Weekly Green: October 17, 2014

In recent headlines:

• Presidential-style 'inauguration' for California Senate leader Kevin de León;
• Team climbs high to assess redwoods threat;
• "The Price We All Pay" Campaign Shames Polluting Corporations for What They Cost Us;
• How Chevron swamps a small city with campaign money and bogus news;
• ... and much more!

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Top News

Presidential-style 'inauguration' for California Senate leader Kevin de León
In an elaborate event at Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring mariachis, a Korean drum circle and a student color guard, Democrat Kevin de León was sworn in Wednesday as leader of the state Senate — the first Latino to hold the post since 1883.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-deleon-disney-hall-20141016-story.html

"The Price We All Pay" Campaign Shames Polluting Corporations for What They Cost Us
Constituents of California office-holders are being urged to sign up as "citizen cosponsors" of the Government By the People Act (H.R. 20), "which would combat the influence of big money in politics and amplify the voice of average Americans," claims the California League of Conservation Voters. "Show Congress that you want to stop toxic money from controlling our elections!"
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/10/the_price_we_all_pay_california_league_of_conservation_voters.php

How Chevron swamps a small city with campaign money and bogus news
A few weeks ago, we described how the giant oil company Chevron was barraging little Richmond, Calif. (pop. 107,000), the site of one of its major refineries, with corporate PR disguised as community "news." Its instrument was an objective-looking website, known as the Richmond Standard, purporting to be a news portal for residents of Richmond.  Now we have more to say about how Chevron (2013 revenue: $220 billion) is trying to influence the upcoming municipal elections in Richmond, which pit a pro-Chevron bloc of city council members against an anti-Chevron bloc.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-chevron-deluge-of-campaign-money-20141013-column.html

President Obama designates San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
On a beautiful, sunny, monumental October day, President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to establish nearly 350,000 acres of national forest land in the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California as a national monument.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/thank-you-mr-president

Environment & Politics

Why we support Prop 1
NRDC [and CLCV] fought hard to ensure that legislators crafted a bond that’s good for California’s environment and economy. And while it’s not perfect, it has broad bipartisan support and is backed by conservation groups, local water districts, business and labor leaders, editorial boards all around the state...
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/notthoff-why-we-support-prop-1

Rachel Maddow: Chevron Spends Big Bucks to Buy Local Election
In August 2012, a rusted pipe inside a massive Chevron refinery in Richmond, California caused an explosion and fire that spewed toxic chemicals into the air, sending 15,000 people to the hospital for treatment. Since then, the city of Richmond has been eager to impose new safety regulations on Chevron. A year after the fire, it filed a lawsuit against the company, citing its record of safety violations and disregard for public welfare going back to 1989. Chevron’s response? As Rachel Maddow reported, they’re trying to buy the city government of Richmond.
http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/14/chevron-richmond-california-election/

Desert energy plan moves forward
Federal and state public agencies have endorsed a draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan designed to minimize the impact of solar, wind and geothermal power plants on delicate wildlife and habitat in an area spanning 22 million acres.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/16/desert-energy-plan-moves-forward/

Exide hazardous waste dripped onto roads from trucks, records show
Hazardous waste from an embattled Vernon battery recycler dripped from tractor-trailers onto public roadways last year, according to recently released public documents in which a state environmental inspector called the leaks an "on-going problem" that "needs to be addressed immediately."
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-exide-waste-20141016-story.html

California's Carbon Trading Program May Give You Money Soon
California households who get their electricity from the state's privately owned utilities will be getting a bit of a present in their electric bills this fall, thanks to the state's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program. Most California residents' electric bills will be credited an average of $35 in October or November through the state's Climate Credit program. The money comes from emissions permits purchased by the state's largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/utilities/californias-carbon-trading-program-may-give-you-money-soon.html

Winter rains not likely to ease California drought
Drought conditions will likely ease in much of the West this winter, but not in most of California, according to a new climate report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article2916187.html

High Temps Intensified California Drought
The showers and cooler temperatures in the forecast this week won’t be a drought buster — but they may help take the edge off conditions that have been been making the drought even worse. Federal climate trackers said on Tuesday that the the January-September period was the warmest on record in California, besting the previous record by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The announcement comes two weeks after the state’s 2014 “water year,” went into the books on September 30 as the third driest on record.
http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/10/14/high-temps-intensified-california-drought/

Vast landscape charred by King fire will receive emergency treatment
Rugged and isolated, the Rubicon River Valley on the border of El Dorado and Placer counties was for many years an idyll of old growth trees and icy swimming holes. Then the King fire roared through last month, turning a 20-mile stretch of the canyon into a vast dead zone of ashen earth and smoldering stumps.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article2691000.html

Court gives California’s proposed high-speed rail project a boost
Gov. Jerry Brown’s high-speed rail project took a step forward Wednesday when the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by opponents of the first-stage funding for the proposed San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Court-gives-California-s-proposed-high-speed-5825246.php

Oil industry helps fund group that paid for De Leon's inauguration
The $50,000 inauguration of Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) sparked some controversy because it was paid for by the California Latino Legislative Caucus Foundation, which raises its money from a who’s who of special interests that lobby the Legislature.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-oil-industry-helps-fund-group-that-held-de-leons-inauguration-20141015-story.html

Sean Parker’s Big Sur punishment — create an app
In a novel punishment for a Silicon Valley bad boy, former Facebook president Sean Parker will not only have to fork out $2.5 million to make amends for his environmental blunder at his Big Sur wedding last year, authorities said Thursday. He must also create a beach-mapping app for the state agency that busted him.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Big-Sur-benefits-from-ex-Facebook-president-s-5827563.php

L.A. sued by two companies over rejection of solar array plan
Two out-of-state companies are suing Los Angeles after their plan to install an array of 3,500 solar cells on the northeast edge of the San Fernando Valley was thwarted by a local commission.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-solar-lawsuit-20141017-story.html?track=rss

Proposed San Francisco law would put a solar panel on nearly every roof
San Francisco could soon require solar panels on most new construction in the city and push owners of existing apartment buildings to plant photovoltaic arrays on their roofs.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Proposed-S-F-law-would-put-a-solar-panel-on-5827997.php

The Planet Just Had Its Hottest September On Record
Last month was the warmest September globally since records began being kept in 1880, NASA reported Sunday. January through September data have 2014 already at the third warmest on record. Projections by NOAA make clear 2014 is taking aim at hottest year on record.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/13/3579242/nasa-hottest-september-on-record/

U.S. considers climate change plan that would mandate emission cuts
The United States is considering a proposal to combat climate change that would require countries to offer plans for curtailing greenhouse gas emissions on a certain schedule but would leave it to individual nations to determine how deep their cuts would be, said Todd Stern, the nation’s chief climate negotiator.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-climate-change-proposal-20141015-story.html

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