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How Rising Sea Levels Could Impact Delta, Sacramento Valley

/in , /by /KCRA 3 (Sacramento)by Kevin Oliver

As the sea level rises, it could impact more than the California coastline. The rising water could impact the Sacramento region. Some researchers said the rise could threaten levees in the area and increase the risk of flooding throughout the Delta and the Sacramento Valley. UC Davis watershed science researcher Jay Lund explained that the sea level rise is gradual — about an inch every eight years – and has been occurring since the last ice age ended thousands of years ago.

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California ALJ Proposes Statewide Renewable Energy Procurement For Utilities

/in , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Iulia Gheorghiu

A California Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on Monday proposed statewide procurement for renewable resources, finding that proposed resource plans from utilities and other power providers will not reduce greenhouse gases enough to meet state goals. The proposed decision from ALJ Julie Fitch would refuse to adopt the combined integrated resource plan (IRP) from the state’s utilities and community choice aggregators (CCA) because it “does not meet the GHG emissions goals” and could challenge reliability. Instead, Fitch proposed a new statewide Preferred System Portfolio that would guide generation decisions out to 2030.

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Trio Of Federal Energy Storage Bills Avoid Tax Credits

/in , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Iulia Gheorghiu

Three bipartisan energy storage bills were introduced in Congress last week, but none would provide investment tax credits, which industry has sought to increase the competitiveness of the technology. “I think the question, in our minds, is going to be do these folks see [storage ITC] as something that’s a near term concern or do they see this as something they want to put into a larger, longer conversation,” Jason Burwen, policy vice president at the Energy Storage Association, told Utility Dive.

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Water Managers Decry Blind Eye For Shrinking Salton Sea

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena, Calif.)by Matthew Renda

Residents and officials who packed a yacht club on the north shore of the Salton Sea in Southern California on Tuesday vented their anger about what they perceive as unnecessary delays and obfuscations about the environmental and public health disaster unfolding here. The California Water Resources Control Board held the workshop at the North Shore Yacht and Beach Club designed to both inform the public and garner the opinions and experiences of residents living in proximity to the sea, which is rapidly vanishing into the desert.

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US Official Declares Drought Plan Done For Colorado River

/in , , /by /The Associated Press by Felicia Fonseca

Seven states that rely on a major waterway in the U.S. West have finished a yearslong effort to create a plan to protect the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought, the federal government declared Tuesday. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman commended Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming for reaching a consensus on the Colorado River drought contingency plan. Now the states are seeking approval from Congress to implement it.

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Western States Finish Colorado River Drought Deal, Ask Congress To Sign Off

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)by Ian James and Janet Wilson

Representatives of seven states finished a landmark agreement to shore up the dwindling Colorado River and signed a letter to Congress on Tuesday calling for legislation to enact the deal. The set of agreements would prop up water-starved reservoirs that supply cities and farms across the Southwest and would lay the groundwork for larger negotiations to address the river’s chronic overallocation, which has been compounded by years of drought and the worsening effects of climate change.

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Amid 19-Year Drought, States Sign Deal To Conserve Colorado River Water

/in , /by /The New York Timesby John Schwartz

The water is saved, for now. Seven Western states have agreed on a plan to manage the Colorado River amid a 19-year drought, voluntarily cutting their water use to prevent the federal government from imposing a mandatory squeeze on the supply. State water officials signed the deal on Tuesday after years of negotiations, forestalling what would have been the first federally enforced restrictions on the river’s lower basin. But any victory may be short-lived. Climate change promises to make the American West increasingly hot and dry, putting further pressure on the Colorado and the 40 million people who depend on its water.

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In California, Abundant Rains, 618 Inches Of Snow And An End To Drought. More Winter And Water Are Coming.

/in , /by /The Washington Postby Mike Branom

The past week has been lovely for enjoying California’s outdoor splendor, with warm temperatures and clear, blue skies ushering in a welcome change from such a wet, dreary winter. Bring on spring! But while the Golden State might be through with winter, winter is not through with the Golden State. Forecasts are calling for precipitation, widespread and light — save for scattered cloudbursts — and cooler conditions starting Wednesday. A second round of unsettled weather, perhaps a little weaker and quicker, is coming late Friday into Saturday.

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Dam Operators Release Water Into Valley Rivers As Rapid Warm Up Melts Sierra Snowpack

/in , /by /ABC30 (Fresno) by Gene Haagenson

Water is coming out from Friant Dam into the San Joaquin River. The dam is at about 82 percent of capacity, and the warm weather is melting the mountain snow. Michael Jackson, Area Director for the Bureau of Reclamation, says, the flow out of the dam is being increased. “Warm weather has hastened the snowmelt runoff season for us,” Jackson said. Flood releases don’t usually start until April, so the extra water is good news for Valley growers, with extra irrigation water available.

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One Increasingly Popular Way To Control Floods: Let The Water Come

/in , /by /KQEDby Hannah Hagemann

In California’s Central Valley, 100 miles east of San Francisco, the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers meet. Their waters mingle amid a wide flat plain of shrubs, cottonwood and oak trees. The Dos Rios Ranch Preserve, 1,600 acres of wetlands, river habitat and rolling hills, sits at the site of this juncture. On clear days, the Sierra Nevada rises in the east and the Coast Range to the west.

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