might Predict Colorado River Droughts

/in , , /by /Science Magby Warren Cornwall

In 2011, heavy snows in the Rocky Mountains filled the Colorado River, lifting reservoirs—and spirits—in the drought-stricken U.S. Southwest. The following year, however, water levels dropped to nearly their lowest in a century, imperiling a supply vital to millions of people and dozens of ecosystems.

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A Bold Plan to Protect 30% of Colorado Lands and Waters by 2030

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Jason Belvin

Conservationists in Colorado are dreaming big. In a time of political turmoil and legislative impotence, a consortium of Colorado conservation groups is floating an audacious plan to conserve 30% of the land in the state — roughly 20 million acres — by 2030. Since statehood, the state has protected only 6 million acres.

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FEMA Ends Policy Favoring Flood Walls Over Green Protections

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Thomas Frank

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has taken a dramatic step to encourage communities to use environmentally friendly features such as wetlands for flood protection instead of building sea walls and levees. A new FEMA flood policy released late last month with no public announcement is drawing praise from environmentalists because it will promote mitigation projects that provide environmental benefits in addition to flood protection.

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Major Earthquake Retrofit Work Complete At Lake Merced Pump Station

/in , /by /CBS SF Bay Area

It all started with a 2002 state law demanding quake-resilient water delivery. Nearly $5 billion later, San Francisco has retrofit the system from Hetch Hetchy to the city, just now crossing the finish line on the shore of Lake Merced.

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Opinion: Building Long-Term Resilience to Climate Change in California

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Matthew Armsby and Marisa Buchanan

In the past decade, California has experienced its most severe drought in over a millennium, devastating floods, the hottest summer on record and eight of the 10 largest wildfires ever recorded in the state.

Within the past month, Death Valley set a new record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on earth, and wildfires burned an area larger than the state of Connecticut. Three of the largest wildfires in California history are still smoldering, the smoke from which is now visible as far away as New York City.

Climate-driven disasters are increasingly putting Californians at risk and our most vulnerable populations, comprised largely of people of color, are suffering disproportionate impacts. These populations often have the least access to parks, greenspace and health care resources, and are at increased risk from rising temperatures, poor air quality driven by wildfires and other climate change impacts.

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ICAPCD Issues Notices of Violation to Protect Public Health

/in , , /by /The Desert Review (Imperial Valley)by Kayla Kirby

The Imperial County Air Pollution Control District issued Notices of Violation to California Department of Water Resources, California Natural Resources Agency, and United States Fish and Wildlife Service for failure to implement adequate dust control on the Salton Sea playa on the Species Conservation Habitat project site near Westmorland, California.

In addition, as landowners of the project site, the Imperial Irrigation District and United States Bureau of Land Management were also issued NOVs, according to a press release.

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