Tag Archive for: environment

Zone 7 to Spend $2.8M on Delta Conveyance Project

/in , , /by /The Independentby Ron McNicoll

In a 5-2 vote, the Zone 7 Water Agency Board approved the expenditure of $2.8 million as the agency’s share for the next phase of planning on the Delta Conveyance. The conveyance, a Gov. Gavin Newsom proposal, would reduce his predecessor Gov. Jerry Brown’s Twin Tunnels project to one tunnel under the Delta. On Brown’s Twin Tunnels project, Zone 7 paid $280,000 as a placeholder to be sure the agency reserved a spot if the agency wanted to take part.

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Along the Crumbling Sonoma Coast, an Ambitious Project Paves the Way for ‘Managed Retreat’

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia

A few winding turns past Bodega Bay, along foggy bluffs and coastal prairie, relentless waves pound a crumbling stretch of coastline in dire need of saving. Here at Gleason Beach, once referred to as Malibu North, the beach gets drowned during high tide. Bits of concrete and rebar are all that remain of 11 cliff-top homes that have already surrendered to the sea.

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Harsh Droughts Can Actually Start Over Oceans

/in , /by /Scientific Americanby Robin Meadows

Droughts conjure images of vast expanses of hard, cracked soil and parched plants, but new research suggests that disastrous dry spells can develop over the wettest place of all: the ocean. Low-moisture air masses sometimes form and migrate thousands of kilometers over the sea, similar to the way hurricanes behave.

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Mild Weather and Sunny Skies for Bay Area With No Rain in Sight

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jason Fagone

Mild days and sunny skies should linger through next week across the Bay Area, blanketing the region with pleasant winter days while extending the long statewide drought that has fueled this year’s catastrophic wildfires.

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Conservationists Challenge ‘Destructive’ Central California Dam Project

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Martin Macias Jr

A proposed dam in California’s Central Valley is billed as a vital agricultural resource. But conservationists say it would also flood important cultural and recreational sites for surrounding communities and destroy wildlife habitat.

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Federal Water Rule Expected to Stay Murky Through Biden Term

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Bobby Magill

A Biden administration won’t be able to untangle the legal and regulatory “mess” under part of the Clean Water Act that determines which streams, wetlands and other waters get federal protection, legal scholars and litigators say.

Any move the Biden administration takes to clarify the definition of Waters of the United States, known as WOTUS, will continue the decades-long “merry-go-round” of administrative rule changes and litigation, said Larry Liebesman, a former Justice Department environmental lawyer who is now a senior adviser at the environmental and water permitting firm of Dawson & Associates.

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Trump Pushes New Environmental Rollbacks on Way Out the Door

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Brown and Ellen Knickmeyer

Down to its final weeks, the Trump administration is working to push through dozens of environmental rollbacks that could weaken century-old protections for migratory birds, expand Arctic drilling and hamstring future regulation of public health threats.

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USGS Report: Climate Change Will Reduce Groundwater in Lower Colorado River Basin

/in , , /by /KNAUby Melissa Sevigny

A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey says climate change will affect groundwater resources in both the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin, but in different ways.

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Ignoring Mega-Flood Risk — Like California Did With Wildfire Prevention — May Spell Disaster, Experts Say

/in , , /by /Cap Radioby Ezra David Romero

The Sacramento region is not prepared for a mega-flood and won’t be for nearly a decade, says Rick Johnson, executive director of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

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Bernhardt Order Gives States Veto Authority Over LWCF

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Emma Dumain and Jennifer Yachnin

The Interior Department is seeking to make sweeping changes to how Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars can be spent in what critics say is tantamount to a rewrite of the Great American Outdoors Act. It’s the latest chapter in the ongoing saga over the administration’s rocky implementation of its signature conservation law enacted in August.

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