Weekly Green: December 15, 2011

The Weekly Green is your one-stop guide to the top environmental stories in California!

Each Thursday the CLCV team delivers fresh environmental and political news direct to your inbox, including the week's top stories, analysis from the environmental community, and how you can take action to stand up for California's environment and public health.

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Leading Off

Congressman John Garamendi, CLCV Urge Congress to Protect Our Public Lands

“As a Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, I’m doing all I can to stop the Committee from passing this legislation. Mining, logging and drilling are already allowed on more than half of our national forests and other public lands. This bill would open up almost all remaining public lands with insufficient oversight. Our drinking water will be put at risk, and billions of dollars in recreational commerce could be threatened.”

High Stakes for High Speed Rail

“Question: What's at stake in California's plan to build a high-speed rail system? Answer: Billions of dollars, billions of pounds of CO2, and how millions of people will get from point A to point B, among other things.”

In the News

U.S. Envoy Relieved by Climate Talks' Outcome

“The senior American climate change envoy, Todd D. Stern, is back in Washington from the double-overtime United Nations negotiations in Durban, South Africa, and has declared himself pretty well satisfied with the result, although closing the deal wasn't easy.”

Jerry Brown Leads Climate Change Conference At The California Academy Of Sciences

“The United Nations' top climate change official is in San Francisco to join California Gov. Jerry Brown at a conference addressing the costs associated with preparing for the effects of a warming world.”

Farmers slow to adopt controversial pesticide

“A year after environmentalists lost a regulatory battle to keep the controversial pesticide methyl iodide off the California market, they appear to be winning the ground war against the chemical.”

Bird advocates urge mandatory standards for wind energy projects

“The American Bird Conservancy on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to replace its proposed voluntary guidelines for siting and operating wind farms with mandatory enforceable standards designed to make the technology safer for wildlife including migrating birds and bats. The 100-page petition prepared by the conservancy and the Washington-based law firm Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal recommends that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service establish a mandatory permitting system for the booming alternative energy source and mitigation of its impacts on bats and migrating birds, thousands of which are killed each year by wind turbines.”

Lungren, Feinstein spar over Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration

“A call for an investigation into how San Francisco gets and consumes its water has sparked a feud between two congressional leaders on opposite sides of the aisle over a proposal to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, dammed 85 years ago to supply the city with clean water.”

Fracking may cause groundwater pollution, EPA says

“The EPA announcement could add to the controversy over fracking, which has played a large role in opening up many gas reserves, including the Marcellus Shale in the eastern United States in recent years. The industry has long contended that fracking is safe, but environmentalists and some residents who live near drilling sites say it has poisoned groundwater.”

Napa River restoration project serves as model

“'We hope it is a model for government, private owners and the public to work together,' said Davie Piña, a vineyard owner and president of the Rutherford Dust Society, an association of nearly 100 growers and wineries. 'We hope we can repeat this on every river, in every state and every community in the world, but we're starting here.'”

Buffett's $2 Billion Solar Bet Receives 'Attractive' Power Rates

“Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which is buying a $2 billion solar project in California, may have picked the right time to invest in the industry... The Topaz project in San Luis Obispo County is expected to be complete in 2015. It's the third-largest solar farm announced to date in the U.S., tied with First Solar's Desert Sunlight plant, also in California, and trailing plants that NRG Energy and Cannon Power Corp. are developing, according to New Energy Finance.”

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