Appeal Upheld in Challenge to Oil Drilling in California's Carrizo Plain National Monument 
BAKERSFIELD, Calif.― The California Bureau of Land Management has agreed with conservation groups that plans for a new oil well and pipeline in Carrizo Plain National Monument failed to comply with federal environmental laws. The July 12 decision, announced today, said the local BLM office must consider potential harm to California condors, other imperiled wildlife and the climate....
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:00PM
Newsom Administration begins public process for Delta Tunnel 
Newsom’s support of one tunnel to divert water from the Delta to corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies is no surprise. Newsom received a total of $637,398 from agribusiness in his 2018 campaign for Governor, including $116,800 from Beverly Hills agribusiness billionaires Linda and Stewart Resnick, the owners of the Wonderful Company two of the strongest supporters of the Delta Tunnel and promoters of numerous attacks on environmental protections for salmon and other f...
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:04PM
Governor Newsom orders firing of top oil regulator after fracking increases by 103% 
The announcement of Ken Harris' firing came several hours after two watchdog groups, Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Allliance, released a report revealing that eight DOGGR officials own stock in corporations they are responsible for regulating.
It also came after the many scores of articles I wrote and radio interviews I did documenting the expansion of oil and gas drilling and fracking and numerous conflicts of interests by oil and gas regulators in California under Governor Jerry...
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 10:17AM
California’s Biggest Secret? How Big Oil Has Expanded Drilling Under Brown & Newsom 
Consumer Watchdog and the FracTracker Alliance today released data showing a major increase in permits for new oil and gas wells this year under Governor Newsom. From January 1 to June 3, DOGGR approved 2,365 new oil and gas well permits and 191 fracking permits.
The data reveals that this year regulators have considerably increased the number of permits granted for drilling new wells (by 35.3%), well reworks (by 28.3%), and hydraulic fracturing (by 103.2%) as compared to the permitting r...
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:36AM
Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration’s OK of California Logging That Will Destroy Big Trees, Condor Roosting Sites 
LOS ANGELES, July 10, 2019 ― Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today to halt a logging project in a roadless area of Los Padres National Forest that would destroy prime habitat for endangered California condors. Because of the project’s remote location, it also would fail to protect communities from wildfires as federal officials have claimed....
Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:12PM
Closer to Extinction: Spring Delta smelt surveys reveal record low numbers of fish 
“The outlook for the Delta smelt population remains grim after these lows. Despite good conditions in spring 2018 and 2019, the severely depressed number of adult spawners indicates a continuing weak potential for recovery,” said independent fisheries biologist Tom Cannon in his California Fisheries Blog on the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) website....
Posted: Sun Jul 7, 2019 9:41AM
Ban on Hunting With Lead Ammo to Go Into Effect in California 
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 27, 2019 — On Monday California will become the first state to ban all lead ammunition for hunting — the culmination of years of efforts to phase out toxic lead ammunition in the environment....
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 1:40AM
Rare California Salamanders Move Closer to Endangered Species Act Protection 
Salamanders at Risk of Extinction From Plans to Raise Shasta Dam...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 1:35AM
Trump Administration to Dredge San Francisco Bay to Make Room for More Oil 
Groups Push Back on Plans to Expand Bay Area Refining...
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 1:31AM
Berkeley's People's Park Gardeners Update 
Seasonal summery, indeed. How is your farm? How is your garden? Don't have one? Need someplace to grow?...
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 2:20PM
State Endangered Species Protection Sought for Mountain Lions in Southern California, Central Coast 
Some Populations Face Extinction Threat From Freeways, Sprawl, Rat Poison...
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:54AM
Oregon Governor Kate Brown Signs Five-Year Fracking Ban Bill 
“While we applaud Governor Brown for signing the fracking moratorium into law, she needs to do even more to stop dangerous fracked gas infrastructure in Oregon," said Food & Water Watch Regional Organizing Manager Thomas Meyer. "A new Food & Water Watch report makes it clear that in order to address the climate crisis, we need to stop all new fracked gas infrastructure, including the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and the Pacific Connector pipeline. Governor Brown should use her executive au...
Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:29AM
New coalition launched to protect Bay Area from tar sands, oil tankers 
Representatives of the groups in the coalition commented on the launch of the new group.
“Our community knows refinery expansions are a dead end,” said Isabella Zizi, Stand.earth. “We need our public officials like the Contra Costa County supervisors to stand with us in preventing new pollution sources from harming our health, and supporting real solutions like a just transition for refinery workers and local economic development that protects air and water quality.” ...
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 7:33PM
90,000 Comments Submitted Opposing Plan for New Drilling and Fracking on Public Lands 
Monday, June 10 marked the end of the second and final public comment period on the Trump administration’s plan to open more than 1 million acres of public land and mineral estate across the central coast region to new oil drilling and fracking. The 45 day period, which opened with the release of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, a study of the impacts that fracking would have on in the lease plan area, was the shortest allowed by the Nat...
Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:55PM
Pre-Dawn Arrests at Spectacular Mono-pod Blockade on Rainbow Ridge, Mattole 
A 40' mono pod with a sitter was erected early this morning at the main gate on the logging road on Rainbow Ridge in the Mattole Forest. About 20 people were there by about 4 am in this very remote area. Once security and law enforcement showed up (in force), several people were arrested, after being thrown to the ground without notice....
Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:36AM
Demonstration at Humboldt Redwood Co. Demand Safety for Tree sitter in Rainbow Rid 
Activity is increasing on the northcoast on Rainbow Ridge in the Mattole River watershed as forest defenders open an action camp, a tree sitter remains high in a tree under threat by logging, and local resident septegenarians are arrested blockading Humboldt Redwood Company's main access gate....
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:34PM
Pesticide Use Remains Near Record High in California, State Data Shows 
Sacramento, CA, June 13, 2019: Pesticide use in California topped two hundred million pounds for the third year in a row in 2017, according to data just released by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Included in this total are increases in use of the brain-damaging organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, the soil fumigant chloropicrin, and the cancer-causing fungicides chlorothalonil and mancozeb. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s blockbuster herbicide Roundup,...
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:54PM
Four Elders Arrested at Gate as TreeSit Goes Up in Mattole 
Four Petrolia residents arrested blockading logging gate — average age 75 — as a protester climbs old growth tree in controversial Mattole logging operation in the pre-dawn hours Monday, June 10. Forest Defenders are occupying the forests and preparing for upcoming action camp. Meanwhile, the Lost Coast League is renewing their challenge to Humboldt Redwood Co.'s "sustainable" label....
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:17PM
Mattole Alert: Forest Defenders Head to the Woods and Lost Coast League Cries Foul As Humb 
Logging Crews and Security Showed up in a Contested Logging plan in the Mattole Forest, Ready to Cut in Legacy Forest and Threatened Habitat...
Posted: Fri Jun 7, 2019 11:49AM
Climate Shenanigans at the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco 
Climate Shenanigans at the California Democratic Convention in San Francisco.
California's biggest secret is that Big Oil continues to dominate the conversation on fossil fuels and climate change in the largest Democratic controlled state in the country. Our goal is to fuck with that....
Posted: Sun Jun 2, 2019 3:12PM