Weekly Green: February 3, 2014

In the news this week:

• State Department Confirms Keystone XL Fails President's Own Climate Test;
• Obama awaits more Keystone reviews;
• Waxman: The reason I’m leaving Congress;
• Oil industry paid $4.7 million to lobby California lawmakers in 2013;
• ... and much more!

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Top News

Frances Beinecke: State Department Confirms Keystone XL Fails President's Own Climate Test
The State Department released its review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline for tar sands oil on Friday. Industry representatives tried to gloss over the conclusions right out of the gate. But there is no hiding from the facts. The review gives President Obama everything he needs to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/state_department_confirms_keys.html

Keystone Foe Steyer Urges Review of ‘Defective’ Analysis
Billionaire Tom Steyer, a Democratic Party donor and Keystone XL foe, called on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to begin a review of the “defective” environmental analysis on the pipeline released last week.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-02/keystone-foe-steyer-urges-review-of-defective-analysis.html

White House: Obama awaits more Keystone reviews; timing unclear
U.S. President Barack Obama still wants to hear from other federal agencies before deciding whether to accept the State Department's finding that the Keystone XL pipeline would have no major impact on climate change, his top aide said on Sunday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/02/us-usa-keystone-idUSBREA110IC20140202

Waxman: The reason I’m leaving Congress
Immediately, speculation began that I am leaving because I am frustrated with a broken institution. But the exact opposite is true: I am leaving Congress with my conviction intact that the legislative branch can be a powerful force for good.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rep-henry-waxman-congress-can-do-tremendous-good-but-it-never-comes-easily/2014/01/31/8580d598-8a8f-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html

Oil industry paid $4.7 million to lobby California lawmakers in 2013
KP Public Affairs resumed its spot at the top in 2013 after dropping to second-place in 2012. KP's oil industry client – the Western States Petroleum Association – spent $4,670,010 on lobbying last year, more than any other interest group registered to lobby California state government.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/02/california-lobbying-firms-made-more-money-in-2013.html

Drought

LA Times Editorial: Playing politics with California's drought
The "man-made California drought" is the term House Republicans use to describe the state's current dry condition, as if it were somehow the hand of humankind, environmentalists or, even worse, Democrats that has stopped the snowfall over the Sierra and kept the dams that store water for fields, orchards and homes from being replenished. Funny, isn't it, that folks who question man's ability to affect the global climate are so quick to assign human causes to the drought?
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-drought-california-20140203,0,7714989.story

Drought produces thirst for water – and political solutions
Big dams, bitter feuds and some political bombshells surface in a California water bill slated for lickety-split House approval next week.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/31/3743403/california-drought-produces-thirst.html

Drought Brings Hard Times to California Ethnic Farmers
California is experiencing record dry conditions, with this year projected to be the driest on record. The state usually relies on three months of rain from December to February to replenish its water supply. But, with three consecutive years of below average winter rainfall, supplies are alarmingly low.
http://newamericamedia.org/2014/01/drought-brings-hard-times-to-california-ethnic-farmers.php

California drought: State Water Project will deliver no water this summer
For the first time in its 54-year history, the State Water Project, a backbone of California's water system, will provide no water to urban residents or farmers this year because of the severe drought, state officials said Friday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25036886/california-drought-state-water-project-will-deliver-no

Stormy seas ahead for the California water debate
The California drought will soon expose the geographic, political, personal and institutional divisions that complicate meaningful congressional action.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/27/6099476/stormy-seas-ahead-for-the-california.html

Bay Area water districts start asking urban residents to conserve
Moving up a decision they planned to make later this spring, the leaders of Silicon Valley's largest water provider, in the face of the worsening drought, will vote Tuesday on a host of new water conservation policies, including a reduction in water use.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24998683/california-drought-bay-area-water-districts-start-asking

SoCal resists water rationing
Under intensifying pressure, leading Southern California water managers promised Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday that they will take aggressive steps to encourage conservation after weeks of following a more cautious approach.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jan/30/brown-drought-water-rationing/

California Politics & Environment

Competitive California congressional races attract millions
At least nine candidates for the House have raised more than $1 million, and both parties are set to bring in resources before the primary.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-campaign-money-20140202,0,3140039,full.story

