In the News
Trump administration intervenes in dispute over fate of PG&E’s Potter Valley Project
by Phil Barber
Opponents of a plan to remove two Pacific Gas & Electric-owned dams from the Eel River in Lake and Mendocino counties have officially won a huge ally: the Trump administration. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Friday filed a notice to intervene in the utility giant’s bid to decommission its waterworks in the rural area, which also include a century-old power plant that helps to shunt Eel River water into irrigation canals that support Mendocino County’s Potter Valley and dump into … Continue Reading
December 18, 2025
Trump’s Energy Agenda Has Taken Over Congress’ Permitting Reform Ambitions
by Shifra Dayak
The House just passed one of its biggest permitting reform moves in years. A last-minute addition undermining wind projects cost the proposal much of its Democratic support. Most Republicans and 11 Democrats voted Thursday to pass the SPEED Act, which would reduce the level of environmental review required to build infrastructure under the National Environmental Policy Act. Both parties have pointed to the environmental statute as one of the biggest barriers to development in the … Continue Reading
December 18, 2025
Lawmakers criticize Trump’s bid to take over D.C. golf courses
by Rick Maese
With a takeover threat looming, Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration’s apparent bid to wrest control of Washington’s public golf courses, with one congressman saying the default process that the government is using appears to break from the National Park Service’s lease requirements. The 50-year lease between the National Park Service and nonprofit National Links Trust requires the government to identify specific violations and give the operator time to fix them before … Continue Reading
December 18, 2025
House passes bill to cut red tape blocking energy and infrastructure projects
by Callie Patteson
The House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation Thursday to accelerate federal approvals of infrastructure and energy projects, a reform that has long been considered a “white whale” in Congress. The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act cleared the House in a 221-196 vote, with 11 Democrats voting in favor and one Republican voting against. The bill, introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), is the latest effort by … Continue Reading
December 15, 2025
Trump’s plan to pump more water in California is ill-conceived and harmful, lawmakers say
by Ian James
A Trump administration plan to pump more water to Central Valley farmlands is facing vehement opposition from Democratic members of Congress who represent the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Bay Area. A group of seven legislators led by Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) said pumping more water will threaten the availability of water for many Californians, disrupt longstanding state-federal cooperation and put the Delta’s native fish at risk. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s … Continue Reading
December 12, 2025
Park Service orders changes to staff ratings, a move experts call illegal
by Jake Spring
A top National Park Service official has instructed park superintendents to limit the number of staff who get top marks in performance reviews, according to three people familiar with the matter, a move that experts say violates federal code and could make it easier to lay off staff. Parks leadership generally evaluate individual employees annually on a five-point scale, with a three rating given to those who are successful in achieving their goals, with those exceeding expectations … Continue Reading
December 12, 2025
A new federal report scrutinizes Puerto Rico’s tax incentives luring wealthy Americans
by Dánica Coto
Puerto Rico tax incentives that have lured thousands of rich Americans to the U.S. territory for over a decade are under scrutiny after federal legislators released a new report on Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report found that the island’s exemptions could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and it urged the International Revenue Service to improve its oversight, warning that some recipients “may not be meeting their federal tax obligations.” The … Continue Reading
December 11, 2025
House passes permitting bill to ease Clean Water Act and boost pipelines
by Josh Siegel
The GOP-led House passed a trio of bills Thursday aimed at speeding up permitting for energy projects and bolstering power grid reliability. The bills, passed largely on partisan lines, are unlikely to be taken up by the Senate. But GOP lawmakers are looking to put their stamp on a bipartisan priority of lowering regulatory hurdles that several industries blame for hampering energy project development as power demand surges and electricity prices rise. Most notably, the House voted 221-205 … Continue Reading
December 09, 2025
Court invalidates Trump suspension of offshore wind permits
by Robert Schaulis
A U.S. District Court decision has vacated the Trump administration’s “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects” executive memorandum this week, declaring the January order “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.” The memo directed the Interior Department to indefinitely withdraw all offshore wind leases and “conduct a comprehensive review of the … Continue Reading
December 09, 2025
Federal Court Strikes Down Trump’s Offshore Wind Ban
by Isabella Vanderheiden
President Donald Trump’s offshore wind ban has been overturned. On Monday, Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order halting permits and leasing for new wind energy projects is “unlawful,” vacating the order and ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include 17 states and Washington, D.C. A group of environmental advocacy groups, including the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), filed an … Continue Reading
