Region: California
California Works to Promote Energy Efficiency Retrofits
California has much to brag about when it comes to energy efficiency. Per capita, the state’s residents use far less energy than our national counterparts while enjoying an equal or better standard of living, thanks to energy efficiency standards developed in the 1970s: But the state is committed to doing better. Last week, I was …
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CONTINUE READINGAn Environmental Hero Rides Into the Sunset
The Sacramento Bee reports today that Peter Douglas, the long-time executive director of the California Coastal Commission, has taken a medical leave of absence and will retire in November. Douglas definitely deserves his retirement, but it’s a real loss for the environmental community. Douglas helped draft the original Coastal Act as legislative director for former …
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CONTINUE READINGNew nonprofit Harbor Community Benefit Foundation launches, seeks Executive Director to oversee millions of dollars in community benefits projects in Los Angeles’s near-port communities
A historic agreement between the Port of Los Angeles and various stakeholders has resulted in the founding of a new nonprofit organization, the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation. HCBF’s mission is “to carry out mitigation and other public benefit projects that assess, protect, and improve health, quality of life, and the natural environment, with a focus …
CONTINUE READINGNevada Re-Discovers the Public Trust Doctrine
The Nevada Supreme Court was the source of a pleasant surprise earlier this month, when it issued a decision formally “adopting” the public trust doctrine as Nevada law. The opinion, Lawrence v. Clark County, involved a proposed transfer of land in and adjacent to the Colorado River near Laughlin, Nevada to Clark County officials. Nevada …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Role in the New Fuel Economy Standards
Dan rightly praised the good news about newly agreed to federal fuel economy standards for the 2017-2025 time frame that will reach 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 (though there will be a review at midpoint and a possibility for readjustment if the 54.5 mpg standard proves too tough). In all of the press …
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CONTINUE READINGNew UCLA Report Takes on California’s Groundwater Management
It’s still the wild west in California when it comes to groundwater management. California depends heavily on groundwater as a source of water supply, but is one of only two western states–the other being Texas–that allows for the withdrawal of groundwater without a permit or any other means of tracking and regulating users. Perhaps not surprisingly, …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia suction dredging moratorium extended
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law an extension of the existing moratorium on suction dredge gold mining. I confess that the appeal of recreational mining in any form escapes me, and that I don’t even like to vacuum my own living room. So it mystifies me to learn that there are people who …
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CONTINUE READINGUnexpected Environmental Heroes
Mammoth Lakes is one of the more popular resort areas in California’s Sierra Nevada, and also one of the more beautiful. It’s popular in part because it as at one of the low points in the Sierra Nevada, allowing for relatively easy backcountry access to both the east and west sides of the mountains. (That …
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CONTINUE READINGJerry Brown’s Push for Local Renewable Power
Local renewables – those photovoltaics, small wind turbines, etc. on people’s roofs, and in public spaces close to demand – how big of a role can they play in our renewable energy future? Berkeley and UCLA law schools wrote about that topic in In Our Backyard, and California’s Governor Jerry Brown made this question a …
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CONTINUE READINGPaper or Plastic?
The California Supreme Court today issued a significant decision interpreting and applying California’s most important environmental law–the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The issues in Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach were: 1) whether a Southern California beach community was required to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under CEQA …
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