In California water news today, California’s on fire, unplugged and out of easy answers. So why don’t we…?; Hundreds of thousands of people in California are downriver of a dam that ‘could fail’; Controversial pesticides are suspected of starving fish; EPA announces new water workforce initiative; EDF sues Interior, NOAA, NASA for failure to release public records about Trump administration attacks on climate science; When it rains, plants panic and more in The Week in Water podcast; Supervisors taking another shot at Paradise-Chico water pipe; Land-based salmon farm operation coming to Humboldt County; and more …
On the calendar today …
- The Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee meets from 1pm to 3:30pm. Agenda items include discussions on aligning objectives toward a resilient water future for California; actions to achieve ongoing, consistent, and reliable science funding; and science updates. Click here for the full agenda. Click here to watch on webcast.
In the news today …
California’s on fire, unplugged and out of easy answers. So why don’t we…? “The easy calls have been made in dealing with California’s wildfire crisis. We’re clearing brush, spending on firefighters, hastening insurance claims. We’ve tied the pay of utility executives to their companies’ safety records. To save lives — and liability costs — during red flag conditions, we’ve cut power to great swaths of the state. We’ve spent billions: Rare is the press release from Gov. Gavin Newsom that does not include a litany of wildfire actions. ... “ Continue reading at Capital Public Radio here: California’s on fire, unplugged and out of easy answers. So why don’t we…?
Calif. wildfire risk could drag into December: “Wildfire risk will remain substantial in much of California through at least this month, the National Interagency Fire Center said Nov. 1 in its monthly National Significant Wildfire Potential Outlook. Risk will persist into December in some areas. ... ” Read more from the Capital Press here: Calif. wildfire risk could drag into December
Trump threatens to cut off federal funding for California wildfires: “President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning his first comments about the wildfires blazing through California attacking Gov. Gavin Newsom saying he has done a “terrible job” of forest management. … ” Read more from ABC News here: Trump threatens to cut off federal funding for California wildfires
Hundreds of thousands of people in California are downriver of a dam that ‘could fail’: “Hundreds of thousands of people live downriver from a dam in California that recently had its risk characterization changed “from low to high urgency of action” by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Those communities, which include Hesperia, Barstow, Apple Valley and Victorville, could flood if the Mojave River Dam fails, a statement from the agency said. More than 315,000 residents in those four communities in San Bernardino County, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles, are in the path should floodwaters overtake the dam, according to US Census data. … ” Read more from CNN here: Hundreds of thousands of people in California are downriver of a dam that ‘could fail’
Controversial pesticides are suspected of starving fish: “There’s new evidence that a widely used family of pesticides called neonicotinoids, already controversial because they can be harmful to pollinators, could be risky for insects and fish that live in water, too. The evidence comes from Lake Shinji, which lies near Japan’s coast, next to the Sea of Japan. … Yamamuro says, about a decade ago, people noticed that fish populations had declined drastically. “I was asked to investigate the cause of this decrease,” she says. … ” Read more from OPB here: Controversial pesticides are suspected of starving fish
EPA Announces New Water Workforce Initiative: “At WEFTEC 2019 in Chicago, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water Dennis Lee Forsgren Jr., announced a new effort to help American utilities surmount the looming water-sector skills shortage expected in coming years. EPA plans to release a draft of America’s Water Workforce Initiative for public comment by the end of this winter, Forsgren told the audience during Technical Session No. 200: Water Policy Update. A final plan for the program is due in spring. … ” Read more from CWEA News here: EPA Announces New Water Workforce Initiative
How Trump’s war on California tries to paint a progressive state as an environmental laggard: “As fierce Santa Ana winds whipped the wildfires outside of Los Angeles, stirring exactly the kind of infernos that scientists expect in a hotter, drier California, President Donald Trump was gloating over the new allies he has won in his epic battle to block that state’s efforts to fight climate change. California has been a world innovator in crafting environmental policy, and its pioneering approach to the difficult issue of carbon emissions from cars helped put the United States on course to cleaner, more efficient vehicles. But a multi-pronged assault by the Trump administration now seeks both to hobble California’s climate efforts and to shred the state’s reputation as an environmental leader. … ” Read more from Inside Climate News here: How Trump’s war on California tries to paint a progressive state as an environmental laggard
