Climate Change & Energy – Enviro Updates

Santa Rosa approves redrawn fire hazard maps

May 13, 2026

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Roughly 3,100 more properties fall within risk zones; opponents fear insurance rate hikes

Santa Rosa leaders approved updates to the city’s fire hazard areas in what they described as a push to better safeguard the city from another destructive wildfire.

About 3,100 properties across parts of Bennett Valley and in Oakmont will be added to the city’s so-called wildland urban interface, or WUI, under the expanded boundaries.

The approval Tuesday by a 6-0 vote came over objections from a group of residents who have raised questions about the process used to craft the maps and the implications for their properties.

The neighbors, who live in the area surrounding Matanzas Creek south of Hoen Avenue, worry they could see property insurance rates rise or lose coverage altogether by being included in the updated boundaries.

Climate Change & Energy, Forestsfire safety vegetation rules, Santa Rosa, wildfire hazard, wildland urban interface

Highway 37 project wins permit from regional agency

May 13, 2026

Adrian Rodriguez, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A multimillion-dollar project to reduce gridlock and protect against flooding on Highway 37 between Marin and Solano counties has secured a key approval after more than 10 years of regional planning.

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted unanimously to authorize a permit for the first leg of a three-phase construction project on a 10-mile segment of the highway from Sears Point to Mare Island.

The project, which also is intended to fortify a portion of the San Pablo Baylands, is an interim solution while planners work toward what they call the “ultimate project” to raise the entire 21-mile corridor. The undertaking is years away and expected to cost billions of dollars.

The first phase involves replacing the Tolay Creek Bridge at Sears Point with a longer and wider bridge, and widening the highway to four lanes east through Tubbs Island.

Climate Change & Energy, TransportationHighway 37, San Pablo Bay, sea level rise

A record El Niño may be forming

May 9, 2026

Greg Porter, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

A freight train of warm water is surging eastward in the tropical Pacific Ocean, kick-starting what is on track to be the strongest El Niño ever observed.

The latest model projections are off the charts. Literally.

If these models prove accurate, it will set off dramatic weather impacts everywhere from California’s coast to the Arctic Ocean.

Most forecast models project Pacific Ocean temperatures to be warmer than the average by at least 3 degrees Celsius by November. For sea surface temperatures across this patch of the central Pacific, even a bump of 1 or 2 degrees Celsius is enough to reshape rainfall, storm tracks and temperatures around the world.

Such an event would surpass the peaks of the 1997-98 and 2015-16 super El Niños, the strongest on record. In those years, ocean surface temperatures were 2.4 and 2.6 degrees Celsius above average, respectively.

Climate Change & EnergyEl Niño, marine heat wave, ocean conditions, Pacific Ocean, rainfall, weather, weather forecasts

The ocean off California keeps breaking heat records

May 5, 2026

Hayley Smith, TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

An extreme marine heat wave is simmering the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, and experts are warning that it could affect coastal weather and ecosystems for months.

The ocean heat wave started forming at the end of last year but has worsened in recent weeks, according to readings from the Scripps Pier in La Jolla, which has broken more than 25 daily temperature records this year. The surface water temperature on Wednesday was 68.5 degrees — 7.7 degrees above average for the date. The sea bottom was 67.6 degrees, the hottest April 15 in about 100 years of records.

The heat wave is deep, persistent and widespread, spanning from roughly San Francisco to the Mexican border. Those are “pretty significant indicators that this has both staying power and will have consequences for weeks or months or even seasons to come for Southern California,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources.

There are several factors driving the staggering heat, including a unyielding ridge of high pressure straddling Southern California and weaker-than-normal coastal winds, which typically drive upwelling along the coast. Upwelling is when cold, deep ocean water rises to the surface.

But human-caused climate change is undoubtedly pushing the temperatures to new records, Swain said, noting that it takes many times more energy to heat ocean water than it does to heat air. “From an ocean warmth perspective, we are now entering a pretty dramatic period” for this part of the world, he said.

Climate Change & Energy, Sonoma CoastEl Niño, kelp forest, marine heat wave

Op-Ed: Prioritize California’s needs before oil industry wish list

April 30, 2026

Ryan Cummings and Neale Mahoney, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Instead of industry handouts, the state should expand import infrastructure to protect California households from the refinery outages that regularly disrupt the state’s fuel supply. At the Benicia site, this would mean turning the refinery into a terminal where importers could bring in and store fuel for distribution to local gas stations.

Since the start of the conflict with Iran, gasoline prices in California and across the country have increased by more than $1 a gallon, straining already tight family budgets. In the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, the California oil industry has been using this moment to try to jam through its wish list, lobbying for more drilling permits, suspension of taxes, the elimination of environmental programs and subsidies for refineries.

While the industry claims these measures would bring meaningful relief at the pump, the truth is that caving to the oil industry’s campaign would have limited benefits for California families.

Take oil production first. More drilling in California would not insulate the state from price spikes, because the price of oil is determined on the global market. The U.S. is a net oil exporter, yet that status offered no protection from the price spike that followed the conflict with Iran.

In oil-drenched Texas, pump prices are up $1.20 a gallon since the start of the conflict, only a few cents off California’s $1.23 increase. California’s oil production is a negligible share of global supply, meaning more drilling would allow producers to sell more into a high-priced global market, but California consumers would see little if any effect on prices at the pump.

Climate Change & EnergyBenicia refinery, oil & gas industry, oil drilling

Op-Ed: Never give up! Every ton of carbon we can cut still matters

April 6, 2026

Dan Farber, LEGAL PLANET

It’s easy to be disheartened when we miss climate targets. But climate change isn’t a yes/no thing. It’s a matter of degree.

It’s easy to lose heart about our prospects for limiting climate change. The US has pulled out of international climate negotiations. Most of the countries that joined the Paris Agreement have missed targets , targets that weren’t aggressive enough in the first place. The 1.5° target is already basically out of reach. Is it time to give up on slowing climate change and focus on adapting to it? The answer is no. Here’s why we need to continue the fight to reduce carbon emissions, even in the face of setbacks.

Climate change is a matter of degrees. That sounds like a truism or a pun, but it’s true in a deeper sense. There is no point past which further warming becomes irrelevant. The harm from 3.0°of warming is worse than 2.5°. which is worse than 2.2°, which is worse than 2.0°. And so forth. So even if we were to blow past every temperature target we’ve ever set, every ton of additional carbon dioxide would raise the temperature some fraction of a degree, and every fraction of a degree makes things worse.

Climate Change & Energyclimate action, ghg emissions, ghg reduction

Healdsburg council OKs clean energy funds for e-bike rebates, charging discounts for low-income residents

February 4, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Qualifying low-income Healdsburg residents now have a new suite of city rebates meant to make electric vehicles and e-bikes more affordable and accessible.

Council members on Monday, Feb. 2, authorized tapping into a pool of funds collected annually through a clean energy program run by the state to expand three current EV-based programs for residents enrolled in the city’s CARE initiative, which offers electricity-bill discounts for low income households.

The new incentives include two $1,000 rebate for e-bikes, 50% off the fee at city-owned chargers and a $4,000 rebate for installing an at-home EV charger.

The council also endorsed a tentative rebate for electric vehicles that could offer up to $5,000 back. The city’s hope is to spur greater use of the programs, which have drawn scant participation since Healdsburg offered its original EV incentive seven years ago.

“At the end of the day it is about affordability,” Council member David Hagele said. “We need to be able to help people buy the cars. We’re really trying to move the needle.”

Climate Change & Energy, Transportatione-bikes, EV charging stations