The RTOC works to promote Tribal sovereignty, assist Tribal environmental protection programs, and guide EPA regarding Tribal needs and concerns. Its meetings serve as a forum for two-way communication on environmental priorities affecting Tribal lands. The events facilitate collaboration between Tribal environmental directors, EPA personnel, and other federal agencies on public health, funding, and technical issues. The in-person event also allowed for virtual participation for most of the sessions.

STED Environmental Director Christian Aceves said RTOC’s heart lies in government-to-government consultation. The RTOC brings Tribal leadership together with EPA counterparts to collaborate on environmental policies, program design, and regional issues.

The first day of the meeting featured about 70 in-person participants. Attendance swelled on Wednesday, with around 105 individuals joining onsite and an additional 60 dialing in virtually. Participants included Environmental Delegates and Leadership (Council members, Environmental Directors, Specialists, Coordinators), EPA representatives (staff, Regional Administrators, Division Directors, Grant Project Officers), and nonprofit and higher ed partners like NAEPC and NAU. Facilitating the event were RTOC Tribal co-chair Roman Orona, of the Ak-Chin Indian Community and RTOC EPA co-chair Mike Martucci, Acting Regional Administrator for U.S. EPA Region 9.

Martucci assured the group that their concerns about Quality Assurance issues were heard loud and clear and being taken into consideration. “We want you to know that we are committed to continuing to support you in the ways that we can and in ways that you need us to support you so that you can achieve your environmental goals,” he said. “We want to understand how we can serve you best and are looking forward to figuring out what that future looks like through robust conversations together.”

Laura Ebbert, Director at the same department as Martucci said, “We recognize that RTOC is so much more than what is on the agenda and these meetings are so much more than what’s on the screen.”

Orona expressed that at the end of the day, the work that Tribes are doing is not a job, it’s a responsibility. “It’s a responsibility in our relationships, not only with each other as humans but more specifically with our relatives of the land, and the air and the water and the things that those provide for us, not just now but for the future generations,” he said. “That’s why this work is so passionate to these Tribal community members. When we hand it off to them, that’s what we’re going to be judged on—what we gave them. So, when we have these conversations, it’s deeper than just now. These are the conversations that we are trying to get other federal agencies to understand; it’s about relationships. We are all going to be ancestors one day and what is your legacy going to be? At some point, I would hope and I pray that we get to that point where the Tribal voice is truly being heard and considered and that we’re not just dictated to.”

Aceves said the RTOC Committee reached out in early 2024 about hosting this event again, recognizing Soboba’s enthusiastic participation in prior events. He felt the successful hosting of the first 2024 Summer RTOC made Soboba the natural choice for a second round, with both EPA and RTOC teams strongly encouraging another gathering.

“This is easily the largest gathering of Tribal environmental professionals in Region 9, second only to the full EPA Annual Conference,” Aceves said. “The RTOC meets quarterly and serves as a vital forum where Tribal professionals and EPA officials engage in true government-to-government consultation. At this event, Region 9 Tribes offered direct feedback to the EPA on grants, policy development, program performance and more, fulfilling the RTOC’s mission to strengthen Tribal EPA partnerships through constructive dialogue.”

To further its goals, the RTOC focuses on three key areas: policy and management of EPA Indian programs; coordination/communication among Tribes, EPA, and other agencies; and education.

There were many meaningful activities during the three-day RTOC meeting with Monday’s site visit, Tuesday’s Tribal Caucus, Wednesday’s Plenary Sessions and two days of workgroups for breakout sessions. Action items that are discussed receive a written response from both the EPA and the proposing Tribe. These responses are addressed at the following RTOC meeting. You can view the list of addressed action items at www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2026-06/r9-rtoc-response-to-winter-2026-action-items.pdf.

The first day began with a welcome by Aceves who shared details about the department’s mission and Soboba’s environmental programs which include a General Assistance Program, Clean Water Program, and Waste Management Program. His slideshow presentation was followed by a tour of the reservation that focused on showcasing Soboba’s solar infrastructure and the Tribe’s long-term commitment to energy sovereignty. The tour highlighted the Tribe’s three major solar installations: the Casino rooftop array, the Fire Department carport system, and the expansive Soboba Solar Fields.

On site visits allowed attendees to learn about the projects’ histories, funding sources, and the technical components behind each system, emphasizing how these investments reduce energy costs and strengthen Tribal resilience. The feedback was enthusiastic; many Tribes expressed that seeing these systems firsthand helped them envision how similar projects could be implemented in their own communities.

In addition to breakout sessions on Wednesday, the morning also featured a virtual visit from Usha-Maria Turner, the EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate this past October. She will lead efforts to advance the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.

Turner’s appearance led to some heated discussions about the EPA’s proposal to reduce RTOC meetings from four to two per year, a significant concern for Tribes.

“In-person gatherings offer richer engagement than virtual meetings, especially for Tribes in rural areas with limited internet access,” Aceves said. “Reducing meetings risks silencing voices and weakening government-to-government connection. RTOC is indispensable for empowering Tribal leadership and ensuring strong environmental policy input. This is a concerning matter that will be followed up at the next RTOC event scheduled to take place at EPA headquarters in San Francisco.”

A major highlight of the week for the STED team was presenting the wide range of environmental programs and innovative tools Soboba uses to protect its lands.

