Climate Point: Trump administration targets the Clean Water Act
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news across the Golden State and the country. From Palm Springs, Calif., I’m Mark Olalde.
As my fantastic colleague Janet Wilson announced last week, she’ll be muckraking throughout 2020 in partnership with ProPublica. In her stead, I’ll be your source for everything environment at The Desert Sun. Get in touch at molalde@gannett.com and follow along on Twitter at @MarkOlalde. I’ve covered everything from mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia to illegal gold syndicates in South Africa and the power of the fossil fuel industry in Trinidad and Tobago. With that in mind, I can already tell I still won't be bored in Southern California.
What’s the latest? President Donald Trump’s industry-friendly deregulatory campaign hit another high-level target last week in the Clean Water Act. What’s that mean for us? Well, two-third of California waterways could lose federal protection, although farmers and builders applauded the move.
Here's some other important reporting....
MUST-READ STORIES
Scrubbing California oil clean. A new study from the California Council on Science and Technology found that nearly 70,000 oil and gas wells around the state are teetering on the edge and could become the state’s problem. Statewide, oil and gas well cleanup could cost $9 billion.
A ground-up solution. Could shifting energy market forces lead to a wave of new geothermal power in California? Several areas, including around the Salton Sea, have high potential for geothermal stations, and new projects are in the pipeline, the Los Angeles Times reports. The BLM also announced that it planned to open up nearly 23,000 acres near Death Valley for geothermal leasing.
When water turns green. Around the country, poorly managed fertilizers are washing into the country’s waterways. Almost 150 public water systems have found algae blooms near their water sources since 2017. A new investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, Grist and PRI's The World reveals the extent of fertilizer’s impact on climate change and water quality — and how it got this bad.
POLITICAL CLIMATE
Development v. agriculture. Arizona lawmakers recently introduced a bill to halt specific water rights-holders from selling their water away from the Colorado River. In another must-read from our friends at The Arizona Republic, reporter Ian James digs into the growing strains being placed on the all-important river by development in the Southwest.
So do we actually get that money? After promising $220 million in funding to address the growing crisis at the shrinking Salton Sea, California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered. Well, sort of. His proposed budget does include that money — but only as a line item in a bond that would require voter approval come November.
Waving goodbye to Western coal. Arizona Public Service Co., the state's major utility, announced that it plans to go carbon-free by 2050, The Arizona Republic reports. This comes shortly after utilities in New Mexico and Colorado went public with their own shifts from fossil fuels.
STUDYING OUR IMPACT
That's a lot of trash. A new study, reported by The Guardian, found that humans use more than 100 billion metric tons of "material," or stuff, every year. All the while, recycling is trending downward, a worrying trend suggesting more garbage will end up in landfills and the oceans.
Linking climate to weather. Another study, this one analyzed by InsideClimate News, further unpacks the relationship between warming global temperatures and more dramatic weather events. As Arctic sea ice disappears, certain extreme weather events, including El Niños, experience an uptick.
AND ANOTHER THING
Is water worthless? International food giant Nestle wants to pay the state of Florida $115 – correct, $115 – to pump more than 1 million gallons of spring water daily to sell back to the public in plastic bottles, according to E&E News.
Scientists agree that to maintain a livable planet, we need to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration back to 350 ppm. We’re above that and rising dangerously. Here are the latest numbers:
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