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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Associated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_18053\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18053\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/pelicans.jpg\" alt=\"Brown pelican populations rebounded after DDT was phased out. (MSMcCarthy Photography/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brown pelicans rebounded after DDT was phased out. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/msmccarthyphotography/6027728528/in/photolist-abDFFW-eYp4eu-4HD3B3-aKaeqM-fG7RhD-xCpoi-aCNc7a-8XGr5D-UeW2N-6djABh-e4QEHj-eXM3Xu-72KTM7-5uvwBB-9ja1k9-9rRpds-72KTMf-9awpim-dvahHe-9xCnAA-du1UtF-cxDcH7-bSGP9X-5n8Ee1-9hRoeD-du1V3Z-9VmMwg-kTrdAX-6VuMeZ-9awrZs------cN2VFJ-5P1qq8-821FC4-756vSX-kAHrgD-5Actk8-gmcs7J-93Ndix-5Mgmsj-gm5DAi-7cH7WV-5ztTro-7CYw5W-cQFuzs-6cKBXr\">MSMcCarthy Photography\u003c/a>/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans, which were driven to the brink of extinction in the last century, are in trouble again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An annual survey completed last month found a drastic plunge in the population of breeding pairs, according to a statement released Friday by the University of California, Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey in Mexico’s Gulf of California — where about 90 percent of the\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>typically breed and raise their chicks — found that areas that typically host hundreds or thousands of nesting pairs held far fewer, and a few places were completely empty, the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what we call a failure, a bust. The bottom dropped out,” said Dan Anderson, a wildlife biologist and UC Davis professor emeritus who conducted the survey along with members of Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason for the decline could range from food supply shifts to changes in water temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many birds arrived late to the Mexico breeding grounds this spring and “of those who nested, many abandoned their nests when they could not find enough food to sustain their stay,” the UC Davis statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bird’s range extends from Mexico to Canada, according to the National Park Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, thousands of California\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>moved up the Southern California coast and even as far north as Washington, hunting their main prey of sardines and other fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breeding population crashes of the\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>often are associated with a warming of the central Pacific Ocean, known as El Niño, but that isn’t expected to begin until this summer and the drop also was much steeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During most El Niño events we’ve seen, numbers of nesting attempts drop by at least half to two-thirds, and production goes down, too,” Anderson said, according to the UC Davis statement. “But it drops from thousands to hundreds, not to 10 or less.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelican\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>was declared an endangered species in 1970 after its population was pushed to the brink of extinction by the pesticide DDT, which caused the bird’s eggshells to become so thin that they broke. After DDT was outlawed, the bird made a recovery and was taken off the list in 2009, when the West Coast population was 150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the species has faced new challenges since then because of a decline in sardines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, wildlife rescue centers in California were filled with emaciated\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans. The same year, young\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>attacked murre nesting colonies in Oregon, shaking the chicks until they regurgitated fish, then eating the fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They did it again in 2011 and 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, scientists said they were concerned that a crash in the West Coast population of sardines might also be starving the\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans. The 2013 Northwest survey by the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex found 7,018\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans, half the average of the past decade, and the lowest number since 1999.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason for the decline could range from food supply shifts to changes in water temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many birds arrived late to the Mexico breeding grounds this spring and “of those who nested, many abandoned their nests when they could not find enough food to sustain their stay,” the UC Davis statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bird’s range extends from Mexico to Canada, according to the National Park Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, thousands of California\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>moved up the Southern California coast and even as far north as Washington, hunting their main prey of sardines and other fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breeding population crashes of the\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>often are associated with a warming of the central Pacific Ocean, known as El Niño, but that isn’t expected to begin until this summer and the drop also was much steeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During most El Niño events we’ve seen, numbers of nesting attempts drop by at least half to two-thirds, and production goes down, too,” Anderson said, according to the UC Davis statement. “But it drops from thousands to hundreds, not to 10 or less.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelican\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>was declared an endangered species in 1970 after its population was pushed to the brink of extinction by the pesticide DDT, which caused the bird’s eggshells to become so thin that they broke. After DDT was outlawed, the bird made a recovery and was taken off the list in 2009, when the West Coast population was 150,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the species has faced new challenges since then because of a decline in sardines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, wildlife rescue centers in California were filled with emaciated\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans. The same year, young\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pelicans\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>attacked murre nesting colonies in Oregon, shaking the chicks until they regurgitated fish, then eating the fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They did it again in 2011 and 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, scientists said they were concerned that a crash in the West Coast population of sardines might also be starving the\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans. The 2013 Northwest survey by the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex found 7,018\u003cspan class=\"apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>brown pelicans, half the average of the past decade, and the lowest number since 1999.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Rules for Power Plants: What They Mean for California",
"headTitle": "New Rules for Power Plants: What They Mean for California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17919\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17919\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" alt=\"A natural gas-fired power plant in Morro Bay, on California's Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A natural gas-fired power plant looms over Morro Bay, on California’s Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATED with post-announcement reaction and details\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Monday’s roll-out from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, there was optimism — if not clarity — over what \u003ca title=\"EPA - release\" href=\"http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/5bb6d20668b9a18485257ceb00490c98!OpenDocument\">proposed new regulation\u003c/a> of power plant carbon emissions would mean for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address, “It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the president refers to “the rest of the country,” California looms large, given the state’s aggressive moves to cut carbon emissions. Those include a power mix with 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, and the nation’s most ambitious cap-and-trade program to throttle industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. California put specific limits on global warming emissions from power plants back in 2006, with a law that Derek Walker of the Environmental Defense Fund calls, “a forerunner” of the new federal standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two use different measuring sticks. California’s broader climate strategy, also passed in 2006, aims to cut emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. The new \u003ca title=\"EPA - Clean Power Plan\" href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards\">federal Clean Power Plan\u003c/a> would require a 30 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2030. Nonetheless, Derek Furstenwerth, senior director for environmental services at Calpine, a major power producer in California, told reporters that while Calpine is still sifting details of the plan, California’s program is “sufficiently stringent” so that it should meet the federal goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hit hardest by the new rules will be the nation’s 600-or-so coal-fired power plants. States that depend heavily on coal power will have to find ways to reduce carbon emissions — but how they do it will likely be left largely to them. In her announcement, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the proposed rule, “is not a one-size-fits-all solution.” Less coal-dependent states might comply simply by tightening energy efficiency standards. States could also develop more clean energy sources or put a price on carbon with programs similar to California’s cap-and-trade program. That, in turn, could lead to more cap-and-trade partners for the Golden State. Currently Quebec has the only carbon market directly linked to California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17925\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17925\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" alt=\"A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\" width=\"640\" height=\"372\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California utilities have no coal-fired plants inside the state, they do import coal power from plants in neighboring states. As recently as 2005, those imported megawatts accounted for about 33 million metric tons of carbon emissions, a number that’s been dropping dramatically in recent years as utilities in the state have begun weaning themselves from coal power, replacing some of it with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. (Total \u003ca title=\"CARB - CO2 emissions inventory\" href=\"http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm\">carbon emissions in California\u003c/a> were about 459 million in 2012, the latest year tallied.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the proportion of electricity that Californians get from natural gas has been rising. The \u003ca title=\"LAT - post\" href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-onofre-cost-20140510-story.html\">shutdown of a major nuclear power plant\u003c/a> in Southern California combined with reduced hydroelectricity from \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/?=science_widget\">the ongoing drought\u003c/a> have forced power producers to replace that missing power with natural gas, pushing its proportion in the state’s power mix to about 70 percent. Though far less carbon-polluting than coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel and produces substantial warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Natural Resources Defense Council has done its own \u003ca title=\"NRDC - report\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution-standards/state-benefits.asp\">tally of prospective benefits\u003c/a>, most of which would accrue to 13 “key states,” where energy is currently more carbon-intensive than in California. Of course, NRDC did its math before the actual rules were unveiled. Conversely (and in similarly speculative fashion), voices from the fossil fuel industry and some utilities have \u003ca title=\"SFBT - post\" href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2014/05/will-epa-limits-on-power-plant-emissions-kill-jobs.html?page=all\">decried the new regulation\u003c/a> as a job killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States have until at least 2016 to submit their plans to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17919\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17919\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/MorroBay_3600.jpg\" alt=\"A natural gas-fired power plant in Morro Bay, on California's Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A natural gas-fired power plant looms over Morro Bay, on California’s Central Coast. (Craig Miller)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATED with post-announcement reaction and details\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Monday’s roll-out from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, there was optimism — if not clarity — over what \u003ca title=\"EPA - release\" href=\"http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/5bb6d20668b9a18485257ceb00490c98!OpenDocument\">proposed new regulation\u003c/a> of power plant carbon emissions would mean for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address, “It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the president refers to “the rest of the country,” California looms large, given the state’s aggressive moves to cut carbon emissions. Those include a power mix with 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, and the nation’s most ambitious cap-and-trade program to throttle industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. California put specific limits on global warming emissions from power plants back in 2006, with a law that Derek Walker of the Environmental Defense Fund calls, “a forerunner” of the new federal standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two use different measuring sticks. California’s broader climate strategy, also passed in 2006, aims to cut emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. The new \u003ca title=\"EPA - Clean Power Plan\" href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards\">federal Clean Power Plan\u003c/a> would require a 30 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2030. Nonetheless, Derek Furstenwerth, senior director for environmental services at Calpine, a major power producer in California, told reporters that while Calpine is still sifting details of the plan, California’s program is “sufficiently stringent” so that it should meet the federal goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hit hardest by the new rules will be the nation’s 600-or-so coal-fired power plants. States that depend heavily on coal power will have to find ways to reduce carbon emissions — but how they do it will likely be left largely to them. In her announcement, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the proposed rule, “is not a one-size-fits-all solution.” Less coal-dependent states might comply simply by tightening energy efficiency standards. States could also develop more clean energy sources or put a price on carbon with programs similar to California’s cap-and-trade program. That, in turn, could lead to more cap-and-trade partners for the Golden State. Currently Quebec has the only carbon market directly linked to California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17925\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17925\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/06/epa-nsps-co2-sector-copy.jpg\" alt=\"A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\" width=\"640\" height=\"372\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A snapshot of U.S. carbon emissions in 2012. (EIA/C2ES)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California utilities have no coal-fired plants inside the state, they do import coal power from plants in neighboring states. As recently as 2005, those imported megawatts accounted for about 33 million metric tons of carbon emissions, a number that’s been dropping dramatically in recent years as utilities in the state have begun weaning themselves from coal power, replacing some of it with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. (Total \u003ca title=\"CARB - CO2 emissions inventory\" href=\"http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm\">carbon emissions in California\u003c/a> were about 459 million in 2012, the latest year tallied.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the proportion of electricity that Californians get from natural gas has been rising. The \u003ca title=\"LAT - post\" href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-san-onofre-cost-20140510-story.html\">shutdown of a major nuclear power plant\u003c/a> in Southern California combined with reduced hydroelectricity from \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/?=science_widget\">the ongoing drought\u003c/a> have forced power producers to replace that missing power with natural gas, pushing its proportion in the state’s power mix to about 70 percent. Though far less carbon-polluting than coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel and produces substantial warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Natural Resources Defense Council has done its own \u003ca title=\"NRDC - report\" href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution-standards/state-benefits.asp\">tally of prospective benefits\u003c/a>, most of which would accrue to 13 “key states,” where energy is currently more carbon-intensive than in California. Of course, NRDC did its math before the actual rules were unveiled. Conversely (and in similarly speculative fashion), voices from the fossil fuel industry and some utilities have \u003ca title=\"SFBT - post\" href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2014/05/will-epa-limits-on-power-plant-emissions-kill-jobs.html?page=all\">decried the new regulation\u003c/a> as a job killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States have until at least 2016 to submit their plans to meet the new standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Drought Drives Drilling Frenzy for Groundwater in California",
