Weekly Green: June 22, 2015

Hello and good evening, all. News & opinion of the last week:

• Analysis, response to Pope Francis's climate encyclical;
• CEQA exemptions make it into budget bill;
• Climate, drought, record algae bloom; 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 for your free subscription today: http://ecovote.org/wg »

Above the Fold

Pope Francis, in Sweeping Encyclical, Calls for Swift Action on Climate Change
Pope Francis on Thursday called for a radical transformation of politics, economics and individual lifestyles to confront environmental degradation and climate change, blending a biting critique of consumerism and irresponsible development with a plea for swift and unified global action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-in-sweeping-encyclical-calls-for-swift-action-on-climate-change.html

Pope blasts California’s cap-and-trade system
In its brief history, California’s cap-and-trade system to fight global warming has faced many foes, including oil-company executives and manufacturing magnates. On Thursday, it came under fire from a new quarter: the Vatican.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Pope-blasts-California-s-cap-and-trade-system-6336494.php

What Pope Francis gets wrong about climate change
Pope Francis released a wide-ranging, 192-page encyclical on climate change Thursday, making several points that are extremely important — and, although many environmentalists aren’t mentioning them, others that are profoundly counterproductive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/06/18/what-pope-francis-gets-wrong-about-climate-change/

How climate-change doubters lost a papal fight
Climate-change doubters tried and failed to alter the landmark papal document unveiled last week — one that saw the leader of 1 billion Catholics fuse faith and reason and come to the conclusion that “denial” is wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/how-climate-change-doubters-lost-a-papal-fight/2015/06/20/86af3182-15ce-11e5-8457-4b431bf7ed4c_story.html

The Most Outrageous Responses To The Pope’s Encyclical On Climate Change
The papal encyclical on climate change — highly anticipated and applauded by people who accept and care about the fact that human-caused climate change is threatening our existence — came out Thursday morning. Not everyone was pleased.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/19/3671144/the-pope-freaks-out-climate-deniers/

Lake in Limbo: Suspense Surrounds Proposed Berryessa National Monument
A 360,000-acre patchwork of federal lands north of the Bay Area may yet become California’s next national monument, but it will happen without a major component — or so it seems. How Lake Berryessa came to be removed from the proposed Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument remains a mystery even to the most keen observers.
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/06/20/lake-in-limbo-suspense-surrounds-proposed-berryessa-national-monument/

Development deals tied to state budget sidestep 'green' rules
Jerry Brown has built a reputation as an ardent environmentalist, but his experience as Oakland mayor taught him that too many regulations could stall or even strangle development.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-budget-environment-20150619-story.html

CEQA exemptions for water projects inserted into budget bill
The exemption, contained in a budget-related trailer bill, offers a narrower exemption than a broader one Gov. Jerry Brown originally proposed. Lawmakers appeared to be nearing a deal Thursday, after pushing back on Brown’s initial proposal.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24879877.html

Coal Train Dust Worries Richmond Residents
Trains heaped with coal pass through Richmond every week on their way to the city’s port. In Parchester Village, a largely black and Latino neighborhood in northwestern Richmond, residents say coal dust blows off the open mounds, covering the grass and coating their screen doors.
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/06/22/coal-train-dust-worries-richmond-residents/

Workers clean up oil spill on Santa Barbara beaches by hand
GOLETA – Along a stretch of beach heavily marred by a crude oil spill, workers in hard hats and white protective suits use wire brushes and putty knives to scrape the black liquid off cobblestones and cliff faces.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/oil-667749-spill-beaches.html

El Capitan beach to reopen a month after Santa Barbara County oil spill
An assessment of the beach Thursday by the California Department of Parks and Recreation determined it was safe for the public. The beach will reopen June 26 for camping and day use, state officials said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-el-capitan-beach-oil-spill-20150619-story.html

California's Historic Drought

Many farmers miss deadline to report water cuts
A majority of farmers and others holding some of California's strongest claims to water have missed a deadline to confirm they stopped pumping from rivers and streams, state officials said Monday. Data show less than a third of those affected by California's broadest cut on record for nearly ironclad water rights responded to the order by the State Water Resources Control Board.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_XGR_CALIFORNIA_DROUGHT_WATER_CUTS_CAOL-?SITE=CASON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-22-14-37-15

