Weekly Green: January 23, 2014

In the news this week:

• New Approach to Statewide Ban on Plastic Bags;
• Toni Atkins Named Speaker of the Assembly;
• State of State address;
• Drought Emergency;
• ... and 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

Top News

Compromise bill would ban plastic bags throughout California
Key legislative opponents of a bill to ban plastic single-use grocery bags in California have negotiated changes that they say will allow them to support a new measure and help it win enough votes to pass this year.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-agreement-reached-on-banning-plastic-carryout-grocery-bags-20140123,0,3607652.story

Toni Atkins Named Speaker of the Assembly
San Diego Assemblymember Toni Atkins was selected as Speaker of the Assembly Wednesday, making her the first openly gay woman to hold the job.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/Toni-Atkins-Selected-as-Speaker-of-the-Assembly-California-Politics-San-Diego-241535241.html

State of State address: Gov. Jerry Brown hails California's comeback
Gov. Jerry Brown cheered California's comeback in the State of the State address he delivered to the Legislature on Wednesday, but he also warned of lingering economic and environmental problems that threaten California's future.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24967824/state-state-address-gov-jerry-brown-hails-californias

Dought

California drought: Scientists to probe cause
California's drought will be one of the extreme weather events that the American Meteorological Society will examine later this year to determine whether the cause is natural variability or human-caused climate change, a federal official said Tuesday.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Scientists-to-probe-cause-5163948.php

Brown grapples with drought impacts
Gov. Brown said today that California, facing an unprecedented drought, needs to “make investments in safe drinking water” and that “recycling, expanded storage and serious groundwater management must all be part of the mix.”  But the governor did not endorse multibillion-dollar bond plans to build water infrastructure projects.
http://capitolweekly.net/brown-grapples-drought-impacts/

House Speaker touts drought emergency bill at Bakersfield event
House Speaker John Boehner and three San Joaquin Valley Republican congressmen on Wednesday called on their Senate colleagues to approve emergency drought legislation they say would bring more water to the region.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/22/3727117/house-speaker-touts-drought-emergency.html

California drought: Water officials look to rules of '70s
The American River looks to Jonas Minton very much like it did nearly four decades ago when he took a kayak out into what was then a trickling stream and scraped across the rocks on the bottom.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Water-officials-look-to-rules-5156261.php

California Politics & Environmental News

California Senate to hold off confirming forestry board appointees
Concerned that officials are leaving millions of fire-prevention dollars unspent, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday that he will put off a Senate vote to confirm two appointees of Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/01/california-senate-to-hold-up-confirmation-of-two-forestry-board-appointees.html

George Skelton: Brown ignores important issues in State of the State address
The word "tunnels" didn't cross his lips, although he's trying to ramrod a $25-billion twin-tunnel project under the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta that angers local farmers and state environmentalists. He did call for "further progress on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan" — the formal name for the tunnels.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-cap-brown-20140123,0,2662596.column

Loan for bullet train part of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal
California would lend $29 million to the High-Speed Rail Authority. Financing proposals for the project have raised concerns from lawmakers, including a key bullet train supporter.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0123-bullet-loan-20140123,0,6716639.story

San Bruno pushes for fresh fine against PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should be fined for not telling San Bruno officials it was seeking a reduction in fines for the 2010 pipeline explosion that leveled a neighborhood because it had been penalized in another case, the city said Friday.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Bruno-pushes-for-fresh-fine-against-PG-amp-E-5154212.php

Officials Push for L.A. to Get 20 Percent of Power from Rooftop Solar
The push to make Los Angeles more energy independent is gaining steam, as a group of local, state, and federal elected officials called Friday for California's largest city to meet a fifth of its peak power needs with local solar within six years.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/photovoltaic-pv/20-percent-rooftop-solar-for-los-angeles-by-2020.html

Former California Sierra Club lobbyist John Zierold dies at 88
John Zierold, who ran legislative strategy in Sacramento for the Sierra Club during the 1970s and 1980s, as environmentalism became a powerful social and political movement, has died.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/01/former-california-sierra-club-lobbyist-john-zierold-dies-at-88.html

Study: Mercury from Southern California, the world, affecting sea ice
Southern California industrialization and wildfires like the recent Colby Fire contribute to mercury in the Arctic waters and our sea food, a new study suggests.
http://www.sbsun.com/article/20140120/NEWS/140129962

U.S. appeals court won't revisit California fuel standard ruling
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld California's regulations last year. In a decision released on Wednesday, the 9th Circuit refused to rehear the case before a larger panel of judges. The case could still be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/01/22/california-carbon-lawsuit-idUKL2N0KW1BR20140122

National News

LA Times Editorial: Stop the foot-dragging on climate change
A U.N. panel says the world has perhaps just 15 years to make serious inroads on the problem. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress disagree
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-climate-change-20140121,0,6383495.story

Adrianna Quintero, NRDC: Latinos Want Action On Climate Change
Yes we care -- that's the message Latinos in the United States delivered loud and clear in a new poll by Latino Decisions for the Natural Resources Defense Council. A majority of us Latinos in the U.S. care about fighting climate change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrianna-quintero/post_6674_b_4652961.html

Proposed fracking in national forest meets broad opposition
The U.S. Forest Service considers allowing hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in George Washington National Forest in Virginia, stirring concern about risks to drinking water in the Washington, D.C., area.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-national-forest-fracking-20140123,0,987706.story

China's industry exporting air pollution to U.S., study says
China’s export industry is responsible for dirty emissions that are blowing across the Pacific Ocean and contributing to smog in the United States, a new scientific study says.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-china-exports-air-pollution-united-states-20140120,0,1142263.story

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