EDF sues Interior, NOAA, NASA for failure to release public records about Trump administration attacks on climate science: “EDF is going to court to gain access to public records about Trump administration efforts to undermine climate science. Three federal agencies have failed to make the records available as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). EDF filed a complaint, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today against the Department of the Interior, NASA and NOAA, stating: “The public … has a strong interest in understanding the extent to which the current administration and Defendants are seeking, or have sought, to undermine established scientific conclusions about the threat of climate change to the national security interests of the United States … ” Continue reading from EDF here: EDF sues Interior, NOAA, NASA for failure to release public records about Trump administration attacks on climate science
The week in water podcast …
When It Rains, Plants Panic. That story and other headlines in the latest edition of This Week in Water: “In an effort to breathe life into the declining coal industry, the Trump administration wants to further roll back protections for water. Plants that were treated with fracking wastewater have weakened immune systems. When it’s raining, plants send alerts from leaf to leaf. Neonicotinoid pesticides have harmed bee populations, aquatic insects, birds—and now fish. A proposal to ship water from the Upper Midwest to the Southwest has gone off the rails.“
In commentary today …
Gov. Newsom throws California’s interior under the bus, says Joel Kotkin: He writes, “Gov. Gavin Newsom has committed himself to look for ways of “unlocking the enormous potential” of the Central Valley, but in reality he seems more interested in slamming the door to its prosperity behind him. In two critical moves the former San Francisco mayor has shown his incomprehension of how to address the needs of the vast California interior, particularly the over 6.5 million people in the 17 counties of the Central Valley. ... ” Read more from the OC Register here: Gov. Newsom throws California’s interior under the bus
In regional news and commentary today …
Klamath dam removal is not a partisan issue, says Jason Atkinson: He writes, “Today’s noisy partisan divide concerns me and makes the thought of meaningful collaboration across parties seem impossible. However, the largest river restoration project in history, spanning the California-Oregon border, tells a hopeful story offering a blueprint for political, conservation and economic progress. The project to remove the four lower Klamath River dams was born in bipartisanship. ... ” Read more from the Herald & News here: Klamath dam removal is not a partisan issue
Juvenile salmon restoration project aims to help create healthy Sacramento River ecosystem: “In the Northstate, there are four runs of salmon in the upper Sacramento River system. The decline of naturally spawning salmon has organizations in the Northstate working together to create side channel habitats that provide protection for juvenile salmon. … ” Read more from KRCR here: Juvenile salmon restoration project aims to help create healthy Sacramento River ecosystem
Supervisors taking another shot at Paradise-Chico water pipe: “A study on a pipe to carry water from Paradise to Chico will be back before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The $144,000 study to see if the project was feasible was first approved on a 4-1 vote by the supervisors on Sept. 10. Half the cost would be paid out of a $1.1 million Proposition 1 grant the county received to study ways to reduce reliance on groundwater, as required by a recent state law. … ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record here: Supervisors taking another shot at Paradise-Chico water pipe
Nordic Aquafarms given green light to pursue California land-based facility: “The board of directors of land-based salmon producer Nordic Aquafarms approved the company’s proposed investment plans to pursue a land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) farm in Humboldt County, California, following a rigorous due diligence process, the company said Friday. The facility on the Samoa Peninsula marks the company’s second proposed land-based facility in the United States. It is also building a facility in Belfast, Maine. … ” Read more from IntraFish here: Nordic Aquafarms given green light to pursue California land-based facility
Supplemental EIR clears way for fracking, oil drilling in Santa Barbara County: “A supplemental environmental impact report on hydraulic fracturing released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management found no significant impacts, and plans for leasing 1.2 million acres for oil and gas development in eight counties, including Santa Barbara County, will not change. The decision on the supplemental EIR will not trigger oil and gas leasing and will not open up new public lands to oil and gas development, a BLM spokeswoman said, adding most of the acreage available for development has been available for more than 30 years. … ” Read more from the Santa Maria Times here: Supplemental EIR clears way for fracking, oil drilling in Santa Barbara County
Precipitation watch …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.
