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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A quarter of California’s carbon emissions come from homes and buildings — from the appliances we use to keep ourselves warm and our families fed. In this episode of KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America\u003c/a>, we head to a neighborhood in Oakland that is taking a revolutionary approach to reducing their emissions: by electrifying together, all at once.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8848715021\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A full transcript will be available 1–2 workdays after the episode’s publication.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to Keep You Rooted. A quarter of California’s carbon emissions come from homes and buildings, from the appliances we use to keep ourselves warm and feed our families. We know that replacing gas powered appliances with electric ones can help, but that process can take a long time and cost a lot of money. In the latest season of Sold Out Rethinking Housing in America, KQED reporters explore the intersection of climate change and our state’s housing crisis. And in this episode, KQED’s Laura Klivans takes us to one neighborhood in Oakland that’s taking a revolutionary approach to reducing carbon emissions by electrifying together all at once. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>There’s a street in Oakland, a cul de sac. As you walk toward its end. It gets quieter and quieter. You’ll find all kinds of people here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*voices from the community*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The tight knit community here is due in large part to a handful of people. One of them is musician, Isaac Zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Isaac’s all about community. He’s the kind of guy who reaches out. He doesn’t just give a thumbs up on a text message. He hurts it. Seven years ago, Isaac and his wife Vivian, bought a home here. One of the first things they did was kick off a block party, which has become an August tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>We went door to door and introduced ourselves and encouraged people to come. And, you know, we had no idea if it would happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But people came. Someone made a cake and they sang Happy Birthday to the Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Which has become a ritual since then. So there were some very funny things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But it takes real work to build those ties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>There is a sense of camaraderie on the block, but it feels tenuous sometimes. Part of that, I think, is having a group that’s so diverse racially and class wise. Like, there’s just a lot to sift through to, like, find each other and feel connected and feel like we can trust each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Isaac is the one who first heard about an interesting opportunity. A friend sent him an email that read Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and survive the next power outage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block. That sounds great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But it’s not just free solar. It’s a research project called Eco BLOCK, and it’s run out of UC Berkeley. The point is to figure out how to quickly cut the carbon pollution produced by existing homes. That means replacing inefficient appliances, installing solar panels and connecting those solar powered homes to a battery that can keep the lights on when all else fails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>There was a plan to have like a shared electric vehicle on the block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And all these perks would be free. In turn, the researchers at UC Berkeley would get to learn. Can this be replicated? What does it take legally, financially, and technically to pull it off? And super important. What does it take socially? Homeowners would need to sign on and some would need to help manage community assets like a shared backup battery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Party application was like, draw us a map of all the houses that have signed off and said they want to participate. So I to be honest, I fudged that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>About a month after he turned in the application, Isaac heard their block was a finalist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>In their competitive juices, got flowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Again. He went door to door like he did for the block party. He signed folks up for real.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>We did finally get word that we were being chosen to be the eco block, which was felt like a huge victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Vivian Santana Pacheco is married to Isaac. This community is a huge part of her life, too. All these veggies bursting from garden boxes on the street, they’re mostly her doing so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Vivian Santana Pacheco: \u003c/strong>I’ve been helping people use the space that they have to to grow food. And like I started a ton of tomatoes in my living room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Vivian thinks about the climate crisis all the time. She’s one of five homeowners who’s leading the neighborhood association for Eco BLOCK. And here’s one other big reason she and Isaac are so invested. Now, their four year old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>His name is Moisés. But right now he’s, you know, a cat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Now we want this world to be a habitable one for him. Being able to say like we did as much as we could to be part of that, and already I felt like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough. This feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Across the street and just a few doors down, I meet up with another family, Ismael Plascencia, or IS shows me around the two bedroom apartment they rent. There’s a lot of life packed in here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s a leopard gecko. Sometimes he can call or.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And up in the tall Tupperware on the mantle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>The spider was. It was like a tiny house spider. And we’ve been raising it for the past two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Plus, there are snails. A lot of snails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Jr.: \u003c/strong>I think I have 21 of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>That’s six year old Ismael Junior. Both Ismail’s plus mom, Cheryl Kleinsmith and their daughter moved here about five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s nice. Just tons of windows. And then we realized how hot it got this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cheryl Kleinsmith: \u003c/strong>When it’s hot, it’s hot. When it’s cold, it’s very cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>So when they heard about Eco block, they wanted in, but they would need to get their property owners to sign on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>I reached out to them and they’re like, Oh, yeah, this is some guy’s been calling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>That guy was Isaac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s like, it’s too good to be true. We we don’t want to do any of that. And, you know, I was like, well, it does kind of sound too good to be true. I get that. But I’m like, you know, what do you have to lose? I’m like, you know, it’s it’s going to increase your property value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The owners agreed as long as is, and Cheryl went to the meetings and shared back. While they don’t own their place now, they’d like to someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>I was super interested in the project, so I’m like, even just for educational purposes, I’d love to just sit at all these meetings or totally would do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>One of the upgrades Cheryl is and other neighbors would get is a heat pump. It’s a machine that works as both a heater and an AC. It’s electric and way more efficient than the wall heater they never turn on. They’d get to ditch their gas powered water heater, too. Right now, it sits behind a wooden door in their kitchen. When that’s gone and the new electric water heater is installed outside, Cheryl’s got a vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cheryl Kleinsmith: \u003c/strong>Maybe that’s crazy, but one of the things I’m most excited about is getting a pantry instead of a water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Is and Cheryl both grew up here in Oakland. They both work in Oakland. She’s a scheduler in a surgeon’s office, and he runs community programs for an art school. Even as rents have increased. They’ve made it work to stay and raise their kids here. What they saw in Eco BLOCK was a commitment to all of Oakland, not just the wealthier parts of the city where people could probably afford to upgrade their own homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>They presented this like this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that, you know, I don’t think that that most folks would have prioritized a community like this. But projects like this are just you know, they’re inspiring to me just to know that we can transform a neighbor. That could potentially transform a whole community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>This project didn’t start with the residents, though. It started in the minds of researchers like Therese Peffer. She walks me around the block, often stopping as she goes through an invisible mental checklist. Right now she’s kicking around leaves and staring at the sidewalk beneath her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>I was told that there was a water meter seven feet away from that train and see if.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>She’s looking for a spot where she could place a charger for a shared electric vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Because it has to be so far away from the pole for the meter from a fire hose. Oh, it can’t be so close to that. Oh, here. There’s a red curb here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Most of her days are made up of details like this. This is where the electrification rubber meets the road. Therese has been fascinated with energy for decades. She spent a chunk of her toes living off the grid in Oregon in a community powered by just the sun and wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>And I just learned a ton about really living within your means, especially your energy means. I brought up a toaster oven one time and we could only use it when the sun was very plentiful that day. No clouds. And if the wind was blowing really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>She became captivated by how to reduce carbon emissions that come from people’s homes, not the brand new ones, like at that futuristic Southern California development, but the homes that have been around for decades. Here in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Two thirds of all homes in California were built before energy codes, no insulation, single pane windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>A.k.a. a huge waste of energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>New construction is easy, right? And it’s sexy and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Tackle them separately. Home by home, appliance by appliance. It would take a long time. It would be expensive and it would exclude people who can’t afford to electrify. Tackle one block together. You could buy appliances in bulk. Guarantee work for contractors. Drive down the cost. You could have neighbors talking up the benefits to their peers to make it work on eco block. Theresa needs to bring together a whole host of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>People, contractor, architect, experts on microgrid, experts on energy inside the home. We have a civil engineer. We have a mobility expert, solar contractor, urban planners, energy regulatory lawyer, cooperative lawyer. I have a real estate lawyer and they don’t have the same language attached to each other. So it takes a lot of meetings to kind of figure that out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s an intimidating idea, but Terrace loves being a bridge between all these people and the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Something about tapping into a community and strengthening the real relationships with people, not the Facebook relationships or Instagram or whatever, but the door to door, the face to face, the people that pass you day to day on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Eco BLOCK draws folks in. Well, most folks. Hello. How’s it going?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Oh, pretty good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>I meet Steve Johnson midday on a Saturday. He just came back from a coffee with his buddies. A ritual he’s followed for about 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>A little bit of iced tea right here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Oh, thank you so much. Sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Okay. Well, this house was bought by my immigrant grandparents in 1925. So this house has been in my family for almost 100 years. Matter of fact, my mother was born in that room over there. Well, in 1930, you know, that’s the way they did it. She was born at home on some newspapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Steve remembers coming here when he was a kid, hanging out with his grandparents, especially in the backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>This actually is an apple tree that my father gave me. Planted it, like 25 years ago. No way. My grandmother planted that tree maybe 1990 years ago. These two houses over here were a giant vacant lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He points to the house next door. And. And is this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>And those two vacant lots were a gigantic garden. It was a huge victory garden when I was a young boy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Steve bought the house from his grandmother nearly 50 years ago, and he rebuilt it himself. He’s a retired contractor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>You know, I spent maybe 30 years on and off remodeling this house, and I just finally got it completely remodeled. And for my taste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He insulated it, added skylights and even put in his own greywater system that runs water from his drains straight to his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>So every time I take a shower, I’m watering the apple tree or something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The guy generally uses very little energy. So by all accounts, you’d think he’d be all in on eco block. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>You know, I’m 70 years old. I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it. I wanted to show you this is my puny bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>His monthly electricity bill is 46 bucks. And Steve’s not the only holdout. Ten out of the 25 buildings here have not signed on to Eco block. Some people don’t want to be so tied to their neighbors. Others have done unpermitted work on their homes and despite assurances from the city, are worried they’ll get in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>And then the other thing is that any time we have a family party, I do all the cooking for everybody. I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole eco block wanted to take away the gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Capping off the gas line was one dream for this project. But here’s the thing. State code says that if one person on a block wants a gas appliance, the whole gas line stretching invisibly below our feet must stay. That means the utility has to maintain it and customers have to pay for it. So Steve said no, but it wasn’t so easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>There was a little bit of peer pressure in the beginning when everybody was sort of recruiting to have everybody sign up to join the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Even before Steve felt a bit of a generational divide. He’s in his seventies. The residents leaning eco block are decades younger. He says they worked hard to include him anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Still, if you weren’t really all for it, then everybody’s trying to convince you why you should be for it. And I kind of felt that I was starting to get sort of left out of the general scene, even though I’m kind of like the senior citizen on this block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s not that Steve doesn’t care about reducing carbon emissions. He just thinks we should tackle other stuff first, like airplanes or shipping. He has real concerns about the supply of energy, the cost. What would happen if there were a power outage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>It’s just there is overwhelmingly, sweepingly changing everything in my life that I wanted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And he’s not alone. People have all kinds of cultural and emotional ties to things like gas stoves. There is a fear of change, and not everyone wants to move so fast. When you compare Echo BLOCK to what it looked like at the start of the project, here’s what you’ll notice. Not much has changed. Why the Street was chosen for the project right at the start of 2020. You may remember the life altering events of that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>The pandemic has pushed prices beyond what anyone might have expected. For those renovating, building a home, or buying one from a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Tyrese says they couldn’t get the lumber to shore up roofs for solar. And this was on top of a budget based on 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Numbers, and they were just woefully inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The budget they’re working with to electrify one city block is slightly more than 8 million bucks. Five of that comes from the state. The rest is from an anonymous donor. So Theresa’s constantly applying for more grants to supplement that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>The fact that the project has stretched out so long that eats away at our budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The project’s scope has shrunk. Some residents told me they’d be getting new doors and stoves. They won’t remember that micro-grid and shared battery. While I was reporting this story, the grant for it fell through. At this point, residents will mainly be getting insulation, heat pumps and solar panels and red tape from the city, and utility keeps slowing down the process. After I first talked with residents, Pegg and he decided to upgrade the electric lines on the street to support a bigger load. While the utility fast tracked the process, it will still take around six more months for the residents. The waiting can be frustrating and is most apparent in little ways, like Isaac and Vivian’s fridge. They’re pretty sure the project won’t provide one, but they’re holding out hope that some additional grant will come through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>They’re grateful. They don’t have to deal with all the details, all the behind the scenes work, but they feel some pressure that this succeeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>As I was like going door to door and trying to get people to sign a letter of intent to be part of the eco block, I think probably some of that was like, did they trust me or not? You know, I often felt like some of my credibility as a neighbor is on the line here of this project going well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>In the few months I spent reporting this story, I started rooting for Eco BLOCK. They’re trying something new. If the project works, it could inspire other neighborhoods across the Bay Area and the country. But when you look at what this group set out to do, it doesn’t seem like they’ll achieve it. And that made me feel discouraged. Time is not on our side. As we race to cut the harmful pollution our society was built on. If eco block can’t make it work, maybe this type of electrification is a nonstarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>The way I see it is the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Ram Rajagopal is an engineering professor at Stanford University. He’s not involved in this project but works on similar ones. He says as a society, we’re past the first phase of electrification when it was a niche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>And it’s usually the super rich dude in Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But now electrification is going mainstream. Heat pumps outsold gas furnaces for the first time last year, and the Biden administration passed a major climate law offering billions for households to electrify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>The fact that we’re all frustrated now is a good sign because we’re frustrated by the right thing. We’re really trying to replace these things and we are now seeing the roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Eco BLOCK may not be the perfect model for neighborhood scale electrification. It’s more of a rough draft. It is a research project. There are lessons in its successes and in its failures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>It would be a mistake to say, okay, we’re not going to support this eco block project because of, you know, things are too slow. Actually, I would say we now need to give them money to figure out how to make it go fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He thinks we need hundreds of projects like this one all over the country to figure out every day crucial details. A block is a place we live. We rent or buy. We come with excitement. Or just because this place was the right size at the right price at the right time. We spend our days here, we hear the same sounds as our neighbors. We watch the same colors move across the sky. But a lot of times we don’t know each other’s names. And that’s where this Oakland block is different. Tyreece, the researcher, feels that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>We’ve struck a chord here. Oh, we just need to finish it. But but I think there’s something exciting about working with your neighbors. You’re building those relationships and building that social resilience, I call it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s not some utopia, but it is a place where social ties are stronger because of this shared project where people could help to shield each other from extreme heat, wildfire smoke, power outages. Here’s Vivian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I feel like all of this is helping us remember that we’re like, interconnected and that we can rely on each other. And I think that that’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>In early fall, construction finally began. Homes are getting new insulation. Heat pumps are going in. With luck, residents will be able to actually connect their new electric appliances to the power grid this winter. And come summer, any and all residents will celebrate together at their annual block party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was KQED reporter Laura Klivans. You can find more from the latest season of Sold Out Rethinking Housing in America wherever You Get Your Podcasts. This episode was written and reported by Laura Klivans, and it was edited by Kevin Stark and Erica Kelly and engineered by Brendan Willard. The series is hosted by Erin Baldassari. Shout out as well to the KQED Podcast team. That’s Jen Chien, our director of podcasts. Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana and Maha Sanad for engagement support, and Holly Kernan, our chief Content officer. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A quarter of California’s carbon emissions come from homes and buildings — from the appliances we use to keep ourselves warm and our families fed. In this episode of KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America\u003c/a>, we head to a neighborhood in Oakland that is taking a revolutionary approach to reducing their emissions: by electrifying together, all at once.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8848715021\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A full transcript will be available 1–2 workdays after the episode’s publication.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay. Local news to Keep You Rooted. A quarter of California’s carbon emissions come from homes and buildings, from the appliances we use to keep ourselves warm and feed our families. We know that replacing gas powered appliances with electric ones can help, but that process can take a long time and cost a lot of money. In the latest season of Sold Out Rethinking Housing in America, KQED reporters explore the intersection of climate change and our state’s housing crisis. And in this episode, KQED’s Laura Klivans takes us to one neighborhood in Oakland that’s taking a revolutionary approach to reducing carbon emissions by electrifying together all at once. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>There’s a street in Oakland, a cul de sac. As you walk toward its end. It gets quieter and quieter. You’ll find all kinds of people here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*voices from the community*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The tight knit community here is due in large part to a handful of people. One of them is musician, Isaac Zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Isaac’s all about community. He’s the kind of guy who reaches out. He doesn’t just give a thumbs up on a text message. He hurts it. Seven years ago, Isaac and his wife Vivian, bought a home here. One of the first things they did was kick off a block party, which has become an August tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>We went door to door and introduced ourselves and encouraged people to come. And, you know, we had no idea if it would happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But people came. Someone made a cake and they sang Happy Birthday to the Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Which has become a ritual since then. So there were some very funny things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But it takes real work to build those ties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>There is a sense of camaraderie on the block, but it feels tenuous sometimes. Part of that, I think, is having a group that’s so diverse racially and class wise. Like, there’s just a lot to sift through to, like, find each other and feel connected and feel like we can trust each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Isaac is the one who first heard about an interesting opportunity. A friend sent him an email that read Do you and your neighbors want to save money on your energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and survive the next power outage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Basically, I read it as like free solar for everybody on my block. That sounds great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But it’s not just free solar. It’s a research project called Eco BLOCK, and it’s run out of UC Berkeley. The point is to figure out how to quickly cut the carbon pollution produced by existing homes. That means replacing inefficient appliances, installing solar panels and connecting those solar powered homes to a battery that can keep the lights on when all else fails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>There was a plan to have like a shared electric vehicle on the block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And all these perks would be free. In turn, the researchers at UC Berkeley would get to learn. Can this be replicated? What does it take legally, financially, and technically to pull it off? And super important. What does it take socially? Homeowners would need to sign on and some would need to help manage community assets like a shared backup battery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>Party application was like, draw us a map of all the houses that have signed off and said they want to participate. So I to be honest, I fudged that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>About a month after he turned in the application, Isaac heard their block was a finalist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>In their competitive juices, got flowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Again. He went door to door like he did for the block party. He signed folks up for real.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>We did finally get word that we were being chosen to be the eco block, which was felt like a huge victory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Vivian Santana Pacheco is married to Isaac. This community is a huge part of her life, too. All these veggies bursting from garden boxes on the street, they’re mostly her doing so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Vivian Santana Pacheco: \u003c/strong>I’ve been helping people use the space that they have to to grow food. And like I started a ton of tomatoes in my living room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Vivian thinks about the climate crisis all the time. She’s one of five homeowners who’s leading the neighborhood association for Eco BLOCK. And here’s one other big reason she and Isaac are so invested. Now, their four year old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>His name is Moisés. But right now he’s, you know, a cat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Now we want this world to be a habitable one for him. Being able to say like we did as much as we could to be part of that, and already I felt like we’re behind and that I’m not doing enough. This feels more tangible than showing up to a protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Across the street and just a few doors down, I meet up with another family, Ismael Plascencia, or IS shows me around the two bedroom apartment they rent. There’s a lot of life packed in here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s a leopard gecko. Sometimes he can call or.