"headTitle": "Drought Drives Drilling Frenzy for Groundwater in California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/Rig_DeLaCruz_SK.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17878\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17878 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/Rig_DeLaCruz_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Rig_DeLaCruz_SK\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan de La Cruz operates a drilling rig probing for groundwater 2,500 feet beneath Fresno County. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steve Arthur practically lives out of his truck these days. But he’s not homeless. He runs one of Fresno’s busiest \u003ca href=\"http://www.arthurandorum.com/\">well drilling companies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s officially getting crazy. We go and we go but it just seems like we can’t go fast enough,” he says, sitting behind the steering wheel as he hustles up and down Highway 99 to check on drilling rigs that run 24 hours a day, probing for water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some days, Arthur doesn’t even have time to stop for gas; he’s got an extra tank hooked up to the flatbed of his pickup. He says he’s lucky if he gets three hours of sleep a night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toward the end of the week, I start to get run down pretty good,” he sighs. “On a Friday afternoon, you might see me parked on the side of the road taking a cat nap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties in the farm-rich Central Valley are issuing record numbers of permits for new water wells. Arthur says his company’s got an eight-month waiting list. Some of his competitors are backlogged more than a year. Drillers like Arthur say they’re even busier than they were\u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/watertransfers/docs/9_drought-1976-77.pdf\"> during the drought of 1977, \u003c/a>when Californians drilled \u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/well_info_and_other/california_well_standards/b74-81chap1a.html\">28 thousand new wells. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s officially getting crazy. We go and we go but it just seems like we can’t go fast enough.’\u003ccite>— Steve Arthur, Owner, Arthur & Orum Well Drilling\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“This is off the scales, here,” says Arthur, shaking his head. “It’s just amazing, the amount of people that call and want wells. A customer called this morning and I’m supposed to do two for him, and he said, ‘Add 14 to the list.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>You have to literally grab these guys and drag ‘em to your property and say ‘Please, please drill me a well!,’” laments citrus farmer Matt Fisher, who’s been \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/04/08/cold-then-dry-dealing-california-citrus-farmers-a-double-punch/\">scrambling to keep his trees alive\u003c/a> after learning that he won’t get any water from federal reservoirs this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have even heard of drilling companies that won’t tell growers who’s in front of them, because guys are trying to buy the other guy’s spot in line,” says Fisher. “Its crazy, some of the things that are going on, but if you’re in our shoes, and you have to pay a guy $10,000 for his spot in line, that’s cheap compared to what you’re going to lose if you lose your whole orchard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not always about \u003cem>losing\u003c/em> trees, though. Right where a brand new almond orchard will be planted in rural Fresno County, a 70-foot high drilling rig bores a hole in the earth 2,500 feet deep. This well will cost the farmer about a million dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juan de La Cruz works on this rig 12 hours a day, seven days a week, carefully guiding the drill bit. He’s standing in a little hut next to the drill hole that they call ‘the doghouse.’ It’s where workers keep a log of the layers of sand and clay they find, collecting samples every ten feet as the drill probes deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17880\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/DrillingSamples_SK.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17880\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17880\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/DrillingSamples_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Drillers collect samples from the bore hole for every 10 feet of depth. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drillers collect samples from the bore hole for every 10 feet of depth — but the records of what they find are considered confidential and not available to the public. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s also home to two other essential pieces of gear: a microwave and a fridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>This is basically where we live while we’re working,” says De La Cruz in Spanish. “We’ve got some \u003cem>nopales\u003c/em> (cacti) and zucchinis in here to cook up. The farmers bring us cantaloupes, tomatoes, whatever we want. They are so grateful because when we’re done with this well, these fields will have water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Zimmerer’s company,\u003ca href=\"http://www.zimwells.com/\"> Zim Industries,\u003c/a> owns this rig and a dozen others. He knows there’s a silver lining to the drought for well drillers this year. But he knows it can’t last forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t keep sustaining this amount of overdraft, we all know that,” says Zimmerer, standing on the platform next to the drill. “At this point in time, we don’t want to keep going on at this pace. It’s more of a temporary fix.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a sobering admission from a well driller.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Groundwater is like a bank account. You can’t take out more than you put in on an ongoing basis.’\u003ccite>— Jerry Cadagan, water activist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>California’s aquifers supply 40 percent of the state’s water in normal years but in this drought year, it could be closer to 65 percent. That makes it our biggest water reserve –- bigger than the Sierra snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are already sounding alarm bells about pumping too much groundwater. State water managers estimate that water tables in some parts of the Valley have dropped 100 feet \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiawaterfoundation.org/uploads/1397858208-SUBSIDENCEFULLREPORT_FINAL.pdf\">below historical lows\u003c/a>. As water levels sink, \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/how-flooding-fields-could-alleviate-water-supply-stress/\">the land can sink, too\u003c/a> — in some places by about a foot per year. Groundwater pumping could also put \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7501/nature13275/metrics/news?message-global=remove\">more stress on the San Andreas Fault.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the only seismic consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are a one-way trajectory towards depletion. Toward running out of groundwater in the Central Valley,” warns Jay Famiglietti, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ess.uci.edu/~hydrogroup/\">a hydrologist at UC Irvine\u003c/a>. He points out that California is the only western state that doesn’t really monitor or regulate how much groundwater farmers and residents are using.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you own property, you can dig a well and you can pump as much groundwater as you a want,” says Famiglietti, “even if that means you are drawing water in from beneath your neighbor’s property into your well. So it’s not unlike having several straws in a glass, and everyone drinking at the same time, and no one really watching the level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17881\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/FullRig_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That could change. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/04/22/california-edging-closer-to-regulating-groundwater-for-the-first-time/\">A bill\u003c/a> making its way through the state legislature could, for the first time ever, require local agencies to track, and in some cases, even restrict groundwater pumping. Some farmers oppose it, saying it’s a violation of their property rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But retired attorney and water activist Jerry Cadagan says counties should be thinking hard right now about the permits they’re giving to farmers to drill thousands of new wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got to put reasonable restrictions so people are only pumping out a reasonable amount of water that underlies their land,” says Cadagan, who lives in Stanislaus County, and is \u003ca href=\"http://www.modbee.com/2014/04/28/3314605/jump-in-well-permits-in-stanislaus.html\">suing farmers there\u003c/a> for drilling wells without considering the environmental impact. “Groundwater is like a bank account. You can’t take out more than you put in on an ongoing basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers too, are starting to worry. In Merced County, farm leaders are trying to stop two private landowners from \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/19/3934223/landowners-try-to-sell-groundwater.html\">selling as much as 7 billion gallons\u003c/a> of well water to farmers in another county. They call it “groundwater mining.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The unrestrained race to drill new wells could put California's biggest water source in jeopardy.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/Rig_DeLaCruz_SK.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17878\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17878 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/Rig_DeLaCruz_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Rig_DeLaCruz_SK\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan de La Cruz operates a drilling rig probing for groundwater 2,500 feet beneath Fresno County. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steve Arthur practically lives out of his truck these days. But he’s not homeless. He runs one of Fresno’s busiest \u003ca href=\"http://www.arthurandorum.com/\">well drilling companies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s officially getting crazy. We go and we go but it just seems like we can’t go fast enough,” he says, sitting behind the steering wheel as he hustles up and down Highway 99 to check on drilling rigs that run 24 hours a day, probing for water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some days, Arthur doesn’t even have time to stop for gas; he’s got an extra tank hooked up to the flatbed of his pickup. He says he’s lucky if he gets three hours of sleep a night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toward the end of the week, I start to get run down pretty good,” he sighs. “On a Friday afternoon, you might see me parked on the side of the road taking a cat nap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties in the farm-rich Central Valley are issuing record numbers of permits for new water wells. Arthur says his company’s got an eight-month waiting list. Some of his competitors are backlogged more than a year. Drillers like Arthur say they’re even busier than they were\u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/watertransfers/docs/9_drought-1976-77.pdf\"> during the drought of 1977, \u003c/a>when Californians drilled \u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/well_info_and_other/california_well_standards/b74-81chap1a.html\">28 thousand new wells. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s officially getting crazy. We go and we go but it just seems like we can’t go fast enough.’\u003ccite>— Steve Arthur, Owner, Arthur & Orum Well Drilling\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“This is off the scales, here,” says Arthur, shaking his head. “It’s just amazing, the amount of people that call and want wells. A customer called this morning and I’m supposed to do two for him, and he said, ‘Add 14 to the list.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>You have to literally grab these guys and drag ‘em to your property and say ‘Please, please drill me a well!,’” laments citrus farmer Matt Fisher, who’s been \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/04/08/cold-then-dry-dealing-california-citrus-farmers-a-double-punch/\">scrambling to keep his trees alive\u003c/a> after learning that he won’t get any water from federal reservoirs this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have even heard of drilling companies that won’t tell growers who’s in front of them, because guys are trying to buy the other guy’s spot in line,” says Fisher. “Its crazy, some of the things that are going on, but if you’re in our shoes, and you have to pay a guy $10,000 for his spot in line, that’s cheap compared to what you’re going to lose if you lose your whole orchard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not always about \u003cem>losing\u003c/em> trees, though. Right where a brand new almond orchard will be planted in rural Fresno County, a 70-foot high drilling rig bores a hole in the earth 2,500 feet deep. This well will cost the farmer about a million dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juan de La Cruz works on this rig 12 hours a day, seven days a week, carefully guiding the drill bit. He’s standing in a little hut next to the drill hole that they call ‘the doghouse.’ It’s where workers keep a log of the layers of sand and clay they find, collecting samples every ten feet as the drill probes deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17880\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/DrillingSamples_SK.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17880\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17880\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/DrillingSamples_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Drillers collect samples from the bore hole for every 10 feet of depth. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drillers collect samples from the bore hole for every 10 feet of depth — but the records of what they find are considered confidential and not available to the public. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s also home to two other essential pieces of gear: a microwave and a fridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>This is basically where we live while we’re working,” says De La Cruz in Spanish. “We’ve got some \u003cem>nopales\u003c/em> (cacti) and zucchinis in here to cook up. The farmers bring us cantaloupes, tomatoes, whatever we want. They are so grateful because when we’re done with this well, these fields will have water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Zimmerer’s company,\u003ca href=\"http://www.zimwells.com/\"> Zim Industries,\u003c/a> owns this rig and a dozen others. He knows there’s a silver lining to the drought for well drillers this year. But he knows it can’t last forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t keep sustaining this amount of overdraft, we all know that,” says Zimmerer, standing on the platform next to the drill. “At this point in time, we don’t want to keep going on at this pace. It’s more of a temporary fix.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a sobering admission from a well driller.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Groundwater is like a bank account. You can’t take out more than you put in on an ongoing basis.’\u003ccite>— Jerry Cadagan, water activist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>California’s aquifers supply 40 percent of the state’s water in normal years but in this drought year, it could be closer to 65 percent. That makes it our biggest water reserve –- bigger than the Sierra snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are already sounding alarm bells about pumping too much groundwater. State water managers estimate that water tables in some parts of the Valley have dropped 100 feet \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiawaterfoundation.org/uploads/1397858208-SUBSIDENCEFULLREPORT_FINAL.pdf\">below historical lows\u003c/a>. As water levels sink, \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/how-flooding-fields-could-alleviate-water-supply-stress/\">the land can sink, too\u003c/a> — in some places by about a foot per year. Groundwater pumping could also put \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7501/nature13275/metrics/news?message-global=remove\">more stress on the San Andreas Fault.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s not the only seismic consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are a one-way trajectory towards depletion. Toward running out of groundwater in the Central Valley,” warns Jay Famiglietti, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ess.uci.edu/~hydrogroup/\">a hydrologist at UC Irvine\u003c/a>. He points out that California is the only western state that doesn’t really monitor or regulate how much groundwater farmers and residents are using.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you own property, you can dig a well and you can pump as much groundwater as you a want,” says Famiglietti, “even if that means you are drawing water in from beneath your neighbor’s property into your well. So it’s not unlike having several straws in a glass, and everyone drinking at the same time, and no one really watching the level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17881\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/FullRig_SK.jpg\" alt=\"Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drillers are bringing in large rigs like this one from all over the west, to drill deeper wells in the quest for water. (Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That could change. \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/04/22/california-edging-closer-to-regulating-groundwater-for-the-first-time/\">A bill\u003c/a> making its way through the state legislature could, for the first time ever, require local agencies to track, and in some cases, even restrict groundwater pumping. Some farmers oppose it, saying it’s a violation of their property rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But retired attorney and water activist Jerry Cadagan says counties should be thinking hard right now about the permits they’re giving to farmers to drill thousands of new wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got to put reasonable restrictions so people are only pumping out a reasonable amount of water that underlies their land,” says Cadagan, who lives in Stanislaus County, and is \u003ca href=\"http://www.modbee.com/2014/04/28/3314605/jump-in-well-permits-in-stanislaus.html\">suing farmers there\u003c/a> for drilling wells without considering the environmental impact. “Groundwater is like a bank account. You can’t take out more than you put in on an ongoing basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers too, are starting to worry. In Merced County, farm leaders are trying to stop two private landowners from \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/19/3934223/landowners-try-to-sell-groundwater.html\">selling as much as 7 billion gallons\u003c/a> of well water to farmers in another county. They call it “groundwater mining.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Eight Firefighters Injured in Battle to Contain Blaze West of Yosemite",
