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"title": "East Palo Alto Searches for Storm Recovery Money, and a Long-Term Flooding Fix",
"headTitle": "East Palo Alto Searches for Storm Recovery Money, and a Long-Term Flooding Fix | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>East Palo Alto is dealing with the aftermath of January’s big storms, and residents living with the consequences of flooding want a long-term fix so it never happens again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On New Year’s Eve, a storm parked over the peninsula, drenching it with nearly 4 inches of rain, flooding Highway 101, downing trees and leaving thousands without power. In East Palo Alto, water spilled over San Francisquito Creek banks into a neighborhood on the western edge of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The murky brown water enveloped Woodland Avenue and other streets beyond, swamping more than 20 cars and transforming a parking garage into a muddy lake. The front doorsteps of apartment complexes in this part of town, sandwiched between Highway 101 and the creek, became a gunky tributary originating in the hills at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11871565/the-real-history-behind-the-myths-and-mystery-of-stanfords-searsville-lake\">Searsville Lake\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Antonio López, East Palo Alto’s vice mayor, got the call that the creek had overtopped its borders on New Year’s Eve, he rushed over and found a woman frantically trying to get into her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was heartbreaking trying to salvage all of her possessions because the water came up all the way to the window,” López said as he walked the still-muddy streets following the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews from East Palo Alto and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a 3-foot-tall and several-hundred-yard-wide sandbag wall to keep the rising water out of the neighborhood as more atmospheric river storms threatened the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temporary fix successfully kept the mushrooming creek from again inundating the community of mostly lower-income renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The silver lining is it has certainly been a wake-up call,” López said. “A few pounds of sand separates us from flooded parking garages in Silicon Valley. I don’t feel so proud about that. It’s insufficient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early estimates from the city and community groups are that flooding caused more than $100,000 worth of damage. This includes totaled cars, tools and other personal belongings stored in trunks and in low-lying garages. Marisela Ramos, president of the East Palo Alto West Side Neighborhood Committee, is organizing residents seeking outside aid to help pay for damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981439\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a brown jacket and yellow boots poses next to mud brown water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Antonio López, East Palo Alto’s vice mayor, stands next to floodwaters in the city. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The cars were their means of transportation to go to work and to generate money to pay their rent for their children’s food,” she said. “They lost basically everything because, without transportation, it is very hard to make a living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said most of the residents did not have flood insurance and are struggling to get aid. Ramos questions whether the flooding amounts to negligence by the city, landlords or the authorities who manage the creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why didn’t they act before to prevent this?” she asked. “This happened before. So, why didn’t they put protection on the banks of the creek before the storm?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto has flooded many times over the years. In 1998 a flood of record swamped 1,700 properties, causing more than $28 million in damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is applying for a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to compensate for the damages, but it’s a slow process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Mateo County homeowners and renters with damage or losses from the storms can apply for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4683\">federal disaster assistance\u003c/a>, including grants to pay for temporary housing, transportation, child care and moving expenses. The deadline to apply for aid is March 15, 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will be of great help to individuals and business owners who suffered losses during the severe storms that dumped 13 inches of rain on the county in December and January,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, who represents East Palo Alto, in a \u003ca href=\"https://eshoo.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-eshoo-and-mullin-announce-federal-disaster-relief-san-mateo-county-0\">release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981450\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg\" alt='Men in yellow jackets and green helmets create piles of white sandbags behind red tape that says \"danger.\" ' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the San José Conservation Corps pile sandbags along the San Francisquito Creek in East Palo Alto on Jan. 4, 2023. The creek spilled over its banks and into a nearby community during the storm on Dec. 31. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate change means a wetter future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, atmospheric river storms — monster storms that form over the ocean and flow inland — will only get more intense. The wettest winter storms could become around \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/wettest-winter-storms-western-us-growing-wetter\">30% wetter by mid-century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The precipitation will be more intense, which is important because it can cause flash floods,” said Ruby Leung, study co-author and climate scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that the atmospheric river storms would do more than engorge small creeks, also challenging the capacity of larger streams and rivers, especially when infrastructure like levees, freeways or bridges surround them. Waterways that used to sprawl into large marshy areas are now contained into managed stretches with limited capacity; larger storms are expected to bring more water than they can contain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The information we used before to design infrastructure may not be relevant anymore, and we need to incorporate the knowledge that we now have about how the future may be changing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A renewed call to action for East Palo Alto\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto council member Ruben Abrica lived through the 1998 storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said bolstering the flood protection system for this community of more than 90% people of color is worth the investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is going to affect everyone, but the most vulnerable communities are the ones that will suffer the most unless we join together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing the flood risk along this meandering waterway is what Margaret Bruce also mulls over daily as the executive director of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know we can’t completely do away with the risk of flooding,” she said. “We can no longer plan our future looking in the rearview mirror. But looking forward is very difficult to foresee.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981454\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut.jpg\" alt='A white sign with black paint says \"Please take no more than 10 bags.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign posted in East Palo Alto during a three-week stretch between December 2022 and January 2023, when nine atmospheric river storms pummeled California. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her group is leading a creek restoration project from the San Francisco Bay to the mouth of Searsville Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project has multiple parts. The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-1-downstream-project\">finished the first reach in 2019\u003c/a>, which should protect more than 1,700 properties from the bay to Highway 101 from a 100-year creek flood during a king tide event, plus 3 feet of sea level rise. Compared to today’s high tide, all the work would give the first section \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973805/climate-solutions-in-east-palo-alto\">10 feet of protection from rising tides\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second reach, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-1-downstream-project\">Highway 101 to the Pope-Chaucer Bridge\u003c/a>, is the portion that recently flooded along the borders of East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The plan is to widen the channel and replace the bridge with a new one allowing more water to pass under it, protecting the community from a 100-year flood event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s tentatively scheduled to be completed sometime between 2024 and 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one big issue in completing the project is how to fund it. Bruce said it would cost at least $50 million to restore about a mile of the creek. State or federal infrastructure dollars could help with this effort; otherwise, the partners that make up the authority — East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Mateo County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District — are on the hook to get it finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The third reach, the rest of the watershed from the recently flooded area to Searsville Dam, is very much in its formative stage. Officials would like to create holding reservoirs along the creek’s upper stretch to store water during a storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know yet if it’s going to be completely feasible,” Bruce said. “It may be so disruptive, costly or technically difficult that we’ll want to think twice about it. But we are considering it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even further upstream, at Searsville Lake, Stanford University is designing \u003ca href=\"https://searsville.stanford.edu/overview\">a project to reestablish creeks flowing from the lake\u003c/a>. The reservoir holds only about 10% of its original capacity because it has slowly filled with earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university, which owns the dam, wants to create a tunnel gate at its base, establishing water channels to other creeks off the lake, increasing storage capacity by flushing sediment into San Francisquito Creek and then out to the bay. But this would only go into operation after the downstream reaches are finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project could free up the reservoir to hold more water during storms to be released after the creek recedes; the state is reviewing its design and environmental impact analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of having the creek as a boundary, the creek has ended up being the thing that joins the counties and these three cities,” Bruce said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981451\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Strips of muddy tire prints behind four orange cones.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mud on the edge of Woodland Avenue along the San Francisquito Creek in East Palo Alto on Jan. 4, 2023. The creek spilled over its banks and into a nearby community during the storm on Dec. 31. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Everybody’s paying attention’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The levee reconstruction and creek restoration along the lower stretch of the waterway significantly reduced the damage that could have happened in this set of atmospheric river storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the flooding “puts the spotlight on all of us to somehow find the money one way or another, even if we have to beg the president or talk to the governor,” said East Palo Alto council member Abrica. “You can’t just say it’s your problem down there. Because then you condemn the poor communities to be flooded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palo Alto and Menlo Park are taking an active role in the creek restoration. The recent storms flooded parts of Menlo Park, said Nikki Nagaya, the city’s deputy manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw the creek levels spike throughout the lower section in Menlo Park, and we saw some overtopping in that area as well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the recent storms are a precursor of what’s to come in a warming world, Nagaya said she isn’t sure the project can be sped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it will hopefully be a renewed call to action,” she said. “Everybody’s paying attention and wanting to see the work proceed as quickly as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí and Anna Marie Yanny contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The city of East Palo Alto and its residents are searching for money to pay for flood damages they estimate are more than $100,000.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>East Palo Alto is dealing with the aftermath of January’s big storms, and residents living with the consequences of flooding want a long-term fix so it never happens again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On New Year’s Eve, a storm parked over the peninsula, drenching it with nearly 4 inches of rain, flooding Highway 101, downing trees and leaving thousands without power. In East Palo Alto, water spilled over San Francisquito Creek banks into a neighborhood on the western edge of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The murky brown water enveloped Woodland Avenue and other streets beyond, swamping more than 20 cars and transforming a parking garage into a muddy lake. The front doorsteps of apartment complexes in this part of town, sandwiched between Highway 101 and the creek, became a gunky tributary originating in the hills at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11871565/the-real-history-behind-the-myths-and-mystery-of-stanfords-searsville-lake\">Searsville Lake\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Antonio López, East Palo Alto’s vice mayor, got the call that the creek had overtopped its borders on New Year’s Eve, he rushed over and found a woman frantically trying to get into her car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was heartbreaking trying to salvage all of her possessions because the water came up all the way to the window,” López said as he walked the still-muddy streets following the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crews from East Palo Alto and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a 3-foot-tall and several-hundred-yard-wide sandbag wall to keep the rising water out of the neighborhood as more atmospheric river storms threatened the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temporary fix successfully kept the mushrooming creek from again inundating the community of mostly lower-income renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The silver lining is it has certainly been a wake-up call,” López said. “A few pounds of sand separates us from flooded parking garages in Silicon Valley. I don’t feel so proud about that. It’s insufficient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early estimates from the city and community groups are that flooding caused more than $100,000 worth of damage. This includes totaled cars, tools and other personal belongings stored in trunks and in low-lying garages. Marisela Ramos, president of the East Palo Alto West Side Neighborhood Committee, is organizing residents seeking outside aid to help pay for damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981439\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a brown jacket and yellow boots poses next to mud brown water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62503_IMG_0807-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Antonio López, East Palo Alto’s vice mayor, stands next to floodwaters in the city. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The cars were their means of transportation to go to work and to generate money to pay their rent for their children’s food,” she said. “They lost basically everything because, without transportation, it is very hard to make a living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said most of the residents did not have flood insurance and are struggling to get aid. Ramos questions whether the flooding amounts to negligence by the city, landlords or the authorities who manage the creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why didn’t they act before to prevent this?” she asked. “This happened before. So, why didn’t they put protection on the banks of the creek before the storm?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto has flooded many times over the years. In 1998 a flood of record swamped 1,700 properties, causing more than $28 million in damages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is applying for a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to compensate for the damages, but it’s a slow process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Mateo County homeowners and renters with damage or losses from the storms can apply for \u003ca href=\"https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4683\">federal disaster assistance\u003c/a>, including grants to pay for temporary housing, transportation, child care and moving expenses. The deadline to apply for aid is March 15, 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will be of great help to individuals and business owners who suffered losses during the severe storms that dumped 13 inches of rain on the county in December and January,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, who represents East Palo Alto, in a \u003ca href=\"https://eshoo.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-eshoo-and-mullin-announce-federal-disaster-relief-san-mateo-county-0\">release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981450\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg\" alt='Men in yellow jackets and green helmets create piles of white sandbags behind red tape that says \"danger.\" ' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61867_015_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the San José Conservation Corps pile sandbags along the San Francisquito Creek in East Palo Alto on Jan. 4, 2023. The creek spilled over its banks and into a nearby community during the storm on Dec. 31. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate change means a wetter future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, atmospheric river storms — monster storms that form over the ocean and flow inland — will only get more intense. The wettest winter storms could become around \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/wettest-winter-storms-western-us-growing-wetter\">30% wetter by mid-century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The precipitation will be more intense, which is important because it can cause flash floods,” said Ruby Leung, study co-author and climate scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added that the atmospheric river storms would do more than engorge small creeks, also challenging the capacity of larger streams and rivers, especially when infrastructure like levees, freeways or bridges surround them. Waterways that used to sprawl into large marshy areas are now contained into managed stretches with limited capacity; larger storms are expected to bring more water than they can contain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The information we used before to design infrastructure may not be relevant anymore, and we need to incorporate the knowledge that we now have about how the future may be changing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A renewed call to action for East Palo Alto\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto council member Ruben Abrica lived through the 1998 storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said bolstering the flood protection system for this community of more than 90% people of color is worth the investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is going to affect everyone, but the most vulnerable communities are the ones that will suffer the most unless we join together,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing the flood risk along this meandering waterway is what Margaret Bruce also mulls over daily as the executive director of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know we can’t completely do away with the risk of flooding,” she said. “We can no longer plan our future looking in the rearview mirror. But looking forward is very difficult to foresee.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981454\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981454\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut.jpg\" alt='A white sign with black paint says \"Please take no more than 10 bags.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS62506_IMG_0815-1-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign posted in East Palo Alto during a three-week stretch between December 2022 and January 2023, when nine atmospheric river storms pummeled California. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her group is leading a creek restoration project from the San Francisco Bay to the mouth of Searsville Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project has multiple parts. The agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-1-downstream-project\">finished the first reach in 2019\u003c/a>, which should protect more than 1,700 properties from the bay to Highway 101 from a 100-year creek flood during a king tide event, plus 3 feet of sea level rise. Compared to today’s high tide, all the work would give the first section \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973805/climate-solutions-in-east-palo-alto\">10 feet of protection from rising tides\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second reach, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcjpa.org/reach-1-downstream-project\">Highway 101 to the Pope-Chaucer Bridge\u003c/a>, is the portion that recently flooded along the borders of East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The plan is to widen the channel and replace the bridge with a new one allowing more water to pass under it, protecting the community from a 100-year flood event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s tentatively scheduled to be completed sometime between 2024 and 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one big issue in completing the project is how to fund it. Bruce said it would cost at least $50 million to restore about a mile of the creek. State or federal infrastructure dollars could help with this effort; otherwise, the partners that make up the authority — East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Mateo County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District — are on the hook to get it finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The third reach, the rest of the watershed from the recently flooded area to Searsville Dam, is very much in its formative stage. Officials would like to create holding reservoirs along the creek’s upper stretch to store water during a storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know yet if it’s going to be completely feasible,” Bruce said. “It may be so disruptive, costly or technically difficult that we’ll want to think twice about it. But we are considering it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even further upstream, at Searsville Lake, Stanford University is designing \u003ca href=\"https://searsville.stanford.edu/overview\">a project to reestablish creeks flowing from the lake\u003c/a>. The reservoir holds only about 10% of its original capacity because it has slowly filled with earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university, which owns the dam, wants to create a tunnel gate at its base, establishing water channels to other creeks off the lake, increasing storage capacity by flushing sediment into San Francisquito Creek and then out to the bay. But this would only go into operation after the downstream reaches are finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project could free up the reservoir to hold more water during storms to be released after the creek recedes; the state is reviewing its design and environmental impact analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of having the creek as a boundary, the creek has ended up being the thing that joins the counties and these three cities,” Bruce said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981451\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1981451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Strips of muddy tire prints behind four orange cones.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS61858_006_KQED_BombCyloneStorm_01042023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mud on the edge of Woodland Avenue along the San Francisquito Creek in East Palo Alto on Jan. 4, 2023. The creek spilled over its banks and into a nearby community during the storm on Dec. 31. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Everybody’s paying attention’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The levee reconstruction and creek restoration along the lower stretch of the waterway significantly reduced the damage that could have happened in this set of atmospheric river storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the flooding “puts the spotlight on all of us to somehow find the money one way or another, even if we have to beg the president or talk to the governor,” said East Palo Alto council member Abrica. “You can’t just say it’s your problem down there. Because then you condemn the poor communities to be flooded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palo Alto and Menlo Park are taking an active role in the creek restoration. The recent storms flooded parts of Menlo Park, said Nikki Nagaya, the city’s deputy manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw the creek levels spike throughout the lower section in Menlo Park, and we saw some overtopping in that area as well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the recent storms are a precursor of what’s to come in a warming world, Nagaya said she isn’t sure the project can be sped up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it will hopefully be a renewed call to action,” she said. “Everybody’s paying attention and wanting to see the work proceed as quickly as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí and Anna Marie Yanny contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oil Refineries Release Lots of Water Pollution Near Communities of Color, Data Shows",