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And up in the tall Tupperware on the mantle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>The spider was. It was like a tiny house spider. And we’ve been raising it for the past two months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Plus, there are snails. A lot of snails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Jr.: \u003c/strong>I think I have 21 of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>That’s six year old Ismael Junior. Both Ismail’s plus mom, Cheryl Kleinsmith and their daughter moved here about five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s nice. Just tons of windows. And then we realized how hot it got this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cheryl Kleinsmith: \u003c/strong>When it’s hot, it’s hot. When it’s cold, it’s very cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>So when they heard about Eco block, they wanted in, but they would need to get their property owners to sign on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>I reached out to them and they’re like, Oh, yeah, this is some guy’s been calling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>That guy was Isaac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>It’s like, it’s too good to be true. We we don’t want to do any of that. And, you know, I was like, well, it does kind of sound too good to be true. I get that. But I’m like, you know, what do you have to lose? I’m like, you know, it’s it’s going to increase your property value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The owners agreed as long as is, and Cheryl went to the meetings and shared back. While they don’t own their place now, they’d like to someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>I was super interested in the project, so I’m like, even just for educational purposes, I’d love to just sit at all these meetings or totally would do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>One of the upgrades Cheryl is and other neighbors would get is a heat pump. It’s a machine that works as both a heater and an AC. It’s electric and way more efficient than the wall heater they never turn on. They’d get to ditch their gas powered water heater, too. Right now, it sits behind a wooden door in their kitchen. When that’s gone and the new electric water heater is installed outside, Cheryl’s got a vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cheryl Kleinsmith: \u003c/strong>Maybe that’s crazy, but one of the things I’m most excited about is getting a pantry instead of a water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Is and Cheryl both grew up here in Oakland. They both work in Oakland. She’s a scheduler in a surgeon’s office, and he runs community programs for an art school. Even as rents have increased. They’ve made it work to stay and raise their kids here. What they saw in Eco BLOCK was a commitment to all of Oakland, not just the wealthier parts of the city where people could probably afford to upgrade their own homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ismael Plascencia: \u003c/strong>They presented this like this opportunity to transform Oakland in a way that, you know, I don’t think that that most folks would have prioritized a community like this. But projects like this are just you know, they’re inspiring to me just to know that we can transform a neighbor. That could potentially transform a whole community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>This project didn’t start with the residents, though. It started in the minds of researchers like Therese Peffer. She walks me around the block, often stopping as she goes through an invisible mental checklist. Right now she’s kicking around leaves and staring at the sidewalk beneath her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>I was told that there was a water meter seven feet away from that train and see if.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>She’s looking for a spot where she could place a charger for a shared electric vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Because it has to be so far away from the pole for the meter from a fire hose. Oh, it can’t be so close to that. Oh, here. There’s a red curb here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Most of her days are made up of details like this. This is where the electrification rubber meets the road. Therese has been fascinated with energy for decades. She spent a chunk of her toes living off the grid in Oregon in a community powered by just the sun and wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>And I just learned a ton about really living within your means, especially your energy means. I brought up a toaster oven one time and we could only use it when the sun was very plentiful that day. No clouds. And if the wind was blowing really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>She became captivated by how to reduce carbon emissions that come from people’s homes, not the brand new ones, like at that futuristic Southern California development, but the homes that have been around for decades. Here in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Two thirds of all homes in California were built before energy codes, no insulation, single pane windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>A.k.a. a huge waste of energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>New construction is easy, right? And it’s sexy and it’s fun, but it’s not where the biggest problem is. If we’re going to try to really combat climate change, it is looking at the existing buildings in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Tackle them separately. Home by home, appliance by appliance. It would take a long time. It would be expensive and it would exclude people who can’t afford to electrify. Tackle one block together. You could buy appliances in bulk. Guarantee work for contractors. Drive down the cost. You could have neighbors talking up the benefits to their peers to make it work on eco block. Theresa needs to bring together a whole host of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>People, contractor, architect, experts on microgrid, experts on energy inside the home. We have a civil engineer. We have a mobility expert, solar contractor, urban planners, energy regulatory lawyer, cooperative lawyer. I have a real estate lawyer and they don’t have the same language attached to each other. So it takes a lot of meetings to kind of figure that out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s an intimidating idea, but Terrace loves being a bridge between all these people and the residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Something about tapping into a community and strengthening the real relationships with people, not the Facebook relationships or Instagram or whatever, but the door to door, the face to face, the people that pass you day to day on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Eco BLOCK draws folks in. Well, most folks. Hello. How’s it going?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Oh, pretty good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>I meet Steve Johnson midday on a Saturday. He just came back from a coffee with his buddies. A ritual he’s followed for about 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>A little bit of iced tea right here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Oh, thank you so much. Sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Okay. Well, this house was bought by my immigrant grandparents in 1925. So this house has been in my family for almost 100 years. Matter of fact, my mother was born in that room over there. Well, in 1930, you know, that’s the way they did it. She was born at home on some newspapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Steve remembers coming here when he was a kid, hanging out with his grandparents, especially in the backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>This actually is an apple tree that my father gave me. Planted it, like 25 years ago. No way. My grandmother planted that tree maybe 1990 years ago. These two houses over here were a giant vacant lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He points to the house next door. And. And is this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>And those two vacant lots were a gigantic garden. It was a huge victory garden when I was a young boy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Steve bought the house from his grandmother nearly 50 years ago, and he rebuilt it himself. He’s a retired contractor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>You know, I spent maybe 30 years on and off remodeling this house, and I just finally got it completely remodeled. And for my taste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He insulated it, added skylights and even put in his own greywater system that runs water from his drains straight to his garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>So every time I take a shower, I’m watering the apple tree or something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The guy generally uses very little energy. So by all accounts, you’d think he’d be all in on eco block. Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>You know, I’m 70 years old. I just didn’t want to go through a lot of new construction all over again because I really don’t need it. I wanted to show you this is my puny bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>His monthly electricity bill is 46 bucks. And Steve’s not the only holdout. Ten out of the 25 buildings here have not signed on to Eco block. Some people don’t want to be so tied to their neighbors. Others have done unpermitted work on their homes and despite assurances from the city, are worried they’ll get in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>And then the other thing is that any time we have a family party, I do all the cooking for everybody. I just can’t imagine not cooking on gas. And the whole eco block wanted to take away the gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Capping off the gas line was one dream for this project. But here’s the thing. State code says that if one person on a block wants a gas appliance, the whole gas line stretching invisibly below our feet must stay. That means the utility has to maintain it and customers have to pay for it. So Steve said no, but it wasn’t so easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>There was a little bit of peer pressure in the beginning when everybody was sort of recruiting to have everybody sign up to join the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Even before Steve felt a bit of a generational divide. He’s in his seventies. The residents leaning eco block are decades younger. He says they worked hard to include him anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>Still, if you weren’t really all for it, then everybody’s trying to convince you why you should be for it. And I kind of felt that I was starting to get sort of left out of the general scene, even though I’m kind of like the senior citizen on this block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s not that Steve doesn’t care about reducing carbon emissions. He just thinks we should tackle other stuff first, like airplanes or shipping. He has real concerns about the supply of energy, the cost. What would happen if there were a power outage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>It’s just there is overwhelmingly, sweepingly changing everything in my life that I wanted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>And he’s not alone. People have all kinds of cultural and emotional ties to things like gas stoves. There is a fear of change, and not everyone wants to move so fast. When you compare Echo BLOCK to what it looked like at the start of the project, here’s what you’ll notice. Not much has changed. Why the Street was chosen for the project right at the start of 2020. You may remember the life altering events of that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Johnson: \u003c/strong>The pandemic has pushed prices beyond what anyone might have expected. For those renovating, building a home, or buying one from a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Tyrese says they couldn’t get the lumber to shore up roofs for solar. And this was on top of a budget based on 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>Numbers, and they were just woefully inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The budget they’re working with to electrify one city block is slightly more than 8 million bucks. Five of that comes from the state. The rest is from an anonymous donor. So Theresa’s constantly applying for more grants to supplement that amount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>The fact that the project has stretched out so long that eats away at our budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>The project’s scope has shrunk. Some residents told me they’d be getting new doors and stoves. They won’t remember that micro-grid and shared battery. While I was reporting this story, the grant for it fell through. At this point, residents will mainly be getting insulation, heat pumps and solar panels and red tape from the city, and utility keeps slowing down the process. After I first talked with residents, Pegg and he decided to upgrade the electric lines on the street to support a bigger load. While the utility fast tracked the process, it will still take around six more months for the residents. The waiting can be frustrating and is most apparent in little ways, like Isaac and Vivian’s fridge. They’re pretty sure the project won’t provide one, but they’re holding out hope that some additional grant will come through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>They’re grateful. They don’t have to deal with all the details, all the behind the scenes work, but they feel some pressure that this succeeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isaac Zones: \u003c/strong>As I was like going door to door and trying to get people to sign a letter of intent to be part of the eco block, I think probably some of that was like, did they trust me or not? You know, I often felt like some of my credibility as a neighbor is on the line here of this project going well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>In the few months I spent reporting this story, I started rooting for Eco BLOCK. They’re trying something new. If the project works, it could inspire other neighborhoods across the Bay Area and the country. But when you look at what this group set out to do, it doesn’t seem like they’ll achieve it. And that made me feel discouraged. Time is not on our side. As we race to cut the harmful pollution our society was built on. If eco block can’t make it work, maybe this type of electrification is a nonstarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>The way I see it is the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Ram Rajagopal is an engineering professor at Stanford University. He’s not involved in this project but works on similar ones. He says as a society, we’re past the first phase of electrification when it was a niche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>And it’s usually the super rich dude in Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>But now electrification is going mainstream. Heat pumps outsold gas furnaces for the first time last year, and the Biden administration passed a major climate law offering billions for households to electrify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>The fact that we’re all frustrated now is a good sign because we’re frustrated by the right thing. We’re really trying to replace these things and we are now seeing the roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>Eco BLOCK may not be the perfect model for neighborhood scale electrification. It’s more of a rough draft. It is a research project. There are lessons in its successes and in its failures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ram Rajagopal: \u003c/strong>It would be a mistake to say, okay, we’re not going to support this eco block project because of, you know, things are too slow. Actually, I would say we now need to give them money to figure out how to make it go fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>He thinks we need hundreds of projects like this one all over the country to figure out every day crucial details. A block is a place we live. We rent or buy. We come with excitement. Or just because this place was the right size at the right price at the right time. We spend our days here, we hear the same sounds as our neighbors. We watch the same colors move across the sky. But a lot of times we don’t know each other’s names. And that’s where this Oakland block is different. Tyreece, the researcher, feels that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Therese Peffer: \u003c/strong>We’ve struck a chord here. Oh, we just need to finish it. But but I think there’s something exciting about working with your neighbors. You’re building those relationships and building that social resilience, I call it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>It’s not some utopia, but it is a place where social ties are stronger because of this shared project where people could help to shield each other from extreme heat, wildfire smoke, power outages. Here’s Vivian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I feel like all of this is helping us remember that we’re like, interconnected and that we can rely on each other. And I think that that’s the only way that we’re going to solve this climate crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: \u003c/strong>In early fall, construction finally began. Homes are getting new insulation. Heat pumps are going in. With luck, residents will be able to actually connect their new electric appliances to the power grid this winter. And come summer, any and all residents will celebrate together at their annual block party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was KQED reporter Laura Klivans. You can find more from the latest season of Sold Out Rethinking Housing in America wherever You Get Your Podcasts. This episode was written and reported by Laura Klivans, and it was edited by Kevin Stark and Erica Kelly and engineered by Brendan Willard. The series is hosted by Erin Baldassari. Shout out as well to the KQED Podcast team. That’s Jen Chien, our director of podcasts. Katie Sprenger, our podcast operations manager, Cesar Saldana and Maha Sanad for engagement support, and Holly Kernan, our chief Content officer. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Thanks for listening. Talk to you Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"slug": "in-detroit-a-magic-wand-makes-dirty-air-look-clean-and-lets-polluters-off-the-hook",
"title": "In Detroit, a 'Magic Wand' Makes Dirty Air Look Clean — and Lets Polluters Off the Hook",
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"headTitle": "In Detroit, a ‘Magic Wand’ Makes Dirty Air Look Clean — and Lets Polluters Off the Hook | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In southeast Detroit, the Environmental Protection Agency says, the air is clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Shobe’s lungs tell a different story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like a lot of Detroiters, Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, a long-term lung ailment that flares up when the air is smoggy or smokey. On those days, Shobe said: “I probably am low on energy, and I feel like I’m seeing a haze in the air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traffic, industrial sources and meteorological conditions often worsen pollution in his part of town. One of Shobe’s closest neighbors is the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant, where Jeep Wagoneers roll off the line. Since opening a paint shop on the property just over two years ago, it has racked up eight air pollution violations and fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Shobe was baffled when he heard in May of 2023 that Detroit had three years of clean-air data, and that according to the EPA, the region met strict federal air-quality standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators for Wayne County, where Detroit is located, accomplished that feat by removing two of the highest-ozone days from their calculations. They could do that because they had identified a surprising source of dirty air: wildfires burning across the border, in other states and in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using a little-known loophole in the Clean Air Act, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) had made the case to the EPA that pollution on those days stemmed from an exceptional event, defined as something uncontrollable, unlikely to recur and, often, natural: wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “exceptional events rule” allows the EPA to strike pollution caused by these events from the record, allowing regulators to meet clean-air goals on paper, without forcing local industry to comply with tighter pollution controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964686\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man sits inside a home at a dinner table.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Shobe, who lives adjacent to the Stellantis Mack Auto Assembly Plant, in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 3, 2023. Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which gets worse on days when the air is smoggy or smoky. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Michigan, a regulator referred to the process as a “magic wand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wand is regularly, if quietly, being waved. An investigation by The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> found that state and local air-quality managers across the U.S. increasingly rely on the rule to meet air-quality goals because of wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/MuckRock/air-quality-exceptional-events\">review of federal data\u003c/a>, as well as thousands of pages of regulatory records, shows that at least 21 million people, including in Michigan, now live and breathe \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/final-agency-actions-215474/\">in areas where the EPA has forgiven pollution (DOC)\u003c/a> from at least one “exceptional event,” often a wildfire, since the law took effect. Public contracts and correspondence also reveal how local governments have spent millions in taxpayer dollars to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/exceptional-event-demonstrations-215472/\">seek forgiveness for pollution (DOC)\u003c/a> related to “exceptional events,” helped at times by industry lobbyists, who pushed for the expansion of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.levernews.com/oil-lobby-pushed-pollution-loophole-for-wildfire-smoke/\">loophole in the Clean Air Act\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11964684\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-800x674.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-800x674.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-1020x859.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-160x135.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1.png 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>From the mountain west to the Rust Belt and into the south, utility, energy and business advocates have worked to promote the rule’s use, aiming to avoid costly emission controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It isn’t just industry that benefits, said John Walke, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit environmental advocacy organization has sued the EPA over its interpretation of the rule. “Loopholes and exceptions [like this one] are treated as get-out-of-jail-free cards for politicians who are balancing economic activities and development with the need for clean air and public health,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In and out of limbo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Detroit was on tenterhooks. The region had been struggling toward clean air since 2015, when the EPA last lowered the healthy standard for ozone. State officials argued to the EPA that the region had improved enough to meet air-quality goals. Just in case, they were ready to enact tighter and more costly pollution controls in southeast Michigan, as well as a new vehicle inspection program — an unpopular idea in the Motor City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11964685\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-800x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-800x743.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-1020x948.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-160x149.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1.png 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then air-pollution numbers spiked in Shobe’s neighborhood in June and July of 2022, stalling progress with the EPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Publicly, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, a 120-year-old, politically powerful trade group, warned that “limbo” about Detroit’s air-quality designation would “dampen business growth in the region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Air regulators and government officials heeded that warning. Behind the scenes, despite the persistent problems with Detroit’s air and the health consequences for members of the public like Shobe, they worked under tight deadlines to obtain Detroit’s clean bill of air health, emails show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top officials from the office of governor Gretchen Whitmer sought meetings with regulators, beginning in July of last year. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), a regional planning partnership, joined the effort. In October, an air-quality specialist with the environment, Great Lakes and energy department wrote to counterparts at the council: “We know that conversations are continuing to be had ‘at the White House level’ about Detroit ozone.” In November, lobbyist Mary Beth McGowan emailed SEMCOG staffers about a call between the governor’s chief of staff and the EPA’s deputy administrator, Janet McCabe. The call appears on McCabe’s public calendar on November 21. By January of 2023, Michigan had assembled its “demonstration” of an exceptional event. Southeast Michigan’s last-ditch effort to receive a passing grade for its air quality had taken only a few months to assemble. By March of this year, the EPA indicated it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One scientist has called the demonstration “a challenging one to review.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my opinion, the evidence that the days described were impacted by smoke due to wildfires was limited,” said Dan Jaffe, a professor of atmospheric and environmental chemistry at the University of Washington-Bothell who has advised the EPA, states including Louisiana and private companies on the movement and makeup of ozone pollution. “And I understand why the community has concerns over that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to Jaffe’s comment, the EPA wrote that the “rationale for approving Michigan’s demonstration [is] consistent” with the exceptional events rule. The EPA also said it objects to the word “loophole,” arguing it “delegitimizes the process established by Congress in the Clean Air Act and implemented by EPA.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964688\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964688\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white house with a black door and steps.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘Justice for Beniteau Street Residents’ sign hangs in a neighbor’s home across the street from Robert Shobe’s home. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics of the exceptional events rule say the implications of the conversations among regulators, lobbyists and high-ranking government officials like the ones in Michigan are significant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anytime you bring politics into a decision like this, it can skew the decision-making,” said Nick Leonard, an attorney with the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Michigan who reviewed the emails. Pointing to the potential harm to people like Robert Shobe, Leonard has sued the EPA over Detroit’s redesignation and the exceptional event decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his opinion, Michigan regulators “don’t want to enact more stringent regulations on some of the major industry in the area, many of which are auto-assembly plants and a very powerful political force in Michigan and nationally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan air-quality regulators declined to be interviewed, as did the Michigan governor’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA declined to comment on pending litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Shocking and unseemly’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In other parts of the country, industry and economic interests are involved in making these cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators have approached the EPA about exceptional events, or actually made filings, in at least 29 states. Emails and documents show that in more than half of those states, lobbyists and business groups weighed in on those efforts. In some places, private industry is paying to support these requests, revealing a close-knit effort between local authorities and businesses to protect the status quo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Midwest Ozone Group, a powerful collective of utility companies and trade organizations that regularly opposes ozone controls, wrote public comments and sought meetings with regulators on wildfire exceptional events in western Michigan, Cook County, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964691\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964691\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a blue shirt sits down inside.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Leonard at his home in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 6, 2023. Leonard is suing the EPA over the agency’s clean air determination for Detroit. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Kentucky, one member of the group, Louisville Gas and Electric (LGE), a for-profit company, paid for an exceptional event analysis blaming excess ozone pollution on the \u003ca href=\"https://dffm.az.gov/2020-wildfire-season-one-worst-decade\">2020 wildfires in Arizona\u003c/a>. Emails describe meetings about the analysis among regulators, the utility and a local chamber of commerce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was the first time LGE indicated interest in exceptional events; it didn’t surprise Michelle King, the assistant director of the Louisville metro air pollution control district. The power sector is “very savvy,” she said, adding that such companies “understood the implications of what an exceptional event would or wouldn’t do with regard to our area’s non-attainment, and then the effect that that would have on them.” In the end, the district did not formally submit the analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964689\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964689\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A wide view of a complex with railroad tracks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of a complex encompassing both the North Assembly and the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, representing major refiners like ExxonMobil, regional midstream companies, and marketing firms, paid for an exceptional event filing in Louisiana in 2017. That demonstration allowed the five-parish Baton Rouge area to meet its air-quality goals for the first time, affecting 800,000 people. It also let local polluters avoid tougher regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going full bore on this one,” wrote Vivian Aucoin, a senior scientist for the Louisiana department of environmental quality, in an email from October 2017. “Use whatever or whoever you need to get the information we need to prove” that wildfires were to blame, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aucoin, who now goes by Vivian Johnson, said that in lieu of payment for violations, industry trade groups in Louisiana “often” pay for “beneficial environmental projects.” In this case, “the state didn’t have the money we needed,” she said. “And so their industry members bellied up to the bar and paid for the modelling that needed to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association did not return a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about industry involvement in Louisiana, the EPA said “[f]or questions about how air agencies prepare their demonstrations, including coordination with industry or other parties, EPA recommends those questions be directed to specific air agencies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think people understand the degree to which there’s such a cozy, tightly woven tapestry of relationships between regulated industries and their regulators,” said John Walke, with the NRDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is “an entirely rational undertaking by these industries and their lawyers and their lobbyists,” he said. “There’s no downside to them crying chicken or being wrong because at worst, the agency doesn’t bite, but at best they express interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope that it is shocking and unseemly to the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Millions of taxpayer dollars\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Removing bad air days from the record isn’t cheap. States are spending millions of taxpayer dollars to get pollution forgiven, according to public contracts and requests. Local regulators regularly complain that applying for exceptional events is expensive and time-consuming. The reports filed to the EPA can often run into hundreds of pages with detailed scientific analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price of filing for an exceptional event appears to range widely, depending on the scope and complexity of the work, as well as the cost of external consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) estimated that one filing cost as much as $20,000 and 200 hours to prepare. At a congressional hearing in 2017, a Wyoming state regulator estimated “that it would take about 15 months and contractor assistance at a cost of over $150,000 to produce just one” demonstration for ozone-related to wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clearer picture emerges when consultants get involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has committed to spending nearly $5 million across 19 contracts since 2018, toward work to improve exceptional event modeling and monitoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas is waiting to hear from the EPA about two open requests: one to exclude pollution related to wind in the El Paso area, and the other to exclude some smog pollution around Houston because of wildfires, mostly in neighboring gulf states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written response to questions, TCEQ said that it “routinely” conducts research, and that it “disagrees with the assertion that the exceptional events rule prioritizes any entity over public health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, local air officials have mounted a sustained campaign to take advantage of exceptional events, including arguing that wildfires are beyond local control. In 2021, the county filed 17 exceptional event determinations with federal regulators; the EPA rejected five of them, and declined to weigh in on the rest. All told, Clark County has approved spending more than $3.3 million over a nine-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pushed to the regional level and we’re supposed to solve it. We cannot solve it alone,” said Jodi Bechtel, an assistant director for the department of environment and sustainability in Clark County, Nevada. “We’re lucky to have the resources to be able to put these exceptional event packages together and commit these millions of dollars to at least maybe do them if we need them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has filed more requests than California, where the state air resources board (CARB) has invested significant resources in developing analysis and requests, even as staffers point out it takes months to work with the EPA on demonstrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that probably makes it seem to people like we’re taking advantage of a loophole, to try to show attainment,” said Michael Benjamin, chief of the air quality planning and science division at CARB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But breathing clean air isn’t the same thing as meeting federal air requirements, he said, which carries legal consequences: “If there weren’t such significant repercussions for not attaining, like the potential loss of federal highway funds and so on, then there wouldn’t be that pressure on air districts and CARB to really take full advantage of exceptional events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan regulators reckoned they spent 250 hours writing last year’s exceptional event demonstration — but declined to provide a cost estimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It still happened’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In July, the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-07/23-3583_Documents.pdf\">sued (PDF) \u003c/a>the EPA over its decision to move Detroit back into attainment. A successful lawsuit could force regulators to reimpose the controls they drafted. It would also require them to be more transparent about Detroit’s air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excluding data to say that the air is clean is a “disservice to the public and the community,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents Detroit. “Either we’re for addressing the climate crisis or we’re not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964687\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man wearing a cap and t-shirt sits in a chair looking to the side.