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Trump Administration Names Former Oil Spokesman Who Led “Lock Her Up” Chants Against Hillary Clinton As EPA Chief for West Coast

/in , /by /East Bay Timesby Paul Rogers

The Trump administration on Friday named Mike Stoker, a Santa Barbara County attorney and former oil company spokesman who some credit with coining the “lock her up!” chants against Hillary Clinton at the Republican Convention in 2016, as the new West Coast head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Stoker will lead the U.S EPA Region 9 office, which is based in San Francisco. The office oversees a wide variety of subjects, from air pollution fines against oil refineries to drinking water issues and wetlands permits for developers in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands.

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OPINION: A New Tax To Fund Drinking Water? Try The Old Ones

/in , /by /Eureka Times-Standard

Three hundred miles to the south, our society rewards the makers of tech trinkets with the greatest fortunes ever amassed in history — largely, infamously untaxed. Meanwhile, a coalition of government officials here and in Sacramento is asking you to pay a little more to ensure that everyone in the state has access to clean drinking water. It’s true, clean drinking water is an admirable goal for all and a sad memory for some. Just ask the residents of Flint.

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Water Authority’s Proposed Rate Hikes Smallest In Years

/in , /by /San Diego Metro Magazine Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water rate increases proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority staff for 2019 are among the smallest in the past 15 years due to financial benefits secured through litigation against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Authority’s planned use of its Rate Stabilization Fund, the agency reported Thursday. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday, May 24.

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Rate Increases For Water Agencies Across San Diego ‘Smallest’ In 15 Years

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Toni McAllister Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water agencies across the San Diego region are expected to see rate increases for 2019 that are “among the smallest in the past 15 years,” according to the San Diego County Water Authority. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on May 24.

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OPINION: Why A Bill Before Congress Is Such A Big Threat To The Delta

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby John Garamendi

If you care about the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or protecting California water rights, you should be very alarmed by something that just happened 3,000 miles away in the halls of Congress. Backed by southern California interests, the House Appropriations Committee just unveiled the fiscal year 2019 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. It includes language that would prohibit any judicial review of anything associated with the disastrous twin tunnels project, also known as California WaterFix, under federal or state laws. Let’s be clear on what this means. Currently, there are over 25 lawsuits challenging various aspects of the project.

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Earth Just Had Its 400th Straight Warmer-Than-Average Month Thanks To Global Warming

/in , /by /USA Today (McLean, Va.)by Doyle Rice

It was December 1984, and President Reagan had just been elected to his second term, Dynasty was the top show on TV and Madonna’s Like a Virgin topped the musical charts. It was also the last time the Earth had a cooler-than-average month. Last month marked the planet’s 400th consecutive month with above-average temperatures, federal scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. The cause for the streak? Unquestionably, it’s climate change, caused by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels.

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Another Dry Year In The Colorado River Basin

/in , /by /Moab Sun News (Moab, UT)

2018 has brought record-low snowpack levels to many locations in the Colorado River Basin, making this the driest 19-year period on record. With the depressed snowpack and warming conditions, experts indicate that runoff from the Rocky Mountains into Lake Powell this spring will yield only 42 percent of the long-term average. With drought and low runoff conditions dating back to 2000, this current period is one of the worst drought cycles over the past 1,200-plus years.

 

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Successful Litigation And Rate Stabilization Fund Benefit Ratepayers

/in , /by /East County Magazine Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water rate increases proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority staff for 2019 are among the smallest in the past 15 years due to financial benefits secured through litigation against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Authority’s planned use of its Rate Stabilization Fund. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies across out region would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday, May 24.

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As Salinity Grows And Toxic Dust Spreads, Patience Wears Thin At Salton Sea

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia watched with ill-disguised frustration as a hearing aimed at expediting state projects to restore habitat and control dust storms at the shrinking Salton Sea instead dissolved into discussion of why the efforts were falling further behind schedule. “We have a plan, we have money, there is additional money lined up, and we have a constituency — myself included — that is running out of patience,” Garcia (D-Coachella), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, said.

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OPINION: Should California Borrow $4 Billion More For Parks And Water?

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Jay Ziegler and Tim Quinn

California’s safe drinking water and natural resources are increasingly threatened by drought, wildfires, floods and mudslides. Proposition 68 is designed to help make our communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The measure was placed on the June 5 ballot by a bipartisan, two-thirds vote of the Legislature to make much-needed investments to bolster the reliability of our water supply and the infrastructure we depend on to help get us through wet and dry years. The Nature Conservancy’s mission goes beyond land conservation. We aim to protect the waters on which all life depends.

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