Weekly Green: August 27, 2013

This week's environmental headlines include:

• Fire threatens Yosemite;
• Fracking California, and beyond;
• San Jose poised to adopt landmark plastic foam ban; 
• House GOP plans mega-hearing on climate change; 
• ... 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 of the Ticket: Fire threatens Yosemite

 
Fire crews rush to protect Yosemite's iconic trees
Yosemite National Park's giant sequoias have withstood millennia of hardship, from bugs to fungal rot to the swing of the ax. Sequoias - the largest trees on Earth - even embrace wildfire as a tool for survival. But park officials monitoring the huge Rim Fire in the central Sierra say the old giants may have met their match. The blaze is rapidly approaching two of Yosemite's three renowned sequoia sites, the Tuolumne and Merced groves, and firefighters are doing all they can to give the redwoods a leg up should fire strike.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fire-crews-rush-to-protect-Yosemite-s-iconic-trees-4763323.php
 
Explained in 90 Seconds: How Climate Change Fuels Wildfires
In this video, Matthew Hurteau—assistant professor of forest resources at Penn State University—explains how warming temperatures, prolonged drought, and a century’s worth of fire suppression policy are “priming the system to make it more flammable.”
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/08/wildfires-climate-change/
 
Obama called Brown for fire update, pledged aid
President Barack Obama called California Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday for an update on fires including the Rim Fire, which is sweeping toward Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park.
http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2013/08/26/obama-called-brown-for-fire-update-pledged-aid/
 
After leveling camp, Rim Fire pushes north
The fire, which ignited Aug. 17 in a remote section of the Stanislaus National Forest, is now the 13th largest in California history. Its cause is not known. It has destroyed 23 structures - the latest casualties occurring at Berkeley's Tuolumne Camp, a summer retreat about five miles outside the national park.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/After-leveling-camp-Rim-Fire-pushes-north-4762016.php
 
Stunning Photos From California's Rim Fire
The Rim Fire has been burning in Tuolomne County since Aug. 17 and has scorched nearly 150,000 acres. Incredible images from those at the scene give a glimpse into the magnitude of the blaze. As of Monday morning, the fire was 15 percent contained.
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/08/26/stunning-photos-from-californias-rim-fire/
 

Fracking California… and beyond

 
New Poll: Strong Concerns about Fracking in California
Fracking is already underway in California, with no regulations in place. Yet, recent polls consistently show widespread concern amongst Californians about the impacts on public health and the environment… And a new poll that NRDC is releasing today shows these sentiments are only continuing to grow in the state:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/vrome/strong_concerns_about_fracking.html
 
Acidizing could rival fracking in Monterey Shale
Most oil companies will say little in public about acidizing. They don't want to reveal too much information to their competitors, each of which has its own methods and chemical formula. They also don't want to draw the attention of the state's powerful environmental lobby. But environmentalists have noticed anyway. So have California lawmakers. State Sen. Fran Pavley has included acidizing in a bill that initially focused on regulating fracking.
http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Acidizing-could-rival-fracking-in-Monterey-Shale-4760329.php
 
Fracking fight fractures some Capitol alliances
Sen. Pavley, perhaps the Legislature's most prominent environmental activist, told assemblymembers Wednesday that while her bill doesn't go as far as the Sierra Club wants, it does mandates that oil companies disclose the precise mixture of fracking chemicals to state and local officials in the event of an emergency.
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=254890
 
Next Generation: The Most Dangerous Chemical You’ve Never Heard Of
Despite all this information about HF use in refineries and other industrial settings, little is known about HF practices in California oilfields, and oil companies are tight-lipped.
http://thenextgeneration.org/blog/post/monterey-shale-series-the-most-dangerous-chemical
 
State Faces Battle With Oil Industry Over Proposed New Fracking Regulations
The next four weeks will determine how aggressively California regulates the controversial oil-drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing. And as state Sen. Fran Pavley points out, “four weeks is a long time, legislatively.” The energy industry is watching these developments closely and with a degree of apprehension.
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/08/13/california-fracking-regulators/
 
Fight Over Proposed Federal Fracking Rules Flares Up
A voluminous file of public comments shows how high the stakes are for President Barack Obama's Interior Department as it prepares to decide the fate of proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323980604579031171520457480.html
 

