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Category: Environment

  • Disappointed with Congressman Ro Khanna’s endorsement of Eric Jones for CD04

    Eric Jones is not the candidate he purports to be.

    By Paul Gepts

    I am particularly disappointed that Congressman Ro Khanna chose to endorse candidate Eric Jones, a Fall 2026 candidate in the California CD04. I am an independent voter and, since April 2026, I have done my homework about the candidates involved, thus covering both the Primary Election (June) and Mid-term Election (November).  I attended the town hall meetings of video calls organized by the main candidates (Eric Jones on 09/19 and 10/26; and Mike Thompson 0n 09/01) and the debate between these candidates organized by the LWV in Woodland on 10/08. I also downloaded the candidates’ financial statements to the Federal Election Commission. I have no connection to either campaign, but as a citizen I believe I should become informed and engaged.

    Eric Jones is not the candidate he purports to be, a Democratic progressive representing the fourth district of this state. His link to this district is tenuous at best: he owns a house in Napa (in addition to a house in San Francisco), but has never been a candidate for any office at any level in this district. Actually, he voted in San Francisco until 2025. According to FEC filings, most of his funding comes from outside the district. The legal representation of his campaign is provided by the Rutan & Tucker law firm with offices in Newport Beach (47th district) and San Francisco (11th district). When I  questioned his link to this district at a town hall meeting, he immediately replied by calling me a “plant”. Let it be very clear that I am not a plant in any way, as mentioned earlier. Instead, Jones’s reaction shows he does not tolerate informed questions and does not have the right temperament to be the representative of a congressional district as diverse as the 4th.

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  • Sierra Club calls for a Subsequent EIR for the Vulcan Mining Permit Extension

    [Note: the following memo was shared for posting on the Davisite]

    To:       Clancy McConnell, David vanRijn
    cc:       Yolo County Planning Commission (via Jeff Anderson), Phil Pogledich
    From:  Alan Pryor, Chair, Sierra Club Yolano Group
    Date:  October 26, 2026
    Re:      A Subsequent EIR is Required for the Vulcan Mining Permit Extension instead of just an Addendum to the Previous EIR

    ___________________________________________________

    Executive Summary

    Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), when a project changes or new information emerges after an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is already certified, lead agencies must use a specific legal framework to determine if further environmental review is necessary. Yolo County has determined that just an Addendum to the 1998 SEIR for the Syar-Vulcan Madison Mine is required to extend the operating permit for that mine from 2029 to 2049.

    We strongly disagree with this determination believing instead that a Subsequent EIR must be prepared. This is because new information has arisen regarding a plethora of more severe adverse environmental impacts that have occurred at the Vulcan and other Cache Creek off-channel mining sites since the 1998 certification of the SEIR for the Vulcan Madison mining project. This new information requires disclosure and analysis in a Subsequent EIR subject to public circulation.

    These adverse environmental impacts for which additional information has arisen include widespread unresolved methyl mercury contamination of the deep wet impoundment pits at the Madison mine and other mining sites along Cache Creek site.

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  • Willowgrove – An Exceptional Housing Project

    By Eileen M. Samitz

    Willowgrove is a 232-acre housing project with 1,250 units on Covell Boulevard, across from Harper Junior High School. The project will finally be on the November 3rd ballot as Measure W after many long delays since informal conversations about the project first began over 10 years ago.

    The good news is that the project has benefited from much public input, and the resulting project has been worth waiting for. Willowgrove has many amenities and features that make it a desirable project for Davis. It was designed for Davis with a lot of direct input from the community.

    The Willowgrove project developers have been upfront and transparent from the beginning. This is the first time in Davis history that a project has offered a completed subdivision map before the Measure J/R/D vote, allowing the community to see the final project design before it is approved. In addition, the agricultural mitigation land has been identified and disclosed to the public before the Measure J/R/D vote. This early disclosure is also a first for Davis and hopefully will set a precedent for future proposals.