"title": "Eight Firefighters Injured in Battle to Contain Blaze West of Yosemite",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/huntersfire.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-137210\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/huntersfire-640x452.jpg\" alt=\"On Monday, smoke rose from the Hunters Fire near Lake McClure in Mariposa County. (Carol Barrentez via Twitter)\" width=\"640\" height=\"452\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On Monday, smoke rose from the Hunters Fire near Lake McClure in Mariposa County. (Carol Barrentez via Twitter)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 9:40 p.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong> Some new numbers on the Hunters Fire, burning in the Sierra foothills northwest of the town of Mariposa and west of Yosemite. Cal Fire has downgraded the acreage burned from 1,300 acres to 677 and says the blaze is now 40 percent contained. The agency says eight firefighters have been injured, including one crew member who suffered significant injuries in a chainsaw accident. The total number of firefighters now on the lines: 900. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:20 a.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire's morning update on the Hunters Fire burning in the foothills west of Yosemite National Park suggests the fire hasn't grown much in the last 24 hours and that firefighters haven't made much progress yet in corralling it. The fire agency still gives the burned acreage as 1,300, with 20 percent containment. Cal Fire says 671 firefighters are on the lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Wednesday morning that four firefighters have suffered minor injuries. A fifth firefighter sustained what Berlant termed \"serious lacerations\" in a chainsaw accident. He said all of the injured were treated at the scene and taken to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two residences and one outbuilding have been burned since the fire broke out Monday afternoon. About 100 other homes are threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2:55 p.m. Tuesday: \u003c/strong>Cal Fire has updated the acreage figure for the Hunters Fire, burning near Lake McClure in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada. Officials say the fire has burned about 1,300 acres. About 100 residences are threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire spokesperson Daniel Berlant told KQED's Ted Goldberg on Tuesday that, as elsewhere in the state, the drought is playing a major role in the Hunters Fire. \"Right now we're seeing fire activity like it was in the middle of summer, even the late summer,\" when fire activity is at its peak. \"So this fire was able to grow very, very quickly because of just how dry it is.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke can be seen throughout the area, including at entrances to Yosemite National Park. But as of midafternoon Tuesday, the blaze does not pose a threat to the main routes into the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire has sent about 500 firefighters to try to contain a fast-spreading blaze burning near Lake McClure, a big reservoir on the Merced River west of Yosemite National Park. As of midmorning Monday, the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=970\" target=\"_blank\">Hunters Fire\u003c/a> had burned across about 900 acres and destroyed one home. \u003ca href=\"https://local.nixle.com/alert/5204544/\" target=\"_blank\">Mariposa County authorities ordered\u003c/a> 56 other homes to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is currently using a half-dozen air tankers and four helicopters to limit the spread of the blaze, which is 20 percent contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire is burning about 15 miles northwest of the town of Mariposa and about 30 miles west of Yosemite Valley. The blaze is not currently threatening any of the access routes to the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's the latest story on the fire from the Associated Press:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MARIPOSA — State fire officials brought in hundreds of additional firefighters to battle a Central California blaze that had burned through 1.4 square miles as of Tuesday morning and was threatening about 100 rural homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire burning in foothills near Lake McClure in Mariposa County nearly doubled in size overnight and was 20 percent contained, state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. The threatened homes are under evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said about 500 firefighters were battling the Hunters Fire on Tuesday morning, up from 100 firefighters when the blaze began a day earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire — fueled by dry brush — was burning in steep terrain that crews were having difficulty accessing. Temperatures were also expected to be in the 90s on Tuesday. Berlant said air tankers and helicopters were being used to fight the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This fire is burning like it would in summer with the dry conditions we've been experiencing,\" Berlant said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire began on Monday afternoon as a structure fire, Berlant said. No additional structures were damaged or destroyed as of Tuesday morning, Berlant said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a fire burning in and around Oak Creek Canyon in northern Arizona continued to grow in size even though firefighters have established a containment line around all of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire's size increased from 28.9 square miles Monday evening to 31.7 square miles Tuesday morning due to burnout operations intended to deprive the flames of fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire's official containment figure remains at 35 percent because some areas within the containment line still have active low-intensity fire while others remain hot to the touch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human-caused fire started May 20.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/huntersfire.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-137210\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/huntersfire-640x452.jpg\" alt=\"On Monday, smoke rose from the Hunters Fire near Lake McClure in Mariposa County. (Carol Barrentez via Twitter)\" width=\"640\" height=\"452\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On Monday, smoke rose from the Hunters Fire near Lake McClure in Mariposa County. (Carol Barrentez via Twitter)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 9:40 p.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong> Some new numbers on the Hunters Fire, burning in the Sierra foothills northwest of the town of Mariposa and west of Yosemite. Cal Fire has downgraded the acreage burned from 1,300 acres to 677 and says the blaze is now 40 percent contained. The agency says eight firefighters have been injured, including one crew member who suffered significant injuries in a chainsaw accident. The total number of firefighters now on the lines: 900. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 10:20 a.m. Wednesday:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire's morning update on the Hunters Fire burning in the foothills west of Yosemite National Park suggests the fire hasn't grown much in the last 24 hours and that firefighters haven't made much progress yet in corralling it. The fire agency still gives the burned acreage as 1,300, with 20 percent containment. Cal Fire says 671 firefighters are on the lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Wednesday morning that four firefighters have suffered minor injuries. A fifth firefighter sustained what Berlant termed \"serious lacerations\" in a chainsaw accident. He said all of the injured were treated at the scene and taken to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two residences and one outbuilding have been burned since the fire broke out Monday afternoon. About 100 other homes are threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 2:55 p.m. Tuesday: \u003c/strong>Cal Fire has updated the acreage figure for the Hunters Fire, burning near Lake McClure in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada. Officials say the fire has burned about 1,300 acres. About 100 residences are threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire spokesperson Daniel Berlant told KQED's Ted Goldberg on Tuesday that, as elsewhere in the state, the drought is playing a major role in the Hunters Fire. \"Right now we're seeing fire activity like it was in the middle of summer, even the late summer,\" when fire activity is at its peak. \"So this fire was able to grow very, very quickly because of just how dry it is.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke can be seen throughout the area, including at entrances to Yosemite National Park. But as of midafternoon Tuesday, the blaze does not pose a threat to the main routes into the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post:\u003c/strong> Cal Fire has sent about 500 firefighters to try to contain a fast-spreading blaze burning near Lake McClure, a big reservoir on the Merced River west of Yosemite National Park. As of midmorning Monday, the \u003ca href=\"http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=970\" target=\"_blank\">Hunters Fire\u003c/a> had burned across about 900 acres and destroyed one home. \u003ca href=\"https://local.nixle.com/alert/5204544/\" target=\"_blank\">Mariposa County authorities ordered\u003c/a> 56 other homes to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is currently using a half-dozen air tankers and four helicopters to limit the spread of the blaze, which is 20 percent contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire is burning about 15 miles northwest of the town of Mariposa and about 30 miles west of Yosemite Valley. The blaze is not currently threatening any of the access routes to the park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's the latest story on the fire from the Associated Press:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MARIPOSA — State fire officials brought in hundreds of additional firefighters to battle a Central California blaze that had burned through 1.4 square miles as of Tuesday morning and was threatening about 100 rural homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire burning in foothills near Lake McClure in Mariposa County nearly doubled in size overnight and was 20 percent contained, state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. The threatened homes are under evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said about 500 firefighters were battling the Hunters Fire on Tuesday morning, up from 100 firefighters when the blaze began a day earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire — fueled by dry brush — was burning in steep terrain that crews were having difficulty accessing. Temperatures were also expected to be in the 90s on Tuesday. Berlant said air tankers and helicopters were being used to fight the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This fire is burning like it would in summer with the dry conditions we've been experiencing,\" Berlant said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire began on Monday afternoon as a structure fire, Berlant said. No additional structures were damaged or destroyed as of Tuesday morning, Berlant said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a fire burning in and around Oak Creek Canyon in northern Arizona continued to grow in size even though firefighters have established a containment line around all of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire's size increased from 28.9 square miles Monday evening to 31.7 square miles Tuesday morning due to burnout operations intended to deprive the flames of fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire's official containment figure remains at 35 percent because some areas within the containment line still have active low-intensity fire while others remain hot to the touch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human-caused fire started May 20.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Despite Drought, Laws to Track California’s Biggest Water Users Ignored",
"headTitle": "Despite Drought, Laws to Track California’s Biggest Water Users Ignored | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Katharine Mieszkowski\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003ca title=\"CIR - main\" href=\"http://cironline.org/\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/IMG_1050_crop.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17792\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17792\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/IMG_1050_crop.jpg\" alt=\"Siphons draw water to irrigate a wheat field in Reclamation District 108, northwest of Sacramento.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siphons draw water to irrigate a wheat field in Reclamation District 108, northwest of Sacramento. (Katharine Mieszkowski/CIR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The last time California endured a drought, legislators set their sights on the state’s heaviest water users: farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state designed laws to push agricultural water districts to closely track their water flow and make the largest districts charge farmers based on how much they use. The economic theory is simple: If you aren’t paying for how much water you actually use, you have little incentive to try to consume less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those rules are widely being ignored as they come into effect in the midst of one of the state’s \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/\">most severe droughts\u003c/a> on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All but the smallest agricultural water districts were required to track and report to the state how much water they deliver to customers as the result of a 2007 law. Only 20 percent – 48 of 242 districts – have filed those reports, according to \u003ca title=\"DWR - main\" href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/\">California Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> data. They were due 10 months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2009 law, the 55 largest agricultural water districts also are required to more precisely measure how much water each farmer is using. They’re then required to charge farmers – at least in part – on that basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state doesn’t know how many suppliers are meeting this requirement or are even taking steps toward doing so, because almost half of them have failed to turn in the relevant reports, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charging for water based on use had been common in some agricultural areas where water is scarce, like the San Joaquin Valley. But now, it’s mandatory for large districts throughout California. These water management plans, which spell out how the districts will make the changes, were due at the end of 2012. Districts face few consequences for failing to comply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By contrast, most residential water customers in California, whose use is metered, have long seen how much water they use reflected in the bills they receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the state, people should be paying for water based on how much they use, and that will drive conservation,” said Peter Brostrom, program manager of water use efficiency for the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agriculture, which accounts for some 80 percent of the water that’s used in the state, has met the new rules with skepticism and indifference, as growers cope with the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tulelake Irrigation District in Siskiyou and Modoc counties is not following the new rules. Earl Danosky, the district’s manager, said he has no plans to charge farmers for how much water they use individually. The district currently charges a flat per-acre fee once a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t believe it would save one drop of water,” Danosky said. He said he believes farmers there already are careful with the water they use out of necessity. “Too much water will damage the crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danosky said he didn’t realize he was supposed to be turning the reports in to the state. The district serves hundreds of family farms, which grow potatoes, onions, alfalfa and mint near the state’s northern border with Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17794\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/AgWater_Dist108Measure_KM.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17794\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17794\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/AgWater_Dist108Measure_KM.jpg\" alt=\"Chad Navarrot, operations manager for Reclamation District 108, demonstrates measuring water sent to a field.