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Environment - page 13

Water, energy, conservation, wildlife and environmental issues.

House Passes Bill on Fixing Friant-Kern Canal

in Environment

The Democrat-controlled House approved a package of fiscal 2021 spending bills Friday. One of those bills included more than $200 million for repairing the Friant-Kern Canal, the Delta-Mendota Canal and other key conveyance infrastructure in the San Joaquin Valley.

Fresno Democrat TJ Cox was excited to share that another measure of his, to fund safe drinking water projects in the valley, passed as well. Cox was also pushing for $1 million in funding for USDA research stations, including the Parlier station, which focuses on pests and diseases in specialty crops.

The package also included a measure to make California eligible for federal aid for combating nutria infestations, an effort championed by Democratic Rep. Josh Harder of Turlock.

Continue Reading on AGRI-PULSE

River Fires Blamed on Arsonist

in Public Safety/Environment

Several fires that scorched about 20 acres scenery along the Tuolumne River near the Mitchell Road bridge was started by an arsonist, said Ceres Fire Chief Kevin Wise.

Chief Wise said that an arsonist started lighting fires on the northeast side of the Mitchell Bridge and continued into Legion Park. Units from Ceres, Hughson, Modesto, Stanislaus Consolidated, Denair and Burbank Paradise worked over the next several hours to contain the fire. Through the local resource sharing agreement, Turlock City Fire Department sent a fire engine and a battalion chief to cover the Ceres station while all of Ceres Fire’s units were out.

“Unfortunately there were no arrests made,” said Dustin Bruley, supervisor of the Stanislaus Fire Investigation Unit. “Our investigators still have it as an open arson investigation. We believe that it was an arson; there were actually four separate fires along the river that were investigated that day. Multiple folks were stopped and field interrogated and unfortunately at this point we don’t have any suspect information.”

Continue Reading on Ceres Courier

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Rare Corpse Lily Blooms at Stanislaus State After Near 10-Year Wait

in Education/Environment

TURLOCK, Calif. — After nearly 10 years, the Stanislaus State University greenhouse finally smells of rotting vegetables, and, for biology professors on Tuesday, that was the smell of victory.

A near decade of work went into caring for and raising Stanislaus State’s corpse lily, a flower best known for the horrendous odor it spreads when it blooms.

“Me, personally, this is the first one of these I’ve ever seen in bloom in my life,” said Michael Fleming, Associate Professor of Biology. “It took me almost 50 years to get to enjoy this.”

The lily in bloom is a rare sight. Fleming says there’s likely only eight to 10 blooms in the United States in a given year at university greenhouses or private collections.

Continue Reading on ABC 10

Diablo Fire Breaks Out in Stanislaus County; 220 Acres Burned

in Environment

STANISLAUS COUNTY (CBS SF) – An ongoing vegetation fire in Stanislaus County has burned through 300 acres as of Thursday morning, Cal Fire reports.

The Diablo Fire, as it is being called, was reported around 12:15 a.m. Thursday morning, in the area of Del Puerto Canyon and Diablo Grande, several miles west of the town of Patterson.

Cal Fire stated the fire as having burned about 20 acres when it was reported, but quickly grew to 100 to 150 acres as of approximately 1:00 a.m.

As of about 10:50 a.m., Cal Fire tweeted that the Diablo Fire has scorched 202 acres and is 50 percent contained. The agency previously said the fire burned 300 acres and 20 percent contained, but better mapping of the area prompted the revised numbers.

Continue Reading on San Francisco CBS Local

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Massive Northern California Reservoir Project Scaled Back to Reduce Costs

in Environment

An ambitious plan to build the largest new reservoir in California in 40 years to supply water to homes and businesses from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, along with Central Valley farmers, is being scaled back considerably amid questions about its $5 billion price tag and how much water it can deliver.

Sites Reservoir is proposed for construction in remote ranch lands in Colusa County, about 70 miles north of Sacramento. The reservoir, originally designed to be four times as big as Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park and nearly as big as San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Los Banos, received more money than any other project two years ago from a water bond passed by state voters during California’s historic drought.