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  • PoliSci 101A:  Following the Money — Who’s Behind All the Slick Campaign Ads

    Chapter Three:  Ballot Measure Spending for Ads, Mail, Social Media, etc.

    By F.E.C. Nerd

    This chapter will walk you through how to determine who is pushing/opposing State ballot measures.  First, the Federal Election Commission has no role with respect to California ballot measures.  Instead, the California Secretary of State’s website and the California Fair Political Practices Commission’s website will play a role in our research.  Plus, there are the tag-lines in the ads and mailers we are all receiving.  A sampling is displayed here.

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  • 350 words that explain why you should vote for Mike Thompson over Eric Jones

    By Roberta Millstein

    [Note: This letter first appeared in the Davis Enterprise, here].

    Would you vote for a congressional candidate who had endorsed a variety of Republican positions while at the same time touting his progressive credentials and connections to candidates like Ro Khanna? Someone who: advocated for “immigration reform” for a “secure border”, said he was “ashamed” of Prop 50, called for “sunsetting” federal programs, donated to Republican politicians including a member of the Bush family?

    What if you learned that he had, in a very short amount of time, flip-flopped his views on important issues such as data centers and Medicare for All?  What if you found out that he had distributed two versions of the same flyer on the same block of the same street, one for Republicans and one for Democrats?

    What if you further learned that he had no political track record to back up his ever-changing political promises?  That he had been a partner at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm for 8 years (12 in total), allowing him to dump $5 million of his own money into his campaign?  And that on top of that, former colleagues and associates from the same firm continue to dump millions more into his congressional campaign, including a Super PAC, a legal but shady way to skirt campaign donation limits?  (If you’ve been deluged with mailers, flyers, and intrusive texts, now you know why).

    Citizens of Congressional District 4, the candidate described above is Eric Jones, recently resigned from Dragoneer Investment Group.  He would represent the interests of out-of-district tech oligarchs — resisting needed protective regulations at every turn — rather than the interests of ordinary citizens, whether Republican or Democratic.

    What if you were to further learn that there was another candidate, Mike Thompson, who has seniority and thus power to wield in the House, who has a proven and known political track record, who has deep roots in our district along with military service, who has legislative accomplishments in areas as diverse as affordability, climate change, agriculture and fishing, preventing gun violence, and supporting veterans?

    It’s an easy choice, friends.  Vote for Mike Thompson for Congress.

  • “Village Farms” vernal pools have been leveled

    California Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating and an open letter is gaining signatures from concerned citizens

    By Shannon Hickey

    The city’s last remaining vernal pools—the ones on the Measure V (for Village Farms) property that supported a local population of the federally endangered vernal pool tadpole shrimp as well as two rare plant species (alkali milkvetch and San Joaquin spearscale)—were potentially filled, disced, and graded in the week of September 13, 2026.

    The attached photos were taken early Saturday morning, September 19, showing the area where the largest pool existed, now a level surface. To give a little back story, this pool was on a property that has been proposed for development since the early 2000s and actively farmed since circa the late ’60s, according to historical aerial imagery. Despite regular discing, this vernal pool continued to pond because it was protected on two sides by a railroad berm to the west and an irrigation channel berm (Channel A) to the north. The developer has known about this vernal pool and the extremely rare species in it since the last time this project went up for a vote by the citizens of Davis back in 2005. At that time, it was known as the Covell Village project and it was voted down then as well. For both the Covell Village project and the Village Farms project, the associated environmental surveys supporting the EIRs revealed that these species were present.

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  • A Win for Measure W – Willowgrove May Be Our Last Chance to Preserve Our Direct Vote on Local Projects

    By Elaine Roberts Musser and Dan Carson

    Measure W -Willowgrove is the latest housing development to come up for consideration under Measure J/R/D.  This measure is the City of Davis law that requires a majority vote of the public to annex farmland or open space to our city for urban development.

