Fifty years after the Jan. 28, 1969, oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel, the region is on the verge of another upheaval — the wholesale removal of aging oil infrastructure.

Santa Barbara Noozhawk, 1-30-19

MINING

The danger of tailings dams

More than 300 people are missing, with many already confirmed dead, after millions of tons of muddy sludge engulfed homes and roads when a tailings dam at a mine in Brazil collapsed suddenly on January 25th.

The Economist, 1-28-19

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

USGS: 3.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off coast of Petrolia Tuesday

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake shook 64 miles off the coast of Petrolia Tuesday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey. According to the USGS, the earthquake hit at 4:34 p.m. at a depth of 1.4 miles.

KRCR (Eureka television), 1-30-19

CLIMATE CHANGE

Scripps Institution Scientists Study Imperial Beach As Sea Level Rises

San Diego scientists who are interested in rising sea levels recently spent a chunk of time in the coastal community of Imperial Beach. They were there to see the impact of a storm swell on top of an astronomical high tide.

KPBS (San Diego radio), 1-29-19

Redding called 'ground zero' for climate change-driven wildfire

Jerry Hinkle has a message for Redding: Climate change is here. If North State residents didn't already feel its presence, the effects of climate change became apparent in Shasta County on the afternoon of July 23, when the sparks from the rim of a blown truck tire ignited the Carr Fire, said Hinkle, Northern California Regional Coordinator for the Citizen's Climate Lobby.

Redding Record-Searchlight, 1-30-19

Climate change could leave utilities in hot water

A deadly amoeba showed up in a drinking water sample in Bossier City, La. last October. If inhaled by humans, the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, can eat brain tissue — which nearly always results in death.

ScienceLine, 1-30-19

U.S. lawmakers urge Pentagon to revise climate change report

Three Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including the House armed services committee chairman, on Wednesday urged the Pentagon to revise a report on climate change, saying it omitted required items such as a list of the 10 most vulnerable bases.

Reuters, 1-30-19

Talks to avoid a messy legal fight over California’s emissions rules appear stalled

Talks between the Trump administration and California over rules requiring automakers to steadily decrease car emissions are no closer to reaching a deal than when they began months ago, setting the stage for a protracted legal battle.

Los Angeles Times, 1-31-19

‘A statewide problem.’ How PG&E’s bankruptcy could soil California’s green-energy movement

It was a milestone worthy of a global stage: At an international climate change conference in New York exactly one year ago Thursday, PG&E Chief Executive Geisha Williams announced that 33 percent of the utility’s electricity in 2017 came from solar, wind and other renewable sources, beating California’s aggressive green-energy mandates by a full three years.

Sacramento Bee, 1-31-19

Climate change should tamp down California’s wildfire-fanning Santa Ana winds, study finds

Scientists have warned that California should brace for more wildfire as global warming drives longer bouts of hot and dry weather. Now researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have found a positive trend when it comes to Southern California’s battle against destructive blazes.

Los Angeles Times, 1-31-19

FORESTS & WATERSHEDS

Napa County's post-Measure C debate moving to Planning Commission

Napa County’s quest to update its watershed and oak woodlands protections in the wake of Measure C battles is scheduled to move to the county Planning Commission on Feb. 20. If Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting is any indication, the Planning Commission is in for a marathon. The Board meeting lasted about six hours and included more than 60 public speakers with varying viewpoints.

Napa Valley Register, 1-30-19

WATER

Good news for California’s water supply: Big Sierra Nevada snow pack boost over past month

Sometimes being average is really good news. California’s statewide Sierra Nevada snow pack was exactly 100 percent of its historical average on Thursday — precisely normal for this date, with roughly two months left in the winter snow season. While that might sound mediocre, it’s a big jump from a month ago. On Jan. 1, the snow pack was just 69 percent of its historical average. And a year ago on Jan. 31 it was only 18 percent of normal.

Bay Area News Group, 1-31-19

Sierra snowpack doubles after January storms blanket California

A series of January storms that brought record rains to the state and massive amounts of snow to the mountains helped double the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, experts with the state Department of Water Resources said Thursday.

Los Angeles Times, 1-31-19

GENERAL

Jerry Brown reminisces on political past, warns of bleak future at Rancho Mirage Writers Festival

In one of his first public appearances since leaving office, former California Gov. Jerry Brown spoke bluntly about the state of American politics and painted a gloomy picture of the threats posed by climate change and potential nuclear annihilation.

