Monterey County Environment Articles

Around 5:30pm on Monday, June 19, Jeff Nohr, Avila Construction’s project manager for a planned farmworker housing project in Pajaro, sent an email to Louise Ramirez, tribal chair for the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation (OCEN), informing her that the company’s contract with…

The California legislature is readying a $15.5 billion bond issue to address climate resiliency for voters to approve on the 2024 state ballot, after the budget shortfall forced billions in cuts to climate spending.

As climate change continues to drive temperatures to new extremes, employees in many jobs face increasing risk of injury and death. Here’s what California is doing to take the heat off workers.

Zoning laws that restrict new housing development cause environmental damage, racial and class segregation, and force people into cars creating traffic. Now, a new movement wants to abolish zoning in the United States.

SOLEDAD — The cause of a wildfire near Astoria Shooting Range in Soledad is still under investigation, according to Cal Fire officials. The wildfire, named the Range Fire, started June 4 at about 5:38 p.m. near the gun range on …

Renewable energy sources provided 37 percent of California electricity in 2021, a new record for the state as it moves toward its 2045 goal of 100 percent clean energy. Battery storage will play a huge role in reaching that goal.

On Friday, April 21, the day before Earth Day, staff from the Marina Coast Water District and other volunteers were planting trees at Hilltop Park in Marina. The park, which is not really a park yet, is just a stone’s…

If you’ve never visited the Elkhorn Slough, you should. It’s one of the most incredible places on the Central Coast to view wildlife—especially birds—and is home to the most extensive salt marshes in California south of the San Francisco Bay.…

California stands as America’s agricultural powerhouse, growing half of its fruits and vegetables. Here’s how California farming has shaped the state, from the early missions to today’s “factories in the field.”

Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?

By almost any measure, the balance between advancing projects critical to California's future and environmental protection under the California Environmental Quality Act has been lost. The failure to reform CEQA is not for a lack of knowing what the solutions …

On March 9, staff at The Peregrine Fund, a nonprofit that manages the California condor flock in Arizona and Utah, observed a condor showing signs of illness. They initially suspected the bird was suffering from lead poisoning.

Earlier this winter, a briefly hot topic in local politics was: Which elected officials to nominate for a vacant seat on the California Coastal Commission?

2023’s torrential rainstorms have eased California's drought conditions. But there’s a lot more to drought than the amount of rain, and this drought isn't over yet.

Climate change driven storms are creating new problems for Gavin Newsom and California's budget process, which is already reeling from a projected $25 billion deficit that emerged after a $97 billion surplus disappeared.

David Schmalz here, thinking about the weather, and how remarkably accurate weather forecasting has become over the past century-plus. It’s not a stagnant science, either—forecasting continues to become even more accurate.

For over 200 years, ships at sea have used colorful flags to communicate with passing vessels or a nearby shoreline. Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar flew his own flag to the cruise ship industry, signaling his belief the city should…

Kevin McCarthy has reached the top position in the U.S. House, but has still fallen short in addressing the ongoing water crisis in his owndistrict, a new CNN.com report says.

During the recent winter storms, Monterey County’s wastewater treatment plant in the unincorporated South County community of Chualar was under water as the Salinas River flooded, and sewage was released into the river, according to a memo prepared by Soledad’s…

A dozen days of wet and wild weather haven’t ended the drought, and won't cure the driest period in the West in the past 1,200 years.