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Navarrot measures the flow of irrigation water with a velocity meter which transmits cellular data to his laptop. The costly technology has discouraged some districts from complying with reporting laws. (Katharine Mieszkowski/CIR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Down in the Sacramento Valley, Reclamation District 108 is on track to meet the state’s new requirements. Still, farmers there doubt the changes will inspire much water conservation in their area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a one-size-fits-all for the state, and for us, it didn’t fit,” said Fritz Durst, the district’s board president, who grows rice, sunflowers, alfalfa and corn. “There’s probably areas where it would give people incentives to use less water, but with the way we manage our water here, there is no benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water flows from the district’s system of canals through farm gates and into ditches next to the farmers’ fields, where it is used for irrigation. Rice especially relies on a lot of water. Growers flood the fields, allowing plants to sit in four inches of water. Water that drains off the fields is reused on other fields, accounting for about 40 percent of the total water the district delivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local farmers voted to install a $2 million system to measure how much water comes out of these canals. Now, changing the district’s pricing to meet the regulations will require another vote. District officials hope to have the new pricing in place by the start of irrigation in spring 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Durst’s water bill goes way up, he said he likely won’t use less water. He said he’ll probably just grow a specialty rice that will fetch more on the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts’ failure to comply with the requirements troubles environmentalists who promote conservation as one tool for taking on the state’s water woes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless these districts start taking this seriously, it’s going to be their customers that suffer,” said Claire O’Connor, agricultural water policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources has had to rely on letters and workshops to try to cajole districts into complying. There’s no penalty for agricultural districts that don’t report how much water they’re delivering to farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large districts that haven’t submitted their water management plans to the state have lost access to $472 million in state grants to encourage conservation and improve water management. But once they turn in their plans, they are eligible for funds again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money could be used to help farmers in their districts install more efficient irrigation systems, for instance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A third party could sue districts for not fulfilling the requirements, but there’s little talk of this being in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers aren’t the only ones whose water use came under the legislative microscope during the last drought. The state is now trying to achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per-capita water use by the end of 2020, based on the same law that targeted large agricultural districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting, an award-winning nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more, visit cironline.org. Mieszkowski can be reached at kmieszkowski@cironline.org. Listen to the companion radio story on \u003ca title=\"TCR - main\" href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/\">The California Report\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Katharine Mieszkowski\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003ca title=\"CIR - main\" href=\"http://cironline.org/\">The Center for Investigative Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/IMG_1050_crop.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17792\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17792\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/IMG_1050_crop.jpg\" alt=\"Siphons draw water to irrigate a wheat field in Reclamation District 108, northwest of Sacramento.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siphons draw water to irrigate a wheat field in Reclamation District 108, northwest of Sacramento. (Katharine Mieszkowski/CIR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The last time California endured a drought, legislators set their sights on the state’s heaviest water users: farmers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state designed laws to push agricultural water districts to closely track their water flow and make the largest districts charge farmers based on how much they use. The economic theory is simple: If you aren’t paying for how much water you actually use, you have little incentive to try to consume less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those rules are widely being ignored as they come into effect in the midst of one of the state’s \u003ca title=\"Q-Sci - Drought Watch\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/california-drought-watch/\">most severe droughts\u003c/a> on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All but the smallest agricultural water districts were required to track and report to the state how much water they deliver to customers as the result of a 2007 law. Only 20 percent – 48 of 242 districts – have filed those reports, according to \u003ca title=\"DWR - main\" href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/\">California Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> data. They were due 10 months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a 2009 law, the 55 largest agricultural water districts also are required to more precisely measure how much water each farmer is using. They’re then required to charge farmers – at least in part – on that basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state doesn’t know how many suppliers are meeting this requirement or are even taking steps toward doing so, because almost half of them have failed to turn in the relevant reports, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charging for water based on use had been common in some agricultural areas where water is scarce, like the San Joaquin Valley. But now, it’s mandatory for large districts throughout California. These water management plans, which spell out how the districts will make the changes, were due at the end of 2012. Districts face few consequences for failing to comply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By contrast, most residential water customers in California, whose use is metered, have long seen how much water they use reflected in the bills they receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the state, people should be paying for water based on how much they use, and that will drive conservation,” said Peter Brostrom, program manager of water use efficiency for the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agriculture, which accounts for some 80 percent of the water that’s used in the state, has met the new rules with skepticism and indifference, as growers cope with the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tulelake Irrigation District in Siskiyou and Modoc counties is not following the new rules. Earl Danosky, the district’s manager, said he has no plans to charge farmers for how much water they use individually. The district currently charges a flat per-acre fee once a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t believe it would save one drop of water,” Danosky said. He said he believes farmers there already are careful with the water they use out of necessity. “Too much water will damage the crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danosky said he didn’t realize he was supposed to be turning the reports in to the state. The district serves hundreds of family farms, which grow potatoes, onions, alfalfa and mint near the state’s northern border with Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17794\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/AgWater_Dist108Measure_KM.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17794\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17794\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/AgWater_Dist108Measure_KM.jpg\" alt=\"Chad Navarrot, operations manager for Reclamation District 108, demonstrates measuring water sent to a field.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Navarrot measures the flow of irrigation water with a velocity meter which transmits cellular data to his laptop. The costly technology has discouraged some districts from complying with reporting laws. (Katharine Mieszkowski/CIR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Down in the Sacramento Valley, Reclamation District 108 is on track to meet the state’s new requirements. Still, farmers there doubt the changes will inspire much water conservation in their area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a one-size-fits-all for the state, and for us, it didn’t fit,” said Fritz Durst, the district’s board president, who grows rice, sunflowers, alfalfa and corn. “There’s probably areas where it would give people incentives to use less water, but with the way we manage our water here, there is no benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water flows from the district’s system of canals through farm gates and into ditches next to the farmers’ fields, where it is used for irrigation. Rice especially relies on a lot of water. Growers flood the fields, allowing plants to sit in four inches of water. Water that drains off the fields is reused on other fields, accounting for about 40 percent of the total water the district delivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local farmers voted to install a $2 million system to measure how much water comes out of these canals. Now, changing the district’s pricing to meet the regulations will require another vote. District officials hope to have the new pricing in place by the start of irrigation in spring 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Durst’s water bill goes way up, he said he likely won’t use less water. He said he’ll probably just grow a specialty rice that will fetch more on the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts’ failure to comply with the requirements troubles environmentalists who promote conservation as one tool for taking on the state’s water woes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless these districts start taking this seriously, it’s going to be their customers that suffer,” said Claire O’Connor, agricultural water policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources has had to rely on letters and workshops to try to cajole districts into complying. There’s no penalty for agricultural districts that don’t report how much water they’re delivering to farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large districts that haven’t submitted their water management plans to the state have lost access to $472 million in state grants to encourage conservation and improve water management. But once they turn in their plans, they are eligible for funds again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That money could be used to help farmers in their districts install more efficient irrigation systems, for instance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A third party could sue districts for not fulfilling the requirements, but there’s little talk of this being in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers aren’t the only ones whose water use came under the legislative microscope during the last drought. The state is now trying to achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per-capita water use by the end of 2020, based on the same law that targeted large agricultural districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was edited by Andrew Donohue. It was copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This story was produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting, an award-winning nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more, visit cironline.org. Mieszkowski can be reached at kmieszkowski@cironline.org. Listen to the companion radio story on \u003ca title=\"TCR - main\" href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/\">The California Report\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Amid Drought, State Water Rights System Delivers a Rich Supply to a Few",
"title": "Amid Drought, State Water Rights System Delivers a Rich Supply to a Few",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By \u003ca href=\"http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Dearen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.twitter.com/garanceburke\" target=\"_blank\">Garance Burke\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137195\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8413_reservoir-full-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-137195\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8413_reservoir-full-lpr-640x401.jpg\" alt=\"A security guard at the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Almaden Reservoir. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"401\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A security guard at the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Almaden Reservoir. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Call them the fortunate ones: Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone-dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these \"senior rights holders\" dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the AP found the state's system is based on self-reported, incomplete records riddled with errors and years out of date. Some rights holders have vastly overstated their usage — in the mistaken belief, asserts Tom Howard, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>, that it will preserve their right to draw more water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We really don't know how much water they've actually diverted,\" said Bob Rinker, a manager in the board's water rights division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Relic of Gold Rush Era\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a burgeoning population and projections of heightened climate-related impacts on snowpack and other water supplies, the antiquated system blunts California's ability to move water where it is most needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When gold miners flocked to the West in the 1800s, the state drafted laws that rewarded those who first staked claims on the region's abundant rivers and streams. Since then, Western states have upgraded to different, more rigorous water accounting systems that track every precious drop, but California still relies on an honor system, even during drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Towns grew up and land was developed based on promises of a secure water supply. Do we strand those investments to start over?'\u003ccite>— Tom Howard,\u003cbr>\nExecutive director, Water Resources Control Board\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The system's inequities are particularly evident in California's Central Valley, where some farmers struggle while others enjoy abundant water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In a good year we wouldn't be able to stand here unless we got wet. This year it won't produce anything,\" said second-generation rice farmer \u003ca href=\"http://www.montnafarms.com/about-montna-farm/our-team/al-montna/\" target=\"_blank\">Al Montna\u003c/a> as he knelt in the dust, pulling apart dirt clods on the 1,800 acres near Yuba City he left idle because of scarce water. \"Our workers will just have to go elsewhere to look for work.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 35 miles north, just outside Oroville, fourth-generation rice farmer Josh Sheppard had more than enough water, thanks to superior rights to Feather River water dating to the late 1800s. On a recent afternoon, pulses of liquid spilled across his fields to soak the loamy soil for planting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No one thinks of it when there's ample water and plenty to go around, but in these times of tightness it is a very contentious resource that gets fought over,\" Sheppard said. \"We are going to be very stark defenders into the future of ensuring that this right ... remains in place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Analysis of State Database\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the state doesn't know how many entities hold these superior rights or how much water they use, the AP obtained and analyzed \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/ewrims/#db\" target=\"_blank\">the water board's database\u003c/a> for 2010 — the last complete year of water usage reports — and interviewed state officials and dozens of so-called senior rights holders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state only collects the records every three years on a staggered basis, meaning some of its information is at least a few years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard, the board's executive director, acknowledged the state should get a better handle on water use. \"Anything to improve the information we have would help,\" he said, citing the need for annual reporting of usage and real-time stream flow data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While much of the water reported by this group is consumed by people or farms, some of the biggest users generate hydroelectric power for profit and then return that water to the river for use downstream. The state doesn't know how much is used for each purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the 3,897 entities with these water rights are corporations, such as the state's biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which generates hydroelectric power, and the Hearst Corp., which has water rights for its remote, Bavarian-style forest compound called Wyntoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also among the biggest rights holders are state and local government agencies — including the water departments of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=162\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp;jsessionid=yjpyTG6cNpTlkfZYL2CWp5jScpT5m17M2mB2Np8HxmlSKT2DyhD2!-90483065?