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shobe has his own air monitor on his porch. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tlaib argues that the federal government should do better at counting the cumulative impacts of pollution. “I want those that are making these decisions and these exceptions and carve-outs to know that jobs don’t cure cancer,” she said. “They don’t stop the increase of asthma among our children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan officials didn’t comment, but pointed to a recently published blog post where the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy \u003ca href=\"https://www.michigan.gov/egle/newsroom/mi-environment/2023/08/28/wildfire-smoke-and-pollution-a-primer-on-michigans-attainment-status\">wrote\u003c/a> that it “remains to be seen” whether the state will apply for more exemptions this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In southeast Detroit, Robert Shobe has his own air monitor on his porch. He trusts it, he said, regardless of what the official numbers say about two smoggy days last June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still happened,” he said. The policies don’t make sense to him; he said it’s wrong “that they can have a way to take away something that you have documentation of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a throwaway, I’m in a sacrifice zone,” he said. “We complain, we file complaints, we’re doing everything we can to fight for ourselves, and they hide behind loopholes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret is a collaboration of The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>. Molly Peterson is a reporter for The California Newsroom. Dillon Bergin is a data reporter for MuckRock. Andrew Witherspoon is a data reporter for \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Across the US, local governments, lobbyists and industry have spent millions to get wildfire pollution excluded from the record. People like Robert Shobe pay the price.",
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"title": "In Detroit, a 'Magic Wand' Makes Dirty Air Look Clean — and Lets Polluters Off the Hook | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In southeast Detroit, the Environmental Protection Agency says, the air is clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Shobe’s lungs tell a different story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like a lot of Detroiters, Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, a long-term lung ailment that flares up when the air is smoggy or smokey. On those days, Shobe said: “I probably am low on energy, and I feel like I’m seeing a haze in the air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traffic, industrial sources and meteorological conditions often worsen pollution in his part of town. One of Shobe’s closest neighbors is the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant, where Jeep Wagoneers roll off the line. Since opening a paint shop on the property just over two years ago, it has racked up eight air pollution violations and fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Shobe was baffled when he heard in May of 2023 that Detroit had three years of clean-air data, and that according to the EPA, the region met strict federal air-quality standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators for Wayne County, where Detroit is located, accomplished that feat by removing two of the highest-ozone days from their calculations. They could do that because they had identified a surprising source of dirty air: wildfires burning across the border, in other states and in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using a little-known loophole in the Clean Air Act, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) had made the case to the EPA that pollution on those days stemmed from an exceptional event, defined as something uncontrollable, unlikely to recur and, often, natural: wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “exceptional events rule” allows the EPA to strike pollution caused by these events from the record, allowing regulators to meet clean-air goals on paper, without forcing local industry to comply with tighter pollution controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964686\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man sits inside a home at a dinner table.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__17-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Shobe, who lives adjacent to the Stellantis Mack Auto Assembly Plant, in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 3, 2023. Shobe suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which gets worse on days when the air is smoggy or smoky. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Michigan, a regulator referred to the process as a “magic wand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wand is regularly, if quietly, being waved. An investigation by The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> found that state and local air-quality managers across the U.S. increasingly rely on the rule to meet air-quality goals because of wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/MuckRock/air-quality-exceptional-events\">review of federal data\u003c/a>, as well as thousands of pages of regulatory records, shows that at least 21 million people, including in Michigan, now live and breathe \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/final-agency-actions-215474/\">in areas where the EPA has forgiven pollution (DOC)\u003c/a> from at least one “exceptional event,” often a wildfire, since the law took effect. Public contracts and correspondence also reveal how local governments have spent millions in taxpayer dollars to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/exceptional-event-demonstrations-215472/\">seek forgiveness for pollution (DOC)\u003c/a> related to “exceptional events,” helped at times by industry lobbyists, who pushed for the expansion of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.levernews.com/oil-lobby-pushed-pollution-loophole-for-wildfire-smoke/\">loophole in the Clean Air Act\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11964684\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-800x674.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-800x674.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-1020x859.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1-160x135.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-4-1.png 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>From the mountain west to the Rust Belt and into the south, utility, energy and business advocates have worked to promote the rule’s use, aiming to avoid costly emission controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It isn’t just industry that benefits, said John Walke, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit environmental advocacy organization has sued the EPA over its interpretation of the rule. “Loopholes and exceptions [like this one] are treated as get-out-of-jail-free cards for politicians who are balancing economic activities and development with the need for clean air and public health,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In and out of limbo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Detroit was on tenterhooks. The region had been struggling toward clean air since 2015, when the EPA last lowered the healthy standard for ozone. State officials argued to the EPA that the region had improved enough to meet air-quality goals. Just in case, they were ready to enact tighter and more costly pollution controls in southeast Michigan, as well as a new vehicle inspection program — an unpopular idea in the Motor City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11964685\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-800x743.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-800x743.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-1020x948.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1-160x149.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-5-1.png 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then air-pollution numbers spiked in Shobe’s neighborhood in June and July of 2022, stalling progress with the EPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Publicly, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, a 120-year-old, politically powerful trade group, warned that “limbo” about Detroit’s air-quality designation would “dampen business growth in the region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Air regulators and government officials heeded that warning. Behind the scenes, despite the persistent problems with Detroit’s air and the health consequences for members of the public like Shobe, they worked under tight deadlines to obtain Detroit’s clean bill of air health, emails show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Top officials from the office of governor Gretchen Whitmer sought meetings with regulators, beginning in July of last year. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), a regional planning partnership, joined the effort. In October, an air-quality specialist with the environment, Great Lakes and energy department wrote to counterparts at the council: “We know that conversations are continuing to be had ‘at the White House level’ about Detroit ozone.” In November, lobbyist Mary Beth McGowan emailed SEMCOG staffers about a call between the governor’s chief of staff and the EPA’s deputy administrator, Janet McCabe. The call appears on McCabe’s public calendar on November 21. By January of 2023, Michigan had assembled its “demonstration” of an exceptional event. Southeast Michigan’s last-ditch effort to receive a passing grade for its air quality had taken only a few months to assemble. By March of this year, the EPA indicated it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One scientist has called the demonstration “a challenging one to review.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my opinion, the evidence that the days described were impacted by smoke due to wildfires was limited,” said Dan Jaffe, a professor of atmospheric and environmental chemistry at the University of Washington-Bothell who has advised the EPA, states including Louisiana and private companies on the movement and makeup of ozone pollution. “And I understand why the community has concerns over that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to Jaffe’s comment, the EPA wrote that the “rationale for approving Michigan’s demonstration [is] consistent” with the exceptional events rule. The EPA also said it objects to the word “loophole,” arguing it “delegitimizes the process established by Congress in the Clean Air Act and implemented by EPA.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964688\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964688\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white house with a black door and steps.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__39-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘Justice for Beniteau Street Residents’ sign hangs in a neighbor’s home across the street from Robert Shobe’s home. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Critics of the exceptional events rule say the implications of the conversations among regulators, lobbyists and high-ranking government officials like the ones in Michigan are significant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anytime you bring politics into a decision like this, it can skew the decision-making,” said Nick Leonard, an attorney with the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Michigan who reviewed the emails. Pointing to the potential harm to people like Robert Shobe, Leonard has sued the EPA over Detroit’s redesignation and the exceptional event decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his opinion, Michigan regulators “don’t want to enact more stringent regulations on some of the major industry in the area, many of which are auto-assembly plants and a very powerful political force in Michigan and nationally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan air-quality regulators declined to be interviewed, as did the Michigan governor’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA declined to comment on pending litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Shocking and unseemly’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In other parts of the country, industry and economic interests are involved in making these cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators have approached the EPA about exceptional events, or actually made filings, in at least 29 states. Emails and documents show that in more than half of those states, lobbyists and business groups weighed in on those efforts. In some places, private industry is paying to support these requests, revealing a close-knit effort between local authorities and businesses to protect the status quo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Midwest Ozone Group, a powerful collective of utility companies and trade organizations that regularly opposes ozone controls, wrote public comments and sought meetings with regulators on wildfire exceptional events in western Michigan, Cook County, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964691\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964691\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man wearing a blue shirt sits down inside.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis_2__27-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Leonard at his home in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 6, 2023. Leonard is suing the EPA over the agency’s clean air determination for Detroit. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Kentucky, one member of the group, Louisville Gas and Electric (LGE), a for-profit company, paid for an exceptional event analysis blaming excess ozone pollution on the \u003ca href=\"https://dffm.az.gov/2020-wildfire-season-one-worst-decade\">2020 wildfires in Arizona\u003c/a>. Emails describe meetings about the analysis among regulators, the utility and a local chamber of commerce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was the first time LGE indicated interest in exceptional events; it didn’t surprise Michelle King, the assistant director of the Louisville metro air pollution control district. The power sector is “very savvy,” she said, adding that such companies “understood the implications of what an exceptional event would or wouldn’t do with regard to our area’s non-attainment, and then the effect that that would have on them.” In the end, the district did not formally submit the analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964689\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964689\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A wide view of a complex with railroad tracks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__47-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of a complex encompassing both the North Assembly and the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on Oct. 3, 2023. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, representing major refiners like ExxonMobil, regional midstream companies, and marketing firms, paid for an exceptional event filing in Louisiana in 2017. That demonstration allowed the five-parish Baton Rouge area to meet its air-quality goals for the first time, affecting 800,000 people. It also let local polluters avoid tougher regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going full bore on this one,” wrote Vivian Aucoin, a senior scientist for the Louisiana department of environmental quality, in an email from October 2017. “Use whatever or whoever you need to get the information we need to prove” that wildfires were to blame, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aucoin, who now goes by Vivian Johnson, said that in lieu of payment for violations, industry trade groups in Louisiana “often” pay for “beneficial environmental projects.” In this case, “the state didn’t have the money we needed,” she said. “And so their industry members bellied up to the bar and paid for the modelling that needed to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association did not return a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about industry involvement in Louisiana, the EPA said “[f]or questions about how air agencies prepare their demonstrations, including coordination with industry or other parties, EPA recommends those questions be directed to specific air agencies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think people understand the degree to which there’s such a cozy, tightly woven tapestry of relationships between regulated industries and their regulators,” said John Walke, with the NRDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is “an entirely rational undertaking by these industries and their lawyers and their lobbyists,” he said. “There’s no downside to them crying chicken or being wrong because at worst, the agency doesn’t bite, but at best they express interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope that it is shocking and unseemly to the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Millions of taxpayer dollars\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Removing bad air days from the record isn’t cheap. States are spending millions of taxpayer dollars to get pollution forgiven, according to public contracts and requests. Local regulators regularly complain that applying for exceptional events is expensive and time-consuming. The reports filed to the EPA can often run into hundreds of pages with detailed scientific analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price of filing for an exceptional event appears to range widely, depending on the scope and complexity of the work, as well as the cost of external consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) estimated that one filing cost as much as $20,000 and 200 hours to prepare. At a congressional hearing in 2017, a Wyoming state regulator estimated “that it would take about 15 months and contractor assistance at a cost of over $150,000 to produce just one” demonstration for ozone-related to wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clearer picture emerges when consultants get involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has committed to spending nearly $5 million across 19 contracts since 2018, toward work to improve exceptional event modeling and monitoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas is waiting to hear from the EPA about two open requests: one to exclude pollution related to wind in the El Paso area, and the other to exclude some smog pollution around Houston because of wildfires, mostly in neighboring gulf states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written response to questions, TCEQ said that it “routinely” conducts research, and that it “disagrees with the assertion that the exceptional events rule prioritizes any entity over public health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, local air officials have mounted a sustained campaign to take advantage of exceptional events, including arguing that wildfires are beyond local control. In 2021, the county filed 17 exceptional event determinations with federal regulators; the EPA rejected five of them, and declined to weigh in on the rest. All told, Clark County has approved spending more than $3.3 million over a nine-year period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pushed to the regional level and we’re supposed to solve it. We cannot solve it alone,” said Jodi Bechtel, an assistant director for the department of environment and sustainability in Clark County, Nevada. “We’re lucky to have the resources to be able to put these exceptional event packages together and commit these millions of dollars to at least maybe do them if we need them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has filed more requests than California, where the state air resources board (CARB) has invested significant resources in developing analysis and requests, even as staffers point out it takes months to work with the EPA on demonstrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that probably makes it seem to people like we’re taking advantage of a loophole, to try to show attainment,” said Michael Benjamin, chief of the air quality planning and science division at CARB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But breathing clean air isn’t the same thing as meeting federal air requirements, he said, which carries legal consequences: “If there weren’t such significant repercussions for not attaining, like the potential loss of federal highway funds and so on, then there wouldn’t be that pressure on air districts and CARB to really take full advantage of exceptional events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan regulators reckoned they spent 250 hours writing last year’s exceptional event demonstration — but declined to provide a cost estimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It still happened’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In July, the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-07/23-3583_Documents.pdf\">sued (PDF) \u003c/a>the EPA over its decision to move Detroit back into attainment. A successful lawsuit could force regulators to reimpose the controls they drafted. It would also require them to be more transparent about Detroit’s air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excluding data to say that the air is clean is a “disservice to the public and the community,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents Detroit. “Either we’re for addressing the climate crisis or we’re not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11964687\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man wearing a cap and t-shirt sits in a chair looking to the side.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/TheGuardian_Stellantis__30-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shobe has his own air monitor on his porch. \u003ccite>(Brittany Greeson/The Guardian)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tlaib argues that the federal government should do better at counting the cumulative impacts of pollution. “I want those that are making these decisions and these exceptions and carve-outs to know that jobs don’t cure cancer,” she said. “They don’t stop the increase of asthma among our children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michigan officials didn’t comment, but pointed to a recently published blog post where the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy \u003ca href=\"https://www.michigan.gov/egle/newsroom/mi-environment/2023/08/28/wildfire-smoke-and-pollution-a-primer-on-michigans-attainment-status\">wrote\u003c/a> that it “remains to be seen” whether the state will apply for more exemptions this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In southeast Detroit, Robert Shobe has his own air monitor on his porch. He trusts it, he said, regardless of what the official numbers say about two smoggy days last June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still happened,” he said. The policies don’t make sense to him; he said it’s wrong “that they can have a way to take away something that you have documentation of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a throwaway, I’m in a sacrifice zone,” he said. “We complain, we file complaints, we’re doing everything we can to fight for ourselves, and they hide behind loopholes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret is a collaboration of The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>. Molly Peterson is a reporter for The California Newsroom. Dillon Bergin is a data reporter for MuckRock. Andrew Witherspoon is a data reporter for \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "What Is the Exceptional Events Rule? The Loophole Letting US Regulators Wipe Air Pollution From the Record",
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"content": "\u003cp>When smoke from the Camp Fire poured down over northern California in 2018, schools across the region closed to protect kids from breathing dangerous air. When wildfires blanketed the Willamette Valley with soot and ash in 2020, hundreds of Oregonians sought urgent care for shortness of breath, headaches and asthma. When Canadian wildfire smoke made its way to Michigan last year, ozone levels in Detroit spiked to levels that caused officials to warn residents sensitive to air pollution to take extra care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In each of those cases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency that oversees air quality, allowed local air regulators to strike the pollution caused by these events from air-quality records, using a mostly overlooked legal tool called the “exceptional events rule,” which allows pollution caused by “uncontrollable” events to be forgiven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new investigation from The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> found that local regulators are turning to the exceptional events rule for wildfires more and more often to reach air quality goals — goals that are harder to meet as the climate crisis gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The review of thousands of documents, which include regulatory filings, emails and scientific analyses, also found several examples of industry groups working hand in hand with local regulators to get these exemptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increasing use of the rule for wildfires, experts say, not only obscures health risks to people across the U.S., but undermines the goals of the landmark Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Leonard, who directs the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit, Michigan, sees the problem in fairly simple terms: The growing threat of wildfire smoke is exacerbated by climate change. Climate change has been fueled by the oil and gas industry. Their lobbyists, in turn, have pushed states to use the exceptional events rule as much as possible, slowing progress to address air pollution at the local level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EPA’s had a stake in this problem for a long time. States have had a stake in this problem for a long time. Private companies have had a stake in this problem for a long time,” Leonard said. “And now when that problem is coming home to roost, they’re saying, ‘Well, who could have seen this coming?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11964450\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1.png\" alt=\"Map showing smoke density \" width=\"1240\" height=\"1472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1.png 1240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-800x950.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-1020x1211.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-160x190.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A Republican senator’s crusade\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The driving force behind the exceptional events rule was Jim Inhofe, the former Republican senator from Oklahoma who, for decades, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/22/us-senate-man-climate-change-global-warming-hoax\">called climate change a hoax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring of 1998, air quality managers in his home state found themselves in a tough spot. A wildfire on Mexico’s drought-stricken Yucatán peninsula had sent acrid smoke north, and around that time Oklahoma City exceeded its pollution limits. If the soot and ozone stayed on the books, they’d have to tighten controls on known local polluters. Instead, they argued to the EPA that the pollution shouldn’t count because it came from a wildfire, and so was “natural” and “uncontrollable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA turned air quality managers down, to Inhofe’s frustration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964452\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11964452\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281.jpg\" alt=\"Telephone pole tipped over, pulling down wires, amid smoky air\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fallen power line on Nunneley Road in Paradise, Butte County, on Nov. 13, 2018. \u003ccite>(Smoke lingers in the air in Paradise, California on November 13, 2018. Photograph: Anne Wernikoff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He held several hearings and meetings, grilling the EPA. He thought local regulators should have more discretion to ignore pollution — including the kinds that are hard to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until then, no formal rule in the Clean Air Act allowed that. The EPA did have a policy, infrequently used in the 1980s and 1990s, that allowed local governments to write off some wildfire smoke on a case-by-case-basis as “unrealistic to control” or “impractical to fully control.” That wasn’t enough for the pro-business senator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inhofe’s years-long crusade succeeded. Once added to the Clean Air Act, the “exceptional events” rule enabled regulators to erase pollution — not from the sky, but from records used to make regulatory decisions. Since 2007, local officials have been able to request that pollution data be excluded from clean air determinations when it comes from an array of events, from volcanoes to fireworks to “unusual traffic circumstances,” and the fastest-growing event of all: wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The purpose of the amendment was deregulatory, to be sure,” said John Walke, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11964451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1720\" height=\"906\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1.png 1720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-800x421.