California

"As rooftop solar projects have plummeted, about 17,000 workers could lose their jobs. Will this derail the state’s climate and clean energy goals?"

"The largest combined solar and energy-storage project in the U.S. is now online and operating in California’s Mojave Desert." "The new California installation has nearly 2 million solar panels, more than 120,000 batteries, and an enormous amount of clean energy capacity."

"Flash floods inundated homes and overturned cars in San Diego on Monday as torrential rain swept through a large swath of the U.S., toppling trees and overflowing streets across California."

"A team of UCLA researchers has put a new spin on the 1970s rock classic “Dust in the Wind” — only this one is grimmer and grimier than the original hit by Kansas. They found that wind picks up microplastics from human-sewage-based fertilizers at higher concentrations than previously known, and may be an “underappreciated” source of airborne plastic bits, flakes and threads."

"In a scathing review, advisors to the state Legislature have found that California's proposed regulations for urban water conservation would be costly, overly complicated and difficult to implement."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on a California oil company’s plans to permanently store carbon emissions deep underground to combat global warming — the first proposal of its kind to be tentatively approved in the state."

"Facing big deficits, the governor has proposed taking a bigger chunk out of climate programs in his new budget — about 7% — and spreading the funds over seven years. Climate groups said cutting back on state spending now would cost the state more later."

"The Pacific coast’s only native oyster is making a comeback, but it still needs a little help from its friends."

"Drive down any of the long, rutted back roads of Anza, a dusty Riverside County community, and it won’t take long before you feel like you’ve fallen off the grid."