More CA Environment News

 
Bill to protect mountain lions heads to governor
A proposed law to prevent the needless killing of mountain lions by state wardens cleared the Legislature on Monday and now awaits the approval of Gov. Jerry Brown.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-news/ci_23948972/bill-protect-mountain-lions-heads-governor
 
Silicon Valley may follow in Richmond, Berkeley climate change efforts
In the 1980s, hundreds of American cities, states and universities sold their investments in South African companies as part of a protest against that country's former apartheid government. Now, environmental groups are trying to duplicate that effort, but with global warming polluters in the role of villai
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_23948942/silicon-valley-water-district-moves-join-global-warming
 
Air board will start monitoring pollution next to SoCal freeways
Under EPA requirements, monitors will be installed at four sites, providing data about what the 1 million Southern Californians who live within 300 feet of a freeway are breathing.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-freeway-pollution-20130826,0,709429.story
 
San Jose poised to adopt landmark plastic foam ban
After flirting with the idea for years, San Jose is poised to become the largest city in California, and perhaps the nation, to approve a ban on plastic foam food containers.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_23939350/san-jose-poised-adopt-landmark-plastic-foam-ban
 
LA Times column: Reform of CEQA requires compromise
"CEQA needs serious updating, but I don't believe it's fundamentally broken," Steinberg told me. "We don't need regulatory streamlining for every project. Refineries, big boxes, auto malls -- the law works in those incidences.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-cap-environment-20130826,0,810524.column
 
L.A., conservationists reach agreement to repair Mono Lake damage
Settlement over alkaline Mono Lake calls for water flows that are intended to restore the ecosystem harmed by stream diversion.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-mono-20130824,0,7931729.story
 
Big blue whales are back off South Bay and Long Beach coasts
There’s nothing unusual about some of the world’s largest and most endangered whales passing by the South Bay and Long Beach coasts.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20130824/NEWS/130829738
 
It's Getting Cheaper to Pollute in California
The August auction, held by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on August 16, was part of California's greenhouse gas cap and trade program established by AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The auction included both emissions allowances for this year and advance sales of some allowances for 2016's "vintage.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/climate-change/its-getting-cheaper-to-emit-greenhouse-gases-in-california.html
 
California becomes first in the nation to propose chromium-6 safe water limit
California became the first state in the nation on Thursday to propose a safe-water limit on cancer-causing chromium-6, made famous in the film “Erin Brockovich.”
http://www.sbsun.com/article/20130822/NEWS/130829847
 
Activists fight environmental-law changes proposed by Brown's staff
Nearly 50 activist groups sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday opposing changes proposed by his office to state environmental laws to expedite development projects.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-environmental-coalition-ceqa-letter-governor-brown-20130819,0,6540079.story
 
VIDEO: Jerry Brown, Harry Reid criticize environmentalists' challenge to Tahoe plan
Brown's remarks could strain his already difficult relationship with environmentalists, who have objected to his proposals to overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act and to exempt some projects in California from its review.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/08/jerry-brown-harry-reid-lament-environmentalists-challenge-to-tahoe-plan.html
 

National Climate News & Opinion

 
Climate change our most serious security threat
The U.S. military does not do politics - it identifies threats based on evidence and acts to protect the nation. Congress should follow its example. The evidence for climate change is overwhelming. It's time for Washington to face that reality and find the courage to lead.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Climate-change-our-most-serious-security-threat-4756711.php
 
The 'Consensus' View: Kevin Trenberth's Take On Climate Change
There's a deep current on Capitol Hill that says it's pointless even to try; because China and India seem destined to produce so much carbon dioxide, curtailing U.S. emissions won't do much at all. But wading into this policy debate, Trenberth argues that the United States could and should lead the world toward a less dangerous trend.
http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2013/08/23/125071/the_consensus_view_kevin_trenberths_take_on_climate_change
 
Climate Panel Cites Near Certainty on Warming
An international panel of scientists has found with near certainty that human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warns that sea levels could conceivably rise by more than three feet by the end of the century if emissions continue at a runaway pace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/science/earth/extremely-likely-that-human-activity-is-driving-climate-change-panel-finds.html
 
House GOP Plans Mega-Hearing on Climate Change
After virtually ignoring the nation's biggest environmental issue for years, Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are planning a major hearing on climate change on Sept. 18 and are inviting leaders of 13 federal agencies to testify.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/house-gop-plans-mega-hearing-on-climate-change-20130821
 
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