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-1020x537.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-160x84.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-1536x809.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1720px) 100vw, 1720px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A regulatory escape hatch\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The exceptional events rule functions as a regulatory escape hatch. When soot and ozone drift in from “natural” sources like wildfires, regulators can ask the EPA for an exception. If the federal agency grants it, that air pollution is erased from the regulatory record and disregarded in regulatory decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air officials often spend months, using publicly funded atmospheric modelling and meteorological data, to create hundreds of pages documenting why pollution exceedances shouldn’t count — sometimes with the help of industry-funded consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because justifying an exceptional event is complicated and expensive, guidance from the EPA directs regulators to apply the rule only when it has regulatory significance, including meeting federal air standards — or, in regulator speak, achieving “attainment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attainment communicates to the public that the air meets conditions regulators have deemed healthy. It helps people decide where to live and work. The meeting of standards loosens both federal funding for transportation and pollution controls for factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What we studied, and what we found\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No other rule works like exceptional events to discount recorded pollution from consideration by regulators. We requested hard-to-find EPA data about exceptional events. We reviewed thousands of pages of written material, including correspondence, materials related to contracting, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/exceptional-event-demonstrations-215472/\">what are called “demonstrations” (DOC)\u003c/a> of these events — basically, descriptions of toxic events regulators don’t want to be responsible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our \u003ca href=\"https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2023/oct/16/smoke-screened-methodology/\">analysis \u003c/a>shows that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2016, local regulators have flagged almost 700 exceptional events to the EPA. The agency agreed to adjust \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/MuckRock/air-quality-exceptional-events\">the data\u003c/a> on 139 of them.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The adjustments were allowed in more than 70 counties across 20 states.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 21 million Americans live in areas where an adjustment \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/final-agency-actions-215474/\">allowed local regulators to claim (DOC)\u003c/a> the area had met strict national health standards or that the air was cleaner than it actually was.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On three-fourths of the days exceptional events were reported, local governments pointed at wildfires in justifying their requests.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Local regulators are turning to the exceptional events rule for wildfires more and more often to reach air quality goals. In 2016, 19 wildfire events were submitted to the EPA. In 2020, 65 were.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses and industry representatives lobbied local air regulators before an event was even considered, as happened in Kentucky, and worked together with them to file exceptional event requests, as happened in Louisiana.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The use of the exceptional events rule means U.S. air-quality data doesn’t reflect how safe it is to breathe, said Vijay Limaye, a climate and health scientist at the NRDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our regulatory picture is really not keeping up with the true toll, the true health burden posed by air pollution and wildfire smoke,” he said. “And we really need to be taking into consideration the truth on the ground in terms of what exposures look like and what that means for public health across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule in practice lets regional regulators meet air quality goals without having to put additional demands on polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964465\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11964465\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774.jpg\" alt=\"Trees engulfed in flames\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1438\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-1536x1150.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters battle the Mosquito Fire near Foresthill, Placer County, on Sept. 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re just pretending like it’s just not happening,” said Sanjay Narayan, the managing attorney for the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. “The pollution is not in the air from sort of a regulatory perspective, which is the way in which things become invisible. All of this is invisible unless you trawl through all of these reports.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to questions, a spokesperson for the EPA, Khanya Brann, said the agency “takes our decisions related to exceptional events seriously. We recognize that even when pollution (such as wildfire smoke) is not something that an air agency can control, people still are breathing the polluted air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA said it requires mitigation plans where exceptional events recur. Those plans include efforts to educate and notify the public about the pollution risk, as well as to take “steps to identify, study, and implement mitigating measures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing loophole\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Soot, ash and other particulate matter drive health risks that are significant to pregnant people, children, outdoor workers, residents of leaky buildings and anyone with heart or lung ailments. Ozone produced by wildfire pollution carries an invisible threat, irritating and inflaming lungs; even short-term exposure above certain levels raises the risk of premature death. The federal Office of Management and Budget estimates that in an increasingly extreme climate\u003cb>,\u003c/b> \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/OMB_Climate_Risk_Exposure_2022.pdf\">wildfire smoke exposure could increase federal health care expenditures (PDF)\u003c/a> by $128 million to $226 million each year by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to focus on solutions for wildfire smoke, because about 30% to 50% of our wildfires are directly attributed to climate change and increasing temperatures around the globe,” said Kari Nadeau, an immunologist who directs the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. \u003cb>“\u003c/b>No one is immune to this. Everyone can be affected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pedestrians\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate change has already created the conditions for more frequent and significant wildfires this year, from Maui to Quebec.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and activists worry that the exceptional events rule can be exploited to avoid the costly efforts needed to address this growing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Clean Air Act was passed by a nearly unanimous Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970, it focused on pollution from soot-spewing smokestacks and freeways full of cars with tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soot from Canadian fires that choked skies from Chicago to Washington earlier this year was a sickly brown telltale for some of the same key pollutants the Clean Air Act aimed to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA has proposed lowering the standard for fine particulates. Soon, ozone standards could be tightened, too, a consensus recommendation of the agency’s top scientific advisers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry have told the EPA the exceptional events rule will be a key part of meeting ozone standards. States themselves say any moves to tighten particulate or ozone limits will be met with a greater reliance on the exceptional events rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a big problem,” said Leonard of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. “And you’re not only actively ignoring it, you’re actively trying to get out of doing something about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret is a collaboration of The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>. Molly Peterson is a reporter for The California Newsroom. Dillon Bergin is a data reporter for MuckRock. Emily Zentner is a data reporter for The California Newsroom. Andrew Witherspoon is a data reporter for \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When smoke from the Camp Fire poured down over northern California in 2018, schools across the region closed to protect kids from breathing dangerous air. When wildfires blanketed the Willamette Valley with soot and ash in 2020, hundreds of Oregonians sought urgent care for shortness of breath, headaches and asthma. When Canadian wildfire smoke made its way to Michigan last year, ozone levels in Detroit spiked to levels that caused officials to warn residents sensitive to air pollution to take extra care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In each of those cases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency that oversees air quality, allowed local air regulators to strike the pollution caused by these events from air-quality records, using a mostly overlooked legal tool called the “exceptional events rule,” which allows pollution caused by “uncontrollable” events to be forgiven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new investigation from The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> found that local regulators are turning to the exceptional events rule for wildfires more and more often to reach air quality goals — goals that are harder to meet as the climate crisis gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The review of thousands of documents, which include regulatory filings, emails and scientific analyses, also found several examples of industry groups working hand in hand with local regulators to get these exemptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increasing use of the rule for wildfires, experts say, not only obscures health risks to people across the U.S., but undermines the goals of the landmark Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Leonard, who directs the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit, Michigan, sees the problem in fairly simple terms: The growing threat of wildfire smoke is exacerbated by climate change. Climate change has been fueled by the oil and gas industry. Their lobbyists, in turn, have pushed states to use the exceptional events rule as much as possible, slowing progress to address air pollution at the local level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“EPA’s had a stake in this problem for a long time. States have had a stake in this problem for a long time. Private companies have had a stake in this problem for a long time,” Leonard said. “And now when that problem is coming home to roost, they’re saying, ‘Well, who could have seen this coming?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11964450\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1.png\" alt=\"Map showing smoke density \" width=\"1240\" height=\"1472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1.png 1240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-800x950.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-1020x1211.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/inArticle-620@2x-1-160x190.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A Republican senator’s crusade\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The driving force behind the exceptional events rule was Jim Inhofe, the former Republican senator from Oklahoma who, for decades, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/22/us-senate-man-climate-change-global-warming-hoax\">called climate change a hoax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring of 1998, air quality managers in his home state found themselves in a tough spot. A wildfire on Mexico’s drought-stricken Yucatán peninsula had sent acrid smoke north, and around that time Oklahoma City exceeded its pollution limits. If the soot and ozone stayed on the books, they’d have to tighten controls on known local polluters. Instead, they argued to the EPA that the pollution shouldn’t count because it came from a wildfire, and so was “natural” and “uncontrollable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA turned air quality managers down, to Inhofe’s frustration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964452\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11964452\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281.jpg\" alt=\"Telephone pole tipped over, pulling down wires, amid smoky air\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/111318_AW_CampFire_36-scaled-e1697234471281-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fallen power line on Nunneley Road in Paradise, Butte County, on Nov. 13, 2018. \u003ccite>(Smoke lingers in the air in Paradise, California on November 13, 2018. Photograph: Anne Wernikoff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He held several hearings and meetings, grilling the EPA. He thought local regulators should have more discretion to ignore pollution — including the kinds that are hard to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until then, no formal rule in the Clean Air Act allowed that. The EPA did have a policy, infrequently used in the 1980s and 1990s, that allowed local governments to write off some wildfire smoke on a case-by-case-basis as “unrealistic to control” or “impractical to fully control.” That wasn’t enough for the pro-business senator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inhofe’s years-long crusade succeeded. Once added to the Clean Air Act, the “exceptional events” rule enabled regulators to erase pollution — not from the sky, but from records used to make regulatory decisions. Since 2007, local officials have been able to request that pollution data be excluded from clean air determinations when it comes from an array of events, from volcanoes to fireworks to “unusual traffic circumstances,” and the fastest-growing event of all: wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The purpose of the amendment was deregulatory, to be sure,” said John Walke, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11964451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1720\" height=\"906\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1.png 1720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-800x421.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-1020x537.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-160x84.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/showcase-860@2x-1-1536x809.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1720px) 100vw, 1720px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A regulatory escape hatch\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The exceptional events rule functions as a regulatory escape hatch. When soot and ozone drift in from “natural” sources like wildfires, regulators can ask the EPA for an exception. If the federal agency grants it, that air pollution is erased from the regulatory record and disregarded in regulatory decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air officials often spend months, using publicly funded atmospheric modelling and meteorological data, to create hundreds of pages documenting why pollution exceedances shouldn’t count — sometimes with the help of industry-funded consultants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because justifying an exceptional event is complicated and expensive, guidance from the EPA directs regulators to apply the rule only when it has regulatory significance, including meeting federal air standards — or, in regulator speak, achieving “attainment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attainment communicates to the public that the air meets conditions regulators have deemed healthy. It helps people decide where to live and work. The meeting of standards loosens both federal funding for transportation and pollution controls for factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What we studied, and what we found\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No other rule works like exceptional events to discount recorded pollution from consideration by regulators. We requested hard-to-find EPA data about exceptional events. We reviewed thousands of pages of written material, including correspondence, materials related to contracting, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/exceptional-event-demonstrations-215472/\">what are called “demonstrations” (DOC)\u003c/a> of these events — basically, descriptions of toxic events regulators don’t want to be responsible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our \u003ca href=\"https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2023/oct/16/smoke-screened-methodology/\">analysis \u003c/a>shows that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2016, local regulators have flagged almost 700 exceptional events to the EPA. The agency agreed to adjust \u003ca href=\"https://github.com/MuckRock/air-quality-exceptional-events\">the data\u003c/a> on 139 of them.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The adjustments were allowed in more than 70 counties across 20 states.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 21 million Americans live in areas where an adjustment \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/projects/final-agency-actions-215474/\">allowed local regulators to claim (DOC)\u003c/a> the area had met strict national health standards or that the air was cleaner than it actually was.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On three-fourths of the days exceptional events were reported, local governments pointed at wildfires in justifying their requests.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Local regulators are turning to the exceptional events rule for wildfires more and more often to reach air quality goals. In 2016, 19 wildfire events were submitted to the EPA. In 2020, 65 were.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses and industry representatives lobbied local air regulators before an event was even considered, as happened in Kentucky, and worked together with them to file exceptional event requests, as happened in Louisiana.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The use of the exceptional events rule means U.S. air-quality data doesn’t reflect how safe it is to breathe, said Vijay Limaye, a climate and health scientist at the NRDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our regulatory picture is really not keeping up with the true toll, the true health burden posed by air pollution and wildfire smoke,” he said. “And we really need to be taking into consideration the truth on the ground in terms of what exposures look like and what that means for public health across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule in practice lets regional regulators meet air quality goals without having to put additional demands on polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11964465\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11964465\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774.jpg\" alt=\"Trees engulfed in flames\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1438\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/IMG_3239-scaled-e1697232933774-1536x1150.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters battle the Mosquito Fire near Foresthill, Placer County, on Sept. 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re just pretending like it’s just not happening,” said Sanjay Narayan, the managing attorney for the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. “The pollution is not in the air from sort of a regulatory perspective, which is the way in which things become invisible. All of this is invisible unless you trawl through all of these reports.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to questions, a spokesperson for the EPA, Khanya Brann, said the agency “takes our decisions related to exceptional events seriously. We recognize that even when pollution (such as wildfire smoke) is not something that an air agency can control, people still are breathing the polluted air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA said it requires mitigation plans where exceptional events recur. Those plans include efforts to educate and notify the public about the pollution risk, as well as to take “steps to identify, study, and implement mitigating measures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing loophole\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Soot, ash and other particulate matter drive health risks that are significant to pregnant people, children, outdoor workers, residents of leaky buildings and anyone with heart or lung ailments. Ozone produced by wildfire pollution carries an invisible threat, irritating and inflaming lungs; even short-term exposure above certain levels raises the risk of premature death. The federal Office of Management and Budget estimates that in an increasingly extreme climate\u003cb>,\u003c/b> \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/OMB_Climate_Risk_Exposure_2022.pdf\">wildfire smoke exposure could increase federal health care expenditures (PDF)\u003c/a> by $128 million to $226 million each year by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to focus on solutions for wildfire smoke, because about 30% to 50% of our wildfires are directly attributed to climate change and increasing temperatures around the globe,” said Kari Nadeau, an immunologist who directs the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. \u003cb>“\u003c/b>No one is immune to this. Everyone can be affected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pedestrians\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate change has already created the conditions for more frequent and significant wildfires this year, from Maui to Quebec.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and activists worry that the exceptional events rule can be exploited to avoid the costly efforts needed to address this growing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Clean Air Act was passed by a nearly unanimous Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970, it focused on pollution from soot-spewing smokestacks and freeways full of cars with tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soot from Canadian fires that choked skies from Chicago to Washington earlier this year was a sickly brown telltale for some of the same key pollutants the Clean Air Act aimed to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA has proposed lowering the standard for fine particulates. Soon, ozone standards could be tightened, too, a consensus recommendation of the agency’s top scientific advisers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry have told the EPA the exceptional events rule will be a key part of meeting ozone standards. States themselves say any moves to tighten particulate or ozone limits will be met with a greater reliance on the exceptional events rule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a big problem,” said Leonard of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. “And you’re not only actively ignoring it, you’re actively trying to get out of doing something about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret is a collaboration of The California Newsroom, MuckRock and \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>. Molly Peterson is a reporter for The California Newsroom. Dillon Bergin is a data reporter for MuckRock. Emily Zentner is a data reporter for The California Newsroom. Andrew Witherspoon is a data reporter for \u003c/em>The Guardian\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The White House on Wednesday unveiled a new climate jobs training program that it says could put 20,000 people to work in its first year on projects like restoring land, improving communities’ resilience to natural disasters and deploying clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Climate Corps is modeled after a program that put millions to work during the Great Depression. President Biden’s climate policy adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters that the program has broader goals beyond addressing the climate crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re opening up pathways to good-paying careers, lifetimes of being involved in the work of making our communities more fair, more sustainable, more resilient,” Zaidi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/climatecorps\">will pay\u003c/a> participants, and most positions will not require previous experience. The administration is also proposing new regulations aimed at making it easier for participants to enter the federal public service after the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The announcement has been in the works for some time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Biden first called for the government to find a way to establish a “civilian climate corps” in \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/\">an executive order\u003c/a> during his first week in office. The president said that he hoped the corps would “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=science_1975362,science_1974354]The idea of a climate corps began with progressive environmental activist groups, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need millions of people, especially young people, employed to do the essential work of averting climate catastrophe and building a fair and equitable new economy,” said Varshini Prakash, the group’s executive director, who has advised the White House on climate issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am thrilled to say that the White House has been responsive to our generation’s demand for a Climate Corps and that President Biden acknowledges that this is just the beginning of building the climate workforce of the future,” Prakash told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Biden has been criticized by young climate activists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When he took office, Biden named tackling climate change as one of his top four priorities, and announced a goal of slashing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005 levels by the end of the decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1977314 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS52222_20053211553_b881fb31f1_5k-qut-1020x679.jpg']His 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — some $369 billion in climate incentives and spending — is expected to get the country close to that goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Biden has faced intense criticism from some factions of the environmental movement, particularly after he approved a large-scale drilling project known as Willow in northern Alaska. That decision directly contradicted a campaign pledge to bar all new drilling on federal lands, and polling showed a decline in his approval ratings on climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Biden barred federal drilling on millions of acres of federal property, a measure aimed at wooing back the young, climate-conscious voters who played an important role in his electoral coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Climate Corps is more modest than some had hoped\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., had pushed for more funding for the climate corps program, but that did not transpire, meaning the program is likely to be smaller in scope than \u003ca href=\"https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/1/e/1e00cd03-22fc-4e98-a85b-06149fa4dcf1/02C7F1CDCECB0A2A2CACBFFA162AEF3B.ccc-letter---final-signed-004-.pdf\">early proposals (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also much smaller than its predecessor: the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal-era program that ran for ten years and employed millions restoring public lands and building infrastructure for the country’s national parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is another key difference, too. While the Conservation Corps primarily employed young, white men, the White House says that the American Climate Corps is designed to attract participants from disadvantaged communities disproportionately impacted by the changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org.\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The White House on Wednesday unveiled a new climate jobs training program that it says could put 20,000 people to work in its first year on projects like restoring land, improving communities’ resilience to natural disasters and deploying clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Climate Corps is modeled after a program that put millions to work during the Great Depression. President Biden’s climate policy adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters that the program has broader goals beyond addressing the climate crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re opening up pathways to good-paying careers, lifetimes of being involved in the work of making our communities more fair, more sustainable, more resilient,” Zaidi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/climatecorps\">will pay\u003c/a> participants, and most positions will not require previous experience. The administration is also proposing new regulations aimed at making it easier for participants to enter the federal public service after the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The announcement has been in the works for some time\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Biden first called for the government to find a way to establish a “civilian climate corps” in \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/\">an executive order\u003c/a> during his first week in office. The president said that he hoped the corps would “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible training opportunities and good jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The idea of a climate corps began with progressive environmental activist groups, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need millions of people, especially young people, employed to do the essential work of averting climate catastrophe and building a fair and equitable new economy,” said Varshini Prakash, the group’s executive director, who has advised the White House on climate issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am thrilled to say that the White House has been responsive to our generation’s demand for a Climate Corps and that President Biden acknowledges that this is just the beginning of building the climate workforce of the future,” Prakash told reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Biden has been criticized by young climate activists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When he took office, Biden named tackling climate change as one of his top four priorities, and announced a goal of slashing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005 levels by the end of the decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Oak Fire, which burned roughly 20,000 acres west of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm\">Yosemite National Park\u003c/a> last summer, was devastating to the area’s Indigenous tribes — including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.southernsierramiwuknation.org/\">Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation\u003c/a>. The tribe is headquartered in Mariposa, California, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills close to the national park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really hit our community hard,” said Tara Fouch-Moore, a member of the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s tribal council. “We lost 127 households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oak Fire destroyed much more than property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These super fires, they burn so hot,” said Jazzmyn Gegere Brochini, the tribe’s cultural resource preservation manager. “The Oak Fire disintegrated absolutely everything in its path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change brought on by the burning of fossil fuels has exacerbated, in part, the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Such catastrophic fires have decimated culturally significant sites and treasures, raising questions about how to best protect them for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s something the Southern Sierra Miwuk have had to grapple with. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jazzmyn Gegere Brochini, cultural resource preservation manager, Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation\"]‘These super fires, they burn so hot. The Oak Fire disintegrated absolutely everything in its path.’[/pullquote] Gegere Brochini and Fouch-Moore said traditional plants like elderberry, deergrass and sedge used in native cooking, medicine and basket-making were destroyed by the Oak Fire — along with more permanent physical structures, such as the many milling stations carved into the bedrock by ancestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Miwuk people have used these indentations in the rocks to grind traditional medicines and foods like acorns for thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And to think that something that has withstood the test of time for millennia can be destroyed by one fire sweeping through, is a sign that something is changing, and something devastating is happening,” said Fouch-Moore.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cultural heritage and climate change closely intertwined\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Indigenous communities have long understood cultural heritage encompasses more than historic buildings and museum artifacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s also the knowledge of how to find food and how to survive or make art,” said Fouch-Moore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s how we coexist with the land and manage it,” said Anthony Lerma, the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s stewardship coordinator. “It’s the native way of life.” [aside postID=news_11957413 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/TribalBuyBack01-1020x680.jpg'] The tribe’s firsthand experience of the impact of climate change on cultural traditions has been compounded by displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yosemite Valley used to be populated by Indigenous peoples, including the Southern Sierra Miwuk. “In the middle of the 1800s, as Yosemite started to be ‘discovered’ by settlers, they began to push the Indigenous tribes out,” said Cicely Muldoon, the superintendent of Yosemite National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government designated the area as a national park in 1890 to protect its \u003cem>natural\u003c/em> treasures. But the \u003cem>cultural\u003c/em> ones didn’t fare so well: Muldoon said the few remaining Indigenous homes were razed in 1969.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the last permanent occupation by the first people of Yosemite still living in their ancestral homelands,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Loss of place, loss of culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the loss of their homelands came the loss of their cultural heritage, such as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/21/904600242/managing-wildfire-through-cultural-burning\">long tradition of managing forest fires\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the first things the government outlawed was cultural burning,” said the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s Lerma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961890\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11961890 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A forest is left barren with charred tree trunks amid a gray clouded sky and burned earth.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A forest is left decimated by the Oak Fire near Mariposa, on July 24, 2022. More than 2,000 firefighters backed by 17 helicopters were deployed against the wildfire. \u003ccite>(David McNew/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State officials made this tribal practice of igniting small fires illegal in 1850. The years of fire suppression that followed have made wildfires worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“‘Smokey the Bear’ all over the place,” said Fouch-Moore. “And now our forests are overgrown and in bad health. And they’re like, ‘Oh wait, maybe we should let the Indians do their thing.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, the National Park Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) have started to collaborate with Indigenous communities to return \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/902073784/california-teaming-up-with-native-american-tribes-to-prevent-wildfires\">traditional burning\u003c/a> to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of local tribes have helped to set prescribed burns in Yosemite National Park, among other wooded areas. The process involves rubbing pieces of wood together to generate sparks instead of using modern drip torches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/8F5UgpE5szA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tribal representatives help us identify and protect important cultural sites during a wildfire,” said Gregg Bratcher, deputy chief of CAL FIRE’s prescribed fire program. The agency worked with the Southern Sierra Miwuk and other tribes on the cleanup effort after last year’s Oak Fire. “We work with them to ensure these sites are not damaged by fire-fighting or other equipment,” he said. [aside postID=news_11958011 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/CalMattersDelta01-1020x680.jpg'] Bratcher said his agency is trying to build trust with tribal communities. Gegere Brochini with the Miwuk Nation said she is glad the state’s fire department and other agencies are now actively engaging Indigenous people to clean up after wildfires burn through. She was involved in the cleanup effort after the Oak Fire. “I did a cultural resource spot check to make sure the remains of ancient village sites were protected from the dozers,” said Gegere Brochini. “Otherwise they doze everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tara Fouch-Moore said the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands makes it hard for traditions like cultural burning to thrive because out of context, these practices lose their meaning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, we can share our songs despite climate change, and yes, we can learn how to process acorn,” she said. “But it needs to be whole and within the landscape to really, truly understand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation has been working for years with the National Park Service to rebuild \u003ca href=\"https://www.southernsierramiwuknation.org/wahhoga\">Wahhoga\u003c/a>, a village tribal ancestors once occupied in the Yosemite Valley. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tara Fouch-Moore, member, Southern Sierra Miwuk tribal council\"]‘That’s how you preserve cultural heritage. By making sure people are still living it.’[/pullquote] “We’re building our umachas, which are the bark houses. We are building our roundhouse and we’re going to have that area to do our ceremonies and our cultural events,” said Fouch-Moore. She expects the project to be completed within the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fouch-Moore said Wahhoga will enable her people to tell their own stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how you preserve cultural heritage,” she said. “By making sure people are still living it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Oak Fire, which burned roughly 20,000 acres west of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm\">Yosemite National Park\u003c/a> last summer, was devastating to the area’s Indigenous tribes — including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.southernsierramiwuknation.org/\">Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation\u003c/a>. The tribe is headquartered in Mariposa, California, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills close to the national park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really hit our community hard,” said Tara Fouch-Moore, a member of the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s tribal council. “We lost 127 households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oak Fire destroyed much more than property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These super fires, they burn so hot,” said Jazzmyn Gegere Brochini, the tribe’s cultural resource preservation manager. “The Oak Fire disintegrated absolutely everything in its path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Gegere Brochini and Fouch-Moore said traditional plants like elderberry, deergrass and sedge used in native cooking, medicine and basket-making were destroyed by the Oak Fire — along with more permanent physical structures, such as the many milling stations carved into the bedrock by ancestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Miwuk people have used these indentations in the rocks to grind traditional medicines and foods like acorns for thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And to think that something that has withstood the test of time for millennia can be destroyed by one fire sweeping through, is a sign that something is changing, and something devastating is happening,” said Fouch-Moore.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cultural heritage and climate change closely intertwined\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Indigenous communities have long understood cultural heritage encompasses more than historic buildings and museum artifacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s also the knowledge of how to find food and how to survive or make art,” said Fouch-Moore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s how we coexist with the land and manage it,” said Anthony Lerma, the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s stewardship coordinator. “It’s the native way of life.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> The tribe’s firsthand experience of the impact of climate change on cultural traditions has been compounded by displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Yosemite Valley used to be populated by Indigenous peoples, including the Southern Sierra Miwuk. “In the middle of the 1800s, as Yosemite started to be ‘discovered’ by settlers, they began to push the Indigenous tribes out,” said Cicely Muldoon, the superintendent of Yosemite National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government designated the area as a national park in 1890 to protect its \u003cem>natural\u003c/em> treasures. But the \u003cem>cultural\u003c/em> ones didn’t fare so well: Muldoon said the few remaining Indigenous homes were razed in 1969.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the last permanent occupation by the first people of Yosemite still living in their ancestral homelands,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Loss of place, loss of culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the loss of their homelands came the loss of their cultural heritage, such as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/21/904600242/managing-wildfire-through-cultural-burning\">long tradition of managing forest fires\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the first things the government outlawed was cultural burning,” said the Southern Sierra Miwuk’s Lerma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11961890\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11961890 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A forest is left barren with charred tree trunks amid a gray clouded sky and burned earth.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1242099861-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A forest is left decimated by the Oak Fire near Mariposa, on July 24, 2022. More than 2,000 firefighters backed by 17 helicopters were deployed against the wildfire. \u003ccite>(David McNew/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State officials made this tribal practice of igniting small fires illegal in 1850. The years of fire suppression that followed have made wildfires worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“‘Smokey the Bear’ all over the place,” said Fouch-Moore. “And now our forests are overgrown and in bad health. And they’re like, ‘Oh wait, maybe we should let the Indians do their thing.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, the National Park Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) have started to collaborate with Indigenous communities to return \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/902073784/california-teaming-up-with-native-american-tribes-to-prevent-wildfires\">traditional burning\u003c/a> to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of local tribes have helped to set prescribed burns in Yosemite National Park, among other wooded areas. The process involves rubbing pieces of wood together to generate sparks instead of using modern drip torches.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/8F5UgpE5szA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/8F5UgpE5szA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Tribal representatives help us identify and protect important cultural sites during a wildfire,” said Gregg Bratcher, deputy chief of CAL FIRE’s prescribed fire program. The agency worked with the Southern Sierra Miwuk and other tribes on the cleanup effort after last year’s Oak Fire. “We work with them to ensure these sites are not damaged by fire-fighting or other equipment,” he said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Bratcher said his agency is trying to build trust with tribal communities. Gegere Brochini with the Miwuk Nation said she is glad the state’s fire department and other agencies are now actively engaging Indigenous people to clean up after wildfires burn through. She was involved in the cleanup effort after the Oak Fire. “I did a cultural resource spot check to make sure the remains of ancient village sites were protected from the dozers,” said Gegere Brochini. “Otherwise they doze everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tara Fouch-Moore said the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands makes it hard for traditions like cultural burning to thrive because out of context, these practices lose their meaning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, we can share our songs despite climate change, and yes, we can learn how to process acorn,” she said. “But it needs to be whole and within the landscape to really, truly understand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation has been working for years with the National Park Service to rebuild \u003ca href=\"https://www.southernsierramiwuknation.org/wahhoga\">Wahhoga\u003c/a>, a village tribal ancestors once occupied in the Yosemite Valley. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “We’re building our umachas, which are the bark houses. We are building our roundhouse and we’re going to have that area to do our ceremonies and our cultural events,” said Fouch-Moore. She expects the project to be completed within the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fouch-Moore said Wahhoga will enable her people to tell their own stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how you preserve cultural heritage,” she said. “By making sure people are still living it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 5 p.m. Sunday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">announced Saturday\u003c/a> that California is suing five of the world’s largest oil companies for cover-up, deception and damages that they say have cost Californians billions of dollars in environmental and health impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas executives have known for decades about the dangers of the fossil fuels they produce,” stated a press release from Newsom’s office. In the press release, Newsom accused the companies of spreading disinformation on climate change in order to protect profits over the last 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP — along with the largest domestic oil industry lobby group, American Petroleum Institute — are all named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement Saturday is the latest in \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/us-cities-states-sue-big-oil-climate-change-lawsuits/\">a slew of lawsuits brought against the oil industry in states across the U.S.\u003c/a>, including similar suits in Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and even Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet.’[/pullquote]Michael Wara, who is a senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Law School, said it was unsurprising that the suit was filed in state court, which he says is generally “more favorable on issues of climate litigation” towards the plaintiffs than federal courts have been. He expects the oil companies will likely try to move the case to a federal court on some of the claims, where the oil companies would expect to have a more favorable outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is kind of an acceleration and amplification of the broader attempts to hold oil companies to account for their deceptive marketing and advocacy campaigns around climate change,” said Wara in an interview with KQED. “And the more that we learn about that, the more it becomes apparent that they have been deceptive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is attempting to hold the oil companies responsible for what it says are their impacts on the environment, human health and Californians’ livelihoods. The state also seeks to prohibit the companies from “engaging in further pollution and destruction” of California communities and natural resources, and insists that they they pay financial penalties for “lying to the public” and ordered to “immediately stop … ongoing efforts to deceive or misinform about their catastrophic impacts.” The state also seeks punitive damages “to punish these companies for their misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” Gov. Newsom said in the statement. “It has been decades of damage and deception. Wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the statement, Attorney General Bonta said “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court,” he said. “From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the lawsuit triggered a flurry of statements from environmental groups welcoming the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With this historic lawsuit, Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are providing the climate leadership the world so desperately needs,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, in a statement released Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11960699,news_11923242,news_11957321\"]Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released a statement saying, “Whether it’s fires, droughts, extreme heat, or sea-level rise, Californians have been living in a climate emergency caused by the fossil fuel industry, and now the state is taking decisive action to make those polluters pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, said “Climate change isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a crime. Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it’s time to make them pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, professor of environmental law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, says the lawsuit is a straightforward tort case, alleging that the oil companies lied about the dangers they knew their products were causing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is no different than cigarette companies lying about the dangers of smoking, or paint companies lying about the dangers of lead-based paint, or chemical companies lying about the dangers of PFAS in Teflon-coated frying pans,” said Parenteau in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED late Saturday, a spokesperson for Chevron said that climate change is a global problem that required coordinated international policy response rather than “piecemeal litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has long been a leading promoter of oil and gas development. Its local courts have no constructive or constitutionally permissible role in crafting global energy policy,” Chevron said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email statement on Sunday morning, a Shell spokesperson wrote: “The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, and we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we continue to reduce our emissions and help customers reduce theirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email also added: “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Lauermann, media relations manager for the American Petroleum Institute, told KQED in a statement that “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law & Graduate School told KQED that in order to win the case, California needs to prove that the alleged lies caused real damage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to connect the lie to the damage, so they have to say if you hadn’t lied we would be in a better position than we are today,” he said. “That’s where the cases are going to be decided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parenteau said that “everybody knows that these cases aren’t going to solve climate change,” but “the fundamental rule of environmental law is [that the] polluter pays. In the end, that’s all these cases are about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah, Kevin Stark, Azul Dahlstrom Eckman and Attila Pelit contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 5 p.m. Sunday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">announced Saturday\u003c/a> that California is suing five of the world’s largest oil companies for cover-up, deception and damages that they say have cost Californians billions of dollars in environmental and health impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas executives have known for decades about the dangers of the fossil fuels they produce,” stated a press release from Newsom’s office. In the press release, Newsom accused the companies of spreading disinformation on climate change in order to protect profits over the last 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP — along with the largest domestic oil industry lobby group, American Petroleum Institute — are all named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement Saturday is the latest in \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/us-cities-states-sue-big-oil-climate-change-lawsuits/\">a slew of lawsuits brought against the oil industry in states across the U.S.\u003c/a>, including similar suits in Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and even Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Michael Wara, who is a senior research scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Law School, said it was unsurprising that the suit was filed in state court, which he says is generally “more favorable on issues of climate litigation” towards the plaintiffs than federal courts have been. He expects the oil companies will likely try to move the case to a federal court on some of the claims, where the oil companies would expect to have a more favorable outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is kind of an acceleration and amplification of the broader attempts to hold oil companies to account for their deceptive marketing and advocacy campaigns around climate change,” said Wara in an interview with KQED. “And the more that we learn about that, the more it becomes apparent that they have been deceptive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is attempting to hold the oil companies responsible for what it says are their impacts on the environment, human health and Californians’ livelihoods. The state also seeks to prohibit the companies from “engaging in further pollution and destruction” of California communities and natural resources, and insists that they they pay financial penalties for “lying to the public” and ordered to “immediately stop … ongoing efforts to deceive or misinform about their catastrophic impacts.” The state also seeks punitive damages “to punish these companies for their misconduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” Gov. Newsom said in the statement. “It has been decades of damage and deception. Wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the statement, Attorney General Bonta said “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court,” he said. “From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>News of the lawsuit triggered a flurry of statements from environmental groups welcoming the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With this historic lawsuit, Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are providing the climate leadership the world so desperately needs,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, in a statement released Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released a statement saying, “Whether it’s fires, droughts, extreme heat, or sea-level rise, Californians have been living in a climate emergency caused by the fossil fuel industry, and now the state is taking decisive action to make those polluters pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, said “Climate change isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a crime. Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it’s time to make them pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, professor of environmental law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, says the lawsuit is a straightforward tort case, alleging that the oil companies lied about the dangers they knew their products were causing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is no different than cigarette companies lying about the dangers of smoking, or paint companies lying about the dangers of lead-based paint, or chemical companies lying about the dangers of PFAS in Teflon-coated frying pans,” said Parenteau in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to KQED late Saturday, a spokesperson for Chevron said that climate change is a global problem that required coordinated international policy response rather than “piecemeal litigation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has long been a leading promoter of oil and gas development. Its local courts have no constructive or constitutionally permissible role in crafting global energy policy,” Chevron said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email statement on Sunday morning, a Shell spokesperson wrote: “The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, and we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we continue to reduce our emissions and help customers reduce theirs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email also added: “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott Lauermann, media relations manager for the American Petroleum Institute, told KQED in a statement that “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law emeritus at Vermont Law & Graduate School told KQED that in order to win the case, California needs to prove that the alleged lies caused real damage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have to connect the lie to the damage, so they have to say if you hadn’t lied we would be in a better position than we are today,” he said. “That’s where the cases are going to be decided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parenteau said that “everybody knows that these cases aren’t going to solve climate change,” but “the fundamental rule of environmental law is [that the] polluter pays. In the end, that’s all these cases are about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah, Kevin Stark, Azul Dahlstrom Eckman and Attila Pelit contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California lawmakers are working through hundreds of bills before the legislative session ends on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the bills go to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will have until Oct. 14 to decide whether to sign them into law, veto them or let them become law without his signature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature almost never overrides a veto from the governor, no matter what political party is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chemicals in food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers on Tuesday voted to become the first state to ban four chemicals from processed food and drinks sold in California by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chemicals — red dye no. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propyl paraben — are still used in popular products like \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-candy-ingredient-ban-peeps-d7963c52b6213619672c6f50b32ca548\">Peeps\u003c/a>, the popular marshmallow chicks most associated with Easter.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Asm. Jesse Gabriel (D-San Fernando Valley)\"]‘It is unacceptable that the US is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety.’[/pullquote]Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the author of the bill, said those chemicals have already been banned by the European Union and other countries because of scientific research linking them to health problems, including cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is unacceptable that the U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety,” Gabriel said. “This bill will not ban any foods or products — it simply will require food companies to make minor modifications to their recipes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier version of the bill would also have banned titanium dioxide, which is used in Skittles. But amendments in the state Senate removed that chemical from the ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disclosing financial risks of climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state Assembly approved a bill requiring companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose what financial risks climate change poses to their businesses and how they plan to address those risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat from Los Angeles who introduced the legislation, said the information would be useful for individuals and lawmakers when making public and private investment decisions. The bill was changed recently to require companies to begin reporting the information in 2026, instead of 2024, and mandate that they report every other year, instead of annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes would help make it more feasible for businesses to follow through with reporting requirements, said Anne DiGrazia, a spokesperson for Stern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill was among the biggest climate proposals in the state Legislature this year, collecting support from major companies including IKEA and Microsoft, as well as former California Air Resources Board Chair Mary D. Nichols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of the bill say it would be too burdensome for companies and is premature. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-business-environment-e55ae33115e6a9e1202673ab51745924\">could approve rules\u003c/a> requiring public companies to disclose their direct and indirect emissions, as well as how climate risk affects their business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed California mandate would apply to more than 10,000 companies, according to Ceres, a policy group supporting it. The vote comes after the state Legislature sent another bill to Newsom that would require companies making more than $1 billion annually to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-climate-change-emissions-disclosure-reporting-companies-123fe15c840b82f960384cbe04f3d955\">report their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change school curriculum\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Senate passed a bill that would require schools to teach students, from first grade through high school, about the causes and effects of climate change. The bill also would mandate lessons on how to mitigate and adapt to the effects of the changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the bill say lessons about climate change are already a part of school curricula in other countries including Italy and New Zealand. Oregon also introduced legislation this year to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-education-school-oregon-united-states-376bed4c1b916bcf038ca9e89302401e\">mandate climate change lessons\u003c/a>, but the bill did not advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would still need final approval in the Assembly before ending up on Newsom’s desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cannabis cafes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Legislature sent a bill to Newsom’s desk that could create more so-called “cannabis cafes,” inspired by establishments in Amsterdam where customers can socialize and purchase cannabis, coffee and other products.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Asm. Matt Haney (D-San Francisco)\"]‘There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal.’[/pullquote]The bill would allow local governments to give licenses to cannabis dispensaries to sell non-cannabis food, beverages and tickets to live music events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco, who introduced the bill, said it would give a boost to small cannabis businesses. He said many people want to be able to socialize and listen to live music while consuming cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal,” Haney said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>___\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. \u003ca href=\"https://www.reportforamerica.org/\">Report for America\u003c/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California lawmakers are working through hundreds of bills before the legislative session ends on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the bills go to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will have until Oct. 14 to decide whether to sign them into law, veto them or let them become law without his signature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Legislature almost never overrides a veto from the governor, no matter what political party is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chemicals in food\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers on Tuesday voted to become the first state to ban four chemicals from processed food and drinks sold in California by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chemicals — red dye no. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil and propyl paraben — are still used in popular products like \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-candy-ingredient-ban-peeps-d7963c52b6213619672c6f50b32ca548\">Peeps\u003c/a>, the popular marshmallow chicks most associated with Easter.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the author of the bill, said those chemicals have already been banned by the European Union and other countries because of scientific research linking them to health problems, including cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is unacceptable that the U.S. is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to food safety,” Gabriel said. “This bill will not ban any foods or products — it simply will require food companies to make minor modifications to their recipes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier version of the bill would also have banned titanium dioxide, which is used in Skittles. But amendments in the state Senate removed that chemical from the ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disclosing financial risks of climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state Assembly approved a bill requiring companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose what financial risks climate change poses to their businesses and how they plan to address those risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat from Los Angeles who introduced the legislation, said the information would be useful for individuals and lawmakers when making public and private investment decisions. The bill was changed recently to require companies to begin reporting the information in 2026, instead of 2024, and mandate that they report every other year, instead of annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes would help make it more feasible for businesses to follow through with reporting requirements, said Anne DiGrazia, a spokesperson for Stern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill was among the biggest climate proposals in the state Legislature this year, collecting support from major companies including IKEA and Microsoft, as well as former California Air Resources Board Chair Mary D. Nichols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of the bill say it would be too burdensome for companies and is premature. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-business-environment-e55ae33115e6a9e1202673ab51745924\">could approve rules\u003c/a> requiring public companies to disclose their direct and indirect emissions, as well as how climate risk affects their business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed California mandate would apply to more than 10,000 companies, according to Ceres, a policy group supporting it. The vote comes after the state Legislature sent another bill to Newsom that would require companies making more than $1 billion annually to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-climate-change-emissions-disclosure-reporting-companies-123fe15c840b82f960384cbe04f3d955\">report their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change school curriculum\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Senate passed a bill that would require schools to teach students, from first grade through high school, about the causes and effects of climate change. The bill also would mandate lessons on how to mitigate and adapt to the effects of the changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of the bill say lessons about climate change are already a part of school curricula in other countries including Italy and New Zealand. Oregon also introduced legislation this year to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-education-school-oregon-united-states-376bed4c1b916bcf038ca9e89302401e\">mandate climate change lessons\u003c/a>, but the bill did not advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would still need final approval in the Assembly before ending up on Newsom’s desk.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cannabis cafes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Legislature sent a bill to Newsom’s desk that could create more so-called “cannabis cafes,” inspired by establishments in Amsterdam where customers can socialize and purchase cannabis, coffee and other products.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The bill would allow local governments to give licenses to cannabis dispensaries to sell non-cannabis food, beverages and tickets to live music events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco, who introduced the bill, said it would give a boost to small cannabis businesses. He said many people want to be able to socialize and listen to live music while consuming cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal,” Haney said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>___\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. \u003ca href=\"https://www.reportforamerica.org/\">Report for America\u003c/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Major corporations in California, from oil and gas companies to retail giants, would have to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/politics-california-climate-and-environment-b7ad468c3cf16ef3c80e5a8be688e2e3\">disclose their greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a> under legislation passed in both houses of the state Legislature this week, the most sweeping mandate of its kind in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would require thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually to report both their direct and indirect emissions, including those generated from activities like business travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are out of time on addressing the climate crisis,” San Diego Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward said. “This will absolutely help us take a leap forward to be able to hold ourselves accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An effort to increase transparency and nudge companies to reduce emissions, the legislation was one of the highest profile climate bills in the state this year, racking up support from a number of major companies based in California, including Patagonia and Apple. Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations convention behind the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paris-europe-climate-climate-change-e005822b0c98b188736f623a1fcd4256\">2015 Paris climate agreement\u003c/a>, also endorsed the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill, which now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for approval, is a controversial proposal that many other businesses and groups in the state staunchly oppose and argue will be too burdensome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom declined to share his position on the bill when asked last month, even as he has worked to advance California’s role as a trendsetter on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gavin-newsom-climate-and-environment-government-politics-db57a00e0a8e4ecdd15e4495166c365f\">climate policies\u003c/a> by transitioning the state away from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/technology-california-air-resources-board-climate-and-environment-dc75c11280f85a8ab134cf392497be68\">gas-powered vehicles\u003c/a> and expanding wind and solar power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration’s Department of Finance opposed the legislation in July, saying it would likely cost the state money that isn’t included in the latest budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the disclosure bill, said in a statement that it would allow California to “once again lead the nation with this ambitious step to tackle the climate crisis and ensure corporate transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to scores of large companies that manufacture, export and sell everything from electronics and transportation equipment to food, and almost every major company in the country does business in the state, which is home to about one in nine Americans and is one of the the world’s largest economies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The policy would require more than 5,300 companies to report their emissions, according to Ceres, a nonprofit policy group supporting the bill.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"carbon-emissions\"]About 17 states, including California, require certain large polluters to disclose how much they directly emit, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California’s new climate disclosure bill stands out as the first that would mandate companies, both public and private, to also report their indirect emissions, including those released by transporting products and disposing waste. For example, a major retailer would have to report emissions from powering its own buildings, as well as those that come from delivering products from warehouses to stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of the bill say it is not feasible to accurately account for all of the mandated emissions from sources beyond what companies are directly responsible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re dealing with information that’s either unreliable or unattainable,” said Brady Van Engelen, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamber, which advocates for businesses across the state, is leading a coalition of influential groups, including the Western States Petroleum Association, the California Hospital Association and agricultural organizations, in opposing the bill. They argue many companies don’t have enough resources or expertise to accurately report emissions and say the legislation could lead to higher prices for people buying their products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of companies in California already have to disclose their direct emissions through the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/18323f7c053845ddb01e578151ec787a\">cap and trade program\u003c/a>, said Danny Cullenward, a climate economist and fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. The decade-old program, which allows large emitters to buy allowances from the state to pollute, and to trade them with other companies, is one of the largest in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward said the disclosure bill could lead to similar proposals in other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the disclosure bill acknowledge it’s not a “perfect” solution that would guarantee flawless emissions reports. But they say it’s a starting point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Environmental Voters, which supports the bill, says the legislation would put pressure on companies to move faster in lowering their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our state can’t just take 2023 off in terms of climate action,” said Mary Creasman, the group’s CEO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the bill becomes law, the California Air Resources Board would have to approve regulations by 2025 to implement the requirements. Companies would then have to begin publicly disclosing their direct emissions in 2026 and start annually reporting their direct and indirect emissions in 2027. They would also have to hire independent auditors to verify their reported emissions releases, although the state would not penalize them for unintentional mistakes in some indirect emissions’ reporting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar proposal introduced last year passed the state Senate but failed in the Assembly. State Sen. Wiener, who introduced the legislation both years, has said proponents of the bill built a stronger coalition this year to ensure a better outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers are also weighing a bill that would require companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose how climate change could hurt them financially.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Major corporations in California, from oil and gas companies to retail giants, would have to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/politics-california-climate-and-environment-b7ad468c3cf16ef3c80e5a8be688e2e3\">disclose their greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a> under legislation passed in both houses of the state Legislature this week, the most sweeping mandate of its kind in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation would require thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually to report both their direct and indirect emissions, including those generated from activities like business travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are out of time on addressing the climate crisis,” San Diego Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward said. “This will absolutely help us take a leap forward to be able to hold ourselves accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An effort to increase transparency and nudge companies to reduce emissions, the legislation was one of the highest profile climate bills in the state this year, racking up support from a number of major companies based in California, including Patagonia and Apple. Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations convention behind the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/paris-europe-climate-climate-change-e005822b0c98b188736f623a1fcd4256\">2015 Paris climate agreement\u003c/a>, also endorsed the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill, which now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for approval, is a controversial proposal that many other businesses and groups in the state staunchly oppose and argue will be too burdensome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom declined to share his position on the bill when asked last month, even as he has worked to advance California’s role as a trendsetter on \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gavin-newsom-climate-and-environment-government-politics-db57a00e0a8e4ecdd15e4495166c365f\">climate policies\u003c/a> by transitioning the state away from \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/technology-california-air-resources-board-climate-and-environment-dc75c11280f85a8ab134cf392497be68\">gas-powered vehicles\u003c/a> and expanding wind and solar power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration’s Department of Finance opposed the legislation in July, saying it would likely cost the state money that isn’t included in the latest budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the disclosure bill, said in a statement that it would allow California to “once again lead the nation with this ambitious step to tackle the climate crisis and ensure corporate transparency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to scores of large companies that manufacture, export and sell everything from electronics and transportation equipment to food, and almost every major company in the country does business in the state, which is home to about one in nine Americans and is one of the the world’s largest economies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The policy would require more than 5,300 companies to report their emissions, according to Ceres, a nonprofit policy group supporting the bill.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About 17 states, including California, require certain large polluters to disclose how much they directly emit, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California’s new climate disclosure bill stands out as the first that would mandate companies, both public and private, to also report their indirect emissions, including those released by transporting products and disposing waste. For example, a major retailer would have to report emissions from powering its own buildings, as well as those that come from delivering products from warehouses to stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of the bill say it is not feasible to accurately account for all of the mandated emissions from sources beyond what companies are directly responsible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re dealing with information that’s either unreliable or unattainable,” said Brady Van Engelen, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamber, which advocates for businesses across the state, is leading a coalition of influential groups, including the Western States Petroleum Association, the California Hospital Association and agricultural organizations, in opposing the bill. They argue many companies don’t have enough resources or expertise to accurately report emissions and say the legislation could lead to higher prices for people buying their products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of companies in California already have to disclose their direct emissions through the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/18323f7c053845ddb01e578151ec787a\">cap and trade program\u003c/a>, said Danny Cullenward, a climate economist and fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. The decade-old program, which allows large emitters to buy allowances from the state to pollute, and to trade them with other companies, is one of the largest in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward said the disclosure bill could lead to similar proposals in other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the disclosure bill acknowledge it’s not a “perfect” solution that would guarantee flawless emissions reports. But they say it’s a starting point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Environmental Voters, which supports the bill, says the legislation would put pressure on companies to move faster in lowering their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our state can’t just take 2023 off in terms of climate action,” said Mary Creasman, the group’s CEO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the bill becomes law, the California Air Resources Board would have to approve regulations by 2025 to implement the requirements. Companies would then have to begin publicly disclosing their direct emissions in 2026 and start annually reporting their direct and indirect emissions in 2027. They would also have to hire independent auditors to verify their reported emissions releases, although the state would not penalize them for unintentional mistakes in some indirect emissions’ reporting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar proposal introduced last year passed the state Senate but failed in the Assembly. State Sen. Wiener, who introduced the legislation both years, has said proponents of the bill built a stronger coalition this year to ensure a better outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers are also weighing a bill that would require companies making more than $500 million annually to disclose how climate change could hurt them financially.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hurricane-hilary-leaves-socal-drenched",
"title": "Hurricane Hilary, Now Post-Tropical Storm, Leaves Southern California Drenched",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tropical Storm Hilary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958562/hurricane-hilary-hits-what-california-and-the-bay-area-can-expect\">drenched Southern California on Sunday from the coast to the desert resort city of Palm Springs\u003c/a>, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers, before heading east and flooding a county about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern United States, along with “record breaking” rainfall and potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remnants of the storm that first brought soaking rains to Mexico’s arid Baja California peninsula and the border city of Tijuana were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958713\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large freeway cuts through the desert landscape. However, parts of this road are completely blocked off by large quantities of water that remain after heavy rains.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial image shows no traffic on Interstate 10 due to flooding and mud crossing the highway following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hilary, in Rancho Mirage, California, on Aug. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/08/19/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-hilary-approaches-california/\">declared a state of emergency on Saturday for much of Southern California\u003c/a>, a typically dry area, but where residents on Sunday had to battle flooded roads, mudslides and downed trees. Winding roads in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles were blocked by mud and debris flows. A stretch of the Interstate 10 freeway near Palm Springs was also shut to traffic due to pooling water from the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the coast, a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in surf-friendly Huntington Beach was also flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank God my family is OK,” Maura Taura said after a three-story-tall tree crashed down on her daughter’s two cars but missed the family’s house in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg\" alt='Several large trees have fallen over in a residential area. One tree has yellow tape that reads \"Caution\" wrapped around it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1699\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-2048x1359.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a tree that fell onto a house on Aug. 21, 2023 in Sierra Madre, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilary is just the latest major weather or climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed more than 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary first made landfall in Baja California on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilary dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including Palm Springs, which saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and fire officials rescued 13 people from knee-deep water in a homeless encampment along the rising San Diego River. Meanwhile, rain and debris washed out some roadways and people left their cars stranded in standing water. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSSanDiego/status/1693562308709261731\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday was the wettest day on record in San Diego, with 1.82 inches, the NWS said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The previous record was on Aug. 17, 1977, when 1.8 inches of rain fell in the area following Hurricane Doreen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” Elizabeth Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego, told The Associated Press. In Palm Springs, the inundation on Sunday — of 3.18 inches — shattered the daily record of 0.21 inches set in 2003.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center of Hilary passed over downtown Los Angeles at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the regional weather office, which called it “a day for the ages” in Southern California.[aside label='Stay Prepared With KQED Guides' tag='audience-news']Despite the deluge, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said no significant injuries or damages were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian told a news conference that the city “was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses were closed Monday. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes of the school year from Monday to Tuesday. For LAUSD students, grab-and-go sites were set up to provide meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement Sunday that 911 lines were down and that in the event of an emergency, residents should text 911 or reach out to the nearest police or fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A tropical storm last roared into California in September 1939, ripping apart train tracks, tearing houses from their foundations and capsizing many boats. Nearly 100 people were killed on land and at sea.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"LA City Council President Paul Krekorian\"]‘Los Angeles was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.’[/pullquote]As skies were clearing Monday in the state, the National Weather Service warned of flooding underway in the Mount Charleston area of Clark County, Nevada, about 40 miles west of Las Vegas. Forecasters said the threat for flooding in states farther north on Monday was highest across much of southeastern Oregon into the west-central mountains of Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Caribbean, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Franklin churned on Monday near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where authorities warned residents to prepare for floods and landslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are also watching weather developments in the Gulf of Mexico that now has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical disturbance or tropical storm before reaching the western Gulf coastline on Tuesday. Forecasters urged people along the coast in northern Mexico and Texas to monitor the system, adding that tropical storm watches or warnings may be issued later Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Experts warn that strong rains from Tropical Storm Hilary will continue across the southwestern U.S., including Nevada, with potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tropical Storm Hilary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958562/hurricane-hilary-hits-what-california-and-the-bay-area-can-expect\">drenched Southern California on Sunday from the coast to the desert resort city of Palm Springs\u003c/a>, forcing rescuers to pull several people from swollen rivers, before heading east and flooding a county about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Hilary to a post-tropical storm Monday morning, but warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the southwestern United States, along with “record breaking” rainfall and potential flooding as far north as Oregon and Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remnants of the storm that first brought soaking rains to Mexico’s arid Baja California peninsula and the border city of Tijuana were expected to linger at least through Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958713\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958713\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large freeway cuts through the desert landscape. However, parts of this road are completely blocked off by large quantities of water that remain after heavy rains.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1614147590-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial image shows no traffic on Interstate 10 due to flooding and mud crossing the highway following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Hilary, in Rancho Mirage, California, on Aug. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/08/19/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-hilary-approaches-california/\">declared a state of emergency on Saturday for much of Southern California\u003c/a>, a typically dry area, but where residents on Sunday had to battle flooded roads, mudslides and downed trees. Winding roads in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles were blocked by mud and debris flows. A stretch of the Interstate 10 freeway near Palm Springs was also shut to traffic due to pooling water from the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the coast, a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in surf-friendly Huntington Beach was also flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank God my family is OK,” Maura Taura said after a three-story-tall tree crashed down on her daughter’s two cars but missed the family’s house in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958711\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg\" alt='Several large trees have fallen over in a residential area. One tree has yellow tape that reads \"Caution\" wrapped around it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1699\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-2048x1359.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1629829257-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a tree that fell onto a house on Aug. 21, 2023 in Sierra Madre, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilary is just the latest major weather or climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed more than 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary first made landfall in Baja California on Sunday in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada. One person drowned. It then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilary dropped more than half an average year’s worth of rain on some areas, including Palm Springs, which saw more than 3 inches of rain by Sunday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters warned of dangerous flash floods across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and fire officials rescued 13 people from knee-deep water in a homeless encampment along the rising San Diego River. Meanwhile, rain and debris washed out some roadways and people left their cars stranded in standing water. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Sunday was the wettest day on record in San Diego, with 1.82 inches, the NWS said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The previous record was on Aug. 17, 1977, when 1.8 inches of rain fell in the area following Hurricane Doreen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We basically blew all of our previous rainfall records out of the water,” Elizabeth Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego, told The Associated Press. In Palm Springs, the inundation on Sunday — of 3.18 inches — shattered the daily record of 0.21 inches set in 2003.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center of Hilary passed over downtown Los Angeles at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to the regional weather office, which called it “a day for the ages” in Southern California.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite the deluge, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said no significant injuries or damages were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian told a news conference that the city “was tested but we came through it, and we came through it with minimal impacts considering what we endured.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses were closed Monday. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes of the school year from Monday to Tuesday. For LAUSD students, grab-and-go sites were set up to provide meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement Sunday that 911 lines were down and that in the event of an emergency, residents should text 911 or reach out to the nearest police or fire station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A tropical storm last roared into California in September 1939, ripping apart train tracks, tearing houses from their foundations and capsizing many boats. Nearly 100 people were killed on land and at sea.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As skies were clearing Monday in the state, the National Weather Service warned of flooding underway in the Mount Charleston area of Clark County, Nevada, about 40 miles west of Las Vegas. Forecasters said the threat for flooding in states farther north on Monday was highest across much of southeastern Oregon into the west-central mountains of Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Caribbean, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Franklin churned on Monday near Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where authorities warned residents to prepare for floods and landslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are also watching weather developments in the Gulf of Mexico that now has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical disturbance or tropical storm before reaching the western Gulf coastline on Tuesday. Forecasters urged people along the coast in northern Mexico and Texas to monitor the system, adding that tropical storm watches or warnings may be issued later Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Updated 8:30 p.m. Sunday\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tropical Storm Hilary inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninsula with deadly floodwaters Sunday before moving over Southern California, where it swamped roads and downed trees, as concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such torrential rain.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forecasters said Hilary was the first tropical storm \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/mexico-tropical-storm-hilary-2347dcf718ad0658ba61311b1afe3d13\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to hit Southern California in 84 years\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, bringing flash floods, mudslides, high winds, power outages and the potential for isolated tornadoes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary made landfall along the Mexican coast in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada, then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least 9 million people were under flash-flood watches and warnings as heavy rain fell across normally sunny Southern California ahead of the brunt of the storm. Desert areas were especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters warned.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398.jpg\" alt=\"A submerged car in a flooded street with houses on a stormy day.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-1020x688.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-160x108.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A car is partially submerged in floodwaters as Tropical Storm Hilary moves through the area on Aug. 20, 2023 in Cathedral City, Riverside County. Southern California is under a first-ever tropical storm warning as Hilary impacts parts of California, Arizona and Nevada. All California state beaches have been closed in San Diego and Orange counties in preparation for the impacts from the storm, which was downgraded from hurricane status. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in Palm Springs and surrounding desert communities across the Coachella Valley. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses would be closed on Monday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary could wallop other Western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Hilary was expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bay Area, meanwhile, will mostly be spared from the effects of Hilary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“By Sunday night into Monday there is a greater chance that we’ll see more widespread shower activity across the Bay Area,” said Matt Mehle, lead meteorologist for NWS Bay Area. “When it’s all said and done we’re expecting generally less than a tenth of an inch for most of the Bay Area.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>California State Parks closures\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://parks.ca.gov/Incidents\">California State Parks announced temporary closures and camping cancellations\u003c/a> due to potential impacts from Tropical Storm Hilary. All state beaches in Orange and San Diego counties will be closed on Sunday and Monday, August 20–21. State parks in the path of the storm, such as Cuyamaca State Park, Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, will also be closed due to flooding concerns. In addition, all incoming camping reservations for impacted areas are being canceled Sunday–Tuesday, August 20–22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958643\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958643\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087.jpg\" alt=\"Empty shelves with just two bottles of Evian water left in a supermarket aisle.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-800x555.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-1020x708.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-160x111.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelves are nearly empty of bottled water in a grocery store as people stock up as Hurricane Hilary approaches on Aug. 19, 2023 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"hurricanehilarybayarea\">\u003c/a>How will Tropical Storm Hilary affect Bay Area weather?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary reached California on Sunday while still at tropical storm strength.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Bay Area, the National Weather Service forecast unsettled weather with cooler temperatures, cloud cover and chances of showers and isolated thunderstorms, with high chance of rain from late Sunday into early Tuesday.\u003c/span> \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=CI&glossary=1&issuedby=MTR&product=AFD&site=MTR&version=1\">Read the weather forecast from the National Weather Service Bay Area office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How can I be preparing for Tropical Storm Hilary if I live in an at-risk area?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you or a loved one lives in Southern California, sign up to receive emergency weather alerts from the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials use these notifications to inform residents of weather alerts, street and road closures, and evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find your at-risk California county below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/alertsandiego/\">San Diego County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.emergencyemail.org/add.asp?lc=25060\">Imperial County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/BF5E205B1D69\">Los Angeles County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/453003085613900/new\">Orange County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://rivcoready.org/alert-rivco\">Riverside County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/index/892807736723794#/signup\">Santa Barbara County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sbcfire.org/alertwarning/\">San Bernardino County emergency alerts \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/1772417038942453/login\">Ventura County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is Tropical Storm Hilary happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hurricanes are much rarer on the country’s Pacific coast as ocean waters are much colder here than in the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, meteorologists point out that a significant amount of warm water is helping keep the storm together as it moves up the Mexican coast. Ocean temperatures across the globe are on the rise, largely due to carbon emissions, and scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/ongoing-marine-heat-waves-in-us-waters-explained\">are studying the deadly impact of marine heatwaves on wildlife\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Null says that hurricanes will not become casual occurrences along the West Coast anytime soon. “As the oceans warm, we will certainly see the possibility of some more frequent tropical storms getting farther and farther north. But that being said, it’s not going to be an annual occurrence,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe once a decade, maybe it will be twice a decade,” said Null.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from The Associated Press and KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, Madi Bolaños and Christopher Alam.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Bay Area will escape the brunt of Hilary as the tropical storm drops torrential rains on Mexico and Southern California, swamping roads, trapping cars and flooding buildings.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Updated 8:30 p.m. Sunday\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tropical Storm Hilary inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninsula with deadly floodwaters Sunday before moving over Southern California, where it swamped roads and downed trees, as concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such torrential rain.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forecasters said Hilary was the first tropical storm \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/mexico-tropical-storm-hilary-2347dcf718ad0658ba61311b1afe3d13\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to hit Southern California in 84 years\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, bringing flash floods, mudslides, high winds, power outages and the potential for isolated tornadoes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary made landfall along the Mexican coast in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles south of Ensenada, then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At least 9 million people were under flash-flood watches and warnings as heavy rain fell across normally sunny Southern California ahead of the brunt of the storm. Desert areas were especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters warned.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398.jpg\" alt=\"A submerged car in a flooded street with houses on a stormy day.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-800x540.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-1020x688.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1628495398-160x108.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A car is partially submerged in floodwaters as Tropical Storm Hilary moves through the area on Aug. 20, 2023 in Cathedral City, Riverside County. Southern California is under a first-ever tropical storm warning as Hilary impacts parts of California, Arizona and Nevada. All California state beaches have been closed in San Diego and Orange counties in preparation for the impacts from the storm, which was downgraded from hurricane status. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in Palm Springs and surrounding desert communities across the Coachella Valley. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, said all campuses would be closed on Monday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary could wallop other Western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Hilary was expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bay Area, meanwhile, will mostly be spared from the effects of Hilary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“By Sunday night into Monday there is a greater chance that we’ll see more widespread shower activity across the Bay Area,” said Matt Mehle, lead meteorologist for NWS Bay Area. “When it’s all said and done we’re expecting generally less than a tenth of an inch for most of the Bay Area.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>California State Parks closures\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://parks.ca.gov/Incidents\">California State Parks announced temporary closures and camping cancellations\u003c/a> due to potential impacts from Tropical Storm Hilary. All state beaches in Orange and San Diego counties will be closed on Sunday and Monday, August 20–21. State parks in the path of the storm, such as Cuyamaca State Park, Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, will also be closed due to flooding concerns. In addition, all incoming camping reservations for impacted areas are being canceled Sunday–Tuesday, August 20–22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958643\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958643\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087.jpg\" alt=\"Empty shelves with just two bottles of Evian water left in a supermarket aisle.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-800x555.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-1020x708.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1625820087-160x111.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelves are nearly empty of bottled water in a grocery store as people stock up as Hurricane Hilary approaches on Aug. 19, 2023 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"hurricanehilarybayarea\">\u003c/a>How will Tropical Storm Hilary affect Bay Area weather?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilary reached California on Sunday while still at tropical storm strength.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Bay Area, the National Weather Service forecast unsettled weather with cooler temperatures, cloud cover and chances of showers and isolated thunderstorms, with high chance of rain from late Sunday into early Tuesday.\u003c/span> \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=CI&glossary=1&issuedby=MTR&product=AFD&site=MTR&version=1\">Read the weather forecast from the National Weather Service Bay Area office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How can I be preparing for Tropical Storm Hilary if I live in an at-risk area?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you or a loved one lives in Southern California, sign up to receive emergency weather alerts from the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials use these notifications to inform residents of weather alerts, street and road closures, and evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find your at-risk California county below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.readysandiego.org/alertsandiego/\">San Diego County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.emergencyemail.org/add.asp?lc=25060\">Imperial County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/BF5E205B1D69\">Los Angeles County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/453003085613900/new\">Orange County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://rivcoready.org/alert-rivco\">Riverside County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/index/892807736723794#/signup\">Santa Barbara County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sbcfire.org/alertwarning/\">San Bernardino County emergency alerts \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://member.everbridge.net/1772417038942453/login\">Ventura County emergency alerts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is Tropical Storm Hilary happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hurricanes are much rarer on the country’s Pacific coast as ocean waters are much colder here than in the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, meteorologists point out that a significant amount of warm water is helping keep the storm together as it moves up the Mexican coast. Ocean temperatures across the globe are on the rise, largely due to carbon emissions, and scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news/ongoing-marine-heat-waves-in-us-waters-explained\">are studying the deadly impact of marine heatwaves on wildlife\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Null says that hurricanes will not become casual occurrences along the West Coast anytime soon. “As the oceans warm, we will certainly see the possibility of some more frequent tropical storms getting farther and farther north. But that being said, it’s not going to be an annual occurrence,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe once a decade, maybe it will be twice a decade,” said Null.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from The Associated Press and KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, Madi Bolaños and Christopher Alam.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "californias-farmworkers-are-on-the-front-lines-of-climate-change",
"title": "California's Farmworkers Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change",
"publishDate": 1688986824,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "California’s Farmworkers Are on the Front Lines of Climate Change | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"term": 72,
"site": "news"
},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">José Federico Sierra remembers the summer when ash rained down like snow and clouds of wildfire smoke reddened the sky and choked his lungs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago, as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire raged across hundreds of thousands of acres just a few miles west of Gustine, the San Joaquin Valley town where Sierra works at a large dairy farm.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Antonia Sierra Martínez, community health worker, Valley Onward\"]‘How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?’[/pullquote]Fires were bad the next year, too. And no matter what, Sierra said, his job keeps him outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t change your work if you’re caring for livestock every day,” he said. “You just have to put on a mask and take care of yourself the best you can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent sunny day, Sierra was wrangling pregnant cows onto a livestock trailer to transport them to another part of the dairy, where they would give birth. But he hopped down from his pickup truck and greeted his sister Antonia Sierra Martínez, 45, a community health worker with a local nonprofit, Valley Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11953850\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cows stand in rows of outdoor pens, some shaded and others in the sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows stand in a barn in Gustine on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though California has been spared major fires so far this year, Sierra Martínez and another community advocate were out surveying farmworkers for a state public health study about the effects of wildfire smoke. Her brother agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s Central Valley, climate change is making conditions increasingly dangerous for the state’s farmworkers, whose jobs keep them outdoors all day. Even as summer temperatures hit triple digits and the threat of wildfires is ever present, some rural communities are still recovering from last winter’s catastrophic floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953848 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in black polo shirts smile together with a man and a teenager in front of a large white pick-up truck with a hitch attached to it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez (center) and Maria Alapizco (right) speak with José Federico Sierra (far right) at the farm where he works in Gustine while his son, Axel, 12, listens. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yes, my asthma — my breathing — was most affected,” said Sierra, recalling the fire in 2020. “It felt like I was gasping for air inside a plastic bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you track whether the air quality was getting better or worse?” Sierra Martínez asked. “For example, did you listen to the radio or use an app?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My symptoms told me,” said her brother. “I felt better when the air was cleaner — and when it was harder to breathe, I knew the air was more polluted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising temperatures, rising risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11940316,news_11952059,news_11944295\" label=\"Related Posts\"]Sierra Martínez told me that she’d developed asthma, too, after moving to Gustine from Mexico to be with her farmworker husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without wildfires, the San Joaquin Valley has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/airpe.pdf\">some of the worst pollution in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. And as the weather heats up, the air quality gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change from carbon emissions is \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">making the valley hotter (PDF)\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article264860474.html\">record-breaking\u003c/a> 69 days where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?” asked Sierra Martínez. “It’s sad, because here in the valley, most of our people work outside in the fields. They’re exposed to these temperatures from sunup to sundown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953844 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walk down a sidewalk wearing black polo shirts and baseball caps in a residential neighborhood under bright sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Maria Alapizco (left) and Antonia Sierra Martínez walk to a home in Gustine to speak with a resident. They interview residents about working conditions and their health as it relates to pollution and toxins they are exposed to in their community and at work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California — unlike the federal government — does require employers to provide outdoor workers with \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/heatillnessinfo.html\">shade, water and rest breaks\u003c/a>. The state also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/wildfire/Worker-Protection-from-Wildfire-Smoke.html\">standards to protect workers from wildfire smoke\u003c/a>. But Sierra Martínez says some bosses are better than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your supervisor tells you to keep working when you know you need a break, don’t obey him. Just go! Get in the shade!” she tells field-workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">90% of farmworkers are immigrants (PDF)\u003c/a>, most from Mexico. More than half are undocumented. Though most have worked in agriculture here for decades, their tenuous immigration status leaves many afraid to challenge their bosses, for fear they could be fired or deported, said Sierra Martínez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Méndez, a UC Irvine professor of environmental policy, has studied disaster response efforts and the marginalization of unauthorized immigrants, most of whom have no pathway to legal immigration status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No other population has experienced this great California climate displacement more than undocumented immigrants, farmworkers and migrant communities,” he said. “From drought that spiraled into extreme wildfire events, to heat waves … to this hydroclimatic whiplash, where we’ve gone from too much dryness to too much wetness, and individuals are being inundated from these extreme storms and failure in our infrastructure and our levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Méndez \u003c/span> says, that power imbalance is no accident. Political decisions have left many immigrants, especially unauthorized workers, out of the social safety net, even when they are growing the food that supports the state’s population. Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for disaster assistance or most other forms of federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These disparate, disproportionate impacts have been baked into our infrastructure, into our disaster policies that essentially have been withholding vital resources from these communities for decades, if not centuries,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shut out from flood relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the east side of Merced County, those impacts played out dramatically last January when a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured in a storm, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940221/undocumented-residents-in-planada-struggle-to-get-help-they-need-after-storms\">flooded hundreds of farmworker families\u003c/a> in the town of Planada. Residents say the canal was choked with trash and the levee had been neglected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent day, Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, showed me the flood damage in her rented house, where the floors are buckling and the doors are stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mother of three and wife of a dairy worker, Herrera Ceja said the flood left her family with a mountain of unexpected expenses. Sewage-laced water ruined the car, as well as the fridge, the oven, the washer and dryer, the furniture and the children’s clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a dark t-shirt holds a baby wearing a camouflage shirt while a small child wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans sits on a swing to the left holding food in their hand.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, holds her toddler, Adriel, while her son Axel, 8, plays on a swing at her home in Planada, on June 20, 2023. She and her farmworker husband have faced severe financial struggles since the January floods in Planada. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Miriam Herrera Ceja, Planada resident\"]‘I think everyone in the Planada community was set back. But we won’t let it break us.’[/pullquote]With her 1-year-old son, Adriel, on her hip, Herrera Ceja leafed through a stack of medical bills on the kitchen table, amounting to nearly $4,000 she owes for a hospital visit in January, when the baby got sick at the evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all got sick from the dampness, but the little one had it the worst,” she said. “He couldn’t breathe, and the people at the shelter sent us straight to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera Ceja and her family had settled in Planada a year and a half before the storm hit. They were admitted to the U.S. to seek asylum after her husband was shot, and nearly killed, by members of a criminal organization in their home state of Michoacán, Mexico, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so scared. And the government couldn’t protect us. We had to get out of there,” she said. “Here we were building a new life, starting over from zero. Now we’re left with nothing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Planada, Herrera Ceja says they feel safe from violence. And she and her husband had saved up a little money to hire an immigration attorney for their asylum case. But now, that money has been spent on a replacement car so he can get to work. And since they don’t have asylum yet, the family was turned down for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual/program/citizenship-immigration-status\">aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on her front stoop as her oldest child, 8-year-old Axel, played on a swing in the front yard, Herrera Ceja said she knows her family is not the only one suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone in the Planada community was set back,” she said. Then with a wry smile, she added, “But we won’t let it break us. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954661 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latino man wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts stands in front of a house with a garden, pipe materials and a vehicle on the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anastacio Rosales, 70, stands outside his home in Planada, which flooded with 3 feet of water after a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured six months earlier on Jan. 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Planada residents with more resources have struggled. Anastacio Rosales, 70, is a U.S. citizen and did get some help from FEMA. But though he’s a homeowner, he wasn’t carrying flood insurance. After water pooled 3 feet deep inside his house, he depended on volunteers to help tear out the sodden Sheetrock so he could rebuild the walls from the studs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six months after the floodwaters receded, Rosales is still slowly salvaging and disinfecting his belongings, which are stacked shoulder-high under tarps on his back patio. And, Rosales said, the crop cycle has been thrown off. A semi-retired farmworker, he said he hasn’t been able to get work in the sweet potato fields this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much water in the fields,” he said. “The planting happened really late. So now there’s very little work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many of Rosales’ neighbors who are undocumented immigrants — and also lost jobs due to the storms — are not eligible for federal unemployment insurance. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946661/ive-been-contributing-undocumented-workers-are-key-to-californias-economy-a-new-bill-would-give-them-unemployment-benefits\">Legislature is considering a bill\u003c/a> to create a state safety net program for these workers, but Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year, citing fiscal concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A glimmer of hope\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Advocates say the flooding in Planada and elsewhere — including the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro, which was swamped after a levee break in March — was preventable, if infrastructure had been properly maintained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954994\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11954994\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cars sit in floodwaters in a residential neighborhood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cars sit in floodwaters in Planada on Jan. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just a nightmare this winter, watching this play out first in Planada and then in other communities,” said Madeline Harris of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a Central Valley group that advocates for the rights of rural, lower-income communities. “It was a similar story every time, of a predominantly Latino, farmworker, disadvantaged community that flooded. If their communities had not been neglected for years, this never would have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now there is a glimmer of hope for Planada residents like Rosales and Herrera Ceja.