"headTitle": "Oil Refineries Release Lots of Water Pollution Near Communities of Color, Data Shows | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Oil refineries release billions of pounds of pollution annually into waterways, and that pollution disproportionately affects people of color, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Refinery-water-pollution-report-EMBARGOED-until-1.26.23.pdf\">new analysis\u003c/a> of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pollution includes heavy metals, nitrogen and other compounds that can kill aquatic animals, feed harmful algae and make waterways dangerous for humans to fish in, swim in or even touch. The pollution affects communities across the country, but is especially concentrated along the Gulf Coast, in California and near Chicago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new findings underscore health and environmental dangers across fossil fuel operations, from the wellhead to pipelines, refineries and consumer use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report was published by the Environmental Integrity Project, an independent watchdog group that routinely analyzes public data collected by the EPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a highly polluting industry discharging large volumes of wastewater,” says Eric Schaeffer, executive director the Environmental Integrity Project, and former director of the EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report authors examined EPA water pollution data from 2019 to 2021 for 81 major refineries across the country – about two thirds of all refineries operating in the U.S. Refineries are required to tell the government how much pollution they release into waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most refineries included in the analysis reported releasing extra pollution, beyond what they are legally permitted to. But less than a quarter of those with violations were penalized by the EPA, the data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a chronic problem with enforcement of the [Clean] Water Act,” Schaeffer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ExxonMobil, which operates some of the largest refineries in the country including multiple facilities that the report found are among the largest emitters of key pollutants, declined to comment specifically about its operations. Instead, the company referred NPR to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.afpm.org/issues/environment\">general environmental statement\u003c/a> by the American Fuel & Petroleum Manufacturers trade group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have preserved and protected land and water resources by implementing waste management programs and adhering to federal guidelines that govern effluent discharge, hazardous waste disposal and other priority areas,” the AFPM statement reads. “We have made great progress in environmental stewardship under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and many other environmental regulations, and continue to innovate to evolve our operations and products.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Most of the pollution is happening near communities of color\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the U.S., people with less power have consistently been exposed to more pollution, whether it’s excess air pollution from highways and factories, drinking water contamination, exposure to lead paint or polluted lakes and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That trend shows up clearly in the new report, which finds that the majority of the worst-polluting refineries are located near communities that have lower-than-average income and a higher-than-average proportion of non-White residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A further NPR analysis of the data finds even more stark inequities: some types of water pollution are concentrated overwhelmingly in communities where people of color live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, about three-quarters of the nitrogen, selenium and dissolved solid pollution from oil refineries came from facilities that are surrounded by neighborhoods that are home to people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA declined to comment on the report or on NPR’s findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new pollution data reinforce what people who live in the shadows of refineries experience every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not surprised at all,” says John Beard, a former city council member in Port Arthur, Texas and current director of the local environmental group the Port Arthur Community Action Network. The Gulf Coast city is crisscrossed by bayous and other waterways, and is home to multiple major refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beard says the pollution is obvious. “You can see the [oil] sheen on the water,” he explains. Sometimes the water smells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is affecting places where some people make their living fishing,” he explains. Others fish recreationally or as a regular source of food, and Beard worries that some aquatic species may not be safe for human consumption if the water is contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many waterways near petrochemical facilities have signs warning residents not to touch or fish in the water, but it can be unclear which areas are safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beard worked for 38 years at petrochemical facilities in the area, and says the supposed economic benefits for local workers – especially Black people and other people of color who live next to the refineries – are outweighed by the costs to human health and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981365\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981365\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"An image of the city of Port Arthur in Texas and oil refineries seen in the background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The city of Port Arthur, Texas is home to several refineries that release pollutants into local waterways. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They don’t build these [refineries] in Beverly Hills, or River Oaks or Madison Avenue. They don’t build them in communities of affluence.” he says. Instead communities that have faced generations of systemic racism also live with polluted air and water. “We pay a severe price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Federal rules about water pollution from oil refineries are outdated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The EPA’s water pollution regulations for oil refineries were established in 1985 and don’t cover many pollutants, Schaeffer says. In the nearly 40 years since then, there have been major advances in wastewater treatment methods, he argues, and the Clean Water Act requires the agency to update its pollution limits accordingly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody thinks that a rotary phone is the best available technology for making a phone call in 2023,” Schaeffer says. “That same thinking was applied in the Clean Water Act. As treatment methods improve, the standards are supposed to get tighter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Congress approved a modest increase in the EPA’s budget for enforcement of existing environmental regulations. The EPA has not indicated any plans to update its limits on water pollution from oil refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Oil+refineries+release+lots+of+water+pollution+near+communities+of+color%2C+data+show&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Oil refineries release billions of pounds of pollution into waterways each year, according to regulatory data. NPR found that pollution is concentrated near places where people of color live.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oil refineries release billions of pounds of pollution annually into waterways, and that pollution disproportionately affects people of color, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Refinery-water-pollution-report-EMBARGOED-until-1.26.23.pdf\">new analysis\u003c/a> of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pollution includes heavy metals, nitrogen and other compounds that can kill aquatic animals, feed harmful algae and make waterways dangerous for humans to fish in, swim in or even touch. The pollution affects communities across the country, but is especially concentrated along the Gulf Coast, in California and near Chicago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new findings underscore health and environmental dangers across fossil fuel operations, from the wellhead to pipelines, refineries and consumer use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report was published by the Environmental Integrity Project, an independent watchdog group that routinely analyzes public data collected by the EPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a highly polluting industry discharging large volumes of wastewater,” says Eric Schaeffer, executive director the Environmental Integrity Project, and former director of the EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report authors examined EPA water pollution data from 2019 to 2021 for 81 major refineries across the country – about two thirds of all refineries operating in the U.S. Refineries are required to tell the government how much pollution they release into waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most refineries included in the analysis reported releasing extra pollution, beyond what they are legally permitted to. But less than a quarter of those with violations were penalized by the EPA, the data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a chronic problem with enforcement of the [Clean] Water Act,” Schaeffer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ExxonMobil, which operates some of the largest refineries in the country including multiple facilities that the report found are among the largest emitters of key pollutants, declined to comment specifically about its operations. Instead, the company referred NPR to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.afpm.org/issues/environment\">general environmental statement\u003c/a> by the American Fuel & Petroleum Manufacturers trade group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have preserved and protected land and water resources by implementing waste management programs and adhering to federal guidelines that govern effluent discharge, hazardous waste disposal and other priority areas,” the AFPM statement reads. “We have made great progress in environmental stewardship under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and many other environmental regulations, and continue to innovate to evolve our operations and products.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Most of the pollution is happening near communities of color\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the U.S., people with less power have consistently been exposed to more pollution, whether it’s excess air pollution from highways and factories, drinking water contamination, exposure to lead paint or polluted lakes and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That trend shows up clearly in the new report, which finds that the majority of the worst-polluting refineries are located near communities that have lower-than-average income and a higher-than-average proportion of non-White residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A further NPR analysis of the data finds even more stark inequities: some types of water pollution are concentrated overwhelmingly in communities where people of color live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, about three-quarters of the nitrogen, selenium and dissolved solid pollution from oil refineries came from facilities that are surrounded by neighborhoods that are home to people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA declined to comment on the report or on NPR’s findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new pollution data reinforce what people who live in the shadows of refineries experience every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not surprised at all,” says John Beard, a former city council member in Port Arthur, Texas and current director of the local environmental group the Port Arthur Community Action Network. The Gulf Coast city is crisscrossed by bayous and other waterways, and is home to multiple major refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beard says the pollution is obvious. “You can see the [oil] sheen on the water,” he explains. Sometimes the water smells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is affecting places where some people make their living fishing,” he explains. Others fish recreationally or as a regular source of food, and Beard worries that some aquatic species may not be safe for human consumption if the water is contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many waterways near petrochemical facilities have signs warning residents not to touch or fish in the water, but it can be unclear which areas are safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beard worked for 38 years at petrochemical facilities in the area, and says the supposed economic benefits for local workers – especially Black people and other people of color who live next to the refineries – are outweighed by the costs to human health and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981365\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981365\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"An image of the city of Port Arthur in Texas and oil refineries seen in the background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/fema-11_custom-badfa6654d37795d9572c52d7d2d6dfc9ab0bdeb-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The city of Port Arthur, Texas is home to several refineries that release pollutants into local waterways. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They don’t build these [refineries] in Beverly Hills, or River Oaks or Madison Avenue. They don’t build them in communities of affluence.” he says. Instead communities that have faced generations of systemic racism also live with polluted air and water. “We pay a severe price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Federal rules about water pollution from oil refineries are outdated\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The EPA’s water pollution regulations for oil refineries were established in 1985 and don’t cover many pollutants, Schaeffer says. In the nearly 40 years since then, there have been major advances in wastewater treatment methods, he argues, and the Clean Water Act requires the agency to update its pollution limits accordingly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody thinks that a rotary phone is the best available technology for making a phone call in 2023,” Schaeffer says. “That same thinking was applied in the Clean Water Act. As treatment methods improve, the standards are supposed to get tighter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Congress approved a modest increase in the EPA’s budget for enforcement of existing environmental regulations. The EPA has not indicated any plans to update its limits on water pollution from oil refineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Oil+refineries+release+lots+of+water+pollution+near+communities+of+color%2C+data+show&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "State Regulators Scrutinize Climate Plan for Controversial Richmond Housing Development",
"headTitle": "State Regulators Scrutinize Climate Plan for Controversial Richmond Housing Development | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The new year is a make-or-break moment for a Richmond housing development atop a contaminated former waterfront site once owned by the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plans for \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/4028/Campus-Bay-Mixed-Use-Project\">developing as many as 4,000 units\u003c/a> on the site have survived scrutiny by officials and legal challenges from environmental groups; the Richmond City Council approved the development years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last summer, state regulators asked the company to examine whether \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/deliverable_documents/5503620982/20220615%20MEETING%20NOTES%20-%20SEA-LEVEL%20RISE%20EVALUATION%20CHECK%20IN.pdf\">future sea level rise pushing up groundwater should alter the cleanup remedies (PDF)\u003c/a> for the hazardous site before development begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science of sea level rise is progressing, we’re listening to the community, and we’re saying we want more evaluation,” Ian Utz, project manager for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz also tasked two independent researchers to analyze the \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/community_involvement/4072705924/20220907%20ZENECA%20SLR%20EVALUATION.pdf\">company’s site-wide sea level rise evaluation (PDF)\u003c/a>. AstraZeneca determined that by the year 2050, the site would incur no negative impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two scientists found the company’s conclusions inadequate. Their analysis, which KQED reviewed, shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/final_documents2?global_id=07280002&enforcement_id=60534305\">rising sea levels could surface buried contaminants\u003c/a> and expose future residents to them.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Eduardo Martinez, mayor of Richmond']‘If you make a mess in the corner, you don’t just leave it there; you clean it up. Otherwise, it becomes even more unusable.’[/pullquote]“This is a world-class scary cornucopia of chemicals, many of which will never degrade,” said Kristina Hill, director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. “It just seems to me on its face to be an injustice and, frankly, stupid to put housing on a contaminated site.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz will soon issue his revisions to the cleanup plan and outline next steps for the project, just as Eduardo Martinez, a new progressive mayor, takes over Richmond with the goal of forcing the company to haul away the contaminated soil, rather than the city’s current plan of removing some and capping the remainder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you make a mess in the corner, you don’t just leave it there; you clean it up. Otherwise, it becomes even more unusable,” Martinez said.[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Marisol Cantú, Richmond Progressive Alliance ']‘I could see community members and environmental justice advocates, laying themselves down human-chain-style to make sure that no bulldozers pass.’[/pullquote]The 87-acre field of weeds and rubble with a view of Treasure Island, downtown San Francisco, the Berkeley shoreline and the Bay Bridge was once Stauffer Chemical. Climate models show this acreage nearly surrounded by water in just a few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company dumped iron pyrite cylinders into the marsh near the site and made pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeneca Corp., now called AstraZeneca, purchased the site in the 1980s. The company manufactured sulfuric acid and pesticides and closed the site in 1997; shortly after, the federal government deemed it a Superfund site. The developer, HRP Campus Bay Property LLC, did not return KQED emails for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981084 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a light blue jean jacket and a grey terry cloth skirt holds a sign reading, 'Safe Refineries, Save Lives.' She is wearing a wide brimmed grey hat and has red hair. Picketers with other white signs stand behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marisol Cantú walks with Chevron refinery employees and their supporters in front of Gate 14 at the Richmond refinery on April 7, 2022, to protest for worker safety and higher pay. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Community resistance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local climate activists, like 34-year-old Marisol Cantú with the Richmond Progressive Alliance, said that a developer building homes on a toxic site will only further environmental injustice and compromise the health of residents in this city of nearly 90% people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are unaware because I think they are simply trying to survive,” said Cantú of buried contaminants like lead and benzene. She organizes a youth-led climate justice podcast, \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondlisteningproject.org/\">Richmond Listening Project.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you tell them there’s a contaminated site, and the [city] wants to build residential housing on it, they’re flabbergasted,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If construction begins on the housing development and there’s still contamination in the soil, Cantú said advocates will protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could see community members and environmental justice advocates, laying themselves down human-chain-style to make sure that no bulldozers pass,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two decades of community pushback against the development project have made the AstraZeneca site one of the highest-profile sites in the region. Hundreds, if not thousands, of polluted areas litter the shoreline. Developers are pursuing plans to build homes or businesses above many of these, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979614/for-these-black-bayview-hunters-point-residents-reparations-include-safeguarding-against-rising-toxic-contamination\">like the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, cities are under pressure to build more homes because of the region’s critical need for affordable housing. The struggle at the Richmond site is an example of the growing challenge of developing the shoreline where the Bay Area’s industrial past intersects with its climate future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981079\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Tips of San Francisco buildings are in the background. A marsh and a buddy bay shore are in the middle and pink flowers are out of focus in the front of the image. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco skyline can be seen at the South Richmond Marshes on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘My community is not prepared’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late 1990s, Eric Blum built a tan two-story cinder block photography studio a block away from what looked like an abandoned field. It was the perfect spot for his product and nature photography studio — an industrial zone off Interstate 580.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blum’s adult children explored the marsh south of AstraZeneca when they were young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, his family was in awe of the colors in the water, soil and a short cliff rising out of the marsh — a mix of purple, apricot and amber hues that almost mirrored the color of the sunset over the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981137\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981137\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired man wearing a dark blue hoody and blue jeans stands next to a chain link fence. On the other side of the fence is a green weedy field with geese foraging on it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eric Blum owns a photography studio one block away from the AstraZeneca site. He says a plume of gases has moved off-site to the edge of his property. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the coming years, he realized some of those vibrant colors were from the contamination, and should have been a kind of skull-and-crossbones warning sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My kids walked around the marsh because it was beautiful,” he said. “I didn’t find out until later it was arsenic and heavy metals flowing around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/profile_report?global_id=07280002\">The company paid consultants to conduct a human health assessment in 2008\u003c/a> that found that cleanup workers could be exposed to contaminants while doing remediation work but that residents living off-site had a low likelihood of exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AstraZeneca isn’t the only hazardous site in Richmond; there are 115 toxic spots across the city of 115,000 people, according to a KQED review of state contamination records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These sites include a chemical laboratory where gases, like chloroform, are seeping up through cracks in the building’s foundation from polluted groundwater underneath the property; and gases, heavy metals, fumigants and pesticides have permeated groundwater, soil and surface water at Chevron’s Richmond refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Richmond residents of color, like 18-year-old climate activist Lizbeth Ibarra, have called for the complete cleanup of contaminated sites like AstraZeneca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My generation and future generations are going to be the ones left to deal with even worse consequences than we’re already experiencing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ibarra, a member of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/lizbeth-ibarra\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a>, is sounding an alarm bell over climate issues in her hometown. She says people here often don’t have much time to consider future climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My community is not prepared, or even really aware of sea level rise and what can happen because I know a lot of us are working-class people who are just trying to survive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981083 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long black hair and black rimmed glasses kneels in a seaweed filled area of rock. She's wearing a pink shirt and ripped blue jeans at the knees. Water and hills are in the background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lizbeth Ibarra, a leader with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, sits near the bay at the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline park in Richmond on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re stuck because of a political maneuver’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A marsh and a narrow bike trail separate the toxic site from the bay. It’s clear why developers want to turn this patch of land into shoreline housing. The property, filled with yellow flowers and shades of green shrubbery, is beautiful, with the Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco skylines in view and the natural allure of the bayfront: Birds, porpoises and crabs fill the water below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But residents, advocates and scientists are worried about keeping hazardous chemicals out of the natural environment. Those impacts were detailed in a study from 2012, conducted by UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and UC Santa Barbara researchers, which found that \u003ca href=\"https://jcaa.org/news/references/Fish_Endocrine_Disruption%20in%20Saltmarsh%5b1%5d.pdf\">chemicals leaking into the marsh at the edge of the site have given fish tumors and altered their sexual anatomy (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the Richmond City Council approved a cleanup plan proposed by the state to remove portions of the contaminated soil and cap the rest with a protective seal above ground. The partial cleanup was not the preferred option of many residents like Blum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re stuck because of a political maneuver,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Butt was the city’s mayor until this month. He pushed for the project and said he was “comfortable” with the DTSC and council-approved plan to leave toxics under a residential housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Housing is our biggest need statewide and region-wide right now, and this would go a long way toward fulfilling that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981085\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981085 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A chain link fence with a sign reading, 'Caution: Hazardous Substances Area. Unauthorized persons keep out.' Behind the fence is a yellow and green weed filled filed and a dirt road. Wispy white clouds fill the blue sky. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The AstraZeneca site closed in the late ’90s. For more than two decades, advocates have fought to make sure the site is fully cleaned up before it can be ready for development. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Groundwater is the conveyor belt for the chemicals’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/community_involvement/4072705924/20220907%20ZENECA%20SLR%20EVALUATION.pdf\">The company-led sea level rise evaluation (PDF)\u003c/a> prepared by consultants found that there will be no negative impacts from rising seas by the year 2050. Still, the developer might have to modify an underground barrier to treat groundwater before it reaches the bay by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Hill and University of Arkansas geosciences professor Kevin Befus, who worked on projects for the U.S. Geological Survey modeling groundwater in the Bay Area, reviewed the evaluation for DTSC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill’s critique of the AstraZeneca study centers on the model the company’s consultants used to examine rising groundwater, which took a profile of the existing water table and raised it as “if it were frozen in shape.”[pullquote size='medium' citation='Ian Utz, project manager, California Department of Toxic Substances Control']‘We’re going to follow where the science leads us. The sea level rise evaluation is not a one-and-done thing.’[/pullquote]That’s like a “cartoon version” of how liquid moves, she said. “Groundwater isn’t like ice; it’s going to leak out to the sides. It won’t rise in some areas as much. In others, it may rise a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other independent reviewer, Befus, said his main concern is that the company’s report primarily focused on flooding hazards and not on how rising groundwater will affect contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Groundwater is the conveyor belt for the chemicals,” he said, adding that DTSC should further look at how sea level rise will alter the hydrology under the site. “[The company’s] approach is just not useful for saying which direction chemicals are going to flow. Are they going to flow faster with sea level rise? That’s just not how their model was built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clear and easy-to-understand map of how water moves underground should be “absolutely required.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing the due diligence now to make sure that 100 years from now, it isn’t someone else’s big headache, a big expense and doesn’t threaten people’s lives, I think that’s hugely important,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, AstraZeneca officials said the company is awaiting a response from DTSC.