Weekly Green: August 12, 2013

This week's environmental headlines include:

• Calling Out Climate Change Deniers;
• NBC Interview with Sen. Fran Pavley;
• WSPA Fights Fracking Bill SB 4;
• Global Warming Already Impacting California;
• ... and much more!

» Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Green, a 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

Calling out Climate Deniers
On August 13, we've got a little welcome home present for some of California's most extreme climate change deniers in Congress. It's an award for California Congressmen Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher for denying climate change science.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/calling-out-climate-deniers

Interview, NBC Los Angeles: State Senator Fran Pavley on SB 4 and fracking
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/as-seen-on/NewsConference_-State-Senator-Fran-Pavley-on-_fracking__Los-Angeles-219074431.html

The powerful Western States Petroleum Association is fighting regulation.
In the last six months alone, the oil industry spent more than any other lobbying group in California -- more than $2.2 million -- and succeeded in killing nearly a dozen bills. The exception is Sen. Fran Pavley's SB4, which passed the Senate and is scheduled for a hearing this month in the House.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_23823292/mercury-news-editorial-california-needs-clear-strict-fracking

» Take action on fracking and show your support for SB 4 here: http://ecovote.org/fracking

Global warming already having dramatic impacts in California, new report says
Rising ocean waters. Bigger and more frequent forest fires. More brutally hot summer days. These aren't the usual predictions about global warming based on computer forecasts. They're changes already happening in California, according to a detailed new report issued Thursday by the California Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_23819150/global-warming-already-having-dramatic-impacts-california-new

More Environmental News

With an Eye on the Future, Ethnic Californians Embrace Environmentalism
A year after an explosion and fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif. sent 15,000 people to emergency rooms, thousands of people converged in the city over the weekend to call attention to health risks to communities that live near oil refineries. Environmental activists and residents who live near the refinery, who are mostly Latino, black and Asian, called for a move away from fossil fuels.
http://newamericamedia.org/2013/08/with-an-eye-on-the-future-ethnic-californians-embrace-environmentalism.php

Why NBC refused to air SF-made anti-Keystone Pipeline ad (VIDEO)
Enviros and KeystoneXL pipeline opponents are mad as tar that WRC-TV,a Washington, DC NBC affiliate declined to air its anti-Keystone ad that we told you about Tuesday. It was created by SF's own Portal A and funded by SF's own billionaire greenie Tom Steyer.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/08/07/why-nbc-refused-to-air-sf-made-anti-keystone-pipeline-ad-video/

California Legislature faces raft of bills on volatile issues
A different environmental battle is brewing in the Assembly, over the use of fracking in California. The practice involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into the ground to break up rock and release oil and natural gas. It is widespread in California but sparsely regulated.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-legislature-20130812,0,158644.story

California lawmakers call for review of offshore fracking
Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) wrote the letter signed by seven other state legislators and sent to the the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. The lawmakers call for federal officials to consider new regulations for fracking under the seabed.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-california-offshore-fracking-20130806,0,6443210.story

The Trouble with Beekeeping in the Anthropocene
The beepocalypse is on the cover of TIME, but it looks like managed honeybees will still pull through. Wild bees-and wild species in general-won't be so lucky in a human-dominated planet
http://science.time.com/2013/08/09/the-trouble-with-beekeeping-in-the-anthropocene/

Chevron refinery fire one year later: Fallout, impact show no signs of waning
When the No. 4 crude unit at Chevron's century-old waterfront oil refinery burst into flames and sent black smoke billowing into a cloudless sky Aug. 6, 2012, it was easy for many to assume that the fallout from the accident would be fleeting.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_23833917/chevron-refinery-fire-one-year-later-fallout-impact

It's Time for the Toxies!
Time to roll out the red carpet. It's the annual TOXIES! "The Toxies" is a multi-media campaign with a Hollywood spin that aims to raise awareness about toxic chemicals and pollutants in our communities.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/its-time-toxies

'Hyperloop' would link LA-SF in 30 mins, if built
Imagine stepping into a car-sized capsule in downtown Los Angeles and, 30 minutes later, emerging in San Francisco On Monday, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk unveiled a transportation concept that he said could whisk passengers the nearly 400 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes an airplane. If it's ever built.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Inventor-Musk-to-share-plans-for-high-speed-travel-4724911.php

Areas of Sacramento will be inundated as sea rises over the years, study says
It could take a few hundred years - or even 2,000 - but the eventual, permanent flooding of low-lying areas in Sacramento is guaranteed if greenhouse gases are not deeply reduced, according to new research.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/11/5640779/areas-of-sacramento-will-be-inundated.html

Insight: California aims to 'bottle sunlight' in energy storage push
California, whose green ambitions helped the solar and wind industries take root, is taking an essential next step by proposing a sharp rise in energy storage to better integrate renewable power with the rest of the grid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/12/us-energystorage-california-insight-idUSBRE97B05T20130812

Bullet train: Calif. enviro law does not apply
California's high-speed rail project is no longer subject to the state's rigorous environmental laws after a federal transportation board ruled that it has oversight of the project, the state attorney general's office argues in a brief filed Friday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_23832275/bullet-train-calif-enviro-law-does-not-apply

New Solar Records in California This Week
California just broke another solar power record this week: for the first time in its history, more than 2,500 megawatts of electricity from the sun flowed into the state's power distribution grid. And that's not even counting juice from small rooftop arrays. The California Independent System Operator has made that record official.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/new-solar-records-in-california-this-week.html

Lake Tahoe's clarity improves again, new UC Davis research shows
Lake Tahoe's clarity improved for the second straight year in 2012, a report released today by UC Davis researchers shows. But long-term trends indicate climate change is working against that clarity.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/07/5631231/lake-tahoes-clarity-improves-uc.html

Follow the money: A look at the massive Delta project
Fixing the Delta is necessary, say officials, but it won't be cheap.  The costs to build and operate Gov. Brown's twin-tunnels plan are estimated to cost $24.54 billion over the 50 year term of the project.  Where will the money come from?
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=11moac5folbp4d8

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