Survey: Brown, Legislature on a roll
The state legislature’s approval rating is a near-record 42 percent among adults and is at 33 percent among likely voters. Both ratings are similar to December. Asked to rate the job performance of their own state legislators, 48 percent of adults and 45 percent of likely voters approve.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-marine-sanctuary-20140127,0,6844522.story

Restrictions on fishing in marine sanctuaries appear to be working
The sanctuaries in Southern California coastal waters were created to curb steep declines in fish and other sea creatures.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-marine-sanctuary-20140127,0,6844522.story

Kettleman City Weighs Toxic Dump Expansion Against Funding for Clean Water
Maricela Mares-Alatorre stands at her kitchen sink and describes the contaminated water that became a suspect in a high-profile cluster of birth defects in 2009.
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201402030850/b

Season of the switch in San Francisco
Winter turns to spring, but there is a catch: All these blossoms are two to three weeks early this year. We seem to have gone directly from fall to spring, skipping winter altogether.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/Season-of-the-switch-in-S-F-winter-into-spring-5197173.php

Suit alleges U.S. ignored 'best available science' in sonar ruling
An environmental group is suing the National Marine Fisheries Service alleging that it downplayed harm to ocean wildlife during military exercises.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-whales-sonar-20140128,0,2001612.story

What's killing all the starfish on the West Coast?
Starfish have been mysteriously dying by the millions in recent months along the West Coast, worrying biologists who say the sea creatures are key to the marine ecosystem.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_25042435/whats-killing-all-starfish-west-coast

Assemblyman wants to see cigarette butt litter go up in smoke
Democrat Mark Stone, concerned about the dangers posed by discarded cigarette butts to children, wildlife and the environment, has proposed a $500 fine for those who sell filtered cigarettes.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-capitol-business-beat-20140127,0,1738482.story

San Onofre Nuclear Plant’s Decommissioning
The majority owner of San Onofre nuclear power plant wants input from environmentalists and anti-nuclear representatives as it prepares to decommission the facility.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jan/31/southern-california-edison-outlines-values-san-ono/

Caltrans ‘out of date’ and cites ‘culture of fear’
An independent review of the California Department of Transportation, released Thursday, called for sweeping reforms of the state department to improve mobility in the face of environmental challenges and recent declines in the number of miles Californians’ drive.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/30/6115435/independent-review-calls-caltrans.html

Appellate court will hear high-speed rail case
In a notice posted Wednesday, the high court declined to take up the case directly, as Gov. Jerry Brown's administration had requested. But it ordered an expedited hearing at the appellate level.
http://www.montereyherald.com/state/ci_25019607/appellate-court-will-hear-high-speed-rail-case

Assembly wades into L.A.-Central Valley feud on human waste disposal
Treated waste exported from Los Angeles and other counties into the Central Valley would be subject to additional testing under a bil approved by the Assembly on Thursday.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-sewage-sludge-bill-20140130,0,2309908.story

Settlement: Mountain View groundwater
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a nearly $3 million settlement with CTS Printex Inc. and ADN Corp. to finish cleaning up a superfund site in Mountain View.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_25015893/settlement-reached-clean-up-groundwater-mountain-view

Judge blocks utility from canceling wind farm deal
A California utility was barred Monday from canceling its power purchase contract with the owners of a Montana wind farm in a dispute over the project's potential threat to golden eagles.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/27/6106220/judge-blocks-utility-from-canceling.html

National Headlines

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Natural Gas
Conventional wisdom tells us natural gas is helping us combat global warming. Like most bits of conventional wisdom, it's not that simple.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/power-play/inside-the-complicated-relationship-between-natural-gas-and-climate-change-20140126

GMO plight of the butterflies
The decline has been blamed on several factors, including drought, deforestation of habitat in Mexico and a cold snap last spring in Texas. But a big reason identified definitively by entomologists is the use of genetically engineered (GMO) crops on 170 million acres along the Monarch’s migration path through the Midwest.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/01/31/gmo-plight-of-the-butterflies/

White House to Keystone Advocates: Not So Fast
Keystone pipeline advocates were quick to say that Friday's State Department report gives President Obama all the evidence he needs to approve the project.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/white-house-to-keystone-advocates-not-so-fast-20140131

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