“Beyond our community programs for Elders and youth, including household hazardous waste disposal, CRV recycling, and Earth Day initiatives, we also showcased how Soboba maximizes Geographic Information Systems technology to enhance environmental protection. We demonstrated how GIS mapping supports wildlife tracking, identifies illegal dumping sites, and helps monitor environmental changes across the Reservation,” Aceves said. “Sharing these tools and approaches with other Tribes felt empowering; many of us work in our own silos and forget how much we can learn from one another. By opening the door to our methods, we help strengthen Tribal environmental capacity across the region. At the end of the day, we’re all working toward the same goal: healthier lands, healthier people, and a stronger future for our communities.”

For more information, https://epa.soboba-nsn.gov.

The post Soboba Tribal Environmental Department hosts regional meeting appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

“These projects reflect the conservancy’s commitment to collaborative science-based conservation that benefits both wildlife and local communities,” CVMC Executive Director Elizabeth King said. “We are proud to support our regional partners in advancing innovative solutions for habitat protection, climate resilience and species conservation.”

In a board meeting on May 11, board members approved of three grants through Proposition 1 and Proposition 4 funding programs.

Two institutions received funding to study and support sustainability efforts for the endangered desert pupfish. A grant of $695,751 went to the Center for Natural Lands Management for its Groundwater-Surface Water Monitoring project. This project aims to study why portions of the Simone Pond have been drying over the past two years, with the information expected to help maintain habit for the species at the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve.

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens received a conditional grant of up to $863,450 for the Desert Pupfish Conservation Refugia project on land owned by the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. This project will evaluate methods to establish sustainable refuge habitat and restore functionality to former wetland cells that has conveyed water between the Whitewater River and the Salton Sea ecosystem, officials said.

The board has approved a grant of $512,000 through Proposition 4 local assistance planning grant to Mojave Desert Land Trust for its state Route 62 wildlife crossing project, which aims to advance planning for two wildlife crossings across state Route 62, a busy corridor from the Coachella Valley to Joshua Tree National Park. Organizers said the project is crucial for public and animal safety, as documented deaths of bighorn sheep and mountain lions have been reported along the highway corridor.

The post RivCo Conservancy Awards Over $2M in Conservation Funds appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The sweeping regulations, finalized at the start of the month, put producers in a bind that has no obvious solution. Plastic clamshell containers, for instance, protect berries from being crushed and keep them fresher, longer until they reach a refrigerator. Plastic producers say there’s simply no substitute — yet under the new rules, they’ll have to find one. 

Last week, two environmental groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council and Californians Against Waste — said they plan to take California to court. Their argument: the state’s rules actually break the law by allowing recycling methods that create a lot of toxic waste, and by letting some plastics slip through the rules entirely. On the other side, plastic manufacturers say the rules go too far and will make products more expensive for shoppers.

Sen. Ben Allen, a Democrat from coastal Los Angeles County who authored the plastic waste law, said the program still “massively moves the needle on this really major problem” — even if the process was messy. “This was the product of a compromise, and it was not perfect, and everybody walked away from the table, you know, unhappy about various aspects,” Allen said.

“California is the United States, but 30 years in the future,” said Joe Árvai,  director of the University of Southern California’s Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies. “What’s happening now is emblematic of trends that we are seeing worldwide … and the U.S. needs to adapt in the way that those countries are adapting in order to remain globally competitive.”

Less plastic, more recycling 

For decades, the burden of reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste has fallen on consumers. Once a consumer buys a product, they decide what happens to it — whether it ends up in the garbage can or the recycling blue bin — and their tax dollars fund recycling systems we have today.  

In 2022, California’s landmark Senate Bill 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, shifted that responsibility to businesses. The regulations outline what materials are covered by the law and who counts as a “producer” of plastic waste.  

The new regulations are a huge milestone, said Anja Brandon, director of U.S. plastics policy for the Ocean Conservancy. “There’s plenty more steps on this journey, but I’m just really excited that we are going to start making real progress,” she said. 

The law applies to plastic food service ware and almost all single-use packaging — from the plastic wrap around large pallets of products shipped to retailers to a tube of toothpaste and the cardboard box around it.  

To carry out the law, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery appointed the Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit that helps states carry out extended producer responsibility mandates, as the organizing body for producers. The alliance is responsible for coming up with  a plan to meet the law’s goals. 

Producers — defined as companies that make more than $1 million in sales and produce products packaged in plastic or own brands under which those products are sold — must join the organization and pay fees to fund waste management. They can meet the law’s requirements by using less plastic, finding alternative materials, or investing in recycling infrastructure.

“The biggest challenge is the scale and coordination required to modernize a complex recycling system across a state as large and diverse as California,” said Sheila Estaniel, a spokesperson for the Circular Action Alliance, in an email. 

California’s requirement that businesses reduce single-use plastic altogether makes it one of the strongest plastic waste laws in the country. It also goes further than other similar laws because it requires plastic producers to pay $5 billion over a decade to address the environmental damage their products have caused to communities — though the state doesn’t expect to start distributing those funds until 2027 at the earliest.

Watered down rules

The plastic waste rules have had a rocky road to implementation. 

In 2024, CalRecycle developed a first draft of regulations detailing what plastic the law covers and what producers must do. The draft expired before CalRecycle finalized it. In 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed regulators to rewrite the rules — a move that some advocates say say food and agriculture lobbyists pushed for.

