Weekly Green: January 4, 2013

In this week's headlines:

• Jerry Brown readjusts his stand on the environment;
• Ex-Marine general takes helm of state parks agency;
• Deal on "fiscal cliff" gives wind industry a lifeline;
• Sierra snowpack at 134 percent of average;
• ... and much more!

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Top of the Ticket

Jerry Brown readjusts his stand on the environment vs. business
As the state forges ahead with an ambitious program to combat global warming by penalizing major polluters, Brown has said he also wants to unshackle development and create jobs by overhauling California's signature environmental law. And although he signed legislation requiring the state to get a third of its power from renewable energy sources, he is supporting the oil industry's push for more drilling.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-environment-20130101,0,7821911.story

Air board chair on pundits' list for EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her resignation this week, and already people are speculating about who will next head the agency. One name on nearly every pundit's short list: California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/capitolnotebook/article/Air-board-chair-on-pundits-list-for-EPA-4153321.php

Lisa Jackson stood up for all of us
When she took the helm at the Environmental Protection Agency four years ago, Administrator Lisa Jackson set out to take on the great environmental scourge of our time: global climate change.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/jackson-stood-upfor-all-of-us-85685.html

Ex-Marine general takes helm of state parks agency
Anthony Jackson is charged with managing 280 facilities across 1.3 million acres with a $500-million budget.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parks-director-20130102,0,2035092.story

Deal on "fiscal cliff" gives wind industry a lifeline
The wind industry spent most of 2012 begging Congress to extend the production tax credit for utility-scale wind turbines.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22299460/deal-fiscal-cliff-gives-wind-industry-lifeline

Make a resolution for a sustainable 2013
Sustainability requires us to more closely examine our relationship with the environment as well as with others around us. Here are five simple resolutions you can make to help the planet and save you money and time.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Make-a-resolution-for-a-sustainable-2013-4158825.php

CA Environmental News

California Law Banning Shark Fin Sales Survives Legal Attack
A federal judge in California refused to block enforcement of the state's shark fin sales ban, rejecting arguments that the law discriminates against Chinese- Americans.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-02/judge-refuses-to-block-california-law-banning-shark-fin-sales.html

Dan Walters: California's water wars breaking out again
Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink? Samuel Taylor Coleridge didn't attach a question mark when he penned those words in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" two-plus centuries ago. But the eroteme seems appropriate in 2013 as Californians simultaneously experience a wet winter and contemplate how to avoid water shortages in the future.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/02/5086702/dan-walters-californias-water.html

Climate change may drastically alter region
Climate change could profoundly affect the Tahoe area, scientists say, taking the snow out of the mountains and the blue out of the water.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_22269700/climate-change-may-drastically-alter-region

Small-scale solar's big potential goes untapped
Recent studies project that California could derive a substantial percentage of its energy needs from rooftop solar installations, whether on suburban homes or city roofs or atop big-box stores.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-future-20121229,0,4926686.story

Sierra snowpack at 134 percent of average
California's mountain snowpack, crucial to summer water supplies, is off to a good start after a wet December.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/03/5088895/sierra-snowpack-at-134-percent.html

Name change: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The department, which also puts forth conservation plans to balance the needs of threatened species with the needs of landowners, has its work cut out for itself. It must try to pull back some species from the brink of extinction and manage all other remaining wildlife in a state known for its biological diversity and as the nation's most populous. California now has an estimated 38 million residents.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-california-department-of-fish-and-wildlife-20130102,0,2677905.story

Pinnacles a step from being national park
Legislation to make the Pinnacles National Monument, 80 miles south of San Francisco, the nation's newest national park is headed to President Obama for his signature, after the bill passed the Senate without dissent Sunday evening.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Pinnacles-a-step-from-being-national-park-4159050.php

Secrecy pact challenged at San Onofre
Nuclear safety regulators have dismissed objections to a nondisclosure agreement that seals from public view some documents related to faulty steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant and an application to restart the facility.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jan/03/san-onofre-records-request-denied/

More Greenhouse Gas Permits to Hit Auction
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), which oversees the greenhouse gas allowances auction under the state's new Cap and Trade program, will be selling permits to emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 22.5 million tons of carbon dioxide in its second auction on February 19.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/climate-change/more-greenhouse-gas-permits-to-hit-auction.html

Rare river otter makes home in of seaside bath facing Pacific Ocean in San Francisco
San Francisco's newest star - the first river otter seen in the city in decades - surfaced its whiskery head furtively, a mouth full of sea grass. The crowd oohed as large waves pounded rocks just offshore, a briny smell and chill in the air.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/rare-river-otter-makes-home-in-ruins-of-seaside-bath-near-golden-gate-bridge/2013/01/03/286ecacc-55d4-11e2-89de-76c1c54b1418_story.html

CA Politics

10 stories to watch in California politics for 2013
2013 isn't an election year, and promises to be the first year in a long time without a severe fiscal crisis in California.  So that means a year where there won't be much to watch in political circles, right? Think again.
http://www.news10.net/capitol/article/223327/525/10-stories-to-watch-in-Calif-politics-for-2013

Nine former CA legislators join 113th Congress freshman class
Former Sens. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, and Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, and former Assembly members Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, Tony Cardenas, D-Los Angeles, Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and David Valadao, R-Hanford, won election to the House in the November election.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/01/eight-ca-legislators-join-113th-congress-freshman-class.html

Assembly Speaker Pérez announces committee lineups
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez released today the lower house's committee assignments for the 2013-2014 legislative session.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/01/assembly-speaker-perez-announces-full-committee-line-ups.html

National News

Next-Generation Environmental Activist Dies at 39
Rebecca Tarbotton was a female 30-something in a universe of environmental leaders dominated by male 50-somethings... She was instrumental in the Rainforest Action Network's work persuading many food companies - General Mills most prominent among them - to renounce the use of palm oil, which is grown on plantations whose proliferation abets the destruction of rain forests in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/a-next-generation-environmental-activist-dies-at-39/

Oil Rig's Owner Settles Gulf Spill Case for $1.4 Billion
The driller whose floating Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew out in 2010 to cause the nation's biggest oil spill has agreed to settle civil and criminal claims with the federal government for $1.4 billion, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/business/energy-environment/transocean-settles-with-us-over-oil-spill-in-gulf-of-mexico.html

Rig Grounding Revives Debate Over Shell's Arctic Drilling
This week's grounding of a rig off the coast of Alaska adds to a series of mishaps in Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)'s seven-year quest to tap the vast oil reserves of the Arctic and emboldened critics who say it can't be done safely.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/rig-grounding-revives-debate-over-shell-s-arctic-drilling.html

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