Weekly Green: March 6, 2014

In recent headlines:

• Gov. Jerry Brown signs drought relief package;
• Los Angeles takes another step toward fracking ban;
• Clean-car subsidies go into high gear;
• The scary new evidence on BPA-free plastics;
• ... 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

Water & CA Drought

Americans use twice as much water as they think they do, study says
Americans use twice the amount of water they think they do, and appear to be particularly oblivious about how much H2O they flush down the toilet on a daily basis, according to new research.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-americans-underestimate-personal-water-usage-study-says-20140227,0,3836890.story

Jerry Brown signs drought relief package
With drought conditions still challenging California, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a $687 million relief package Saturday, including money for infrastructure improvements, emergency water shortages and aid to farmworkers.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/jerry-brown-signs-drought-relief-package-in-dry-california.html

Pols pressure state to stall water cuts
Four California Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, sent an urgent appeal Wednesday to the state Water Resources Control Board pleading for two-week delay in a decision that was expected Friday to slash water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers.
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/03/05/california-pols-pressure-state-to-stall-water-cuts/

Drought linked to polluted winter air
Lack of rainfall, along with low winds and stagnant conditions that trapped pollution near the ground, contributed to increase in soot, officials say.
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-0305-winter-air-20140305,0,1205897.story

California’s Drought Enters the ‘What Drought?’ Phase
The talk of drought is everywhere, but if you look up and see our greening hills and the water ponding on streets and coursing down rivers and streams, it sure doesn’t look like a drought.
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/03/04/now-its-time-for-the-other-kind-of-california-drought/

More CA Environmental & Politics

Los Angeles takes another step toward fracking ban
Following up on its vote this week to seek a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing — aka fracking — the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday took action to authorize a change in local land-use laws to outlaw the practice, designed to increase the output of oil wells.
http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20140305/los-angeles-takes-another-step-toward-fracking-ban

Steven Greenhut: Coastal bill would erode due process
The commission is loved by environmentalists and loathed by many property owners as Californians still wrestle with the same question: What does it mean for everyone to mind the coast? Legislators will weigh in this year if they revisit a bill by San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins that would give the commission vastly expanded powers – namely, the right to impose fines without first taking property owners to court.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/28/coastal-bill-would-erode-due-process/

L.A. Supervisor Molina proposes 'toxic threat strike team'
Decrying the slow response of state agencies to the public health threat posed by a Vernon battery recycler and other polluting facilities, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina on Wednesday called for the creation of a county “toxic threat strike team” that could take action when the state fails to do so.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-toxic-threat-strike-team-20140305,0,7190652.story

California Carbon Tax Would Be First at the Gas Pump
“The cap is the linchpin of AB 32, and exempting oil companies is a nonstarter,” Senator Fran Pavley, the Ventura County Democrat who wrote the legislation, said by e-mail. “It’s not fair to force drivers to pay and let oil companies off the hook.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-28/california-carbon-tax-would-be-first-at-the-gas-pump.html

Big Oil critics urge residents to resist new crude-by-rail proposals at Contra Costa County refineries
Tight supplies and rising fuel prices portend a future of increased oil harvests from tough-to-reach North American fields, which will send more crude oil by rail car to Contra Costa County refineries and pose safety and environmental risks to the area, according to industry critics and environmentalists.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_25266696/big-oil-critics-urge-residents-resist-new-crude

California National Parks Lost Millions During Shutdown
A new park service report finds California lost more than $30 million during the 16-day shutdown, when parks were closed. The report shows that Yosemite and its surrounding communities took a nearly $7 million-hit in October, while the Golden Gate National Recreation Area lost just over $6 million.
http://www.capradio.org/19331

Massive desert solar plant opens, already a threatened species
The Ivanpah facility uses five square miles of mirrors to turn water into steam. But cheaper photovoltaic cells and natural gas plus shaky funding may make project the last of its kind in the U.S.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ivanpah-technology-20140302,0,7705685.story

Clean-car subsidies go into high gear
Did you know that poorer people’s budgets (and the air) could improve if they were provided help to buy newer, efficient cars? Those are conclusions from a report, “No Californian Left Behind,” published last week by a think tank called Next Generation. This might be the type of thing one expects from a San Francisco-based group that focuses on climate change, but its research provides fodder for an idea already floated by California air-quality officials.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/mar/03/clean-car-subsidies-go-into-high-gear/

Jerry Brown expanding plan for high-speed rail
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday defended his plan to use carbon-reduction funds for years ahead to prop up California's high-speed rail project, saying uncertainty about the project's long-term financing is "one of the greatest questions of the critics" and that fees paid by carbon producers are an appropriate source of funds.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/02/video-jerry-brown-defends-long-term-plan-to-use-carbon-fees-for-high-speed.html

Hiltzik: Break California into six states? A fine idea, but...
A venture capital investor's answer to an out-of-touch government is to break up California into six states. It's a "solution" that could have horrific consequences.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20140228,0,1753172.column

National News

The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics
Even as the industry crafted defensive talking points, some companies began offering BPA-free alternatives. But they often didn't bother testing them for other potentially toxic compounds or synthetic hormones. Nor did they have to: Under US law, chemicals are presumed safe until proven otherwise, and companies are rarely required to collect or disclose chemical-safety data.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/03/tritan-certichem-eastman-bpa-free-plastic-safe

KQED-FM “Forum”: BPA-Free Plastics Linked to Adverse Human Health Effects
We'll discuss the latest news on the controversy over plastics, and why the plastics industry has fought hard protect these chemical additives from regulation.
http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201403060900

US judge says lawyers suing Chevron committed fraud
A federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday that a landmark $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador was the result of fraud, committed by lawyers who sued the oil giant for allegedly poisoning part of the Amazon rain forest.
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2014/03/04/us-judge-says-lawyers-suing-chevron-committed-fraud/

Climate engineering ideas no longer considered pie in the sky
Scientists backed by the government and Bill Gates are studying schemes such as sunlight-blocking particles and giant carbon vacuums to halt climate change.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-engineering-20140305,0,3602250.story

Republicans use Putin as an excuse to push fossil-fuel projects
The arguments advanced by Murkowski, Boehner, and even Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) rest on two more false premises: that a disruption in Russian gas supplies to Europe represents a fearsome threat to the Continent, and that Russia’s behavior might therefore be altered by increased American gas exports.
http://grist.org/climate-energy/republicans-use-putin-as-an-excuse-to-push-fossil-fuel-projects/

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