Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take 6 months, Pentagon tells Congress The Pentagon assessment, shared in a classified briefing for lawmakers, suggests gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated through the midterm elections.

Oh. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Lee Zeldin has spent 15 months dismantling the EPA from within.
Repealed every federal climate regulation since 2009. Fired 1,000+ scientists. Stopped counting human lives in pollution rules.
Link below.
#EarthDay #EPA #ClimateChange #FossilFuels

open.substack.com/pub/chrisglo...

Massachusetts is dumping sewage into waterways. Grassroots organizations are fighting back Environmental organizations in Massachusetts are urging water officials to keep sewage out of waterways in several Boston-area communities by committing to a more modern sewer system with separate pip...

Inadvertent earth day post/quote:

“Any projection now of extreme weather events tends to be underestimated, so from how we keep breaking weather extreme records, it makes sense to build out the more expensive and comprehensive solution"

apnews.com/article/comb...

New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations A WIRED review of permits for data center projects using natural gas and linked to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI shows they could emit more than 129 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.

when @mollytaft.com showed me the permit estimates and was like "but also, take look at the numbers for these ENTIRE COUNTRIES" my jaw dropped. a must read: www.wired.com/story/new-ga...

Decisive action to break influence of gas on electricity prices Families across the country will be better protected from energy crises, as government moves to break link between gas and electricity prices.

Also good to hear the idea of moving existing nuclear and renewable generators (under the renewables obligation scheme) onto fixed price contracts is back. (2/2) www.gov.uk/government/n...

Measuring the Impact of Data Centers in the United States Economy: Monetary Damage from Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

US data centers consume 5-8% of US electricity generation (!) and generates $25 billion in external environmental costs

www.nber.org/papers/w35100

Interesting work with a super provocative title/takeaway by @ulibarri.bsky.social et al. on community wildfire planning nationally, just out in PNAS ⬇️

"Performative planning creates a values mismatch between wildfire plans and community needs"

www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Podcast Launch: History of Hydrology Interviews “The number one piece of advice I would give anybody is to pick a problem and go after that problem. Ideally, you should pick a problem that requires a lifetime to solve.”  Prof. Siva Sivapalan, episo...

We’re excited to launch our new podcast on the History of Hydrology! 🎙️
This series brings together expert interviews to explore how hydrological science has evolved over time— & how past insights continue to shape today’s water challenges and solutions.

blogs.egu.eu/divisions/hs...

is there a link to detailed budget?

Mayor Karen Bass State of The City 2026 - April 20, 2026 YouTube video by City of Los Angeles

Here’s the livestream introducing Mayor Karen Bass’s budget, which drops at noon.

My topline takeaway so far: weekly street sweeping is back!

San Diego Now Has So Much Water That It’s Selling It With the Colorado River in crisis, Arizona and Nevada are turning to an unconventional life line: the ocean water off California’s golden beaches.

I am all for these sales, and ones like them, but the idea that this has reversed the narrative much less the reality, on San Diego's all-hands approach to water supply and its effects on local residents and the broader region, is very dubious.

www.wsj.com/us-news/clim...

Idaho Lawmakers Pass Resolution Supporting Wildlife Crossings and Habitat Connectivity In 2025, Idaho was the nation’s second-fastest growing state by population percentage. More people mean more drivers on the road, which, in a state rich in iconic wildlife such as mule deer, elk, and moose, also means a greater risk of collisions between vehicles and wildlife as these animals migrate between their habitats.

A conservative Idaho legislature just voted unanimously to protect wildlife corridors. Why? Because deer-car collisions cost the state $150M/year. When protecting nature saves money, politics stops mattering.🦌 #WildlifeCrossings #EcoEconomy
www.pew.org/en/resea...

www.eastidahonews.co...

Map Gallery | Christopher B. Goodman Christopher B Goodman is an associate professor at Northern Illinois University, researching special districts & preemption and teaching public finance.

Some time back, at the request of @mullinmeg.bsky.social, I pulled together a whole host of maps derived from the Census of Governments that Census once published but seemingly no longer does.

I’m currently sticking them in a lecture—the reason I assume most people want these maps—and so can you!

I’m actually not that interested in oil price discourse but I do want to see more recognition that as a major oil producer, the US *benefits* from high oil prices. Our choice to let private interests vs the public own the oil — which is globally extremely unusual — means those profits are private.

Procedural equity in clean transportation benefit program implementation: Insights from California’s Clean Cars 4 All There has been an outsized focus on the distributive aspects of environmental justice compared to procedural aspects. Yet, procedure is equally important to assess, especially considering that ther...

