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Category: Environment

  • I-80 Whistleblower: Caltrans Steamrolls Eviro-Laws to Widen Freeways

    Caltrrans whistleblower Jeanie ward-waller

    Jeanie Ward-Waller, former Caltrans deputy director of Planning and Mode Development until she noted likely environmental violation on I-80 project

     

    By Alan Hirsch, YoloMobility

    News of a high-level Caltrans whistleblower hit the national media in recent weeks with stories in the Sacramento Bee, LA Times and Politico. But when you meet former Caltrans Deputy Director of Planning and Modal programs Jeanie Ward-Waller, you learn that she was forced out of Caltrans and into a public whistleblowing role by just one action.

    She spoke via Zoom at a meeting of the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) on Thursday 10/19. In her opening remarks she said:

    • She misses her colleagues of six years who are doing good work to evolve Caltrans.
    • “We need good people in government.”
    • Caltrans has an important role in maintaining our existing highways.
    • Achieving a well-functioning transportation system is her life’s work and she misses being engaged.

    She said her demotion and effective firing were a total surprise. Her story of how it happened started when she noted that Caltrans District 3 seemed to have misappropriated extra funds from a pavement rehab project to rebuild shoulders in a wider and more expensive way so that they could be easily converted to extra lanes. Technically it would not count as widening until the stripes for these lanes are painted. Widening the freeway had not been approved by elected officials or undergone the required public and environmental review process.  One thing she didn’t mention: the amount of misappropriated funds in question is likely on the order of tens of millions dollars — part of the $240 million I-80 Yolo Causeway pavement rehab project, which is separate from the I-80 widening project.

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  • Think PG&E Rates Are Too High? They Are in Imminent Danger of Skyrocketing Into the Stratosphere

    By Dan Cornford

    Davisites should be aware of what I was not aware of until a week or so ago.  Your PG & E bills are set to go way up and proposals are being made to further dis-incentivize solar power.  We are about to be a hit with a barrage of proposals that took me some time to disentangle.   PG & E and other major utilities are hitting consumers from three different angles.  In two instance the CPUC will likely make a final decision on proposals at its November 2 meeting.  So, if you share my concern, please read this article and take some of the actions I suggest at the end of it—most will take only a few minutes of your time.

    I am sure I need not regale you with info on PG & E moral and legal culpability for a whole series of recent fires going back to 2017, but PG & E culpability for such events ( read the entry on PG & E in Wikipedia) goes back decades not to mention the San Bruno pipeline explosions of 2010 that killed 8 people and injured 58.

    After the rash of major fires, 2017-2022 and findings of PG & E’s legal culpability, there appeared to be some brief prospect of meaningful state intervention by Governor Newsom and the state legislature as PG & faced the prospect of bankruptcy and our governor threatened a public takeover of PG & E.   But this came to nothing, and unsurprisingly in view of the fact that PG & E has regularly made large donations to the campaigns of Governor Newsom and many others in the state legislature.

    https://www.abc10.com/article/news/investigations/governor-newsom-most-state-lawmakers-took-money-from-convicted-felon-pge/103-2414790f-3a19-4411-92c2-fe23b519d646

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  • YoloSol: Acorn traditions workshop on Nov. 4, subscribe to the YoloSol newsletter

    Dear Friends,
    We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new website for the YoloSol Collective. Special thanks to David Abramson for working on this while also caring for an infant!
     
    Please sign up for our newsletter here to keep in touch with our ongoing programming around issues of land and water in the Yolo bioregion: http://eepurl.com/iBVCAg
    More details below.
     
    In community,
    Juliette Beck
     
    Dear Friends,
     
    YoloSol extends a fall season's greeting to all of you!
    We are an intergenerational "artivist" collective dedicated to sharing stories of the pasts, presents, and futures embedded in the landscapes and waterways of the Yolo bioregion.
     