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new state regulator scrutinizes old cleanup plans\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When DTSC hired the 27-year-old Utz as the new project manager at the AstraZeneca site in 2021, some residents were nervous. For years, they had pressed local leaders and state regulators for stronger cleanup plans at the site to little avail. They were worried a new project lead would only mean more of the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that skepticism began to disappear when Utz asked Hill and Befus to review the sea level rise analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re overjoyed to see this new guy,” said Robert Cheasty, executive director of the group Citizens for East Shore Parks and one of the lawyers behind several lawsuits over the cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community advocates like environmental attorney Stuart Flashman have failed to stop the project or force a more stringent cleanup through litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s the first person I’ve seen in a position of authority that’s saying, ‘You know what? We got to follow the science,’” said Flashman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz said he would issue revisions to the company-led evaluation sometime this month. For now, he won’t say whether the cleanup plan will change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to follow where the science leads us,” he told KQED in November. “The sea level rise evaluation is not a one-and-done thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Toxics in the ground are mixing like ‘a big ball of spaghetti’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On an abnormally cold October day, Hill and two of her graduate students gathered around a dappled ivory- and gray-colored table eight miles from the toxic site in a lab at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill, with short blond hair and wearing a tan motorcycle jacket, characterized the toxics in the ground in Richmond as “a big ball of spaghetti” and said the company should thoroughly clean up the site before it is redeveloped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her group has mapped potential plumes of toxic contamination, and Hill said they are likely moving in multiple directions toward sewer lines, businesses and a neighborhood of tract homes southwest of the Superfund site. The group has not measured for contamination in sewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981197 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-800x456.png\" alt=\"A white map showcasing sewer lines in the town of Richmond next to the a blue area representing the San Francisco Bay. Thin black lines showcase chemicals potentially moving underground. \" width=\"800\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-800x456.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1020x582.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-160x91.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-768x438.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1536x876.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1920x1095.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions.png 2002w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The thin black lines in the middle of the map reveal how groundwater flows from high to low elevations; contaminants are lighter than water and float, moving in the same direction. UC Berkeley researchers found that the contaminants are likely already moving toward homes, sewer lines and the bay. \u003ccite>(Kristina Hill, Justin Thomas/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The toxics are also potentially moving because of the topography below the site. AstraZeneca sits above a historic, compacted riverbed, one of a bunch of fingers of an old river valley that meanders underneath Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody living on one of those fingers is going to be more affected by groundwater than people who live off of those fingers,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blum’s Richmond photography studio, a block from the site, sits above one of the fingers of this old riverbed. He’s worried contaminants are inching toward his property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to be afraid of the soil I work on,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A DTSC-led groundwater remediation project could clean up the plume, but it’s still in the design phase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981080 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a blue shirt with yellow letters holds a white sign reading, 'Strike against Chevron.' A stoplight and fading blue skies are behind him. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eduardo Martinez walks the picket line along with striking Chevron employees and their supporters during a strike for worker safety in front of Gate 14 at the Richmond refinery on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The precautionary principle\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Wearing a brilliant blue T-shirt with “Vote for Eduardo for Mayor” inscribed in a mustard hue, Martinez walked a thin strip of asphalt separating the bay from the toxic site last April. His wispy gray hair flounced in the wind whipping off the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always operate on the precautionary principle, which says that nothing should be there until it’s all cleaned up,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 100% cleanup is the mission of the 73-year-old. He said he aims to reverse the City Council’s decision under the previous mayor for a lesser cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mayor controls the narrative, and I intend to do that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact that industry buried pollution in the soil is a symptom of the lack of care for communities of color like Richmond, according to UC Davis American Studies professor Javier Arbona, who lives in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disposability of this landscape is linked to white supremacy,” he said. “I keep thinking of this as a site where there is so much human sacrifice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temporary cap over the contaminated soil hides a legacy of devaluing the land and the people who live and work on it, he said, walking along the barbed fence line surrounding the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Caring for each other also means thinking about the cleanliness of these sites, their preservation and access to these places,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring a complete cleanup of the AstraZeneca site would be a form of repair for past wrongs and would prevent future harm to people and the environment, in his view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could show that victories are attainable,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The new year is a make-or-break moment for a controversial Richmond housing development atop a contaminated former waterfront site owned by the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.",
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"description": "The new year is a make-or-break moment for a controversial Richmond housing development atop a contaminated former waterfront site owned by the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.",
"title": "State Regulators Scrutinize Climate Plan for Controversial Richmond Housing Development | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The new year is a make-or-break moment for a Richmond housing development atop a contaminated former waterfront site once owned by the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plans for \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/4028/Campus-Bay-Mixed-Use-Project\">developing as many as 4,000 units\u003c/a> on the site have survived scrutiny by officials and legal challenges from environmental groups; the Richmond City Council approved the development years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last summer, state regulators asked the company to examine whether \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/deliverable_documents/5503620982/20220615%20MEETING%20NOTES%20-%20SEA-LEVEL%20RISE%20EVALUATION%20CHECK%20IN.pdf\">future sea level rise pushing up groundwater should alter the cleanup remedies (PDF)\u003c/a> for the hazardous site before development begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science of sea level rise is progressing, we’re listening to the community, and we’re saying we want more evaluation,” Ian Utz, project manager for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz also tasked two independent researchers to analyze the \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/community_involvement/4072705924/20220907%20ZENECA%20SLR%20EVALUATION.pdf\">company’s site-wide sea level rise evaluation (PDF)\u003c/a>. AstraZeneca determined that by the year 2050, the site would incur no negative impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the two scientists found the company’s conclusions inadequate. Their analysis, which KQED reviewed, shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/final_documents2?global_id=07280002&enforcement_id=60534305\">rising sea levels could surface buried contaminants\u003c/a> and expose future residents to them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This is a world-class scary cornucopia of chemicals, many of which will never degrade,” said Kristina Hill, director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. “It just seems to me on its face to be an injustice and, frankly, stupid to put housing on a contaminated site.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz will soon issue his revisions to the cleanup plan and outline next steps for the project, just as Eduardo Martinez, a new progressive mayor, takes over Richmond with the goal of forcing the company to haul away the contaminated soil, rather than the city’s current plan of removing some and capping the remainder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you make a mess in the corner, you don’t just leave it there; you clean it up. Otherwise, it becomes even more unusable,” Martinez said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The 87-acre field of weeds and rubble with a view of Treasure Island, downtown San Francisco, the Berkeley shoreline and the Bay Bridge was once Stauffer Chemical. Climate models show this acreage nearly surrounded by water in just a few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company dumped iron pyrite cylinders into the marsh near the site and made pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zeneca Corp., now called AstraZeneca, purchased the site in the 1980s. The company manufactured sulfuric acid and pesticides and closed the site in 1997; shortly after, the federal government deemed it a Superfund site. The developer, HRP Campus Bay Property LLC, did not return KQED emails for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981084 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a light blue jean jacket and a grey terry cloth skirt holds a sign reading, 'Safe Refineries, Save Lives.' She is wearing a wide brimmed grey hat and has red hair. Picketers with other white signs stand behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55026_010_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marisol Cantú walks with Chevron refinery employees and their supporters in front of Gate 14 at the Richmond refinery on April 7, 2022, to protest for worker safety and higher pay. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Community resistance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local climate activists, like 34-year-old Marisol Cantú with the Richmond Progressive Alliance, said that a developer building homes on a toxic site will only further environmental injustice and compromise the health of residents in this city of nearly 90% people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are unaware because I think they are simply trying to survive,” said Cantú of buried contaminants like lead and benzene. She organizes a youth-led climate justice podcast, \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondlisteningproject.org/\">Richmond Listening Project.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you tell them there’s a contaminated site, and the [city] wants to build residential housing on it, they’re flabbergasted,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If construction begins on the housing development and there’s still contamination in the soil, Cantú said advocates will protest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could see community members and environmental justice advocates, laying themselves down human-chain-style to make sure that no bulldozers pass,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two decades of community pushback against the development project have made the AstraZeneca site one of the highest-profile sites in the region. Hundreds, if not thousands, of polluted areas litter the shoreline. Developers are pursuing plans to build homes or businesses above many of these, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979614/for-these-black-bayview-hunters-point-residents-reparations-include-safeguarding-against-rising-toxic-contamination\">like the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, cities are under pressure to build more homes because of the region’s critical need for affordable housing. The struggle at the Richmond site is an example of the growing challenge of developing the shoreline where the Bay Area’s industrial past intersects with its climate future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981079\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981079\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Tips of San Francisco buildings are in the background. A marsh and a buddy bay shore are in the middle and pink flowers are out of focus in the front of the image. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55410_008_KQED_EduardoMartinezRichmond_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco skyline can be seen at the South Richmond Marshes on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘My community is not prepared’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late 1990s, Eric Blum built a tan two-story cinder block photography studio a block away from what looked like an abandoned field. It was the perfect spot for his product and nature photography studio — an industrial zone off Interstate 580.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blum’s adult children explored the marsh south of AstraZeneca when they were young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, his family was in awe of the colors in the water, soil and a short cliff rising out of the marsh — a mix of purple, apricot and amber hues that almost mirrored the color of the sunset over the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981137\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981137\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired man wearing a dark blue hoody and blue jeans stands next to a chain link fence. On the other side of the fence is a green weedy field with geese foraging on it.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1560-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eric Blum owns a photography studio one block away from the AstraZeneca site. He says a plume of gases has moved off-site to the edge of his property. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the coming years, he realized some of those vibrant colors were from the contamination, and should have been a kind of skull-and-crossbones warning sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My kids walked around the marsh because it was beautiful,” he said. “I didn’t find out until later it was arsenic and heavy metals flowing around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/profile_report?global_id=07280002\">The company paid consultants to conduct a human health assessment in 2008\u003c/a> that found that cleanup workers could be exposed to contaminants while doing remediation work but that residents living off-site had a low likelihood of exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AstraZeneca isn’t the only hazardous site in Richmond; there are 115 toxic spots across the city of 115,000 people, according to a KQED review of state contamination records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These sites include a chemical laboratory where gases, like chloroform, are seeping up through cracks in the building’s foundation from polluted groundwater underneath the property; and gases, heavy metals, fumigants and pesticides have permeated groundwater, soil and surface water at Chevron’s Richmond refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Richmond residents of color, like 18-year-old climate activist Lizbeth Ibarra, have called for the complete cleanup of contaminated sites like AstraZeneca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My generation and future generations are going to be the ones left to deal with even worse consequences than we’re already experiencing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ibarra, a member of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/lizbeth-ibarra\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a>, is sounding an alarm bell over climate issues in her hometown. She says people here often don’t have much time to consider future climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My community is not prepared, or even really aware of sea level rise and what can happen because I know a lot of us are working-class people who are just trying to survive,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981083 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long black hair and black rimmed glasses kneels in a seaweed filled area of rock. She's wearing a pink shirt and ripped blue jeans at the knees. Water and hills are in the background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55222_003_KQED_LizbethIbarraRichmond_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lizbeth Ibarra, a leader with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, sits near the bay at the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline park in Richmond on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re stuck because of a political maneuver’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A marsh and a narrow bike trail separate the toxic site from the bay. It’s clear why developers want to turn this patch of land into shoreline housing. The property, filled with yellow flowers and shades of green shrubbery, is beautiful, with the Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco skylines in view and the natural allure of the bayfront: Birds, porpoises and crabs fill the water below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But residents, advocates and scientists are worried about keeping hazardous chemicals out of the natural environment. Those impacts were detailed in a study from 2012, conducted by UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and UC Santa Barbara researchers, which found that \u003ca href=\"https://jcaa.org/news/references/Fish_Endocrine_Disruption%20in%20Saltmarsh%5b1%5d.pdf\">chemicals leaking into the marsh at the edge of the site have given fish tumors and altered their sexual anatomy (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, the Richmond City Council approved a cleanup plan proposed by the state to remove portions of the contaminated soil and cap the rest with a protective seal above ground. The partial cleanup was not the preferred option of many residents like Blum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re stuck because of a political maneuver,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Butt was the city’s mayor until this month. He pushed for the project and said he was “comfortable” with the DTSC and council-approved plan to leave toxics under a residential housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Housing is our biggest need statewide and region-wide right now, and this would go a long way toward fulfilling that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981085\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981085 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A chain link fence with a sign reading, 'Caution: Hazardous Substances Area. Unauthorized persons keep out.' Behind the fence is a yellow and green weed filled filed and a dirt road. Wispy white clouds fill the blue sky. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/IMG_1728-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The AstraZeneca site closed in the late ’90s. For more than two decades, advocates have fought to make sure the site is fully cleaned up before it can be ready for development. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Groundwater is the conveyor belt for the chemicals’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/community_involvement/4072705924/20220907%20ZENECA%20SLR%20EVALUATION.pdf\">The company-led sea level rise evaluation (PDF)\u003c/a> prepared by consultants found that there will be no negative impacts from rising seas by the year 2050. Still, the developer might have to modify an underground barrier to treat groundwater before it reaches the bay by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Hill and University of Arkansas geosciences professor Kevin Befus, who worked on projects for the U.S. Geological Survey modeling groundwater in the Bay Area, reviewed the evaluation for DTSC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill’s critique of the AstraZeneca study centers on the model the company’s consultants used to examine rising groundwater, which took a profile of the existing water table and raised it as “if it were frozen in shape.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We’re going to follow where the science leads us. The sea level rise evaluation is not a one-and-done thing.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That’s like a “cartoon version” of how liquid moves, she said. “Groundwater isn’t like ice; it’s going to leak out to the sides. It won’t rise in some areas as much. In others, it may rise a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other independent reviewer, Befus, said his main concern is that the company’s report primarily focused on flooding hazards and not on how rising groundwater will affect contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Groundwater is the conveyor belt for the chemicals,” he said, adding that DTSC should further look at how sea level rise will alter the hydrology under the site. “[The company’s] approach is just not useful for saying which direction chemicals are going to flow. Are they going to flow faster with sea level rise? That’s just not how their model was built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clear and easy-to-understand map of how water moves underground should be “absolutely required.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing the due diligence now to make sure that 100 years from now, it isn’t someone else’s big headache, a big expense and doesn’t threaten people’s lives, I think that’s hugely important,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, AstraZeneca officials said the company is awaiting a response from DTSC.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new state regulator scrutinizes old cleanup plans\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When DTSC hired the 27-year-old Utz as the new project manager at the AstraZeneca site in 2021, some residents were nervous. For years, they had pressed local leaders and state regulators for stronger cleanup plans at the site to little avail. They were worried a new project lead would only mean more of the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that skepticism began to disappear when Utz asked Hill and Befus to review the sea level rise analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re overjoyed to see this new guy,” said Robert Cheasty, executive director of the group Citizens for East Shore Parks and one of the lawyers behind several lawsuits over the cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community advocates like environmental attorney Stuart Flashman have failed to stop the project or force a more stringent cleanup through litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s the first person I’ve seen in a position of authority that’s saying, ‘You know what? We got to follow the science,’” said Flashman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Utz said he would issue revisions to the company-led evaluation sometime this month. For now, he won’t say whether the cleanup plan will change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to follow where the science leads us,” he told KQED in November. “The sea level rise evaluation is not a one-and-done thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Toxics in the ground are mixing like ‘a big ball of spaghetti’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On an abnormally cold October day, Hill and two of her graduate students gathered around a dappled ivory- and gray-colored table eight miles from the toxic site in a lab at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill, with short blond hair and wearing a tan motorcycle jacket, characterized the toxics in the ground in Richmond as “a big ball of spaghetti” and said the company should thoroughly clean up the site before it is redeveloped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her group has mapped potential plumes of toxic contamination, and Hill said they are likely moving in multiple directions toward sewer lines, businesses and a neighborhood of tract homes southwest of the Superfund site. The group has not measured for contamination in sewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981197 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-800x456.png\" alt=\"A white map showcasing sewer lines in the town of Richmond next to the a blue area representing the San Francisco Bay. Thin black lines showcase chemicals potentially moving underground. \" width=\"800\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-800x456.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1020x582.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-160x91.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-768x438.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1536x876.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions-1920x1095.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/01/Hill-and-Thomas-2022-Groundwater-flow-directions-and-sewer-line-locations-for-Richmond-south-shoreline-sites-present-conditions.png 2002w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The thin black lines in the middle of the map reveal how groundwater flows from high to low elevations; contaminants are lighter than water and float, moving in the same direction. UC Berkeley researchers found that the contaminants are likely already moving toward homes, sewer lines and the bay. \u003ccite>(Kristina Hill, Justin Thomas/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The toxics are also potentially moving because of the topography below the site. AstraZeneca sits above a historic, compacted riverbed, one of a bunch of fingers of an old river valley that meanders underneath Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody living on one of those fingers is going to be more affected by groundwater than people who live off of those fingers,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blum’s Richmond photography studio, a block from the site, sits above one of the fingers of this old riverbed. He’s worried contaminants are inching toward his property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to be afraid of the soil I work on,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A DTSC-led groundwater remediation project could clean up the plume, but it’s still in the design phase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981080 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a blue shirt with yellow letters holds a white sign reading, 'Strike against Chevron.' A stoplight and fading blue skies are behind him. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eduardo Martinez walks the picket line along with striking Chevron employees and their supporters during a strike for worker safety in front of Gate 14 at the Richmond refinery on April 7, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The precautionary principle\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Wearing a brilliant blue T-shirt with “Vote for Eduardo for Mayor” inscribed in a mustard hue, Martinez walked a thin strip of asphalt separating the bay from the toxic site last April. His wispy gray hair flounced in the wind whipping off the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always operate on the precautionary principle, which says that nothing should be there until it’s all cleaned up,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 100% cleanup is the mission of the 73-year-old. He said he aims to reverse the City Council’s decision under the previous mayor for a lesser cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mayor controls the narrative, and I intend to do that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact that industry buried pollution in the soil is a symptom of the lack of care for communities of color like Richmond, according to UC Davis American Studies professor Javier Arbona, who lives in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disposability of this landscape is linked to white supremacy,” he said. “I keep thinking of this as a site where there is so much human sacrifice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temporary cap over the contaminated soil hides a legacy of devaluing the land and the people who live and work on it, he said, walking along the barbed fence line surrounding the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Caring for each other also means thinking about the cleanliness of these sites, their preservation and access to these places,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring a complete cleanup of the AstraZeneca site would be a form of repair for past wrongs and would prevent future harm to people and the environment, in his view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could show that victories are attainable,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Saving Salmon: Chinook Return to California's Far North — With a Lot of Human Help",
