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Lake Tahoe Protection and Sacramento Flood Control in Senate Bill

/in /by /McClatchyDC (Washington, D.C.)by Michael Doyle

California’s Salton Sea and state-straddling Lake Tahoe would receive funding for environmental restoration under a bill set for Senate approval Thursday. More controversial water-related efforts remain stuck in Capitol Hill limbo, however. Put simply, California’s diverse water ambitions face a complicated future in what remains of the 114th Congress. Showing some progress, senators have groomed a bill that includes a 10-year, $415 million Lake Tahoe restoration package. The broader water resources development bill also authorizes help for the endangered Salton Sea, the much-diminished Los Angeles River and Sacramento-area flood control, among other projects.

 

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California Water Tunnels Would Need US Funding, Analyst Says

/in /by /Associated Pressby Ellen Knickmeyer

Giant tunnels that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to build to haul water across California are economically feasible only if the federal government bears a third of the nearly $16 billion cost because local water districts may not benefit as expected, according to an analysis that the state commissioned last year but never released. The findings run counter to longstanding state pledges that the districts that would get water from the tunnels would pay the full cost.

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Interior Department Signs Blueprint For Renewable Energy Development in The California Desert

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

For decades, environmentalists have rhapsodized about the tranquil beauty of California’s deserts while battling fiercely with energy companies, the government and within their own ranks over what if any power production should occur on those sun-baked, wind-blown, geothermally active expanses of land. On Wednesday, U.S. Interior Department officials signed a blueprint that they touted as a finely tuned effort to balance conservation of California’s iconic desert landscapes with the state’s growing hunger for clean energy in the age of climate change.

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BLOG: The Surprising Science of Wildfires and Tree-Killing Beetles

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

So far this year 4,636 wildfires in California have burned more than 200,000 acres. That’s more fires than this time last year and more fires than the five-year average. In fact, in the last few decades, the number of large fires are on the rise across the Western United States and the length of the fire season continues to expand. One of the biggest reasons for this is warming temperatures, which are impacting snowpack and ushering in an earlier spring. California has an added challenge of dealing with a five-year drought.

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OPINION: No on Prop. 53: It’s a Cumbersome Mess

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Wealthy Stockton farmer Dean Cortopassi thinks politicians regularly pile up debt that the public would object to if it had the chance. This led him to fund a signature-gathering campaign that placed Proposition 53 on the Nov. 8 ballot. The measure mandates that voters must approve revenue bonds for public works projects if they exceed $2 billion and if the projects are funded, managed or owned by the state government or by a joint agency formed with the state. Revenue bonds are paid off by ratepayers and project users. General obligation bonds, paid out of government general funds, aren’t covered.

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Proposals for Delta Habitat Restoration

/in /by /AgNet West (Fresno)

In an effort to quicken the pace of habitat restoration in California’s biggest estuary, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) invited private companies, non-profit groups and individuals to submit proposals to create wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Through a first-of-its-kind Request for Proposal (RFP), DWR seeks partners to help fulfill its obligations under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

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First Fall Weather of 2016 Brings Powerful Winds, Rain and Snow to California

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Veronica Rocha

Californians got their first dose of fall weather Tuesday as snow, rain and cooler temperatures gripped the state early this week.

Northern California experienced thunderstorms and showers that brought less than an inch of rain across Butte and Plumas counties Monday, while communities south of Lake Tahoe received a bit of snow early Tuesday. The precipitation is not enough to affect travel, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

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San Diegans Are Doing Their Part to Save Water, Even Without Mandatory Restrictions

/in /by /CW6by Audra Stafford Quoted: Jason Foster

A new report shows San Diegans are still doing their part to conserve water, even though the state’s mandatory restrictions have been lifted. In May of last year, Governor Jerry Brown implemented mandatory 25 percent cutbacks for everyone across California. Then, this past May, he revised the across-the-board restrictions and decided that local water districts could set whatever conservation targets they felt were appropriate, if they had enough supplies to meet the demands.

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OPINION: Another View: State Needs Better Data to Make Sound Decisions

/in /by /Daily Democrat (Woodland)by Adrian Covert

California is suffering through five years of drought. Though our reservoirs aren’t full, the state Legislature has been flooded with proposals to deal with the drought’s impact and to address the Golden State’s future water needs. While the effects of the drought are highly visible — brown lawns, fallowed fields, declining river flows and low reservoirs — what you can’t see is the lack of easily accessible data that’s necessary to effectively manage the state’s water. California does not suffer from a lack of data on water.

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Warm Water ‘Blob’ Off Northwest Coast Returns

/in /by /Oregon Liveby Kale Williams

There is an ominous presence in the waters off the Pacific Northwest and it has the potential to play havoc with ocean wildlife and could interfere with your winter plans. “The Blob,” a mass of warm water floating off the coast of northern Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, is back, writes University of Washington atmospheric science professor Cliff Mass. But, in fact, the phenomenon never really left. Formed in 2013, Mass writes that the warm pool of ocean water occurs due to sustained high pressure over the region.

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