"A federal judge barred the Trump administration Friday from approving oil companies’ requests to use the high-pressure drilling technique known as fracking in offshore wells along the Southern California coast until a review of the possible effects on endangered species and state coastal resources."
"The death toll from wildfires ravaging both ends of California has risen to at least 31 after the remains of several more people were found Sunday."
"PARADISE, Calif. — Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes Thursday as a destructive wildfire continued to grow in Butte County, prompting more evacuations orders throughout the day. The fire, called the Camp Fire, has destroyed several hundred structures -- including homes and businesses -- in Paradise, is threatening 15,000 other structures and has injured multiple people."
"California voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 6, a measure to repeal a recent increase in the state’s gas tax and one that, in many ways, determines the fate of California’s roads, bridges and transit."
"California voters approved a measure Tuesday requiring all eggs sold in the state come from cage-free hens by 2022."
"The Interior Department has issued formal approval for a massive solar power project in the Southern California desert, completing a wild odyssey that saw the project left for dead two years ago after its Spain-based developer went bankrupt."
"This year on Calfornia’s packed ballot, voters will decide on a contentious initiative that would overturn recent state legislation that raised taxes on gasoline to fund needed road and transit projects."
"The Trump administration unlawfully withdrew a plan to limit the number of whales, turtles and other marine creatures permitted to be inadvertently killed or harmed by drift gillnets used to catch swordfish off California, a federal judge has ruled."
"Five years ago, assigning wickedness to the purple urchin, a shellfish the size of a plum with quarter-inch spikes, would have been absurd. That was before the urchins mowed down Northern California’s kelp forests."
Climate, environment and energy issues figure prominently in the upcoming Nov. 6 elections, whether in individual races, ballot measures or significant power shifts. This week’s TipSheet provides starting points to track relevant races, and runs down 11 big environmental ballots, ranging from measures like a carbon tax in Washington state and drilling ban in Florida, to tight congressional races in California, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia.
