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

The White House on Tuesday voiced doubts about controversial California water legislation that has already caused an unusually public split between the state’s two Democratic senators. Meeting with reporters, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the California provisions that span some 91 pages of often-technical text seemed problematic, though he cautioned that analysis continues. “Based on what we know so far, we don’t support the kinds of proposals that have been put forward to address some of the water resources issues in California right now,” Earnest said.

In his global evangelism about the threat of climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown has dismissed skeptics as “troglodytes” and “deniers of the obvious science.” But Brown, who in recent years has emerged as a premier climate warrior, has refused to ascribe those characteristics to Donald Trump since his election as president, despite the Republican businessman’s support for fossil fuels and repeated dismissals of climate change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. In brief remarks about the subject, Brown said Monday that it would be difficult for the U.S. to “go rogue” on climate change.

A new satellite parked 22,000 miles (35,000km) over the United States promises to deliver better storm forecasting for California and other Western states plagued by drought, floods and other weather extremes. The GOES-R satellite was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 19. It is the first in a new generation of weather satellites that will be able to scan the planet five times faster and offer four times better imaging resolution than the current technology.

 

Depending on your outlook, the proverbial glass of water is either half full or half empty. Not so for engineers in California.

House and Senate leaders reached agreement Monday on a bipartisan bill to authorize $170 million for Flint, Michigan, and other cities beleaguered by lead in drinking water, and to provide relief to drought-stricken California.

A vote on the water-projects bill could be held this week as Congress wraps up its legislative work for the year. But the measure was jeopardized by sharp opposition from California Sen. Barbara Boxer and other Democrats who said it would harm drinking water quality and severely weaken the Endangered Species Act, threatening salmon and other endangered species.