Posts Tagged: unreliable

Opinion

Those living near gas plants want a healthier future, too

Homes in a middle-class neighborhood across the street from an oil refinery in Southern California. (Photo: trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Communities living next to gas plants constantly worry about the next disaster, like the 2021 Russell City Energy Center explosion, that could upend their lives. Beyond safety risks and intense air pollution impacts, gas plants have also repeatedly been unreliable in moments of high electricity demand.

Opinion

CA energy shortage looms amid shift to renewables

A windmill farm in the California desert. (Photo: saraporn, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: In much of the country a powerful energy boom is providing a serious stimulus to economic growth. But in California, where fossil fuels are considered about as toxic as tobacco, we are lurching toward an anticipated energy shortage that will further exacerbate the state’s already deep geographic and class divisions.

News

Drought’s not over for everybody

Localized flooding on the American River near Folsom Dam. (Photo: David Greitzer

Most Californians are – finally – out of the drought, but the record-setting rains have not washed away emergency conditions for all residents. Gov. Jerry Brown’s April 7 executive order lifted the drought state of emergency for 54 of California’s 58 counties.

News

Indigenous farm workers have scant access to mental health services

Irene Gomez, manager of a domestic violence and mental health outreach program for indigenous farmworkers in Oxnard, helps a client. (Photo: Scott Erickson.)

Although many counties have programs that provide at least some medical care to this population, access to mental health services is extremely limited in most parts of the state. This is despite the fact that indigenous farmworkers are believed to face higher amounts of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder than the general population.

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