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.
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.
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.
Decades of inadequate investment in water infrastructure has exacerbated the economic challenges faced by water and wastewater utilities in the era of COVID-19, according to a new report released Aug. 26 by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the U.S. Water Alliance’s Value of Water Campaign.
More than 140 cities and counties in California intend to update their long-term plans over the next two years to include environmental justice, meaning air pollution, water quality, and other factors affecting disadvantaged communities would get a closer look.
Local governments across the country typically have general plans that spell out long-term visions for land use, open space, housing, safety, and other planning factors. Some local governments haven’t updated their overall general plans since the 1970s, said Erik de Kok, a program manager in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
Using tax dollars to move whole communities out of flood zones, an idea long dismissed as radical, is swiftly becoming policy, marking a new and more disruptive phase of climate change.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer joined San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell and Councilman Chris Cate Wednesday to urge residents to stay on high alert, get prepared and stay informed, citing the historic lightning-sparked fires raging in northern California in stressing the need to be vigilant.
A recent UCLA study says that in the next 40 years, California could likely see a flood massive enough to cause nearly $1 trillion of damage, force millions of people to evacuate, and leave houses in California’s Central Valley 30 to 40 feet underwater. And the state is ill-prepared when it comes to infrastructure like dams that could prevent flooding.
California was caught flat-footed by the climate-driven challenges it has faced last week: extreme temperatures, unseasonable lightning strikes, diminishing water supplies and red flag fire conditions. As a result, CalFire was short on firefighters to battle the blazes and the electric utilities had too little power to serve all of their customers at the same time.
San Diego ocean temperatures hit record territory this past weekend, as a heatwave also baked the San Diego Region. The record comes just weeks after the unseasonably cool ocean temperatures were recorded. Someone has taken the temperature at the end of Scripps Pier every day for more than 100 years. Sunday’s reading tied for the hottest on record 79.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It tied the record that was set just two years ago.
