"The Interior Department is exploring making wholesale changes to a massive California desert renewable energy zone that could lead to opening environmentally sensitive areas designated for conservation to possible commercial-scale wind, solar and geothermal power projects."
"The U.S. region most vulnerable to tsunamis - the massive waves of water unleashed by undersea earthquakes - is dangerously under-prepared, experts and officials in Oregon and Washington state said after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake this week."
"California’s attorney general on Wednesday said the state plans to sue the Trump administration over its repeal of Obama-era rules meant to address public safety concerns in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal lands."
"Nearly 5 million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean on California’s Central Coast after a filter at a water treatment plant got clogged and the computer system failed to sound an alarm, an official said Monday, forcing several popular beaches to close."
This is a decisive time on the energy and environment front, with challenges and confrontation expected over the consummation of the Trump deregulatory agenda. Our second annual issues guide provides a roadmap for covering the big stories. The guide's formal launch took place at an SEJ event in Washington, D.C. on January 26. If you missed it, the webcast is archived here.
Floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other human-caused disasters made 2017 a hard year to beat. But environmental journalists would do well to be prepared for 2018. This week's TipSheet explains why predicting weather-related disasters may not be as hard you think, and provides resources to get reporters ready.
"In a landmark decision, the California Public Utilities Commission has decided PG&E can close Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in 2025 — and San Luis Obispo County still won’t get its much-desired $85 million mitigation settlement to support the community through the shutdown."
"The death toll from devastating mudslides in affluent communities along a stretch of Southern California coastline rose to 17 on Wednesday after two more bodies were recovered, the local sheriff said, and the number of people missing also climbed to 17."
"At least 13 people are dead and more than 20 are injured in California from weather-related incidents, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday. The southern part of the state has been drenched with severe rain just weeks after several fires tore through the area."
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