Focus
As drought worsens, regulators impose unprecedented water restrictions on California farms
Los Angeles Times – August 3
Amid intensifying drought, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) voted on Tuesday to pass an “emergency curtailment” order for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed, which will bar thousands of Californians — primarily farmers — from using stream and river water. The scope of Tuesday’s order is unprecedented, officials said. About 5,700 Northern California and Central Valley water rights holders will be subject to the curtailments, according to a deputy director of the SWRCB’s Division of Water Rights. The order will largely affect rights holders using water for agricultural irrigation purposes, though some municipal, industrial, and commercial entities will also be affected.
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News
In push to phase out gas cars, Biden tightens pollution rules
The New York Times – August 5
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a strategy to rapidly shift Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles. The president also sees opportunities to grow jobs if the domestic supply chain is retooled and expanded to produce batteries and fuel cells, essential to electric vehicles, in American factories. The new rules restore and slightly strengthen Obama-era auto mileage standards, requiring passenger vehicles to achieve an average of 52 miles per gallon by 2026. Biden also signed an executive order that calls for half of all vehicles sold in the United States to be electric by 2030.
San Jose’s Reid-Hillview Airport exposes children to high lead levels, study finds
The Mercury News – August 3
Thousands of children in predominantly low-income neighborhoods in East San Jose are at higher risk of permanent developmental issues due to lead emissions from planes flying in and out of nearby Reid-Hillview Airport, a new study has found. The study was commissioned by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors last year and analyzed 17,000 blood samples from children who lived within a mile and a half of the airport. It found that children living within a half-mile of the airport had significantly higher levels of lead in their blood than those who lived farther away. Lead is a neurotoxin that can stunt a child’s physical and cognitive development. Elected officials and nearby residents say the study supports their push to close the airport.
Coalition of 19 state attorneys general urges EPA to roll back Trump-era clean water rule
Reuters – August 3
In a letter on Monday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a coalition of 19 attorneys general, led by the attorneys general of California, Washington, and New York, urged repeal of the Trump-era Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule. The agency last year altered the CWA Section 401 certification process to make it impossible for a state to block a water permit for a project for any reason other than direct pollution of state waters. States had previously weighed broader factors, such as climate change, in deciding whether projects could damage their waterways.
Endangered orcas get new protection from U.S. government
Associated Press – July 30
Endangered killer whales last Friday received new habitat protections when the National Marine Fisheries Service finalized rules to expand the Southern Resident orca’s critical habitat from the Canadian border down to Point Sur, California, adding 15,910 square miles of foraging areas, river mouths, and migratory pathways. Environmentalists praised the action, but also called for habitat protections for salmon to aid in the orca’s recovery.
Forest Service changes ‘let it burn’ policy following criticism from western politicians
The San Diego Union-Tribune – August 4
Facing criticism over its practice of monitoring some fires rather than quickly extinguishing them, the U.S. Forest Service has told its firefighters to curtail the practice for now, so as to help prevent small blazes from growing into uncontrollable conflagrations. The policy change came days after politicians, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, publicly challenged the “let it burn” practice.
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