Weekly Green: March 10, 2015

Good evening, all. Recently in the news:

• California oil regulators under fire for aquifer injections in hearing Tuesday;
• Major new cuts eyed for greenhouse gases;
• Cleaner air is linked to stronger lungs in Southern California children;
• Ivory ban passes committee, water conservation is down, 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

California Environmental News

California oil regulator under fire for aquifer injections
The California office that for years let oil companies inject their wastewater into potentially drinkable aquifers needs a new culture more focused on protecting public health, state officials said Tuesday.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/California-oil-regulator-under-fire-for-aquifer-6126508.php

California oil regulatory agency aims to sharpen focus on protecting public
Responding to revelations that the state agency regulating oil operations had erroneously allowed injection wells to be drilled into protected aquifers, California’s top environmental official told a Senate committee Tuesday that the agency has fallen short of protecting public health.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/state/california-oil-regulatory-agency-aims-to-sharpen-focus-on-protecting-public_25672952

CLCV Blog: We delivered 22,000 signatures!
In just a few hours, we're going to testify in Sacramento before a Joint Oversight Hearing on Ensuring Groundwater Protection. Californians have a right to clean drinking water, but our state government is permitting vast quantities of post-drilling waste fluids to be injected into our protected aquifers – it just doesn't add up.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/petition-we-delivered-22000-signatures

Major new cuts eyed for greenhouse gases
Nearly a decade after California’s landmark law curbing greenhouse gases was signed, a key author of AB 32 wants to dramatically boost the crackdown on climate-changing carbon emissions over the next 35 years.
http://capitolweekly.net/greenhouse-gases-cut-legislation-california/

Cleaner air is linked to stronger lungs in Southern California children
Cleaner air has for the first time been linked to bigger and stronger lungs among school-age children, according to findings released Wednesday from a two-decade study in Southern California.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-clean-air-lungs-children-20150304-story.html

Drones are latest tool in conservation science
When the rain finally came to Sacramento in early February, Nature Conservancy scientist Chris McColl needed to quickly assess whether water had overflowed the banks of the Cosumnes River and filled a floodplain the organization is trying to restore. Planes are expensive, and it takes hours to hire one and get it in the air. So McColl deployed a drone instead.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article12964940.html

Speaker Atkins’ Bill Protecting Wildlife Passes in Committee
Speaker Toni G. Atkins’ Assembly Bill 96, which would close loopholes that prevent the effective enforcement of existing California law prohibiting the sale of ivory, passed 10-2 in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
http://asmdc.org/speaker/news-room/press-releases/speaker-atkins-bill-protecting-wildlife-passes-in-committee

Opinion: Protect animals by passing state law to ban ivory trade
Kenya’s president set on fire 15 metric tons of confiscated elephant ivory last week. Two weeks ago, China’s government issued a largely symbolic, but hugely hopeful, one-year ban on the import of worked ivory. Last year, the Obama administration announced tough new restrictions on the ivory trade, and New York and New Jersey banned the sale of ivory. And within the past couple months, states — California included — have acted to end the trade in ivory. What’s driving this effort? A worldwide crisis, that’s what.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Protect-animals-by-passing-state-law-to-ban-ivory-6123977.php

Report touts high-speed rail achievements, identifies challenges and risks
The California High-Speed Rail Authority issued a progress report to state legislators this week describing progress made in recent months, acknowledging ongoing hurdles and providing an update on the cost and schedule of California’s proposed bullet train.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/03/05/4410215_report-touts-high-speed-rail-achievements.html

California cities leading in population growth, density
Increasingly, Americans are living in cities, those cities are becoming more densely populated, and California is a major factor in both trends, a new Census Bureau report indicates.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article12486362.html

California snow levels reach historic lows
Snow levels in the Sierra Nevada are at or below what they were during the driest years in California’s recorded history, surveyors said Tuesday, dashing hopes that last weekend’s storm would begin to pull the state out of its increasingly frightful drought.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Snow-levels-reach-historic-lows-6112706.php

Who’s Better at Saving Water? Bay Area, Take a Look at L.A.
January, the driest since record keeping began more than 150 years ago, brought bad news. Conservation dropped across the board. The Bay Area went from 21.6 percent conservation, compared with December 2013, to 3.7 percent in January. SoCal’s conservation also took a dive, from 23.3 percent to 9.2 percent.
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/03/03/water-wars-socal-passes-bay-area-in-conservation-bad-january-all-around

Senate fails to override Obama's veto of Keystone XL pipeline
The Senate failed Wednesday to override President Obama's veto of Keystone XL pipeline legislation, ending for now attempts by Congress to speed up approval of the controversial energy project.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-keystone-veto-override-20150304-story.html

It’s ‘Orwellian': Florida Scientists Respond To Report That State Agency Banned ‘Climate Change’
On Sunday, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting published a story that alleged that Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had unofficially banned its employees from saying the words “climate change” and “global warming” in official communications. The charge of censorship clashes sharply with Florida’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change, particularly sea level rise.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/09/3631450/scientists-respond-to-florida-climate-censorship/

ICYMI: State shuts 12 oil company wells that pumped waste into aquifers
State officials have ordered oil companies to shut down 12 more wells that have injected oil-field waste water into drinkable aquifers beneath California’s drought-stricken Central Valley, regulators reported Tuesday.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/State-shuts-12-oil-company-wells-that-pumped-6112846.php

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could get U.S. 'heritage’ protection
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, 700 square miles stretching from Vallejo on San Pablo Bay Bay to Sacramento and Stockton, would get added federal protection for its historical and environmental assets under legislation introduced Tuesday by California’s two U.S. senators.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Bill-would-add-U-S-protections-for-delta-6112809.php

Politics & Elections

Big Money Won All Its Bets on 2014 Propositions
The campaign with the bigger bank account often has the advantage in California ballot measure fights, but in 2014 that advantage was insurmountable.
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/03/09/big-money-won-all-its-bets-on-2014-california-propositions/

Legislature’s image on the mend?
Is the California Legislature making a comeback? The poll numbers would certainly indicate it is, but lawmakers shouldn’t start popping the champagne corks.
http://capitolweekly.net/legislature-image-public-comeback/

Potential redistricting reset could tighten California Democrats' grip
A U.S. Supreme Court case that could force California to redraw its congressional districts has stirred up fears of a return to partisan gerrymandering, a divisive process that has been criticized for both cementing and crushing political careers.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-california-redistricting-20150308-story.html

The FCC Is Considering a Petition That Could Put More Political Ads on the Air
Candidates who want to run campaign ads already get special treatment by law. But now, a Democratic political-advertising buyer wants to change the rules to make it easier for campaigns to buy cheap airtime at the last minute—which is often when candidates need it most.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/the-fcc-is-considering-a-petition-that-could-put-more-political-ads-on-the-air-20150309

Thanks for reading the Weekly Green from the California League of Conservation Voters. If you're not a regular subscriber, don't forget to sign up today! Get your free subscription here: http://ecovote.org/wg

• Next Weekly Green
•  
• Previous Weekly Green