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring, researchers from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, partnering with community members and advocates from the Leadership Counsel and other nonprofits, \u003ca href=\"https://clc.ucmerced.edu/sites/clc.ucmerced.edu/files/page/documents/disaster_response_0.pdf\">conducted a survey (PDF)\u003c/a> to capture the scope of the losses in Planada. The figure they reached to restore the town: $20 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some lawmakers were listening, including Planada’s state Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953847 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of trees in an orchard line the right hand side of a rural road as seen through the windshield of a car.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez and Maria Alapizco drive to speak with a resident in Gustine on June 21, 2023. Valley Onward is a nonprofit centered on health equity and empowering women and people of color in Merced County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Working with lawmakers from the Pajaro area, they were able to ensure that this year’s state budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/news/press-release/central-valley-secures-120-million-vital-funding-flood-recovery-and-restoration\">$20 million for Planada,\u003c/a> plus another $20 million for Pajaro, to help residents — regardless of immigration status — recover. The funds were approved as part of a larger package to improve flood resilience statewide — in spite of a $31 billion budget gap that lawmakers had to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Placing a line item on the state budget … for the exact amount that we had estimated was needed. This is incredible,” said Edward Flores, co-director of the UC Merced labor center, who conducted the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Flores says the disaster in Planada — and the magnitude of climate-driven impacts hitting California farmworkers — raise a much bigger question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many workers are excluded from policies that are designed to protect people during times of need,” he said. “And if we’re facing increasing disasters and there’s a gap in our policy that’s not supporting those low-wage workers, then how do we need to change our policies in order to close that gap, to support those workers that are the most vulnerable during these times?”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Farmworkers in the Central Valley face excessive heat and the threat of wildfires, in jobs that keep them outdoors all day. And many are still recovering from last winter's flooding, with little federal aid to support them.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">José Federico Sierra remembers the summer when ash rained down like snow and clouds of wildfire smoke reddened the sky and choked his lungs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was three years ago, as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire raged across hundreds of thousands of acres just a few miles west of Gustine, the San Joaquin Valley town where Sierra works at a large dairy farm.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fires were bad the next year, too. And no matter what, Sierra said, his job keeps him outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t change your work if you’re caring for livestock every day,” he said. “You just have to put on a mask and take care of yourself the best you can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent sunny day, Sierra was wrangling pregnant cows onto a livestock trailer to transport them to another part of the dairy, where they would give birth. But he hopped down from his pickup truck and greeted his sister Antonia Sierra Martínez, 45, a community health worker with a local nonprofit, Valley Onward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11953850\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cows stand in rows of outdoor pens, some shaded and others in the sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66521_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-43-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cows stand in a barn in Gustine on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though California has been spared major fires so far this year, Sierra Martínez and another community advocate were out surveying farmworkers for a state public health study about the effects of wildfire smoke. Her brother agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California’s Central Valley, climate change is making conditions increasingly dangerous for the state’s farmworkers, whose jobs keep them outdoors all day. Even as summer temperatures hit triple digits and the threat of wildfires is ever present, some rural communities are still recovering from last winter’s catastrophic floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953848 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in black polo shirts smile together with a man and a teenager in front of a large white pick-up truck with a hitch attached to it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66507_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-20-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez (center) and Maria Alapizco (right) speak with José Federico Sierra (far right) at the farm where he works in Gustine while his son, Axel, 12, listens. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yes, my asthma — my breathing — was most affected,” said Sierra, recalling the fire in 2020. “It felt like I was gasping for air inside a plastic bag.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How did you track whether the air quality was getting better or worse?” Sierra Martínez asked. “For example, did you listen to the radio or use an app?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My symptoms told me,” said her brother. “I felt better when the air was cleaner — and when it was harder to breathe, I knew the air was more polluted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising temperatures, rising risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sierra Martínez told me that she’d developed asthma, too, after moving to Gustine from Mexico to be with her farmworker husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without wildfires, the San Joaquin Valley has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Geography/Images/airpe.pdf\">some of the worst pollution in the nation (PDF)\u003c/a>. And as the weather heats up, the air quality gets worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change from carbon emissions is \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/CA4_CCA_SJ_Region_Eng_ada.pdf\">making the valley hotter (PDF)\u003c/a>. In 2021, Fresno had a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article264860474.html\">record-breaking\u003c/a> 69 days where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is it possible that we’re living through such a drastic increase in heat?” asked Sierra Martínez. “It’s sad, because here in the valley, most of our people work outside in the fields. They’re exposed to these temperatures from sunup to sundown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953844 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walk down a sidewalk wearing black polo shirts and baseball caps in a residential neighborhood under bright sun.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66492_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Maria Alapizco (left) and Antonia Sierra Martínez walk to a home in Gustine to speak with a resident. They interview residents about working conditions and their health as it relates to pollution and toxins they are exposed to in their community and at work. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California — unlike the federal government — does require employers to provide outdoor workers with \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/heatillnessinfo.html\">shade, water and rest breaks\u003c/a>. The state also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/wildfire/Worker-Protection-from-Wildfire-Smoke.html\">standards to protect workers from wildfire smoke\u003c/a>. But Sierra Martínez says some bosses are better than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If your supervisor tells you to keep working when you know you need a break, don’t obey him. Just go! Get in the shade!” she tells field-workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS%20Research%20Report%2015.pdf\">90% of farmworkers are immigrants (PDF)\u003c/a>, most from Mexico. More than half are undocumented. Though most have worked in agriculture here for decades, their tenuous immigration status leaves many afraid to challenge their bosses, for fear they could be fired or deported, said Sierra Martínez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Méndez, a UC Irvine professor of environmental policy, has studied disaster response efforts and the marginalization of unauthorized immigrants, most of whom have no pathway to legal immigration status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No other population has experienced this great California climate displacement more than undocumented immigrants, farmworkers and migrant communities,” he said. “From drought that spiraled into extreme wildfire events, to heat waves … to this hydroclimatic whiplash, where we’ve gone from too much dryness to too much wetness, and individuals are being inundated from these extreme storms and failure in our infrastructure and our levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Méndez \u003c/span> says, that power imbalance is no accident. Political decisions have left many immigrants, especially unauthorized workers, out of the social safety net, even when they are growing the food that supports the state’s population. Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for disaster assistance or most other forms of federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These disparate, disproportionate impacts have been baked into our infrastructure, into our disaster policies that essentially have been withholding vital resources from these communities for decades, if not centuries,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shut out from flood relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the east side of Merced County, those impacts played out dramatically last January when a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured in a storm, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940221/undocumented-residents-in-planada-struggle-to-get-help-they-need-after-storms\">flooded hundreds of farmworker families\u003c/a> in the town of Planada. Residents say the canal was choked with trash and the levee had been neglected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One recent day, Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, showed me the flood damage in her rented house, where the floors are buckling and the doors are stuck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A mother of three and wife of a dairy worker, Herrera Ceja said the flood left her family with a mountain of unexpected expenses. Sewage-laced water ruined the car, as well as the fridge, the oven, the washer and dryer, the furniture and the children’s clothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a dark t-shirt holds a baby wearing a camouflage shirt while a small child wearing a grey shirt with blue jeans sits on a swing to the left holding food in their hand.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66656_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-012-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miriam Herrera Ceja, 28, holds her toddler, Adriel, while her son Axel, 8, plays on a swing at her home in Planada, on June 20, 2023. She and her farmworker husband have faced severe financial struggles since the January floods in Planada. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think everyone in the Planada community was set back. But we won’t let it break us.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>With her 1-year-old son, Adriel, on her hip, Herrera Ceja leafed through a stack of medical bills on the kitchen table, amounting to nearly $4,000 she owes for a hospital visit in January, when the baby got sick at the evacuation center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all got sick from the dampness, but the little one had it the worst,” she said. “He couldn’t breathe, and the people at the shelter sent us straight to the hospital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera Ceja and her family had settled in Planada a year and a half before the storm hit. They were admitted to the U.S. to seek asylum after her husband was shot, and nearly killed, by members of a criminal organization in their home state of Michoacán, Mexico, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so scared. And the government couldn’t protect us. We had to get out of there,” she said. “Here we were building a new life, starting over from zero. Now we’re left with nothing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Planada, Herrera Ceja says they feel safe from violence. And she and her husband had saved up a little money to hire an immigration attorney for their asylum case. But now, that money has been spent on a replacement car so he can get to work. And since they don’t have asylum yet, the family was turned down for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual/program/citizenship-immigration-status\">aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on her front stoop as her oldest child, 8-year-old Axel, played on a swing in the front yard, Herrera Ceja said she knows her family is not the only one suffering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone in the Planada community was set back,” she said. Then with a wry smile, she added, “But we won’t let it break us. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11954661 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latino man wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts stands in front of a house with a garden, pipe materials and a vehicle on the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED-1920x1372.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66646_20230621-PlanadaFlooding-005-TH-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anastacio Rosales, 70, stands outside his home in Planada, which flooded with 3 feet of water after a levee on an irrigation canal ruptured six months earlier on Jan. 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tyche Hendricks/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even Planada residents with more resources have struggled. Anastacio Rosales, 70, is a U.S. citizen and did get some help from FEMA. But though he’s a homeowner, he wasn’t carrying flood insurance. After water pooled 3 feet deep inside his house, he depended on volunteers to help tear out the sodden Sheetrock so he could rebuild the walls from the studs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six months after the floodwaters receded, Rosales is still slowly salvaging and disinfecting his belongings, which are stacked shoulder-high under tarps on his back patio. And, Rosales said, the crop cycle has been thrown off. A semi-retired farmworker, he said he hasn’t been able to get work in the sweet potato fields this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was so much water in the fields,” he said. “The planting happened really late. So now there’s very little work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And many of Rosales’ neighbors who are undocumented immigrants — and also lost jobs due to the storms — are not eligible for federal unemployment insurance. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946661/ive-been-contributing-undocumented-workers-are-key-to-californias-economy-a-new-bill-would-give-them-unemployment-benefits\">Legislature is considering a bill\u003c/a> to create a state safety net program for these workers, but Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar measure last year, citing fiscal concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A glimmer of hope\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Advocates say the flooding in Planada and elsewhere — including the Salinas Valley town of Pajaro, which was swamped after a levee break in March — was preventable, if infrastructure had been properly maintained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11954994\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11954994\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Cars sit in floodwaters in a residential neighborhood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/070523-PLANADA-FLOODING-GettyImages-JS-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cars sit in floodwaters in Planada on Jan. 11, 2023. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was just a nightmare this winter, watching this play out first in Planada and then in other communities,” said Madeline Harris of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a Central Valley group that advocates for the rights of rural, lower-income communities. “It was a similar story every time, of a predominantly Latino, farmworker, disadvantaged community that flooded. If their communities had not been neglected for years, this never would have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now there is a glimmer of hope for Planada residents like Rosales and Herrera Ceja.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring, researchers from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, partnering with community members and advocates from the Leadership Counsel and other nonprofits, \u003ca href=\"https://clc.ucmerced.edu/sites/clc.ucmerced.edu/files/page/documents/disaster_response_0.pdf\">conducted a survey (PDF)\u003c/a> to capture the scope of the losses in Planada. The figure they reached to restore the town: $20 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And some lawmakers were listening, including Planada’s state Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11953847 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rows of trees in an orchard line the right hand side of a rural road as seen through the windshield of a car.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/RS66505_230621-CentralValleyClimateChange-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Valley Onward employees Antonia Sierra Martínez and Maria Alapizco drive to speak with a resident in Gustine on June 21, 2023. Valley Onward is a nonprofit centered on health equity and empowering women and people of color in Merced County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Working with lawmakers from the Pajaro area, they were able to ensure that this year’s state budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/news/press-release/central-valley-secures-120-million-vital-funding-flood-recovery-and-restoration\">$20 million for Planada,\u003c/a> plus another $20 million for Pajaro, to help residents — regardless of immigration status — recover. The funds were approved as part of a larger package to improve flood resilience statewide — in spite of a $31 billion budget gap that lawmakers had to close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Placing a line item on the state budget … for the exact amount that we had estimated was needed. This is incredible,” said Edward Flores, co-director of the UC Merced labor center, who conducted the survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Flores says the disaster in Planada — and the magnitude of climate-driven impacts hitting California farmworkers — raise a much bigger question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many workers are excluded from policies that are designed to protect people during times of need,” he said. “And if we’re facing increasing disasters and there’s a gap in our policy that’s not supporting those low-wage workers, then how do we need to change our policies in order to close that gap, to support those workers that are the most vulnerable during these times?”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden\">President Joe Biden\u003c/a> ramps up his reelection effort this week with four fundraisers in the San Francisco area, as his campaign builds up its coffers and lays strategic foundations for 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the back half of June, Biden’s campaign will have more than 20 fundraisers involving him, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in Biden’s travel plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the fundraisers are with the Democratic president, who arrived in California on Monday and was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Biden also will be traveling to New York, Maryland and Illinois. The president hit the themes of his campaign at a Friday fundraising event in \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/gun-control-biden-uvalde-mass-shooting-5da6f11b177e01d9e4883b5c2db700e4\">Connecticut\u003c/a>, saying his goal is to do more to tell voters about his legislative accomplishments with \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-infrastructure-bill-signing-b5b8cca843133de060778f049861b144\">infrastructure\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-science-technology-united-states-economy-2fa651c540c9869890dfe670bcdcb7ea\">computer chip production\u003c/a> and programs for responding to climate change, among other policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the first of two Monday fundraisers, Biden said democracy itself was at stake in the 2024 election and that his administration had reinstilled “a sense of confidence in the Constitution.” The fundraiser at the home of Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott was co-hosted by Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Julie C. Rodriguez, campaign manager\"]‘While MAGA Republicans burn cash in their primary, competing for whose agenda is the most extreme, the president’s campaign will be capitalizing on the opportunity to raise significant resources.’[/pullquote]Biden took aim at Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville for holding up military promotions because of a policy that ensures members of the military still have access to abortions, which were restricted in many states after a Supreme Court ruling last year. “It’s bizarre. I don’t remember it happening before, and I’ve been around,” said Biden, 80, who added a joke about his age: “I know I don’t look like I’ve been around a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fundraising blitz follows \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-unions-democrats-presidential-campaign-8242bafc4e61ed88f7f211c621132102\">Biden’s first campaign rally\u003c/a> on Saturday in Philadelphia, where he was endorsed by key unions — the event highlighting a pivotal constituency in the largest population center of a critical battleground state. It was meant as an early display of enthusiasm for Biden’s campaign, and a venue for him to interact directly with voters before he spends much of the rest of the month meeting with deep-pocketed benefactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flurry of engagements comes before the end of the fundraising quarter at the end of the month — and Biden’s campaign finance report in July will provide the first test of Democratic donor enthusiasm for his reelection effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden, unlike former President Donald Trump and other 2024 GOP contenders, has not revealed any clues about his fundraising haul since \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-election-2024-president-democrats-trump-9c72115656855da89a41cac3f79aa65b\">declaring his candidacy\u003c/a> in April. And his campaign launch was timed to avoid having to file a campaign finance report for the first quarter, a historically rough fundraising period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in U.S. elections, Biden has joint fundraising agreements with all 50 state Democratic parties and the branch in Washington, D.C., an arrangement that can help maximize donations while minimizing expenses in the early months of the campaign. It’s part of a broader effort to unite a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-president-election-2024-reelection-coalition-4d241b710defbece8ce7bcc3f5ab6233\">diverse Democratic coalition\u003c/a> behind Biden as the Republicans undergo what could be \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/2024-presidential-candidates-who-is-running-e89fbfee94e7e7980594a9ce3994fec7\">a large and divisive primary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While MAGA Republicans burn cash in their primary, competing for whose agenda is the most extreme, the president’s campaign will be capitalizing on the opportunity to raise significant resources,” said Biden’s campaign manager, Julie C. Rodriguez, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Separately, Rodriguez is traveling across the U.S. to meet with donors, local officials and community leaders to help align the coalition. Along with other campaign officials, the tour begins in Atlanta and will include Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11953367\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263.jpg\" alt='An older white man with a hat on delivers a speech from behind a dais with a presidential emblem and two microphones, with a sign that reads \"Historic Climate Action\" behind him, outdoors with a beach and sea behind him.' width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Biden delivers remarks on his administration’s environmental efforts at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto on June 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Not all of Biden’s time Monday and Tuesday in San Francisco is being devoted to the campaign. On Monday, he went with Newsom and other officials to the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto. He toured the coastal wetland area and announced $600 million for projects to address climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These wetlands act as a critical buffer between the rising tides and the communities at risk,” said Biden, calling the preserve a “success story” in ongoing efforts to contain the damage from climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden\">President Joe Biden\u003c/a> ramps up his reelection effort this week with four fundraisers in the San Francisco area, as his campaign builds up its coffers and lays strategic foundations for 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the back half of June, Biden’s campaign will have more than 20 fundraisers involving him, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in Biden’s travel plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than half of the fundraisers are with the Democratic president, who arrived in California on Monday and was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Biden also will be traveling to New York, Maryland and Illinois. The president hit the themes of his campaign at a Friday fundraising event in \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/gun-control-biden-uvalde-mass-shooting-5da6f11b177e01d9e4883b5c2db700e4\">Connecticut\u003c/a>, saying his goal is to do more to tell voters about his legislative accomplishments with \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-infrastructure-bill-signing-b5b8cca843133de060778f049861b144\">infrastructure\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-science-technology-united-states-economy-2fa651c540c9869890dfe670bcdcb7ea\">computer chip production\u003c/a> and programs for responding to climate change, among other policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the first of two Monday fundraisers, Biden said democracy itself was at stake in the 2024 election and that his administration had reinstilled “a sense of confidence in the Constitution.” The fundraiser at the home of Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott was co-hosted by Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Biden took aim at Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville for holding up military promotions because of a policy that ensures members of the military still have access to abortions, which were restricted in many states after a Supreme Court ruling last year. “It’s bizarre. I don’t remember it happening before, and I’ve been around,” said Biden, 80, who added a joke about his age: “I know I don’t look like I’ve been around a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fundraising blitz follows \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-unions-democrats-presidential-campaign-8242bafc4e61ed88f7f211c621132102\">Biden’s first campaign rally\u003c/a> on Saturday in Philadelphia, where he was endorsed by key unions — the event highlighting a pivotal constituency in the largest population center of a critical battleground state. It was meant as an early display of enthusiasm for Biden’s campaign, and a venue for him to interact directly with voters before he spends much of the rest of the month meeting with deep-pocketed benefactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flurry of engagements comes before the end of the fundraising quarter at the end of the month — and Biden’s campaign finance report in July will provide the first test of Democratic donor enthusiasm for his reelection effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden, unlike former President Donald Trump and other 2024 GOP contenders, has not revealed any clues about his fundraising haul since \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-election-2024-president-democrats-trump-9c72115656855da89a41cac3f79aa65b\">declaring his candidacy\u003c/a> in April. And his campaign launch was timed to avoid having to file a campaign finance report for the first quarter, a historically rough fundraising period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in U.S. elections, Biden has joint fundraising agreements with all 50 state Democratic parties and the branch in Washington, D.C., an arrangement that can help maximize donations while minimizing expenses in the early months of the campaign. It’s part of a broader effort to unite a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/biden-president-election-2024-reelection-coalition-4d241b710defbece8ce7bcc3f5ab6233\">diverse Democratic coalition\u003c/a> behind Biden as the Republicans undergo what could be \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/2024-presidential-candidates-who-is-running-e89fbfee94e7e7980594a9ce3994fec7\">a large and divisive primary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While MAGA Republicans burn cash in their primary, competing for whose agenda is the most extreme, the president’s campaign will be capitalizing on the opportunity to raise significant resources,” said Biden’s campaign manager, Julie C. Rodriguez, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Separately, Rodriguez is traveling across the U.S. to meet with donors, local officials and community leaders to help align the coalition. Along with other campaign officials, the tour begins in Atlanta and will include Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11953367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11953367\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263.jpg\" alt='An older white man with a hat on delivers a speech from behind a dais with a presidential emblem and two microphones, with a sign that reads \"Historic Climate Action\" behind him, outdoors with a beach and sea behind him.' width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/06/GettyImages-1258832263-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Biden delivers remarks on his administration’s environmental efforts at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto on June 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Not all of Biden’s time Monday and Tuesday in San Francisco is being devoted to the campaign. On Monday, he went with Newsom and other officials to the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto. He toured the coastal wetland area and announced $600 million for projects to address climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These wetlands act as a critical buffer between the rising tides and the communities at risk,” said Biden, calling the preserve a “success story” in ongoing efforts to contain the damage from climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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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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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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