Santa Cruz County Environment Digest

Experts don’t know how much gas prices may rise from the revised California climate program, which tightens standards and gives incentives for low-carbon fuels. The board ordered an annual review of the cost impacts.

A lot is at stake with the new Trump administration: California’s water projects, its unique authority to clean its air, federal support for offshore wind and disaster aid for wildfires.

Learn more about how the just-passed $10 billion climate bond measure will fund resiliency projects across the state.

Sixty years ago, I was a reporter for the Klamath Falls (Oregon) Herald and News and with my family lived in a small house on the Link River, which flows out of Upper Klamath Lake, draining a large portion of the Cascade mountain range.

Growers support a federal and state proposal for operating California’s massive systems that send river water south. But it could harm more salmon and other endangered fish.

Capturing and storing carbon underground is a big part of California’s efforts to tackle climate change but community members and environmentalists say it prolongs the life of fossil fuels.

A project to restore native plant species and sensitive habitat has led the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation department to close the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands to public access.

In their October 8 meeting, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors advanced a proposal to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes in the unincorporated parts of the county.

How to apply rebate as part of the recent $80 million state program to electrify homes.

The 41-acre Año Nuevo Vista parcel has been acquired by the Sempervirens Fund land trust providing a possible future link between Año Nuevo and Butano state parks.

The three year project to bring treated water from the Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility to a purification facility in Live Oak for injection to recharge the groundwater aquifer has been completed.

The California state goal to conserve 30% of its land and coastal waters has advanced, with conserved lands reaching 25% and coastal waters 16%.

The EPA must grant a waiver before the diesel truck measure can be implemented. It’s one of California’s most controversial measures to clean up air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Legislators and Gov. Newsom are working behind the scenes to draft energy legislation before the end-of-the-month deadline.

The University of California Santa Cruz is the recipient of over $2 million in federal grant funding to help increase California coastal resiliency to climate change.

The Santa Cruz County Climate Action Plan will be the focus of a public meeting scheduled for July 31.

Harnessing clean energy is a venture of unprecedented scope in California, bringing big changes to Humboldt and the Central Coast, and requiring 26 ports along the coast.

Nearly every major environmental group in California opposes a bill that would modify the state’s signature environmental law to speed up upgrades to power lines. Supporters say it would help free the state from fossil fuels and make the grid more reliable, but opponents fear it would damage state parks.

With multiple fires already burning in the state, forecasters predict the coming fire season will be "very active."

The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau announced the 2024 Farmer of the Year is Janet Webb, president of Big Creek Lumber.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, flew more 6,000 miles to Rome this month to deliver a brief speech on climate change at a Vatican-sponsored conference.

As funds for climate change programs are cut, Democrats and environmentalists are pushing for a bond measure on the ballot to restore some funding.

Santa Cruz County's first cleanup day held on May 11 had 431 volunteers from 30 organizations collecting 1,548 pounds of litter.

UCSC researchers, with teams from the University of Texas and Monterey Bay, studied local sea otter use of tools such as rocks and other items.

Indigenous Californians want President Biden to establish a national monument in a stretch of desert that is both an ecological wonder and a window into their cultures.

A bill to rein in a proposed monthly fee on California electric bills would let California’s largest for-profit utility companies charge customers $24 per month — with fees as low as $6 for lower-income customers — as a kind of membership fee for the power grid.

California has released 500,000 salmon into the Klamath River. As dams are removed, the fish will be some of the first to return to a free-flowing river.

The California Public Utilities Commission will consider on May 9 a new proposal that would change how Californians pay for electricity.

Water suppliers say the costs will be massive, with rates increasing for many consumers. Known as the “Erin Brockovich” chemical, hexavalent chromium is found statewide.

California State Parks and partner Friends of California State Parks are working together on a project to rehabilitate a number of dunes at Rio Del Mar State Beach to reduce erosion, increase resilience and restore wildlife habitat.

A coalition of timber businesses filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the embattled Pacific Gas & Electric Co., alleging $225 million in damages caused by the 2021 Dixie Fire.

All fixed-route rides on Santa Cruz METRO are free on Earth Day, April 22.