Weekly Green: July 28, 2014

Good afternoon, California. In recent headlines:

• California and Mexico sign pact to fight climate change;
• PPIC poll shows continued support for clean energy, concerns on cost;
• Judge halts plans to drill near Pinnacles National Park;
• 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

California and Mexico sign pact to fight climate change
California Governor Jerry Brown and Mexican environmental officials signed a pact on Monday aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an agreement that could eventually expand the market for carbon credits. The six-page memorandum of understanding calls for cooperation in developing carbon pricing systems and calls on the partners to explore ways to align those systems in the future.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/28/us-climatechange-california-mexico-idUSKBN0FX1XO20140728

Judge Halts Plans To Drill Near California National Park
A California judge has struck down plans for oil drilling near Pinnacles National Park, saying county officials failed to account for the numerous environmental risks of the drilling project when they approved it.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/24/3463619/drilling-california-national-park/

High-Speed Rail

California High-Speed Rail: Some Views From the Valley (Part 6 in a series)
For those joining us late: California's controversial High-Speed Rail project is worth paying attention to, no matter where you live. While everyone moans about America's decaying infrastructure, this is the most ambitious and important infrastructure project anywhere in the country. But the place where people are already paying closest attention is California's Central Valley, where the first links in the north-south chain would be laid.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/07/california-high-speed-railemdashsome-views-from-the-san-joaquin-valley/375125/

High-speed rail Pacheco Pass route upheld by appeals court
A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a proposed route for California's high-speed rail line connecting the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Valley. The decision is a short-term win for Gov. Jerry Brown, who has prioritized the $68-billion project that has become bogged down by legal and regulatory challenges.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california-high-speed-rail/ci_26211208/high-speed-rail-pacheco-pass-route-upheld-by

More California Environmental News

For Californians, higher costs dampen support for clean energy
An overwhelming majority of California residents support the state's mandate for reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, so long as they do not bear the higher costs of cleaner energy themselves, a new public opinion poll shows.
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/71941

Ships and blue whales on a collision course off California coast
Blue whales cluster for long periods in the busy shipping lanes off the California coast, according to a new study that raises concern about collisions between vessels and the endangered animals. "It's an unhappy coincidence," said Ladd Irvine, a marine mammal ecologist at Oregon State University.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-whales-shipping-lanes-20140723-story.html

System can prevent train accidents, rail industry slow to adopt
Faced with a huge increase in hazardous oil-carrying trains, California is urging quicker implementation of technology that would prevent train accidents caused by human error.
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/System-can-prevent-train-accidents-rail-industry-5650550.php

State, feds unveil Central Valley salmon restoration plans
State and federal wildlife agencies Tuesday unveiled ambitious plans to restore endangered salmon and steelhead fish in California’s Central Valley, including returning them to some habitats where they were shut out decades ago by dams and other development.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/22/6574107/state-feds-unveil-central-valley.html

Chevron agrees to new Richmond refinery project conditions in hope of gaining approval
Looking to satisfy city and state leaders, Chevron Corp. on Monday reversed its previous position and agreed to a lower cap on greenhouse gas emissions stemming from its $1 billion Richmond refinery modernization project.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_26190816/chevron-agrees-new-richmond-refinery-project-conditions-hope

Los Angeles bike trains - beating the traffic in a car-centric city
Los Angeles is one of the world's most car-centric cities, and when self-professed fearless cyclist Nona Varnado moved there from New York, she faced very real anxiety when trying to share the road with drivers who, she says, would kill you to save two seconds. However, after overcoming her own fears, Varnado founded LA Bike Trains – free, weekly rides led by proficient cyclists across the city giving would-be bike commuters the routes, the skills and the confidence to ride to work.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2014/jul/22/los-angeles-bike-trains-beating-traffic-car-centric-city

Vinod Khosla blames costly demands for Martins Beach trial
The ugly courtroom clash over Martins Beach, near Half Moon Bay, would not have happened if government and environmental zealots had not made unreasonable and costly demands, billionaire investor Vinod Khosla said Thursday in defense of a beach closure that has captivated Californians up and down the coast.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Vinod-Khosla-blames-costly-demands-for-Martins-5645423.php

Oil drilling measure to be on Hermosa Beach’s March ballot
Hermosa Beach residents will get to vote on whether or not they want an oil company to drill in their town. That’s not news, this is: the measure will be on the March ballot, not the November ballot, as city officials wanted, and not on the June ballot, as the oil company wanted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2014/07/24/oil-drilling-measure-to-be-on-hermosa-beach-s.html

Mayor sets out to transform L.A. streets through 'urban acupuncture'
San Pedro's Gaffey Street is no one's idea of a quaint village. Cars pour off the 110 Freeway, frequently at high speeds.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-adv-great-streets-20140727-story.html

Drought

Voluntary water conservation not effective, data show
Voluntary conservation measures are not reliably saving water during the worst drought to hit California in a generation, according to data from water agencies across the state.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/28/6586310/voluntary-water-conservation-not.html

Drought fight brings incentives, enforcement
"Beer without water is very crunchy." That slogan appears on the back of the latest craft-beer map from the San Diego Brewers Guild and is the latest attempt to reach residents who might not be thinking about the drought gripping California.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jul/27/drought-enforcement-incentive/

