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OPINION: Common Ground Must Be Reached On Border Sewage Spills

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Serge Dedina

Over the past several months, and with his recent inflammatory comments on immigration, President Donald Trump has made the United States-Mexico border a point of contention in American political discourse. Yet while the nation focuses on the immigration battle at the Southern border, constituents in California are more concerned about pressing environmental issues that affect them every day. Over the past 30 years, the blue-collar beach town of Imperial Beach has battled a pollution crisis that poses a significant economic and public health threat to residents, visitors and communities on both sides of the California-Mexico border.

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Olivenhain Water District Offers Free Recycled Water

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Residential customers of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District can get free recycled water through a program to conserve water and lower costs for consumers. According to the San Diego County Water Authority, “water recycling is the treatment and disinfection of municipal wastewater to provide a water supply suitable for non-drinking purposes.” Olivenhain produces recycled water by collecting wastewater from the 4S Ranch and Rancho Cielo areas, and processing it at the 4S Ranch Water Reclamation Facility in San Diego, the district states. The facility produces over one million gallons of recycled water per day, which is highly treated to meet irrigation standards.

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San Diego Aims To Bolster Biotech, Breweries With New Water Proposals

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego plans to boost the city’s already thriving biotech and craft beer industries by reducing their costs for sewer and water service, which are typically high because those businesses are water-dependent. The city plans to create California’s first “capacity bank” for water and sewer, which would allow breweries and biotech firms to cheaply buy excess capacity from former factories that have transitioned to other commercial uses. A companion proposal would geographically expand and soften the qualifying requirements for the city’s “guaranteed water” program, which ensures local firms access to water during droughts or other kinds of shortages.

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OPINION: All Too Rare: Public Agency Quickly Improves Transparency After Being Called Out

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

When government agencies face sharp criticism for their decisions, it’s rare for them to immediately admit error. But that’s just what the Sweetwater Authority has done. On Friday, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board posted an editorial criticizing the water agency for no longer requiring that minutes be kept at meetings of two important committees where key decisions are made. We wrote that Sweetwater, which serves 190,000 people in National City, Bonita and parts of Chula Vista, should be more transparent, not less. We suggested Josie Calderon-Scott, the only board member who seemed worried about this decision, should record committee meetings and post the audio online.

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San Diego Spending $3.6M To Monitor Local Underwater Kelp Forests

/in , /by /The San Diego-Union Tribune by David Garrick

San Diego has agreed to spend $3.6 million studying the region’s kelp forests, a key part of the local ecosystem that scientists say could disappear as climate change spikes ocean temperatures.

The money will cover a five-year research partnership with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which has agreed to conduct 450 dives per year at 21 local areas with kelp forests or extensive kelp beds.

 

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Transfers Of Canisters Filled With Nuclear Waste Resume At San Onofre

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

Almost one year after a 50-ton canister filled with nuclear waste got wedged inside a storage cavity and was left suspended on a metal flange about 18 feet from the ground, the operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, also known as SONGS, announced Monday the resumption of transfer operations at the now-shuttered plant. The restart comes two months after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave Southern California Edison, or SCE, the green light to continue moving the canisters from wet storage pools at SONGS to a newly constructed dry storage facility on the plant’s premises.

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Off-The-Charts Heat To Impact Millions Across The U.S., Report finds

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by Joshua Emerson Smith

Dangerous and potentially lethal bouts of heat — driven by the unabated burning of fossil fuels — could fast spread to parts of the United States unaccustomed to such blazing hot conditions.

That’s according to a new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research Communications. According to the findings, if humanity doesn’t dramatically rein in greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury, more than 6 million people from California to Louisiana to Kansas could regularly experience what experts call “off the charts” heat.

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Paying The Toll On Sea Level Rise

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by Deborah Sullivan Brennan

Defending San Diego County against rising seas would cost about $1 billion, according to a new study that estimated that the cost of coastal armoring would be at least $22 billion for California, and more than $400 billion for the United States as a whole. And that’s just a “minimum down payment for short-term defense against rising seas in California,” says the study released today by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Climate Integrity and the environmental engineering firm Resilient Analytics.

 

 

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Make Room For More June Gloom

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by Robert Krier

Summer heat is coming. Eventually. But for the next few days, cool, cloudy and perhaps drippy weather is in store for much of San Diego County. June gloom will get gloomier.
A trough of low pressure moving over the West Coast is expected to beef up the marine layer Thursday through Saturday. The coast should see little or no clearing on Friday, and light rain or drizzle is possible during the morning from the beaches to the mountains. Strong winds are expected in the mountains and desert, where gusts could reach 50 mph this afternoon and Friday afternoon. Blowing dust could reduce visibility in the desert.

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OPINION: Broad Opposition To Trump Tariffs — From Almond Growers To Toilet Makers — Is No Surprise

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune

President Donald Trump’s depiction of U.S. tariffs as a painless way to help U.S. exports get fair treatment has never jibed with reality. Now California’s almond farmers, who provide 80% of the world’s supply, are taking another hit as a result. India — the world’s leading importer of almonds — has imposed a retaliatory tariff of 70% on U.S. almonds and other U.S. imports. China — another major importer of almonds — imposed a 50% tariff on U.S. almonds last July.

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