Weekly Green: June 25, 2014

In recent headlines:

• CLCV to honor environmental champions Thursday night;
• Gov. Brown signals opposition to existing water bond, wants $6 billion replacement;
• Bipartisan report further demonstrates high toll of global warming;
• Sixteen Assemblymembers publicly oppose AB 32 implementation, environmentalists respond;
• High-speed rail, drought, climate change, and much more.

» Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Green, your no-frills news roundup provided free of charge by the California League of Conservation Voters. If you're not a regular subscriber, sign up today! Get your free subscription here: http://ecovote.org/wg

Top News

CLCV's Byron Sher Lifetime Achievement Award
CLCV will hold our Environmental Leadership Awards ceremony Thursday night in San Francisco. Along with our other worthy nominees, we'll be awarding the Byron Sher Lifetime Achievement Award to Congressman George Miller. For those who aren't familiar with former State Senator Byron Sher, here's why our award is named after him.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/clcvs-byron-sher-lifetime-achievement-award

Read about each of our honorees:
Congressman George Miller: http://www.ecovote.org/blog/clcv-honors-george-miller-lifetime-achievement-award
Susan Frank: http://www.ecovote.org/blog/susan-frank-receives-clcv-environmental-leadership-award
Arno Harris: http://www.ecovote.org/blog/clean-energy-champion-arno-harris-receive-clcv-award
New America Media: http://www.ecovote.org/blog/new-america-media-honored-clcv-environmental-leadership
 

California & Environmental News

Brown Opposes Existing Water Bond, Wants $6 Billion Replacement
California Gov. Jerry Brown has stayed publicly quiet so far on negotiations over a potential replacement to the $11 billion water bond currently set to go before voters in November. Now, just days before the Secretary of State's official Thursday deadline for legislative ballot measures to qualify, top legislative sources tell Capital Public Radio the governor is finally making his views clear. The governor told legislative leaders in private meetings Tuesday that he opposes the existing water bond, which was negotiated by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers in 2009, and wants a $6 billion bond instead.
http://www.capradio.org/26748

Assembly Democrats fear gas price increase, urge change in environmental policy
Business-friendly Democrats in the state Assembly are urging the Brown administration to back off implementation of a greenhouse gas reduction measure that is expected to result in higher gas prices starting next year.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/06/assembly-democrats-fear-gas-price-increase-urge-change-in-environmental-pol.html
Environmental response letter: http://bit.ly/1jMCFcp

Water bond measure fails in initial Senate vote
Senate Democrats on Monday failed in an initial attempt to secure Republican support for overhauling the $11.1 billion water bond on the November ballot.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Water-bond-measure-fails-in-initial-Senate-vote-5573752.php

Drought Gives Cities Reason To Reuse Sewage Water
A portion of Quist's irrigation water was once raw sewage. Quist’s farm is just across the road from the City of Fresno’s wastewater treatment plant. It’s been giving him water for 50 years.
http://www.capradio.org/26755

Northern California Dems want open door on California water talks
Northern California Democrats on Monday warned against secret California water negotiations, and urged Sen. Dianne Feinstein to open up the talks.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/06/northern-california-dems-want-open-door-on-california-water-talks.html

White House officials to meet with activist Tom Steyer on climate
The meeting will include former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, and Cargill Chief Executive Greg Page, who have worked together on a forthcoming "Risky Business report," which studies the economic consequences of climate change.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/24/us-usa-climate-change-idUSKBN0EZ09U20140624

Bipartisan Report Tallies High Toll on Economy From Global Warming
More than a million homes and businesses along the nation’s coasts could flood repeatedly before ultimately being destroyed. Entire states in the Southeast and the Corn Belt may lose much of their agriculture as farming shifts northward in a warming world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/science/report-tallies-toll-on-economy-from-global-warming.html

Former Treasury secretaries, financial leaders press business to cut climate-change risks
A bipartisan group of prominent financial and political figures called for new policies to “reduce the odds of catastrophic outcomes” from extreme heat and rising sea levels linked to climate change and issued a report suggesting that the most severe risks could be avoided through early investments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/former-treasury-secretaries-financial-leaders-press-business-to-cut-climate-change-risks/2014/06/23/72c88274-fb15-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html

California OES releases crude oil train data, but requests more
One trainload of Bakken crude oil passed through Sacramento in the first two weeks of June, according to a report shared with The Sacramento Bee by the California Office of Emergency Services.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/06/california-oes-releases-crude-oil-train-data-but-requests-more.html

Study finds that electric cars are putting the brakes on pollution
Annual sales of electric vehicles have skyrocketed by 500 percent nationwide the past two years, according to a new report, benefiting public health and the environment.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_26025531/study-finds-that-electric-cars-are-putting-brakes

Martins Beach eminent domain bill clears Assembly hurdle
A bill to restore public access at Martins Beach cleared a big legislative hurdle Tuesday morning despite furious opposition from lobbyists representing the property's owner, high-tech billionaire Vinod Khosla.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_26023506/martins-beach-eminent-domain-bill-clears-assembly-hurdle

Beach fire rings bill passes state Senate committee
A bill to safeguard beach fire rings passed out of a state Senate committee Tuesday, with new provisions to monitor Newport Beach’s fire rings. Assembly Bill 1102 now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rings-627017-bill-beach.html

Railroads give up attempts to keep crude oil shipment data secret
The nation’s largest haulers of crude oil by rail on Tuesday appeared to abandon their insistence that information about such shipments could not be shared publicly for security reasons.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/24/231342/crude-oil-rail-shipment-data-begins.html

Fox: Water and Rail in the Central Valley
California’s Central Valley has been the focus of two big issues that have grabbed legislative attention – water and the high-speed rail. Is it possible that the two could come together in a political mix?
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2014/06/water-rail-central-valley/

Lawsuit contests high-speed rail air quality plans
A San Rafael-based group that opposes California’s high-speed rail project filed a lawsuit Monday contesting the state’s plan to spend cap-and-trade pollution money on the $68 billion project, arguing that building the bullet train would create more pollution than it would reduce for at least a decade.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Lawsuit-counters-high-speed-rail-air-quality-plans-5573733.php

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