environment Archives

Army Corps Breaks Ground On Success Dam Enlargement Project

On the heels of a historic drought, at the beginning of the implementation of historic groundwater legislation, and in light of potential flooding, Porterville will have more water in the future and a larger dam to prevent it from damaging the city below. On Sept. 29, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District, along with local and federal partners, have broken ground on the Tule River Spillway Enlargement Project at Success Lake near Porterville, Calif.

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California Blames Blackouts On Poor Planning For Extreme Heat

October 7, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Reutersby Nichola Groom and Aurora Ellis

California energy officials on Tuesday said the state’s power planning processes were insufficient to address a crushing heat wave in August that led to rolling blackouts for two days. In a preliminary analysis that was requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the heads of three state energy bodies said there was no single cause of the outages.

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Rain Finally Expected Across Northern California. How Much Will It Help With Fires?

October 5, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Sacramento Beeby Michael McGough

We need it. We need it really, really badly. With wildfire after wildfire battering California since late summer, burning record acreage and killing at least 30 people in less than two months, weather experts have repeatedly said conditions conducive to critical fire risk probably won’t begin to subside until the first significant rainfall of autumn.

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Opinion: Mega Fires and Mega Floods: California’s New Extremes Require a Response Of Similar Scale

October 5, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /CalMatters by Joshua Viers and Julie Rentner

Californians are understandably focused on the wildfires that have charred more than 3 million acres and darkened our skies – forcing us to find masks that protect us from both COVID-19 and smoke. But Californians should also pay attention to the multiple hurricanes that have devastated the Gulf Coast this season.

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Nevada Dam Changes Give Rare Trout New Life 115 Years Later

October 5, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /AP Newsby Scott Sonner

U.S. and tribal officials are celebrating completion of a $34 million fish bypass system at a Nevada dam that will allow a threatened trout species to return to some of its native spawning grounds for the first time in more than a century.

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DuPont, Chemours, 3M Sued Over PFAS in California Water

September 30, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bloomberg Lawby Peter Hayes

3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours Inc., Chemours Co., and Corteva Inc. are facing a suit by Golden State Water Co. over PFAS contamination of the state water supply. The water supplier seeks to recover from 3M as the only manufacturer of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid in the U.S. PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid are both in a family of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

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Environment Report: County Celebrates Then Sinks Its Climate Plan

September 30, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Chelsea Campos /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County celebrated meeting 98 percent of its 2020 target to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a kind of climate “mission accomplished” press release last week. While we’re drawing analogies, if the county’s 2018 Climate Action Plan were the aircraft carrier from which President George W. Bush gave his infamous speech, the county is now preparing, despite the congratulatory press release, to sink its own ship under a court order.

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California’s Ancient ‘Asbestos’ Forests No Longer Seem Immune

September 28, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /CalMattersby Julie Cart

In the annals of California’s wildfire history, so much is happening now that seems unfathomable: The number and size of this year’s fires — and their maddingly erratic behaviors — have created the worst season in the state’s modern history. Nearly 4 million acres have already burned, killing 26 people.

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Bay Area Wildfires: Glass Fire Near Santa Rosa Explodes Overnight, Prompts Evacuation Orders

September 28, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Mercury Newsby Evan Webeck

Homes on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa were under assault early Monday morning and residents had been ordered to flee from the flames of a fast-burning fire that broke out Sunday — the largest in the Bay Area and one of the 27 fires currently burning around California. The Glass Fire swelled to 11,000 acres with zero containment by Monday morning, according to CalFire — more than 8,000 new acres burned overnight.

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E.P.A. to Promote Lead Testing Rule as Trump Tries to Burnish His Record

September 28, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The New York Timesby Lisa Friedman

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to overhaul the way communities test their water for lead, a policy change that will be pitched ahead of Election Day as a major environmental achievement for a president not noted for his conservation record.

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