California and the U.S. Archives

An Abandoned Mine Near Joshua Tree Could Host A Massive Hydropower Project

An abandoned iron mine on the doorstep of Joshua Tree National Park could be repurposed as a massive hydroelectric power plant under a bill with bipartisan support in the state Legislature. Senate Bill 772, which was approved by a panel of lawmakers last week with no dissenting votes, would require California to build energy projects that can store large amounts of power for long periods of time. It’s a type of technology the state is likely to need as utility companies buy more and more energy from solar and wind farms, which generate electricity only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.

Full Story

California Senate Passes Bill Targeting Controversial Water Project, State Assembly Next

The California Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would require additional environmental review for groundwater transfers that would affect desert areas, which would put a major roadblock in front of a controversial water project proposed in the Mojave Desert by Cadiz Inc. The company has been trying to pump 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater out of the desert’s aquifer and transport it to the Colorado River Aqueduct.

Full Story

The Science Behind Why California Has Been Soaked By Storms This May

May 22, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Gateby Amy Graff

Blame it on the jet stream.The high-altitude river of fast-moving air running from the Pacific across the United States is one of the key factors playing into California’s unusually wet and snowy May. By late spring, the Pacific jet stream is typically rushing over the Northwest, but this year its trajectory never shifted to the north and remains over California, hurling storms from the Pacific Ocean onshore.

Full Story

EPA Curbs Use Of 12 Bee-Harming Pesticides

May 22, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg Environmentby Adam Allington

The Environmental Protection Agency has canceled registration of a dozen pesticides, from a class of chemicals known to harm bees.The cancellations are effective as of May 20 for 12 neonicotinoid-based products produced by Syngenta, Valent, and Bayer. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act requires pesticides sold or distributed in the U.S. to be registered by the EPA. Under a December settlement agreement linked to an Endangered Species Act challenge by environmental groups, the companies voluntarily agreed to petition EPA to cancel 12 out of 59 products containing the active ingredients clothianidin and thiamethoxam.

Full Story

OPINION: Infrastructure Funding Should Include Irrigation Modernization, A Proven Collaborative Approach

May 21, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Hillby Dan Keppen and Laura Ziemer

As the focus on infrastructure retakes center stage in Washington, we hope lawmakers don’t overlook a prime opportunity to invest in Western water and irrigation systems. Here in the West, our dams, irrigation systems, canals and other infrastructure much of it more than a century old are past due for modernization. This is low-hanging fruit for infrastructure repair and it’s a bipartisan political winner, too. The 2018 Farm Bill recognized this opportunity to help prepare producers and watersheds for drought in the West.

Full Story

Dodd Plan To Improve Water Management Clears Senate

May 21, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Davis Enterprise

Legislation from State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would help the state manage its water, protecting the precious resource for people and the environment, cleared the full Senate Monday afternoon. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Sen. Dodd said. “Stream gages provide important information in this era of droughts and flooding, driven in part by climate change. This bill is an important step toward managing our water for the long run.” California has one of the nation’s most complex water systems, moving millions of gallons across the state from north to south and east to west. The state’s 39 million residents and $47 billion farming industry — along with diverse wildlife from the Sierra to the sea — rely on that water.

Full Story

Silicon Valley’s Largest City Is Sounding The Alarm About A Drinking Water Crisis That No One Knows How To Fix

May 21, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Business Insiderby Aria Bendix

San Jose, California is plagued by both an absence and surplus of water. Until recently, the city suffered from a prolonged period of drought that forced nearly one million residents to cut back their water usage. Like many coastal cities, San Jose is also vulnerable to the growing threat of sea level rise, which has exposed the city to chronic flooding. In 2017, San Jose saw the worst floods to hit the Silicon Valley in a century — the product of an overflowing reservoir that spilled into the local Coyote Creek, trapping hundreds of residents in their homes and forcing more than 14,000 others to evacuate.

Full Story

Western States Sign Historic Agreement To Deal With Drought

May 20, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Nevada Public Radioby Rachel Christiansen

Representatives from seven states along with federal water managers met at the Hoover Dam Monday to sign a historic agreement on how to deal with the ongoing drought in the West. The Drought Contingency Plan has been years in the making – and it’s not been an easy road. Negotiations were difficult, especially for the states who will have to cut back their use of this most precious resource. Brenda Burman is the commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation. She admitted there were times where it seemed an agreement wasn’t going to happen, but water managers eventually came together.

Full Story

Snow In May: Yosemite Looks Like A Winter Wonderland In The Middle Of Spring

May 20, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Gabby Ferreira

“It was surreal.” As an unseasonal winter storm blanketed Yosemite with snow Sunday, people took to social media to share their awe. Photos from the Yosemite Conservancy’s webcam show El Capitan shrouded in fog and a dusting of snow atop Half Dome. Videos and photos posted to social media show thick snowflakes coming down and conditions that look out of place for late spring. “Sometimes Mother Nature has a plan of her own. Like snowmen in May in your hiking vacation in Yosemite!” said one Instagram user, who posted a photo of her child making a snowman near Tenaya Lodge.

Full Story

Want To Know If California Can Make Zero Emissions By 2045? Here’s What To Watch

May 20, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Herman K. Trabish

California plans to reach 60% renewables by 2030 and a zero emissions economy by 2045 as its investor-owned utilities (IOUs) face wildfires and bankruptcy, new and unproven electricity providers proliferate and customers demand a decentralized energy system. What could go wrong? The key to success is eliminating natural gas as an electricity resource, stakeholders told Utility Dive. To do that, the state must make one fundamental change at the local level and another at the transmission system level.

Full Story

You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.