The result was a second draft that carved out a broad exclusion for plastics used for food and agriculture purposes, covering products under the jurisdiction of the FDA and USDA, such as packaging for fresh produce and supplements. Advocates said the exclusion gutted the law.

The post California’s new plastic recycling rules spark fights from all sides appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Last week, Newsom celebrated the program’s accomplishments. 

“Over 1 million people that didn’t have access to clean, safe drinking water today have access to clean, safe drinking water,” Newsom told a conference room filled with California’s water leaders, to a round of applause. 

“I’m not saying that to impress you, but to impress upon you real progress. A lot more work to be done.” 

But that work could lose critical funding as the Newsom administration overhauls its source: California’s carbon market. The changes to the program’s funding priorities and revenue threaten efforts to bring clean drinking water to schools, homes and communities across California. 

“If that funding goes away,” said Sherry Hunter, who has long battled the arsenic leaching into the water supply in the historic Tulare County town of Allensworth, “Oh my god, I can’t even imagine.”

Climate money for clean water

A critical piece of California’s clean water funding is linked to the state’s carbon market, which sets a declining cap on greenhouse gas emissions that oil refineries, power plants and manufacturers can meet by buying and trading carbon credits. 

Lawmakers tap this fund for environmental efforts, like combatting unsafe drinking water in rural communities.

In 2019, Newsom signed a law that gave rise to the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience, or SAFER, drinking water program at the State Water Resources Control Board. The law called for funding it with $130 million a year from carbon market revenues through 2030.  

It can be a risky source of funding, subject to the rise and fall of credit auctions. But the law came with a promise: When the proceeds fell flat, the state’s general fund would make up the rest. 

This isn’t the only pot of money that California draws on for its safe drinking water efforts, but it’s the most versatile, paying for emergency and other types of assistance that bonds and more restrictive funding can’t. 

When Newsom and California lawmakers don’t budget enough to provide bottled water for households and schools with dry or dangerous taps, this fund covers the costs. 

When low-income communities can’t pay for the technical expertise to manage their water systems or compete for grants needed to drill new wells and connect to safer water, the safe and affordable drinking water fund can help bridge that gap.

Thousands of households and dozens of schools rely on this money for emergency supplies  — like Hope Elementary School in Porterville, where the taps flow with elevated levels of nitrate. The contaminant is linked to cancers, pregnancy complications and a life-threatening condition in infants known as “blue baby syndrome” when consumed in high enough quantities.  

More than $83,000 has been awarded from the fund since 2021 to supply the school with bottled water and roughly $110,000 for technical assistance as the school district works to connect to safer supplies, according to the water board. 

The funding lets school officials put their budget to work in the classroom. 

“Thank goodness,” said Melanie Matta, the school district’s superintendent and principal. About three-quarters of the students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, Matta said. “That water can get expensive, right? We’re already running on a pretty tight budget.” 

Matta has a message for Newsom: She’d like him to tour her school, and witness why this money is so important. 

“When you meet our kids and walk our small school community, you’ll see exactly why this fight matters and why this funding must be protected,” Matta said in an email. “Safe water is not a gift. It’s a promise. And we need your help to keep that promise.”

‘There’s nothing left’ 

The cuts began in September, when Newsom and lawmakers struck a deal to reauthorize the state’s carbon market after weeks of tense and chaotic negotiations — renaming it “cap and invest.” 

The new laws deprioritized funding lawmakers had promised to safe drinking water, clean air, fire resilience, affordable housing and other programs — shifting their priority behind $1 billion for high-speed rail and $1 billion for lawmakers to direct through the budget. 

The laws removed the 2030 expiration for the safe and affordable drinking water program. But they also dropped the original promise to make up any funding shortfalls from the carbon market — putting $100 million at risk through 2030, according to a Department of Finance forecast in January. 

Assemblymember James Gallagher, a Republican from Chico, called the new priority system “unfortunate” and “misplaced” at a budget subcommittee hearing in March.

“If you ask these Central Valley communities, these rural communities, ‘What would you prefer? Would you want safe drinking water coming out of your faucet, or do you want a high-speed rail in your community?’” he said. “I’m pretty sure I know the answer.” 

Now, climate regulators on the California Air Resources Board — chaired by Newsom appointee Lauren Sanchez — are proposing to overhaul the carbon market in ways that could cut revenues in half. 

If adopted, the changes could leave no funding at all for safe drinking water and other third-tier programs as soon as the 2027–28 fiscal year, according to legislative analyst Helen Kerstein — though, Kerstein added, the forecasts are uncertain. 

Sanchez, who was Newsom’s top climate advisor before leading the air board, defended the staff proposal at a Senate oversight hearing last week.

“Do you believe the Legislature intended to eliminate funding for affordable housing, transit, drinking water, wildfire prevention and clean air programs with the reauthorization?” Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino and chair of a Senate budget subcommittee, asked Sanchez.

Sanchez said the staff proposal didn’t specifically call for defunding those programs. 

“Let me stop you for a moment. That will be the effect,” Reyes said. “There’s nothing left … and those are the most important programs that have served the community.”

Newsom deflected, pointing to the Legislature. 

“Any suggestion that California is ‘trading away’ clean drinking water ignores both the current budget proposal, and the Legislature’s ongoing role in funding these priorities,” spokesperson Anthony Martinez said in an emailed statement. Martinez hinted at, but did not specify, what’s coming in Newsom’s May budget revision Thursday. 

