Sea lion strandings on San Diego beaches reach record numbers – ‘They’ve been very malnourished and in some cases, bags of bones’

By Dave Schwab26 March 2015 (SD News) – A surprising influx of malnourished and dehydrated sea lions has SeaWorld San Diego and its trainers working overtime to nurse them back to health before returning them to the wild. More than 550 marine mammals have been rescued so far in 2015, which is more than double […]

Washington State fire chiefs demand transparency on crude oil trains – ‘Your industry has sought and gained exemptions to the sunshine laws’

By Sydney Brownstone25 March 2015 (The Stranger) – Earlier this month, the head of a membership group representing firefighting agencies across the state wrote to the CEO of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway company, demanding that the company turn over information it has previously avoided sharing on crude oil shipments through the Pacific Northwest […]

Drought boosts California’s dependence on natural gas as hydroelectric shrivels

By Chris Clarke   18 March 2015 (KCET) – In a typical year, California gets almost a fifth of its energy from dams on its rivers and streams. But the last several years have been anything but typical: the ongoing drought has shrunk the state’s reservoirs and cut the amount of hydro power the state can […]

Denver records earliest 80-degree temperature in 143-year weather record

By Chris Spears16 March 2015 DENVER (CBS4) – The calendar might still show winter, but it felt more like early summer across Colorado on Monday. For the second day in a row new record high temperatures were set across the region. Denver’s high of 81°F at Denver International Airport on Mar. 16 broke the previous […]

Here are the water restrictions California should have passed today

By Alissa Walker17 March 2015 (Gizmodo) – After confronting the truth that we have only one year of water left, California passed new water restrictions today which are WIMPY AS HELL. Here, California, I fixed them for you. Admittedly, the impact of these restrictions is lessened because many of the state’s cities already have their […]

Once again, a record-hot winter for California

By Andrea Thompson 6 March 2015 (Climate Central) – As Yogi Berra famously said, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” While much of the eastern U.S. digs out from yet another snow and ice storm, the West has capped off a decidedly toasty winter. In fact, California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington each saw their […]

Warmer weather in Alberta and B.C.’s mountains creating shorter ski season – ‘Right now, we’re headed down a disastrous path’

By Mike Hager13 March 2015 (The Globe and Mail) – John Pomeroy had long sensed something was amiss with the Earth’s climate, but a balmy mid-winter rain shower in the Rockies finally offered him incontrovertible proof that dramatic changes were occurring. It was 2005, and Prof. Pomeroy, one of Canada’s leading hydrologists, was re-establishing the […]

NASA water scientist: California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?

By Jay Famiglietti 12 March 2015 (Los Angeles Times) – Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this winter, it might be easy to overlook how devastating California’s winter was as well. As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have […]

Work on California’s Imperial County solar project halted to protect lizard, while San Benito County solar project is approved, despite threat to endangered species

By Chris Clarke   12 March 2015 (KCET) – Work has halted on a solar power facility in Imperial County due to the possibility that a rare lizard on site may be listed as an endangered species by the state. Construction halted Wednesday at the Tenaska Imperial Solar Energy Center West, being built by Tempe, Arizona-based […]

10 reasons why BP got off and offshore oil drilling just got more dangerous – ‘The fine could be as low as $3.5 billion. It could be even less.’

By Antonia Juhasz 12 March 2015 (Rolling Stone) – On January 27th, as the U.S. Justice Department expounded upon the catastrophic harms of offshore oil drilling in the trial against BP for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, President Obama reneged on a 2008 campaign pledge by proposing to open up a vast stretch […]

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