Tag Archive for: California

California’s Clean Grid May Lean on Oil, Gas to Avoid Summer Blackouts

/in , , /by /REUTERSby Nichola Groom

California, struggling to balance its clean energy push with the need to boost tight power supplies and avoid rolling blackouts, will lean more on fossil fuels in coming weeks to keep the power on if scorching heatwaves stretch its grid.

The Golden State, which has among the world’s most aggressive environmental policies, faces a potential supply shortfall of up to 3,500 megawatts during peak demand hours in the coming weeks. That is about 2.6 million households worth of electricity supply.

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California Just Recorded Its Hottest July Ever. Charts Show It’s Part of a Trend

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

California just closed the books on its hottest July on record, a whopping 5.3 degrees above normal.

It was the latest in a rash of record-setting months over the past year, as the state saw its hottest July, June, October, September and August in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA data shows that the average monthly temperature in July was 80 degrees, 5.3 degrees above normal, or the average temperature from 1901 to 2000. June’s average temperature was 75 degrees, 6.8 degrees above normal.

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Senate Approves Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill With Funds for California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jennifer Haberkorn

The Senate on Tuesday approved an expansive bill to rebuild the nation’s aging roads and bridges, with $8.3 billion specifically targeted to water infrastructure projects in the West and billions more to fund national projects to mitigate the impact of wildfires.

After months of negotiation among President Biden, Democrats and a group of moderate Republicans to forge a compromise, the Senate voted 69 to 30 in favor of the legislation. In the end, it had support from 19 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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Dry California Tourist Town to Guests: ‘Please Conserve’

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Olga R. Rodriguez and Haven Daley

Tourists flock by the thousands to the coastal town of Mendocino for its Victorian homes and cliff trails, but visitors this summer are also finding public portable toilets and signs on picket fences pleading: “Severe Drought. Please conserve water.”

Hotels have closed their lobby bathrooms and residents have stopped watering their gardens in the foggy outpost about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of San Francisco after two years of little rain sapped many of the wells Mendocino depends on for potable water.

Mendocino’s water woes were compounded in recent weeks when the city of Fort Bragg a few miles to the north — its main backup water supplier — informed officials that it, too, had a significant drop in its drinking water reserves after the Noyo River recorded its lowest flows in decades.

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Hydropower Levels Under Careful Watch as Drought Ravages the West

/in , , /by /Powerby Sonal Patel

Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth-largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities.

While the current drought is affecting 95% of the West, it is bearing down severely in California and in the Colorado River Basin. Multiple reservoirs monitored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are “substantially” affected. The federal agency reported on Aug. 8 that at least six of its 44 major reclamation reservoirs—including Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam—have now fallen to their lowest storage values in the last 30 years.

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Opinion: With Climate Imperiled, the Salton Sea Needs Us

/in , , /by /The Press-Enterpriseby Conchita Pozar |

California’s Coachella Valley is my home, made complete by the proximity and awe of the stunning Salton Sea. My community is proud of the traditions, unique desert landscape and vibrant culture that make our valley a special place. Yet as years pass and our leaders fail to act, the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland lake, is dying and people are getting sick. For decades, we have lived under a cloud of dangerous pollutants from the Salton Sea’s drying lakebed.

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Drought Socks Hydroelectricity, Putting California in a Power Pinch

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

The annual snapshot of California’s electricity generation shows how much drought conditions can affect the state’s power mix.

In-state hydroelectricity generation in 2020 dropped 44.3 percent from the year before, according to numbers recently released by the California Energy Commission. All told, 21,414 gigawatt-hours came from a combination of the state’s large and small hydro power plants — significantly lower than the 38.494 gigawatt-hours hydro delivered in 2019.

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Photos Show What July’s Heat and Drought Looked Like This Summer

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times

Hot, dry, and ‘unrecognizable’ describes July 2021.

The West boiled with record-breaking heat, and persistent drought that has left the Colorado River, Lake Mead and Lake Powell two-thirds empty, a ‘bathtub’ ring lining the shores of the largest water sources serving California.

As more frequent heat waves broke records this summer, our photojournalists documented what it looked like and how we coped.

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California Toxics Law: Few Water Cases, But Millions for Lawyers

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

Thirty-five years ago, California voters approved a landmark law meant to halt exposure to dangerous chemicals in drinking water and everyday products like food, flip-flops, and face shields.

Decades later, the water cases are few and far between—while hundreds of product lawsuits bring in millions of dollars annually for plaintiffs’ attorneys, some of whom represent environmental groups focused only on this law.

The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986—commonly known as Proposition 65— came into being during Ronald Reagan’s time as president, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was slashing regulations and loosened enforcement of pollution standards.

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Water Shortages and Drought Are California’s Biggest Environmental Concern, New Poll Shows

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

After the two driest consecutive years in much of California in nearly half a century, reservoir levels are dropping. Lawns are brown. Water restrictions are increasing. And Californians are getting worried.

Asked to name the environmental issue they are most concerned about, more California residents cited water shortages and drought than any other, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan research organization in San Francisco.

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