California and the U.S. Archives

Colorado’s Oldest Water Rights get Extra Protection from State Engineer

June 22, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Aspen Timesby Heather Sackett

For the second time, the state’s top water cop has directed the Western Slope’s oldest and most valuable water rights to be left off the once-a-decade abandonment list. That means hundreds of these mostly irrigation water rights have been granted immunity — even though they are no longer being used — from the threat of “use it or lose it,” further enshrining them in the state’s system of water administration and dealing a blow to the validity of the well-known adage.

Every 10 years, engineers and water commissioners from the Colorado Division of Water Resources review every water right — through diversion records and site visits — to see whether it has been used at some point in the previous decade. If it hasn’t, it could end up on the decennial abandonment list, which is scheduled to come out in July.

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A Proud California Dairy Farmer Battles for Survival in Wildly Uncertain Times

June 22, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /InsideClimate Newsby Evelyn Nieves

After 67 years of living and breathing dairy farming in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Scott Magneson cannot, will not, stop.

Every morning before dawn, when the valley fog is still resting on his fields in thick clouds, he checks the barns. Then he starts on the to-do list, which outlasts the day. In another farm tradition, Magneson rarely leaves his land. He can’t remember the last time he and his wife Pat (who does the bookkeeping) took a vacation.

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Water Sector asks Senate for Aid in Next Relief Package

June 22, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Water Finance & Management

The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and National Association of Clean Water Agencies, two organizations representing municipally-owned utilities, recently asked Senate leaders to include public sector aid in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation.

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Federal Judge Considers States’ Bid to Block Trump Water Rule

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg Lawby Alexandra Yetter and Ellen M. Gilmer

A California federal judge is weighing whether to block the Trump administration’s controversial water rule, as requested by more than a dozen states suing over the regulation.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California spent three hours Thursday hearing arguments on whether to halt the Navigable Waters Protection Rule from taking effect on June 22, as planned.

A preliminary injunction will “prevent widespread harm to national water quality, and disruption” to water pollution control in cities and states while the claim is litigated, the 17-state coalition led by California and New York argued in a motion filed last month.

The rule “seriously undermines water quality and seriously is contrary” to the Clean Water Act, New York attorney Timothy L. Hoffman, representing the coalition, told Judge Richard Seeborg.

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Trump Administration Will Not Regulate Rocket Fuel Chemical in Drinking Water

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Guardianby Emily Holden

US environmental regulators have decided they will not put restrictions on perchlorate – a rocket fuel ingredient known to harm fetal brain development – in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency argued that the federal government, states and public water systems have already taken proactive steps to reduce perchlorate levels.

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Opinion: California Can Lead the World to a More Sustainable Agriculture Industry

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Cal Mattersby Steve Shimek

As a biologist and environmental advocate, even before the pandemic, I was scared by the headlines about our planet: A 75% decline in insect biomass with a 40% loss of insect species predicted; a United Nations warning of the imminent extinction of 1 million species worldwide; a 3 billion loss of birds in United States and Canada over the past half-century; the growth of dead zones on our coasts and the decline in the oxygen held by the world’s oceans. Climate change will only worsen these environmental problems.

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U.S. House Democrats Unveil $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Reutersby Richard Cowan

U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Thursday unveiled a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that they will seek to pass in coming weeks, arguing it has been made more urgent by the coronavirus pandemic.

The legislation would spur construction or improvements f roads, bridges, ports, clean energy, schools and other projects that experts say have long been neglected. It comes at a time when the United States is in desperate need of new jobs amid an economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus.

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California and EPA Tussle Over Water-Quality Protections

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Courthouse News Serviceby Matthew Renda

Attorneys for 18 states and two major cities were in federal court Thursday asking a judge to grant a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from removing protections from temporary streams, wetlands and other minor water bodies.

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Filling Trump Void, California Steps in to Protect Birds, Wetlands

June 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Cal Mattersby Julie Cart

The Trump administration has rolled back dozens of long-standing environmental protections. Now California is trying a new tack: Writing its own rules.

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