“The fossil-fuel era is ending, and California is not interested in the boom-or-bust oil economy.” So wrote California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom in a February 7 letter to Kelly Hammerle, national program manager at the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
At issue was the Donald Trump administration’s proposal to resume drilling in federal waters off the California coast, which Newsom, in his role overseeing the State Lands Commission, was determined to quash. Advocates for a clean California economy, however, are hoping that it means even more…
News
This page features excerpts from news about environmental justice advocacy in the San Joaquin Valley and links to their original sources. Use the features on the right to sort by topic, news source, date, key word or author. You may also subscribe to receive the news by e-mail or through an rss reader. Please note that links to original sources may expire over time.
A coalition of eight groups filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its current procedures that exempt medium-sized concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from additional environmental reviews by the government and requiring notice of their planned operations to neighbors in the affected areas.
The groups bringing the suit are the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Association of Irritated Residents (California), Citizens Action Coalition (Indiana), Dakota Rural Action (South Dakota), Food & Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy and White River Waterkeeper (Arkansas.)…
On December 4, 2018, CEJA hosted featuring three environmental justice experts to celebrate the release of our updated Green Zones Across California report, as well as our new CalGreenZones.org website…
The fastest driving route to Sacramento from Los Angeles is the I-5 or Highway 99. On the way there, you’ll drive through miles of farms, oil fields and open space.
After a couple of hours, you’ll be in the heart of Kern County and San Joaquin Valley — a place that has become the state’s epicenter of harmful air pollution.
The state of California has drastically reduced air pollution since the 1970s in its major cities—but an investigation of Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease (CLRD) and air pollution shows Kern County and the rest of San Joaquin Valley still have a long way to go…
Now that almost all the contests have been decided, what do the 2018 elections tell us about the future of air and climate policies in California? In general, both ballot measures and candidate races give hope to those trying to reduce emissions that are damaging human health and altering our climate.
The environmental community strongly opposed Proposition 6, which would have crippled transportation infrastructure by repealing last year’s gas and diesel tax hikes and requiring all future increases in fuel and vehicle taxes and fees to be put on the ballot…
The San Joaquin Valley is the land of Big Agriculture. Stretching 250 miles from Bakersfield in the south to Stockton in the north, the San Joaquin comprises the southern two-thirds of the storied Central Valley, a plowed-over promised land covering seven million acres of irrigated fields that generate more than $17 billion a year in crops — with the vast majority coming from three San Joaquin Valley counties. In sum, the region supplies a quarter of the food on American plates.
It is also awash in air pollution. Millions of beef and dairy cattle, millions of acres of dusty crops, and the truck traffic to support these mega-operations generate fine airborne particles that linger and swirl in what is, in effect, a gigantic, pollution-trapping bowl bounded by mountains…
Every year, the state Lands Commission makes decisions that impact the lives of millions of Californians and over 150 indigenous nations. This little-known agency manages more than four million acres of the state’s public lands. From managing oil and gas leases along the coast, to overseeing development in the vicinity of the Tijuana River in the south, and Goose Lake in the north, the commission’s decisions have consequences that last for generations.
One of the commission’s core responsibilities is ensuring the people of California can use the public lands and waters under its care. But right here in San Diego County, we have a river that is inaccessible due to pollution, and tribal communities that have been displaced from ancestral homelands. Now, the Lands Commission has an opportunity to change the course of California land management by adopting an environmental justice policy that unites the needs and perspectives of communities whose interests have historically been disregarded…
A coalition of neighborhood, environmental and health organizations are asking the city of Fresno leaders to engage community members as the city conducts work on environmental impact reports for the general plan and a south industrial area specific plan…
On a mid-September afternoon, 30,000 people marched down San Francisco’s Market Street in a demonstration they called Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice. One group walked behind a banner bearing the name of an eponymous statewide campaign: “Brown’s Last Chance.” California Gov. Jerry Brown had developed a reputation as a climate champion, but protesters felt that the urgency of the moment demanded more of him. Among other things, they called on Brown to “listen to science, not carbon polluters” by moving to keep fossil fuels in the ground. California — the world’s sixth-largest economy — has the country’s most ambitious climate policies by a mile, but it is also among the most prolific oil and gas producers in the U.S. — hence the papier-mâché likeness of Brown’s head atop an oil rig…
20 Years Ago
The streets of Lemoore, often criticized for their rough state and bouncy ride, may soon receive a facelift of sorts. The California Transportation Commission recently made the decision to amend certain provisions to their 1998 budget to include additional federal funds not originally anticipated. These changes mean that the CTC has money that can be used on various new projects including the resurfacing of a long list of Lemoore streets…