Region: California

A Victory for the California Team

AP reports that: The Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. agreed to provide a combined $500 million in financing for renewable energy projects and take into account greenhouse gas emissions associated with projects they support. The lawsuit was originally filed in San Francisco federal court in 2002 by Friends …

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Delay on marine engines upheld

In the latest round in a long-running battle, the D.C. Circuit has upheld EPA’s foot-dragging on regulation of emissions from large marine diesel engines against a challenge brought by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District, and Friends of the Earth.  Large ships are major sources of air pollution …

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Preview of a long dry summer

It’s still the rainy season, but California’s drought is already beginning to affect operation of the state and federal water projects that divert water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds to serve cities and farms from the Bay Area to Southern California.  Yesterday the California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, …

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Sweet and Sour Pork

Like any good observant lapsed Jew, I’m always on the lookout for tasty pork. But as Jonathan discussed on this blog, the highway pork in the stimulus bill is looking most unsavory — especially relative to the sweeter meats of public transit funding. No doubt, money for public transit agencies would go a long way …

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Wow, things really have changed in Washington: a Cabinet official speaks about climate change’s impacts on California

The Los Angeles Times has a story today in its (venerable but soon-to-be-axed) California section discussing new Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s public statements on the dramatic challenges California will face as a result of climate change.  From the story: Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, …

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Gobama Bounce?

Two days ago, the Emmett Center hosted what we thought would be a tidy, manageable panel and “roundtable discussion” on SB 375, California’s new anti-sprawl law and the state’s latest legislative attempt to tackle GHG emissions from passenger vehicles.  In line with turnout to similar past events, we booked a room that holds 90 people …

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The California budget squeeze hits Marine Protected Area research

At least two academic projects supporting California’s marine protected areas program have been halted for now by the state’s budget crisis. From Science Insider: Researchers were ordered to stop work immediately, says Rikk Kvitek of California State University, Monterey Bay, a principal investigator on a $20 million sea-floor mapping program funded by the state. . …

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Getting U.S. Automakers Real

One footnote to yesterday’s historic announcement by President Obama on national climate change policy: in signaling that the federal government will reverse course and support California’s pioneering efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicular sources, the role of the American auto industry in this debate deserves renewed scrutiny. 

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A Wavering Federal Policy on Climate Change?

President Obama yesterday made official (sort of) his plan to fulfill a campaign pledge to grant the State of California authority to adopt pioneering greenhouse gas emission controls for vehicular sources.  That announcement, while expected, is a breath of fresh air when it comes to state-federal environmental policymaking.  It comes after eight frustrating years in …

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Good News for California

According to the Washingston Post: Obama will instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider whether to grant California a waiver to regulate automobile tailpipe emissions linked to global warming, sources said, and he will order the Transportation Department to issue guidelines that will ensure that the nation’s auto fleet reaches an average fuel efficiency of …

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