But supporters still haven’t found enough to pay all the construction costs.

Continue Reading on Mercury News

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Go Green Keeps Turlock Recycling

in Environment

With shelter-in-place orders being implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, a seemingly standard act like recycling has become a point of uncertainty with many recycling centers in the area, including Turlock Scavenger, closing their doors as a safety precaution.

For Turlockers with aluminum, glass and plastic piling up at home, there is a recycling option still available in Go Green Recycling Inc., which is currently open to the public.

“Our main goal was to help with the unfortunate. For some of those homeless people this is the only source of income. If they couldn’t recycle these materials, I don’t think they would be in a good position,” owner Fawad Abraham said. “There’s also the issue of sanitation.”

While more than $100 million in California Refund Value payments were claimed in 2018, the billions of CRV eligible containers recycled each year also help eliminate the need for manufactures to use raw materials for new products.

Continue Reading on Turlock Journal

Character Banners Brighten Canal Walkway

in Environment

Whether they’re walking their dog or going for a jog, those escaping the confines of their homes along Canal Drive’s Joe Gallison Pathway can now do so with a little encouragement from Turlock Unified School District students who exemplify outstanding character.

Located on the walking path between Colorado Avenue and Berkeley Avenue, 10 brand-new character strength banners now adorn the lampposts in front of the District Office. From “Achiever” and “Includer” to “Resiliency” and “Empathy,” the traits are selected annually by TUSD to recognize the district’s Rotary Students of the Month and align with its strength-based development training.

When the previous character strength banners began to fade and age, the TUSD Executive Cabinet reached out to their Chief Communication Coordinator Marie Russell to come up with a concept for a new series of banners. This time around, they feature photographs of students who demonstrate each characteristic. The district’s maintenance and operations staff were able to hang up the display, created by Team Fitz Graphics, as part of their ongoing essential work at the campuses, and by Friday the 10 new banners were flying high.

Continue Reading on Turlock Journal

California’s Losing Its War on Carbon

in Environment
Cathay Bank Corporate Center's employees charge their electric vehicles in the company's El Monte parking lot on Thursday, April 5, 2018. The bank center has over 30 employees that drive electric vehicles and Southern California Edison installed 17 EV chargers for the employees. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

For the last decade, California has waged a crusade to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases in the name of fighting climate change.

The state has set specific reduction goals, and spent many billions of dollars, in both taxes and added consumer costs, to achieve them.

Early on, we saw sharp reductions, but they were low-hanging fruit, achieved mostly by compelling utilities to replace carbon-based power generation such as coal and natural gas with “renewables,” chiefly wind and solar.

Continue Reading on The Orange County Register

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10 Years of Cars and Coffee

Like many fathers and daughters Garry and Jazlyn Tucker spend time on a shared hobby. On Saturday, they both got

City Encouraging Residents to Live a Little ‘Greener’

in Environment

Every March as the trees come to life and the grass gets a little greener, the City of Turlock puts an emphasis on making more environmentally conscious choices in daily life. This year, along with educating local students about the benefits of “going green,” the City will offer free bus service for one week in March.

The City will present educational and eco-friendly activities for local students to participate in and learn more about “going green” March 9-13.

Continue Reading on Turlock Journal

Turlock Irrigation District Could Reduce Water Deliveries, Though Not Drastically

in Environment

The dry winter could prompt the Turlock Irrigation District to cap water deliveries for the first time since the 2012-16 drought.

The district board will hold a special meeting Friday afternoon to consider the staff proposal, which would be much less severe than the worst of the drought.

Farmers would get no more than 42 vertical inches of Tuolumne River water per acre over the irrigation season. The allotment dropped to as low as 18 inches in 2015, forcing many customers to pump groundwater and to stretch the surface supply.

Continue Reading on Modesto Bee

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The World of Renewables This Week

US EV maker Mullen Automotive issued Q1 figures completing its purchase of Electric Last Mile Solutions for $105 million in cash, announced in November,

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