Weekly Green: October 15, 2013

This week's environmental headlines include:

• California: first state to ban lead ammo;
• A law to protect firefighters (and all of us);
• Governor Brown signs bill to tackle water crisis;
• Tahoe regional planning bill signed;
• Envisioning a greener L.A. River;
• ... and a giant sea monster!

» Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Green, a 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: Climate Change Report a Wake-Up Call

New State Laws on Fracking and Toxics: A Mixed Bag for Environmentalists
Here at KQED, like a lot of news outfits, we tend to cover bills before they pass, during the often fiery debates over whether they deserve the Governor's signature. On Sunday, those debates (at least some of them) came to an end with the winding down of the legislative season... There were a number of science and environment bills in the mix.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2013/10/14/new-state-laws-on-fracking-and-toxics-a-mixed-bag-for-environmentalists/

California is First State to Ban Lead Ammo in Hunters' Guns
In a signing statement, Governor Brown noted that lead poisoning from ammunition has been noted for more than a century, with pioneering outdoor writer George Bird Grinnell noting the problem in 1894 in the magazine Field and Stream. Brown said that the escape clause offered hunters sufficient protection against an inadvertent total ammunition ban that allowed him to sign the bill, saying that "hunters and anglers are the first conservationists."
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/legislation/california-enacts-first-statewide-lead-ammo-ban.html

Carla Hall: Gov. Brown does good with lead-ammo ban, bobcat protection
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law AB 1213, the Bobcat Protection Bill, which will set a no-trapping buffer zone around Joshua Tree National Park and other parks where bobcats are protected year-round. He also signed AB 711, which bans lead ammunition on hunting grounds in California.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-governor-bobcats-ban-lead-ammo-20131011,0,4112550.story

A law to protect firefighters... and all of us
Retired San Francisco Fire Captain Tony Stefani, a 28-year veteran of the Department, has been a particularly compelling advocate for AB 127, authored by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner. Tony knows all too well the dangers of ubiquitous flame retardant chemicals.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/law-protect-firefighters-and-all-us

California governor signs bills to tackle state's water crisis
California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed more than a dozen bills aimed at improving access to water in the state, where drought is common and tension is high over the competing needs of residents, agriculture and the environment. The new laws attempt to address some of the most immediate concerns, including the difficulty faced by small communities when local groundwater becomes polluted or is over-pumped. The measures also reflect growing interest in California in finding ways to safely recycle wastewater so that it can be used again for drinking and cooking.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/08/us-usa-california-water-idUSBRE99716K20131008

Gov. Brown approves bill on planning for Lake Tahoe
Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed legislation renewing California's partnership with Nevada to a plan aimed at preserving Lake Tahoe and the surrounding region. The bill commits California to cooperating with Nevada in seeking congressional amendments to the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact, including repeal of Nevada's planned withdrawal from the compact in 2015 and California's proposal to reestablish a California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency  in 2014.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-gov-brown-approves-bill-on-planning-for-lake-tahoe-20131012,0,1418959.story

California Environmental News

The Two Faces of California: How the greenest state in the country copes with an oil and gas boom
Hermosa Beach's struggle reflects a broader battle taking place in California: The greenest state in the union, with a fierce regulatory regime combating pollution and fostering environmentalism on almost every level, is having to simultaneously cope with an energy boom along its oil-rich shoreline.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/new-energy-paradigm/the-two-faces-of-california-20131014

California's struggling 'hydrogen highway' plan gets new life -- and drivers will pay
In what may be California's last chance to build a "hydrogen highway" lined with thousands of high-tech vehicles emitting nothing but water vapor from their tailpipes, Gov. Jerry Brown has approved a plan to construct 100 hydrogen fueling stations across the state by 2024. However, it comes with a catch. Motorists -- not oil companies -- will pay for it. Only a year ago, the California Air Resources Board required Big Oil to pay for the new stations. But after oil companies threatened to sue, Brown agreed to a compromise in which the costs of building hydrogen stations will be shifted to car owners through existing vehicle registration fees.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24294103/new-life-californias-struggling-hydrogen-highway-plan

