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Its Electric Grid Under Strain, California Turns to Batteries

Last month as a heat wave slammed California, state regulators sent an email to a group of energy executives pleading for help. “Please consider this an urgent inquiry on behalf of the state,” the message said.

FPUD Approves Additional LAFCO Deposit

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission requires a deposit to process applications to LAFCO for jurisdictional changes, and the Fallbrook Public Utility District will be providing an additional deposit to process the application for FPUD to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and annex into the Eastern Municipal Water District.

A 5-0 FPUD board vote, Monday, Aug. 24, authorized an additional $62,220 deposit to LAFCO. The deposit is expected to cover an additional 510 hours of LAFCO staff time at LAFCO’s rate of $122 per hour.

California Legislature’s End-of-Session Scramble Leaves Environment Bills on Cutting Room Floor

Monday at midnight marked the deadline for California lawmakers to pass bills out of the Legislature. But in a session replete with the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice and wildfires, numerous bills were left to die on the cutting room floor.

Among them was the majority of the environmental agenda in what some legislators, environmentalists and public health advocates labeled a disappointment.

An Extraordinary Summer of Crises for California’s Farmworkers

Rosa Villegas woke up at two in the morning on a late August Monday to make her way to the lettuce fields in California’s south Salinas Valley, where she was scheduled to start bagging heads of romaine at 4 a.m. The sky overhead wasn’t its usual dark, star-dotted self as she walked to her car. Instead, it glowed a sickly red, colored by the fires burning on the flanks of the Santa Lucia mountains, just a few miles west.

Can Community Microgrids Fill the Gap in California’s Plans for 100% Renewable Energy?

The Goleta load pocket is a 70-mile stretch of Southern California coastline that includes the cities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Goleta — combined population around 220,000 — all served by one 220-kV transmission line snaking its way over 40 miles of mountainous terrain.

Top EPA Official Promises Short-Term Fixes to Tijuana Sewage

In a rare California appearance for President Donald Trump’s appointed Environmental Protection Agency leader, Andrew Wheeler promised the region millions in funding this budget cycle for some quick-er fixes to the age old Tijuana River sewage crisis.

EPA Administrator Announces Projects to Address Sewage Spills at Border, An End to South Bay Beach Closures

Federal investments in Tijuana River Valley infrastructure to address ongoing problems with sewage runoff could mean an end to beach closures that have plagued the South Bay in recent years, officials announced today in San Diego.

Water-Related Conflicts Set to Rise Amid Demand Growth and Climate Impacts

From Yemen to India, and parts of Central America to the African Sahel, about a quarter of the world’s people face extreme water shortages that are fueling conflict, social unrest and migration, water experts said on Wednesday.

With the world’s population rising and climate change bringing more erratic rainfall, including severe droughts, competition for scarcer water is growing, they said, with serious consequences.

Two Projects Promise Cross-Border Sewage Relief for South Bay Region

The Environmental Protection Agency is spending $25 million on two projects to help stop the flow of cross border sewage and trash.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler met with state and local officials Wednesday to discuss the persistent problem and to announce two short-term solutions would move ahead.

Wary of More Blackouts, California Board Votes to Keep 4 Aging Generators Operating

California, which imposed rolling blackouts during an oppressive heat wave on two days last month, on Tuesday extended the lives of four aging natural gas-powered generating plants it has been seeking to retire for a decade.