CP&DR

Developer-Hired CEQA Consultant Could Be An Endangered Species

Mar 1, 2003

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 18 No. 03 Mar 2003

More than a decade ago, a state appellate court ruled that developers could hire their own consultants to prepare environmental impact reports required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Now, prompted by events surrounding the controversial Newhall Ranch development in Los Angeles County, a Southern California legislator has launched an effort to outlaw the practice.

San Diego Provides Example Of Habitat Planning Pitfalls, Promise

Feb 1, 2003

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 18 No. 02 Feb 2003

Political conflict is common wherever urban development pushes into habitat occupied by imperiled wildlife. Every state and region has its own battlegrounds, but nowhere in the United States is the collision between human population pressures and natural ecosystems more pronounced than on California's rapidly growing south coast. The conflict is particularly acute in San Diego County, a biological hotspot with a booming human population.

Water Policy Rises To Top Of State's Agenda — Again

Jan 1, 2003

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 18 No. 01 Jan 2003

As 2002 was drawing to a close, forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that warming of the western Pacific heralded the arrival of an El Niño weather pattern. The influence of this periodically recurring phenomenon usually means heavier-than-usual winter rains for California. But even if California gets more than its average precipitation this winter, water scarcity — or at least the possibility of it — will dominate the state's environmental agenda during the next

California Tries To Kick Colorado River Addiction

Dec 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 12 Dec 2002

At least some blame for one of the most complicated and intractable water-policy conundrums in the West can be laid fairly at the feet of Charles Rockwood and George Chaffey.

White House Task Force Pursuses ‘Modernization'

Nov 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 11 Nov 2002

In his first official act of 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law. The symbolism is obvious: The 1970s marked a watershed in the federal government's approach to the environment, and NEPA did more than any other single piece of legislation enacted during that decade to reshape the relationship between Americans and their air, water and land.

Water District Tries Natural Approach to Treating Urban Runoff

Oct 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 10 Oct 2002

In the years following passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972, counties and cities across the country found themselves forced to comply with restrictions on the release of municipal sewage and industrial waste. For the most part, they accomplished this by cracking down on polluting factories and by investing billions of dollars in advanced mechanical filtration and chemical disinfectant technology.

Auburn Dam Dies 1,000 Deaths; This Time It Might Be For Good

Sep 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 09 Sep 2002

A ferocious debate that has raged for more than three decades over the fate of a river in the Sierra Nevada foothills appears likely to end soon with a whimper.

Coastal Landowners Fight To Keep Out The Riffraff

Aug 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 08 Aug 2002

Movies, music and television have created a global image of California as the land of sunshine and surf. Like many caricatures, the mystique has a nugget of truth at its core: Californians do love their beaches.

West Coast's Largest Wetlands Restoration Project Moves Forward

Jul 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 07 Jul 2002, Wetlands

To get some idea of how much San Francisco Bay has changed during the past two centuries, unfold a map and trace the estuary's amoeboid outline as it squeezes through Carquinez Strait into the Delta's confusion of sloughs and marshes. There, 33 miles inland from the Golden Gate but still bathed in tidewater, lie a pair of features named Grizzly Bay and Grizzly Island.

Water Bond Would Fund Environmental Projects

Jun 1, 2002

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 17 No. 06 Jun 2002

Water bonds are as familiar as summer reruns to California voters, who have considered at least 16 of them on statewide ballots since 1960 — the year voters narrowly approved spending $1.75 billion to build the State Water Project. On November 5, however, the electorate is likely to consider a water bond measure that is different from all predecessors.

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