Alastair Bland

The Trump administration this week declared that pumping more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply farms will not jeopardize the endangered salmon and smelt that live in the estuary. This clears the way for the federal government to deliver more water, possibly as soon as next year.   The decision is a big and […]

Inside the Capitol’s corridors and pro-development quarters around the state, the California Environmental Quality Act is increasingly disparaged as a villain in the state’s housing crisis. But the act’s environmentalist defenders are pushing back, saying many projects slip too easily through—leading to overdrawn groundwater tables and disappearing forests. And whatever the urgency to build more housing, environmentalists say there’s nothing to preempt a rigorous review of commercial proposals—even ones as visually appealing as vineyards in the Napa Valley.

A growing emphasis on reconnecting California floodplains to rivers so they can absorb floodwaters is a U-turn from past reliance on levees to protect cities and towns.

Eighty California farmers are engaged in a state-funded effort to boost carbon concentrations in the soil—a promising way to combat climate change.