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Future Uncertain For Shasta Dam Raising After Irrigation District Stops Work On Study

/in , , /by /Redding Record Searchlightby Damon Arthur

Following losses in court, a Fresno-based irrigation district has backed off its plans to do an environmental study on raising the height of Shasta Dam.

The Westlands Water District announced Monday that it has stopped working on the report because it could not meet the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s schedule for the project.

The bureau is trying to get non-federal partners to help pay half the cost of the $1.4 billion project to raise the height of the dam 18½ feet.

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Where Animals And Plants Might Survive Climate Change

/in , /by /KQEDby Lauren Sommer

Scientists are searching for pockets of ecological resistance in the face of climate change, places that seem to be warming less quickly than others due to unique natural conditions.

The hope is that as the earth continues to get hotter, these “climate refugia” could serve as strongholds for plants and animals

For a decade, scientists have been studying this phenomenon in a steep mountain valley in the Sierra Nevada. Devils Postpile National Monument is known for its distinct geologic formations, where the crumbling columns of rock from an ancient lava bed resemble, well, a pile of posts.

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Commentary: California Must Embrace Groundwater Management, And Expand It

/in , /by /Napa Valley Register by Sandi Matsumoto

We all walk on water. Not literally, but most Californians do walk over the water stored in the aquifers beneath our feet.

This unseen resource is groundwater, which provides 40% of our water supply in normal years, and up to 60% of our supply in times of drought.

With dry periods expected to increase in frequency and duration, groundwater is key to creating a more resilient water supply for drinking water, producing food, and sustaining our precious natural resources. Yet despite its importance, groundwater use in California has been largely unregulated.

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The Interior Secretary Wants to Enlarge a Dam. An Old Lobbying Client Would Benefit.

/in , , /by /New York Timesby Coral Davenport

For years, the Interior Department resisted proposals to raise the height of its towering Shasta Dam in Northern California. The department’s own scientists and researchers concluded that doing so would endanger rare plants and animals in the area, as well as the bald eagle, and devastate the West Coast’s salmon industry downstream.

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Templeton Community Services District Celebrates New Drought-Resistant Water Supply Project

/in , , /by /Paso Robles Dailyby News Staff

The Templeton Community Services District celebrated the completion of its new drought-resistant water supply project at a ribbon-cutting held on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

The project, called the Upper Salinas River Basin Conjunctive Use Project (US-CUP) captures existing wastewater flows generated within the eastside of the District and will return these flows back to the Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Plant (MWWTP). The wastewater undergoes treatment and is then discharged into the river alluvium that contains the Salinas River underflow providing subsequent conveyance to District wells that divert from the underflow downstream.

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‘Historic’ Winter Storm Dumps 3 Feet of Snow, Smashes Records in West

/in , , /by /USA Todayby John Bacon

One week after summer’s end, a “winter” storm began blasting parts of the West with up to 3 feet of snow, smashing records with low temperatures, heavy snow, strong winds and blizzard conditions forecast into Monday.

Snow was piling up across parts of California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. The National Weather Service, calling the storm “historic,” said temperatures in some areas would drop as much as 30 degrees below normal.

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$100 million desalination project to be led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

/in , , /by /Bay Area News Group by Paul Rogers

In a effort to widen the use of a nearly limitless — but expensive — source of water for California and other places worldwide that are prone to shortages, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been selected to lead a $100 million project aimed at bringing down the cost of desalination.

The money, announced this week and awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, will fund a research consortium of 19 universities around that the country that include Stanford, UC-Berkeley, UCLA and others, along with 10 private industry partners and other Department of Energy institutions, like Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee.

The goal, organizers say, is to reduce the cost of removing salt from ocean water to make it a more viable drinking water source for California and other areas. Closely related, planners also hope to clean up other types of water that are being largely wasted or underused so they can be a source for cities, farms and wildlife.

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Erosion threatens scenery and real estate along iconic California coastline

/in , /by /CBS Newsby Jonathan Vigliotti

This is supposed to be a beautiful beach, but instead it looks like a disaster area because a sea wall built about a decade ago to protect homes has failed. Now property owners are spending millions to fix it.

From Mexico to Oregon, the iconic California coastline runs more than 3,400 miles. “CBS This Morning” correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti drove just over 600 of those miles to see how the state is getting ready for what scientists say is the inevitable future.

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Los Angeles Still Has A Feed-In Tariff. And It’s Growing

/in , /by /PV Magazineby Christian Roselund

It’s odd to be writing about an active feed-in tariff (FiT) in 2019. The policy which accelerated Germany into a 7 GW+ market annually and kick-started the global solar market had its heyday nearly a decade ago, with feed-in tariffs being introduced across Europe and Asia. This led to spectacular market growth but also dramatic crashes when the ambition of the market created exceeded these policies’ political support.

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Bill to Blunt Trump Environment Policy Vetoed in California

/in , /by /Associated Pressby Adam Beam

Engaged in environmental battles with the Trump administration on multiple fronts, California Gov. Gavin Newsom angered some allies on Friday by vetoing a bill aimed at blunting federal rollbacks of clean air and endangered species regulations in the state.

The bill would have made it easier for state regulators to counter the Trump administration’s efforts to change enforcement of the federal Endangered Species Act and other environmental pillars — at least in California.

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