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Opinion: California Needs Clean, Healthy and Safe Local Energy Systems – Microgrids

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Steve Weissman and Barry Vesser

With climate change-amplified wildfires and power shut-offs becoming commonplace, all Californians are worried about how to stay safe and keep the lights on. Thousands have already purchased dirty, dangerous and noisy fossil fuel generators that exacerbate air pollution and climate change.

New research suggests that polluted air is linked to higher COVID-19 death rates. And coronavirus is expected to be with us through the 2020 fire season. Is it a good idea to add tons of dangerous particulate matter to the air we breathe during a pandemic that attacks the respiratory system? Of course not.

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Decades in the Making, Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration Plan Finally Approved

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

A long-sought compromise has been approved that will open the stagnant, reed-filled Buena Vista Lagoon to the sea and restore its native coastal marine habitat, but years of work remain before the transformation begins. Disagreements over whether the lagoon at the border of Carlsbad and Oceanside should remain freshwater or be restored to saltwater have stalled the project for decades.

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Gavin Newsom’s Environmental Budget Cuts Escalate Tensions with California Activists

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Dustin Gardiner

SACRAMENTO — Fewer rebates for electric-car buyers. No new oil and gas industry regulators. Less money to preserve wildlife habitats.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed spending cuts to balance a state budget mauled by the coronavirus pandemic have angered numerous progressive constituencies, but perhaps none more than environmental activists who were suspicious of him even before an estimated $54 billion deficit materialized.

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Trump’s Fossil Fuel Agenda Gets Pushback from Federal Judges

/in , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Brown

Federal courts have delivered a string of rebukes to the Trump administration over what they found were failures to protect the environment and address climate change as it promotes fossil fuel interests and the extraction of natural resources from public lands.

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As California Beaches Reopen, Seawall Construction Becomes Legislative Battleground

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia

California’s beaches may feel off-limits right now, but the coronavirus has not stopped the sea from rising. With every tide and storm, this slow-moving disaster continues to creep closer to shore — toppling bluffs, eroding our beaches and threatening homes and major infrastructure.

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Democrats Decry ‘Pandemic of Pollution’ Under Trump’s EPA

/in , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Daly

Democrats on Wednesday blasted the Trump administration’s moves to roll back environmental regulations during the coronavirus crisis, with one senator saying a “pandemic of pollution″ has been released.

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Opinion: As Recycling Rate Drops, California Should Embrace Innovative Recycling Technologies

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Tim Shestek

California’s recycling rate has fallen from a peak of 50% to 40%, well short of the 75%-by-2020 goal established by the Legislature, according to a recent report by CalRecycle, the state agency that manages recycling programs.

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First-Of-Its-Kind Clean Hydrogen Plant Planned for Los Angeles County

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

An energy company with big ambitions to produce the clean fuel of the future announced a deal Tuesday with Lancaster officials to make hydrogen by using plasma heating technology — originally developed for NASA — to disintegrate the city’s paper recyclables at temperatures as high as 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Judge OKs Suit by California, Other States over Lessened Protections for Endangered Species

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

California and 16 other states can sue the Trump administration for rolling back enforcement of the Endangered Species Act by allowing consideration of economic impacts, disregarding climate change and allegedly weakening protections for many imperiled creatures, a federal judge ruled Monday.

In denying administration officials’ request to dismiss the suit, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar of Oakland said the states had shown they could suffer biological and economic harm if the law were weakened.

The Endangered Species Act, signed by President Richard Nixon in 1973, protects the existence and habitat of more than 1,600 plants and animals threatened with extinction. More than 300 of the species live in California’s lands and waters, including bighorn sheep, gray wolves, humpback whales and bald eagles.

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Opinion: Keep Momentum Going to Remove Klamath River Dams and Restore Salmon Runs

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Frankie Myers

With the outbreak of COVID-19, many Americans are starting to realize how fragile our economy and social safety nets really are.

Many people face economic uncertainty and food shortages for the first time in their lives. For Indians, confronting economic uncertainty and food shortages has been part of life since Europeans arrived in our lands. We have known for a long time that in order to survive, we must prioritize the protection of our salmon, acorns, mushrooms, eels and the hundreds of other sources of food and fiber in our environment.

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