Mayor, managers and nonprofits envision a greener L.A. River
In the past seven years, the city of Los Angeles, working with Los Angeles County and the city of Burbank, which shares a portion of the L.A. River on its border, have been trying to convince the federal agency to support ripping out some concrete and adding amenities. The cities support the most expensive alternative. "The river is the backbone of this city," said L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.
http://www.dailynews.com/article/20131010/NEWS/131019939

California will not pay to reopen Yosemite, other national sites closed by shutdown
Citing California's own precarious financial position, officials said Thursday that the state would not spend its own money to reopen national parks closed by the federal government shutdown.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/10/5812014/california-will-not-pay-to-reopen.html

California's alternative-energy program under scrutiny
Billions spent on wind, hydrogen, cow manure projects are questioned after some investments go bust, but the program is expected to grow. It could surpass current state support for the UC system
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-energy-subsidies-20131014,0,1024399.story

California water officials to inspect marijuana farms
California water quality regulators will soon begin inspecting illegal marijuana growing operations in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, reversing an earlier ban intended to protect employees.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/08/5805108/california-water-officials-agree.html

Greenwashing the War on Drugs
Law enforcement is now pointing to the environmental harms caused by illegal pot farms to justify the ongoing Drug War. But it was the Drug War that sent growers into California's forests.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/greenwashing-the-war-on-drugs/Content?oid=3732589

New vision sought for state parks
California's state parks are mostly identified with long walks in the redwoods, camping under the stars and beachcombing. But as the state's population evolves - in color, age and recreational tastes - so too must its parks, say those developing a new vision for the 280-park system that draws 70 million visitors a year.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/oct/12/new-vision-sought-for-state-parks/

Tensions high over Tahoe bears
Rimmed by snow-clad peaks, as blue as a tropical sea, Lake Tahoe is one of the nation's most magnificent settings. But today, that splendor masks a divisive drama onshore: a bitter battle over bears.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/13/5812680/tensions-high-over-tahoe-bears.html

Water industry opposes revised chromium-6 limit
Water industry groups voiced opposition Friday to a controversial proposal to set a standard on the amount of a cancer-causing metal in the state's drinking water.
http://www.sbsun.com/environment-and-nature/20131011/water-industry-opposes-revised-chromium-6-limit

Fracking Projects Approved Off Santa Barbara Coast, Opposition Swells
After a media investigation revealed that federal regulators quietly approved at least four fracking projects off the Santa Barbara coast without environmental review, a national environmental group is calling for an immediate end to the practice.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/petroleum/opposition-swells-to-fracking-off-the-california-coast.html

Protesters blast state toxics department's handling of hazardous waste
About 100 demonstrators from across the state rallied in Sacramento on Wednesday to protest the state Department of Toxic Substances Control's handling of hazardous waste in their communities.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-toxics-protest-20131009,0,1762664.story

Climate Crisis

US Supreme Court to hear challenge to EPA climate change regulation
In a blow to the Obama administration, the US supreme court on Tuesday agreed to hear a challenge to part of the US Environmental Protection Agency's first wave of regulations aimed at tackling climate change. By agreeing to hear a single question of the many presented by nine different petitioners, the court set up its biggest environmental dispute since 2007.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/15/supreme-court-challenge-epa-climate-change

Michael Bloomberg, Hank Paulson & Tom Steyer: We need climate-change risk assessment
If the United States were run like a business, its board of directors would fire its financial advisers for failing to disclose the significant and material risks associated with unmitigated climate change.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-03/opinions/42665103_1_climate-change-tom-steyer-new-mexico

USA Today: Climate change is here and now: Our view
All too often, global warming is discussed as something that will affect future generations of people, penguins and polar bears. That it will. But a mounting body of evidence demonstrates that climate change is neither distant nor theoretical. It is here and now...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/10/14/climate-change-global-warming-ipcc-editorials-debates/2983979/

Fracking hurts US climate change credibility, say scientists
As fracking catapults the United States to the top of the list of the world's largest crude oil and natural gas producers, climate scientists worry that the nation's booming fossil fuels production is growing too quickly with too little concern about its impact on climate change, possibly endangering America's efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/11/fracking-us-climate-credibility-shale-gas

What IS this thing?

18-foot-long sea creature found off Calif. Coast
A marine science instructor snorkeling off the Southern California coast spotted something out of a fantasy novel: the silvery carcass of an 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/18-foot-long-sea-creature-found-off-Calif-coast-4897234.php

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