Congrats to @rachelconnolly.bsky.social of @luskininnovation.bsky.social on publishing her final dissertation paper!

Which Yifang Zhu & I also contributed to🔽

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

bluesky admins, have you tried jiggling the handle?

Paradise Irrigation District says CARB ZEV mandate could impact disaster response The Paradise Irrigation District (PID) is raising concerns about the California Air Resources Board's Advanced Clean Fleets zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) regulati

The issue of emissions regulations around emergency deployment of vehicles and backup power sources by water systems during wildfires has come up consistently in conversations the last 18 months.

Seems like this one should be a relatively fixable problem...

krcrtv.com/news/local/p...

I seriously think academia would benefit more from picking up the phone and talking to someone rather than trying to say the same thing in an email.

My own experience is that things move much faster with less misunderstanding over the phone than an email.

Research on Emissions from U.S. Reservoirs | US EPA EPA scientists are collaborating with researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Energy to measure methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 108 U.S. reservoirs during a four-yea...

A finding pioneered by the now-eliminated EPA Office of Research and Development:
www.epa.gov/air-research...

A gas that causes climate change is bubbling out of reservoirs How much planet-warming methane is coming from water reservoirs? Environmental groups want California to track emissions.

Things I learned today: “In two studies in 2021, researchers estimated that the water held behind the world’s dams emits between 10 and 22 million metric tons of methane per year — roughly equivalent to 3%-7% of all the methane from human activities”

www.latimes.com/environment/...

BREAKING: Malibu filed a lawsuit against a conservation authority that oversees land where 3 fires in the past 2 years have started and went on to damage Malibu homes — including the Palisades fire: malibucity.org/DocumentCent...

When responding to structure fires, the volume and speed of water delivery are critical to protecting lives and property. 1/3

"Every month, Rebecca Michalski takes a deep breath before opening her electric bill. She lives on a fixed income, and heating her small house this winter has been staggering: Her February charge was $940.08 — more than her check."

California bill would limit EV-charging access in affordable housing Legislation backed by developers would waive EV-charging requirements for new low-income housing projects, just as the state looks to build 1 million more…

Hoping CA Legislature does not pass this bill that would end a requirement for EV charging in apartment buildings and other multifamily housing. Trading small up-front cost savings for much big long-term fuel costs: www.canarymedia.com/articles/ele... via @alisontakemura.bsky.social

Worth a thorough read, but most eye-catching finding to me is that "the highest numbers of VOCs [were found] in zones adjacent but outside of the burned areas"

Water Quality after the 2025 Los Angeles Fires: Number of VOCs as a Robust Fire Indicator and Effective Remediation through Multiple System Flushes The 2025 Palisades and Eaton Fires in Los Angeles caused widespread destruction and public health concerns across diverse environmental matrices, including hazardous levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in drinking water. We investigated postfire drinking water quality at point-of-use in 52 standing homes to evaluate exposure to fire contaminants and the efficacy of district-led remediation efforts. Benzene, a common postfire VOC of concern, was detected in 17% of all samples, with one maximum contaminant level (MCL) exceedance (1.62 ppb). 26 VOCs (out of 52 VOCs tested) were detected at least once. Unregulated VOCs were detected 14% more frequently than expected from a Gaussian distribution and comprised the majority of VOC detections (53%). We found that the number of VOCs detected per sample was a more robust indicator of fire impacts than benzene alone, with the highest numbers of VOCs in zones adjacent but outside of the burned areas. District-led flushing and testing decreased VOC levels below detection, with hydrophobic compounds persisting longer than hydrophilic compounds. Future fire response may benefit from an assessment of exposure limits for currently unregulated fire-related VOCs and from review of emergency response protocols in zones of impacted systems that are outside of burned areas.

The largest non-water system-run study on drinking water quality impacts from the January 2025 LA Fires is now peer-review published from a team at @ucirvine.bsky.social led by Chris Olivares and Allison Tillzey.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Years of drought has major energy port of Corpus Christi, Texas, wrestling with water crisis The Texas city of Corpus Christi is facing a severe water crisis because of a prolonged drought, and it is a threat not just to residential use but also to the refineries and petrochemical plants in a...

“The city’s drought plan allows for charging residents and businesses extra if they use lots of water. But big industry, which consumes ~60% of the water, can opt to pay a permanent surcharge to avoid the possibility of having a much larger fee added in times of drought”

apnews.com/article/corp...

“If it's a glacier, it has ice and contributes water. It's very basic”

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump promised to cut electric costs in half. In energy-rich West Virginia, bills now top mortgages

www.latimes.com/environment/...

See our @luskininnovation.bsky.social FAQ summary with @uclalawemmett.bsky.social colleagues