"headTitle": "Saving Salmon: Chinook Return to California’s Far North — With a Lot of Human Help | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Chinook salmon haven’t spawned in the McCloud River for more than 80 years. But last summer, thousands of juveniles were born in the waters of this remote tributary, miles upstream of Shasta Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The young Chinook salmon — some now finger-sized smolts in mid-migration toward the Pacific Ocean — are part of a state and federal experiment that could help make the McCloud a salmon river once again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winter-run Chinook were federally listed as endangered in 1994, but recent years have been especially hard for the fish. Facing severe drought and warm river conditions, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/agencies-planning-disaster-ca-salmon-if-2022-dry\">most winter-run salmon born naturally in the Sacramento River have perished\u003c/a> over the past three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So restoring Chinook to the McCloud has become an urgent priority for state and federal officials. In the first year of a drought-response project, about 40,000 salmon eggs were brought back to the McCloud, a picturesque river in the wilderness of the Cascade mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iconic in Northern California, Chinook salmon are critical pieces of the region’s environment. They are consumed by sea lions, orcas and bears, and they still support a commercial fishing industry. Chinook remain vital to the culture and traditional foods of Native Americans, including the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, whose historical salmon fishing grounds include the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conservation experts say the McCloud’s cold, clean water holds great promise as a potential Chinook refuge — and is perhaps even a future stronghold for the species. Restoring salmon there is considered critical to the species’ survival, since they now spawn only in low-lying parts of the Central Valley near Redding and Red Bluff, where it’s often too hot and dry for most newborn fish to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We probably won’t be able to maintain winter-run Chinook on the valley floor forever,” said Matt Johnson, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981043\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981043\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Photo shows two hatchery juveniles (with copper tails) that were used to test efficiency of the trapping system and two that spent their early lives imprinting on McCloud River water. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Johnson of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife measures four winter-run Chinook salmon as part of a trial to estimate the species’ production and survival. \u003ccite>(Eric Holmes/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Johnson spent much of the past five months camped beside the incubation site on the lower McCloud River, guarding the eggs and emerging fry and overseeing the experiment, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/partners-return-winter-run-chinook-salmon-eggs-to-mccloud-river\">collaboration between his agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service (also known as NOAA Fisheries), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, biologists say, the project has gone well. About 90% of the eggs hatched, and the young fish reportedly have thrived in the McCloud, growing faster than hatchery fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent rainstorms have boosted \u003ca href=\"https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11377100/#parameterCode=00060&period=P7D\">river flows\u003c/a>, which may increase the odds that salmon will reach the ocean this year, escaping the dangerous water pumps and predators of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is the first step in a long-term plan that may involve capturing adult winter-run Chinook in the lower Sacramento and transporting them to the McCloud to spawn. It’s a difficult and risky venture for the fish but it may be the best shot the species has at survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The winter run is headed for extinction, no question, if we don’t develop an artificial system for keeping it going,” said Peter Moyle, a fish biologist at UC Davis who has studied Central Valley fish since the 1970s. He co-authored a \u003ca href=\"https://caltrout.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SOS-II-Fish-in-Hot-Water-Report.pdf\">report warning that many of California’s native salmon and trout are likely to vanish this century (PDF)\u003c/a> as the environment warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A genetically unique run of salmon, winter-run Chinook once spawned in the McCloud in great numbers, along with other seasonal runs of the fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Peter Moyle, fish biologist, UC Davis']‘The winter run is headed for extinction, no question, if we don’t develop an artificial system for keeping it going.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the Central Valley’s river system, which includes the McCloud River, marks the southern limit of the Chinook’s range, it was once their stronghold. \u003ca href=\"https://cws.ucdavis.edu/library/historical-abundance-and-decline-chinook-salmon-central-valley-region-california\">Between 1 and 2 million fish\u003c/a>, some weighing 50 pounds or more, spawned in the tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers each year before the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fish have dwindled to a fraction of their historic abundance. \u003ca href=\"https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=84381&inline\">Spawning numbers of winter-run Chinook\u003c/a> dropped to fewer than 200 in the early 1990s. They’ve rebounded, but their future remains in doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The McCloud — a state-designated wild and scenic river — used to offer prime habitat, with deep gravel beds for egg-laying and year-round flows of clean, cold water from Mount Shasta. Construction of Shasta Dam in the 1940s — and Keswick Dam shortly after — changed all this by \u003ca href=\"https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ceebefd9685143daa5bf30d5a7e0c7fa\">locking ocean-run salmon out of some 500 miles of productive high-elevation habitat\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The salmon became confined instead to the lower reaches of the Sacramento River system, where they did not previously spawn. Blazing temperatures in the summer — when the winter-run fish lay and fertilize their eggs near Redding and Red Bluff — have made it difficult for salmon to thrive. Chinook, especially in their early life stages, are sensitive to high temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only with the support of hatcheries have California salmon remained abundant enough to be fished.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>River habitat for winter-run Chinook salmon has shrunk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Juvenile Chinook salmon born in the McCloud River once migrated downstream, into the Sacramento River and out to the Pacific Ocean. Today, about 80% of the salmon’s historical river habitat is behind dams, which prevents the adult fish from swimming upstream to spawn. The state is mounting an experiment to return them to the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981045\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 740px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981045 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11.png\" alt=\"Color coded map of river habitat for winter-run chinook salmon.\" width=\"740\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11.png 740w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11-160x121.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of river habitat for winter-run Chinook salmon. \u003ccite>(NOAA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For decades, fishing groups, agencies and Winnemem Wintu tribal leaders have pondered the possibility of reintroducing salmon into the McCloud. Finally, last spring and summer, after two poor spawning years in a row — and with a third one looking likely — federal and state agencies took action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year “temperature modeling going into the winter-run spawning season showed a lot of uncertainty — basically a 50-50 chance of being able to maintain suitable temperatures for winter-run eggs to develop in the river,” said Johnson of the Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A bumpy trip for precious salmon eggs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because winter-run Chinook are listed as endangered, fishery agencies are scrambling to save the fish. Last spring they transported about three dozen adult winter-run Chinook trapped at the base of Keswick Dam, just north of Redding, about 50 miles southeast to the north fork of Battle Creek, a tributary near Red Bluff where waters typically run cool and clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also launched a more complicated effort: They took winter-run Chinook eggs from adult fish at a federal salmon hatchery and transported them up and over Shasta Dam to a remote national forest campground next to the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They came in two batches of 20,000 — the first by truck on a bumpy, 80-mile ride. A helicopter delivered the second clutch. “We wanted to make sure the transportation phase went smoothly,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fertilized eggs were incubated in protective cages submerged in river water for weeks. The scientists even placed an electrified barrier around the eggs to protect them from foraging black bears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981046\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981046 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Johnson of NOAA Fisheries and state biologists Sam Funakoshi and Ross Schaefer check a trap for winter-run Chinook salmon that will be transported downstream of Keswick Dam to help them migrate to the ocean.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Johnson of NOAA Fisheries and state biologists Sam Funakoshi and Ross Schaefer check a trap for winter-run Chinook salmon that will be transported downstream of Keswick Dam to help them migrate to the ocean. \u003ccite>(Carson Jeffres/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of the 40,000 eggs, Johnson said, about 36,000 emerged as fry. In late summer, the biologists released them into the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists wanted the fish to spend time in McCloud, both to utilize its invertebrate food sources and to undergo the olfactory imprinting process that enables migrating adult salmon to find their birth streams years later. Indeed, it is this process that gives salmon their remarkable homing powers and would truly make these fish McCloud River salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an undisturbed ecosystem, the fish in the river would simply swim downstream, through San Francisco Bay, and out into the ocean. But this unique scenario, where a dam and reservoir block their migration, called on a different approach that required human help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal scientists had to recapture the salmon and release them into the lower Sacramento River. The Fish and Wildlife team placed several traps on the McCloud about 20 miles below the release site and managed to capture 1,600 of them. They then drove the fish downstream and released them into the Sacramento River. If all goes well, some of the young salmon will return from the ocean in two to four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agencies plan to repeat the project next year, transporting more Chinook eggs up to the McCloud and again hauling the young fish back downstream. “We intend to do it again, and do it better,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve the program’s effectiveness, scientists are now addressing some unanswered questions from the experiment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/contact/rachel-johnson-phd\">Rachel Johnson\u003c/a>, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, wants to know how many of the salmon released at the incubation site made it as far downstream as the fish trap array. This will reveal the survival rate of the released fish and help Johnson and her colleagues better understand the quality of the McCloud’s habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To do this, she is studying data on daily river flow rates and capture rates in the traps, then combining this information with the known effectiveness of the types of gear they used. That, she said, would “give us the number that swam past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From what they already know about the size of the fish upon recapture, it’s looking good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fish in the McCloud were 30 to 40% larger than the average winter-run fish that were being caught at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam,” she said, referring to a structure downstream of Shasta.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A gem in ‘a string of pearls’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A great deal of work has already been done to help Sacramento River salmon. State agencies and conservation groups have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/12/restoring-floodplains-reversal-california-central-valley/\">restored floodplains\u003c/a> and side channels, where slow-moving water provides young fish with abundant food and shelter from predators. This work often involves removing, or carving notches in, levees so that river water can flow over farm fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson sees this connected system of restored habitat parcels as a “string of pearls,” and says the McCloud might be one of its more valuable gems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Better still, the McCloud’s geographic location at the upper end of the watershed could have a beneficial trickle-down effect through the watershed and the early life stages of Chinook, ultimately improving their lifelong survival rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can have such highly productive, good-growth habitat so high in the system, it starts the fish off in such a strong condition,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protecting areas lower in the watershed are important to Chinook, too. Research by Jacob Katz, biologist with the group California Trout, shows that floodplains restored in the lower stretches of the Sacramento watershed have helped salmon. Smolts grow faster on inundated floodplains than they do in the river’s channelized main stem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katz said reintroducing Chinook to the high-elevation spawning areas in the McCloud will complement the work he has done, and vice versa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both spawning habitat and rearing habitat are necessary, yet insufficient on their own,” he said. “We need to restore every link in the habitat chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ambitious future plans\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The summer’s salmon relocation effort was technically not a reintroduction project but an emergency drought action required by the state and federal endangered species acts and intended to shield winter-run Chinook from drought impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it’s likely that the McCloud effort of last summer will develop in years ahead into a full-fledged salmon reintroduction program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randy Beckwith, head of the state Department of Water Resources’ Riverine Stewardship branch, said “the juvenile collection piece is the most difficult part” of a potential long-term McCloud River reintroduction plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981047\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981047 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Marine Sisk, a biologist with the Winnemem Wintu tribe, measures a juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon reared in the McCloud (top) compared to a much smaller similar-age fish reared in the hatchery.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine Sisk, biologist with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, measures a juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon reared in the McCloud (top) compared to a much smaller similar-age fish reared in the hatchery. \u003ccite>(Eric Holmes/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the state and federal fishery scientists did their work a few miles upstream, Beckwith’s agency tested a $1.5 million contraption dubbed the Juvenile Salmonid Collection System in the narrow McCloud River arm of Lake Shasta. The setup is a floating array designed to deflect floating debris, like logs and trash, while a dangling synthetic curtain funnels the young salmon into a dead-end live trap. The trap component has not been installed yet due to regulatory constraints associated with handling endangered species, but the agency has plans to do so, possibly next summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While traps of the sort already used on the McCloud are designed to catch a sample fraction of a river’s fish, the system the state is working on will hopefully catch all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A successful McCloud River salmon reintroduction would also mean giving adult salmon access to the river. Currently, Keswick Dam, just upstream of Redding, marks the end of the line for free-swimming adult salmon. If they are to get beyond this point, fishery managers will need to do one of two things: build a stairway, called a fish ladder or fishway, which leads migrating salmon around a dam, or trap the fish and truck them upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ladders would give the salmon autonomy to migrate on their own. But Shasta Dam is a 600-foot-high barrier, so hauling them instead would be much cheaper. It is generally considered the only feasible solution on the table, although federal officials have no firm plans to do so yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists have questioned the effectiveness of trap-and-haul programs. In a 2017 paper, Moyle and a colleague, biologist \u003ca href=\"https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/people/robert-lusardi\">Robert Lusardi\u003c/a>, warned that \u003ca href=\"https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03632415.2017.1356124\">it can cause high mortality rates in transferred fish\u003c/a>, both adults going upstream and juveniles coming downstream. A trap-and-haul program for salmon “should proceed with extreme caution,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s another option, too. Battle Creek, which flows off Mount Lassen’s south flank, could also serve as a lifeline for winter-run Chinook. It was once an important spawning stream and, like most California rivers, is now riddled with dams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike Keswick and Shasta, they are small. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/battlecreek/status.html\">One dam was removed in 2010\u003c/a>, and Katz said there are \u003ca href=\"https://caltrout.org/campaigns/battle-creek-dams\">plans to remove or modify the rest to provide Chinook with unassisted passage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battle Creek offers an opportunity to have a second population of winter-run fish that doesn’t need to be trucked — a completely volitional population,” he said. “Battle Creek could be the epitome of a 21st-century reconciled watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Urgently trying to help an endangered species devastated by drought, biologists hauled 40,000 eggs to the McCloud River this year, then brought the young fish back again to migrate. So far, it's gone well.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Chinook salmon haven’t spawned in the McCloud River for more than 80 years. But last summer, thousands of juveniles were born in the waters of this remote tributary, miles upstream of Shasta Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The young Chinook salmon — some now finger-sized smolts in mid-migration toward the Pacific Ocean — are part of a state and federal experiment that could help make the McCloud a salmon river once again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winter-run Chinook were federally listed as endangered in 1994, but recent years have been especially hard for the fish. Facing severe drought and warm river conditions, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/agencies-planning-disaster-ca-salmon-if-2022-dry\">most winter-run salmon born naturally in the Sacramento River have perished\u003c/a> over the past three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So restoring Chinook to the McCloud has become an urgent priority for state and federal officials. In the first year of a drought-response project, about 40,000 salmon eggs were brought back to the McCloud, a picturesque river in the wilderness of the Cascade mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Iconic in Northern California, Chinook salmon are critical pieces of the region’s environment. They are consumed by sea lions, orcas and bears, and they still support a commercial fishing industry. Chinook remain vital to the culture and traditional foods of Native Americans, including the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, whose historical salmon fishing grounds include the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conservation experts say the McCloud’s cold, clean water holds great promise as a potential Chinook refuge — and is perhaps even a future stronghold for the species. Restoring salmon there is considered critical to the species’ survival, since they now spawn only in low-lying parts of the Central Valley near Redding and Red Bluff, where it’s often too hot and dry for most newborn fish to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We probably won’t be able to maintain winter-run Chinook on the valley floor forever,” said Matt Johnson, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981043\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1981043\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Photo shows two hatchery juveniles (with copper tails) that were used to test efficiency of the trapping system and two that spent their early lives imprinting on McCloud River water. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-01.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Johnson of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife measures four winter-run Chinook salmon as part of a trial to estimate the species’ production and survival. \u003ccite>(Eric Holmes/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Johnson spent much of the past five months camped beside the incubation site on the lower McCloud River, guarding the eggs and emerging fry and overseeing the experiment, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/partners-return-winter-run-chinook-salmon-eggs-to-mccloud-river\">collaboration between his agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service (also known as NOAA Fisheries), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, biologists say, the project has gone well. About 90% of the eggs hatched, and the young fish reportedly have thrived in the McCloud, growing faster than hatchery fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent rainstorms have boosted \u003ca href=\"https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11377100/#parameterCode=00060&period=P7D\">river flows\u003c/a>, which may increase the odds that salmon will reach the ocean this year, escaping the dangerous water pumps and predators of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is the first step in a long-term plan that may involve capturing adult winter-run Chinook in the lower Sacramento and transporting them to the McCloud to spawn. It’s a difficult and risky venture for the fish but it may be the best shot the species has at survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The winter run is headed for extinction, no question, if we don’t develop an artificial system for keeping it going,” said Peter Moyle, a fish biologist at UC Davis who has studied Central Valley fish since the 1970s. He co-authored a \u003ca href=\"https://caltrout.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SOS-II-Fish-in-Hot-Water-Report.pdf\">report warning that many of California’s native salmon and trout are likely to vanish this century (PDF)\u003c/a> as the environment warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A genetically unique run of salmon, winter-run Chinook once spawned in the McCloud in great numbers, along with other seasonal runs of the fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The winter run is headed for extinction, no question, if we don’t develop an artificial system for keeping it going.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the Central Valley’s river system, which includes the McCloud River, marks the southern limit of the Chinook’s range, it was once their stronghold. \u003ca href=\"https://cws.ucdavis.edu/library/historical-abundance-and-decline-chinook-salmon-central-valley-region-california\">Between 1 and 2 million fish\u003c/a>, some weighing 50 pounds or more, spawned in the tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers each year before the Gold Rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fish have dwindled to a fraction of their historic abundance. \u003ca href=\"https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=84381&inline\">Spawning numbers of winter-run Chinook\u003c/a> dropped to fewer than 200 in the early 1990s. They’ve rebounded, but their future remains in doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The McCloud — a state-designated wild and scenic river — used to offer prime habitat, with deep gravel beds for egg-laying and year-round flows of clean, cold water from Mount Shasta. Construction of Shasta Dam in the 1940s — and Keswick Dam shortly after — changed all this by \u003ca href=\"https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ceebefd9685143daa5bf30d5a7e0c7fa\">locking ocean-run salmon out of some 500 miles of productive high-elevation habitat\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The salmon became confined instead to the lower reaches of the Sacramento River system, where they did not previously spawn. Blazing temperatures in the summer — when the winter-run fish lay and fertilize their eggs near Redding and Red Bluff — have made it difficult for salmon to thrive. Chinook, especially in their early life stages, are sensitive to high temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only with the support of hatcheries have California salmon remained abundant enough to be fished.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>River habitat for winter-run Chinook salmon has shrunk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Juvenile Chinook salmon born in the McCloud River once migrated downstream, into the Sacramento River and out to the Pacific Ocean. Today, about 80% of the salmon’s historical river habitat is behind dams, which prevents the adult fish from swimming upstream to spawn. The state is mounting an experiment to return them to the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981045\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 740px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981045 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11.png\" alt=\"Color coded map of river habitat for winter-run chinook salmon.\" width=\"740\" height=\"561\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11.png 740w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/download-11-160x121.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of river habitat for winter-run Chinook salmon. \u003ccite>(NOAA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For decades, fishing groups, agencies and Winnemem Wintu tribal leaders have pondered the possibility of reintroducing salmon into the McCloud. Finally, last spring and summer, after two poor spawning years in a row — and with a third one looking likely — federal and state agencies took action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year “temperature modeling going into the winter-run spawning season showed a lot of uncertainty — basically a 50-50 chance of being able to maintain suitable temperatures for winter-run eggs to develop in the river,” said Johnson of the Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A bumpy trip for precious salmon eggs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Because winter-run Chinook are listed as endangered, fishery agencies are scrambling to save the fish. Last spring they transported about three dozen adult winter-run Chinook trapped at the base of Keswick Dam, just north of Redding, about 50 miles southeast to the north fork of Battle Creek, a tributary near Red Bluff where waters typically run cool and clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also launched a more complicated effort: They took winter-run Chinook eggs from adult fish at a federal salmon hatchery and transported them up and over Shasta Dam to a remote national forest campground next to the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They came in two batches of 20,000 — the first by truck on a bumpy, 80-mile ride. A helicopter delivered the second clutch. “We wanted to make sure the transportation phase went smoothly,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fertilized eggs were incubated in protective cages submerged in river water for weeks. The scientists even placed an electrified barrier around the eggs to protect them from foraging black bears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981046\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981046 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Johnson of NOAA Fisheries and state biologists Sam Funakoshi and Ross Schaefer check a trap for winter-run Chinook salmon that will be transported downstream of Keswick Dam to help them migrate to the ocean.