California Drought Changes What Farmers Grow
Water scarcity is driving farmers to plant different crops. Growers are switching to more profitable — less thirsty fruits, vegetables and nuts. Nowhere is this more true than San Diego County where the water prices are some of the highest in the state.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jun/22/california-drought-changes-what-farmers-grow/

Deepest drought issue: Beyond shallow look at groundwater
Severe droughts will become more common as the climate warms, scientists say. In the San Joaquin Valley, keeper of the state’s largest store of groundwater, the underground water is the go-to source cities and farms use to protect their residents and investments when river water is not available. In this drought, thousands of wells have dried up, and people are drilling deeper.
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article25028257.html

Big difference in water use between wealthy communities and everyone else
Only 24 miles separate the East Bay communities of San Lorenzo and Diablo. But when it comes to California's relentless drought, they are a world apart.
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_28351946/california-drought-big-difference-water-use-between-wealthy

Potentially harmful chemicals found in oil field water used for irrigation
Testing of recycled oil field wastewater used on about 45,000 acres of farmland in the Central Valley shows the water contains small amounts of potentially harmful chemicals, including oil, benzene and acetone.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-oil-water-tests-20150620-story.html

Say a prayer for rain? Interfaith ceremony gives it a try
At a mosque in parched, sunny Chino on Saturday evening, roughly 500 people of many faiths and ages gathered to try a less concussive tack to end the Golden State's four-year drought. Invoking the power of prayer, they beseeched God, Buddha, Allah, Yahweh, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to make it rain, already.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0621-prayer-for-rain-20150621-story.html

Santa Barbara's cautious relationship with water offers a drought lesson
First came the rain garden, where bees buzz around the lavender and sage. Then came the back patio, where bananas, guava, passion fruit, ginger and an herb garden are fed by water diverted from the clothes washer.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-santa-barbara-conserve-20150621-story.html

Lawn painting, spigot locks and praying for rain: Fighting the drought in new ways
Faced with oppressive summer heat compounding four consecutive years of drought, Southern Californians are inventing new ways for coping with water shortages, including spray-painting haystack-colored lawns green, padlocking water spigots and, if that fails, appealing to a higher power.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/article/20150619/NEWS/150619321

A farmer's straight talk on the drought: Listen up, city dwellers
Picking on almond farmers might be all the rage, but it will do nothing to solve the state's water shortage.
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-0619-abcarian-farmer-drought-20150619-column.html

Lawsuits challenge California’s drought plan
A group of water districts sued California regulators Friday over the state’s order prohibiting holders of some of the oldest water rights from pumping water out of rivers and streams.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article25022413.html

Legislature passes anti-drought measure imposing fines, water system consolidation
A California budget bill that would allow the state to forcibly consolidate water systems, exempt certain water projects from environmental review, and make other far-reaching changes in response to the drought cleared the Legislature on Friday over the angry objections of Republicans.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24999385.html

State water board faces suits over drought cutbacks
A rural water agency that was ordered to stop pumping river water to farmers south of the delta sued the state on Thursday, alleging that California officials don’t have the authority to deny their century-old claim to water.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Water-agency-sues-state-over-draconian-cuts-6336527.php

Drought devastates cherry crop, puts some growers out of business
A winter heat wave, late frosts and marauding ravens and bark beetles devastated much of this year's cherry crop; then came monthly irrigation bills of up to $900. Shields' 2 1/2-acre C & D Cherries had become a financial burden the family could no longer afford.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-cherries-drought-20150618-story.html

House Democrats float new California water bill
On Wednesday, House Democrats from Northern California who have complained about being shut out of drought negotiations took matters into their own hands. They unveiled a sprawling proposal and, in a pointed gesture, opened it for public suggestions before it’s formally introduced. “This is what a good serious congressional response to the drought looks like,” Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/06/17/270286/house-democrats-float-new-california.html

California’s trout hatcheries hurt by drought, disease
The tanks in one secluded area at the Mount Shasta Fish Hatchery teem with nearly 1,000 immensely precious trout. These are redbands, a rare relative of rainbow trout. Biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife rescued them late last summer from three nearby creeks that had become little more than a trickle after years of drought.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article24825115.html

More California Environmental News

Leno: ‘It’s Time for Reform’ At the California Public Utilities Commission
Is it possible to change the culture of a regulatory agency by enacting a new law? “I can’t tell you I know that it can be definitively done,” state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) acknowledged in a recent interview with KQED. “But we’ve got to start somewhere.”
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/06/19/leno-its-time-for-reform-at-the-california-public-utilities-commission