‘Many of them were left behind’ 

Roughly 613,000 people still rely on water systems that fail to meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water. Regulators at the state water board deem another 661 water systems serving nearly 2 million people “at risk” of failure. 

Still, almost one million more people have safe drinking water than in 2019 — which state water officials attribute to the safe drinking water program and its unique, flexible pot of money. 

“When we were relying on the community to spend its own time and money to get ready, many of them got left behind,” said Darrin Polhemus, who leads the state water board’s Division of Drinking Water. “The safe drinking water fund has allowed us to prepare communities to do long-term projects, faster.”  

The program, which draws from other state and federal funding sources, has awarded more than $1.8 billion in grants for disadvantaged communities. It’s helped around 320 water systems serving 3.3 million people come off the state’s failing list, even as other, at-risk suppliers stumble onto it. 

The safe and affordable drinking water fund also has helped pay for emergency repairs, technical assistance, bottled water supplies and even some construction costs in communities from San Bernardino to Tulare, Monterey and Sutter counties — all contending with aging and contaminated water systems.  

“We could not have done it without them,” said Sherry Hunter in Allensworth, which started work on a new well and storage tank in January to bring clean water to a town struggling with arsenic and other water problems for over a century. 

“There’s a lot of other smaller disadvantaged communities that depend on them as well,” Hunter said. 

The costs for fixing these water systems and household wells could hit billions of dollars in the coming years, according to a 2024 water board analysis. And Polhemus said the challenge will  grow — even as funding shrinks — as water suppliers face new limits on contaminants like hexavalent chromium. 

“If we’ve started and committed to a project, we’ve got the funding reserve to see it through,” Polhemus said. “It’s just, we won’t be starting new projects.” 

Federal money is also running out. A Biden-era funding boost ends this year, slashing another, more restrictive fund for drinking water infrastructure projects from hundreds of millions of dollars to tens of millions, according to federal and water board data. Congressional earmarks could eat into what remains. 

Tami McVay, emergency services director for the nonprofit Self-Help Enterprises, which connects rural communities to affordable housing and safe drinking water, is worried. 

Her program provides bottled water to more than 3,000 households in the San Joaquin Valley, and trucks water to refill storage tanks at roughly 700 more. Her team helps replace domestic wells and test their water. And it relies on state funding. 

Seeing the potential cuts, she said, “it definitely made our mouths drop a little.” 

Polhemus said he understands communities are nervous.

“We’re going to work with the funds we’re given to continue the program as best we can, because we know the need still exists,” he said. “The question of how much of it exists, of course, comes out of our hands and into the political arena.”

The post Money for clean drinking water threatened by Newsom administration’s climate overhaul appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

“For the 20th anniversary, our goal was to make the event feel truly rooted in the community,” Aceves said. “We focused on bringing in as many local vendors as possible to showcase the talent, culture, and spirit we have right here at home. More than anything, we wanted people to come together, enjoy a beautiful day, and celebrate what Earth Day is all about. In the end, we really did love the Earth together—and that sense of unity made the milestone feel extra special.”

Birdsingers from Torres Martinez started off the morning in traditional fashion while students from the Soboba Tribal Preschool performed “We Love the Earth” a little later to a very enthusiastic audience.

“We were thrilled to welcome community favorites like Gil’s Critters and the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, who always draw big smiles while teaching families about our native wildlife,” Aceves said. “Our food vendors included Native-owned gems like Frybread Kitchen and Papa Langos, who kept everyone happy with delicious handmade tortillas and Indian tacos.” The Soboba Youth Council provided root beer floats throughout the day.

The Green Coalition’s Wiggs and Ginger Mendoza were making their 20th appearance at the Earth Day event, providing free take-home succulents such as aloe vera to help promote the growth of native and sustainable plants.

“Giving away plants is part of our mission and part of what this day should be about,” Wiggs said. He explained to those at their stand that the aloe plant can be used as a moisturizer or hair treatment and explained how it can have medicinal properties for cuts and burns.

“The Green Coalition has been our longest-standing partner, and we’re incredibly grateful for their continued presence and support at Soboba Earth Day,” Aceves said. “Their commitment has really helped shape the event into what it is today.” For more information, https://greensanjacinto.org.

EMWD Public Affairs Specialist Allan Freetage shared the importance of not letting certain items go down household drains and offered sink strainers to visitors to help with that. “Our Hydration Station van is a great educational tool to show that tap water can be good,” he said as he offered free cups for guests to fill with cold water.

Climate Science Alliance made a strong showing with informative handouts for adults and fun activities for children at their booth. The organization’s goal is to work with communities to help Native lands survive. “We have trainings with different community partners to help share knowledge,” Grants and Partnership Manager Edgar Carrillo said. Education Program Manager Sarah Morgan said the most important thing is to stay connected as community-based solutions are best.

“There was also strong representation from neighboring Tribal Environmental Departments of Santa Rosa, Morongo, Pechanga, Augustine, and 29 Palms, highlighting the unity and collaboration across our Tribes,” Aceves said.

 Pechanga’s Director of Environmental Helen Waguiu was passionate about explaining the damage being incurred to local oak trees due to the invasive Goldspotted Oak Borer (GSOB). She shared details of how to look for them so they can be reported and dealt with before causing further harm. She readily explained how the impact of this pest is far reaching. A reduction in oak tree population threatens cultural practices; Coast Live Oak, which is one the GSOB targets, is known as a keystone species and plays a vital role in the local ecosystem; oaks provide food and habitat to thousands of species; and dead and dying oak trees contribute to dangerous levels of wildfire fuel.