December 07, 2025
Looming SNAP cuts spark concern for food-access advocates
by Natalia Gurevich
Food-access advocates in San Francisco are beginning to brace for the consequences of federal funding cuts that will take effect in the new year. Their consternation follows the chaos created within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the recent 43-day federal-government shutdown. “One of the misconceptions ... is that SNAP benefits were at risk during the government shutdown, and then when the shutdown concluded, that everything was back to normal,” said Dr. Hilary … Continue Reading
December 07, 2025
Bay Area conservationist describes offshore oil drilling plan as "serious" threat
by John Ramos
The latest battleground in the fight between California and the federal government isn't really ground at all; it's underwater. The Trump administration is renewing its intention to open the state's coast to offshore oil drilling, and local forces are gearing up for the struggle. At Portuguese Beach near Bodega Bay, the beauty of the rugged California coast is on full display. It's a place of recreation for some, serenity for others. But lately, for Richard Charter, it's become an area of … Continue Reading
December 04, 2025
California Dems join chorus of lawmakers hoping to influence Trump offshore drilling plan
by Noah Baustin
California Democrats joined the bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for major changes to the Trump administration’s proposal to boost offshore oil and gas production. What happened: A coalition of 28 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter Thursday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump opposing the administration’s proposal to hold six oil and gas lease sales in the federal waters off the California coast. “Any expansion of offshore drilling in the waters off the coast … Continue Reading
December 01, 2025
House Members Introduce Bills Covering Water Protection from Hydraulic Fracturing
by Mike Price
Five U.S. House of Representatives members introduced on November 18 what they are calling “the Frack Pack,” a set of five bills aimed at public health protections from hydraulic fracturing. The House members are Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Diana DeGette (Colorado), Jared Huffman (California), Kathy Castor (Florida), and Yvette Clarke (New York). The bills are titled the SHARED Act, FRAC Act, FRESHER Act, CLEANER Act, and CLOSE Act. ... For full article, click … Continue Reading
November 24, 2025
Could offshore drilling ruin America's coastlines? Some are worried.
by Dinah Voyles Pulver, Terry Collins
Nature lovers, scientists and politicians worry the beloved California coastline, from the Redwoods to Santa Monica, will be endangered by the Trump administration's latest call for expanded offshore drilling. While oil and gas industry leaders lauded the plan, environmentalists and a group of California legislators quickly blasted it, fearing the potential havoc an oil spill or other accident could wreak on tourism and natural resources along the coast. They say the millions of tourists and … Continue Reading
November 24, 2025
Marin joins coastal coalition against offshore drilling
by Adrian Rodriguez
The Marin County Board of Supervisors has taken a stand against the Trump administration’s threats of offshore oil drilling. The board voted unanimously on Nov. 18 to join a revived coalition of California coastal jurisdictions working to protect the shoreline. The approval of the resolution came days before the Trump administration released a five-year plan to open the entire state coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling and deep-sea mining. ... For full article, click … Continue Reading
November 23, 2025
West Marin Pharmacy to receive $500K federal earmark
by Richard Halstead
When President Donald Trump signed legislation this month to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, it meant $500,000 for the West Marin Pharmacy in Point Reyes Station. As part of the deal to end the shutdown, Republicans and Democrats agreed to fund several agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, for the full 2026 fiscal year. The agreement includes money for the drugstore to renovate. “The fiscal year 2026 agriculture bill is what the half a million dollars for … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida
by Matthew Daly, Matthew Brown
The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production. The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
Trump administration proposes opening waters off California and Florida to oil drilling
by James Bikales
The Trump administration proposed a plan Thursday that would open federal waters off the California coast to new oil and gas leasing for the first time in four decades and reignite a long-simmering fight with Florida Republicans over drilling along that state’s Gulf Coast. The proposed five-year schedule for offshore oil and gas leasing represents the most aggressive in decades, with the Interior Department considering as many as 34 auctions in federal waters between 2026 and 2031. That … Continue Reading
November 20, 2025
California leaders vehemently oppose expanded offshore oil
by Robert Schaulis
Politicians, environmental groups and business organizations throughout the state and country expressed outrage Thursday at a Trump administration plan to significantly increase offshore oil leasing, calling the plan an attempt to “destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry.” “Trump’s idiotic plan endangers our coastal economy and communities and hurts the well-being of Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press … Continue Reading