Tag Archive for: Los Angeles Times

More Rain? Storm Brings Mudflows, Rock Slides, a Blizzard to Southern California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar

Rams fans won’t have Southern California’s blue skies and sunshine to comfort them after the team’s 13-3 Super Bowl loss to New England on Sunday. Scattered showers and snow in the mountains are expected throughout the Southland through Tuesday night as back-to-back cold troughs of low pressure move over the area, according to the National Weather Service. By noon, the heaviest rains had passed through Ventura and Los Angeles counties and a flash flood warning issued from Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills to Pacific Coast Highway had been lifted.

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Back-To-Back Storms Will Bring Rain, Potential For Debris Flows In Burn Areas

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hannah Fry

The first of three back-to-back winter storms will arrive in Southern California Thursday morning, bringing the potential for heavy rain along with a chance of debris flows and flooding in areas recently ravaged by wildfires, the National Weather Service said. The first storm, arriving by noon Thursday, will be fairly light — dropping a quarter of an inch to an inch of rain in Los Angeles County. Possible thunderstorms, however, could bring heavier rain to some regions, said Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist intern with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

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January Storms Fill Up State’s Water Reserves

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Storms swept through California in recent weeks, drenching striking teachers and blocking roads with debris flows in recent burn areas, but they weren’t all bad: The state’s reservoirs are healthy and full, a good sign for the water supply. Nearly all California reservoirs are at or above average levels. Overall, 580 billion gallons of water were added across the state since Jan. 1. Some major water sources, such as the San Luis Reservoir in Merced County and Lake Perris in Riverside County, are near capacity.

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Trump Tempers Talk Of Emergency At Border, But Eyes California Projects For Wall Funds

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sarah D. Wire

As the federal government’s partial shutdown became tied on Friday for the longest one ever, President Trump tempered his talk of declaring a national emergency on the southern border that could free him to spend money on a wall there. The president insisted on his power to make the declaration, which could allow him to divert federal funds for other purposes to a wall. Yet after days of resistance from some congressional Republicans, he no longer sounded notes of urgency about taking such action.

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Will Gavin Newsom Change The State’s Water Course? Fish And Farmers Will Soon Find Out

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

In the final weeks of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, his appointees on a state board ordered some powerful water districts to cut their historic river diversions to protect endangered salmon populations. It was a major move by a panel that in the past has often been leery of flexing its regulatory muscles. But while the State Water Resources Control Board was demanding more water for fish, other Brown appointees were busy crafting deals that could ultimately mean less water for the environment. Despite a flurry of activity, Brown is leaving plenty of unfinished water business as he heads to his ranch in the Sacramento Valley.

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OPINION: 2019 Will Be The Year L.A. Starts To Wean Itself From Imported Water

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Mark Gold

It’s been hard to see 2018 as a good year for water in California. In November, voters rejected a bond that would have provided almost $9 billion for water resource infrastructure and protection projects across the state. Congress, with support from Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, worked to sidestep important environmental protections for the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. And the Trump administration rolled back protections for hundreds of miles of streams and rivers in the Southwest as well as thousands of acres of wetlands.

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Democrats’ House Takeover Could mean Big changes For California Water Policy

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sarah D. Wire

Among the changes ahead when Democrats take control of the House in January, add this one: The switch will upend the balance of power in California’s water wars. In the two years since Republicans’ 2016 election triumphs, party members from the Central Valley led by the current House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, have gotten several water bills for their area through Congress. Those included the first significant California-specific policy in decades, as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, also called the WIIN Act.

 

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California is aiming For 100% Clean Energy. But Los Angeles Might Invest Billions In Fossil Fuels

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is leaning toward spending billions of dollars to rebuild three aging gas-fired power plants, even as California aims to eliminate fossil fuels, a goal endorsed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Consultants hired by the utility say the city should invest those ratepayer dollars in continuing to burn natural gas at the Scattergood, Harbor and Haynes power plants along the coast. The utility’s staff agrees, saying that batteries charged with solar or wind power aren’t yet cheap or reliable enough to replace the gas plants, which are critical to keeping the lights on.

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OPINION: Did Jerry Brown Do Enough On Climate Change?

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jacques Leslie

Jerry Brown, in the last term of his two-part, 16-year governorship, came close to redeeming his environmental faults. Brown deserves a salute for striving to get out the message that climate change is indeed, in his words, a global “existential crisis” and that we are living in the “new abnormal.” He has been doing what a U.S. president ought to do, finding allies among nations, regions and cities for a crucial struggle — in contrast to President Trump , who abdicated the job.

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High-Surf Warnings Issued As Pacific Swell Brings Big Waves To California Coast

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Alene Tchekmedyian

Powerful and potentially destructive waves are expected to hit California’s coast through Tuesday, bringing dangerous conditions that have prompted forecasters to urge surfers and swimmers to stay out of the ocean. A deep low-pressure center in the Gulf of Alaska and storm-forced winds are generating the Pacific swell, creating the potential for spectacularly large — and potentially dangerous — waves, said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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