By Miriam Raftery

April 26, 2015 (Cleveland National Forest) – The County has begun a major cleanup of dirt dumped along Boulder Creek Road that polluted a federally protected watershed in response to an East County Magazine investigation.

Eagle Peak Friends and Collaborators, a concerned citizens' group, posted a video on its Facebook page documenting massive quantities of dirt dumped along Boulder Creek Road inside Cleveland National Forest in San Diego’s East County.  The group contended that the County is responsible for dumping 20,000 cubic yards of dirt from road-grading inside the federally recommended Eagle Peak Wilderness area.

Before our inquiry, nothing appeared to have been done to halt the county’s actions, which had gone on for many months or more, a whistleblower told ECM.

Customers and landscapers are reminded to call 8-1-1 two days before digging

April 24, 2015 (San Diego) – With Arbor Day upon us, San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) Vegetation Management team is reminding customers and landscapers to plant the “Right Tree in the Right Place” this Arbor Day.

Photo: Senator Elizabeth Warren, critic of the trade deal.

By Miriam Raftery

April 22, 2015 (Washington D.C.)--There’s a battle brewing between the Democratic Party’s labor and business wings over the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, that the Obama administration hopes to reach with 11 Asian-Pacific nations.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Greg Hume

April 22, 2015 (Washington D.C.)--McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food chain, is the latest company that has pledged to eliminate deforestation from its global supply chains. Palm oil deforestation leads to destruction of habitat for endangered and threatened species such as orangutans, elephants, rhinoceros and tigers.

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

April 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - A new poll confirms California's solar revolution appears to be unstoppable. The respondents were parents, 81% of whom said they want to live in a solar powered home. The majority, 67%, also wants solar to be the world's primary energy source when their children grow up.

Originally Published in the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

April 12, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Nine states report record low snowpacks. A report from the US Department of Agriculture states, “the largest snowpack deficits are in record territory for many basins,especially in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada where single – digit percent of normal conditions prevail. Very low snowpacks are reported in most of Washington, all of Oregon, Nevada, California, parts of Arizona, much of Idaho, parts of New Mexico, three basins in Wyoming, one basin in Montana, and most of Utah.” This region is undergoing the warmest winter temperatures since record keeping began in 1895.

East County News Service

April 9, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The San Diego County Water Authority is proposing to apply copper-based algaecides to control algae blooms at five reservoirs that supply drinking water, including Lake Jennings(Helix Water District), Sweetwater Reservoir (Sweetwater Authority), Lake Poway (City of Poway), Olivenhain Reservoir (County Water Authority) and San Dieguito Resrvoir (Santa Fe Irrigation District.)

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Cleveland National Forest, courtesy National Forest Service

April 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—The Republican-controlled House and Senate have passed measures that would allow the sale or outright giveaway of most public lands –including national forests, federal wildernesses and  wildlife preserves and Bureau of Land Management properties.  Only Republicans voted for the language slipped into a non-binding budget resolution—which passed without a single Democratic vote. 

The shocking news is revealed in a New York Times editorial by Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Lands, titled “Our Land, Up for Grabs.”  

While it’s unlikely that President Barack Obama would support such an extreme measure, if a Republican president is elected in 2016 and Republicans maintains control of both houses of Congress, losing our cherished public lands such could be a very real possibility.

Here in San Diego County alone, that could mean the demise of:  Cleveland National Forest,  Otay Mountain Wildnerness, Hauser Wilderness, Pine Creek , Carrizo Gorge, Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness , Agua Tibia Wilderness, San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge , Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, McCain Valley National Recreation Area and more.

East County News Service

April 7, 2015 (San Diego’s East County ) – Efforts to defeat industrial-scale wind turbine projects are uniting activists world wide—including here in East County. Donna Tisdale, Boulevard’s planning group chair, recently received a note from a Scottish group called Save Loch Ness asking for media coverage in the U.S. to help save one of Scotland’s most iconic and beautiful scenic areas.  You can read or sign the petition at Www.savelochness.com and scroll down to read a press statement.

By Miriam Raftery

April 3, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The Governor’s order imposing mandatory water cuts of 25% statewide amid this fourth year of drought has prompted media reports asking why water-hogging uses are still being allowed.  With wells running dry, farmers’ fields lay fallow and ordinary Californians are being asked to conserve water, should many millions of gallons of water use be allowed for fracking by oil industries, major energy and development projects?

By Miriam Raftery

April 1, 2015 (Ocotillo) – Residents of Ocotillo after discovering in late March that a powerful herbicide was been sprayed on desert soil over a federally protected aquifer – the town’s sole-source water supply.

By Miriam Raftery

March 29, 2015 (Sacramento)—The Courage Campaign has mounted a campaign asking the state to stop Nestlé from bottling scarce California water during the drought and selling it out of state for profit. The activist group has an online petition asking the state to intervene.  Nestle’s operations are impacting public, private and tribal water supplies.

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

March 23, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - The lives of more than 8 million Californians may have been put at risk, when the steam generators at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) malfunctioned. The subsequent California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) investigation failed to probe into the extent to which Southern California Edison (SCE) was responsible for the facilities “design errors.”  Now  the California Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce is calling on the CPUC to investigate the SONGS settlement.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: NASA

March 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--Here’s some chilling news.  International team of scientists in Antarctica have reached disturbing conclusions, the Washington Post reports.

Petition asks media to deny air time to those who intentionally mislead public on climate change

By Miriam Raftery

March 14, 2015 (San Diego) – Two news stories this week reveal just how desperate some climate change deniers are to censor the public from hearing scientific facts—and how far credible scientists are now willing to go to save the planet and debunk phony “experts.”