Environment

California state officials are in Brazil for the annual United Nations climate conference. The visit highlights California’s role as a climate leader and supports its environmental policies, especially since the U.S. has no official federal delegation. However, some critics question whether the trip is worthwhile because California lacks the power to make international agreements.

Western states in the Colorado River basin are racing a federal deadline to hash out the beginnings of an agreement governing the overtapped river. As the clock ticks down, two questions loom large: Just how real is this deadline, and what does it mean for California?

Legal experts, including a former federal official and UCLA professor, say California could go it alone if the federal government stops regulating greenhouse gases. One reason to try is to protect the state’s clean-car economy.

One year after the discovery that golden mussels had invaded the Delta, thick colonies coat boats and piers and threaten water supplies for cities and farms. Yet the state has no specific funding or plans to tackle harms in the heart of the invasion.

The University of California system says lifting tracking requirements will make managing hazardous waste more efficient. Hundreds of other waste handlers will benefit too, but the state hasn't identified them.

The Trump Administration pulled $1.2 billion from California's hydrogen hub. Even without federal funding, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is pressing ahead with clean energy retrofits.

A group representing thousands of residents from Altadena and surrounding areas said Edison’s proposed payouts exclude some residents and underpay others.

An El Segundo refinery fire has renewed questions about who is investigating the state’s oil industry after serious accidents. With the U.S. Chemical Safety Board defunded, California has yet to fill the gap.

PG&E and Southern California Edison routinely blow their deadlines to hook up new solar panels, an advocacy group says. But after years of complaints they have not been punished.

The Sonoma County company Resynergi says it will depart the state, just as Gov. Newsom sends CalRecycle back to the drawing board on potentially nation-leading rules governing plastic waste and plastic products.