Victory in Ventura!

After a grueling and tense 12-hour hearing, the Southern California Regional Water Board last night approved a new stormwater permit for Ventura County on a 5-1 vote.  The permit follows over two years of contentious debate involving Ventura County, its muncipalities, the Building Industry Assn., the environmental community and the Regional Board.
Over the last year, [...]

Stormwater Redux

Clearer minds at L.A. City Hall prevailed Monday on the issue of raising stormwater fees. The city chose to develop a game plan for passing the fee rather than rushing it to the ballot.
Now the city can focus on passing the long-awaited Water Quality Plan, the blueprint for cleaning up local polluted waters. In addition, [...]

The Governor Who Cried Drought

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency on Feb. 27 because of “historic” drought conditions in the state of California.  The declaration led to the usual suspects offering the usual knee-jerk responses. Sen. Dianne Feinstein declared that “California is in one of the worst drought emergencies on record.” Water agencies started issuing releases on the potential [...]

Water Crisis in 60 Seconds

Last Friday afternoon, state Sen. Fran Pavley hosted a Natural Resources and Water Committee hearing at Santa Monica College, accompanied by state Sen. John Benoit and Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield.  The theme of the hearing was “improving water conservation and management in Southern California.”  Speakers included Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources, and [...]

Dorothy’s Law

About 125 people came out to the beach at Santa Monica Pier on a cloudy Sunday to share their favorite Dorothy Green stories. Some people came as far as San Francisco, Sun Valley and Denver to reminisce about Dorothy’s amazing achievements, tireless work ethic, big heart, and sense of humor. The County Lifeguards paid tribute [...]

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

The State Water Board today received a comprehensive water recycling policy for California that the state desperately needs to heed. After five months of intense negotiations, a coalition of water supply agencies, water recyclers, sewage treatment agencies and environmental groups, including Heal the Bay, wrote the policy in response to a draft effort completed by [...]

Living Within Our Means

Governor  Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Feinstein wrote an op-ed in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times that pitches a $9 billion water bond as the best way to “solve” California’s water crisis.  If this sounds familiar, that’s only because every day is Groundhog Day for California’s water supply.  We heard similar pitches for propositions 13, 40, 50, [...]

Delta Force

More than three hundred farmworkers and a bunch of Central Valley politicians rallied on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday chanting, “Aqua es vida.”  I couldn’t agree more!!  Why do you think the Chinook salmon population has collapsed? Not enough H2O. That’s what the NRDC, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and other groups successfully claimed [...]

The Dry Facts

Late last year, I joined about 70 other environmental leaders at a Green LA meeting, where many members practically begged Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to declare a drought. The logic being that L.A.’s DWP couldn’t implement a progressive water policy unless the mayor made a big, public declaration.
Fast forward to late spring, when the mayor and [...]