Most Californians, including many environmentalists, are unaware of how effectively Big Oil has captured California regulators. Photo: 17-year-old Nalleli Cobo, a Los Angeles resident who was sickened by toxic emissions from the oil drilling site, AllenCo., near her home, speaks at a Brown's Last Chance press conference at the State Capitol last year....

Lawsuit Prompts Consultation to Save Southern Resident Killer Whales...

“Californians decided to protect the McCloud River in 1989 because it’s valuable to all of us,” said Ron Stork of Friends of the River. “The ill-conceived dam raise would flood a free-flowing reach of the river, harm a prized fishery, and destroy sacred tribal sites. It’s time to end Westlands’ disrespect of the California Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.”...

A variety of wooded areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains have been included in the Trump administration's latest plan for new oil drilling on public lands in California. On May 9, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released the Environmental Impact Statement for the plan to open up oil and gas leasing and development in 725,500 acres of public lands and mineral estates in the Central Coast and the Bay Area. Included in the EIS is what is described as "12.55 acres of public land in the Ramsey Gul...

(Beyond Pesticides, April 26, 2019) Research by the youth participatory action team of the CHAMACOS of the Salinas Evaluating Chemicals in Homes and Agriculture (COSECHA) reveals that teenagers in the Salinas Valley, California are routinely exposed to concerning levels of multiple toxic pesticides, several of them known endocrine disruptors. In an interview with Kion News, COSECHA research director Kimberly Parra remarked that the study is especially important because teenagers are in a stag...

“When you become a teacher, you sign up to not only care for children, but to educate the future leaders of society,” said 12 year-old Samantha of Youth vs Apocalypse. “To find out that the people I have spent most of my life with are funding to pour toxins into my future is a real slap to the face. It’s a message telling the youth that you don’t really care for our future, and it contradicts exactly what a teacher is.”...

“We are pleased that Gov. Newsom’s Administration has reaffirmed a strong commitment to modernize the state’s water delivery infrastructure with a single-tunnel project in the Delta,” said Jeff Kightlinger, General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). “We will work with the administration to expeditiously advance a project that is long overdue to both meet the water reliability needs of the state and minimize impacts to the communities and ecology of the Delta.”...

Missing from the press releases from the Santa Barbara County DA’s Office, Attorney General’s Office and environmental groups and the superficial press coverage of the spill, the investigation, the jury trial and sentencing is one of the biggest and most ironic stories regarding the Refugio Oil Spill. In a classic example of the deep regulatory capture that pervades what passes for “marine protection” in California, the head of the oil industry trade association, the Western States Petroleum ...

On Earth Day, April 22, a rally under redwoods by forest defenders featured a giant sign announcing an important appeal to Menlo Park City Council to be held on May 7. Photos by Jack Owicki, Pro Bono Photo. Please credit the photographer....

On April 15 in San Francisco, as a part of an international week of actions leading up to Earth Day, youth with Extinction Rebellion SF Bay Area led a powerful rally, shutting down 7th St for two hours. On April 22nd in Los Angeles, members of Extinction Rebellion LA scaled the iconic globe outside Universal Studios. Four people were charged with felonies....