Jerry Brown names state conservation chief from UC Davis
Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed a former fish and game official and University of California, Davis, academic to lead the embattled California Department of Conservation, his office said Thursday. David Bunn replaces Mark Nechodom, who resigned earlier this month.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24913591.html

Toxic algae bloom might be largest ever
A team of federal biologists set out from Oregon Monday to survey what could be the largest toxic algae bloom ever recorded off the West Coast. The effects stretch from Central California to British Columbia, and possibly as far north as Alaska.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/toxic-algae-bloom-might-be-largest-ever/

Toxic algae bloom shuts down West Coast fisheries
One of the largest toxic algae blooms seen off California has shut down recreational and commercial fishing along the West Coast and could be contributing to a host of sea lion strandings in the Bay Area, scientists said this week.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-toxic-algae-bloom-shuts-down-west-coast-fisheries-20150618-story.html

World Environmental News

Mega injections of wastewater triggers more quakes, study says
The more oil and gas companies pump their saltwater waste into the ground, and the faster they do it, the more they have triggered earthquakes in the central United States, a massive new study found.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/06/18/52531/study-mega-injections-of-wastewater-triggers-more/

Fed scientists: 2015 on pace to be world’s warmest
This year is on track to be the globe’s hottest on record, federal scientists said Thursday, continuing a warming trend that even Pope Francis called worrisome in a remarkable 184-page papal letter.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fed-scientists-2015-on-pace-to-be-world-s-6335694.php

Earth 'entering new extinction phase' - US study
The Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study by three US universities has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties. The report, led by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley, said vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548

Near a Fracking Center, Drinking Water Has More Chemicals and Carcinogens
Drinking water wells in Texas counties that are home to intensive hydraulic fracturing operations contain elevated levels of more than two dozen metals and chemicals, including carcinogens, according to a new study in Environmental Science & Technology.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062015/near-fracking-center-drinking-water-has-more-chemicals-and-carcinogens-barnett-shale-texas-epa-oil-gas

Bees feeding on fungicide-dosed flowers develop health issues, studies say
While insecticides are a known deadly threat, two studies find that bees exposed to fungicides are smaller, sickly and declining in ‘chemical cocktail’ farmlands
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/18/bees-fungicide-flowers-farm-insecticide

Pumped up to rumble
Scientists have documented an astronomical rise in seismic activity across the central and eastern United States, linking it to wastewater pumped into the ground from burgeoning oil and gas production. Now, new research suggests that high rates of fluid injection—rather than other factors such as volume or depth—may be the root of the problem.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6241/1299.full

Battle over new oil train standards pits safety against cost
Railroads, oil producers, and shippers say some of the new safety requirements are unproven and too costly, yet some safety advocates and environmental groups say the regulations aren't strict enough and still leave too many people at risk.
http://www.npr.org/2015/06/19/414615187/battle-over-new-oil-train-standards-pits-safety-against-cost

U.S. researchers see auto fuel standards driving technology
U.S. cars and light trucks will become more fuel efficient and safer -- but also more expensive -- by the end of the next decade, as a result of increasingly stringent environmental standards, a new research report said on Thursday.
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/73332

Alaska glaciers leading to global sea level rise
These glaciers are adding enough water to the Earth's oceans to cover the state of Alaska with a one-foot thick layer of water every seven years, researchers say. What's more, glacier loss from Alaska is showing no signs of slowing down.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/15247/20150618/alaska-glaciers-leading-to-global-sea-level-rise.htm

White House secures $4 billion in investments for clean energy
The White House has secured more than $4 billion to boost clean energy and fight climate change from foundations, institutional investors and philanthropies, doubling a goal set in February, administration officials said.
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/73322

Obama admin set to release mandatory carbon cuts for heavy-duty vehicles
In the next few days, the agencies are expected to roll out a new proposal, the second phase of their plan to lower emissions from heavy-duty vehicles like tractor-trailers, city buses, delivery vans and cement mixers.
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060020373

California Politics

Proposition 13 revamp eyed for ballot
The plan by two Senate Democrats – Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles and Loni Hancock of Berkeley – would allow commercial and business properties to be regularly reassessed for tax purposes, with an exemption for properties worth less than $500,000. Under current law – Proposition 13 – those properties are only reassessed when there is a change in ownership.
http://capitolweekly.net/proposition-13-revamp-ballot-amendment-mitchell-hancock/

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