Local universities such as CSUSB, UCR, and University of Redlands showcased their environmental programs, inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders.

“Alongside them were essential partnerships with local utilities, nonprofits, and agencies,” Aceves said. “It truly was a vibrant mix of organizations, creating a space where our community could learn, connect, and get inspired. Having such a wide variety of vendors made the day feel full, energized, and incredibly meaningful.”

Soboba Cultural Resource Department representatives Renee Rhodes, Jessica Valdez, and Lily Brandt shared how their Cultural Garden at The Oaks is rooted in tradition and why it’s important to protect the earth.

“Tribal culture is land based,” Valdez said. “Once depleted, we cannot practice our traditional way of life.”

Aceves spent much of his time at the STED check-in area to greet guests and make sure they got their tickets for a free meal, a raffle prize chance and a vote for the best student poster. He also visited each vendor to personally thank them for their participation.

Silvas interacted with guests, vendors and others throughout the four-hour event. She said she received a lot of positive feedback about the food, the 39 raffle prizes and all of the different activities for children to do, especially the bird walk that was provided by Robin Roberts. She enjoyed seeing community members interact with all the different vendors and seeing how large the event has grown.

“Another highlight for me was all of the community members, employees, and different departments that volunteered to help us put this all together,” Silvas said. “I’m very appreciative to have their support and we couldn’t have done it without them.”

The standout moment for Aceves was the sheer number of people who showed up.

“Every year our event grows, and with it, Soboba’s commitment to environmental stewardship shines even brighter,” he said. “Seeing the community arrive in droves—families, students, elders, everyone—really exemplifies their dedication to learning, caring for the land, and celebrating the earth together. That kind of turnout is the best reminder of why we put so much heart into this event.”

Activities leading up to the celebration included the invitation to have Soboba departments design creative displays using all recyclable materials and Noli Indian School science students collaborating on posters that depicted the theme of this year’s event.

One of Sabrina Smith’s classes won first place scoring a fun pizza party while all other classes were treated to an ice cream party. The winner is chosen by attendees who each receive a ticket to be placed in the bucket set up next to their favorite poster.

Soboba Housekeeping won first place once again this year with their “McLovin’ the Earth” McDonald’s restaurant theme.

Aceves said that as the event has grown, so has the planning timeline.

“These days, we’re preparing earlier and earlier to make sure everything comes together seamlessly,” he said. “For this year’s celebration, we started more than six months in advance. At this point, half of our department’s calendar revolves around Earth Day, but we love it. It’s a huge lift but seeing the community show up the way they did makes every bit of preparation worth it.”

He said the most important thing people can do to make every day Earth Day is to love it.

“This year I selected the theme ‘Love the Earth’ (‘Éxla ‘Omá’ma) so that people could reflect on why they love the earth,” Aceves said. “In the opening remarks I asked participants to reflect on why they love the earth, be it the mountains that ground you, the rivers that bring life, or just the feeling of fresh air after a long day. Whatever it is, hold onto it because what we love is what we protect.”

For information on upcoming STED events, please visit https://epa.soboba-nsn.gov.

The post Soboba hosts its 20th Earth Day event appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

    The settlement, announced Tuesday, preserves nearly 55 acres of open space surrounding the rare Palmer’s oak in Jurupa Valley while allowing a large-scale residential and commercial development project to continue under revised conditions.

    Under the agreement, the protective buffer surrounding the oak will more than double from 450 feet to 1,000 feet. Conservation groups said the expanded buffer will help reduce impacts from nearby construction and preserve habitat for local wildlife.

    Known as the “Jurupa Oak,” the plant is not a traditional single-trunk tree but a sprawling shrub-like clone estimated to be at least 13,000 years old. Stretching nearly 80 feet across, it is considered the oldest known living plant in California and among the oldest living organisms on Earth.

    Researchers from UC Riverside and UC Davis identified the ancient Palmer’s oak in 2009 while studying vegetation in the hills overlooking what is now Jurupa Valley. Scientists determined the oak is a surviving clone from a much older population that existed during the Pleistocene era, a prehistoric period that ended more than 11,000 years ago.

    Their findings were later published in the research paper titled “A Pleistocene Clone of Palmer’s Oak Persisting in Southern California.”

    Although Palmer’s oak is native to California and not currently listed as endangered, conservationists have long argued that the Jurupa specimen is uniquely important because of its age and rarity.

    “I’m relieved that we can steer development away from an oak that’s so special it can’t be found anywhere else in the world,” said Aruna Prabhala, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Our goal was to minimize risk to the Jurupa Oak, and this agreement accomplishes that while improving wildlife connectivity in the area.”

    The revised agreement also reduces the overall footprint of the development project and creates an opportunity for environmental organizations or California Native American tribes to purchase an additional 54 acres nearby for conservation purposes.

    Additional environmental safeguards included in the agreement call for reduced lighting, protective fencing around the oak and the use of native plants throughout wildlife corridors designed to support animal movement across the region.

    The settlement follows legal action filed against the city of Jurupa Valley by the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Native Plant Society, the Endangered Habitats League and Friends of Riverside’s Hills.