_afrLoop=790631990853242&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D790631990853242%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D158lb48iw2_4\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles\u003c/a>, which channel river water to millions of residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco, whose water rights date to 1902 when its mayor nailed a handwritten notice on a tree, uses free Sierra Nevada water to generate power for its airport, schools and firehouses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amid Scarcity, Some Get Plenty of Water \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the state cut water deliveries to farmers and cities by 95 percent, and the federal government also imposed sharp restrictions on its water customers. But companies, farmers and cities with water rights that predate 1914 were exempt this year from mandatory cuts, even though they collectively are the biggest water consumers in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the dry summer months loom, some water scientists question the usefulness of conservation efforts that do not restrict consumption by most water users with old rights. In a catastrophic emergency, the state might ask these users to conserve, but even then they could choose not to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Obviously, senior water rights holders have the most to benefit from the current system,\" said Peter Gleick, a water scientist and director of the nonpartisan Pacific Institute. \"It gives them first call on water and more certainty during droughts and shortages.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an age of weather extremes, those with century-old rights say the system works well because it provides a reliable supply of water, which is crucial for farmers deciding what to plant each spring. And in a drought, the state lets some of them sell any extra water to cities, corporations and farms that need it, at the rate the market will bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"To the degree that we can help share and develop more water resources for all the needs out there, I know we'll support that,\" said Sheppard, who irrigates his rice fields with supplies from the Joint Water Districts Board, which has pre-1914 water rights. \"We've been aggressive about conserving and we independently installed meters on our land so we know we don't waste much.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board's Howard said it would be impossible to do away with the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People have made investments based on promises in the existing system,\" Howard said. \"Towns grew up and land was developed based on promises of a secure water supply. Do we strand those investments to start over?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Metering Required\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board does not require monitoring or meters for users whose rights date back a century or more, or who have rights to draw from a waterway adjoining their land. So the bookkeeping by Sheppard's district provides the state with its only reckoning of how much water the district's landowners use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law is different in other Western states such as Wyoming and Colorado, where agencies have more sway to track water use and restrict flows in times of scarcity. California rights holders have successfully defeated legal and legislative efforts to strengthen that state's oversight, said Andy Sawyer, a longtime water rights attorney at the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California made some progress toward accountability in 2009, when a new law required rights holders to report their water use and gave the board power to punish them for failing to file statements properly and on time. But the rights holders could gain exemption from the strict monitoring requirements in that law by convincing authorities it was too costly.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Obviously, senior water rights holders have the most to benefit from the current system. It gives them first call on water and more certainty during droughts and shortages.'\u003ccite>— Peter Gleick,\u003cbr>\nPacific Institute\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Partly due to poor accounting, the state had issued only 28 violations since 2009 to senior water rights holders as of May 20 — 24 for failing to file the proper paperwork and four for illegally storing water. It's rare that the state catches anyone taking more than they should, and even then, there are few punishment options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board doesn't have staff to systematically verify water usage or check even the most obvious mistakes in the records, said Aaron Miller, a senior engineer at the water board. He added that the state nonetheless uses this inaccurate data to make decisions about how and where to grant new water permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AP found major errors in the water consumption reports for eight of the entities the state listed as its top 25 users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, Teichert Land Co., a Sacramento-based development firm, originally reported drawing 7.6 million acre-feet from the Valley-American River in 2010. But Teichert environmental manager Becky Wood confirmed that figure was an error, saying Teichert really only used 300 acre-feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one from the state ever asked why the company reported using so much water, Wood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You would hope that they would at least have the systems to check against what your right is and what you're reporting in the middle of a drought,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By \u003ca href=\"http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Dearen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.twitter.com/garanceburke\" target=\"_blank\">Garance Burke\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137195\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8413_reservoir-full-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-137195\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8413_reservoir-full-lpr-640x401.jpg\" alt=\"A security guard at the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Almaden Reservoir. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"401\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A security guard at the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Almaden Reservoir. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Call them the fortunate ones: Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone-dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these \"senior rights holders\" dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the AP found the state's system is based on self-reported, incomplete records riddled with errors and years out of date. Some rights holders have vastly overstated their usage — in the mistaken belief, asserts Tom Howard, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>, that it will preserve their right to draw more water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We really don't know how much water they've actually diverted,\" said Bob Rinker, a manager in the board's water rights division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Relic of Gold Rush Era\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a burgeoning population and projections of heightened climate-related impacts on snowpack and other water supplies, the antiquated system blunts California's ability to move water where it is most needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When gold miners flocked to the West in the 1800s, the state drafted laws that rewarded those who first staked claims on the region's abundant rivers and streams. Since then, Western states have upgraded to different, more rigorous water accounting systems that track every precious drop, but California still relies on an honor system, even during drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Towns grew up and land was developed based on promises of a secure water supply. Do we strand those investments to start over?'\u003ccite>— Tom Howard,\u003cbr>\nExecutive director, Water Resources Control Board\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The system's inequities are particularly evident in California's Central Valley, where some farmers struggle while others enjoy abundant water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In a good year we wouldn't be able to stand here unless we got wet. This year it won't produce anything,\" said second-generation rice farmer \u003ca href=\"http://www.montnafarms.com/about-montna-farm/our-team/al-montna/\" target=\"_blank\">Al Montna\u003c/a> as he knelt in the dust, pulling apart dirt clods on the 1,800 acres near Yuba City he left idle because of scarce water. \"Our workers will just have to go elsewhere to look for work.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 35 miles north, just outside Oroville, fourth-generation rice farmer Josh Sheppard had more than enough water, thanks to superior rights to Feather River water dating to the late 1800s. On a recent afternoon, pulses of liquid spilled across his fields to soak the loamy soil for planting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No one thinks of it when there's ample water and plenty to go around, but in these times of tightness it is a very contentious resource that gets fought over,\" Sheppard said. \"We are going to be very stark defenders into the future of ensuring that this right ... remains in place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Analysis of State Database\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the state doesn't know how many entities hold these superior rights or how much water they use, the AP obtained and analyzed \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/ewrims/#db\" target=\"_blank\">the water board's database\u003c/a> for 2010 — the last complete year of water usage reports — and interviewed state officials and dozens of so-called senior rights holders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state only collects the records every three years on a staggered basis, meaning some of its information is at least a few years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard, the board's executive director, acknowledged the state should get a better handle on water use. \"Anything to improve the information we have would help,\" he said, citing the need for annual reporting of usage and real-time stream flow data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While much of the water reported by this group is consumed by people or farms, some of the biggest users generate hydroelectric power for profit and then return that water to the river for use downstream. The state doesn't know how much is used for each purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the 3,897 entities with these water rights are corporations, such as the state's biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which generates hydroelectric power, and the Hearst Corp., which has water rights for its remote, Bavarian-style forest compound called Wyntoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also among the biggest rights holders are state and local government agencies — including the water departments of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=162\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp;jsessionid=yjpyTG6cNpTlkfZYL2CWp5jScpT5m17M2mB2Np8HxmlSKT2DyhD2!-90483065?_afrLoop=790631990853242&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D790631990853242%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D158lb48iw2_4\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles\u003c/a>, which channel river water to millions of residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco, whose water rights date to 1902 when its mayor nailed a handwritten notice on a tree, uses free Sierra Nevada water to generate power for its airport, schools and firehouses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amid Scarcity, Some Get Plenty of Water \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the state cut water deliveries to farmers and cities by 95 percent, and the federal government also imposed sharp restrictions on its water customers. But companies, farmers and cities with water rights that predate 1914 were exempt this year from mandatory cuts, even though they collectively are the biggest water consumers in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the dry summer months loom, some water scientists question the usefulness of conservation efforts that do not restrict consumption by most water users with old rights. In a catastrophic emergency, the state might ask these users to conserve, but even then they could choose not to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Obviously, senior water rights holders have the most to benefit from the current system,\" said Peter Gleick, a water scientist and director of the nonpartisan Pacific Institute. \"It gives them first call on water and more certainty during droughts and shortages.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an age of weather extremes, those with century-old rights say the system works well because it provides a reliable supply of water, which is crucial for farmers deciding what to plant each spring. And in a drought, the state lets some of them sell any extra water to cities, corporations and farms that need it, at the rate the market will bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"To the degree that we can help share and develop more water resources for all the needs out there, I know we'll support that,\" said Sheppard, who irrigates his rice fields with supplies from the Joint Water Districts Board, which has pre-1914 water rights. \"We've been aggressive about conserving and we independently installed meters on our land so we know we don't waste much.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board's Howard said it would be impossible to do away with the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People have made investments based on promises in the existing system,\" Howard said. \"Towns grew up and land was developed based on promises of a secure water supply. Do we strand those investments to start over?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Metering Required\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board does not require monitoring or meters for users whose rights date back a century or more, or who have rights to draw from a waterway adjoining their land. So the bookkeeping by Sheppard's district provides the state with its only reckoning of how much water the district's landowners use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law is different in other Western states such as Wyoming and Colorado, where agencies have more sway to track water use and restrict flows in times of scarcity. California rights holders have successfully defeated legal and legislative efforts to strengthen that state's oversight, said Andy Sawyer, a longtime water rights attorney at the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California made some progress toward accountability in 2009, when a new law required rights holders to report their water use and gave the board power to punish them for failing to file statements properly and on time. But the rights holders could gain exemption from the strict monitoring requirements in that law by convincing authorities it was too costly.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'Obviously, senior water rights holders have the most to benefit from the current system. It gives them first call on water and more certainty during droughts and shortages.'\u003ccite>— Peter Gleick,\u003cbr>\nPacific Institute\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Partly due to poor accounting, the state had issued only 28 violations since 2009 to senior water rights holders as of May 20 — 24 for failing to file the proper paperwork and four for illegally storing water. It's rare that the state catches anyone taking more than they should, and even then, there are few punishment options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water board doesn't have staff to systematically verify water usage or check even the most obvious mistakes in the records, said Aaron Miller, a senior engineer at the water board. He added that the state nonetheless uses this inaccurate data to make decisions about how and where to grant new water permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AP found major errors in the water consumption reports for eight of the entities the state listed as its top 25 users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, Teichert Land Co., a Sacramento-based development firm, originally reported drawing 7.6 million acre-feet from the Valley-American River in 2010. But Teichert environmental manager Becky Wood confirmed that figure was an error, saying Teichert really only used 300 acre-feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one from the state ever asked why the company reported using so much water, Wood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You would hope that they would at least have the systems to check against what your right is and what you're reporting in the middle of a drought,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Two recently released climate change reports make it clear that climate change is not a thing of the distant future. Climate change is already happening. Local governments in the Bay Area have begun to recognize extreme weather events, sea level rise, prolonged heat waves and drought as signs of climate change at home, but are they doing enough to mitigate worse effects in the future?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read a \u003ca href=\"http://climatechange.herokuapp.com/\" target=\"_blank\">special report\u003c/a> about what Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are doing to adapt to the environmental issues knocking at the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://climatechange.herokuapp.com/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-136961\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/promo-640x321.png\" alt=\"promo\" width=\"640\" height=\"321\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Two recently released climate change reports make it clear that climate change is not a thing of the distant future. Climate change is already happening. Local governments in the Bay Area have begun to recognize extreme weather events, sea level rise, prolonged heat waves and drought as signs of climate change at home, but are they doing enough to mitigate worse effects in the future?