Environment – Page 24 – California Globe

California Legislature Approves $2.5B Wildfire Relief Bills

January 23, 2025 1:09 pmJanuary 23, 2025 5:20 pm

California State Senators and Assembly members unanimously passed two bills Thursday morning to provide a total of $3 billion to help Los Angeles begin recovery and cleanup from the devastating wildfires. The proposed funding in Assembly Bill 4 and Senate...

Senate Republicans Outline Decades of Democrats Killing Wildfire Prevention Bills

January 22, 2025 5:07 pmJanuary 23, 2025 1:10 pm

With several wildfires still blazing in Los Angeles, the Globe has been reflecting on how and why this is happening, especially with the state’s recent history of devastating and deadly wildfires. We harkened back to former Gov. Jerry Brown, who...

Ringside: Quantifying the Upside of More Lawns

January 22, 2025 2:47 pmJanuary 22, 2025 2:47 pm

A respected advocate for farming interests in California once explained to me that every acre of lawn requires 5 acre feet of water per year. The unsubtle implication was that the more lawn we kill, the less water we waste....

More California Chickens Come Home to Roast

January 22, 2025 1:42 pmJanuary 22, 2025 1:42 pm

What burns hotter than a disco inferno? A fire in a battery energy storage system designed to store electricity from intermittent sources such as wind and solar. Both Goleta and Nipomo have these battery energy storage facilities and Lompoc may...

Brightline West Rail Project Unveils Higher Than Anticipated Estimate Ticket Prices

January 22, 2025 2:45 amJanuary 22, 2025 2:46 am

A new $2.5 billion bond offering for the Brightline West high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga was unveiled on Monday, revealing that initial one-way ticket prices are estimated to be far higher than expected at between $119-$133....

Trump Vows to End Federal Electric Vehicle Mandate

January 21, 2025 7:28 amJanuary 21, 2025 7:28 am

Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, he announced he would be ending the federal electric vehicle mandate. This will hamper California’s EV mandate, the goal of which is to end the sale of all gas-powered vehicles in...

Gov. Newsom to Raise U.S. Flag Full Mast in Sacramento On Election Day

January 17, 2025 2:00 pmJanuary 17, 2025 2:01 pm

The office of Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed this week that the U.S. flag at the State Capitol building in Sacramento would be raised from half-staff to full-staff on January 20th in honor of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, becoming the only...