    The lawsuit challenged the city’s approval of a major development project that included plans for more than 1,500 homes, commercial buildings, schools, parks, an equestrian center and light industrial development near the oak.

    Environmental groups argued the project failed to adequately address potential impacts to the ancient oak and surrounding habitat, alleging violations of the California Environmental Quality Act.

    “Preserving the unique Palmer’s oak and the hillside that has allowed it to survive all these millennia was our primary goal,” said Len Nunney of Friends of Riverside’s Hills. “Adding protected open space and a wildlife corridor connected to hundreds of acres of conserved land will help preserve a viable ecosystem in the area.”

    As part of the agreement, the environmental organizations agreed not to pursue additional legal challenges against the revised development proposal.

The post Agreement Reached to Protect Ancient 13,000-Year-Old Jurupa Oak in Riverside County appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

I recently spoke with a former Valley resident who owned property in Diamond Valley with nine panels, set on ground-mounted posts and frames. He did not set the panels on his roof because roof mounting would have required paying an engineer to determine if such loading was possible. Therefore, he chose the easier ground-mounting option to save on engineering costs. He also trenched and installed the one-inch conduit between the panel array and the switch box near the Edison meter.

Because of the way the panels were installed, he found it easy to keep them clean with regular attention once a month. After the first few cleanings, involving rinsing, soft mop swabbing, and a final rinse before sunrise, he started to note the approximate improvement in output. The post-cleaning output usually rebounded by approximately 10 percent.

During a drive along Domenigoni Parkway, the solar array owner noted that almost all solar panels on most houses looked “different,” and one person in the car remarked that they were probably pool heating panels. After some serious questioning of those who know about such technicalities, I discovered that most panels are indeed crusted with dust and dirt, and might be losing between 10 and 15 percent efficiency. Something that confirmed the problem of severe dirt on panels was one panel on a house with a palm tree that had its leaves sweeping about half of the panel. One half of the panel was clean, shiny, and dark in color, but above the swept area, the panel had the same beige, dirty look observed on solar panels throughout the San Jacinto Valley.

How much power is being lost is still up for discussion or examination. Nevertheless, if we are losing as much as 15 percent of our energy because of dirty panels, it’s like throwing good money and significant power away.

I would like to thank Lance Johannsen, a native son, and a retired EMWD civil engineer, for bringing this matter to my attention. Reporters sometimes get more done than our politicos.

So, folks, house-cleaning should also include cleaning your expensive solar panels periodically. Remember one ironclad rule about such situations: We don’t always know the good we have until inactivity costs us the day.

Just sayin’.

The post Local PV power lost to dirty panels appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

“I’m sorry, but this portrait looks like he’s in hell,” one person posted in comments under artist Jonathan Yeo’s and the royal family’s joint Instagram post revealing and explaining the image.

“Without sounding rude this is the worst royal portrait I’ve ever seen,” another added.

“It looks like he’s bathing in blood,” a third concluded.

The painting, which stands at an impressive 6½ by 8½ feet, was commissioned three years ago by the Worshipful Company of Drapers, a medieval guild of wool and cloth merchants that now focuses on philanthropy. The piece will hang at the gallery in Drapers’ Hall in downtown London, Yeo wrote.

King Charles sat for four sessions with the artist, a trustee at the National Portrait Gallery who has painted Queen Camilla when she was duchess of Cornwall as well as Charles’ father, the late Prince Philip, albeit in much more flattering tones. Charles had a creative say in the project, suggesting the artist include the butterfly landing on his shoulder, doing double duty as a symbol of his commitment to the environment and to show his transformation as he ascended to the throne.

“When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I’ve painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject’s role in our public life has transformed,” Yeo wrote.

“I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter’s face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. To try and capture that for His Majesty The King, who occupies such a unique role, was both a tremendous professional challenge, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am immensely grateful for.”

Despite his involvement in the project, King Charles was “initially surprised by the strong color,” the artist told the BBC, and TikTok royals commentator @matta_of_fact noted that the king appeared to jump a bit when he pulled the cloth away to reveal the painting.

The online opinions didn’t stop at hellfire, however. Allusions to the royal family’s bloody colonial past, Charles and Camilla’s infamous tampon scandal and the family’s current woes, including the king’s recent cancer diagnosis, ran rampant.

But not everyone seemed bothered. Queen Camilla took one look at the painting, the BBC reported, and said, “Yes, you’ve got him.”

The post King Charles’ new portrait elicits interesting reactions: ‘Looks like he’s bathing in blood’ appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

As Sharon Wilson pulled up to the BP site in Texas last June, production tanks towered above the windblown grass roughly 60 miles southeast of San Antonio. Cows and pumpjacks lined the roadsides.

All looked placid. But when Wilson flipped on a high-tech video camera, a disquieting image became visible: A long black plume poured from a flare pipe. Her camera, designed to detect hydrocarbons, had revealed what appeared to be a stream of methane — a potent climate-warming gas, gushing from the very equipment that is supposed to prevent such emissions.

“It’s very discouraging and depressing, but mostly it’s infuriating,” said Wilson, a field advocate for Earthworks, which promotes alternatives to fossil fuels. “Our government is not taking the action that needs to be taken.”

Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas. Measured over a 20-year period, scientists say, it packs about 80 times the climate-warming power of carbon dioxide. And according to the International Energy Agency, methane is to blame for roughly 30% of the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Aerial surveys have documented huge amounts of methane wafting from oil and gas fields in the United States and beyond.

