News

Introducing SB 601: The Right to Clean Water Act

In 1972, a bipartisan supermajority of Congress enacted the federal Clean Water Act to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” The Act set a national goal of eliminating the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States by 1985.

For over 50 years, California waters have benefitted from Clean Water Act protections like water quality standards, discharge permits, and community enforcement. While we still have work to do, the Clean Water Act has helped inch our state’s waters closer to meeting fishable, swimmable, and drinkable goals.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court crippled the Clean Water Act in 2023. In Sackett v. EPA, the Supreme Court decreed a much narrower interpretation of the “waters of the United States” or “WOTUS”—the waters protected by the Clean Water Act. In the words of the concurring Supreme Court Justices, the Sackett decision comes with “real-world consequences for the waters of the United States,” “regulatory uncertainty,” and “significant repercussions for water quality and flood control.” The Sackett decision is especially dangerous for western states as it removes protections for non-“relatively permanent” waters. The decision also particularly affects wetlands, which continue to provide vital ecosystem services despite significant historic losses (over 90% in California).

California Coastkeeper Alliance will not stand by and let our waters be stripped of crucial protections.

That is why California Coastkeeper Alliance has teamed up with Defenders of Wildlife and Senator Ben Allen to introduce Senate Bill 601: The Right to Clean Water Act. The bill would restore long-enjoyed federal Clean Water Act protections into state law so the protections will no longer ebb and flow with variable national politics.

We are not going backwards. California has enjoyed clean water protections for 50 years and we have a right to continue to do so. The Right to Clean Water Act preserves California’s values in the face of turbulent federal disruptions, while efficiently moving the state’s clean water programs forward.

In California, we care about our waters, and CCKA will always stand up to protect them.

Stay informed of CCKA’s legislative work and support our efforts to protect California’s waters by subscribing to California Coastkeeper Alliance’s monthly newsletter, becoming a lifetime CCKA member, and following us on social media: @CA_Waterkeepers.

Read Original Article

From roads to rivers: How state agencies are tackling salmon-killing tire pollution

Researchers are uncovering the hidden dangers lurking in car and truck tires, a complex source of pollution that affects both air and water quality. Tires contain a hazardous mix of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals, with experts warning that emissions from tire wear pose significant risks to human health and wildlife. Given the enormous number of vehicles on the road and miles traveled daily, tires have become a widespread and pervasive source of pollution.

One particularly concerning pollutant is 6PPD, a chemical added to tires as an antidegradant. Over time, as tires wear down, tiny particles containing 6PPD are released into the environment. When it rains, stormwater carries these particles from roads and paved surfaces into nearby rivers and streams, where they contaminate aquatic ecosystems. Even more troubling, a 2021 study published in Science revealed that 6PPD reacts with ozone in the air to form 6PPD-Quinone (6PPD-Q), a highly toxic byproduct, which was directly linked to the mortality of coho salmon.

Since these findings, California state agencies have begun taking action to address the issue. On December 4, the State Water Resources Control Board, in coordination with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and CalTrans, presented their efforts to tackle 6PPD and 6PPD-Q contamination in the state’s waterways.

Keep Reading

Land Is Sinking Fast Along Parts of the Coast, Worsening the Effects of Sea Level Rise

The land at multiple spots along California’s iconic coastline is sinking at startling rates, compounding the flooding risks posed by future sea level rise from Humboldt Bay to San Diego, according to a new study led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The speed of the land sinking, or subsidence, helps show that regional estimates “largely underestimate” sea level rise in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. That adds a new layer of complication for cities along the 800-plus miles of coastline preparing for a far wetter future, while some are already dealing with flooding from climate-fueled storms and king tides.

Using satellite imagery, the scientists found that land along San Francisco Bay in San Rafael, Corte Madera, Foster City and Alameda’s Bay Farm Island is subsiding more than 0.4 inches a year. When considering the subsidence rate, local sea levels could rise by more than double the regional estimate by 2050.

Keep Reading

Wildlife impacts: Wind farms versus oil drilling

US President Donald Trump says that wind farms harm birds and whales. Scientists weigh wind power's impacts on wildlife against those of oil and gas.

Aspen Ellis, a seabird biologist at University of California, Santa Cruz, spent a decade doing field work on remote islands off the coast of the United States. She often lived for months amongst thousands of birds, becoming so immersed in their ways that she even learned to tell which predators were nearby from the birds' calls. But as she added her observations to 40 or 50 years of previous research on these colonies, she noticed a worrying pattern.

"Again and again, I just found myself logging the impact of climate change over time," she recalls, from rising sea levels that threatened breeding colonies, to fish moving to cooler areas and leaving seabird chicks starving. "Without addressing this larger issue of climate change, the seabird conversation work we were doing wasn't sufficient to save those populations," she adds. She decided to change focus – and today, studies ways to make clean-energy offshore wind farms safer for birds.

The impact of energy production on wildlife has come into the spotlight again amid US President Donald Trump's plan to pivot the country's supply from renewables such as wind, to oil and gas. In his first days in office, Trump revoked former-president Joe Biden's ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling. "We will drill, baby, drill," Trump promised when he was inaugurated, while putting the brakes on the expansion of wind farms. One of his arguments is that wind farms harm birds and whales. His executive order halting offshore wind farm development cited the importance of marine life as one of the reasons for the decision.

Keep Reading

Fishers Make the Most of a Better Crab Season

The rain is misting over Woodley Island Marina's Dock B, where the Jenna Lee is moored. Kristen Pinto, in a bright yellow slicker, pulls three Dungeness crabs from the trickling bin on the deck of the adjacent home-built pontoon boat from which the Pinto family sells to the public as Jenna Lee's Seafood.

"It's been a little slower," she says, lifting a half shrug and noting the strained economy and higher price of crab — $8 per pound — have kept some away. "They're a nice size and all, but it adds up. A nice size crab can be $20."

The jump in price from last year has been a boon for crab fishers who've been stuck selling their hard-won catches for less and less over shortened seasons in recent years.

Keep reading