Weekly Green: April 7, 2014

Good afternoon, all. In recent headlines:

• El Niño could grow into a monster;
• UN: Time running out to meet global warming target;
• The Supreme Court guts another campaign finance law;
• Gov. Brown calls himself 'missionary' to oil executives; 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

On the Horizon

El Niño Could Grow Into a Monster, New Data Show
Forecasters are increasingly confident in a particularly big El Niño this time around because, deep below the Pacific Ocean's surface, off-the-charts warm water is lurking.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/04/07/el_nino_2014_2015_forecasts_show_it_could_grow_into_a_monster.html

Time running out to meet global warming target: U.N. report
Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review the 29-page draft that also estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies would cost between two and six percent of world output by 2050.
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/71377

Politics and Campaign Finance

The Supreme Court Just Gutted Another Campaign Finance Law. Here’s What Happened.
The court's five conservative justices all agreed that the so-called aggregate limit on the amount of money a donor can give to candidates, political action committees, and political parties is unconstitutional.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/supreme-court-mccutcheon-citizens-united

Brown signs bill to increase campaign disclosures
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 800 into law Thursday, a bill to increase the authority of the state's Fair Political Practice Commission and Franchise Tax Board to conduct campaign finance investigations.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/04/03/brown-signs-bill-to-increase-campaign-disclosures/

New penalties eyed in bribe cases
Lawmakers who seek or receive bribes face a boosted level of fines and penalties, under a plan that is getting renewed attention because of the scandals rocking the Senate. The proposal by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Bell Gardens Democrat, also bars the use of campaign funds to pay restitution fines in bribery convictions.
http://capitolweekly.net/new-penalties-eyed-bribe-cases/

More Public Corruption Investigations, Please
While there's little doubt that California's campaign finance laws need reforming, state voters have rejected attempts to take private money out of political campaigns, and the conservative-leaning US Supreme Court has invalidated election reform laws in other states. As a result, more undercover FBI probes like the one that snagged Sen. Leland Yee, along with similar investigations conducted by the state Attorney General and local district attorneys, may provide our only real hope for restoring faith in government.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/more-public-corruption-investigations-please/Content?oid=3879830

Environmental Headlines

Open Forum: Declare a California fracking moratorium now
Amid calls for conservation, we have overlooked an obvious step to protect water supplies: stopping extreme oil-extraction techniques such as fracking and well stimulation.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Declare-a-California-fracking-moratorium-now-5380780.php

With Drought, New Scrutiny Over Fracking's Water Use
California’s historic drought and shrinking water supplies are putting a spotlight on hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" and its thirst for freshwater. In California, fracking uses less water on average than in other states, according to industry data. But that trend is shifting, as oil companies make a play for the Monterey Shale, the largest untapped oil resource in the country.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/with-drought-new-scrutiny-over-frackings-water-use/

California drought puzzle: store or conserve more water?
One thing that's become clear amid the fallow cropland and rationing is that there is not enough water storage in California to sustain all the competing interests. The dilemma has again put a spotlight on the precious water that gets away.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-puzzle-store-or-conserve-more-5381238.php

Stanford economists say social cost of carbon too low
In an article published Friday in the journal Nature, Nobel laureate economist Kenneth Arrow and Lawrence Goulder, both of Stanford, along with six other law and economics scholars, said the controversial "social cost of carbon" calculations developed by the federal government are too low, not too high, as conservatives argue.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/04/04/stanford-economists-say-social-cost-of-carbon-too-low/

Dianne Feinstein recasts California water bill
In a move designed to lure Republican support, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced a revised California water bill that could move lawmakers closer to meaningful negotiation.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/04/feinstein-recasts-california-water-bill.html

Hazardous Yosemite Slough in S.F. finally getting cleaned up
After years of cleaning up surrounding areas, federal regulators say they will tackle the extensive contamination in Yosemite Slough, the intertidal channel between Candlestick Point and the Hunters Point Shipyard.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Hazardous-Yosemite-Slough-in-S-F-finally-getting-5376301.php

Plastic microbeads in facial scrubs causing damage to environment
"People are exfoliating everything," says Associate Professor Greg Goodman, a fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists. "But we're not floorboards. We don't need to be polishing and buffing and scrubbing." Meanwhile, harm is being done to marine life and potentially to humans.
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/plastic-microbeads-in-facial-scrubs-causing-damage-to-environment-20140405-365ph.html

Californians Already Pay an Oil Severance Tax - to Other States
It can be argued that the tax in some of those oil severance tax states is ultimately paid in part by California consumers. The same would be true if an oil severance tax is levied here.
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2014/04/californians-already-pay-oil-severance-tax-states/

Jerry Brown calls himself 'missionary' to oil executives in climate change fight
The Democratic governor, who has made climate change a focus of his administration, told a meeting of The Environmental Council of the States, an association of state agency leaders, that reducing the use of fossil fuels requires broad support, including from within the oil industry.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/in-climate-change-fight-jerry-brown-calls-himself-missionary-to-oil-executi.html

Walters: High speed rail faces withering series of hurdles
It will be, at most, a modest beginning. The agency only has enough money - maybe - for 130 miles of non-electrified track from Madera to somewhere north of Bakersfield, dubbed "the train to nowhere" by critics.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/06/6298864/dan-walters-bullet-train-faces.html

For San Joaquin River revival, drought becomes a way of life
Over the last few weeks, biologists have trucked nearly 900 young fall-run salmon to where the Merced River empties into the San Joaquin and reconnects this long river to the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/04/05/3862436/for-san-joaquin-river-revival.html

Sea World faces tough crowd in Sacramento
SeaWorld may face a skeptical audience Tuesday when it asks lawmakers to scrap legislation that aims to ban using captive trained orcas in orchestrated shows.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/apr/06/seaworld-orca-bill-legislature-committee/

CicLAvia draws thousands of cyclists, pedestrians to iconic Wilshire Boulevard
Basking in the sun and their new found freedom, thousands of cyclists, pedestrians and skaters took over a 6-mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles on Sunday for the ninth CicLAvia.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20140406/NEWS/140409613

Endangered butterfly defies climate change with new diet and habitat
Quino checkerspot, native to Mexico and California, shifts to higher altitude and chooses new species of plant for laying eggs.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/07/endangered-butterfly-species-defies-climate-change-quino-checkerspot

PG&E indicted on 12 criminal charges in San Bruno blast case
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was indicted Tuesday on 12 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood and killed eight people, including allegations that it did not conduct required inspections that could have prevented the disaster.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/PG-E-indicted-on-12-criminal-charges-in-San-Bruno-5368631.php

Caltrans scrambles to lure cormorants to new Bay Bridge span
At issue: 800 or so double-crested cormorants - a state-protected "species of special concern" - that have enjoyed migratory squatter rights on the bridge since they moved here from Alaska, Mexico and Nova Scotia in 1984.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Caltrans-scrambles-to-lure-cormorants-to-new-Bay-5381205.php

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