Weekly Green: November 25, 2015

Here are your recent environmental and political headlines:

• New tradition? Free admission to redwoods state parks on Black Friday;
• CLCV holds Environmental Leadership Awards in Santa Monica;
• Climate, drought, oil and gas news;
• and six steps to a climate-friendly Thanksgiving.

» 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 »

Top News & Features

CLCV holds Environmental Leadership Awards in Santa Monica
Watch video from CLCV's Environmental Leadership Awards on November 12, 2015:
Sarah Rose opening remarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bp-Hqt6iqo
Fran Pavley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTS2R5ijmg8
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo3Oq_qyisk
David Allgood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22pmDSYNsTI

California redwood parks will be free on Black Friday
Thanks to a generous private donation, a number of California's redwood state parks will be free to visit on Black Friday. The event is being sponsored by Save the Redwoods League, which received an anonymous donation to cover the $50,000 needed to make it happen.
Article: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/49-California-parks-will-be-free-on-Black-Friday-6641298.php
Updated list of parks: http://www.savetheredwoods.org/get-involved/visit/redwood-parks-pass/

ICYMI: CO₂: Earth Passes Into ‘Uncharted Territory’
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday that this year’s El Niño combined with global warming puts the world “in uncharted territory.” “This naturally occurring El Niño event and human induced climate change may interact and modify each other in ways which we have never before experienced,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/11/19/co2-earth-passes-into-uncharted-territory/

Absurdly hot October as Earth sets 8th heat record this year
Even in a record-breaking hot year for Earth, October stood out as absurdly warm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that last month globally was 58.86 degrees (14.98 degrees Celsius). That's the hottest October on record by a third of a degree over the old mark, "an incredible amount" for weather records, said NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_HOT_RECORD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Climate

Kevin de León: Climate policies will help poorest Californians
For those who struggle to pay their rent and put food on the table, California’s status as the world’s seventh-largest economy is meaningless. I appreciate Dan Walters’ concern for the poor (“Is state booming? Not really,” Nov. 18). However, having been raised in poverty and representing one of the poorest Senate districts in the state, economic inequality is a constant in my reality.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article46089020.html
See also: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article45260187.html

Governor Brown Takes Climate Message to World Stage
World leaders have vowed to go forward with a summit in Paris in two weeks, where they’ll be hashing out a much-anticipated agreement to combat climate change. And among the heads of state and dignitaries, you’ll also see California’s Governor Jerry Brown. Brown will be making the case that what California does matters to the rest of world.
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/11/16/governor-brown-takes-climate-message-to-world-stage/

AP: Most GOP candidates flunk climate science
When it comes to climate science, two of the three Democratic presidential candidates are A students, while most of the Republican contenders are flunking, according to a panel of scientists who reviewed candidates' comments.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e946f29fa534a0b9c1d064b16e06b61/ap-fact-check-most-gop-candidates-flunk-climate-science

Senate votes to strike down Obama’s climate rules
The votes are symbolic, since Obama would veto the resolutions and supporters do not have the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override the vetoes. Senators voted 52-46 to stop the carbon dioxide limits for existing power plants, which mandate a 32 percent cut in the power sector’s carbon emissions by 2030. The move to block the related carbon rule for newly built power plants passed by the same vote.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/260507-senate-votes-to-strike-down-obamas-climate-rules

California, a climate model for the world, has work to do at home
When Gov. Jerry Brown arrives in Paris next week for a major international conference on climate change, he will showcase one of the world’s most sweeping programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
http://calmatters.org/articles/california-a-climate-model-for-the-world-has-work-to-do-at-home/

Study: California school textbooks spineless on climate change
Science textbooks in California schools — including in San Francisco and Oakland — are wishy-washy when it comes to climate change, offering middle school students caveats and conditional language that downplay the scientific consensus on the warming of the planet, according to a Stanford University study released Monday.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Study-California-school-textbooks-spineless-on-6652861.php

Oakland: Hundreds rally for global action on climate change
A coalition of more than 100 labor, environmental, faith and social justice groups supported the march and rally. "The climate crisis affects more than California. It affects our nation and the world's many poor and working families who are now being disproportionately affected," said Josie Camacho, executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29149304/oakland-hundreds-rally-global-action-climate-change

Drought

Drought: El Niño is not the cavalry
The drought has reminded us of how truly adaptable Californians are and must continue to be.
http://capitolweekly.net/drought-water-policy-el-nino-california/

Study: California Drought Management Lacking
The report from the Public Policy Institute of California says the state's system for allocating water is fragmented, inconsistent and lacks transparency. It says the problems keep the state from adequately managing water in a drought.
http://www.capradio.org/61134

In California, Stingy Water Users Are Fined in Drought, While the Rich Soak
Four years into the worst drought in California’s recorded history, the contrast between the strict enforcement on Californians struggling to conserve and the unchecked profligacy in places like Bel Air has unleashed anger and indignation — among both the recipients of the fines, who feel helpless to avoid them, and other Californians who see the biggest water hogs getting off scot-free.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/us/stingy-water-users-in-fined-in-drought-while-the-rich-soak.html?ref=us&_r=0

Tensions, threats as California’s new groundwater law takes shape
Drive the farm roads of sparsely populated Kings County, and it’s hard to miss them: clusters of pipes, cylinders and electrical boxes jutting from the soil every few hundred yards or so, in almost every direction. These are the groundwater pumps that ensure water soaks the vast fields of tomatoes, corn, alfalfa, cherries, almonds and walnuts even when the ditches run dry.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article45802360.html

