Enviro Updates – An environmental newsfeed for Sonoma County

California returns stretch of Mendocino Coast to Indigenous tribes: ‘This is beyond huge’

July 4, 2026

Alex Wigglesworth, LOS ANGELES TIMES

California is returning a stretch of rugged Mendocino County coast to the Indigenous nations whose ancestors once stewarded its shores.

State transportation officials recently approved the transfer of Blues Beach and the surrounding bluffs to Kai Poma, a nonprofit founded by representatives of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.

The transfer of 136 acres just south of the community of Westport will mark the first time land managed by the California Department of Transportation has been returned to Indigenous tribes.

“This is beyond huge,” said J. Carlos Rivera, tribal chairman of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians. “It’s enormous from our tribal perspective that we are basically obtaining the land that our people once lived on before colonization.”

Sonoma CoastMendocino County, Pomo, tribes

Mad about the Bay Area gas water heater ban? Here’s what you need to know

June 27, 2026

Sam Fishman, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Every year we delay the electric transition, more money flows from Bay Area households into gas infrastructure that fewer and fewer people are using.

You’re paying more on your home gas bill this year than you were last year. And the year before that. And the year before that.

In fact, Californians are paying nearly 50% more per unit of gas than five years ago — even as the average household uses 12% less. Demand is falling. Bills are rising. Something is very wrong.

Part of it is obvious: methane gas is a volatile commodity. Californians learned this the hard way in winter of 2022-23, when a perfect storm of unusually cold weather, low natural gas storage levels, and pipeline infrastructure constraints sent prices soaring to five times the national average. More recently, the Iran War has caused natural gas prices to spike in Europe and Asia.

But there’s a hidden story that explains the majority of what you’re paying for on your gas bill.

California’s three largest gas utilities have doubled their pipeline asset spending from $27 billion to $57 billion — replacing pipes at $3 million to $5 million per mile. Utilities get to recover those costs by raising rates, which means higher bills for Californians. Today, about 60% of your gas bill goes toward pipelines, operations and shareholder returns — not actual gas. Forty years ago, it was the reverse. Californians are funding a pipeline empire that keeps growing, even as electric appliances like heat pumps surge past gas.

Climate Change & Energyelectrification, gas infrastructure, heat pumps

California Forever pushes Newsom to ease hurdles for proposed new city

June 25, 2026

Laura Waxman & Sophia Bollag, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Backers of the plan to build a new city in Solano County say they are in talks with Gov. Gavin Newsom over legislation that would ease regulatory hurdles for the company’s planned development of a dense, walkable city and a shipbuilding facility along the county’s waterfront.

Newsom’s spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Chronicle about the talks, but the billionaire-backed California Forever project has hired two longtime Newsom allies, which appears to signal that the group is serious about seeking legislation to help circumvent local opposition and curtail CEQA opposition.

In recent months, former state legislative leaders Darrell Steinberg and Bob Hertzberg have been hired to continue rebranding California Forever’s proposal to build an urban enclave in rural Solano County as a conduit for economic growth by bringing new manufacturing and shipbuilding jobs to the region.

Land Useag land, California Forever, CEQA, Delta, development, wetlands

California Forever wants a CEQA exemption for their new city

June 25, 2026

Jim DeKloe, SIERRA CLUB SOLANO GROUP

As you likely know, a group of Silicon Valley billionaires now known as California Forever secretly bought up about 100 square miles of Solano County and also sued the family farmers who wouldn’t sell to them. They say that want to build a new city on this unincorporated farmland currently zoned for agriculture. This proposal is big – 175,000 new houses and 400,000 people – it would be an Oakland/ Minneapolis/ Tulsa/ Bakersfield sized bedroom community and bigger than Cleveland, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Anaheim – it’s big. If it existed today it would be the ninth largest city in California and would be larger than the largest city in nineteen states – it’s big. And a giant city has giant environmental impacts.

Last week it became clear that California Forever is using the influence that its money buys to try to gain special treatment from the California government – they are trying to have the Governor’s Office exempt the entire project from CEQA review. And Go-Biz, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, seems willing to do it. It’s likely that they will accomplish this by adding a rider bill to the state budget like they did last year for the advanced manufacturing exemption.

The California Forever scheme has many moving parts and it isn’t clear which parts a special interest bill would cover. Besides the 175,000 houses, California Forever’s stated plans include an industrial area called “the Solano Foundry” and the proposed Collinsville 7,500 acre boat-building facility. A group out of Texas called Saronic that makes drone boats that deliver explosives to other ships shares investors with CF. It is likely that the “shipbuilding” facility will likely go to Brownsville TX – their Commission voted this week to give Saronic a 20 year 95% tax break. And the City of Rio Vista believes that their unstated plans include a massive data center. Each of these components would have a gigantic impact on the environment, on the quality of life of existing residents, and on the continued operation of Travis Air Force Base.

Land UseCalifornia Forever, CEQA, Delta, development, wetlands

SMART proposes new train station in Geyserville

June 24, 2026

Adrian Rodriguez, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

The northward expansion of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit could include one stop more than initially planned.

The agency’s long-term goal is to run from Larkspur to Cloverdale, and so far it reaches Windsor. It aims to have a Healdsburg station by 2028.

But it’s about 18 miles between Healdsburg and Cloverdale. A stop in Geyserville would provide a halfway point, presenting a way to spread out the cost and construction, while also expanding service to another community, officials said.

“It makes sense,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, chair of the SMART board. “It’s a long hop from Healdsburg to Cloverdale. Geyserville is right in between, and tracks would be just east from the center of town. A station there makes sense.”

At its meeting on June 17, the board directed staff to solicit public comments on the proposed Geyserville station.

TransportationGeyserville, SMART, SMART station

New 25-megawatt Geysers geothermal plant comes fully online

June 22, 2026

Jeff Quackenbush, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

“Despite rapidly rising demand for renewable energy and the abundance of geothermal resources in California, geothermal power generation is declining,” the [CEC] report said.

Calpine Corp. has completed a 25-megawatt expansion at The Geysers geothermal area in the North Coast, increasing the amount of around-the-clock renewable electricity available to California communities and supporting growing demand for reliable clean energy.

The project adds enough generating capacity to power more than 25,000 homes annually and follows Calpine’s completion of a 38-megawatt energy storage system at the underground steam field in 2024.

The Geysers, which spans Sonoma and Lake counties, is the world’s largest operating geothermal complex and has supplied energy to California for more than 65 years. Houston-based Calpine, now part of Constellation Energy, is the largest operator at The Geysers, with 13 power plants there. Output from all plants in the field averages more than 700 megawatts.

Climate Change & Energygeothermal, Geysers geothermal field, renewable energy

Controversial Jenner logging plan withdrawn after more than a year of review

June 19, 2026

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Sonoma County family’s logging plan for more than 1,000 acres of forest near the mouth of the Russian River has been withdrawn amid opposition from nearby community members and heavy state scrutiny.

The plan, initially proposed by landowner Bruce Berry in early 2025, encountered sharp pushback from local residents and environmental groups worried about the impact timber harvesting could have on a watershed that supports imperiled salmon runs and supplies drinking water for the village of Jenner.

On June 6, following numerous rounds of plan reviews with input from multiple state and regional agencies, as well as a significant pile of public comment letters, Berry withdrew his proposal for a nonindustrial timber management plan.

Forests, WaterCalFire, Jenner, logging, salmon habitat, Sheephouse Creek, timber harvest plan