Palm Springs Desert Sun, 1-31-19

OIL, GAS, AND GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

SB Legislators Propose New Bills in Attempt To Turn the Tide on Offshore Drilling and Pipeline Safety

Fifty years ago, Union Oil Platform A was nothing more than an oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara — that is, until its well suffered a blowout. For nearly 20 years, the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill was the largest oil spill in American history.

U.C. Santa Barbara Daily Nexus, 1-31-19

Bankrupt oil firms must clean up inactive wells: Canada court

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that bankrupt oil companies must clean up inactive wells, overturning lower court decisions that prioritized paying creditors and potentially raising the risks of investment in the industry.

Reuters, 1-31-19

LAND RESOURCE PROTECTION

Santa Clara County supervisors approve spending $20 million to start farm preservation program

Santa Clara County supervisors Tuesday unanimously agreed to spend $20 million to start a program that aims to prevent farmland from being sold to developers. “This is all great but people aren’t going to know you’re serious (about preserving farmland) until you put dollars behind it; then it becomes a real program,” said Supervisor Dave Cortese, who proposed the program with Supervisor Mike Wasserman.

Bay Area Newspaper Group, 1-29-19

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Earthquake in super slo-mo

A big earthquake occurred south of Istanbul in the summer of 2016, but it was so slow that nobody noticed. The earthquake, which took place at mid-crustal depth, lasted more than fifty days.

Science Daily, 1-29-19

How Can An Overturned Train Lead To Better Earthquake Hazard Predictions?

A new study uses a train knocked over in 1906 to check the accuracy of modern earthquake simulations. The study models how much the ground has to shake in order to knock over a narrow gauge locomotive sitting on the tracks -- which is exactly what happened on a side track near Point Reyes Station, north of San Francisco, when a massive earthquake struck San Francisco on the morning of Wednesday, April 18, 1906.

Forbes, 1-30-19

3.4 quake strikes near Redlands, Calif.

A shallow magnitude 3.4 earthquake was reported Wednesday morning three miles from Redlands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 12:00 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 9.9 miles.

Los Angeles Times, 1-30-19

CLIMATE CHANGE

Are California’s solar and wind projects at risk in PG&E bankruptcy?

PG&E has asked a bankruptcy judge for the authority to nullify billions of dollars in contracts with solar and wind farms.

Bay Area Newspaper Group, 1-31-18

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

New method to determine how safe buildings are after an earthquake

Civil engineers usually face difficulties while deciding when it’s safe for a building’s residents to move back in after an earthquake. Now, EPFL scientists have come up with a method to increase the accuracy of these types of assessments.

Tech Explorist, 1-28-2019

Earthquake safety tool listens to a buildings ambient vibrations

Technology for rapidly evaluating building safety after an earthquake has been developed by a research group at Switzerland’s EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne).

The Engineer, 1-28-2019

California Earthquake Warning System Getting Funding Boost

An earthquake early warning system is getting a financial shot in the arm from the state of California. The idea is to give people some kind of warning, perhaps just a few seconds, that the world is about to start rocking. The program began clear back in 2006 but, now, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget includes $16.3 million to finish building California’s part of the project.

KPIX (San Francisco television), 1-28-2019

A glimpse of Eugene-Springfield after the Cascadia earthquake

Earthquake experts say the Cascadia subduction zone, where one plate of the Earth’s crust is sliding under another plate below the Pacific Ocean, is due for a major earthquake. Saturday was the 319th anniversary of a magnitude 9-plus earthquake along the Cascadia zone. The Jan. 26, 1700, temblor was a full rupture of the zone, splitting along the seam from northern California to southern British Columbia in Canada.

Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard, 1-28-2019

OIL, GAS, AND GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

How California’s worst oil spill turned beaches black and the nation green

On January 28, 1969, an oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, experienced a blowout. The result was an oil spill that, at the time, was ranked as the largest in U.S. waters. The disaster, which made headlines across the nation, helped create the modern environmental movement.

NPR, 1-28-2019

Fifty years after Santa Barbara Spill, Oil drilling fight goes on

The largest oil spill in the nation at the time also amplified drilling concerns and helped trigger the modern environmental movement, quickly leading to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 and, a few months later, the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Half a century after the Jan. 28, 1969, spill, California environmental groups and politicians find themselves struggling with the effects of climate change and fighting Trump administration rollbacks to those protections.

Bloomberg, 1-28-2019

FORESTS & WATERSHEDS

California land managers hope to speed up forest-thinning projects to slow wildfires

California wildland managers said Tuesday that they want to speed up logging and prescribed burns designed to slow wildfires that have devastated communities in recent years.

