You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

Water, Water, Every Where — And Now Scientists Know Where it Came From

/in , , /by /NPRby Nell Greenfieldboyce

Water on Earth is omnipresent and essential for life as we know it, and yet scientists remain a bit baffled about where all of this water came from: Was it present when the planet formed, or did the planet form dry and only later get its water from impacts with water-rich objects such as comets?

A new study in the journal Science suggests that the Earth likely got a lot of its precious water from the original materials that built the planet, instead of having water arrive later from afar.

Full Story

Opinion: Yes, We Need a ‘Grand Bargain’ Over Delta Water – and Everyone’s Best Ideas

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt calls for “a ‘Grand Bargain’ in which all the parties achieve a consensus, confirmed in legislation, to apportion Delta water between exports and an adequate ecological flow to San Francisco Bay.”  We agree. Let’s start with a statewide water audit. Leadership now asks, “How much was promised?” That question ignores the reality of how much water actually exists and leads to endless litigation, as Babbitt explained.

Full Story

‘We’re Drying the Fuels’: How Climate Change is Making Wildfires Worse in the West

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James

As flames tore through California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, Craig Clements drove toward the fire in a specialized radar-equipped Ford pickup, watching the plume of smoke billowing from the forest.

Clements is a professor who leads San Jose State University’s Fire Weather Research Laboratory, and he chases wildfires to study their behavior.

Full Story

EPA Issues Emergency Drinking Water Order for Pala Trailer Park

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency order after finding the owners of a privately owned mobile home park on the Pala Band of Mission Indians Reservation were in violation of federal laws that safeguard clean drinking water, it was announced Thursday.

EPA officials said problems with a faulty septic system and broken water lines at the Lee Bar Ranch mobile home park were so bad that the park’s residents have been told to start boiling water to drink. The EPA called the water system at the park — which has no connection to the Pala Band — “a danger to the residents of the park.”

Full Story

Long-Duration Energy Storage Makes Progress but Regulation Lags Technology

/in , , /by /pv magazineby Eric Wesoff

If you were building an electrical grid from scratch (with no regard to regulations or finance), then long-duration energy storage would be a requisite. It just makes sense — store energy when it’s cheap and/or abundant, and discharge when the price is high, or the energy is needed by the grid. Use it to load-shift, peak-shift and smooth; to replace fossil-fuel-fired peaker plants; and to integrate intermittent renewable resources onto the grid.

Long-duration storage fits in with what utilities, independent system operators, and regional transmission operators understand. “Most utilities seem to want much longer-duration storage systems, with 6 to 12 hours discharge, to do serious load-shaping over the day,” suggests an analyst at a U.S. energy think tank. Some of these expectations are being driven by the performance of pumped hydro, once the only source of grid-connected storage.

Economically viable long-duration energy storage could accelerate solar and wind penetration, grid resiliency, and serve to stabilize volatile energy prices. But, long-duration energy storage will not become pervasive until regulators adapt to the capabilities of the technology.

Full Story

Water: Coastal Commission Staff Again Advises Desal Project Denial

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

Nine months after the Coastal Commission conducted its first hearing on California American Water’s proposed desalination project, commission staff has again recommended denial of the project in favor of a Pure Water Monterey expansion proposal.

On Tuesday, commission staff released a 154-page staff report essentially reiterating its previous arguments against the Cal Am desal project, including its relative cost, environmental impact and controversial nature. It touted the “feasible and environmentally preferable” recycled water project as a viable alternative in the Monterey Peninsula’s long-running attempts to develop a replacement water supply to offset the state ordered Carmel River cutback order.

Full Story

US Agencies Sign Collaborative Hydropower Agreement

/in , , /by /Water Power & Damn Construction

Three US federal agencies signed an agreement this week that will see them working together on future hydropower development efforts. The US Bureau of Reclamation, US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technology Office and the US Army Corps of Engineers signed the Federal Hydropower generation memorandum of understanding at Hoover Dam on Monday, which was National Hydropower Day.

Full Story

CBP Plans to Build Border Wall Across Tijuana River, Where No Barrier Exists

/in , /by /ValleyCentral.comby Salvador Rivera

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced plans to extend the border wall and have it cut across the Tijuana River where the river enters the U.S. in San Diego. The Tijuana River flows from south to north and crosses from Mexico into the U.S. right next to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Full Story

Opinion: Changing the Climate for Environmental Racism

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Kevin McKie

Environmental toxic exposure suffered in many minority neighborhoods is part of the systemic racism evident in society, and environmental justice belongs near the top of discussions to right those wrongs, writes Kevin McKie, an attorney at the Environmental Litigation Group P.C. Communities can take several steps, including passing legislation requiring industries to comply with stricter environmental regulations or pay additional fines, requiring that stringent environmental impact studies be performed before construction of new plants or the installation of toxic emission monitoring stations, and offering free medical monitoring.

Full Story

West Coast Wildfires, Gulf Coast Hurricanes: How Climate Change Connects These Extreme Events

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kellie Hwang

In Northern California, crews labored Thursday to control megafires sparked by a rare barrage of lightning strikes.

Across the country, a Category 4 hurricane made landfall overnight in Louisiana, destroying buildings and toppling powerlines with unrelenting winds and rain.

Full Story