Placer County Sustainability Digest

The town of Truckee is considering a ban on the sale of some types of single-use water bottles and is looking for community input.

Many agencies came together Jan. 24 to discuss sustainability plans as a part of the Operation Sierra Storm Meteorological Conference.

In a Moonshine Ink article, Peter Tucker takes issue with Liberty Utilities’ solar program, contending it must be easier and more cost effective for consumers.

The Department of Water Resources conducted the first manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Jan. 3, recording 55.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 17.5 inches, which is 177% of average for the location.

In efforts to kickstart mindful artificial light usage in California, dark sky advocates reintroduced legislation that would dim the artificial light glowing from state buildings.

The Sugar Pine Foundation is a small South Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit that has been dedicated to saving the sugar pines of the region by planting thousands of seedlings.

The California Air Resources Board has voted to approve an ambitious plan to achieve carbon neutrality in the state by 2045. Its targets for capturing carbon from the atmosphere has left critics concerned that big emitters will have a pathway to keep polluting.

After a unanimous vote by the CPUC, homeowners get smaller payments from utilitiess. But new state incentives will be available.

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board approved actions allowing the Conservancy to continue pursuing acquisition of 31.2 acres of environmentally sensitive land along the Upper Truckee River.

Stanford scientists have genetically re-programmed plants to grow roots that change how they gather nutrients or water.

Spring runs of a large minnow numbering in the millions have nourished Pomo Indians since they first made their home alongside Clear Lake more than 400 generations ago.

Drought, human-caused climate change, invasive species and a “legacy” of environmental issues are permanently altering California’s landscape and placing some communities and ecosystems at increasing risk.

The case for nuclear power as a climate solution got a big boost when the Biden administration announced it's giving Pacific Gas & Electric Co. a $1.1-billion grant to help the company keep operating California's last nuclear plant.

American River Conservancy announced the purchase of Lewis Ranch—972 acres protecting 3 miles of creek frontage and oak woodland and forest habitat near the South Fork American River in El Dorado County.

A dozen independent fish scientists are calling for urgent changes to sport fishing rules to save California’s largest freshwater fish after an unprecedented red tide this summer left hundreds of them dead.

For eight straight days this summer, farmers in far Northern California drained almost all of the water out of a river in defiance of the state’s drought regulations. The move infuriated environmentalists and salmon-dependent Native American tribes downstream.

PG& E has formally asked the state to postpone closure of Diablo Canyon until 2030; California’s last nuclear plant provides 9 percent of the state’s electricity.

The beginning of November is expected to bring light rain to Placer County and the first sizable snowfall to the Lake Tahoe region. Optimism remains for filling reservoirs, even though forecasters are expecting another dry and mild La Nina season ahead.

Wildfires, drought, extreme heat and other effects of climate change are compounding in California, according to a report from state scientists.

The California Tahoe Conservancy has awarded two grants to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Population growth has caused the existing plant to reach limits; the project will costs tens of millions.

As drought drives prices higher, families are facing water bills of more than $200 a month. With 1 in 10 households behind on water payments, calls are mounting for the state to step in and help.

BEBOT got its first test run on Tahoe’s beaches: it's a solar-powered, tank-treaded cleaning robot that removes trash. One mission by this real-life WALL-E on a pre-cleaned beach unearthed 2,000 pieces of plastic.

A study by researchers at UCLA and the University of Chicago says that California’s wildfires of 2020 destroyed 4.2 million acres of forest—and erased years of progress the state made on battling climate change.

Ex-Marine Bill Camarillo, CEO of Agromin, forecasts the future of greenwaste recycling, essential for reducing landfill and restoring the soil. He notes SB 1383 will disrupt the current market, but that’s good news: “We have to inspire people to do the right thing.”

Incline Village’s Carolyn Usinger, known for picking up litter on highways around Lake Tahoe, has created a program for others to join in. She also offers recommendations to alleviate the amount of trash left in the basin. “I’ve been thinking about how to engage the community in reducing the trash overall,” she says.

California will become the first state in the nation to phase out single-use plastic produce bags in supermarkets. The receptacles must be replaced no later than Jan. 1, 2025 with bags made of recycled paper or compostable plastic.

City Manager Sean Scully presented the City Council with a plan to expand the local water treatment plant and establish a joint powers agreement to govern it. A joint powers agreement, Scully said, would give the burden of plant management to “a governing board whose focus would go 100 percent toward having the best water treatment facility.”

While the drought situation is critical across California and Nevada, it isn’t nearly as perilous in Tahoe/Truckee currently. But the long-range effects for the local land are a different beast with increasing tree die-offs, shrinking snowpack, and ever-graver wildfire threats.

The nonprofit group SaveTahoeBeaches.org wants to raise awareness of the growing problem of algae proliferation in Lake Tahoe, which causes foul odors and unkept beaches.

The Joint Interim Committee for Oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Marlette Lake approved recommendations that would pump millions into projects in the Tahoe Basin. The vote was unanimous among Senate and Assembly members.

The American River Basin will see increasing temperatures and a declining snowpack through the end of the 21st century, according to a study released by the Bureau of Reclamation. Also, variability of fall and winter precipitation will amplify the severity of droughts and flooding.