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Indigenous Tribes are at the Forefront of Climate Change Planning in the U.S.

/in , /by /Grist by Naveena Sadasivam

Temperatures in Idaho’s Columbia, Snake, and Salmon rivers were so warm in 2015 that they cooked millions of salmon and steelhead to death. As climate change leads to consistently warmer temperatures and lower river flows, researchers expect that fish kills like this will become much more common. Tribal members living on the Nez Perce reservation are preparing for this new normal.

“The biggest and most poignant impact for Nez Perce tribal members has been the loss of fishing and fish,” said Stephanie Krantz, the climate change coordinator for the tribe. “For tribal peoples, they are absolutely essential for survival.”

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Arcata Considers Putting Fluoridation on November Ballot

/in , /by /Times Standard by Sonia Waraich

Arcata is returning to a question it asked 14 years ago: Should the city fluoridate its water?

The Arcata City Council will be voting Wednesday on whether there should be a measure on the November 2020 ballot asking residents whether or not the city should stop fluoridating its water. The item was brought forward at the request of Arcata City Councilman Paul Pitino. A measure previously appeared before voters in 2006 when almost two-thirds of Arcata citizens voted it down, but Pitino said now, “we know a little bit more.”

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Hydropower Dams in Tropics Found to Harm Fish

/in , /by /Courthouse News Service by Carson McCullough

Researchers warn that future freshwater damming efforts could present significant dangers to aquatic life if allowed to proceed as planned, potentially threatening the habitats of up to 10,000 fish species.

A study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, details how a large team of environmental researchers have charted out the potential consequences of both present and future damming efforts of freshwater sources.

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Opinion: 4 Things Arizona Should Learn From California’s Groundwater Regulation Fight

/in , , /by /azcentral.by Joanna Allhands

Arizona is debating the next steps it should take to protect limited groundwater, 40 years after the state’s landmark Groundwater Management Act became law. As the arguments take shape, it’s instructive to look west to California, which did not have groundwater legislation in place until 2014. The first round of management plans – which cover the basins with the most critical groundwater issues, mostly in the agriculture-heavy Central Valley – were due Jan. 31. The process has been laden with drama. And it’s anyone’s guess, after years of debate, whether California regulators will sign off on some basins’ plans.

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Changing the (Red) Tide: Experts to Discuss Cause, Impacts of Algal Blooms

/in , /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby Ashleigh Papp

“I didn’t know what was happening — the water, usually clear and blue, was brownish red and murky.” Emily Pomeroy, a program manager with Save Our Shores, recalled a visit to Monterey’s Del Monte Beach in the summer months of 2019. “I’d heard of red tides before … but I had never seen one in person,” she said. These periods of discolored water that Pomeroy had stumbled upon can be called a “red tide” though in reality they are better known as a “harmful algal bloom.” They occur when water temperatures and nutrient levels rise, Pomeroy learned, and often lead to devastating consequences for marine life and those who depend on it.

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California Can Be Carbon Neutral in 25 Years-With Drastic Action

/in , /by /Scientific Americanby Anne C. Mulkern

California can hit its goal of going carbon neutral by 2045 if it pulls emissions out of the air and slashes greenhouse gases from farming, landfills and other sources, according to a federal study released yesterday. The nation’s most populous state needs to remove 125 million tons of carbon emissions per year from the atmosphere, roughly equivalent of removing 26 million cars from its roads annually, said an analysis by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

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Opinion: Whose Water is Being Carried By Trump’s Latest Environmental Rollback?

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicle

When a Healdsburg winery leaked thousands of gallons of Cabernet into the Russian River last week, the jokes flowed, too. It was noted that the Russian was red, that water turned to wine, and that red wine doesn’t go with fish. But the spill coincided with a more sobering blow to clean water, coming to light the day the Trump administration announced it was ripping up expanded protections for streams, wetlands, and groundwater adopted by the Obama administration. And the revision goes beyond rolling back Obama-era policy to undo longer-standing protections under the Clean Water Act, which became law with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1972.

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Powerful Storm to Usher In Damaging Wind Gusts Across Southern California

/in , /by /AccuWeatherby Brandon Buckingham

Through the past week, much of Southern California has experienced an offshore breeze, promoting above-average temperatures. Heading into the first full week of February, that will change as this storm system tracks through. A major storm system that is expected to bring feet of snow to the Intermountain West will usher in potentially damaging wind gusts to Southern California. Powerful north-to-northwest wind gusts will pick up in earnest late Sunday across Southern California and Nevada, leading to localized power outages and travel issues.

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Most Major California Dams Lack Emergency Plans. ‘High-Risk Issue,’ State Auditor Says

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

The vast majority of California’s major dams aren’t adequately prepared for an emergency.

Three years after the near-disaster at Oroville Dam, only 22 state-regulated dams have finalized emergency plans — out of 650 major dams that are required by law to have plans in place — according to a report issued Thursday by State Auditor Elaine Howle.

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Across the U.S., States are Bracing for More Climate-Related Disasters

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alex Brown

State lawmakers across the country are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change.

Following the hottest decade on record, which saw record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, legislators in many states say it’s long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly.

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