Potential 500-megawatt pumped storage project at the San Vicente Reservoir site could help stabilize water rates

Source:  San Diego County Water Authority

July 19, 2017 (San Diego) - The San Diego County Water Authority this week issued a Request for Proposals for a potential joint energy storage project with the City of San Diego that could lessen upward pressure on water rates and also increase opportunities for renewable energy penetration throughout the region by leveraging existing infrastructure at San Vicente Reservoir.

By Miriam Raftery

July 15, 2017 (San Diego) – California’s Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 1 in favor of the San Diego Association of Governments, finding that an environmental impact study for the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan is legal and complied with state law on climate change concerns. The ruling overturned only the greenhouse gas study challenge, but upheld a decision by an appellate court that ruled against SANDAG on other issues.

East County News Service

July 11, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – On Monday, July 10, the formal public comment period closed for the review of national monuments. More than 1.2 million comments were received on Regulations.gov and thousands more were received via traditional mail on 27 national monuments designated since January 1, 1996 that are more than 100,000 acres, or that were considered to have inadequate public input are under review in accordance with President Donald J. Trump’s April 26, 2017, executive order. That order had sparked fears that national monuments could be closed or sold off, including several cherished California sites as well as the newly designated Bears Ears national monument protecting Native American sites.

Nearly 7,000 EV drivers applied for the credit

East County News Service

July 6, 2017 (San Diego) – Thousands of electric vehicle (EV) drivers in the San Diego region will get a pleasant surprise when they open their SDG&E residential bill over the next month, as they will be receiving $200 in credit for each EV they own or lease. EV drivers help clean the air and create healthier communities by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and they save on fueling costs, as charging an electric vehicle costs less than putting gas in the tank.

By Miriam Raftery

June 26, 2017 (San Diego) – State Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) has introduced Senate Bill 507 to help protect the Tijuana River Valley in the wake of repeated severe sewage spills from Mexico, including a spill in February that dumped an estimated 28 to 100 million gallons of raw sewage into the valley.

East County News Service

June 13, 2017 (San Diego) - At the May 24, 2017 V.I.P. (Very Important Planet) Reception held at the City of San Diego Environmental Services Department, San Diego EarthWorks recognized EDCO with the E.A.R.T.H. (Environmental Action and Restoration That Helps) Award for EarthFair efforts. There to accept the award on EDCO’s behalf was John Snyder, EDCO’s Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, and Elmer Heap, EDCO’s Division Manager.

By Vanessa Schipani, Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson and Robert Farley

Credit to factcheck.org, full story here:  http://www.factcheck.org/2017/06/factchecking-trumps-climate-speech/

June 3, 2017 (San Diego's East County) - In announcing that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change, President Donald Trump made more than a few false and misleading claims:

• Trump said the U.S. would be exposed to “massive legal liability if we stay in” the Paris Agreement. But there is no liability mechanism in the Paris Agreement. International environmental law experts tell us that pulling out of the agreement won’t reduce U.S. exposure to liability claims and, in fact, may increase it.
• Trump called China and India the “world’s leading polluters,” referring to carbon emissions. That’s not accurate. China and the U.S. were the top emitters per kiloton in 2015.
• The president also falsely said “nobody even knows where the money [in the Green Climate Fund] is going to.” The fund’s website outlines all of the projects that have been funded.
• Trump said the agreement would cost “close to $3 trillion in lost GDP.” That’s one estimate from a report for a business-funded group that found a much smaller impact under a different scenario. Yet another analysis said the impact of meeting the emissions targets would be “modest.”
• Trump again took credit for job gains, saying the economy has added more than a million private sector jobs since his election. That’s true, but only 493,000 of them were added since he took office.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: NASA satellite:  Arctic ice reached an all-time record low in March, due to record temperatures.

June 2, 2017 (San Diego)—President Donald Trump’s announcement yesterday to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord  means the U.S. joins Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as the only other world leader who does not believe climate change is a serious threat to the planet.   Every nation on earth signed the Paris agreement calling for aggressive action to combat climate change, except for Syria and Nicaragua, but Nicaragua wanted even stronger actions to protect planet Earth.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Daren Sefcik

June 1, 2017 (Borrego Springs) – The 47^th annual Anza Borrego bighorn sheep count is set for  June 29^th through July 1^st,  with a mandatory orientation on June 17^th for all new counters and recommended for those who participated in the past.   The count will go on despite the death of its long-time leader, Ranger Steve Bier. 

“We were unable to find the master sheep count mailing list,”  states a letter from Anza Borrego Desert State Park Superintendent Kathy Dice and volunteer Sheep County Coordinator Mark Jorgensen, who are organizing a new sheep counting team. If you know of counters,  please forward their contact information to AB.Sheepcount@parks.ca.gov.

By Greg Dunne

May 22, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- The other day, my friend Glenn Kessell asked me what bird he often hears making very piercing calls in the morning before any of the other birds have started singing. I told him it was most likely the Western Kingbird. The Kingbird has a very loud, high pitched call – best described as Chi-BEER!

By Greg Dunne

"Of all the paths that you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." – John Muir

Editor’s note:  The Five Peaks Challenge encourages hikers to ascend five peaks in Mission Trails Regional Park at their own pace.  Greg Dunne and his team were the first to achieve this in a single day. To follow up on that feat, they’ve now hiked every trail on and around Cowles Mountain--all in one day.

May 21, 2017 (San Diego) -- Today we took an epic hike up Cowles Mountain and the surrounding trails that has never been done before, all in one day! I call this hike “Cowles Tour 13.2”. My friend David Hart and I undertook this hike on Friday, May 19, 2017. My daughter would ask – WHY? Well, my answer is not because it’s there, but because it’s in my backyard, fun and nobody thought to do it.

By Roy L. Hales

May 20, 2017 (San Diego) - GRID Alternatives entered San Diego eight years ago, with a solar installation in El Cajon.  Since then, the non-profit has put up a total of 824 systems throughout the county. This Saturday, they return to the same El Cajon neighbourhood for GRID Alternatives San Diego’s SummerSolarthon.

Source: City of La Mesa

May 12, 2017 (La Mesa) -- The community is invited to attend the ribbon cutting celebration for the opening of the first phase of the Collier Park Improvement Project on May 25 at 4:30 pm at 4401 Palm Avenue in La Mesa.

Exchange will feature dual-battery mowers, price reductions on rechargeable chainsaws, hedge clippers and string trimmers

East County News Service

May 12, 2017 (San Diego) - The County will host its 18^th annual lawn mower exchange this Saturday, May 13^th at Qualcomm Stadium.  Doors open at 6 a.m.; the event takes place from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. County Supervisor Ron Roberts, pollution control officers, recyclers, Electric Vehicle display sponsored by SDG&E and hundreds of San Diegans lined up with gasoline powered lawnmowers and gardening equipment to be exchanged for new rechargeable mode equipment.

East County News Service

May 6, 2017 (El Cajon) - New air testing shows that vapors from a dangerous chemical that runs underground have seeped into homes in El Cajon.  Some people have breathed the toxic fumes for years or even decades, KPBS' inewsource reported.