California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay estuary and its Central Valley watershed, and vowed to provide relief in the form of increased freshwater flows and other benefits for the endangered species and habitats of the vast area covered by the estuary and watershed, […]
California has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. Yet, most of the state remains in severe drought. Andrew Fisher, University of California, Santa Cruz The Conversation The L.A. River was wild […]
For the sixth November in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta smelt during its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Delta smelt, an indicator species for the broader ecological health of the estuary, is found only in the Delta. The smelt typically reach a […]
Climate advocates are sharply critiquing the California Air Resources Board’s Final Scoping Plan for its reliance on carbon capture to lower emissions. Among the details outlined in the Scoping Plan are plans to use carbon capture at refineries, a process criticized by environmental organizations as a lifeline for fossil fuel companies to keep operating as usual. […]
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s favored carbon capture bill, SB 905, passed the Senate and Assembly, prompting immediate backlash from climate advocates who have long decried CCS as a fossil fuel industry handout. The bill will codify and expedite carbon capture projects. By Food and Water Watch “Governor Newsom may have bought into the fossil fuel […]
A bill requiring oil refiners to disclose their per gallon profits monthly passed out of the California Assembly by a vote of 42 – 23. The legislation has already passed out of the California Senate by a vote of 22 – 4 and goes back for concurrence, according to a press statement from Consumer Watchdog. By […]
Debris flow stemming from the McKinney Fire, then heavy rains, are causing a fish kill on the Klamath River in Northern California. “Very large numbers of dead fish, of all species, are being observed in the vicinity of Happy Camp, CA along the mainstem Klamath River,” according to a press advisory released an hour ago from the Karuk […]
Press release from the coalition of Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Save California Salmon, Little Manila Rising, and Restore the Delta By Dan Bacher Last week, a coalition of California Tribes and Delta-based environmental justice organizations announced the filing of a “Petition for Rulemaking Review.” The coalition, represented by the Environmental […]
Last week, the board of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), the largest water wholesaler in Southern California, voted to participate in what environmental justice and fish advocates describe as the “environmentally destructive” Voluntary Agreements (VA’s) currently being promoted by agribusiness and the Newsom Administration. By Dan Bacher “These agreements are a work around to regulations […]
Domestic water use in California rose by 19 percent in March, exposing what Food & Water Watch describes as the “clear failure” of Governor Gavin Newsom’s repeated pleas for voluntary reductions in household water consumption, as well as California’s failure to rein in Big Ag and other corporate water abusers. By Dan Bacher This morning […]
A new report from Biofuelwatch is simply brilliant in exposing California’s polluter-friendly neoliberal cap-and-trade program and related market-driven policies behind California’s “climate leader” image. The report — titled ‘Carbon Capture or Captured Futures? Fossil Fuel and Bioenergy Controls California “Getting to Neutral” Climate Policy’ — exposes the intricate workings of California’s policy making apparatus, according to […]
A new analysis from the Pacific Institute finds dramatic potential for California drought relief and longer-term water resilience through the innovative urban water strategies of water efficiency, water reuse, and stormwater capture. Here’s the press release from the Pacific Institute. By Dan Bacher Oakland, California – As California faces its third year of severe drought, […]
Press Release from the Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe • Hoopa Valley Tribe • Swiftwater Films: Bring the Salmon Home Tells Story 20 years in the making By Dan Bacher Klamath River Basin (Calif. and Ore.) – Bring the Salmon Home is a new short documentary by Swiftwater Films. The film chronicles Klamath River tribal communities’ 320-mile relay run from the redwood-shrouded […]
The fall of 2021 was a good season for adult Chinook salmon swimming up Auburn Ravine to spawn in the foothills east of downtown Lincoln, California, according to an update from Friends of Auburn Ravine. By Dan Bacher ”Over 200 large fall-run chinook salmon, some over 43 inches long, made the trip. The thousands of eggs […]
News Release from the California Water Impact Network: A paper that was recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change had a convoluted title: Rapid Intensification of the Emerging Southwestern North American Megadrought in 2020-2021. But what the paper detailed was explicit, easily understood – and terrifying. Using tree-ring data, researchers determined that the decades between 2000-2021 were the driest […]