    We center the voices and stories of marginalized communities, especially Patwin-Wintun culture bearers, youth, and the diverse immigrant communities that make up the Yolo cultural tapestry.
     
    We look forward to working with you to cultivate ecological justice, well-being and restorative stewardship of our shared home.  
     
    In community,
    Diana, Marlen, Anuj, Juliette, Adnan and David
    – founding members of YoloSol Collective
    Please join us on Saturday November 4, 2023, 4-6:30pm for
    Presented as the inaugural event of the International House World Tour Series, this is a two-part Welcoming to Wintun Homeland.

    4:00pm – 5:00 pm: A hands-on family-friendly workshop on Wintun acorn preparationwith Diana Almendariz (Patwin/Wintun cultural practitioner/artist)

    5:15 -6:30 pm: A community conversation on the intersection of Indigeneity and Diaspora with Diana Almendariz, Stan Padilla (Yaqui artist), Danny Manning (Maidu/Diné, Fire Chief, Greenville Rancheria)

    Please RSVP here.
    This event is made possible by funding from the City of Davis. Arts and Cultural Affairs Fund.
     
    View original artwork by Diana Almendariz and collective member Adnan Beteha.
     
    Read the inaugural blogpost by Adnan on Putah Creek Futures: 
     
    "I am meant to flood. I am meant to meander. I am meant to be free, and one day I will be all of that again."
    YoloSol is pleased to partner with Davis Rep on HEAR FIRST, a one-of-a-klnd audio piece for outdoor listening featuring songs, stories, and urgent messages about the land beneath our feet.
    Copyright for artwork remains with the artists.
    October 2023 YoloSol Collective

  • Film Common Ground in Davis – One Week Only

    By Scott Steward

    What do you say to a flash mob climate action watch party?   Varsity Theater owner Sinisa Novakovic successfully brought the film Common Ground to DAVIS during the films premiering run (many thanks). The closest theater was San Rafael.  

    What does this mean?  That you can bike to see what Climate Change Solutions looks like.  I’ll be going to one of the two showings today (4:10 and 6:00 Sunday – today). There are 2 other showings Monday and Thursday at 6:00

    Common Ground provides many answers to how we get ourselves out of this climate catastrophe.  

    I will see the Davis showing, 616 Second Street, and I would also like to hear directly from the Common Ground directors at the San Rafael showing on October 22nd.  I already bought a ticket for that show too :).

     

    The Common Ground Trailer is HERE!

     

    May we find inspiration in the film and take action amidst the havoc of desperation caused by those that wield terrible powers of which we must dispatch from them as quickly as possible and find our additional power in that act – and also do that as quickly as possible.

    The living earth demands no less.  Common Ground summary follows.

    Common Ground is the highly anticipated sequel to the juggernaut success documentary, Kiss the Ground, which touched over 1 billion people globally and inspired the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to put $20 billion toward soil health. The film profiles a hopeful and uplifting movement of white, black, and indigenous farmers who are using alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that could balance the climate, save our health, and stabilize America’s economy – before it’s too late.

  • Caltrans’ data shows 100mph rail upgrade 15x more cost-effective than road widening

    Study: Average speed difference trivial if toll lanes added; HOV lanes don’t work.

    1 SEGMENT WIDENING

    By Alan Hirsch, Yolo Mobility 

    If you read deeply and critically into Caltrans documents, you will often find a number of things  acknowledged- inconvenient truth not always shared with elected officials.

     City and County elected officials rely on agency staff to give honest and complete presentation of objective findings.  However, the reality is elected official are very vulnerable if an agency’s staff is committed to pursue a pre-ordained solution. Staff can bending their analysis or make strategic omissions of information in their presentation. These are rarely caught by elected official who don’t have time to read, much less understand the reports.

    Then it’s up a rare whistleblower and or nerdy gadflies to protect the public interest by catching this, and making public comments to elected who otherwise don’t have time to read everything.

