Climate Point: What your city will look like in 2080, and ditching power plants
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson, writing to you from Palm Springs, where torrential rain today meant flash floods, water rescues and a collapsed highway. But by 2080, it could feel more like Las Palmas, Mexico, where it's 89 degrees, dry and sunny today. That's according to new research in Nature Communications that allows people to see how U.S. cities' weather will shift due to climate change. New York will feel more like Arkansas, explains Doyle Rice for Paste BN, while San Francisco will experience weather more like that sprawling sibling they love to hate, Los Angeles.
Here are some other things you might want to know:
MUST-READ STORIES
Check your raincoat at the door. EPA has announced plans to regulate harmful chemicals that leach from water repellent gear, Teflon coated pans, firefighting foam and more into drinking water, as Ledyard King reports for Paste BN. Environmentalists criticized the move as a stalling tactic to protect industry interests. The process, which could take months or longer, would set a maximum legal limit for Polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS), which have seeped into groundwater that reaches millions of taps. The chemicals are linked to reproductive, developmental, liver, kidney, and immunological effects, contributing to low infant birth weights and cancers.
Green Raw deal? President Trump is having a field day criticizing cow farts and other portions of the Green New Deal, and GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell wants a vote on the carbon slashing infrastructure plan as soon as possible (likely not because he wants it to pass). But its lead author, freshman Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is pushing back against critics after making some gaffes, as King and William Cummings report for Paste BN.
ENERGY, CLEAN AND DIRTY
Last One Out. California's giant power companies might be forced out of the electric business – and some say that makes sense, writes Sammy Roth with the LA Times. The state's three big investor-owned utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – could lose most of their customers to government-run providers called community choice aggregators in the next few years. That could free them up to work on more profitable infrastructure projects, like transmission poles or EV charging stations.
States and cities on both coasts could phase out polluting natural gas plants too. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday that instead of building three new gas-fired units, $5 billion would be used instead to transition to renewable energy, as Martin Wisckol reports for the Southern California News Group. Garcetti said: “This is the beginning of the end of natural gas for this city."
Meanwhile, a report issued Thursday says New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will not be able to make his ambitious clean energy goals if he fails to stop 12 fossil fuel projects from moving forward, Scott Fallon reports for the North Jersey Record. A coalition of environmental groups say four proposed power plants along with eight pipelines and other natural gas infrastructure would increase New Jersey's greenhouse gas output by 30 percent, and would derail Murphy's efforts to power the state entirely by renewable energy by mid-century.
WATER IN THE WEST
Facing cutbacks of Colorado River water, Arizona farmers are looking to pump groundwater to stay in business, which carries its own environmental costs, as Ian James reports for The Arizona Republic.
The Salton Sea, California's largest lake, is both beautiful and dying since Colorado River water imports were cut a year ago, drying up the shoreline and making the water even saltier. All the fish and the millions of migratory birds that fed on them each winter have now vanished, biologists told me in the story for the Desert Sun. There are signs of some new life, and if 15 years worth of restoration projects ever get built, more could return.
County commissioners unanimously rejected a water pipeline through a Denver suburb, saying it would damage wildlife, create traffic and bring no benefits to the area, as Jacy Marmaduke reports for the Coloradoan.
Fingers are crossed in the California burn areas, where evacuations were ordered as storms swept in. But 99 percent of all household hazardous waste has been cleaned up in the Hill and Woolsey fire areas, as the Ventura County Star reports.
AND ANOTHER THING
I'm not always a fan of the cameras near wild animals' burrows that let people virtually lurk. But in honor of Valentine's Day, here's a quick take by my hard-working Desert Sun editor Evan Wyloge that's pretty cute, about two eagles mating in Big Bear, CA this week. Here's to love in all the right places.
And here's this week's carbon dioxide numbers.
That's all for this week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.