Weekly Green: May 19, 2014

In recent headlines:

• Brown says climate change a factor in wildfires;
• California drought shapes debate over fracking;
• Plastic bag ban gains momentum in Sacramento;
• Steinberg may leverage bullet train in budget talks;
• And much more!

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Above the Fold: Brown says climate change a factor in wildfires

Jerry Brown: 'Humanity is on a collision course with nature'
Jerry Brown, blaming climate change for the increasing prevalence of wildfires in California, said Sunday that "humanity is on a collision course with nature." "The state's climate appears to be changing," Brown said in an interview on ABC's "This Week." "The scientists tell us that definitely. So we've got to gear up here. And after all, in California for 10,000 years our population was about 300,000. Now it's 38 million. We have more structures, more activity, more sparks, more combustible activity and we've got to gear up for it and as the climate changes, this is going to be a radically different future than was our historic past."
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/05/jerry-brown-humanity-is-on-a-collision-course-with-nature.html

Climate change threatens California and the world, Jerry Brown says
Gov. Jerry Brown continued to sound the alarm about climate change on Monday, saying people need to find a way to "live with nature" and "not to collide with it." "We have to adapt," he said. "The climate is changing. There's no doubt."
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-california-climate-change-20140519-story.html

Brown: Climate change is factor
Gov. Jerry Brown Thursday blamed climate change for producing timber-dry conditions fueling the infernos rampaging through San Diego County, but he was less sure about rumors that an arsonist was on the loose. “Despite what you may hear in Washington, climate change is a factor,” he told CNN. “This is not about theory. It’s not about politics. This is about fires on the ground, people’s homes.”
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/may/15/brown-climate-change-is-factor/

California Environment

California’s Thirst Shapes Debate Over Fracking
Enemies of fracking have a new argument: drought. Fracking a single oil well in California last year took 87 percent of the water consumed in a year by a family of four, according to the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry lobbying group. That amount — a modest one by national standards, the oil industry argues — has become an increasingly delicate topic since a drought was officially declared early this year in the state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/us/californias-thirst-shapes-debate-over-fracking.html

Recent rail accidents involving light crude oil
A series of recent derailments have raised concerns about the risks of shipping oil in mile-long "unit trains," especially highly combustible light crude from the Bakken shale formation in and around North Dakota.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/business/oil/x1372326356/Recent-rail-accidents-involving-light-crude-oil

Plastic Bag Ban Moves Forward
State Senators and environmental champions Alex Padilla, Kevin de León and Ricardo Lara led the charge today in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, testifying about their bill to phase out wasteful single-use plastic bags in California, SB 270. The bill passed the committee and now heads to Assembly Appropriations.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/plastic-bag-ban-moves-forward

Plastic bag ban gains momentum in Sacramento
California legislators have recycled a bill aimed at making the state the first in the nation to ban plastic grocery bags -- and the new effort gained momentum Wednesday despite fierce industry opposition and passionate appeals from workers who say the measure threatens their livelihoods.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_25761400/plastic-bag-ban-survives-key-committee-vote-sacramento

Gov. Brown says UC divestment from coal is a possibility
Gov. Jerry Brown suggested Thursday that UC should study the possibility of divesting its endowment of any connection to the coal industry, a move that could echo a recent decision by Stanford University.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-brown-coal-20140515-story.html

Steinberg may leverage bullet train in budget talks
A day after Gov. Jerry Brown updated his $107.8 billion general fund budget proposal, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg made it clear he plans for fight for social services left out of the administration’s proposal, including his own calls for universal preschool. And the termed-out Democratic Senator made it clear he isn’t above using the embattled High Speed Rail as leverage.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/05/14/steinberg-may-leverage-bullet-train-in-budget-talks/

Depletion of Central Valley's groundwater may be causing earthquakes
For years, scientists have wondered about the forces that keep pushing up California's mighty Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, causing an increase in the number of earthquakes in one part of Central California.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-quake-water-20140515-story.html

Lawn water: A fix for the drought?
It’s enough water to fill Lake Oroville and more, and it’s flowing out on to lawns and landscapes in cities and communities across the state each year, according to the Department of Water Resources. But with the state deep in drought and water supplies dwindling, there’s a movement underfoot that’s hoping to change that.
http://capitolweekly.net/lawn-water-answer-drought/

Thousands of dead fish blanket waters of Marina del Rey
Heaps of small fish washed up overnight, forming a carpet of carcasses among docks and boats in Basin A of the harbor, near Bora Bora Way.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dead-fish-marina-del-rey-20140518-story.html

Brown makes urgent plea for delta tunnels
Gov. Jerry Brown delivered an impassioned defense of his ambitious plan to drill huge tunnels through the delta east of San Francisco to move more northern water south, saying California’s economic well-being depended on it.
http://capitolweekly.net/brown-makes-urgent-plea-delta-tunnels/

Four weeks left to comment on Delta tunnel plan
The public has four weeks remaining to submit comments on Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant water diversion tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/15/6406428/four-weeks-left-to-comment-on.html

Water bill would aid flood control in California
Flood control projects in California’s Central Valley get a boost in a long-awaited water resources bill now flowing toward final congressional approval.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/05/15/227592/water-bill-would-aid-flood-control.html

Massive Pipeline Rupture Coats Streets Of Los Angeles In ‘Knee-High’ Crude Oil
Residents in Atwater Village in northeast Los Angeles woke up Thursday morning to find crude oil flowing down their streets. A 20 inch wide, above-ground oil line ruptured around 1 a.m., sending a geyser of oil 20 feet into the air according to local reports. The oil has coated a half-square-mile area of the mostly industrial neighborhood.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/15/3438183/los-angeles-oil-spill/

L.A. River spared in 10,000-gallon Atwater Village oil spill
No crude oil from a 10,000-gallon spill in Atwater Village entered the L.A. River, officials said Thursday as they continued to clean up the slippery mess. An L.A. County official said it could take a few days to clean up the spill, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday in the 5100 block of West San Fernando Road. It sprayed black oil 20 feet into the air and onto the roof and walls of the neighboring Gentlemen's Club.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-oil-spill-20140515-story.html

National Environmental Politics

Environmentalists Have Succeeded in Making Noise — Is Anybody Listening?
Efforts to make climate deniers pay a political price for their views may finally be getting somewhere.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/environmentalists-have-succeeded-in-making-noise-is-anybody-listening-20140519

Rift Widening Between Energy And Insurance Industries Over Climate Change
Being a big business, the insurance industry is a strong backer of free enterprise and its laissez-faire leaders. But a rift could be developing now that some major carriers are staking claims in the climate change cause while many of their congressional backers have remained skeptical of the science.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2014/05/18/rift-widening-between-energy-and-insurance-industries-over-climate-change/

Kerry calls on U.S. college graduates to face down climate change
The rapidly changing climate poses a threat of sparking greater global conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday told the graduating class of Boston College, urging the graduates to play a role in pushing for new energy policies.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/19/us-usa-kerry-climatechange-idUSBREA4I0GY20140519

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