Environmental and Policy Focus
Reuters - Dec 15 President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the U.S. Department of Energy, handing the job to a climate change skeptic with close ties to the oil industry who once proposed abolishing the department. The choice adds to a list of drilling proponents who have been tapped for top jobs in the Trump administration. The selection of Perry was praised by the oil industry, but viewed with worry by environmental groups concerned about the U.S. role in global climate change. Trump has made energy policy a central issue in his agenda, promising to revive oil and gas drilling and coal mining by cutting back on federal regulations. In a statement from Trump's transition team, the president-elect said Perry's tenure leading Texas, the nation's second most populous state and a major producer of oil, gas, and wind power, from 2000 until 2015 made him a strong pick for the job. Jack Gerard, president of the Washington-based American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and natural gas companies, said he welcomed Perry's nomination, and called on him to make increasing exports of U.S. natural gas a "top priority."
New York Times - Dec 13 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that the oil and gas extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing has contaminated drinking water in some circumstances, according to the final version of a comprehensive study first issued in 2015. That conclusion is a significant departure from the conclusion presented by EPA in the earlier version of the study, now deleted, which found “no evidence that hydraulic fracturing systemically contaminates water” supplies. The new report, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind to date on the effects of hydraulic fracturing on water supply--including review of over 1000 existing studies and new research--comes as President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed to expand hydraulic fracturing and roll back existing regulations on the process.
Sacramento Bee - Dec 12 President Obama today signed into a law a wide-ranging water bill, co-authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., which is likely to result in increased pumping of Northern California water to farms and cities in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via the State Water Project and Central Valley Project. That would mean less water in the rivers for fish and wildlife, and less flowing to the San Francisco Bay and out to the ocean. Farm groups and south state cities called the controversial bill, which was strenuously opposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a long-overdue course correction that puts human needs on an even footing with fish and other environmental purposes. Environmentalists, however, urged that by authorizing increased pumping in the Delta, the legislation will bring further ruin to the dwindling fish populations that are protected by the Endangered Species Act.
San Jose Mercury News - Dec 12 Reflecting problems at other aging reservoirs, a $200 million project to drain and repair Anderson Dam, to reduce the risk of it collapsing in a major earthquake, will double in cost and be delayed by at least two more years. Managers at the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), based in San Jose, had hoped to start construction in early 2018 on the seismic upgrade work at the 240-foot-high earthen dam, which sits east of Highway 101 between San Jose and Morgan Hill and is one of the Bay Area’s largest dams. But now the construction won’t start until mid-2020, and the cost will jump to least $400 million. New geologic studies show that the upstream side of the dam is at risk of collapsing, or liquefying, in a major earthquake, requiring the project to be redesigned. If the water district chooses not to fix the dam, state regulators might require it to be drained anyway. According to the SCVWD, the cost to purchase and replace Anderson’s water over the next 50 years, rather than repair the dam, would be $1.8 billion.
San Diego Union-Tribune - Dec 9 The California Coastal Commission last Thursday fined two Malibu property owners more than $5.1 million for denying surfers and other beachgoers access to beaches the public has a right to access under state law. After a nine-year dispute with one set of homeowners, the commission unanimously approved a cease-and-desist order and imposed a $4.2 million fine for diverting a public easement to private use. It also approved a settlement with owners of the Malibu Beach Inn, which requires the owners to construct two stairways to the beach, a signalized crosswalk, and pay $200,000 in fines and $300,000 to a local conservation agency. The penalties are the first the powerful land use agency has imposed on property owners for violating beach access provisions of the California Coastal Act.