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-003.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Johnson of NOAA Fisheries and state biologists Sam Funakoshi and Ross Schaefer check a trap for winter-run Chinook salmon that will be transported downstream of Keswick Dam to help them migrate to the ocean. \u003ccite>(Carson Jeffres/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of the 40,000 eggs, Johnson said, about 36,000 emerged as fry. In late summer, the biologists released them into the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists wanted the fish to spend time in McCloud, both to utilize its invertebrate food sources and to undergo the olfactory imprinting process that enables migrating adult salmon to find their birth streams years later. Indeed, it is this process that gives salmon their remarkable homing powers and would truly make these fish McCloud River salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an undisturbed ecosystem, the fish in the river would simply swim downstream, through San Francisco Bay, and out into the ocean. But this unique scenario, where a dam and reservoir block their migration, called on a different approach that required human help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal scientists had to recapture the salmon and release them into the lower Sacramento River. The Fish and Wildlife team placed several traps on the McCloud about 20 miles below the release site and managed to capture 1,600 of them. They then drove the fish downstream and released them into the Sacramento River. If all goes well, some of the young salmon will return from the ocean in two to four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agencies plan to repeat the project next year, transporting more Chinook eggs up to the McCloud and again hauling the young fish back downstream. “We intend to do it again, and do it better,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve the program’s effectiveness, scientists are now addressing some unanswered questions from the experiment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/contact/rachel-johnson-phd\">Rachel Johnson\u003c/a>, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, wants to know how many of the salmon released at the incubation site made it as far downstream as the fish trap array. This will reveal the survival rate of the released fish and help Johnson and her colleagues better understand the quality of the McCloud’s habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To do this, she is studying data on daily river flow rates and capture rates in the traps, then combining this information with the known effectiveness of the types of gear they used. That, she said, would “give us the number that swam past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From what they already know about the size of the fish upon recapture, it’s looking good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fish in the McCloud were 30 to 40% larger than the average winter-run fish that were being caught at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam,” she said, referring to a structure downstream of Shasta.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A gem in ‘a string of pearls’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A great deal of work has already been done to help Sacramento River salmon. State agencies and conservation groups have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2018/12/restoring-floodplains-reversal-california-central-valley/\">restored floodplains\u003c/a> and side channels, where slow-moving water provides young fish with abundant food and shelter from predators. This work often involves removing, or carving notches in, levees so that river water can flow over farm fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson sees this connected system of restored habitat parcels as a “string of pearls,” and says the McCloud might be one of its more valuable gems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Better still, the McCloud’s geographic location at the upper end of the watershed could have a beneficial trickle-down effect through the watershed and the early life stages of Chinook, ultimately improving their lifelong survival rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can have such highly productive, good-growth habitat so high in the system, it starts the fish off in such a strong condition,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protecting areas lower in the watershed are important to Chinook, too. Research by Jacob Katz, biologist with the group California Trout, shows that floodplains restored in the lower stretches of the Sacramento watershed have helped salmon. Smolts grow faster on inundated floodplains than they do in the river’s channelized main stem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katz said reintroducing Chinook to the high-elevation spawning areas in the McCloud will complement the work he has done, and vice versa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both spawning habitat and rearing habitat are necessary, yet insufficient on their own,” he said. “We need to restore every link in the habitat chain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ambitious future plans\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The summer’s salmon relocation effort was technically not a reintroduction project but an emergency drought action required by the state and federal endangered species acts and intended to shield winter-run Chinook from drought impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it’s likely that the McCloud effort of last summer will develop in years ahead into a full-fledged salmon reintroduction program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randy Beckwith, head of the state Department of Water Resources’ Riverine Stewardship branch, said “the juvenile collection piece is the most difficult part” of a potential long-term McCloud River reintroduction plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1981047\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1981047 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Marine Sisk, a biologist with the Winnemem Wintu tribe, measures a juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon reared in the McCloud (top) compared to a much smaller similar-age fish reared in the hatchery.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/121222-Hatchery-Fish-CM-02.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine Sisk, biologist with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, measures a juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon reared in the McCloud (top) compared to a much smaller similar-age fish reared in the hatchery. \u003ccite>(Eric Holmes/UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the state and federal fishery scientists did their work a few miles upstream, Beckwith’s agency tested a $1.5 million contraption dubbed the Juvenile Salmonid Collection System in the narrow McCloud River arm of Lake Shasta. The setup is a floating array designed to deflect floating debris, like logs and trash, while a dangling synthetic curtain funnels the young salmon into a dead-end live trap. The trap component has not been installed yet due to regulatory constraints associated with handling endangered species, but the agency has plans to do so, possibly next summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While traps of the sort already used on the McCloud are designed to catch a sample fraction of a river’s fish, the system the state is working on will hopefully catch all of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A successful McCloud River salmon reintroduction would also mean giving adult salmon access to the river. Currently, Keswick Dam, just upstream of Redding, marks the end of the line for free-swimming adult salmon. If they are to get beyond this point, fishery managers will need to do one of two things: build a stairway, called a fish ladder or fishway, which leads migrating salmon around a dam, or trap the fish and truck them upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ladders would give the salmon autonomy to migrate on their own. But Shasta Dam is a 600-foot-high barrier, so hauling them instead would be much cheaper. It is generally considered the only feasible solution on the table, although federal officials have no firm plans to do so yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists have questioned the effectiveness of trap-and-haul programs. In a 2017 paper, Moyle and a colleague, biologist \u003ca href=\"https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/people/robert-lusardi\">Robert Lusardi\u003c/a>, warned that \u003ca href=\"https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03632415.2017.1356124\">it can cause high mortality rates in transferred fish\u003c/a>, both adults going upstream and juveniles coming downstream. A trap-and-haul program for salmon “should proceed with extreme caution,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s another option, too. Battle Creek, which flows off Mount Lassen’s south flank, could also serve as a lifeline for winter-run Chinook. It was once an important spawning stream and, like most California rivers, is now riddled with dams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike Keswick and Shasta, they are small. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/battlecreek/status.html\">One dam was removed in 2010\u003c/a>, and Katz said there are \u003ca href=\"https://caltrout.org/campaigns/battle-creek-dams\">plans to remove or modify the rest to provide Chinook with unassisted passage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battle Creek offers an opportunity to have a second population of winter-run fish that doesn’t need to be trucked — a completely volitional population,” he said. “Battle Creek could be the epitome of a 21st-century reconciled watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "First California Offshore Wind Auction Nets Over $750 Million",
"headTitle": "First California Offshore Wind Auction Nets Over $750 Million | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management finalized the sale of offshore wind leases along California’s coastline Wednesday, with the combined bids totaling $757.1 million, which the agency says well exceeds the first lease sales that were held in the Atlantic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of the Interior’s auction lasted for more than 30 rounds over the course of two days, as developers bid aggressively for five lease areas totaling more than 500 square miles both northwest of Morro Bay and off the coast of Humboldt County.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘Together with leadership from the Biden-Harris Administration, we’re entering a new era of climate action and solutions that give our planet a new lease on life.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement that the aggressive bidding is a signal of industry momentum around American offshore wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A sustainable, clean energy future is within our grasp and the Interior Department is doing everything we can to ensure that American communities nationwide benefit,” Haaland said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auction is a crucial step toward a new source of clean power for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government estimates that floating turbines that harness energy from powerful winds could power more than 1.5 million homes, and development of these turbines could create tons of new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tens of thousands of jobs from construction phase to operation and maintenance and supply chain,” Jeff Hunerlach, a district representative with Operating Engineers Local 3 in Humboldt County, told KQED in an interview. “It’s such a historical day. The work starts now. Now, we know who the companies are. We know where our energy is to zero in on, making sure that we put Californians to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry analysts say the winning developers are well-known companies in the fledgling offshore wind industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980905\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1496px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980905\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines.png\" alt=\"Map of California coastline showing parcels leased for wind turbines\" width=\"1496\" height=\"1342\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines.png 1496w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-800x718.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-1020x915.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-160x144.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-768x689.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1496px) 100vw, 1496px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The federal government auctioned off leases for wind production in 583 square miles of deep ocean waters, located about 20 miles offshore of Humboldt County and Morro Bay. Combined, the five lease zones have the potential to produce more than 4.5 gigawatts, enough to power roughly 1.5 million homes. \u003ccite>(Associated Press, using data from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These are established players, the developers that the leases are in the hands of,” said Stephanie McClellan, executive director of the offshore wind nonprofit Turn Forward, in an interview with KQED. “They’ve already got leases on the East Coast and these leases are in good hands. California West Coast offshore wind is off to the races.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom described the wind lease sale as a “critical component” of the state hitting its goal of 90% clean energy by 2035. “Together with leadership from the Biden-Harris Administration, we’re entering a new era of climate action and solutions that give our planet a new lease on life,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But commercial fishers have urged federal and state regulatory agencies to slow down the process, fearing impacts to their business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fishermen are not opposed to renewable energy,” Ken Bates, president of the California Fishermen’s Resiliency Association, told KQED in an interview. “Fishermen see what’s going on in the ocean. We see warm-water events, species shift, all of those things. Fishermen are opposed to losing the very limited fishing grounds in California. That’s our concern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers must now submit design, construction and operation plans to California and to the federal government for review and permitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Climate Central’s John Upton contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom described the wind lease sale as a 'critical component' of the state hitting its goal of 90% clean energy by 2035 in what he hailed as a 'new era of climate action.'",
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"description": "Gov. Gavin Newsom described the wind lease sale as a 'critical component' of the state hitting its goal of 90% clean energy by 2035 in what he hailed as a 'new era of climate action.'",
"title": "First California Offshore Wind Auction Nets Over $750 Million | KQED",
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"headline": "First California Offshore Wind Auction Nets Over $750 Million",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management finalized the sale of offshore wind leases along California’s coastline Wednesday, with the combined bids totaling $757.1 million, which the agency says well exceeds the first lease sales that were held in the Atlantic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of the Interior’s auction lasted for more than 30 rounds over the course of two days, as developers bid aggressively for five lease areas totaling more than 500 square miles both northwest of Morro Bay and off the coast of Humboldt County.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement that the aggressive bidding is a signal of industry momentum around American offshore wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A sustainable, clean energy future is within our grasp and the Interior Department is doing everything we can to ensure that American communities nationwide benefit,” Haaland said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auction is a crucial step toward a new source of clean power for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government estimates that floating turbines that harness energy from powerful winds could power more than 1.5 million homes, and development of these turbines could create tons of new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tens of thousands of jobs from construction phase to operation and maintenance and supply chain,” Jeff Hunerlach, a district representative with Operating Engineers Local 3 in Humboldt County, told KQED in an interview. “It’s such a historical day. The work starts now. Now, we know who the companies are. We know where our energy is to zero in on, making sure that we put Californians to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industry analysts say the winning developers are well-known companies in the fledgling offshore wind industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980905\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1496px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980905\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines.png\" alt=\"Map of California coastline showing parcels leased for wind turbines\" width=\"1496\" height=\"1342\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines.png 1496w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-800x718.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-1020x915.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-160x144.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/floating-wind-turbines-768x689.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1496px) 100vw, 1496px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The federal government auctioned off leases for wind production in 583 square miles of deep ocean waters, located about 20 miles offshore of Humboldt County and Morro Bay. Combined, the five lease zones have the potential to produce more than 4.5 gigawatts, enough to power roughly 1.5 million homes. \u003ccite>(Associated Press, using data from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These are established players, the developers that the leases are in the hands of,” said Stephanie McClellan, executive director of the offshore wind nonprofit Turn Forward, in an interview with KQED. “They’ve already got leases on the East Coast and these leases are in good hands. California West Coast offshore wind is off to the races.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom described the wind lease sale as a “critical component” of the state hitting its goal of 90% clean energy by 2035. “Together with leadership from the Biden-Harris Administration, we’re entering a new era of climate action and solutions that give our planet a new lease on life,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But commercial fishers have urged federal and state regulatory agencies to slow down the process, fearing impacts to their business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fishermen are not opposed to renewable energy,” Ken Bates, president of the California Fishermen’s Resiliency Association, told KQED in an interview. “Fishermen see what’s going on in the ocean. We see warm-water events, species shift, all of those things. Fishermen are opposed to losing the very limited fishing grounds in California. That’s our concern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers must now submit design, construction and operation plans to California and to the federal government for review and permitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Climate Central’s John Upton contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"headTitle": "New Toolkit Helps Patients and Care Providers Prepare for Climate Emergencies | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>There was a moment a few years back when it seemed to Jessie Liu like the entire state of California was on fire. Mendocino, Shasta, Trinity, Lake and Santa Clara counties all endured the flames of the hellish wildfire season of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hit us so suddenly and abruptly,” said Liu, a physician at \u003ca href=\"https://laclinica.org/\">La Clínica de La Raza\u003c/a>, a health care facility that serves lower-income, uninsured and underinsured patients in Oakland. “It’s shocking how quickly that’s become the norm. It’s something that we are now expecting. We were very fortunate this year to have a relatively light — knock on wood — wildfire season. But we can’t expect to be this fortunate here and in the years to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu and her patients have not yet faced evacuation because of the fires, but she figures it’s a question of when, not if. And when that moment comes, Liu will have a new tool to help ease the abruptness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate experts at Harvard and officials with the nonprofit humanitarian relief agency Americares have prepared a first-of-its-kind series of open-source reference materials to help health care facilities successfully withstand a range of natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reference information, known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.americares.org/what-we-do/community-health/climate-resilient-health-clinics/\">Climate Resilience for Frontline Clinics Toolkit\u003c/a>, contains detailed guidance for health care administrators, physicians and patients on topics ranging from dealing with power outages to crafting social media posts to managing the treatment of patients with such ailments as kidney disease, diabetes and asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The information, which was largely compiled using survey data from clinic workers who were asked what they wish they knew about treating patients during natural disasters, is available as a series of downloadable PDFs at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.americares.org/what-we-do/community-health/climate-resilient-health-clinics/\">toolkit website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first reference materials, which were released this summer, focused on helping facilities, doctors and their patients successfully navigate extreme heat events. Officials recently released guides focused on wildfires, and an informational module concerning hurricanes will soon be available to all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, a collaboration of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/\">Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment\u003c/a> at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Harvard Global Health Institute, is specifically designed for use by free and charitable care health clinics. Biogen, the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, has been a key sponsor of the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In future years, the designers of the toolkit hope to expand availability of the resources so they can be used by health care facilities in lower-income countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Designers of the toolkit said it occupies a unique position as a source of medical information that simultaneously provides resources both for those who work in hospitals and those who are treated in them. Policy manuals and communication plans are typically designed for health care administrators. Medical reference books are aimed at providers. And health care information pamphlets are usually reserved for patients. But with aspects of the toolkit designed for each of those audiences, its creators say it is distinctly able to serve all three of those groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we want to make sure we get is a crucial interface between health care systems and patients that is, potentially, uniquely able to keep people safe,” said Aaron Bernstein, director of the Harvard climate center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernstein said that the information contained in the toolkit was designed with an eye toward anticipating potential issues and providing opportunities for planning and practical decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone has serious medical problems and says, ‘You know, I really would like to evacuate. I just have no idea how I can do it. I don’t have a car or there’s nowhere for me to go,’” Bernstein said. “There’s a lot of folks who may not have thought as much about not only how they would and where they would evacuate to, but, again, critically, whether their medical conditions may make it so that it’s even more important for them to be proactive. And I think a provider can really underscore that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being proactive is a chief concern for providers like Jessie Liu. She said the open-source nature of the toolkit — which keeps it free, adaptable and easy to access — is vital given that many of the patients she serves have lower incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In particular for our populations who are at greater risk because of their lower socioeconomic status, greater percentage of outdoor laborers, by way of being Black, brown, Native and living in communities and neighborhoods that have historically been marginalized and under-resourced, we are wanting to be able to provide culturally appropriate and easily accessible resources,” Liu said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the importance of providing that information goes beyond simply addressing medical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are the bastions of health for our communities,” Liu said. “We’re at the front lines, and patients and communities come to us. They trust us. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There was a moment a few years back when it seemed to Jessie Liu like the entire state of California was on fire. Mendocino, Shasta, Trinity, Lake and Santa Clara counties all endured the flames of the hellish wildfire season of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hit us so suddenly and abruptly,” said Liu, a physician at \u003ca href=\"https://laclinica.org/\">La Clínica de La Raza\u003c/a>, a health care facility that serves lower-income, uninsured and underinsured patients in Oakland. “It’s shocking how quickly that’s become the norm. It’s something that we are now expecting. We were very fortunate this year to have a relatively light — knock on wood — wildfire season. But we can’t expect to be this fortunate here and in the years to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu and her patients have not yet faced evacuation because of the fires, but she figures it’s a question of when, not if. And when that moment comes, Liu will have a new tool to help ease the abruptness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate experts at Harvard and officials with the nonprofit humanitarian relief agency Americares have prepared a first-of-its-kind series of open-source reference materials to help health care facilities successfully withstand a range of natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reference information, known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.americares.org/what-we-do/community-health/climate-resilient-health-clinics/\">Climate Resilience for Frontline Clinics Toolkit\u003c/a>, contains detailed guidance for health care administrators, physicians and patients on topics ranging from dealing with power outages to crafting social media posts to managing the treatment of patients with such ailments as kidney disease, diabetes and asthma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The information, which was largely compiled using survey data from clinic workers who were asked what they wish they knew about treating patients during natural disasters, is available as a series of downloadable PDFs at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.americares.org/what-we-do/community-health/climate-resilient-health-clinics/\">toolkit website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first reference materials, which were released this summer, focused on helping facilities, doctors and their patients successfully navigate extreme heat events. Officials recently released guides focused on wildfires, and an informational module concerning hurricanes will soon be available to all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort, a collaboration of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/\">Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment\u003c/a> at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Harvard Global Health Institute, is specifically designed for use by free and charitable care health clinics. Biogen, the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, has been a key sponsor of the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In future years, the designers of the toolkit hope to expand availability of the resources so they can be used by health care facilities in lower-income countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Designers of the toolkit said it occupies a unique position as a source of medical information that simultaneously provides resources both for those who work in hospitals and those who are treated in them. Policy manuals and communication plans are typically designed for health care administrators. Medical reference books are aimed at providers. And health care information pamphlets are usually reserved for patients. But with aspects of the toolkit designed for each of those audiences, its creators say it is distinctly able to serve all three of those groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we want to make sure we get is a crucial interface between health care systems and patients that is, potentially, uniquely able to keep people safe,” said Aaron Bernstein, director of the Harvard climate center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bernstein said that the information contained in the toolkit was designed with an eye toward anticipating potential issues and providing opportunities for planning and practical decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If someone has serious medical problems and says, ‘You know, I really would like to evacuate. I just have no idea how I can do it. I don’t have a car or there’s nowhere for me to go,’” Bernstein said. “There’s a lot of folks who may not have thought as much about not only how they would and where they would evacuate to, but, again, critically, whether their medical conditions may make it so that it’s even more important for them to be proactive. And I think a provider can really underscore that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being proactive is a chief concern for providers like Jessie Liu. She said the open-source nature of the toolkit — which keeps it free, adaptable and easy to access — is vital given that many of the patients she serves have lower incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In particular for our populations who are at greater risk because of their lower socioeconomic status, greater percentage of outdoor laborers, by way of being Black, brown, Native and living in communities and neighborhoods that have historically been marginalized and under-resourced, we are wanting to be able to provide culturally appropriate and easily accessible resources,” Liu said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the importance of providing that information goes beyond simply addressing medical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are the bastions of health for our communities,” Liu said. “We’re at the front lines, and patients and communities come to us. They trust us. We have to … it’s our responsibility and our role to provide that information and that guidance, especially in these natural disasters that are known to have such great impacts on human health.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Releases Sweeping New Climate Action Plan to Reach Carbon Neutrality",
