Top Stories
“Trade Secrets” Obscure First Look at Toxic Brew in L.A. Air from Oil Drilling
The oil and gas industry reported 477 fracking, acidization and gravel-packing operations in Orange and Los Angeles counties using 22,500 tons of chemicals, many of which are known to be toxic if released into the air, which they are. The companies admit to using 44 different air toxics, some of which are carcinogenic but trade-secret chemicals are identified in a more vague fashion, e.g. a “lubricant,” “surfincant” or “mixture.” read more
California Vets Are Suffering Outrageous Wait Times, Too, or Are They?
This is a report driven hard by politics. If it were driven by a societal imperative to care properly for veterans—many of whom are homeless, unemployed and suffering mightily from decades of warfare and deprivation—the problems at VA hospitals wouldn’t exist or come as a shock to people. The audit warns, “This accelerated effort led, unavoidably, to a number of limitations, which serve to caution against over–interpretation of these findings.” read more
Local Cops Throughout the State Use Anti-Terrorism Stingrays to Track Cellphone Users
A new map published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows the known locations nationally of where the agencies are using Stingray technology, but as the ACLU points out, it “dramatically under-represents” use of the surveillance equipment that the authorities fight to keep secret. Stingray pretends that it is a cell tower and fools wireless phones into establishing a connection. Once connected, the authorities can trace the location and download its information. read more
Pot Farms Are Draining Humboldt Streams Amid Chaos over Marijuana Regulation
Biologist Scott Bauer identified 550 grows with 19,000 plants in each of the two watersheds and calculated they consumed 20% to 30% of the Redwood Creek and Salmon Creek. He assumed that each plant would need 6 gallons of water per day through its approximated 150-day growing season.
“We knew people were diverting water for marijuana operations,” Bauer told the Associated Press. “We didn't know they could consume all the water in a stream.” read more
County Judge Obliterates California Tenure Law and Other Protections for Teachers
The ruling, if it stands, is a blow to teacher unions and a victory for administrators, union opponents, charter school enthusiasts, public school critics and anyone who blames teachers for the sorry state of education. Whether it is a victory for students, as the judge and supporters of the decision claim, remains to be seen. read more
Forget the Lost Snowpack; There Goes the Tule Fog!
The famed Tule fog of the Central Valley gives a moist cover to fruit and nut trees when it rolls in after the first big rainfall in November, and wreaks havoc on motorists for the next four months.
Not much of it rolled in this year, which is not surprising, considering the drought. But researchers at UC Berkeley say this is just an intensification of a pattern of dramatic decline in the past three decades and it bodes ill for the region’s dominant agricultural industry. read more
Lawsuit Calls Out Air Board over Permit for Chevron Refinery Expansion in Richmond
Although Chevron calls the project a “modernization,” critics call it an “expansion.” The changes ostensibly won’t increase the refinery’s capacity, but will allow it to process dirtier oil without, it maintains, spewing more pollution into the atmosphere than it already does. Critics say the refinery already poses a major health threat to the community and this will make it worse. read more
Researchers Find LAX Jet Fuel Pollution a Lot Farther Away than Suspected
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the University of Washington found ultrafine particulate matter, which may contribute to heart and lung disease, from the exhaust of planes taking off and landing at LAX 10 mikes away.
They stopped at 10 miles because, “We just ran out of drive time,” researcher Scott Fruin told a writer for American Chemical Society’s Chemical Engineering & News. read more
Democrats May Be Without a Candidate for Controller in November
The state’s new primary system lets the top two vote getters advance to the general election regardless of whether they are in the same party. This year, the four top vote getters received pretty equal support. By the end of the evening, with 99.4% of the vote counted, there were only a few hundred votes separating Republican Evans and Democrat Pérez for the second spot on the ballot to run against Republican Ashley Swearengin. No one was conceding defeat. read more
Federal Judge Gives Class-Action Status to California Prisoners Protesting Solitary Confinement
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken allowed upward of 500 prisoners who have been in isolation there for more than 10 years, with no end in sight, to join the lawsuit. “We pose a fundamental question: Is it constitutional to hold someone in solitary confinement for over a decade,” Alexis Agathocleous, staff attorney for the center told the Los Angeles Times. read more
State Doesn’t Track Big Water Users and Those with “Senior” Preferential Rights
Four thousand corporate and agricultural holders of “senior rights” to more than half the water from the state’s rivers and streams have virtually no controls on them, according to data collected by the Associated Press. San Francisco and Los Angeles water departments are some of the biggest rights holders.
AP went to the trouble of collecting data on where trillions of gallons of water go because the state does not, at least not very accurately or efficiently. read more
Central Valley Farmers Keep Drought Losses at $1.7 Billion by Overtaxing Groundwater
A preliminary report on the economic impact of the drought, prepared for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), projects 14,500 workers in the state’s farmbelt will lose their jobs and Central Valley growers and farm communities will suffer a $1.7-billion loss. What the report doesn’t do is factor in the long-term consequences of sucking too much water out of the ground to compensate for reductions in other water sources. read more
How Does Personal Water Conservation Help When BigAg Is Using Most of It?
BigAg’s take of the state’s water supply has been variously calculated at between 79% (by state government) and 93%. A 2012 report from the Pacific Institute opted for the higher number, and contrasts it with 4% for household consumption and 3% for industry. Farmers use 15% of the state’s water to grow a thirsty crop, alfalfa, that is mostly exported to China, where it is used to feed cows. read more
There Is Nothing Like Epic Drought to Bring out the Best at California Beaches
Three years of dry weather have reduced urban runoff and the flow of pollutants that are the principle source of bacteria and other yucky stuff that makes people sick. The report monitored more than 600 beaches during three distinct periods: “summer dry weather” between April and October 2013; “winter dry weather” from November 2013 to March 2014; and “year-round wet weather conditions.” The news was good for all periods, although the report warns that it probably won’t last. read more
Marines Exonerate Themselves after Investigating Their Raid on Defense Lawyers’ Offices
They went office by office, looking through drawers and shuffling through papers, until they found the cellphone—about 20 minutes into the two-and-a-half-hour raid. The search potentially contaminated a number of cases. The Camp Pendleton office has about 70 cases pending, including one involving Iraq war crimes. read more
Feds Say California's 13.7-Billion-Barrel Shale Oil Bonanza Isn't Happening
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release a report, probably next month, that reduces the projected 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Central California by 96%, to just 600 million barrels. The EIA based its projection on the failure of limited fracking operations already in place in Central California shale country to effectively overcome the challenging geological formations. read more