Southern California Newspaper Group, 1-29-2019

WATER

Engineer: Twin Tunnels project could endanger vital levees

Many farmers and engineers are concerned about the state's proposal to dig two four-story tall water tunnels under the Delta. Engineers are concerned that the below-ground construction could disrupt vital levees and other infrastructure above it.

KCRA (Sacramento television), 1-28-2019

CLIMATE CHANGE

Sea level rise report details areas at risk surrounding Humboldt Bay

The Sea Level Rise Report for Humboldt Bay prepared with grant money from the California Ocean Protection Council and was released Thursday. The report details that with the rise of three feet, “roughly 35 miles of barrier shoreline could be overtopped” – and such a rise could be reached within the next thirty years.

Redwood News, 1-26-2019

EPA highlights decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and deregulation in annual review

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promoting its deregulatory agenda while also highlighting a measured drop in greenhouse gas emissions as part of its list of 2018 achievements. Accomplishments highlighted in the agency’s annual year in review, released Monday on the first workday back after the end of the partial government shutdown, include accomplishments that have been highly criticized by environmentalists as well as contradicted claims.

The Hill, 1-28-2019

Polar melting: ‘Methane time bomb’ isn’t actually a bomb

It’s not news that climate science can be alarming. But in this video, climate scientists explain that one of the scariest ideas in the literature — the methane “time bomb” — turns out to be less worrisome than some have feared. “This is a call to action, not a declaration of defeat,” says scientist Ben Abbott of Brigham Young University.

Yale Climate Connections, 1-29-2019

Sea level rise central to Long Beach climate action plan

It has become established scientific fact that the world’s sea level continues to rise — in fact it’s been rising for the last 18,000 years. So, the city of Long Beach is gathering input from residents to create a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) because expanding seas resulting from warmer water and melting ice caps and glaciers are projected to affect Long Beach residents in low-lying areas.

Long Beach Grunion Gazette, 1-25-2019

GENERAL

A 20-cent ‘mystery surcharge’ on gas? California lawmakers ask AG to find out why

Since at least 2015, Californians have been paying a “hidden surcharge” on gasoline that adds an average of 20 cents to each gallon — costing drivers more than $17 billion — and now a coalition of lawmakers is asking the attorney general to find out why.

Bay Area News Group, 1-29-2019

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Bay Area has a 72 percent chance of a major earthquake before 2043

A Thursday mayoral missive ordering the city to prepare for the next major earthquake contains a startling seismic statistic about when to expect the big one. According to a statement from the Office of Mayor London Breed, “It is estimated that San Francisco has a 72 percent chance of experiencing a 6.7 magnitude or greater earthquake before 2043.”

Curbed San Francisco, 1-24-19

OIL, GAS, AND GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

Iconic landscapes threatened by drilling and fracking proposal

The Bakersfield Californian’s Jan. 15 story (“'Overwhelming' opposition to oil activity may present challenge to local industry”) about public opposition to a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to open over one million acres of federal land and mineral estate to new oil drilling and fracking demonstrates just how unpopular the proposal is in Kern County and throughout central California.

Bakersfield Californian commentary, 1-27-19

Excessive oil pumping may have TRIPLED the risk of earthquakes in Los Angeles during the early 1900s, report reveals

It’s no secret that Los Angeles sits upon a seismically active stretch of land. But, new research suggests human activity in the region may have made things much, much worse. A new investigation into LA’s oil pumping history suggests the activity may have been responsible for as many as half of the mid-sized earthquakes that hit the region in the early 20th century, according to the LA Times.

Daily Mail (U.K.), 1-25-19

GENERAL

What keeps families in one of the most polluted places in California?

Juan Pasillas is trying to be stealthy. Roving around a quiet city, wearing a mask, looking around corners while on the lookout for mutants, changed by an airborne infection. Pasillas’ avatar in the video game “Last of Us” moves quickly, wary of any movement. It could be someone whose brain has been taken over by the fungus and whose body is mutating.

CalMatters, 1-23-19

Why paper maps still matter in the digital age

Ted Florence is ready for his family trip to Botswana. He has looked up his hotel on Google Maps and downloaded a digital map of the country to his phone. He has also packed a large paper map. “I travel all over the world,” says Florence, the president of the international board of the International Map Industry Association and Avenza Maps, a digital map software company. “Everywhere I go, my routine is the same: I get a paper map, and I keep it in my back pocket.”

The Conversation, 1-22-19

(news updated as time permits…)

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