Weekly Green: July 14, 2014

Good afternoon, California. In recent headlines:

• Big Oil-fueled campaign to slow implementation of climate law AB 32 heats up;
• New fracking regs delayed half a year by California Legislature;
• California primary hits all-time low for turnout, high for vote-by-mail;
• More drought news, 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

Above the Fold

Democratic bill would slow California's effort to curb climate change
Political-economic fights at the Capitol never really end. They just morph into new incarnations.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-capitol-business-beat-20140714-story.html

NRDC Blog: What Big Oil isn't telling you about California's clean energy law
Last week, Big Oil cranked up, once again, its campaign to block the next critical step in California’s widely supported and successful clean energy law (AB 32) by backing last-minute radical changes to a bill by Assemblymember Henry Perea (D-Fresno) to exempt the oil industry from carbon pollution limits already in effect for California’s other major emitters.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/smui/weve_seen_this_play_before_how.html

Industry divided over cap-and-trade fuel program bill (quotes CLCV CEO Sarah Rose)
Assemblymember Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno), in partnership with members from both houses, has introduced legislation through Assembly Bill (AB) 69, which would delay putting fuels under the cap-and-trade program until January 1, 2018.
http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/industry-divided-over-cap-and-trade-fuel-program-bill/2014-07-07

California’s New Fracking Regulations Delayed Half a Year
California’s new regulations for hydraulic fracturing will be delayed by six months, after state legislators approved a bill in late June authorizing the change.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/11/californias-new-fracking-regulations-delayed-half-a-year/

Here's another complication for fracking -- radioactive waste
The cuttings look like heaps of wet black sand, wrapped in a black plastic liner -- and they're radioactive. Those radioactive drill cuttings -- the waste pulled to the surface when a new well is drilled -- are opening a new front in the already-contentious battle over hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-07-09/heres-another-complication-fracking-radioactive-waste

The California High-Speed Rail Debate

Kicking Things Off
The Erie Canal. The transcontinental railroad. The Interstate Highway system. Big, expensive, controversial—and indispensable. Is the next one in this series a new rail network in our most famously freeway-centric state?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-california-high-speed-rail-debate-kicking-things-off/374135/

The Critics' Case
Every big peacetime project that any democracy has ever undertaken has generated controversy.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/california-high-speed-railmdashthe-critics-speak/374306/

Elections

California primary hits low for turnout, high for vote-by-mail
While a historically small number of Californians participated on Election Day, more of them than ever cast their votes by mail.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/11/6550858/california-primary-hits-low-for.html

Full recount could last beyond November election
Election officials in Kern and Imperial counties continued hand recounts Monday of thousands of ballots in the state controller’s race, with a new survey by the secretary of state’s office suggesting that the recount could last well beyond the Nov. 4 election if it covers all of the 15 counties sought by former Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/14/6555904/full-recount-could-last-beyond.html

Petition gatherers: Come for one measure, stay for another
Maybe the opportunity to support Tim Draper’s ballot measure to split California into six states is enough to stop you the second a signature gatherer approaches on the street. If not, he or she may have a more familiar way of getting your attention: the price of gas.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/10/6547239/petition-gatherers-come-for-one.html

Drought

California braces as drought sparks early fire season
In recent months, as California officials started to calculate the fire danger posed by the state’s prolonged and historic drought, they tucked an extra $23 million into the Cal Fire emergency wildfire budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, bringing its total to $209 million.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/12/6552366/california-braces-as-drought-sparks.html

Drought creates headaches for California recreation
But the drought has left its imprint, creating hardships big and small for outdoor recreation -- from the closure of kayaking and canoeing at Stevens Creek and Lexington reservoirs in Santa Clara County, to the temporary shutdown of fishing in several coastal streams during salmon and steelhead migration earlier this year, to the closure of a popular swim lagoon at Castaic Lake in Santa Clarita.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_26142012/drought-creates-headaches-california-recreation

