Weekly Green: February 2, 2015

In recent headlines:

• State allowed oil drillers to pollute Central Valley drinking water supply;
• Obama finalizing rules to slash emissions from power plants;
• California toxic releases increase 50% according to EPA;
• PG&E targeted critics after San Bruno blast, e-mails show;
• ... and much more!

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TOP NEWS

State allowed oil drillers to pollute Central Valley drinking water supply
Oil companies in drought-ravaged California have, for years, pumped wastewater from their operations into aquifers that had been clean enough for people to drink.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/State-let-oil-companies-taint-drinkable-water-in-6054242.php

Obama finalizing rules to slash emissions from power plants
President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget proposes $7.4 billion to fund clean energy technologies and a $4 billion fund to encourage U.S. states to make faster and deeper cuts to emissions from power plants, officials told Reuters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/obama-budget-emissions-power-plants_n_6591870.html

California toxic releases increase 50% according to EPA
The amount of toxic chemicals released in California jumped 50% in 2013 over the year before because of a surge in disposal by the state's largest polluter, a hazardous-waste landfill in Kern County, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-toxic-releases-20150131-story.html

PG&E targeted critics after San Bruno blast, e-mails show
In the days after the 2010 San Bruno blast that killed eight people, top Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executives traded jokes and back-slapped with state regulators and tried to get them to denounce one of their most vocal critics, a Chronicle review of 65,000 e-mails shows.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/PG-E-targeted-critics-after-San-Bruno-blast-6054156.php

CALIFORNIA NEWS

Drought, oil price decline pummel Kern
Already confronting a drought of historic proportions, Kern County — the nation’s No. 2 agricultural county with more than $6 billion in gross receipts — also faces a severe financial hit because of falling oil prices. The county is home to more than two-thirds of California’s oil production.
http://capitolweekly.net/drought-oil-price-decline-pummels-kern/
 
Falling oil prices forcing Long Beach to review its budget
Oil prices plummeting 60 percent in six months is forcing the city to curb its budget plans. The City Council will prioritize Tuesday larger projects planned along the coastline. Funding is supposed to come from oil revenues, but the commodity was trading at under $45 a barrel last week.
http://www.presstelegram.com/article/20150201/NEWS/150209955
 
Prospects for a 2nd BART tube grow
Public officials and riders have talked for years about building a second Transbay Tube — someday. Now, with BART’s ridership soaring, trains more crowded than ever and the economy booming, the idea is getting serious attention.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Prospects-for-2nd-BART-tube-gain-momentum-but-6054215.php
 
California snowpack gains erased by meager January rainfall
Traditionally California’s wettest month, January’s meager rainfall has produced a miniscule improvement in the crucial winter snowpack in the Sierra Nevada that historically provides about 30 percent of the state’s water needs.
http://www.sbsun.com/article/20150129/NEWS/150129379

San Francisco enjoys 1st rainless January in 145 years
The month ended with a sun-drenched bang Saturday, an apropos ending for what was the driest January on record in San Francisco. Not one drop of measurable rain fell on city streets in January, the first time that’s happened in recorded weather history, which dates back to the Gold Rush.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/First-ever-rainless-January-in-S-F-history-6053819.php

Calls For State To Get Involved In Nuclear Waste Question
Tons of the waste from the now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will be stored on site in north San Diego County. Unless another, more permanent site is found, it will remain there, buried on the cliffs between Interstate 5 and the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/feb/02/calls-state-get-involved-nuclear-waste-question/

Fox: Jeffe: Koch Money and 2016 California Initiatives
The news earlier in the week that the Koch brothers’ network had a budget of $889 million to spend on political activities during the 2016 election cycle made it into discussions at the UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies symposium that was designed to review the last election.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/02/jeffe-koch-money-2016-california-initiatives/

PG&E wields "pervasive" influence at PUC, now described as a "rogue agency"
What's being described as the "pervasive" influence of PG&E with the state Public Utilities Commission extended well beyond disgraced former PUC President Michael Peevey and included other commissioners and top PUC staffers. That's the conclusion of Bay Area political leaders, state legislators and a former PUC official who have reviewed a sampling of the 65,000 emails released by PG&E late Friday.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_27436912/san-bruno-disaster-pg-e-wields-pervasive-influence?source=rss