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read a \u003ca href=\"http://climatechange.herokuapp.com/\" target=\"_blank\">special report\u003c/a> about what Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are doing to adapt to the environmental issues knocking at the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://climatechange.herokuapp.com/\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-136961\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/promo-640x321.png\" alt=\"promo\" width=\"640\" height=\"321\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "News Pix: California Chrome Wins Preakness, Sedate Bay to Breakers, and Drought Woes",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/B2b.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-137006\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/B2b.jpg\" alt=\"B2b\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nBay To Breakers isn't what it once was, but it's still a good time. That was the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/05/19/thousands-turn-out-for-only-slightly-subdued-bay-to-breakers/\" target=\"_blank\">consensus of a handful of runners and revelers\u003c/a> interviewed along the race route May 18. Although police took steps to curb alcohol consumption, there was still plenty of booze to go around. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/monteray-shale.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137007\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/monteray-shale-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Fracking In California Under Spotlight As Some Local Municipalities Issue Bans\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nFederal officials with the Energy Information Administration are reportedly \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/05/21/californias-monterey-shale-bonanza-or-bust-nobody-really-knows/\" target=\"_blank\">downgrading their estimate of how much oil could be pumped out of the Monterey Formation\u003c/a>. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million. The uncertainty stems from the lack of information about the rock formation. (David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/preakness.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137008\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/preakness-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"140th Kentucky Derby\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/04/25/why-california-chrome-should-not-win-the-derby\" target=\"_blank\">California Chrome\u003c/a> heads toward victory in the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore's Pimlico Racecourse on May 17. (Molly Riley/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/disabled-kids-big.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137009\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/disabled-kids-big-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"disabled-kids-big\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThe Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP) is one of serveral non-profits that received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/05/20/disabled-athletes-high-school-high-achievers-among-beneficiaries-of-cal-fund/\" target=\"_blank\">grant from a UC Berkeley fund\u003c/a>. The program will now be able to offer competitive sports to Cal students with disabilities. The Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund, which aims to strengthen the campus’ support of the Berkeley community, is awarding $202,264 this year to 11 projects focused on education, arts, math and sciences, economic development, and community safety. (Courtesy of: BORP/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/drought.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137010\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/drought-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"drought\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nWhile it is estimated that California's drought will have a $1.67 billion impact, a major issuer of ratings for public agency bonds says so far it hasn't made a “material adverse impact” on state or local governments, and it’s \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/moodys-says-drought-not-hurting-state-finances-yet\" target=\"_blank\">not expected to adversely affect their credit\u003c/a>. That's good news in the long term, even if in the short term Californians won't be seeing quite the abundance of crops we are used to. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/B2b.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-137006\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/B2b.jpg\" alt=\"B2b\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nBay To Breakers isn't what it once was, but it's still a good time. That was the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/05/19/thousands-turn-out-for-only-slightly-subdued-bay-to-breakers/\" target=\"_blank\">consensus of a handful of runners and revelers\u003c/a> interviewed along the race route May 18. Although police took steps to curb alcohol consumption, there was still plenty of booze to go around. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/monteray-shale.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137007\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/monteray-shale-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"Fracking In California Under Spotlight As Some Local Municipalities Issue Bans\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nFederal officials with the Energy Information Administration are reportedly \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/05/21/californias-monterey-shale-bonanza-or-bust-nobody-really-knows/\" target=\"_blank\">downgrading their estimate of how much oil could be pumped out of the Monterey Formation\u003c/a>. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million. The uncertainty stems from the lack of information about the rock formation. (David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/preakness.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137008\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/preakness-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"140th Kentucky Derby\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/04/25/why-california-chrome-should-not-win-the-derby\" target=\"_blank\">California Chrome\u003c/a> heads toward victory in the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore's Pimlico Racecourse on May 17. (Molly Riley/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/disabled-kids-big.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137009\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/disabled-kids-big-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"disabled-kids-big\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThe Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP) is one of serveral non-profits that received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/05/20/disabled-athletes-high-school-high-achievers-among-beneficiaries-of-cal-fund/\" target=\"_blank\">grant from a UC Berkeley fund\u003c/a>. The program will now be able to offer competitive sports to Cal students with disabilities. The Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund, which aims to strengthen the campus’ support of the Berkeley community, is awarding $202,264 this year to 11 projects focused on education, arts, math and sciences, economic development, and community safety. (Courtesy of: BORP/\u003ca href=\"http://www.berkeleyside.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Berkeleyside\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/drought.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-137010\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/drought-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"drought\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nWhile it is estimated that California's drought will have a $1.67 billion impact, a major issuer of ratings for public agency bonds says so far it hasn't made a “material adverse impact” on state or local governments, and it’s \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/moodys-says-drought-not-hurting-state-finances-yet\" target=\"_blank\">not expected to adversely affect their credit\u003c/a>. That's good news in the long term, even if in the short term Californians won't be seeing quite the abundance of crops we are used to. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "californias-monterey-shale-bonanza-or-bust-nobody-really-knows",
"title": "California's Monterey Shale: Bonanza or Bust? Nobody Really Knows",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17661\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17661\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversy over hydraulic fracturing in California has been largely centered around the Monterey Formation, the rock layer that was said to be the largest oil resource in the country and almost a sure bet for a drilling boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least, until this week. Federal officials with the Energy Information Administration are \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html\">reportedly downgrading their estimate\u003c/a> of how much oil could be pumped out of the formation. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to clarify: these numbers don’t reflect how much oil is underground in California. Most geologists agree that there’s still plenty down there. The EIA is attempting to estimate how much could be pumped out with current technology. As with other oil and gas reserves around the country, this number fluctuates quite a bit based on assumptions about the geology and what oil companies can accomplish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The total resource can be huge – just ridiculously large,” says Don Gautier, geologist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. “What fraction of it can actually be recovered? That can be very uncertain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Unknown About the Monterey Formation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why the uncertainty around the Monterey Shale? It has to do with the lack of information about the rock formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Monterey has already been incredibly productive in California. It’s been the source of most oil production in the state over the last century. The rock layer covers 1,700 square miles and can be several thousand feet thick in places. It was created millions of years ago, when dead microorganisms piled up on the bottom of an ancient sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17668\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 311px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17668\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\" alt=\"Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\" width=\"311\" height=\"376\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That organic material created oil-bearing rock and over the millennia, oil has seeped out and pooled in underground reservoirs. Finding and tapping these reservoirs, what’s known as “conventional” oil development, has made California the third-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The buzz these days, however, is over “unconventional” development. That’s where oil and gas companies drill down into the rock layers that produce the oil – known as “source rock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These rocks are dense and historically, haven’t been very productive – until hydraulic fracturing came along. When water and sand are injected underground at high pressure, they create tiny fractures in the rock that help release the oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, oil companies in California haven’t had to tap into the source rock. There were plenty of conventional reservoirs to develop. But as the technology has improved and production in older reservoirs has declined, oil producers have started looking deeper, down to the Monterey Shale source rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is the Oil Still There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>North Dakota has seen a massive oil boom in the source rock of its Bakken formation, due in large part to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking opened up source rock that was considered beyond reach just a few decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question in the Monterey Shale is whether the source rock still holds lots of oil. California’s abundant seismic activity could have forced much of the oil to migrate out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are very effective mechanisms that allow oil to be expelled from the source rock,” says Gautier. “Whereas up in the Bakken, the oil was generated 100 million years ago and has been sitting like a dead lump since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”087bded8a228f2ed2d9be0d52ba4272a”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of these unknowns, many believe there’s huge uncertainty about the amount of oil that can be recovered in the Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know,” says Gautier. “One of the possibilities is that most of the recoverable oil has already been expelled and migrated. So what’s left behind is residual oil that won’t really yield significant production. That isn’t to say there isn’t a whole lot of oil in the Monterey or even that there isn’t a lot of oil remaining in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>USGS is working on its own estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey, expected early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seismically warped rock layers in California could also make it challenging to use the same fracking techniques that have been so effective in North Dakota. Oil wells are drilled horizontally for miles sometimes along a layer of rock. California’s roller-coaster rock layers could make horizontal drilling a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies are still in the early stages of drilling exploratory wells in the source rock. Until more of that data are available, the jury is still out on the Monterey Shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact of the matter is there’ve only been a handful of wells that even intended to test the idea,” says Gautier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What the Industry Is Saying\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lackluster new estimate, the oil industry says the number has little effect on their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels… it’s still a lot of oil.’\u003ccite>— Susan Hersberger, Aera Energy\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The oil is still there,” says Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of technology and it’s a matter of the skill and experience and innovative spirit that we really believe the men and women of the petroleum industry possess,” she says. “And they will solve the puzzle and they will improve production rates from the Monterey Shale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several oil companies say their exploratory wells are getting them closer to the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Preliminary data from our first exploration wells tells us the oil is there,” says Susan Hersberger of \u003ca href=\"http://aeraenergy.com/\">Aera Energy\u003c/a>, one of the largest oil production companies in California. “But this data has also confirmed that the Monterey Shale has some characteristics that warrant further study and testing, so that we might unlock its potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar to the decades-long exploration of the Bakken, the Monterey exploration process will also be a long and complex journey,” she says. “Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels or something in between, it’s still a lot of oil. We see potential and are in it for the long-term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Calls for a Fracking Moratorium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A collation of environmental and community groups called \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiansagainstfracking.org/\">Californians Against Fracking\u003c/a> is using the new estimate to raise concerns over groundwater contamination and environmental damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bombshell from the EIA gives you a new opportunity to make the right call and halt fracking,” they wrote in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which is calling for a moratorium on fracking, says the lower estimate of the Monterey’s potential means that economic benefits touted by the industry are inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Brown has resisted a moratorium, citing the state’s efforts to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/11/15/what-californias-new-fracking-rules-would-do-and-not-do/\">develop regulations for fracking this year\u003c/a> that require groundwater monitoring, new permitting requirements and notification of neighbors in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/150669396&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17661\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17661\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/pumpjacks.