Water wars: L.A. behemoth sets sights on delta islands
Corn grown on the sunken, man-made island at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Mokelumne rivers has to be barged to the mainland on a small ferry, one semi-truck load at a time. It is one of the Bay Area’s most remote and challenging places to farm — and an unlikely fulcrum in an intense fight over the future of California’s water supply.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Water-wars-L-A-behemoth-sets-sights-on-delta-6644635.php?t=145091a8616c5a3c1f&cmpid=twitter-premium

Amid drought, San Diego faces the opposite problem: too much water
Unlike other parts of California, San Diego has 99% of the water needed for normal usage.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-drought-watch-20151125-story.html

Police arrest 4 men suspected of destroying dam during drought
The mystery of the missing 50 million gallons of East Bay water is over, authorities say. Police in Fremont arrested four men who they say slashed an inflatable rubber dam along Alameda Creek in May and sent a portion of the area’s drinking water supply downstream.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Police-arrest-4-men-suspected-of-destroying-dam-6655572.php

El Niño seen as easing drought as odds of wet winter rise again
The strengthening El Niño is expected to send enough rain and snow to the Golden State this winter, scientists said, that water shortages and crop losses will finally begin to recede from the Mexico border almost all the way to Oregon.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/El-Ni-o-seen-as-easing-drought-as-odds-of-wet-6644077.php

Massive El Niño gains strength, likely to drench key California drought zone
One of the most powerful El Niños on record continues gathering strength and is looking increasingly likely to bring heavy rains to key Northern California areas that provide water for the rest of the state, according to a new forecast.
http://www.latimes.com/local/weather/la-me-ln-el-nino-q-a-20151120-story.html

As huge El Niño brews, California fights to keep drought mentality
As experts continue to predict a wet winter because of El Niño, California officials continue to take a cautious approach when it comes to easing water conservation measures amid the state's four-year drought.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-as-huge-el-nino-brews-california-fights-to-keep-drought-mentality-20151116-story.html

Mandate on California water cuts slated to continue if drought persists
California's urban areas should prepare to keep conserving water until at least next fall, Gov. Jerry Brown said Friday 11/13. In a new executive order, the governor said that if the drought continues through January, mandatory water cuts will remain in effect until October.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-california-drought-20151113-story.html

Oil & Gas

Gas company criticized for uncontrolled methane leak near Porter Ranch
Air quality officials have cited Southern California Gas Co. officials over a month-long gas leak that has been sickening residents in the San Fernando Valley community of Porter Ranch, and county supervisors sharply criticized the utility Tuesday over the issue.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-gas-company-taken-to-task-over-gas-leak-near-porter-ranch-20151124-story.html

Rewire: SoCal Gas' Aliso Canyon Leak a Disaster For Climate
Those of us Californians who have gone to a lot of trouble to reduce our climate change footprint ought to be mighty peeved at the Southern California Gas Company right now: that corporation has just undone a huge amount of our hard work, significantly raising the state's emissions of a dangerous greenhouse gas.
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewire/commentary/porter-ranch-leak-a-disaster-for-climate.html

Jerry Brown Pressured To Ban Fracking In California
Ahead of the upcoming United Nations climate talks in Paris, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is facing pressure from environmental activists to take a stand against hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, in the Golden State.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jerry-brown-fracking_564a39cbe4b08cda348a0cb2

Fearing corrosion, regulators order Santa Barbara oil pipeline emptied
Federal regulators on Friday ordered the Texas company responsible for an oil spill in Santa Barbara County in May to empty crude oil from a 115-mile stretch of pipeline that runs from the Pacific Ocean east into Kern County for fear that corrosion could lead to another spill.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-barbara-oil-spill-pipeline-shutdown-20151113-story.html

More California Environmental News

Clean Energy Tax Incentive Will Hit Its Cap
A program to lure clean energy and other green businesses to California will run out of money for the first time.
http://www.capradio.org/61143

Skelton: What's behind a bid to shift dollars from the bullet train to water projects
Grab billions from Gov. Jerry Brown's bullet train project and spend it on generating more water. Build some dams. Many Californians have been shouting for that.
http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-sac-cap-bullet-train-20151119-1-column.html

Have costs dropped 'several hundred million dollars' for California’s bullet train?
California’s high-speed rail plan is perhaps best known for its sky-high cost estimates, which at one point spiked to $98 billion.
http://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2015/nov/24/jeff-morales/have-construction-costs-dropped-several-hundred-mi/

Project to link Vegas and California with train gets boost
A project to link Las Vegas and Southern California with a high-speed train got a boost this week when the newly formed Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority approved an exclusive relationship with long-suffering XpressWest.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NV_CALIFORNIA_LAS_VEGAS_HIGH_SPEED_NVOL-?SITE=CASON&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-22-15-21-15

Elections

San Mateo County: Mail voting experiment boosts turnout
San Mateo County's recent mail election did more than boost voter participation in a sleepy off-year cycle, a preliminary analysis shows. It yielded dramatic spikes in turnout among young people and minorities.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_29152208/san-mateo-county-mail-voting-experiment-boosts-turnout

No-party voters get extra attention from slate mailers
A shrinking share of California’s 17.7 million voters have a party affiliation, a situation that has helped foster a niche industry of campaign literature tailored to voters without a party preference.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article45661758.html

Things you didn't already know

Study: One-third of nation's 30 worst traffic bottlenecks are in Los Angeles area
A study released Monday confirms what every Southern Californian behind the wheel already knows: Freeway traffic jams in the Los Angeles region are some of the worst in the United States.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-worst-bottlenecks-traffic-los-angeles-20151123-story.html

And finally...

6 Steps To A Climate-Friendly Thanksgiving
Getting through Thanksgiving, when emissions-heavy activities like airline travel and tables full of food are the norm, can be a especially tricky for a die-hard climate activist. Here are a few tips for a more climate-friendly Thanksgiving. (We can’t help with the food coma, though.)
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/11/24/3725099/climate-tips-thanksgiving/

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