Dogs die from Lake Chabot toxic algae blooming in drought
The East Bay Regional Park District steps up warnings to visitors after three dogs die from exposure to tainted lake water.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_27437418/dogs-die-from-lake-chabot-toxic-algae-blooming?source=rss

Why electric car owners have "range anxiety"
The installation of electric vehicle chargers across California by energy conglomerate NRG is running behind schedule under a major settlement agreement with the state stemming from the California energy crisis.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/31/nrg-expands-charge-network/

Lawmaker seeks to repeal 10-cent fee on paper bags in plastic-bag ban
With California’s ban on plastic grocery bags likely to be put on hold by a referendum, one Southern California lawmaker is offering his colleagues an opportunity to repeal one of the most controversial aspects of the law — a provision requiring supermarkets to charge at least 10 cents for a paper bag.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-referendum-paper-bag-fee-20150130-story.html

Amid California’s drought, water chief preaches conservation – and balance
Felicia Marcus gets in the shower when it’s still cold. As full-time chair of California’s State Water Resources Control Board, Marcus has a key role in how California stewards its finite resources during a devastating drought. So Marcus can hardly let precious water wash down the drain while she waits for the shower to heat up.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article8845133.html

Bay Bridge radar beacon is broken, increasing oil spill risk
Two years after a 752-foot-long oil tanker collided in heavy fog with the Bay Bridge -- an accident Coast Guard investigators blamed in part on a broken radar beacon on the bridge -- one of the bridge's three beacons is broken again.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_27430009/bay-bridge-radar-beacon-is-broken-increasing-oil

California, U.S. energy plan to aid apartment dwellers
The federal government, California and one of the nation's largest foundations are teaming up to expand financing for energy efficiency and solar energy in multifamily housing.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27420757/california-u-s-energy-plan-aid-apartment-dwellers

MillerCoors unveils largest solar array of any U.S. brewery at Irwindale plant
The black solar panels, which are very similar to those affixed to rooftops and parking lots, will provide between 7 percent and 40 percent of the plant’s electrical energy, said Kim Marotta, MillerCoors director of sustainability.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20150129/NEWS/150129307

Sea slug masses migrate to Northern California coast
A colorful flood of tiny southern sea slugs rarely seen in the waters off Northern California is puzzling scientists concerned about the warming ocean.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Sea-slug-masses-migrate-to-Northern-California-6049772.php

NATIONAL & GLOBAL NEWS

14 of the 15 hottest years on records occurred since 2000
The WMO’s new analysis narrowly places 2014 as the hottest recorded since 1850, as have recent analyses from other organisations. The WMO analysis is particularly authoritative as it brings together a number of leading temperature records, as well as alternative ways of estimating the warmth of the globe.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/02/14-15-hottest-years-record-2000-un-global-warming
 
January brings five major oil pipeline leaks to US
The number of major oil- and gas- pipeline accidents has been steadily growing in recent years. A major accident is defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation as one in which a person is killed or hospitalized because of injury, an explosion or fire occurred, more than five barrels of liquid are released or the total cost of the response exceeds $50,000.
http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2015/1/31/january-sees-five-major-pipeline-leaks.html
 
USGS links Montana oil spills to arsenic in releases in groundwater
Underground petroleum leaks can trigger arsenic spikes in groundwater, which could be a problem as the United States confronts a rising trend in pipeline-related accidents, such as the 39,000-gallon discharge into the Yellowstone River two weeks ago.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/usgs-study-links-montana-oil-spills-to-arsenic-releases-in/article_dc2f4fec-9bb4-5119-a556-8ae85c6af5ff.html
 
50th anniversary of LBJ warning about the danger of carbon dioxide and climate change
It is a key moment in climate change history that few remember: This week marks the 50th anniversary of the first presidential mention of the environmental risk of carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuels.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2015/02/president-johnson-carbon-climate-warning

Satire: The Pros And Cons Of Fracking
Gas prices are plummeting across America thanks in part to the country doubling its daily oil exports, which is made possible by chemical fracturing technology that scientists have said wreaks havoc on the environment. Here are some pros and cons of fracking ...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-fracking,37882/

Groundhog Day 2015: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts six more weeks of winter
Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most beloved and furry seasonal prognosticator, saw his shadow on Monday morning (despite overcast skies), portending six more weeks of winter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/02/02/groundhog-day-2015-punxsutawney-phil-sees-shadow-predicts-six-more-weeks-of-winter/

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