Drought drawing bears near people at Lake Tahoe
Long accustomed to dealing with bad news "garbage" bears that become hooked on improperly stored trash at homes and businesses around Lake Tahoe, Nevada wildlife officials say they're increasingly responding to a new kind of troublemaker they've started calling "drought" bears.
http://www.montereyherald.com/state/ci_26132391/drought-drawing-bears-near-people-at-lake-tahoe

Your Almond Habit Is Sucking California Dry
In the long term, the almond boom may prove bad news for everyone who relies on California's farms for sustenance. You might have heard that the state, supplier of half of US-grown produce, is locked in its worst drought on record. Meanwhile, it takes 1.1 gallons of water to produce a single almond.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/07/your-almond-habit-sucking-califoirnia-dry

State proposes $500-a-day fines for water hogs
The proposal by the State Water Resources Control Board, unveiled Wednesday, would prohibit washing sidewalks, driveways and patios, watering lawns or gardens to the point of causing runoff, washing cars without a shut-off nozzle on the hose, and using potable water in fountains.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/State-proposes-500-a-day-fines-for-water-hogs-5609252.php

San Francisco concerned about fines for using water to clean streets
San Francisco officials say something smells funny about a state proposal to rein in water hogs. The new regulations, expected to be adopted Tuesday, include a statewide ban on washing streets and sidewalks, which could put a damper on a critical municipal chore: sending out city trucks to spray away the heaps of filth downtown.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-to-water-agency-We-need-to-spray-away-our-5616104.php

More Environmental News

Morain: Tom Steyer spends big to save the earth and for redemption
You might think last week didn’t start out happy for Tom Steyer, the San Francisco billionaire who is spending his money and time trying to save the earth by fighting climate change.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/13/6550824/dan-morain-the-american-way-of.html

Pesticide blamed for bee deaths now linked to bird declines
A class of pesticides linked to the catastrophic collapse of bee colonies has now been linked to declines in bird populations, according to a Dutch study.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-pesticide-bee-bird-20140709-story.html

Microplastic waste: This massive (tiny) threat to sea life is now in every ocean
Pollution of the oceans by tiny pieces of plastic debris is now so widespread that only radical action to eliminate the waste at source can limit further damage to marine wildlife, according to scientists.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/microplastic-waste-this-massive-tiny-threat-to-sea-life-is-now-in-every-ocean-9602430.html

6 ways climate change is ruining summer for everyone
Can’t stand the heat? Well, too bad, because sweating it out in hotter temperatures is only the beginning of what a warmer planet will mean. Below, six other ways that climate change will -- and has already begun to -- ruin summertime.
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/13/6_ways_climate_change_is_ruining_summer_for_everyone/

Mothers bring kids to Senate to push for EPA's climate change rule
More than 200 mothers and their children marched to dozens of Senate offices Wednesday, carrying handwritten signs and calling for members of Congress to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed anti-pollution rules, which seek to cut carbon emissions from power plants by 30%.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-mothers-climate-change-senate-nu-20140709-story.html

Brown signs bill allowing light-rail construction in Valley
A measure that would end the 23-year ban on light-rail construction in the San Fernando Valley has been signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, carving a path for optimizing the use of the Orange Line.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20140710/NEWS/140719968

Crunchtime for Khosla: Final showdown looms in Martins Beach trial
In one of the most famous showdowns in the 38-year history of the California Coastal Act, a group of passionate surfers and a Silicon Valley billionaire are preparing for the climactic battle in a trial over access at Martins Beach -- a case that could affect future clashes over the public's ability to enjoy the coast.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_26142025/crunchtime-khosla-final-showdown-looms-martins-beach-trial

And Finally...

"Happy Fracking Day" with Brown & Newsom
An El Dorado Hills artist who has a sort of personal history with Gov. Jerry Brown has once again immortalized him in sculpture – this time, taking him to task for letting oil and gas “fracking” proceed in the Golden State.
http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/2014/07/14/happy-fracking-day-with-brown-newsom/

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