[Source: BBC News] Satellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is “at least partly” due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency NASA says. NASA maps show falling levels of nitrogen dioxide this year. It comes amid record declines in China’s factory activity as manufacturers Read More…
Newsroom
Tackling air pollution may accidentally trigger serious health issues
[Source: NewScientist] Cities tackling one major air pollutant risk inadvertently making things worse by fuelling the growth of another, potentially more harmful type of pollution. Many urban areas around the world are in breach of World Health Organization guidelines on PM2.5, particulate matter with a maximum diameter of 2.5 micrometres. Vehicles are a common source of Read More…
Proposition 13 would spend $15 billion on California schools
[Source: Associated Press] Lake Elementary School, just a half-hour drive northeast of San Francisco, is a relic from 1957. Much of the school’s scuffed flooring is old linoleum that contains asbestos, as does the insulation around the school’s hulking old steel furnace where grey duct tape is wrapped around rusting pipes. “The heating system is Read More…
Why Texans don‘t want any more Californians
[Source: The Atlantic] Across a frightened nation divided by politics and culture, a fragile harmony is ascendant, as Americans in small towns and large cities alike cry out in trembling unison: Hey, where did all these Californians come from? Talk of a “California Exodus” is sweeping the country—and so are anxieties about its effects on Read More…
Ready or not here it comes—State groundwater regulation
[Source: CalChamber] January 31, 2020 marks the first time in California’s history that groundwater will be regulated. Twenty-one critically over-drafted groundwater basins must submit detailed plans showing how they will reach sustainability by 2040. The plans must include ways to monitor groundwater on a day-to-day basis, short-term, seasonal, and year long. Sustainability generally means eliminating Read More…
NEPA climate overhaul could unleash energy projects
[Source: E&E NEWS] The White House is poised to exclude climate considerations from its controversial rewrite of rules surrounding the nation’s core environmental law. The Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed changes to National Environmental Policy Act guidelines will likely emerge this week. NEPA, signed into law by President Nixon, gives communities input and allows them Read More…
New study details economic impact of fracturing ban
[Source: Midland Reporter Telegram] As the 2020 presidential election campaign heats up, some candidates have called for a total ban on hydraulic fracturing while other groups support a “keep it in the ground” policy against producing fossil fuels. Such comments come as the Global Energy Institute, part of the US Chamber of Commerce, issued a Read More…
Solar power required for all new California homes starting Jan. 1
[Source: The Mercury News] Landmark building rules will be first-in-the nation solar requirement. California already generates more electricity from solar power than any other state. But now a dramatic expansion is about to begin as new building codes take effect Jan. 1 requiring all newly constructed homes statewide to be powered by the sun. The Read More…
California weighs controversial rule to tackle truck tailpipe pollution
[Source: CalMatters] California’s clean air enforcers want major truck manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles in the state — but the agency’s proposal faces criticism from environmentalists and truck makers alike. Noemí Bueno’s daughter was barely 14 months old when she started struggling to breathe. Bueno, a San Bernardino resident who works as a crossing guard Read More…