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pumpjacks draw oil out of the Monterey Shale near McKittrick, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversy over hydraulic fracturing in California has been largely centered around the Monterey Formation, the rock layer that was said to be the largest oil resource in the country and almost a sure bet for a drilling boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least, until this week. Federal officials with the Energy Information Administration are \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html\">reportedly downgrading their estimate\u003c/a> of how much oil could be pumped out of the formation. Just a few years ago, the agency projected that oil companies could retrieve 15 billion barrels of oil. Now, it’s down to 600 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to clarify: these numbers don’t reflect how much oil is underground in California. Most geologists agree that there’s still plenty down there. The EIA is attempting to estimate how much could be pumped out with current technology. As with other oil and gas reserves around the country, this number fluctuates quite a bit based on assumptions about the geology and what oil companies can accomplish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The total resource can be huge – just ridiculously large,” says Don Gautier, geologist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. “What fraction of it can actually be recovered? That can be very uncertain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Unknown About the Monterey Formation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why the uncertainty around the Monterey Shale? It has to do with the lack of information about the rock formation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Monterey has already been incredibly productive in California. It’s been the source of most oil production in the state over the last century. The rock layer covers 1,700 square miles and can be several thousand feet thick in places. It was created millions of years ago, when dead microorganisms piled up on the bottom of an ancient sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17668\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 311px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17668\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/NatGasSchematic2.jpg\" alt=\"Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\" width=\"311\" height=\"376\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conventional drilling taps into reservoirs where oil and gas has pooled underground. Unconventional drilling goes deeper into the rock layers that generate oil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That organic material created oil-bearing rock and over the millennia, oil has seeped out and pooled in underground reservoirs. Finding and tapping these reservoirs, what’s known as “conventional” oil development, has made California the third-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The buzz these days, however, is over “unconventional” development. That’s where oil and gas companies drill down into the rock layers that produce the oil – known as “source rock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These rocks are dense and historically, haven’t been very productive – until hydraulic fracturing came along. When water and sand are injected underground at high pressure, they create tiny fractures in the rock that help release the oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, oil companies in California haven’t had to tap into the source rock. There were plenty of conventional reservoirs to develop. But as the technology has improved and production in older reservoirs has declined, oil producers have started looking deeper, down to the Monterey Shale source rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is the Oil Still There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>North Dakota has seen a massive oil boom in the source rock of its Bakken formation, due in large part to hydraulic fracturing. Fracking opened up source rock that was considered beyond reach just a few decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question in the Monterey Shale is whether the source rock still holds lots of oil. California’s abundant seismic activity could have forced much of the oil to migrate out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are very effective mechanisms that allow oil to be expelled from the source rock,” says Gautier. “Whereas up in the Bakken, the oil was generated 100 million years ago and has been sitting like a dead lump since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of these unknowns, many believe there’s huge uncertainty about the amount of oil that can be recovered in the Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t know,” says Gautier. “One of the possibilities is that most of the recoverable oil has already been expelled and migrated. So what’s left behind is residual oil that won’t really yield significant production. That isn’t to say there isn’t a whole lot of oil in the Monterey or even that there isn’t a lot of oil remaining in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>USGS is working on its own estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey, expected early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seismically warped rock layers in California could also make it challenging to use the same fracking techniques that have been so effective in North Dakota. Oil wells are drilled horizontally for miles sometimes along a layer of rock. California’s roller-coaster rock layers could make horizontal drilling a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies are still in the early stages of drilling exploratory wells in the source rock. Until more of that data are available, the jury is still out on the Monterey Shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact of the matter is there’ve only been a handful of wells that even intended to test the idea,” says Gautier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What the Industry Is Saying\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lackluster new estimate, the oil industry says the number has little effect on their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels… it’s still a lot of oil.’\u003ccite>— Susan Hersberger, Aera Energy\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“The oil is still there,” says Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just a matter of technology and it’s a matter of the skill and experience and innovative spirit that we really believe the men and women of the petroleum industry possess,” she says. “And they will solve the puzzle and they will improve production rates from the Monterey Shale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several oil companies say their exploratory wells are getting them closer to the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Preliminary data from our first exploration wells tells us the oil is there,” says Susan Hersberger of \u003ca href=\"http://aeraenergy.com/\">Aera Energy\u003c/a>, one of the largest oil production companies in California. “But this data has also confirmed that the Monterey Shale has some characteristics that warrant further study and testing, so that we might unlock its potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar to the decades-long exploration of the Bakken, the Monterey exploration process will also be a long and complex journey,” she says. “Whether there are 15 billion barrels or 600 million barrels or something in between, it’s still a lot of oil. We see potential and are in it for the long-term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Calls for a Fracking Moratorium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A collation of environmental and community groups called \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiansagainstfracking.org/\">Californians Against Fracking\u003c/a> is using the new estimate to raise concerns over groundwater contamination and environmental damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bombshell from the EIA gives you a new opportunity to make the right call and halt fracking,” they wrote in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which is calling for a moratorium on fracking, says the lower estimate of the Monterey’s potential means that economic benefits touted by the industry are inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Brown has resisted a moratorium, citing the state’s efforts to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/11/15/what-californias-new-fracking-rules-would-do-and-not-do/\">develop regulations for fracking this year\u003c/a> that require groundwater monitoring, new permitting requirements and notification of neighbors in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Associated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of oil that can be recovered from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new federal estimate that found just 600 million barrels of oil can be drawn from the Monterey Shale, a 1,750-square-mile area extending from the agricultural Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. That’s less than the previous estimate of 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”cd9476f757d42595c4f78880fa4dd247″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://lat.ms/1ndwsx9\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> reports the new estimate by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to be publicly released next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies have used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to unlock oil from the Monterey Shale with mixed success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry says it is hopeful new techniques will open up the formation.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Associated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of oil that can be recovered from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new federal estimate that found just 600 million barrels of oil can be drawn from the Monterey Shale, a 1,750-square-mile area extending from the agricultural Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. That’s less than the previous estimate of 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://lat.ms/1ndwsx9\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> reports the new estimate by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to be publicly released next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oil companies have used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to unlock oil from the Monterey Shale with mixed success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry says it is hopeful new techniques will open up the formation.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Santa Cruz Is First California County to Ban Fracking",
"headTitle": "Santa Cruz Is First California County to Ban Fracking | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Peter Jon Shuler and Molly Samuel\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/10/frackingprotest.jpg\" alt=\"The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County has become the first county in California to impose a “permanent” ban on fracking, as well as all other on-shore oil and gas development. Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing, a technology that uses water and chemicals to unlock oil and gas underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some would say this is a symbolic gesture,” said Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “But I think it’s a message that needs to be sent out and listened to, especially on our quality of life and particularly about the impact it might have on our water supply, whether it occurs inside this county or in adjacent counties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”76bba43104b6094f9b4efd10a78caeee”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butte and \u003ca href=\"http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/latest-local/ci_25722116/supervisors-working-fracking-ban\">Mendocino counties\u003c/a> are considering similar moves. And \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Butte_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Butte\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/San_Benito_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">San Benito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Santa_Barbara_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Santa Barbara\u003c/a> counties may all have fracking restrictions on the November ballot. A state bill that would \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1132\">ban fracking\u003c/a> until there is more scientific study is in limbo, having been relegated to the Appropriations Committee suspense file on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry insists that fracking is safe and has made the United States less dependent on foreign energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/225318322/Santa-Cruz-County-Fracking-Ban\">Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_18804\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/225318322/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing. A state bill that would ban fracking until there is more scientific study is in limbo.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Peter Jon Shuler and Molly Samuel\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10038\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/10/frackingprotest.jpg\" alt=\"The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The group Californians Against Fracking protested outside the San Francisco office of Gov. Jerry Brown, demanding that he support a ban on hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas exploration. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County has become the first county in California to impose a “permanent” ban on fracking, as well as all other on-shore oil and gas development. Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the pre-emptive move against hydraulic fracturing, a technology that uses water and chemicals to unlock oil and gas underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some would say this is a symbolic gesture,” said Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “But I think it’s a message that needs to be sent out and listened to, especially on our quality of life and particularly about the impact it might have on our water supply, whether it occurs inside this county or in adjacent counties.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Butte and \u003ca href=\"http://www.mendocinobeacon.com/latest-local/ci_25722116/supervisors-working-fracking-ban\">Mendocino counties\u003c/a> are considering similar moves. And \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Butte_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Butte\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/San_Benito_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">San Benito\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://ballotpedia.org/Santa_Barbara_County_Fracking_Ban_Initiative_%28November_2014%29\">Santa Barbara\u003c/a> counties may all have fracking restrictions on the November ballot. A state bill that would \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1132\">ban fracking\u003c/a> until there is more scientific study is in limbo, having been relegated to the Appropriations Committee suspense file on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil industry insists that fracking is safe and has made the United States less dependent on foreign energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"margin: 12px auto 6px auto;font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-style: normal;font-variant: normal;font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px;line-height: normal\">\u003ca style=\"text-decoration: underline\" title=\"View Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban on Scribd\" href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/225318322/Santa-Cruz-County-Fracking-Ban\">Santa Cruz County Fracking Ban\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"doc_18804\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/225318322/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Wildfires: Training for a Tough Season",
"headTitle": "California Wildfires: Training for a Tough Season | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/05/20140519science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Firefighters in Southern California are still mopping up fires that raged last week, stoked by record-breaking heat and strong winds on top of the three-year drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials warn that Northern California is dry and ready to burn, too, and seasonal firefighters were brought on earlier than usual. In mid-May, newly hired CalFire firefighters were running through drills, climbing ladders and unfurling hoses at a training facility in rural Napa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17575\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/ladders-web.jpg\" alt=\"CalFire firefighters running through drills at a training facility in Napa County. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CalFire firefighters running through drills at a training facility in Napa County. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We do this every year,” said Jason Hill, who is starting his third season with CalFire. “Every fire season they say is going to be the worst, but this season I think will definitely be a good one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’ve already seen a significant increase in wildfire activity due to the drought.’\u003ccite>— Amy Head, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>By “good” he means what most people might consider “bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve already seen a significant increase in wildfire activity due to the drought,” said Amy Head, a fire captain with CalFire. More fires have started in California this year than had started by this time last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did start hiring our seasonals as early as January, which is something I’ve never heard of,” Head said. “And Southern California never even saw an end to fire season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the same for the Forest Service. “We never really had an off season,” said Shawna Legarza, the regional fire and aviation director with the Forest Service in California. “Usually we get some time off during the holidays. We had fires right before Christmas. We had fires in Northern California in January. We had fires in Central and Southern California in February. We’ve been busy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, more than 570,000 acres burned in wildfires in California. The Rim Fire, near Yosemite, was huge, but overall, total acres burned in the state was near average. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘A lot of the preparedness efforts we make cost money. We have to justify that with evidence.’