California agencies can’t say if they are meeting water conservation goals
Still, six months after Brown declared a water emergency, few state agencies know whether their conservation efforts are meeting the mark. They are not required to compare water consumption this year to last, and few have, The Associated Press found.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20140727/NEWS/140729523

California Marinas Docked by Drought
Marinas and boat ramps across the state are turning away customers, and even spots where water is still relatively plentiful say visitors are staying away, assuming things are worse than they are.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/california-marinas-docked-by-drought-1406504303

Water restrictions backed by 75 percent of Californians, new poll says
Few local water agencies have forced customers to cut their water use amid the ongoing drought, but a new poll shows a large majority of Californians support mandates to turn off the tap.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_26206669/new-poll-75-percent-californians-support-local-mandatory

Drought Becomes Top Environmental Priority for Californians
Drought has moved to the top of the list in the latest survey of Californians' environmental worries. In a statewide poll conducted during the second week of July, more than a third of respondents (35 percent) cited water supply and drought as "the most important environmental issue facing California today." That more than doubled the second most popular response, which was air pollution.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/23/drought-becomes-top-environmental-priority-for-californians/

Major California reservoirs below 50% capacity as drought wears on
The latest report released Wednesday by the California Department of Water Resources shows 10 of the state's 12 major reservoirs below 50% of their total capacity, with some nearing just 20%. "They are not historical levels, but they are seriously low," department spokesman Ted Thomas said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-reservoirs-below-capacity-20140723-story.html

Property taxes could pay for $25 billion Delta tunnels without public vote
Major water districts in California are quietly considering using property taxes -- and possibly raising them without a vote of the public -- to help fund Gov. Jerry Brown's $25 billion plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_26198239/property-taxes-could-pay-25-billion-delta-tunnels

Groundwater level in San Bernardino Basin hits historic low
Measured in volume, the groundwater level for the basin is now about 500,000 acre-feet below full, according to Douglas Headrick, general manager for the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District. That would put it below the previous low recorded in 1964, a period that followed a 20-year drought, officials said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-groundwater-levels-san-bernardino-new-low-point-20140722-story.html

L.A. County supervisors order agencies to scale back water use
Los Angeles County's board of supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to order restrictions on water use for its government operations, following a state directive to Californians to curb water usage during one of the worst droughts in decades.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drought-county-water-use-20140722-story.html

National and International

Under Water: The EPA’s Struggle to Combat Pollution
For years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been frustrated in its efforts to pursue hundreds of cases of water pollution — repeatedly tied up in legal fights about exactly what bodies of water it has the authority to monitor and protect. Efforts in Congress to clarify the EPA's powers have been defeated. And two Supreme Court decisions have done little to decide the question.
http://www.propublica.org/article/under-water-the-epas-struggle-to-combat-pollution

NASA Satellites Reveal Shocking Groundwater Loss In Colorado River Basin
Groundwater losses from the Colorado River basin appear massive enough to challenge long-term water supplies for the seven states and parts of Mexico that it serves, according to a new study released Thursday that used NASA satellites.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/satellites-groundwater-loss_n_5618634.html

The White House Has a Plan to Stop Oil Train Explosions -- Eventually
In the latest chapter of the exploding oil trains saga, the Obama administration has finally released its proposal on how to make them safer and, hopefully, less prone to blowing up. The fixes include phasing out old tank cars, enforcing lower speed limits, using better brakes, and possibly making railroads reroute trains containing large amounts of oil around populated areas.
http://origin-www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-23/the-white-house-has-a-plan-to-stop-oil-train-explosions-eventually

States Against E.P.A. Rule on Carbon Pollution Would Gain, Study Finds
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma are among the most vocal Republican skeptics of the science that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming, but a new study to be released Thursday found that their states would be among the biggest economic winners under a regulation proposed by President Obama to fight climate change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/states-against-epa-rule-on-carbon-pollution-would-gain-study-finds.html

The strange relationship between global warming denial and... speaking English
Polling from IPSO Mori shows US clearly the worst in its climate denial, followed by UK and Australia.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/23/the-strange-relationship-between-global-warming-denial-and-speaking-english

Can You Trust That Organic Label On Imported Food?
Peter Laufer, a writer and professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, doesn’t just wonder. He’s an outright skeptic, especially because the organic label seems to him like a license to raise prices. And also because those products are arriving through supply chains that stretch to far corners of the world.
http://nepr.net/news/2014/07/23/can-you-trust-that-organic-label-on-imported-food/

Beef environment costs 10 times that of other livestock
Beef cattle need 28 times more land and 11 times more irrigation water than pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While it has long been known that beef has a greater environmental impact than other meats, the authors of this paper say theirs is is the first to quantify the scale in a comparative way.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28409704

New report expounds on old problem: Lack of diversity in green groups
The report, called “The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations,” is billed as “the most comprehensive report on diversity in the environmental movement.” It was compiled by a working group of thought leaders on environment and race called Green 2.0, led by University of Michigan professor Dorceta Taylor.
http://grist.org/climate-energy/new-report-expounds-on-old-problem-lack-of-diversity-in-green-groups/

What is climate change doing to our mental health?
Research on mental health and climate change in Australia pretty much starts and ends with a very modest and soft-spoken psychiatric epidemiologist, Helen Berry of the University of Canberra. She’s responsible for 27 papers and book chapters published on the subject since 2011.
http://grist.org/climate-energy/what-is-climate-change-doing-to-our-mental-health/

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