Weekly Green: September 24, 2012

In recent news:

• Governor signs bill allowing same-day voter registration;
• Massive tumors in rats fed GMO corn;
• Calif. farms on a climate collision course;
• L.A.-area fracking study to be released;
• Fifty years after "Silent Spring";
• And much more.

Top of the Ticket

Jerry Brown signs bill allowing same-day voter registration
Gov. Jerry Brown today signed legislation allowing residents to register to vote up until and on Election Day, though the provision will not be implemented at least until 2014.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/09/jerry-brown-signs-bill-allowing-same-day-voter-registration.html

Impoverished rural town of Monson getting water filters
Like many small towns in Tulare County, Monson has hit a wall with the state over getting clean water to drink, but there is good news for the 200 residents in the impoverished community.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/09/16/2994243/rotary-buys-water-filters-for.html

Editor's Note: Urge Governor Brown to sign the Human Right to Water bill into law!
http://ecovote.org/water

Massive Tumors in Rats Fed Monsanto's Genetically Engineered Corn
The results are in from the first-ever peer-reviewed long-term health study of genetically engineered food – and they are worrying.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/massive-tumors-rats-fed-monsantos-genetically-engineered-corn

Heat and Harvest: Calif. Farms on a Climate Collision Course
Tightening water supplies, encroaching pests and dwindling winter "chill hours," vital to many crops, are just some of the climate challenges facing California farmers. Heat and Harvest, a new series from KQED Science and the Center for Investigative Reporting looks at the multiple climate challenges confronting California farmers.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2012/09/23/heat-and-harvest-calif-farms-on-a-climate-collision-course/

How 'Silent Spring' Ignited the Environmental Movement
On June 4, 1963, less than a year after the controversial environmental classic "Silent Spring" was published, its author, Rachel Carson, testified before a Senate subcommittee on pesticides. She was 56 and dying of breast cancer. She told almost no one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html

CA Environmental News

California voters can now register online
This improvement in voter registration happened because of a bill the legislature passed last year - SB 397 (Yee). CLCV strongly supported the bill and joined with California Common Cause and Democracy for America in a campaign that generated more than 10,000 signatures on a petition to Governor Brown in support of the bill.
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/starting-today-you-can-register-vote-online

Labeling for genetically engineered food? California voters will decide in November
The cereal aisle, the cookie shelf and the cold case full of sodas have become the battlegrounds in one of the most expensive political fights on California's November ballot.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/23/4845953/labeling-for-genetically-engineered.html

If Proposition 32 Passes: A Not-So-Green Golden State
On September 13 of this year, the Koch brothers, with no apparent sense of irony, donated $4 million to back Prop. 32 - a bill that claims to "stop special interests." If Prop. 32 were to pass, repealing AB 32 would likely be at the top of the Koch brothers' - and the rest of the oil/petrochemical industry's - to-do list.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/if-proposition-32-passes-not-so-green-golden-state

Desalination no panacea for Calif. water woes
In the Central California coastal town of Marina, a $7 million desalination plant that can turn salty ocean waves into fresh drinking water sits idle behind rusty, locked doors, shuttered by water officials because rising energy costs made the plant too expensive.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/22/4844631/desalination-no-panacea-for-calif.html

Criminal investigation at Chevron refinery
Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of Chevron after discovering that the company detoured pollutants around monitoring equipment at its Richmond refinery for four years and burned them off into the atmosphere, in possible violation of a federal court order, The Chronicle has learned.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Criminal-investigation-at-Chevron-refinery-3886927.php

Study on fracking in Baldwin Hills area to be released next month
Opponents plan a rally Saturday against using the process in the 1,200-acre Inglewood Oil Field, the largest urban oil field in the United States.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fracking-baldwin-hills-20120922,0,7476917.story

Feds approve California high-speed rail construction
The federal government on Wednesday approved the start of construction for California's $69 billion high-speed rail line, capping years of planning on the first leg of tracks in the Central Valley and likely kicking off a new round of lawsuits from opponents.
http://www.mercurynews.com/california-high-speed-rail/ci_21583533/feds-approve-california-high-speed-rail-construction

Local groups weigh in on expedited rail review plan
Local groups monitoring the state's high-speed rail project gave mixed reviews to the Obama administration's announcement Friday that it will fast track the environmental review of the proposed system's Fresno to Bakersfield segment.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/special-sections/rail/x485099362/Local-groups-weigh-in-on-expedited-rail-review-plan

Businesses complain about greenhouse gas allowance auction
Critics, including the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers & Technology Assn. and the Western States Petroleum Assn., complained about the potential cost of cap-and-trade. At a daylong hearing Thursday, they asked that all of the credits needed to stay below the cap be provided to them at no cost.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-business-greenhouse-gas-20120920,0,6812333.story

Energy Upgrade falls far short of goal
Backed by $146 million from President Obama's stimulus, California last year launched an effort to help as many as 100,000 homeowners save energy by providing rebates for new insulation, windows and furnaces.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Energy-Upgrade-falls-far-short-of-goal-3886924.php

Silicon Valley electric car show leaves the hobbyists behind
On National Plug In Day, the newest in electric vehicles were on display Sunday at De Anza College in Cupertino. What used to be a gathering of geeks who built eccentric vehicles in their garages has become more like a regular, commercial car show.
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_21615258/silicon-valley-electric-car-show-leaves-hobbyists-behind

Great white sharks back in Red Triangle
Scientists are all but running giddily into the surf with fancy new gadgetry as the annual migration of great white sharks hits full swing along the Pacific coast and reports flood in about finned beasts lurking in shallow waters.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Great-white-sharks-back-in-Red-Triangle-3885260.php
 

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