"headTitle": "California Releases Sweeping New Climate Action Plan to Reach Carbon Neutrality | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California air regulators on Wednesday released a final draft of the state’s new climate blueprint, charting an ambitious path to dramatically reduce planet-warming gas emissions over the next two decades.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘It’s the most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world, and it’ll spur an economic transformation akin to the industrial revolution.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan would siphon down the state’s use of fossil fuels almost entirely and paints a not-too-distant picture of what Gov. Gavin Newsom said is a “pollution-free future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world, and if adopted, it’ll spur an economic transformation akin to the industrial revolution,” Newsom said in a statement emailed to reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration is billing it as the world’s first “achievable roadmap to implement carbon neutrality,” from a major economy. But nothing in this document will be easy for California. Nor is it guaranteed to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, drafted by the state Air Resources Board, calls for slashing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 48% by the year 2030 and 85% by 2045 (so far, the state has cut its carbon pollution by just 3% — and recent research from a UCLA-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749122011022#:~:text=In%20this%20short%20communication%2C%20we,GHG)%20emission%20reductions%20since%202003.\">study suggests those gains might have been wiped out by the firestorms of 2020\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California would need to add tens of millions of electric cars to its roads and be using a tenth of the liquid petroleum, gas and diesel it uses today in a little more than two decades.[aside postID=\"news_11930288,science_1980725\" label=\"Related Posts\"]State officials said the backbone of the transition is a “clean, affordable and reliable grid,” and the policy framework includes a commitment to build no new gas plants. Instead, the state will meet the increased demand for electricity with renewable energy. To do that, California will need to build more wind and solar at a highly expedited rate, quadrupling its current capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep the lights on, California will need to double its existing electricity generation capacity. The state narrowly avoided rolling blackouts this year after electricity demand nearly surpassed supply during a heat wave that baked the state for 10 days in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lauren Sanchez, the governor’s climate adviser, acknowledged on a call with reporters that “this plan will indeed be very difficult to achieve because of the scale of the task and the speed with which it needs to be delivered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she said, “the governor will not take failure as an option, and neither should any of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A more aggressive plan\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s powerful air board circulated a preliminary draft of the plan early in the year with the goal of 40% emissions reductions by 2030, but Gov. Newsom asked the agency to be more aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the board hashed out the details over the course of months, California passed regulations to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Newsom signed a series of aggressive climate bills into law setting new targets for clean energy and carbon sequestration on natural and working lands, establishing new rules on existing oil wells near neighborhoods and schools and expanding carbon capture and removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest draft incorporates these new efforts and others on offshore wind, clean fuels and climate-friendly housing construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates and environmentalists want the state to move even faster, and have pressed for more aggressive targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellie Cohen, CEO of policy nonprofit The Climate Center, and UC Berkeley professor Dan Kammen \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/11/california-climate-air-resources-board-scoping-plan/\">argued in an opinion piece\u003c/a> last week for California’s target to be “at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also criticized the state for what they said is “gambling on carbon capture and storage, a failed and expensive technology that perpetuates pollution in frontline communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by email on his way back from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Kammen said that the state’s latest version still relies too much on these technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The harsh grip of petroleum’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2006, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, into law, which mandated that the state produce a climate change road map every five years. The air board released the first plan in 2008, and this is its third update.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board Chair Liane Randolph told reporters that this update “is far and away the most important and the one with the most ambitious targets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to take action to reduce the worst impacts of a changing climate,” Randolph said. “And there is only one way to do that: Break forever our dependance on fossil fuels, the harsh grip of petroleum, and move as fast as we can to a clean energy economy. And that’s what this plan does. It delivers a massive reduction of climate-warming pollution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state estimates it would cut air pollution by 71% and save Californians $200 billion in health costs due to pollution, while creating 4 million new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California air regulators on Wednesday released a final draft of the state’s new climate blueprint, charting an ambitious path to dramatically reduce planet-warming gas emissions over the next two decades.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s the most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world, and it’ll spur an economic transformation akin to the industrial revolution.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan would siphon down the state’s use of fossil fuels almost entirely and paints a not-too-distant picture of what Gov. Gavin Newsom said is a “pollution-free future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world, and if adopted, it’ll spur an economic transformation akin to the industrial revolution,” Newsom said in a statement emailed to reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration is billing it as the world’s first “achievable roadmap to implement carbon neutrality,” from a major economy. But nothing in this document will be easy for California. Nor is it guaranteed to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan, drafted by the state Air Resources Board, calls for slashing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 48% by the year 2030 and 85% by 2045 (so far, the state has cut its carbon pollution by just 3% — and recent research from a UCLA-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749122011022#:~:text=In%20this%20short%20communication%2C%20we,GHG)%20emission%20reductions%20since%202003.\">study suggests those gains might have been wiped out by the firestorms of 2020\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California would need to add tens of millions of electric cars to its roads and be using a tenth of the liquid petroleum, gas and diesel it uses today in a little more than two decades.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>State officials said the backbone of the transition is a “clean, affordable and reliable grid,” and the policy framework includes a commitment to build no new gas plants. Instead, the state will meet the increased demand for electricity with renewable energy. To do that, California will need to build more wind and solar at a highly expedited rate, quadrupling its current capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep the lights on, California will need to double its existing electricity generation capacity. The state narrowly avoided rolling blackouts this year after electricity demand nearly surpassed supply during a heat wave that baked the state for 10 days in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lauren Sanchez, the governor’s climate adviser, acknowledged on a call with reporters that “this plan will indeed be very difficult to achieve because of the scale of the task and the speed with which it needs to be delivered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she said, “the governor will not take failure as an option, and neither should any of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A more aggressive plan\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s powerful air board circulated a preliminary draft of the plan early in the year with the goal of 40% emissions reductions by 2030, but Gov. Newsom asked the agency to be more aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the board hashed out the details over the course of months, California passed regulations to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Newsom signed a series of aggressive climate bills into law setting new targets for clean energy and carbon sequestration on natural and working lands, establishing new rules on existing oil wells near neighborhoods and schools and expanding carbon capture and removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest draft incorporates these new efforts and others on offshore wind, clean fuels and climate-friendly housing construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates and environmentalists want the state to move even faster, and have pressed for more aggressive targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellie Cohen, CEO of policy nonprofit The Climate Center, and UC Berkeley professor Dan Kammen \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/11/california-climate-air-resources-board-scoping-plan/\">argued in an opinion piece\u003c/a> last week for California’s target to be “at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also criticized the state for what they said is “gambling on carbon capture and storage, a failed and expensive technology that perpetuates pollution in frontline communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by email on his way back from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Kammen said that the state’s latest version still relies too much on these technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The harsh grip of petroleum’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2006, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, into law, which mandated that the state produce a climate change road map every five years. The air board released the first plan in 2008, and this is its third update.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board Chair Liane Randolph told reporters that this update “is far and away the most important and the one with the most ambitious targets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to take action to reduce the worst impacts of a changing climate,” Randolph said. “And there is only one way to do that: Break forever our dependance on fossil fuels, the harsh grip of petroleum, and move as fast as we can to a clean energy economy. And that’s what this plan does. It delivers a massive reduction of climate-warming pollution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state estimates it would cut air pollution by 71% and save Californians $200 billion in health costs due to pollution, while creating 4 million new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Delegation From Disaster-Laden Sonoma County, a Test Kitchen for Climate Innovation, Attends COP27",
"headTitle": "Delegation From Disaster-Laden Sonoma County, a Test Kitchen for Climate Innovation, Attends COP27 | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A delegation of mayors, climate scientists, water officials and energy leaders from Sonoma County are representing the Bay Area at this year’s annual U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, underway in Egypt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are touting Sonoma County as one of the world’s testing grounds for big climate change solutions — including water-saving ideas and clean energy projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they have a good argument to make. More than 85% of the electricity that powers homes and businesses in Sonoma County comes from renewable sources, according to county energy officials. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11929864/recycled-water-may-prove-crucial-for-northern-california-amid-ongoing-droughts-climate-change\">Towns like Santa Rosa recycle 98% of their wastewater\u003c/a>, and the Sonoma County Water Agency recently started monitoring the skies for catastrophic storms that could cause climate-induced flooding, using several radar units that predict flood risk with precision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-11/california-cities-ban-new-gas-stations-amid-climate-change\">Rohnert Park banned the building of new gas stations\u003c/a>, a move meant to speed up the transition to electric vehicles. Jackie Elward, the city’s mayor, is in Egypt talking about that and what else Rohnert Park is doing to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that local adaptation solutions to climate change matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have been changing everything to follow the evolution of climate change,” she said. “As leaders, we are supposed to show people the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elward is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and will make her climate case on the world stage as an immigrant and Rohnert Park’s first Black mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County is dealing with its fair share of climate impacts: The same Russian River that \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/28/as-skies-clear-guerneville-residents-assess-flood-damage/\">flooded 3,000 homes and businesses in Guerneville in 2019\u003c/a> nearly dried up this summer after years of drought; since 2017, eight big wildfires have devastated neighborhoods around Santa Rosa and destroyed wineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980742\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1980742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Row and after row of a suburban neighborhood lay in shambles. The homes are no longer intact. The plots are strewn about with debris and char from fire. Naked trees line each street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view shows burned properties in Santa Rosa on Oct. 12, 2017. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers will showcase his community, which is striding toward a fossil fuel-free economy after feeling “the sting of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have boomeranged out of tragedy,” he said. “Our story is using the tragedy to build a better community and one that’s going to be more responsive and be a part of addressing climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sonomacleanpower.org/\">Sonoma Clean Power\u003c/a> is the public power provider for both Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park. The power aggregator uses renewable energy as its default electricity, sourcing clean power for 87% of Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Geof Syphers, CEO for the agency, is not in Egypt but wants the team to relay a message to other local leaders: Take risks. Be a test kitchen for climate ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t want to design your trillion-dollar program and have it fall on its face,” he said. “A big part of what I want to pitch is learning from these experiments and encouraging other local governments to run those experiments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Chris Rogers, mayor of Santa Rosa']‘We have boomeranged out of tragedy. Our story is using the tragedy to build a better community and one that’s going to be more responsive and be a part of addressing climate change.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those experiments was to make the water system in the county 100% carbon-free by 2015; now, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/carbon-free-water\">all of the power that Sonoma Water uses to gather and transport water throughout the region is generated by hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar sources\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma’s carbon-free water system wouldn’t have been possible without the Regional Climate Protection Authority, a Sonoma-wide collaboration that was established in 2009 with \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">a\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">countywide\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">mindset\u003c/a> for solving climate problems. It’s the state’s only regional climate authority; every city and agency in Sonoma County coordinates grants and other planning for climate protection and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That model is worth exploring and sharing with other communities that are looking for a way forward,” said Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from the water agency, which supplies water to more than 600,000 people, will also share in Egypt how they are adapting to atmospheric rivers — big storms that can cause extreme flooding. According to recent research from Bay Area scientists, these storms are expected to get up to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">37% wetter by the end of the century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team will take part in a session on atmospheric rivers, including how the agency is providing reservoir operators with near-term climate forecasts to inform their management decisions using a program called forecast-informed reservoir operations, or FIRO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have enough atmospheric rivers in winter, you’ll slide towards drought. If you have too many, and they’re too big, you head towards flood,” said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Oceanography. Ralph is attending the conference in Egypt, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980721\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980721\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A white radar unit points toward the sky. It looks like a mix between a mushroom and a spaceship. A bright blue sky with wispy clouds is in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A radar unit in Santa Rosa hunts for severe rain. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Water managers at Lake Mendocino used to release water based on demand, independent of forecasted storms. Now, they mostly conserve and wait for a major rainstorm, releasing water from the reservoir at times when they know more is on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program “was able to save 20% of that reservoir’s capacity in a drought year because we were able to hold the water back when you know you don’t have rain coming,” said Brad Sherwood, assistant general manager for Sonoma Water, who is also attending the global conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress allowed the agencies to pilot this technology — really a new way of thinking about water management — at Lake Mendocino. But the idea has spread, and reservoir operators across the West Coast are experimenting with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In partnership with agencies across the region and state, Sonoma Water is creating a Bay Area-wide system of radar units that can better predict the characteristics of a storm, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/aqpi\">Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information system\u003c/a>, funded by the California Department of Water Resources.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Dale Roberts, principal engineer, Sonoma Water']‘We want to give people a heads-up to start preparing for storms sooner than they would and before it’s too late.’[/pullquote]It is a regional system of low-level radar units located in fields and on mountaintops. When fully built and synced up, they will generate local information about how dumping rains could affect the flooding of burn scars, highways, towns, streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ll be able to help the community be prepared to, perhaps, evacuate, put up sandbags or perhaps weatherproof their houses,” said Dale Roberts, principal engineer for the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The white radar units slowly spin, rising around 20 feet into the air and pointing up to the sky, looking like a cross between a mushroom and a spaceship. Agency officials want to understand a storm’s direction, moisture content and speed; they use the radar to hunt for rain that’s on its way within the next few hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists can cross-reference that data against how fast streams or rivers are moving and other factors to forecast the severity of a storm on a community or highway. There are radar units in San José, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz, but the scientists expect that number to grow to seven by the end of 2023, including one in the hills of Alameda County, one in San Mateo County, one facing the ocean in Marin County and another near Geyserville in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to give people a heads-up to start preparing for storms sooner than they would and before it’s too late,” Roberts said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A delegation from Sonoma County will represent the Bay Area at COP27.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A delegation of mayors, climate scientists, water officials and energy leaders from Sonoma County are representing the Bay Area at this year’s annual U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, underway in Egypt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are touting Sonoma County as one of the world’s testing grounds for big climate change solutions — including water-saving ideas and clean energy projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they have a good argument to make. More than 85% of the electricity that powers homes and businesses in Sonoma County comes from renewable sources, according to county energy officials. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11929864/recycled-water-may-prove-crucial-for-northern-california-amid-ongoing-droughts-climate-change\">Towns like Santa Rosa recycle 98% of their wastewater\u003c/a>, and the Sonoma County Water Agency recently started monitoring the skies for catastrophic storms that could cause climate-induced flooding, using several radar units that predict flood risk with precision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-11/california-cities-ban-new-gas-stations-amid-climate-change\">Rohnert Park banned the building of new gas stations\u003c/a>, a move meant to speed up the transition to electric vehicles. Jackie Elward, the city’s mayor, is in Egypt talking about that and what else Rohnert Park is doing to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that local adaptation solutions to climate change matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have been changing everything to follow the evolution of climate change,” she said. “As leaders, we are supposed to show people the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elward is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and will make her climate case on the world stage as an immigrant and Rohnert Park’s first Black mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma County is dealing with its fair share of climate impacts: The same Russian River that \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/28/as-skies-clear-guerneville-residents-assess-flood-damage/\">flooded 3,000 homes and businesses in Guerneville in 2019\u003c/a> nearly dried up this summer after years of drought; since 2017, eight big wildfires have devastated neighborhoods around Santa Rosa and destroyed wineries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980742\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1980742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Row and after row of a suburban neighborhood lay in shambles. The homes are no longer intact. The plots are strewn about with debris and char from fire. Naked trees line each street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/RS27514_GettyImages-860684916-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view shows burned properties in Santa Rosa on Oct. 12, 2017. \u003ccite>(Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers will showcase his community, which is striding toward a fossil fuel-free economy after feeling “the sting of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have boomeranged out of tragedy,” he said. “Our story is using the tragedy to build a better community and one that’s going to be more responsive and be a part of addressing climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sonomacleanpower.org/\">Sonoma Clean Power\u003c/a> is the public power provider for both Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park. The power aggregator uses renewable energy as its default electricity, sourcing clean power for 87% of Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Geof Syphers, CEO for the agency, is not in Egypt but wants the team to relay a message to other local leaders: Take risks. Be a test kitchen for climate ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t want to design your trillion-dollar program and have it fall on its face,” he said. “A big part of what I want to pitch is learning from these experiments and encouraging other local governments to run those experiments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those experiments was to make the water system in the county 100% carbon-free by 2015; now, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/carbon-free-water\">all of the power that Sonoma Water uses to gather and transport water throughout the region is generated by hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar sources\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonoma’s carbon-free water system wouldn’t have been possible without the Regional Climate Protection Authority, a Sonoma-wide collaboration that was established in 2009 with \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">a\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">countywide\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://rcpa.ca.gov/\">mindset\u003c/a> for solving climate problems. It’s the state’s only regional climate authority; every city and agency in Sonoma County coordinates grants and other planning for climate protection and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That model is worth exploring and sharing with other communities that are looking for a way forward,” said Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from the water agency, which supplies water to more than 600,000 people, will also share in Egypt how they are adapting to atmospheric rivers — big storms that can cause extreme flooding. According to recent research from Bay Area scientists, these storms are expected to get up to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">37% wetter by the end of the century\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team will take part in a session on atmospheric rivers, including how the agency is providing reservoir operators with near-term climate forecasts to inform their management decisions using a program called forecast-informed reservoir operations, or FIRO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have enough atmospheric rivers in winter, you’ll slide towards drought. If you have too many, and they’re too big, you head towards flood,” said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Oceanography. Ralph is attending the conference in Egypt, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980721\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980721\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A white radar unit points toward the sky. It looks like a mix between a mushroom and a spaceship. A bright blue sky with wispy clouds is in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/IMG_0863-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A radar unit in Santa Rosa hunts for severe rain. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Water managers at Lake Mendocino used to release water based on demand, independent of forecasted storms. Now, they mostly conserve and wait for a major rainstorm, releasing water from the reservoir at times when they know more is on the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program “was able to save 20% of that reservoir’s capacity in a drought year because we were able to hold the water back when you know you don’t have rain coming,” said Brad Sherwood, assistant general manager for Sonoma Water, who is also attending the global conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress allowed the agencies to pilot this technology — really a new way of thinking about water management — at Lake Mendocino. But the idea has spread, and reservoir operators across the West Coast are experimenting with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In partnership with agencies across the region and state, Sonoma Water is creating a Bay Area-wide system of radar units that can better predict the characteristics of a storm, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/aqpi\">Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information system\u003c/a>, funded by the California Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It is a regional system of low-level radar units located in fields and on mountaintops. When fully built and synced up, they will generate local information about how dumping rains could affect the flooding of burn scars, highways, towns, streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ll be able to help the community be prepared to, perhaps, evacuate, put up sandbags or perhaps weatherproof their houses,” said Dale Roberts, principal engineer for the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The white radar units slowly spin, rising around 20 feet into the air and pointing up to the sky, looking like a cross between a mushroom and a spaceship. Agency officials want to understand a storm’s direction, moisture content and speed; they use the radar to hunt for rain that’s on its way within the next few hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists can cross-reference that data against how fast streams or rivers are moving and other factors to forecast the severity of a storm on a community or highway. There are radar units in San José, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz, but the scientists expect that number to grow to seven by the end of 2023, including one in the hills of Alameda County, one in San Mateo County, one facing the ocean in Marin County and another near Geyserville in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "SF Supervisors Unhappy With City's Lack of Action to Protect Bayview-Hunters Point Residents From Toxic Sea Level Rise",
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"content": "\u003cp>A committee of San Francisco supervisors Thursday challenged Mayor London Breed’s assertion that the city understands the risk of climate change-related flooding in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee reviewed a June report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/2022%20CGJ%20Report_Buried%20Problems%20and%20a%20Buried%20Process%20-%20The%20Hunters%20Point%20Naval%20Shipyard%20in%20a%20Time%20of%20Climate%20Change.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying\u003c/span>\u003c/a>: The city is not acting fast enough on how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination and spread it in neighborhoods near the Cold War-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Supervisor Dean Preston']‘Seven recommendations from the Civil Grand Jury. Seven responses from the mayor’s office that the city will not implement them. I don’t think that’s a good place to be.’[/pullquote]The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, meaning it’s a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste. Along this bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point, where radioactive contamination remains buried in the soil, lies one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco Bay shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Committee members Dean Preston and Connie Chan and Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton all but chastised Mayor Breed, who did not attend the meeting, for not supporting the jury’s findings. In August, the mayor issued a letter saying \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/Hunters%20Point%20Response_MYR_081122.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">she disagrees partially or wholly with the findings\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seven recommendations from the Civil Grand Jury. Seven responses from the mayor’s office that the city will not implement them,” Preston said. “I don’t think that’s a good place to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='science_1979614,science_1980255']He said that doesn’t mean the city has to agree to all of the jury’s recommendations, but said the issue is serious, and that the mayor’s response is “unusual” and “hopefully that can be revisited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Civil Grand Jury found the city, the U.S. Navy and the regulators overseeing the Hunters Point Superfund site have not adequately accounted \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979645/see-a-map-of-hazardous-sites-at-risk-from-rising-seas\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for how rising groundwater could mix with toxics and expose residents to it\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors recommended the city pay for an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, using multiple sea level rise scenarios. Their report also recommended convening a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests from residents and the city to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sara Miles, a member of the civil grand jury, told the supervisors there are many minds across city departments thinking about groundwater rise as a result of climate change; it’s just that “Hunters Point is artificially excluded from their oversight or their participation in the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='science_1979658']She said the city needs additional staff across all departments if it intends to focus on how groundwater rise could affect Bayview-Hunters Point or other neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re concerned that they may miss other similar problems because there aren’t enough of them, and they don’t have a range of expertise,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee invited all the regulatory agencies overseeing the Superfund site — the Navy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board — to the meeting, but none of their representatives attended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The U.S. Navy declined to show up today,” Walton said. “They sent a letter rather than show up for the people of this city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan Philip, health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, did show up. And the supervisors grilled her with questions. Does she feel the department has the opportunity to increase staffing to monitor groundwater rise? How involved is her department in the Navy’s process? What actions had her department taken to analyze concerns around sea level rise prior to the jury’s report?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philip told the supervisors the agency has a dedicated staff person, but with the scale of the issue, Walton told her more are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally believe that the least the department can do is probably put some resources together to have more eyes on the monitoring of additional science,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979637\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in the Bayview sit behind the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When asked how much control Philip’s department has over the cleanup, she responded by saying the agency does not have regulatory power over the shipyard but will offer recommendations and comments when allowed, like during the five-year review of the Navy cleanup in the spring of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to the Civil Grand Jury’s message that public information about the toxic sites is difficult to find and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979658/poorly-prepared-sf-civil-grand-jury-slams-city-for-not-protecting-residents-from-toxic-contamination\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unintelligible\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Phillip said that, with the upcoming five-year review by the Navy, her goal is “make it as understandable as possible” for the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walton said he is pushing for a 100% clean-up of the site and will ensure that takes place before the land can be redeveloped into housing or businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members pleaded with the supervisors to take action. Arieann Harrison with the Marie Harrison Community Foundation said independent testing has found that residents, including herself, already have high levels of contaminants such as uranium in their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I tested positive for that stuff, I’m pretty sure that a lot of other residents will test positive as well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Marcy Adelman, a psychologist and a resident of District 10, asked the board to develop recommendations that will support community health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re on a precipice here, and if we don’t act, it will be too late,” she said. “The city has to get in the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the committee, the Navy says it disagrees with the jury report and has accounted for both sea level rise and groundwater rise. Officials wrote the Navy is “methodical in its cleanup approach, which is based on the best available data, science and engineering.” Officials also wrote the next five-year review will “include an evaluation of the potential effects of sea level rise and associated groundwater elevation changes on the remedies currently in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Connie Chan asked the deputy city attorney to explore whether the supervisors can subpoena the parties if the Navy and other regulatory agencies decide not to attend future meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we appreciate the written responses, it is unfortunate that the regulatory bodies, as well as the Navy, cannot be here to present the data in person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supervisors will release recommendations for the city at a Sept. 29 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for eventual development into a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A committee of San Francisco supervisors Thursday challenged Mayor London Breed’s assertion that the city understands the risk of climate change-related flooding in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee reviewed a June report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/2022%20CGJ%20Report_Buried%20Problems%20and%20a%20Buried%20Process%20-%20The%20Hunters%20Point%20Naval%20Shipyard%20in%20a%20Time%20of%20Climate%20Change.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying\u003c/span>\u003c/a>: The city is not acting fast enough on how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination and spread it in neighborhoods near the Cold War-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, meaning it’s a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste. Along this bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point, where radioactive contamination remains buried in the soil, lies one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco Bay shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Committee members Dean Preston and Connie Chan and Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton all but chastised Mayor Breed, who did not attend the meeting, for not supporting the jury’s findings. In August, the mayor issued a letter saying \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/Hunters%20Point%20Response_MYR_081122.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">she disagrees partially or wholly with the findings\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seven recommendations from the Civil Grand Jury. Seven responses from the mayor’s office that the city will not implement them,” Preston said. “I don’t think that’s a good place to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He said that doesn’t mean the city has to agree to all of the jury’s recommendations, but said the issue is serious, and that the mayor’s response is “unusual” and “hopefully that can be revisited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Civil Grand Jury found the city, the U.S. Navy and the regulators overseeing the Hunters Point Superfund site have not adequately accounted \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979645/see-a-map-of-hazardous-sites-at-risk-from-rising-seas\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for how rising groundwater could mix with toxics and expose residents to it\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors recommended the city pay for an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, using multiple sea level rise scenarios. Their report also recommended convening a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests from residents and the city to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sara Miles, a member of the civil grand jury, told the supervisors there are many minds across city departments thinking about groundwater rise as a result of climate change; it’s just that “Hunters Point is artificially excluded from their oversight or their participation in the process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She said the city needs additional staff across all departments if it intends to focus on how groundwater rise could affect Bayview-Hunters Point or other neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re concerned that they may miss other similar problems because there aren’t enough of them, and they don’t have a range of expertise,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee invited all the regulatory agencies overseeing the Superfund site — the Navy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board — to the meeting, but none of their representatives attended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The U.S. Navy declined to show up today,” Walton said. “They sent a letter rather than show up for the people of this city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan Philip, health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, did show up. And the supervisors grilled her with questions. Does she feel the department has the opportunity to increase staffing to monitor groundwater rise? How involved is her department in the Navy’s process? What actions had her department taken to analyze concerns around sea level rise prior to the jury’s report?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Philip told the supervisors the agency has a dedicated staff person, but with the scale of the issue, Walton told her more are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally believe that the least the department can do is probably put some resources together to have more eyes on the monitoring of additional science,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979637\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in the Bayview sit behind the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When asked how much control Philip’s department has over the cleanup, she responded by saying the agency does not have regulatory power over the shipyard but will offer recommendations and comments when allowed, like during the five-year review of the Navy cleanup in the spring of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to the Civil Grand Jury’s message that public information about the toxic sites is difficult to find and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979658/poorly-prepared-sf-civil-grand-jury-slams-city-for-not-protecting-residents-from-toxic-contamination\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unintelligible\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Phillip said that, with the upcoming five-year review by the Navy, her goal is “make it as understandable as possible” for the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walton said he is pushing for a 100% clean-up of the site and will ensure that takes place before the land can be redeveloped into housing or businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members pleaded with the supervisors to take action. Arieann Harrison with the Marie Harrison Community Foundation said independent testing has found that residents, including herself, already have high levels of contaminants such as uranium in their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I tested positive for that stuff, I’m pretty sure that a lot of other residents will test positive as well,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Marcy Adelman, a psychologist and a resident of District 10, asked the board to develop recommendations that will support community health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re on a precipice here, and if we don’t act, it will be too late,” she said. “The city has to get in the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the committee, the Navy says it disagrees with the jury report and has accounted for both sea level rise and groundwater rise. Officials wrote the Navy is “methodical in its cleanup approach, which is based on the best available data, science and engineering.” Officials also wrote the next five-year review will “include an evaluation of the potential effects of sea level rise and associated groundwater elevation changes on the remedies currently in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Connie Chan asked the deputy city attorney to explore whether the supervisors can subpoena the parties if the Navy and other regulatory agencies decide not to attend future meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we appreciate the written responses, it is unfortunate that the regulatory bodies, as well as the Navy, cannot be here to present the data in person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The supervisors will release recommendations for the city at a Sept. 29 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for eventual development into a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "See a Map of Bay Area Hazardous Sites at Risk From Rising Seas",
"headTitle": "See a Map of Bay Area Hazardous Sites at Risk From Rising Seas | KQED",
"content": "\u003ch5>Bay Area Hazardous Sites and 2100 Sea Level Rise\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=3e86f6c8e421434984af53fe450e9b3c&extent=-122.5783,37.3195,-121.8292,37.9367&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 900 hazardous sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup areas and other facilities — across California could be inundated with ocean water and groundwater by the end of the century, according to climate scientists at UCLA and UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is presenting new risks that can lead to excess releases of hazardous materials from these highly industrialized parts of our coastline,” said UCLA’s Lara Cushing. “Our analysis also shows that communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing and UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, both environmental health scientists, last year launched an interactive tool, \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, mapping California’s hazardous sites that could be inundated by sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first iteration of the project looked at middle-of-the-line climate scenarios based on models used by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities/\"> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing feedback from shoreline residents and local officials in a series of virtual community workshops that the work was informative but didn’t estimate the riskiest scenarios, \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the scientists have updated their project with a more extreme scenario\u003c/a> in which ice sheets in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/antarctic-ice-shelves-are-shattering-how-fast-will-seas-rise\">West Antarctica collapse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this occurs, San Francisco Bay could rise by 10.1 feet by 2100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Differences in scientific modeling scenarios before the year 2050 are minor, but they diverge significantly after mid-century. The results depend on greenhouse gas emissions, which human beings will determine by the rate they burn fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to consider the worst-case scenario because, unfortunately, our leaders, especially at the federal level, have not risen to the challenge of addressing climate change,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also used federal groundwater data to examine how rising ocean water would drive freshwater up from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research highlights the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and a cluster of other hazardous sites in the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point. And dozens of power plants, refineries, landfills and other industrial sites line communities like East Palo Alto, Richmond, Oakland and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Sea level rise] can enhance the risk of groundwater encroachment, particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil, or even in the groundwater,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is especially important to understand, she said, for places where toxic contamination is in \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_capping.pdf\">soil with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials\u003c/a> — holding it in place to protect the public and the environment. The problem with these caps: Rising groundwater from below could eat away at the pollution, spread it to other areas or bring that contaminated water aboveground, exposing people and San Francisco Bay itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientist’s findings showcase significant risk. But they note that understanding the effect of sea level rise and groundwater encroachment on each hazardous facility will take site-specific data. This could include the level of contamination, the depth of groundwater, any existing caps, or sea walls and other protective measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to develop these tools because you want to get all of this data together in one place,” Morello-Frosch said. “There needs to be some coordinated effort to begin to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Data sources\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Toxic Tides team provided KQED with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">the map’s data layers\u003c/a>, which feature the high-risk aversion scenario for sea level rise as described in \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the latest state guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5bd9f318e4b0b3fc5cec20ed\">Groundwater data\u003c/a> originates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The data layer shows 3 meters (9.8 feet), which corresponds most closely to the degree of sea level rise for the high-risk aversion scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood risk projections are based on rising sea levels, tides and storm surge. Site-specific details about groundwater contamination are not included in these findings. Scientists derived hazardous site data from federal databases that track landfills, toxic cleanup sites, refineries, sewage treatment plants and other sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The databases include the U.S. EPA Facility Registry Service, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s U.S. Energy Atlas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, and the Enverus database of oil and gas well permits. The authors say “a lack of groundwater data coupled with imprecise estimates of facility boundaries may lead to potential underestimates of the number of at-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings do not include an exhaustive list of all potentially contaminated sites, like underground storage tanks or other industrial sites with contamination. Find more information on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s \u003ca href=\"https://explorer.adaptingtorisingtides.org/home\"> Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer \u003c/a> or the San Francisco Baykeeper \u003ca href=\"https://baykeeper.org/shoreview/pollution.html\"> Sea Level Rise and Pollution Risk to the Bay \u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch5>Bay Area Hazardous Sites and 2100 Sea Level Rise\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=3e86f6c8e421434984af53fe450e9b3c&extent=-122.5783,37.3195,-121.8292,37.9367&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 900 hazardous sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup areas and other facilities — across California could be inundated with ocean water and groundwater by the end of the century, according to climate scientists at UCLA and UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is presenting new risks that can lead to excess releases of hazardous materials from these highly industrialized parts of our coastline,” said UCLA’s Lara Cushing. “Our analysis also shows that communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing and UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, both environmental health scientists, last year launched an interactive tool, \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, mapping California’s hazardous sites that could be inundated by sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first iteration of the project looked at middle-of-the-line climate scenarios based on models used by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities/\"> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing feedback from shoreline residents and local officials in a series of virtual community workshops that the work was informative but didn’t estimate the riskiest scenarios, \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the scientists have updated their project with a more extreme scenario\u003c/a> in which ice sheets in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/antarctic-ice-shelves-are-shattering-how-fast-will-seas-rise\">West Antarctica collapse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this occurs, San Francisco Bay could rise by 10.1 feet by 2100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Differences in scientific modeling scenarios before the year 2050 are minor, but they diverge significantly after mid-century. The results depend on greenhouse gas emissions, which human beings will determine by the rate they burn fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to consider the worst-case scenario because, unfortunately, our leaders, especially at the federal level, have not risen to the challenge of addressing climate change,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also used federal groundwater data to examine how rising ocean water would drive freshwater up from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research highlights the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and a cluster of other hazardous sites in the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point. And dozens of power plants, refineries, landfills and other industrial sites line communities like East Palo Alto, Richmond, Oakland and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Sea level rise] can enhance the risk of groundwater encroachment, particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil, or even in the groundwater,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is especially important to understand, she said, for places where toxic contamination is in \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_capping.pdf\">soil with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials\u003c/a> — holding it in place to protect the public and the environment. The problem with these caps: Rising groundwater from below could eat away at the pollution, spread it to other areas or bring that contaminated water aboveground, exposing people and San Francisco Bay itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientist’s findings showcase significant risk. But they note that understanding the effect of sea level rise and groundwater encroachment on each hazardous facility will take site-specific data. This could include the level of contamination, the depth of groundwater, any existing caps, or sea walls and other protective measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to develop these tools because you want to get all of this data together in one place,” Morello-Frosch said. “There needs to be some coordinated effort to begin to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Data sources\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Toxic Tides team provided KQED with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">the map’s data layers\u003c/a>, which feature the high-risk aversion scenario for sea level rise as described in \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the latest state guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5bd9f318e4b0b3fc5cec20ed\">Groundwater data\u003c/a> originates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The data layer shows 3 meters (9.8 feet), which corresponds most closely to the degree of sea level rise for the high-risk aversion scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood risk projections are based on rising sea levels, tides and storm surge. Site-specific details about groundwater contamination are not included in these findings. Scientists derived hazardous site data from federal databases that track landfills, toxic cleanup sites, refineries, sewage treatment plants and other sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The databases include the U.S. EPA Facility Registry Service, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s U.S. Energy Atlas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, and the Enverus database of oil and gas well permits. The authors say “a lack of groundwater data coupled with imprecise estimates of facility boundaries may lead to potential underestimates of the number of at-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings do not include an exhaustive list of all potentially contaminated sites, like underground storage tanks or other industrial sites with contamination. Find more information on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s \u003ca href=\"https://explorer.adaptingtorisingtides.org/home\"> Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer \u003c/a> or the San Francisco Baykeeper \u003ca href=\"https://baykeeper.org/shoreview/pollution.html\"> Sea Level Rise and Pollution Risk to the Bay \u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Poorly Prepared': SF Civil Grand Jury Slams City for Not Protecting Residents From Toxic Contamination",