It’s a problem the Biden administration has sought to attack in its recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act. One of the law’s provisions threatens fines of up to $1,500 per ton of methane released, to be imposed against the worst polluters. Perhaps most crucially, the law provides $1.55 billion in funding for companies to upgrade equipment to more effectively contain emissions — equipment that could, in theory, help the operators avoid fines.

Yet some of the best equipment for reducing emissions is already installed on oil and gas infrastructure, including at the BP site that Wilson filmed. And critics say such equipment is failing to capture much of the methane and casting doubt on whether the Biden plan would go far to correct the problem.

What Wilson saw at the BP site was an unlit flare. It’s among the types of equipment the EPA recommends companies consider installing to reduce methane emissions. Resembling a tall pipe, a flare is supposed to burn off methane before it can escape. Flames typically burn from the top of the flares.

But in this case, the flame had gone out, so methane was pouring from the pipe. The flare’s mechanisms are supposed to alert the operator if it stopped working. That didn’t happen in this case, according to a report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

“Energy companies have made pledges, but I’ve got to tell you, I haven’t seen anything from a practical standpoint that makes me believe there’s any reality to reductions on the ground,” said Tim Doty, an environmental scientist and former air quality inspector for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “Maybe they’re making progress, but are they making enough progress to slow down climate change? I don’t think so.”

The spewing methane that Wilson detected was among more than a dozen such scenes she documented over three days in the Eagle Ford Shale, an oil and gas field in south Texas. The methane poured from unlit or broken flares, storage tanks, vapor recovery units and compressors. She found it escaping at sites owned by companies including BP and Marathon Oil, both of which have pledged to reduce methane emissions.

“They have the technology, but for some reason, whether they don’t maintain it, whether the technology doesn’t work, I don’t know, but if find it not working,” Wilson said.

BP did not respond to questions about the methane leaks Wilson documented. The company says it plans to eliminate routine flaring in U.S. onshore operations by 2025 and is advocating for policies to reduce methane emissions.

Marathon Oil disputed that it violated any regulations. A spokeswoman said the company recognizes the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate and prioritizes concern for the environment.

Sometimes, methane escapes because the equipment designed to contain it hasn’t been properly calibrated or maintained. Emissions aren’t immediately stopped once new equipment is installed. Companies must still invest in properly designing the system and continuously monitoring and maintaining the equipment. This requires money and staff, which experts say many companies neglect.

The Biden administration hasn’t yet specified which types of equipment it recommends. But the EPA, which is working with the administration on the law’s methane reduction program, has recommended technologies for reducing methane emissions. Whether that equipment actually succeeds in capping emissions is an open question.

“There’s lots of technologies, but the reality in the field is it just doesn’t work,” Doty said.

That’s frequently also the case with another type of equipment the EPA recommends: vapor recovery units. These are systems of pipes and seals that are supposed to capture methane before it can escape from tanks. In Doty’s field work, which spans decades, he estimates that he’s seen vapor recovery units leaking some amount of methane or other hydrocarbons 75% to 85% of the time.

And hydrocarbons like methane, because they are corrosive, inevitably degrade the tanks, pipes and equipment that are supposed to contain them.

“All this stuff is going to be prone to leak — that’s just the way it is,” said Coyne Gibson, who spent about two decades as an engineer inspecting oil and gas equipment. “That’s mechanics. And there’s there’s not really any way to avoid it.”

One reason it’s hard for the industry to control methane emissions is that many leaks come from the nation’s vast gas distribution network. Millions of miles of pipelines are next to impossible to completely monitor. What’s more, Gibson said, pipelines are often buried, making leaks harder to detect.

That gas distribution network, which includes pipelines and compressor stations, is responsible for most methane emissions in the energy industry, said Antoine Halff, chief analyst at Kayrros, an energy analytics company. Using satellite data, Kayrros identified one compressor station — which adjusts the pressure of gas to move it through pipelines — that emitted methane continuously for eight days.

“It’s way too common,” Halff said.

Some large companies have invested in infrared cameras, like Wilson’s, that can detect methane leaks at facilities. They use them on the ground, or on drones or aircraft.

The process can help operators find and fix leaks. But it’s typically done only periodically, with cameras that don’t run continuously. Every few months, some companies will send a team with an infrared camera to check for leaks from the ground or a helicopter.

Much of the time, though, there is no such surveillance. Leaks or even planned methane releases can occur during these periods, as when companies open a stretch of pipeline to release methane before doing repairs. The staffing it would take to continuously survey the nation’s 3 million miles of natural gas pipelines would likely be prohibitively expensive.

Malfunctioning flares like the one Wilson found are also a major contributor to methane pollution. Flaring is supposed to burn off 98% of the methane that would otherwise shoot directly into the atmosphere. But whether because of malfunctions or poor design, flares are releasing five times that amount of methane into the atmosphere, according to a study by the University of Michigan.

“Flares often go out,” said David Lyon, senior scientist with Environmental Defense Fund. “They’ll be unlit and venting all the gas. Or they’ll just not be burning the gas properly. So that’s that’s a really big source of methane. And often I think the operators are not aware that the flare’s out.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is writing rules on methane reduction that will further detail what would be required of companies starting in 2024 under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The American Petroleum Institute, the main lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, says methane emissions intensity declined by nearly 60 percent across the nation’s major producing regions from 2011 to 2020. But companies base their reported methane emissions on estimates, not actual measurements, another custom that the Inflation Reduction Act seeks to change.

