Environment

California fights wildfires aggressively—but prevention takes a back seat

The state firefighting agency, Cal Fire, spends the bulk of its budget battling wildfires. A new report says it should do more to prevent them.

By

Julie Cart

• March 28, 2018

Environment

Court orders Trump administration to comply with clean air laws

A court ruled today that the Environmental Protection Agency must identify regions of the country that exceed federal smog levels, giving another win to California and other states that have sued to compel the regulator to enforce the Clean Air Act.

By

Julie Cart

• March 12, 2018

Politics

Becerra v Trump: How California is using the courts to fight the administration

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has been using the courts to try and stop policies coming out of the White House that harm Californians, and it's working.

By

Ben Christopher

• March 7, 2018

Environment

As California oil regulator seeks more money, legislators ask “Is this working?”

California’s oil and gas regulator has endured years of scolding from the Legislature for a lack of accountability, from environmentalists for allowing an industry to run roughshod over a state regulator, and from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for failing to enforce clean water laws. But the state’s oil watchdog is undertaking a comprehensive reform, officials say, that will radically change the agency’s culture and modernize a department with one foot in the last century.

By

Julie Cart

• February 28, 2018

Environment

Californians rally against Trump’s offshore oil drilling proposal

Protestors wearing dolphin, shark and polar bear costumes joined the throngs who descended on Sacramento Thursday to speak out against the Trump administration’s proposal to expand oil drilling in federal waters off the California coast. After a rally outside the state Capitol they marched to a library a few blocks away where the federal Bureau […]

By

Laurel Rosenhall

• February 8, 2018

Environment

California sues Trump administration over water protection

California has joined a group of states suing two federal agencies for suspending a 2015 rule that entitled more bodies of water to protection.

By

Julie Cart

• February 6, 2018

Environment

Could oil firms be forced to pay for climate change? California cities hope so

A handful of municipalities and counties across California have filed lawsuits against oil companies, alleging that the energy giants knowingly contributed to climate change and should begin paying for it.

By

Julie Cart

• February 5, 2018

Environment

Trump administration considering tearing up plan for the California desert

A Trump administration move to reconsider a historic agreement on use of California desert land is ostensibly about renewable energy production, but undoing the plan could also open up sensitive desert land to off-road recreation, mining and livestock grazing.

By

Julie Cart

• February 2, 2018

Environment

California taxpayers could foot the bill to shutter old oil rigs in the Pacific

California lawmakers are considering an unprecedented request to spend more than $100 million in taxpayer money to dismantle two offshore oil-drilling facilities—a platform connected to the ruptured pipeline and a man-made island in nearby Ventura County—because the oil companies that were leasing the sites went bankrupt last year.

By

Laurel Rosenhall

• January 31, 2018

Environment

California sues Trump administration for canceling fracking rules

Obama-era fracking regulations had been tied up in court until Washington nixed them in December.

By

Julie Cart

• January 24, 2018