    But in the end, it up courageous electeds, who are willing to both listen to the outsiders, and are then open to changing their minds, if the agency solution is be questioned if its pre-ordained solution is in the public good.

    This manipulation of data  does come from all Government agencies, or even most, but this Machiavellian approach to public policy can hard backed  into  the culture of some.

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  • Council to Remove Downtown Tree Protections

    Wrap banding

    Trees damaged by light strings

    City Staff Ask City Council to Remove Protections for Downtown Trees Tonight

    by Colin Walsh

    Please let City Council know Davis wants its downtown trees protected. Email  CityCouncilMembers@cityofdavis.org, or call and leave a comment between noon and 4pm today (530) 757-5693. You can also attend the City council meeting tonight – it is expected to be heard at 8pm.

    For 20 years Davis staff have put lights in Downtown Davis Trees, often damaging the trees, even though it is a violation of Davis City Code.  Over the summer the City went to do regular trimming and maintenance for downtown trees and had to remove all of the lights because the situation had gotten so bad, damaging trees and causing unsafe conditions with exposed electrical outlets and wires. Now the City wants to put the lights back up and are proposing to change the law to do so – but are including no protections for the trees to assure no more trees are damaged by the lights.

    It is possible to have a tree lights program for downtown trees, but there needs to be best practices for how to install them and funding to maintain them or take them down before they harm trees. The proposed Davis plan does not include any of that. They are just changing city law to eliminate tree protections.

    Many other cities ban tree lights completely. Some cities limit lights to 1 or 2 month a year because wires wrapped around trees inevitably interfere with three growth and can even kill trees. Still other cities have permit processes that assure inspection and a revenue stream for maintenance. Davis is opting for none of those, and just eliminating the law that protects trees.

    Please let council know hurting Davis trees is not OK!

    For more information the City staff report is available here:

    https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CityCouncil/CouncilMeetings/Agendas/2023/2023-10-03/06-Modification-of-Municipal-Code-Chapter-37.pdf

  • Yolo Holds Its Breath on Water Policy

    By Scott Steward

    Yolo County Supervisors placed a temporary pause on new Yolo ag well water permits until the local regional water agency can put the data and analysis together to, more certainly, tell the story about the water under our feet.

    WaterThis is the story about the water that we depend on for thriving local ag and the precious remainder of our beleaguered biome in Yolo, and the greater Sacramento valley.   On July 11th farmers and residents testified to the Yolo Board of Supervisors about their experience (Davisite 7/2023) with receding well water and wells going dry.  The principal cause identified as newer/bigger wells drafting water for previously unirrigated land for perennial trees (nuts) and vines.

    On September 12th, the Board consider options that included a moratorium on new well applications. Between the July BOS meeting and the 9/12 meeting, staff and the Director of the Yolo Subbasin Groundwater Agency were to help the Board with more Data.  At this last meeting we found out that the data is just not ready and so, in absence of any evidence not to act more conservatively, the Board unanimously chose a 45 day moratorium option. 

    Supervisor Frerichs brought the final motion "I have heard from farmers and many many residents who are supportive of this (the moratorium option)." The moratorium is not blanket, specifying Clarksburg and other areas as exempt, but generally placing the restriction on the areas experiencing water table drops.

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  • A Better Week for Climate Action

    By Scott Steward

    It was more than a coincidence that California's Attorney General announced that the State is suing the big 5 oil companies this past Saturday.  Oil companies are being sued for "impairment and destruction" and for a remedy of preventing further misleading statements about the contribution of fossil fuel combustion to climate change." 

    Newsom timed the announcement for his appearance at the International Summit on Climate Change in New York going on this week ahead of protests.  The pressure from the climate labor coalition is definitely on.

    Picture1

    Sacramento "End the Fossil Fuel Era" banner drop on the Tower Bridge – Photo by Peg Hunter

    It is our own and our regions own climate justice advocates, made of youth, educators, racial justice and indigenous, immigrant, blue and white collar labor – the works – that have joined together to make a fearsome coalition locally and nationally. 

