Tag "drought"

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Experts missed December CA drenching

  Bringing cheer and presents, on Christmas Santa Claus is going to fly over a California a lot greener than was expected a month ago by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and climate scientists. On Dec. 19, the San Francisco Bay

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GOP can’t find bridge for troubled water bill

The fate of a bipartisan drought bill passed Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives is as cloudy as California skies in recent days. The bill was crafted by GOP congressmen with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., although she opposed the final version.

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Under fire, Feinstein’s water bill collapses

It has been an uncharacteristically bad week for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. First, her quiet effort to engineer a substantial drought relief bill for California washed out to sea. After working all year with Republicans for a compromise, this week Feinstein encountered

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Voters affirm CA fracking

After a lot of spending and acrimony, little has changed from California’s high-profile ballot measures to ban hydraulic fracturing, which injects a mix of substances into shale rock to free up oil for extraction. In two counties with little to no

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Are benefits of Prop 1 being oversold?

Proposition 1 — a $7.1 billion state bond to pay for a variety of water projects — was billed as a huge improvement over bloated past proposed water bonds when it emerged from the Legislature this summer. Now Gov. Jerry

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Water deal turnoff helped parch L.A.

Los Angeles sure could use extra water right now. But in 2002 the water-locked city forfeited a Golden State opportunity to buy drought-relief water from the Cadiz Inc. water company, mainly due to political pressure from environmental organizations.  Other more nimble public water agencies and

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$1 billion difference splits bond measures

  It’s becoming clear the main difference between the four major water bonds being floated is $1 billion. The $1 billion is the difference between the $3 billion Republicans say is needed for water storage, and the $2 billion in

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CA 2014 fire season: A test of government competence

The two worst wildfires in recorded state history struck San Diego County in 2003 and 2007, as I wrote about in today’s U-T San Diego. “In October 2003, the Cedar Fire … broke out in the Cleveland National Forest, started accidentally by

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Gov. Brown announces re-election bid under rain

Last Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown officially launched his re-election campaign. Of course, filing the paperwork was a formality for a man who already has raised more than $17 million towards that end. But Brown’s campaign announcement coincided with what the National

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