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Check Please! Californians Can Fight Global Warming With Restaurant Surcharge

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Andrew Sheeler

A new state program gives Californians a way to fight climate change, one restaurant meal at a time. “Restore California” is a public-private partnership between the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Air Resources Board, and farms, ranches and restaurants across the state, according to a news release from the government agencies. Participating restaurants will add a 1 percent surcharge to their bills, with that money going into a fund aimed at helping farmers remove carbon from the atmosphere and adopt climate-friendly practices.

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‘Lot of History.’ Fire Destroys Sierra Nevada Cabin Where California Measures Snowpack

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

Carol Pearson’s backyard in the Sierra Nevada has witnessed more than its share of California history: It’s been a cattle ranch, stagecoach stop and post office. The property, a peaceful meadow sitting at 6,820 feet elevation near Echo Summit, is also home to the state Department of Water Resources’ closely watched Sierra Nevada snowpack survey a monthly event that attracts hordes of reporters and photographers who tromp through the property on snowshoes.

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OPINION: Power Companies Want To Dodge Clean Energy Goals By Counting In Old Dams.

/in , /by /The San Francisco Chronicle

California power companies have an appealing but flawed argument with the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2045. They want existing dams that churn out carbon free electricity to count toward that mark, making it easier and cheaper to meet their climate friendly obligations. A pending bill, SB386, sounds narrow and focused, but it’s not. It would allow the Modesto irrigation district that operates Don Pedro Dam astride the Tuolumne River to total the cranked out electricity toward its renewable energy quota. That exemption would mean less need to buy juice from solar, wind and other green sources and save money for ratepayers.

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California’s Population Growth Is The Slowest In Recorded History

/in , /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar and Sarah Parvini

California’s 2018 population growth was the slowest in state history, new demographic data show underscoring shifting immigration patterns, declining birthrates and economic strains that are making it harder for some to afford living here. The state added 186,807 residents last year, bringing the estimated total population to 39,927,315 as of Jan. 1, according to estimates released by the state Department of Finance on Wednesday. The overall growth rate slipped to 0.47% last year from 0.78% in 2017, the slowest since data collection started in 1900, department spokesman H.D. Palmer said.

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Calif. Drainage Deal Sinks Into Doldrums

/in , /by /E&E News by Michael Doyle and Jeremy P. Jacobs

An ambitious California irrigation drainage deal is now mired deeper than ever in legislative and legal limbo, alarming farmers, spinning government wheels and costing taxpayers money with no relief in sight. Though nearly four years have passed since the Obama administration and the Westlands Water District agreed to settle their high-stakes drainage differences, the deal remains incomplete. Progress, if there is any, can be measured in inches. The author of a prior bill necessary to implement the settlement is out of office. His successor is still weighing action. Opponents hold the upper hand in the Democratic-controlled House, the Senate appears simply disengaged and negotiations aren’t happening

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California Water Board Faces Lawsuit Over New Wetlands Rules

/in , /by /The Court News Serviceby Nick Cahill

With the Trump administration trudging ahead and re-writing another Obama era environmental law, wary California regulators last month approved new protections for wetlands in the Golden State. The decision by the State Water Resources Control Board came after 11 years of debate between the board, cities, farmers and environmentalists over how to best define and protect the state’s nearly vanished wetlands streams from being paved into extinction. Supporters said the move was a major step toward shielding California streams from Trump’s weakened Clean Water Act. Opponents argued that the rules will create new regulatory hurdles for farmers and businesses.

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Lifetime Of Drinking California Water Could Raise Cancer Risk, Study Finds

/in , /by /The Guardianby Vivian Ho

Drinking California tap water over the course of a lifetime could increase the risk of cancer, according to a study published on Tuesday. Researchers with the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy non-profit, studied the combined health impacts of contaminants found in 2,737 community water systems throughout California and calculated that prolonged consumption of the contaminated water could cause almost 15,500 new cases of cancer. The study found traces of arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and disinfection byproducts in the water systems. All of these contaminants are regulated federally and on a state level. Trace amounts of some arelegally allowed in the water.

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Few Details In Newsom’s Water Policy Directive

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered key state agencies to develop a blueprint for meeting California’s 21st-century water needs in the face of climate change. The executive order includes few details and doesn’t appear to set a dramatic new water course for the state. Rather, it reaffirms Newsom’s intentions to downsize the controversial twin tunnels project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, use voluntary agreements to meet new river flow requirements and provide clean drinking water to impoverished communities. The directive calls for the Natural Resources Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Food and Agriculture to assess water demands and the impacts of climate change on California’s far-flung water system.

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Dems Say Trump Agrees To $2 Trillion Infrastructure Tab

/in , /by /AP Newsby Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro

President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to work together on a $2 trillion infrastructure package — but put off for later the difficult question of how to pay for it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said there was “good will in the meeting” — a marked departure from the last meeting between Trump, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which ended with Trump walking out in a huff. Schumer said the two sides agreed that infrastructure investments create jobs and make the United States more competitive economically with the rest of the world.

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NEPA Looms Over Drought Plan Enthusiasm

/in , /by /E&E News (Washington, D.C.)by Jeremy P. Jacobs

Colorado River states cheered this month when President Trump signed swiftly passed legislation ratifying a drought plan for the waterway. But they could be in for a legal fight. Some lawyers say the Drought Contingency Plan, or DCP, may be built on shaky legal ground and could be vulnerable to litigation — depending on how the Bureau of Reclamation implements it. One California water district has already sued to block it. At issue is whether it complies with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman testified before Congress that the DCP is “designed to specifically fit within existing environmental compliance”

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