    Picture2

    Davis Fridays for Future, and allies, take to the streets this past Friday.  Picture by Johan Vernick

    The climate strikes and labor strikes coincide and are complementary as the UAW is fighting for fair wages as capital sees ICE (internal combustion engines) demise written on the wall (EV's hit price parity with ICE vehicles).  Labor is finding harmony with climate action as we watch the necessary acceleration away from the fossil fuel economy (and fossil fuel electoral power).

    Picture3

     Sacramento "End the Fossil Fuel Era" Labor Network for Sustainability – Photo by Peg Hunter

    Locally, September has been a better month for climate justice and the world is going to need our resilience because climate tragedies, like the one in Libya, and other parts of the world are unrelenting.  It is very clear…. hay hay ho ho Fossil Fuel has got go!  The path forward is locally made, fair wages, locally distributed, locally clothed, soil to skin, locally fed, farm to fork and locally entertained.

  • Be a Climate Upstander: Join Friday’s Climate March

    By Alan Hirsch

    We are now in a (not so slow moving) crisis of civilization brought on by climate change.  It trumps all other issues as the earth is the stage all other human endeavors play out on.  Marches, protests gatherings for other issue will fall by the wayside due to heat waves, brown outs, hurricanes, wildfire & smoke. Even the infrastructures that support the food security, housing construction and access to health care is threatened.

    It also clear many good people- even  in Davis — are in denial of the crisis: not in theirs word but their actions that signal climate change is a secondary consideration in their decisions. 

    Planet Upstander gently question all these nice people– friends and local politicians — who mouth words and even pass crisis resolutions, but continue to doing the same old things that are killing our planet: Elected bodies in Yolo county and California are filled with business democrats- the Herbert Hoovers of our era when we need FDR’s and a Green New Deal.

    Consider the case of a Davis Democratic Party leader who proudly posted to her hundreds of Facebook she flew to Antarctica and from there took a cruise.   Upstander might post the gentle question: “Did you buy carbon offsets?”  Or a friend or family member who admires a low MPG car?  You could raise a concerning for them question about cost of gasoline  (and BTW GHG) due to  low mileage?  Or at least roll your eyes.   Or how do to you respond to friend who drives to school to when it is  only 1 mile from their home? You might ask what type of bike they own?

    The Davis Climate March-part of the international climate strike movement –   a chance to show you are one of the growing number of Upstanders for the Planet, It includes march this weekend  In Sacramento and SF this weekend of you can’t make the Davis event.

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  • Top reasons to Join the Climate March

    By Alan Hirsch

    1. The Return of the Urban Firestorm

     What happened in Colorado was something much scarier than a wildfire.

    By David Wallace-Wells LIFE AFTER WARMING  https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/colorado-saw-the-return-of-the-urban-firestorm.html

    2. 244 People died heat related causes in Phoenix: Lose your AC, lose your life? And what about homeless?

    https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/life-and-death-in-americas-hottest-city#:~:text=Phoenix%20is%20the%20fifth%2Dlargest,by%203.8%20degrees%20since%201970.

    3. Heat threatens Children: a fall on blacktop playground on can mean severe burns. Forget about walking your dog.
    Pavement surfaces 140-160o when air temperature over hundred

    4. Farming Deadly to workers as Heat Index Reaches 120 plus in corn fields.

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/22/2188793/-Heat-index-of-150F-in-the-shade-from-Heat-Doom-and-corn-sweat-Climate-crisis-seemingly-everywhere

    “….120 degree heat index in Iowa? Yes, because corn sweats in the heat, just like humans do. A single acre of corn can pull 4,000 gallons of water each day out of the ground and release it into the air, making Iowa feel like Bangkok.” https://t.co/ep1mcWFBLj

    5. Air Quality August 2023: Continent spanning smoke from wildfires again

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