    As you assess the merits of this project, it’s important to understand where we stand today. The state has imposed mandatory requirements for communities like ours to rezone the land needed for additional housing. These requisites include additional units of low income housing, as well as housing for moderate income persons who work in Davis but cannot afford to live here.  Our failure to comply with these mandates would, without question, trigger state intervention to force our compliance with state housing policy.

    That state intervention could even result in state action to override Measure J/R/D itself. The last legislative session saw strongly bipartisan approval in the Assembly of AB 2676. This bill would have curbed the use of local initiatives and referenda, that are widely being used around the state to block cities from meeting their state-mandated housing obligations.  AB 2676 did not pass the Senate, but has momentum, and will almost certainly be reconsidered in some form in next year’s legislative session.

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  • Good Fire, Living Water: The Gifts of a Marsh Economy  

    Public Invited to New Exhibit on Native Californian Stewardship

    Promotional Flyer for Good Fire, Living Water; Illustration by Ooti Maxine

    (From press release) Over 90% of the Sacramento Valley’s wetlands have been destroyed over the past 150 years, contributing to today’s interrelated extinction, climate and water crises. Naturalist, artist, and Maidu/Wintun Cultural Practitioner Diana Almendariz is working diligently – with plants such as tule and cattail, and with artists, youth, land managers, and scientists  – to reverse this significant loss.

     A leader in revitalizing Native Californian stewardship through cultural burning and Native plant restoration, Almendariz brings to life indigenous knowledge that was once targeted for erasure and genocide. In a sign of changing times and attitudes, the Sacramento Bee recently recognized Almendariz as one of the region’s top change makers. She praises tule – a keystone wetland species — for renewing her cultural traditions.

    “Tule has been my creative muse for 30 years. This important reed is at the heart of the marsh economy – drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, creating rich soil, cleaning water, and cultivating the valley’s rich food web. By restoring wetlands, we can revitalize the  natural systems that are key to a livable future,” explains Almendariz.

    A new exhibit, Good Fire, Living Water: The Gifts of a Marsh Economy, opening on September 20th at the Davis Art Center, showcases Almendariz’ multifaceted eco-cultural practice that spans the arts, education, Native homeland culture, and environmental stewardship. The exhibit highlights how she is passing on this vital  knowledge to the next generation of Native cultural practitioners – her daughters Ooti Maxine and Christina Almendariz.

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  • Prophets of the Finite: Remembering Paul Ehrlich, Ronny Davis, and Wendell Berry

    From L to R: Ann Ehrlich, Amory Lovins, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, and David Kupfer, having lunch in Palo Alto in 2022

    By David Kupfer

    The summer of 2026 has witnessed the quiet, heavy closing of an era. With the recent passings of population biologist Paul R. Ehrlich, radical theater pioneer R.G. “Ronny” Davis, and most recently, the visionary agrarian writer Wendell Berry on August 31, we have lost a singular trinity of American defiance. Operating in vastly different arenas—the university laboratory, the public park, and the rural hillside—these three men were bound by a shared, ferocious commitment to shaking humanity out of its industrial complacency. To have known them as friends and mentors over the decades was to witness the rare alchemy of brilliant intellect wedded to an uncompromising moral compass. Now, as the dust settles on their long lives, their final, intimate moments reveal the heavy burden borne by those who dare to speak truth to a civilization bent on its own consumption.

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  • In CA04, which Eric Jones do you get?

    Wrong Seat, Wrong Moment – Part V

    By Judy Tipple

    Yesterday in Marysville, Eric Jones stood in front of 250 farmers at the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau forum and said this:

    “Let me make a simple statement: no more data centers in California.”

    He called for a national moratorium. He said members of Congress who don’t understand the technology shouldn’t be in the room for these decisions (Patch, Sept. 2, 2026).

    Strong stuff. The kind of line that gets applause in a room full of people watching data centers drink their water and eat their farmland, and farmland all over the country.

    Here’s the problem. It’s not what his campaign has been telling voters for months.

    Go to ericjones.us right now. His official AI platform page said something very different, until 2 days ago:

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