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Hundreds Of California Species At Risk Of Extinction, United Nations Report Says In Addition To Millions Globally

/in , /by /Capital Public Radioby Ezra David Romero

More than a million species are at risk of extinction globally, including hundreds in California. That’s what the United Nations revealed on Monday.“The rate of global change in nature during the past 50 years is unprecedented in human history,” the authors wrote in a summary of the report, which compiled of thousands of scientific papers. In California, there are around 300 species at risk and 346 species in California, Nevada and Southern Oregon combined. A handful of plants and animals have already disappeared from the state, such as the Santa Barbara song sparrow and the the California subspecies of the Grizzly Bear.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom Faces A Big Political Test As He Shapes His First California Budget

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby John Myers

Even in the best of California’s economic glory days, no governor has entered office with the kind of fiscal tail wind that Gov. Gavin Newsom now enjoys. The government’s coffers are full of taxpayer cash, its reserve accounts are stocked to weather an economic slowdown and there’s general consensus on new help for the state’s youngest and most vulnerable residents. A major political victory would seem all but assured as he prepares to unveil a revised state budget this week. And yet, Newsom’s very real challenge is a quandary of quantity: more tax revenue, yes, but also more Democrats in the Legislature after last year’s election landslide and more demands to raise spending.

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OPINION: To Prevent Water Shortages, California Must Embrace Desalination

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Paul Kelley

California has long been at the forefront of worldwide environmental leadership. Under our landmark law, Assembly Bill 32, we are slashing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. We lead the way in recycling, with some of the strictest requirements on earth. Our solar industry is thriving. Silicon Valley is creating the most innovative zero-emissions vehicles ever imagined. And Gov. Gavin Newsom is committed to taking our environmental leadership to the next level. However, in one key respect, California is lagging behind many other parts of the world. Climate change is causing drought and water shortages everywhere, but California has been slow to adopt a solution that over 120 countries are using: desalination.

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New Battery Storage Technology Connected To California Power Grid

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by Rob Nikolewski

The California Independent System Operator  the nonprofit that maintains reliability for the bulk of the state’s power grid has become one of the first wholesale power markets to connect an innovative battery storage technology to its system. Located at the Miguel substation in Bonita, a flow battery system installed by San Diego Gas & Electric has undergone testing and fine-tuning as part of a four-year pilot project to develop storage technologies aimed at integrating more renewable energy sources into California’s grid.

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San Diego County Water Authority Praises Gov. Newsom’s Bay Delta Tunnels Decision

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

The San Diego County Water Authority on Monday praised Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to cut one of the two planned Bay-Delta tunnels and invited him to tour San Diego’s facilities. Board Chair Jim Madaffer thanked the governor for “wisdom and leadership” in officially scrapping the Brown administration’s plans for an $18 billion two-tunnel system for moving water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta to Southern California in favor of a less-expensive single tunnel.

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FPUD To Take Advantage Of Conservation Grants

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California provides grants for water conservation projects which are administered to MWD member agencies, and those member agencies including the San Diego County Water Authority provide the grants to the retail agencies. The Fallbrook Public Utility District will be receiving two MWD grants through the County Water Authority. “We’ve secured the funding and now we’re in the process of fully developing and implementing the programs,” FPUD engineering technician Mick Cothran said.

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NRDC Accuses Regional Regulators Of Lax Enforcement

/in , /by /Santa Monica Daily Pressby Madeleine Pauker

A new report is accusing the regional board that regulates the quality of Los Angeles’s water of not taking enough action against cities and industrial facilities that pollute coastal waters and inland watersheds. When it rains in a city like Los Angeles that is largely paved over, the water passes over streets and sidewalks, collecting bacteria, trash, metals, herbicide and other pollutants, eventually draining into rivers and the ocean.

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OPINION: California Needs WaterFix More Than Ever

/in , /by /The Orange County Registerby Brett R Barbre

Water is more critical than ever in California. That’s why we need the Twin Tunnels project, called the California Water Fix and Eco Restore, WaterFix for short. It would bring 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from Northern California to Southern California while solving ecological problems. Building only one tunnel would bring south just one-third the water. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom in an April 29 executive order summarily called for only “a new single tunnel project.” It’s obvious that the O.J. jury spent more time considering the evidence than the governor when considering Twin Tunnels.

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OPINION: Editorial: Governor Sets Welcome New Course On Delta Water Issues

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)

Gov. Gavin Newsom set a welcome new course on California water issues Thursday when he officially killed the $19 billion Delta twin tunnels project. What a relief. One of the state’s biggest long-term challenge is securing a reliable source of water for residents, businesses and farmers without destroying the environment. The problem is further exacerbated by the anticipated impacts of climate change. We never understood former Gov. Jerry Brown’s stubborn support of the twin-tunnels effort, which involved digging the equivalent of a 10-lane freeway, 150 feet underground. Nor could we fathom why the Santa Clara Valley Water District board voted to support the project, knowing that the governor had essentially turned the boondoggle over to Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District to run.

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Bureau Of Reclamation Projects Lake Mead To Stay Above Shortage Trigger

/in , /by /Mohave Valleys Daily Newsby Saul A. Flores

The Bureau of Reclamation has updated its 24-month study projections for the reservoirs throughout the Colorado River Basin which includes Lake Powell and Hoover Dam-Lake Mead. According to the BOR, the snowpack in the Upper Basin is nearly 140% above average as of April 15 and it forecasts that seasonal inflow to Lake Powell will be at 128% of average. “We are pleased to see the above average snowpack conditions in the Upper Basin and the improvement in the inflow forecast for Lake Powell,” said Brent Rhees, BOR’s Upper Colorado regional director.

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