Water
Bombs Bursting in Air: Environmental Regulation of Fireworks
It seems only fitting as we approach the Fourth of July holiday to turn our attention to the environmental impacts and regulation of fireworks. As it turns out, our age-old patriotic tradition of exploding packages of toxic chemicals in the air is not without its environmental drawbacks. Although much is still unknown about the environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGMt Baldy getting balder? Scary projections of SoCal snow loss just released
UCLA is releasing today the first-ever detailed study of the effects of climate change on local snowfall, examining both business-as-usual and mitigation emission scenarios. Snow loss is predicted to be very significant both in the mid-term (2041-2060) and by the end of the century. The image above shows the study’s projections for reduced end-of-century snowfall …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council’s “Draft Comprehensive Plan for Restoring the Gulf Coast’s Ecosystem and Economy” does not actually include any restoration projects.
Everyone knows that life is just a little bit slower in the South; as it turns out, so is ecosystem restoration. On this date three years ago, you likely were continuing to monitor distressing television footage of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, wondering if the millions of barrels of oil …
CONTINUE READINGNorris C. Hundley, Jr., 1935-2013
Environmental scholarship has lost a real giant: Norris Cecil Hundley Jr., a former resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away peacefully on April 28. He was 77. Born to Norris and Helen Hundley on October 26, 1935 in Houston, Texas, Norris is survived by six younger siblings… Norris graduated from Whittier College in 1958. After receiving his Ph.D. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s holding up the Clean Water Act jurisdictional guidance?
Cross-posted on CPRBlog. People on both sides of the political spectrum agree that the boundaries of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act are murky, to say the least. But efforts by EPA and the Corps of Engineers to clarify those boundaries have been tied up in the White House for more than a year, …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Justice, Metrics & California’s San Joaquin Valley
This week the California Environmental Protection Agency issued a disturbing but worthwhile report on environmental justice issues in California. That report confirms what many environmental justice advocates and state residents already assumed: that the San Joaquin Valley is–far and away–the most environmentally-challenged region of the state. According to the CalEPA press release accompanying the report, …
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CONTINUE READINGSome Good News on California’s Water Planning
Last week at this time, I objected to an Associated Press piece showing how California has left unspent nearly $500 million worth of funds for water projects. At the end of article, there was a little note saying, “oh yes; experts think that California will need nearly $39 billion to update its water infrastructure.” Talk …
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CONTINUE READINGEarth Day perspectives
I really like this post over at Slate giving 15 fun facts about the Earth on Earth Day. My favorite is number 14: “If you took all the water on Earth and collected it into a single drop, it would be just less than 1,400 kilometers (860 miles) across.” This comes with a neat visual: …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Unspent Water Funds: An Instinct for the Capillary
The AP reports today that California has failed to spend $455 million of federal money for improving the state’s water infrastructure, even though many of the state’s communities suffer from unclean water. The state has received more than $1.5 billion for its Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund over the past 15 years, but has failed …
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CONTINUE READINGHydraulic Fracking in California: New Report Addresses Wastewater and Potential Water Impacts
Today, Berkeley Law released a new report on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in California, focusing on wastewater and potential water quality impacts. The report, Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing in California: A Wastewater and Water Quality Perspective, is an independent analysis produced by Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) through its new initiative, the Wheeler …
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