Tahoe Truckee Region Sustainability Digest

As the industry invests $40 billion in new US electric car plants, the rapid transformation raises labor and supply chain issues. Automaker Ford says, “we’re all in.”

Trucking companies say the deadlines for converting big rigs, delivery trucks and other heavy vehicles are unachievable and will cause “chaos and dysfunction.” The move is designed to clean communities' air, especially near ports, warehouses and freeways.

And neither was 1952. The top honor should really go to 1983, which clinched first at 231% of normal, an analysis by the Bay Area News Group found.

The mantra “Keep Tahoe Blue” has become synonymous with the region. But far fewer people know the history of the movement it represents. Here’s a glimpse of the story behind the sticker.

From brainy write-ups to passionate pleas for reform, here are selected excerpts from CalMatters' Earth Day op-ed contest.

The North Tahoe Preservation Alliance invites locals to attend a meeting in response to Placer County and TRPA's proposed Tahoe Basin Area Plan code amendments.

One of the options would override California’s water rights and split the cuts evenly between California, Nevada and Arizona—which would be a big blow to Imperial Valley farmers.

Up to 60% of 2030 models and two-thirds of 2032 models sold nationwide would be zero-emissions—less aggressive than California’s mandate.

According to a new study, ponderosa pine forests in the Sierra Nevada that were wiped out by western pine beetles won’t recover to pre-drought densities. But there’s less risk of another huge die-off this century because the bark beetles will have fewer host trees.

Celebrate Earth Day with Keep Truckee Green by giving a second life to your broken household items. The town's sustainability program is hosting a Fixit Clinic, allowing residents to repair household items.

Communities with high concentrations of electric cars are affluent, college-educated and at least 75% white and Asian—revealing a barrier to electrifying the state’s entire fleet.

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board approved a $250,000 grant to Tahoe Resource Conservation District for aquatic invasive plant surveillance and rapid response.

Many people are looking at the snow and water levels and asking that question. The answer depends on where you are in the West and how you define “drought.” A researcher at the Desert Research Institute’s Western Regional Climate Center explains.

The salmon industry, worth about half a billion dollars, is devastated. The culprits: Drought and decades of water diversions and development.

The nonprofit environmental group released the results of two projects: one that uses a beach-cleaning robot to remove trash hidden in the sand, and another designed to measure the 2021 Caldor Fire’s impacts on the Tahoe ecosystem.

The utility company was granted an exemption while seeking a 20-year extension, but state officials only want the nuclear power plant open through 2030 to smooth the transition to renewable energy.

Wildlife Ecology Institute was awarded $236,000 to assist in the recovery of the endangered canine in concert with state and federal agencies and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks .

A $4.4 billion project on the Sacramento River to add dams and store more water that will be sent south, the Sites Reservoir is still years away from completion. The final environmental report is expected this year.

A new Stanford-led study shows that about a fifth of all Sierra Nevada conifer forests are a “mismatch” for their regions’ warming weather. These “zombie forests” are likely to be replaced other tree species after one of California’s increasingly frequent catastrophic wildfires.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe is building a new environment and education center designed around opportunities for the public to learn.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously resolved to hire a CivicSpark Fellow, prepare the greenhouse gas inventory, and support a lease agreement with Tesla for vehicle charging stations.

EV Range and Liberty, a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., announced a three-way collaboration that brought four high-powered electric vehicle fast chargers to the Tahoe ski resort.

Tahoe Tessie isn’t real but climate change is. That’s the tagline for “Find Tahoe Tessie,” an augmented reality game app developed by UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Nevada Department of Wildlife are supporting BearWise, a program that helps people live more responsibly with bears.

Forty deep-water and “hotspot” trash clean-ups are planned in Lake Tahoe and will be expanded to other lakes and reservoirs in the High Sierra.

California has given the federal government its own counterproposal for apportioning reductions of Colorado River water, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.

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.