"headTitle": "‘Poorly Prepared’: SF Civil Grand Jury Slams City for Not Protecting Residents From Toxic Contamination | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Standing atop the Polk Street steps of San Francisco City Hall, Arieann Harrison chanted into a megaphone alongside other Bayview-Hunters Point residents, begging city officials to value their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say, ‘Can we,’ you say, ‘Live,’” Harrison called out. “Can we!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live!” the crowd shouted back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally earlier this month followed a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying: The city is not acting on — is barely even thinking about — how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination, spreading it in neighborhoods near the World War II-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back,” said Harrison. As the founder of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, she fights for people’s health in this part of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report said in blunt and emphatic language that neither the city, nor the Navy, nor any agency involved in Hunters Point has accounted for the severe risk that human-caused climate change poses to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Arieann Harrison, founder, Marie Harrison Community Foundation'] ‘I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury “found that rising groundwater in the Shipyard could interact in dangerous ways with future infrastructure, and with hazardous toxins the Navy plans to leave buried in the soil. We wanted to know if this new science and these risks had been taken into account by the City, by OCII [the San Francisco Office of Community Infrastructure and Investment], or by the Navy and its regulators. We found that they had not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors wrote that the city is “poorly prepared” to protect the health and safety of Bayview-Hunters Point residents, and “cannot cut corners in an era of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Harrison and others who live in the neighborhood around the shipyard, the report validated their message to city officials: that the threats from toxic contamination and climate change are real and demand lasting solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to secure the future for us as residents and for our kids,” said Harrison. “I am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I want them to not live through a legacy of toxicity. I don’t want them to worry about all the things they have to worry about in our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toxic legacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png\" alt=\"A photo illustration with torn up pieces of white and grey pieces of paper. Each has an excerpt from a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portions of the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report ‘Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change.’ \u003ccite>(Sarah Khalida Mohamad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point is one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco shoreline. The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of the last century, the Navy decontaminated ships there after atomic bomb tests and established the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. Research and other activities contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals, and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for the eventual development of a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the problem is that the cleanup didn’t prepare the site for the worst of rising tides. The Navy’s most recent report on the cleanup describes how, at many sites, toxic contamination that’s buried in the soil is held in place with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials. The problem: Rising sea levels both flood on top of the land and press inward under the surface, pushing up the groundwater underneath this buried contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch says caps over toxic contamination may not hold as the bay presses groundwater upward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you start having groundwater encroachment, those caps of legacy sites can be breached,” she noted. “So it can come up, and it can move to different areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As groundwater rises, the buried pollution can spread throughout the community, exposing people and the bay to contaminants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An ‘impenetrable system’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979681\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sliver of greenish blue baywater in the foreground. Giant silver metal cranes sit upon a rock levee. Behind the cranes is an apartment laden hill. The mostly white apartments appear to be multiple stories.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in Hunters Point are seen through gantry cranes from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report is an indictment of the city and the regulatory agencies overseeing what happens at the Hunters Point Superfund site — that is, the Navy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report says lack of attention, inaccessible documents, technical language and poor communication among the agencies involved in cleanup at the Superfund site leave residents of Bayview-Hunters Point and the city unacceptably vulnerable to contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a panel of 19 citizens who don’t work in government. They serve for a year to investigate and issue reports on significant local government actions or, as they make clear in this case, government lack of action.\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='San Francisco Civil Grand Jury']‘Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>“The Jury believes that the essence of the City’s disconnect from the Shipyard cleanup lies in the lack of attention paid to it by leaders throughout the City,” the jurors wrote. “Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the jurors wrote that city leaders have not paid much attention to the cleanup itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite the enormous stakes of the process governing the Shipyard cleanup,” the report says, “there is little understanding of the process throughout the City, or even that the City can influence this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To come to their conclusions, the members of the grand jury read reams and reams of documents, some of which they said were “impenetrable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors wrote that because reports on the cleanup are “arcane and very difficult to understand,” it was hard for them to determine what work the Navy had completed. As a result, they wrote, “the cleanup governance process is inaccessible, even invisible” to city leaders or citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hidden inside this impenetrable system, [the agencies in charge of the cleanup] are engaging with important questions that concern anyone who might someday live in the Shipyard,” the jurors wrote. “They should certainly concern the leaders of San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report offers seven recommendations for San Francisco leaders. Among them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fund an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, under multiple sea level rise scenarios.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For that committee, by March 1, 2023, prepare a report on its recommendations based on the groundwater study and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the mayor and the Department of Public Health.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“This is a solvable problem,” the jurors wrote. “And there is still hope that groundwater rise will be addressed in the Shipyard before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>City officials respond \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 634px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979668 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps of the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point side by side. One shows where current groundwater is at and the other shows where groundwater will move to with four feet of sea level rise. The darker the color the closer to the surface the groudnwater is.\" width=\"634\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg 634w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp-160x193.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco officials say they are studying where groundwater rise could happen across the city. But the civil grand jury found they aren’t examining how that rise could affect toxic contamination in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003ccite>(City and County of San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report 'Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton denied requests for an interview for this story. City staff emailed a statement that said officials welcome the report and will carefully consider the recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email pointed to a study the city is working on in collaboration with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. That study will evaluate how sea level rise will affect flooding and groundwater. A preliminary summary of the study says that sea level rise can push up groundwater as far as three miles inland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also noted it intends to conduct a study analyzing “known contaminated sites and the potential for rising groundwater to mobilize contaminants.” But the city hasn’t found funding for that study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the grand jury report says the study underway won’t be adequate to guide critical decisions about protecting residents in Bayview-Hunters Point. “The City urgently needs better, more detailed predictions of how groundwater will react to sea level rise at this site,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors got a preview of the study; the example foreshadows 4 feet of sea level rise — less than half of the end-of-the-century, worst-case scenario laid out in \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the state’s sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Standing atop the Polk Street steps of San Francisco City Hall, Arieann Harrison chanted into a megaphone alongside other Bayview-Hunters Point residents, begging city officials to value their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say, ‘Can we,’ you say, ‘Live,’” Harrison called out. “Can we!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live!” the crowd shouted back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally earlier this month followed a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying: The city is not acting on — is barely even thinking about — how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination, spreading it in neighborhoods near the World War II-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back,” said Harrison. As the founder of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, she fights for people’s health in this part of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report said in blunt and emphatic language that neither the city, nor the Navy, nor any agency involved in Hunters Point has accounted for the severe risk that human-caused climate change poses to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury “found that rising groundwater in the Shipyard could interact in dangerous ways with future infrastructure, and with hazardous toxins the Navy plans to leave buried in the soil. We wanted to know if this new science and these risks had been taken into account by the City, by OCII [the San Francisco Office of Community Infrastructure and Investment], or by the Navy and its regulators. We found that they had not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors wrote that the city is “poorly prepared” to protect the health and safety of Bayview-Hunters Point residents, and “cannot cut corners in an era of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Harrison and others who live in the neighborhood around the shipyard, the report validated their message to city officials: that the threats from toxic contamination and climate change are real and demand lasting solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to secure the future for us as residents and for our kids,” said Harrison. “I am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I want them to not live through a legacy of toxicity. I don’t want them to worry about all the things they have to worry about in our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toxic legacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png\" alt=\"A photo illustration with torn up pieces of white and grey pieces of paper. Each has an excerpt from a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portions of the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report ‘Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change.’ \u003ccite>(Sarah Khalida Mohamad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point is one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco shoreline. The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of the last century, the Navy decontaminated ships there after atomic bomb tests and established the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. Research and other activities contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals, and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for the eventual development of a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the problem is that the cleanup didn’t prepare the site for the worst of rising tides. The Navy’s most recent report on the cleanup describes how, at many sites, toxic contamination that’s buried in the soil is held in place with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials. The problem: Rising sea levels both flood on top of the land and press inward under the surface, pushing up the groundwater underneath this buried contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch says caps over toxic contamination may not hold as the bay presses groundwater upward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you start having groundwater encroachment, those caps of legacy sites can be breached,” she noted. “So it can come up, and it can move to different areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As groundwater rises, the buried pollution can spread throughout the community, exposing people and the bay to contaminants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An ‘impenetrable system’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979681\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sliver of greenish blue baywater in the foreground. Giant silver metal cranes sit upon a rock levee. Behind the cranes is an apartment laden hill. The mostly white apartments appear to be multiple stories.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in Hunters Point are seen through gantry cranes from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report is an indictment of the city and the regulatory agencies overseeing what happens at the Hunters Point Superfund site — that is, the Navy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report says lack of attention, inaccessible documents, technical language and poor communication among the agencies involved in cleanup at the Superfund site leave residents of Bayview-Hunters Point and the city unacceptably vulnerable to contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a panel of 19 citizens who don’t work in government. They serve for a year to investigate and issue reports on significant local government actions or, as they make clear in this case, government lack of action.\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>“The Jury believes that the essence of the City’s disconnect from the Shipyard cleanup lies in the lack of attention paid to it by leaders throughout the City,” the jurors wrote. “Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the jurors wrote that city leaders have not paid much attention to the cleanup itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite the enormous stakes of the process governing the Shipyard cleanup,” the report says, “there is little understanding of the process throughout the City, or even that the City can influence this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To come to their conclusions, the members of the grand jury read reams and reams of documents, some of which they said were “impenetrable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors wrote that because reports on the cleanup are “arcane and very difficult to understand,” it was hard for them to determine what work the Navy had completed. As a result, they wrote, “the cleanup governance process is inaccessible, even invisible” to city leaders or citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hidden inside this impenetrable system, [the agencies in charge of the cleanup] are engaging with important questions that concern anyone who might someday live in the Shipyard,” the jurors wrote. “They should certainly concern the leaders of San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report offers seven recommendations for San Francisco leaders. Among them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fund an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, under multiple sea level rise scenarios.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For that committee, by March 1, 2023, prepare a report on its recommendations based on the groundwater study and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the mayor and the Department of Public Health.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“This is a solvable problem,” the jurors wrote. “And there is still hope that groundwater rise will be addressed in the Shipyard before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>City officials respond \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 634px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979668 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps of the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point side by side. One shows where current groundwater is at and the other shows where groundwater will move to with four feet of sea level rise. The darker the color the closer to the surface the groudnwater is.\" width=\"634\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg 634w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp-160x193.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco officials say they are studying where groundwater rise could happen across the city. But the civil grand jury found they aren’t examining how that rise could affect toxic contamination in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003ccite>(City and County of San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report 'Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton denied requests for an interview for this story. City staff emailed a statement that said officials welcome the report and will carefully consider the recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email pointed to a study the city is working on in collaboration with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. That study will evaluate how sea level rise will affect flooding and groundwater. A preliminary summary of the study says that sea level rise can push up groundwater as far as three miles inland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also noted it intends to conduct a study analyzing “known contaminated sites and the potential for rising groundwater to mobilize contaminants.” But the city hasn’t found funding for that study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the grand jury report says the study underway won’t be adequate to guide critical decisions about protecting residents in Bayview-Hunters Point. “The City urgently needs better, more detailed predictions of how groundwater will react to sea level rise at this site,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors got a preview of the study; the example foreshadows 4 feet of sea level rise — less than half of the end-of-the-century, worst-case scenario laid out in \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the state’s sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Climate Rules Won't Be Undercut by Supreme Court's Ruling, Experts Say",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to drastically limit the power of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate planet-warming emissions\u003c/a> upsets environmentalists, but experts say it doesn’t necessarily pose a threat to California’s ability to maintain its own stringent greenhouse gas reduction rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 6-3 vote in the West Virginia v. EPA decision marks a significant change in how the federal EPA can exercise power to address climate change, making it clear that without approval from Congress, the agency is limited in how it can set national standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bigger question now is how the ruling could affect the control all federal agencies have in imposing regulations and how states like California — which have historically taken a stronger approach to tackling climate change — could be affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Air Resources Board, which oversees the state’s efforts to reduce air pollution, told CalMatters the agency agrees that the state’s policies and regulatory agencies now play an even more critical role in the fight against climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several experts say the ruling would not hinder the state’s efforts. Still, California’s efforts alone can’t solve a global problem, said attorney Sean Donahue, whose firm, Donahue, Goldberg & Littleton, wrote a brief in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has its own state laws that are regulating carbon dioxide emissions, so in that respect, it matters less to California directly,” Donahue said. “However, we’re all affected by climate change. California is doing a lot to try to reduce its own emissions, but we won’t have a safe climate unless everybody pitches in, and the federal government’s efforts are really important there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s authority to independently set stronger tailpipe emissions standards than those of the federal government was granted half a century ago, when Congress passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/evolution-clean-air-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Clean Air Act in 1970\u003c/a>. The law included special conditions for California to help the state address its severe smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some experts worry that Thursday’s ruling could lead federal agencies to take a more cautious and less effective approach to addressing major threats to public health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The opinion takes away one of the EPA’s tools to address climate change going forward,” said UCLA law professor Blake Emerson. “But the broader significance is that it’s going to provide a precedent for both the Supreme Court itself and the lower courts to strike down federal regulations, both with regards to the environment and with regards to market regulation and public health and safety if those courts think that the agency has taken a really major policy position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Climate Change Coverage' tag='climate-change']Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, agreed, adding that “regulations that affect significant swaths of the economy that are not explicitly authorized by Congress with very specific and clear statutory language, are especially vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several state leaders on Thursday maintained that California would continue to lead the nation in setting its own rules to reduce emissions, affirming that the ruling would not impede the state’s efforts to combat climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s ruling makes it even more imperative that California and other states succeed in our efforts to combat the climate crisis,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “California will remain the tentpole for this movement with record investments and aggressive policies to reduce pollution, to protect people from extreme weather, and to leave our children and grandchildren a world that’s better off than we found it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Supreme Court’s decision “misguided and gravely disappointing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are running out of time in the fight against climate change, and we need all levels of government working together to take action before it’s too late,” he said in a statement.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>“In California, we have strong programs in place to address climate change, and we will not go backwards. With the future of our planet at stake, our commitment to tackling the climate crisis cannot waver.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"order": 1
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"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?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
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