A new piece of bipartisan legislation was introduced last week in another attempt to solve water quality issues for California’s poorest communities. Sen. Andy Vidak (R-Hanford), who represents most of Tulare County in the state legislature, co-authored Senate Bills 844 and 845 in the latest attempt to create a new tax that would fund projects to treat water in rural areas where water is contaminated with arsenic, nitrates, lead and other contaminants….
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California is officially going to start targeting systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice as it addresses climate change. The state has been releasing climate change assessments roughly every three years since 2006 that lay out potential impacts from climate change and how it should respond. California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, released Monday, includes sections on climate justice and tribal and indigenous communities for the very first time….
Let’s agree: Jerry Brown deserves real praise for his role as a first-generation climate leader. As California’s governor, he helped shepherd the state to a place near the top of the green league standings, by reducing the demand for energy and producing more of that energy with renewables….
After a landmark vote by its state Assembly, California is poised to join Hawaii and become the second state committed to generating 100 percent of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources. If the state Senate votes in favor of the current version of Senate Bill 100, which has only minor changes to a bill the Senate already passed, and then Gov. Jerry Brown signs it, California will commit to a clear target of 100 percent clean electricity by 2045…
California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment was recently released by the Office of Planning and Research, the Natural Resources Agency, and the state Energy Commission. It updates and expands on earlier work—the third assessment was released in 2012—and provides a dour overview of what the future holds for Californians.
Heat waves will grow more severe and persistent, shortening the lives of thousands of Californians. Wildfires will burn more of the state’s forests. The ocean will rise higher and faster, exposing California to billions in damage along the coast….
The clock is ticking to ensure clean drinking water is available to all in California. Legislators have just five days to help an estimated 1 million Californians access safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets….
Echoing severe concerns that fossil fuel production threatens the health and safety of residents, scores of Bay Area officials are joining with more than 150 local officials from a majority of counties across California calling on Governor Jerry Brown calling for a statewide plan to phase out oil and gas drilling….
It’s all over the news. A powerful state agency is threatening to divert even more water away from Central Valley farms and communities in a quest to preserve fish species. Meanwhile, under the “watchful” eye of this very same agency our communities have been left without access to clean drinking water….
Water is the number one issue Tulare County residents will consider this November, from who will represent them in the federal government at the top of their ballot to who is running their water district at the bottom. For communities like Exeter, they will decide who will apply pressure to fix a system that lacks pressure….