\u003ccite>— Tom Knecht, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp> This year, CalFire is preparing for a busy season by hiring extra staff — firefighters and also inspectors to check whether homeowners have cleared vegetation to create extra space around their houses, called “defensible space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pre-Fire Science\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the preparedness efforts we make cost money. We have to justify that with evidence,” said Tom Knecht, a fire captain and pre-fire engineer with CalFire. His job includes collecting some of that evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because, though it may seem like common sense that it’s dry out there, there is a science to knowing how dry, and to knowing when the threat of fire is at its worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht took me up a trail in the Las Posadas State Forest, about 20 miles northeast of Santa Rosa. The trail was lined on either side by a plant called chemise that grew higher than our heads. “It looks a lot like rosemary,” Knecht said, as he snipped twigs off the plant with a pair of garden shears and stuffed them into a plastic container shaped like a water bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He weighs the chemise he collects, then dehydrates it and weighs it again. The difference between those two numbers tells him how much water is in the plant; this is called the live fuel moisture. (As opposed to dead fuel moisture, another measurement tracking the water content in dead trees and branches.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17581\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 298px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17581 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/fuels-web-e1400278725917.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Knecht of CalFire collects chemise to find its fuel moisture. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"298\" height=\"298\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Knecht of CalFire collects chemise to find its fuel moisture. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At this point in the year, there’s still a good amount of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still seeing the plants taking on water,” Knecht said. “So they’re still getting moisture out of the ground. They’re still growing. You can see the new growth, they’re getting ready to flower. That whole time the plant is full of moisture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, the plants will begin to go dormant. That’s the moment Knecht is on the look out for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want to know when it turns the corner, when it stops taking on water and then starts to dry out,” he said. When the chemise is growing, it could burn, but the fire would be slower and less intense. Once the plant is dormant and dried out, its presence marks the places that could burn hot and fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht said the plants look like they’ll be turning that corner sooner this year. “The plants, although they’re taking on moisture and have new growth, they’re behind where they were last year this time,” he said. “I expect to see them dry out earlier, turn the corner earlier, be dormant earlier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht does these studies monthly, and sometimes more often than that. Fire officials look at the live fuel moisture measured in various plant species all around the state. And they feed that into a model along with the dead fuel moisture. Then they combine that with weather conditions to figure out the energy release component. That tells them, if a fire does catch, how intense it will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We look at weather every day, and the topography — we know where there’s steep ridges and hills and so forth. But the fuel moistures change, and that’s one of the things we need situational awareness of, to be able to base our actions on current and expected fire behavior,” Knecht said. “That’s why I’m out here doing this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Putting the Data to Use\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re only in May and we’re seeing conditions that we would normally see in August.’\u003ccite>— Chief Ken Pimlott, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Armed with that information, fire officials can work to ensure that firefighters and equipment like air tankers are moved to the right part of the state, and — in a year like this one — that they’re in place early as needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re only in May and we’re seeing conditions that we would normally see in August,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, the director of CalFire. He said Governor Jerry Brown’s drought declaration in January put extra money toward firefighting. “He has made a very firm commitment that CalFire and our partners will have the resources and the funding it needs to combat this risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalFire has the budget for an extra 300 firefighters this season. Like CalFire, the U.S. Forest Service brought staff on earlier, too, and is prepared to bring firefighters in from other parts of the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the firefighting agencies say they’re ready. What they can’t predict is when or how a fire will start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t control the lightning, that’s out of control,” said Legarza. But the majority of wildfires, she points out, are human-caused. “So we can help give information to the public to help us prevent wildland fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like making sure brush and branches are cut back around your property, following rules about campfires and being careful with tools that might spark a flame. And as Smokey Bear’s been reminding us for decades, whatever you do, don’t throw that cigarette butt out the window.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Firefighters in Southern California are still mopping up fires that raged last week, stoked by record-breaking heat and strong winds on top of the three-year drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials warn that Northern California is dry and ready to burn, too, and seasonal firefighters were brought on earlier than usual. In mid-May, newly hired CalFire firefighters were running through drills, climbing ladders and unfurling hoses at a training facility in rural Napa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17575\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/ladders-web.jpg\" alt=\"CalFire firefighters running through drills at a training facility in Napa County. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CalFire firefighters running through drills at a training facility in Napa County. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We do this every year,” said Jason Hill, who is starting his third season with CalFire. “Every fire season they say is going to be the worst, but this season I think will definitely be a good one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’ve already seen a significant increase in wildfire activity due to the drought.’\u003ccite>— Amy Head, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>By “good” he means what most people might consider “bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve already seen a significant increase in wildfire activity due to the drought,” said Amy Head, a fire captain with CalFire. More fires have started in California this year than had started by this time last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did start hiring our seasonals as early as January, which is something I’ve never heard of,” Head said. “And Southern California never even saw an end to fire season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the same for the Forest Service. “We never really had an off season,” said Shawna Legarza, the regional fire and aviation director with the Forest Service in California. “Usually we get some time off during the holidays. We had fires right before Christmas. We had fires in Northern California in January. We had fires in Central and Southern California in February. We’ve been busy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, more than 570,000 acres burned in wildfires in California. The Rim Fire, near Yosemite, was huge, but overall, total acres burned in the state was near average. \u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘A lot of the preparedness efforts we make cost money. We have to justify that with evidence.’\u003ccite>— Tom Knecht, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp> This year, CalFire is preparing for a busy season by hiring extra staff — firefighters and also inspectors to check whether homeowners have cleared vegetation to create extra space around their houses, called “defensible space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pre-Fire Science\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the preparedness efforts we make cost money. We have to justify that with evidence,” said Tom Knecht, a fire captain and pre-fire engineer with CalFire. His job includes collecting some of that evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because, though it may seem like common sense that it’s dry out there, there is a science to knowing how dry, and to knowing when the threat of fire is at its worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht took me up a trail in the Las Posadas State Forest, about 20 miles northeast of Santa Rosa. The trail was lined on either side by a plant called chemise that grew higher than our heads. “It looks a lot like rosemary,” Knecht said, as he snipped twigs off the plant with a pair of garden shears and stuffed them into a plastic container shaped like a water bottle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He weighs the chemise he collects, then dehydrates it and weighs it again. The difference between those two numbers tells him how much water is in the plant; this is called the live fuel moisture. (As opposed to dead fuel moisture, another measurement tracking the water content in dead trees and branches.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_17581\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 298px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17581 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/05/fuels-web-e1400278725917.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Knecht of CalFire collects chemise to find its fuel moisture. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"298\" height=\"298\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Knecht of CalFire collects chemise to find its fuel moisture. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At this point in the year, there’s still a good amount of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still seeing the plants taking on water,” Knecht said. “So they’re still getting moisture out of the ground. They’re still growing. You can see the new growth, they’re getting ready to flower. That whole time the plant is full of moisture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, the plants will begin to go dormant. That’s the moment Knecht is on the look out for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want to know when it turns the corner, when it stops taking on water and then starts to dry out,” he said. When the chemise is growing, it could burn, but the fire would be slower and less intense. Once the plant is dormant and dried out, its presence marks the places that could burn hot and fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht said the plants look like they’ll be turning that corner sooner this year. “The plants, although they’re taking on moisture and have new growth, they’re behind where they were last year this time,” he said. “I expect to see them dry out earlier, turn the corner earlier, be dormant earlier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knecht does these studies monthly, and sometimes more often than that. Fire officials look at the live fuel moisture measured in various plant species all around the state. And they feed that into a model along with the dead fuel moisture. Then they combine that with weather conditions to figure out the energy release component. That tells them, if a fire does catch, how intense it will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We look at weather every day, and the topography — we know where there’s steep ridges and hills and so forth. But the fuel moistures change, and that’s one of the things we need situational awareness of, to be able to base our actions on current and expected fire behavior,” Knecht said. “That’s why I’m out here doing this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Putting the Data to Use\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re only in May and we’re seeing conditions that we would normally see in August.’\u003ccite>— Chief Ken Pimlott, CalFire\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Armed with that information, fire officials can work to ensure that firefighters and equipment like air tankers are moved to the right part of the state, and — in a year like this one — that they’re in place early as needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re only in May and we’re seeing conditions that we would normally see in August,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, the director of CalFire. 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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"description": "[caption id=\"attachment_13657\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"351\"]\u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/files/2014/01/Fracking-main.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-13657\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/files/2014/01/Fracking-main.jpg\" alt=\"Just over 2,000 wells have been fracked in California, according to industry data. (Craig Miller/KQED)\" width=\"351\" height=\"263\" />\u003c/a> Just over 2,000 wells have been fracked in California, according to industry data. (Craig Miller/KQED)[/caption]\r\n\r\nHydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been used for more than 30 years in California, but it’s attracting attention and scrutiny because of renewed interest in the state’s large oil reserve, known as the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/05/21/californias-monterey-shale-bonanza-or-bust-nobody-really-knows/\">Monterey Shale\u003c/a>.\r\n\r\nIn California, fracking is done mainly for oil, while in other states with recent fracking booms, like Pennsylvania and Texas, it’s used largely for natural gas.\r\n\r\n\u003cstrong>What is it?\u003c/strong>\r\n\r\nFracking is just one phase of the process used to bring an oil or gas well into production. The technique is used to release oil from rocks deep underground. Water, mixed with sand and chemicals, is injected down the well bore at high pressure to create tiny fractures in the rock. \u003ca href=\"http://fracfocus.org/\">According to the oil industry\u003c/a>, more than 2,000 wells have been fracked in the state.\r\n\r\n\u003cstrong>Concerns\u003c/strong>\r\n\r\nEnvironmental groups have called for a moratorium on fracking until the state does a comprehensive review of potential impacts on both water and air quality. A chief concern is the chemicals used, some of which are carcinogens, and potential contamination of groundwater. Fracking also \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/with-drought-new-scrutiny-over-frackings-water-use/\">uses large volumes of freshwater\u003c/a>. Industry sources say it uses less freshwater in California than is used in other states and no cases of groundwater contamination have been found.\r\n\r\n\u003cstrong>Where it Stands\r\n\u003c/strong>\r\n\r\nIn November 2013, state regulators \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2013/11/15/what-californias-new-fracking-rules-would-do-and-not-do/\">released draft rules for fracking\u003c/a> that are now \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/11/californias-new-fracking-regulations-delayed-half-a-year/\">expected to go into effect in July 2015\u003c/a>. They followed passage of \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2013/09/11/110875/fracking-bill-caifornia-senate-vote\">SB 4\u003c/a>, a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown, that spelled out what the regulations should cover.\r\n\r\nUnder the rules, oil and gas operators would be required to apply for a permit prior to fracking a well, and to provide written notice to nearby landowners. Operators would have to disclose what chemicals they use, but not the specific concentrations if they consider those a trade secret. State water regulators are also developing a groundwater monitoring program. The regulations are expected to be finalized by the end of 2014.",
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"description": "[caption id=\"attachment_13657\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"351\"] Just over 2,000 wells have been fracked in California, according to industry data. (Craig Miller/KQED)[/caption] Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been used for more than 30 years in California, but it’s attracting attention and scrutiny because of renewed interest in the state’s large oil reserve, known as the Monterey Shale. In California, fracking is done mainly for oil, while in other states with recent fracking booms, like Pennsylvania and Texas, it’s used largely for natural gas. What is it? Fracking is just one phase of the process used to bring an oil or gas well into production. The technique is used to release oil from rocks deep underground. Water, mixed with sand and chemicals, is injected down the well bore at high pressure to create tiny fractures in the rock. According to the oil industry, more than 2,000 wells have been fracked in the state. Concerns Environmental groups have called for a moratorium on fracking until the state does a comprehensive review of potential impacts on both water and air quality. A chief concern is the chemicals used, some of which are carcinogens, and potential contamination of groundwater. Fracking also uses large volumes of freshwater. Industry sources say it uses less freshwater in California than is used in other states and no cases of groundwater contamination have been found. Where it Stands In November 2013, state regulators released draft rules for fracking that are now expected to go into effect in July 2015. They followed passage of SB 4, a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown, that spelled out what the regulations should cover. Under the rules, oil and gas operators would be required to apply for a permit prior to fracking a well, and to provide written notice to nearby landowners. Operators would have to disclose what chemicals they use, but not the specific concentrations if they consider those a trade secret. State water regulators are also developing a groundwater monitoring program. The regulations are expected to be finalized by the end of 2014.",
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