Region: California
Mary Nichols gets mad
Amid the general relief that California’s legislature has finally passed a budget, our state’s (and nation’s?) chief air & climate conscience makes some serious objections: California’s proposed budget contains a major provision that would weaken air pollution regulations while saving the construction industry millions of dollars. The measure, largely overlooked in a public debate focused on …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Fire Next Time
Realclimate.org has an interesting post about the Australian wildfires: Although formal attribution studies quantifying the influence of climate change on the increased likelihood of extreme fire danger in south-east Australia have not yet been undertaken, it is very likely that there has been such an influence. Long-term increases in maximum temperature have been attributed to …
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CONTINUE READINGNew York City prepares for climate change’s impacts
New York City’s climate change task force report was released today. This report, which discusses how climate change will affect the city’s infrastructure and residents, has attracted some media attention. Notably, the New York Times has an article on the report. This is important, given how little attention the impacts of climate change on cities’ infrastructure have received to …
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CONTINUE READINGAnd the Beat Goes On . . .
Two recent reports drive home the fact that phasing-out harmful chemicals is typically only the beginning of effective chemical policy rather than the end. Methyl bromide, widely used in the last decade as a fumigant in California and elsewhere, is a toxic volatile organic compound and is ozone-depleting to boot. Although efforts are underway to …
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CONTINUE READINGA Tale of Two Cities
The old adage is that all politics is local. So is much, if not all, environmental policy-making. Recent reports from two American cities vividly demonstrate the wide gulf that often separates local efforts to adopt sustainable environmental and energy policies. A recent story in the Wall Street Journal reports the City of Boulder, Colorado’s groundbreaking …
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CONTINUE READINGLaws as data
Julie Ekstrom, a doctoral student at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara, has put together and made publicly available a searchable dataset of federal and state statutes and regulations dealing with ocean and coastal resources in the California current ecosystem. In a paper in the journal Marine Policy (subscription …
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CONTINUE READINGA smorgasbord of smelt and salmon news
There have been several developments in the Delta water saga since I posted on the request for relief from water quality standards submitted by the state Department of Water Resources and federal Bureau of Reclamation, and the potential for conflict between the water needs of smelt and of salmon.
CONTINUE READINGNewsflash: The Environment and the California Budget Deal
Greenwire reports: “California lawmakers are expected to vote on a budget deal tomorrow that would waive environmental reviews for some highway projects and reverse diesel regulations for off-highway vehicles and construction equipment, sources close to the process said.” However, there is also good news: “Out of the budget package are proposals to stop reviews of …
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CONTINUE READINGDebunking stereotypes about sprawl and Los Angeles: Be Precise!
Eric A. Morris over at Freakonomics is challenging readers to debunk fashionable stereotypes (often promoted by the jealous folks from the Bay Area) about Los Angeles and sprawl. On Monday, he made clear what planning folks have known for a long time: LA is actually quite a dense city. But be careful how you ask …
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CONTINUE READINGCalling All Nanotubes
California is out in front on emerging environmental issues once again. Using authorities provided under AB 289, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) recently issued a call to manufacturers for information relating to carbon nanotubes manufactured in or imported into California. Carbon nanotubes have received significant attention of late given their growing level of …
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