California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)In this dry summer, water is on everyone’s mind, but the Legislature will be dealing with the cost of another liquid precious to Californians – gasoline. Starting Jan. 1, gasoline prices are to be raised by an estimated 15 cents per gallon as a consequence of an increased tax on oil and gas companies to help curb release of greenhouse gas emissions.
A drought-stricken farm in Central California. (Photo: Johnny Habell)As California suffers through its third-driest year on record, the effects of the drought are hitting home in some of the nation’s richest farmland. The state’s $37.5 billion-a-year agricultural yield represents about 12 percent of the nation’s total. Agriculture uses about about 80 percent of the state’s water.
Birds take flight in the Pacific Flyway near Sacramento. (Photo: Department of Fish and Game) OPINION: Summer is a relatively quiet time for birds in California’s Central Valley, as most of the ducks and geese are breeding in the north. But this year is more quiet than usual. According to a recent survey conducted by the Department of Fish Wildlife, the number of breeding ducks remaining in California this season is 23 percent below the long-term average. The decline speaks to the significant degradation of habitat in the Central Valley due to lack of precipitation.
The Mokulumne River. Photo: Mountain Counties Water Resources Association)OPINION: Mountain watersheds can survive without the Delta, but the Delta cannot survive without the watersheds. In focusing on conditions in the statutory Delta, the California Legislature left out any consideration of the mountain watersheds and the ecosystems that provide the water to the Delta.
The dry bed of Ivanpah Lake in San Barnardino County, which had been filled by the 2004-05 rains. (Photo: Ed Berlen)With four fifths of California suffering through extreme drought, the state is poised to impose conservation measures last seen nearly 40 years ago during an earlier, unprecedented parched period. There will be restrictions on lawn watering, car and pavement washing, runoff, fountains and the like, with violations of up to $500 a day.
California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)Currently, fuel is about $4 per gallon and California burns about 14 billion gallons annually. Estimates of the magnitude of a potential hike vary widely, but most range from 15 to 20 cents per gallon, which would raise perhaps $2.1 billion to $2.8 billion annually. Efforts are under way in the Capitol, led by the petroleum industry, to exempt transportation fuels from the auctions until 2018.
New Teslas at the company's factory in Fremont. Photo: Steve JurvetsonElectric vehicles costing more than $60,000 may be eliminated from a major rebate program and the rebates themselves would be reduced to a fifth of their current level – moves that would cut popular Tesla Motors’ models from the rebates.
It is estimated that 40 percent of 9th graders in the state are overweight. It is also estimated that 65 percent of adolescents aged 12-17 drink at least one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage each day. Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugar in the diets of both children and adults in the United States. Is there a correlation between sugary beverage consumption and obesity? You bet there is.
San Gabriel River, following the rains. OPINION: Even though California received heavy rains in the past week, officials say will still are experiencing an historic drought. We are not out of the woods. Far from it. According to the California Department of Water Resources, 10 communities have less than 60 days of water, ranchers and farmers across hundreds of thousands of acres are scrambling to find water, and dozens of municipalities have ordered homeowners to reduce their water use by 20 percent or more. (Photo: San Gabriel River, following recent rains. Getty Images/David McNew)
In a trauma center ...It can take as long as three hours to get the injured to a trauma center, even by air. Access to centers along the north and central coasts and the East Sierra is most limited. Over the past two years, communities long without trauma centers began to fill the void – designating regional hospitals as resources for those suffering from traumatic injuries. (Photo: California Health Report)