After nearly three years, the fight over proposed no-take marine protected areas along the Santa Cruz County coast is headed for a final decision. County Supervisors Justin Cummings and Manu Koenig argue that the proposals are too broad, lack scientific justification and would unnecessarily restrict local fishing access. State wildlife and Ocean Protection Council staff have recommended denying both petitions, finding insufficient scientific justification for the proposed closures. Now the decision rests with the California Fish and Game Commission — and local residents have one final chance Wednesday to make their voices heard via comments.
Environment
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Newsom vetoes Delta levees bill as El Niño winter looms
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 872, saying money in the budget made the bill’s $170 million for levee repairs redundant. The state puts those repair costs at $3.3 billion.
Posted inLatest News
A century of sand debt comes due in Malibu
A new study finds the world’s great surf breaks are vulnerable to climate change. In Malibu, the problem is more specific: a coast with few defenses, with a record El Niño winter closing in.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz County’s heat wave, one job at a time
As a heat wave gripped the region, Lookout journalists spoke with workers from Santa Cruz to Capitola to Watsonville about how they were getting through it, shift by shift.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
How California is kicking its natural gas habit
Solar and batteries matter, but they’re not the only reasons for the steep decline in gas-fired electricity in California.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Industry interests spent big money to stop California from banning PFAS pesticides
After an aggressive lobbying campaign against a bill to ban “forever pesticides” in California, what passed instead “is a shell of what we set out to do,” its author said.
Posted inLatest News
California officials allow plans for the country’s biggest kelp farm to move forward
The California Coastal Commission voted Wednesday to allow a plan to build the United States’ largest kelp farm 6 miles off the Ventura County coast to move forward as the Trump administration seeks to ramp up aquaculture in the Pacific Ocean.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Court stalls EPA plan to override California’s vehicle pollution standards
A temporary injunction bars the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring congressional approval of a decades-old exemption allowing California to set its own clean-vehicle standards.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Trump administration ratchets up its fight to get more oil flowing from California
The Trump administration’s latest salvo in its efforts to get more crude flowing through the Golden State is a federal review of California’s coastal management program, which is run largely by a state commission that has had a powerful role for decades in shaping development along the coast.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Check the lake like you check the weather
Menlo Park student Amanda Lee-Shen’s experience with dangerous water at Pinto Lake sparked a mission to help others stay safe on Santa Cruz County’s waters. Here, the 11th grader at Castilleja School explains why checking lake conditions for harmful algal blooms should be as routine as checking the weather. She shares what to look for, how California’s warning signs work and why pets and wildlife face risks, especially from now through October. Her message is simple: Before you head to the lake, check the water.