Climate scientists have shown, using satellite data, that methane emissions are often two or three times above what companies reported. Under the new law, companies would have to actually measure and report their methane emissions. But it’s still unclear how such a measurement program would work.

“Us and many others in this field, over and over again, have shown the huge gap between reporting by countries and companies and what can actually be detected,” Halff said.

Even so, he thinks there’s reason to hope that the methane provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will make some difference.

“Emissions keep going up,” he said. “We’re moving in the wrong direction…but the potential, the conditions, to change course seem to be here.”

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Equipment that’s designed to cut methane emission is failing appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change, according to a new poll that shows limited public awareness about a sweeping new law that commits the U.S. to its largest ever investment to combat global warming.

Democrats in Congress approved the Inflation Reduction Act in August, handing President Joe Biden a hard-fought triumph on priorities that his party hopes will bolster prospects for keeping their House and Senate majorities in November’s elections.

Biden and Democratic lawmakers have touted the new law as a milestone achievement leading into the midterm elections, and environmental groups have spent millions to boost the measure in battleground states. Yet the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 61% of U.S. adults say they know little to nothing about it.

While the law was widely heralded as the largest investment in climate spending in history, 49% of Americans say it won’t make much of a difference on climate change, 33% say it will help and 14% think it will do more to hurt it.

The measure, which passed without a single Republican vote in either chamber, offers nearly $375 billion in incentives to accelerate expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power, speeding the transition away from fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas that largely cause climate change.

Combined with spending by states and the private sector, the law could help shrink U.S. carbon emissions by about two-fifths by 2030 and chop emissions from electricity by as much as 80%, advocates say.

Michael Katz, 84, of Temple, New Hampshire, said he thinks Biden has “done an amazing amount of work” as president. “I’m sort of in awe of what he’s done,″ said Katz, a Democrat and retired photographer. Still, asked his opinion of the Inflation Reduction Act, Katz said, “I’m not acquainted with” it.

After learning about the law’s provisions, Katz said he supports increased spending for wind and solar power, along with incentives to purchase electric vehicles. Even stronger measures — such as restrictions on rebuilding in coastal areas damaged by Hurricane Ian or other storms — are warranted, Katz said, but he doubts they’ll ever be approved.

“People want their dreams to come true: to live near the ocean in a big house,″ he said.

Leah Stokes, an environmental policy professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said she was not surprised the climate law is so little known, despite massive media coverage when it was debated in Congress, approved and signed by Biden.

The law was passed during the summer, when people traditionally pay less attention to news, “and it takes time to explain it,″ especially since many of the law’s provisions have not yet kicked in, Stokes said.

Biden and congressional Democrats “delivered in a big way on climate,″ she said, but now must focus on helping the public understand the law and “winning the win.″

Meredith McGroarty, a waitress from Pontiac, Michigan, said she was unfamiliar with the new law but supports increased climate action. “I have children I’m leaving behind to this world,″ she said.

McGroarty, 40, a Democrat, urged Biden and other leaders to talk more about the climate law’s “effects on normal, everyday people. Let us know what’s going on a little more.″

Americans are generally more likely to support than oppose many of the government actions on climate change included in the law, the poll shows. That includes incentives for electric vehicles and solar panels, though relatively few say they are inclined to pursue either in the next three years.

About half of Americans think government action that targets companies with restrictions is very important, the poll shows, while about a third say that about restrictions on individuals. A majority of Americans, 62%, say companies’ refusal to reduce energy use is a major problem for efforts to reduce climate change, while just about half say people not willing to reduce their energy use is a major problem.

Slightly more than half also say it’s a major problem that the energy industry is not doing enough to supply power from renewable sources such as wind and solar, and about half say the government is not investing enough in renewable energy.

Overall, 62% of U.S. adults say the government is doing too little to reduce climate change, while 19% say it’s doing too much and 18% think it’s doing the right amount.

Democrats are more likely than others to think the federal government is doing too little on climate: 79% say that, compared to 67% of independents and 39% of Republicans. About three-quarters of Black and Hispanic Americans think there’s too little action, compared to about half of white Americans.

And about three-quarters of adults under 45 think there’s too little action on climate, significantly higher than the roughly half of those older who think that.

Robert Stavins, professor of energy and economic development at the Harvard Kennedy School, said it makes sense for the government to step in to promote renewable energy on a large scale.

“Individual action is not going to be sufficient in 10 or even 20 years,” he said. “You need government policies to create incentives for industry and individuals to move in a carbon-friendly direction.″

Americans want to own a car, “and they are not going to buy one that’s expensive,″ Stavins said, so government needs to lower costs for electric vehicles and encourage automakers to produce more EVs, including widespread availability of charging stations. Biden has set a goal to install 500,000 charging stations across America as part of the 2021 infrastructure law.

On renewable energy, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults say offshore wind farms should be expanded, and about 6 in 10 say solar panel farms should be expanded. Biden has moved to expand offshore wind and solar power as president.

Americans are divided on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Around a third say such drilling should be expanded, while about as many say it should be reduced; another third say neither.

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to be in favor of expanding offshore drilling, 54% to 20%.

___

The poll of 1,003 adults was conducted Sep. 9-12 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Most in US want more action on climate change: AP-NORC poll appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.