In the News
A Slimmed-Down Biden Plan With Climate Focus Divides Progressives
by Ari Natter
Progressives are divided over President Joe Biden's willingness to break off $550 billion in climate spending from his moribund Build Back Better plan as separate legislation, despite the popularity of the provisions. Biden cracked the door open to breaking up his signature spending bill as a means of overcoming objections to the broader measure from Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, pivotal votes in the evenly divided chamber. "I think we can … Continue Reading
January 19, 2022
$14 Billion Wildlife Conservation Plan Advanced by House Panel
by Kellie Lunneye
The House Natural Resources Committee approved a wildlife conservation bill Wednesday that would establish $14 billion in funds for conservation projects for species recovery and wildlife habitat. The "Recovering America's Wildlife Act," approved by a bipartisan vote of 29-15, would provide dedicated, annual funding of $1.4 billion over the next decade for states, tribes, and territories to work on wildlife conservation projects. Republicans Rob Wittman (Va.), Don Young (Alaska), Jenniffer … Continue Reading
January 18, 2022
House Dems aim for a trimmed BBB
by Matthew Choi
January 18, 2022
House panel mulls animal trap ban, albatross protections
by Michael Doyle
January 08, 2022
Potter Valley hydropower project license lapse sets stage for plans to remove Eel River dam
by Guy Kovner
The future of a little-known dam on the Eel River in Lake County may be shaped this year as the license expires on a broken-down PG&E hydropower project that plays a critical role in providing water to 600,000 Sonoma and Marin county residents. Demolition of Scott Dam, a 138-foot concrete structure built a century ago to impound Lake Pillsbury, is an "absolute requirement" for a coalition that includes Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties interested in picking up the license, said Rep. … Continue Reading
January 05, 2022
North Bay lawmakers reflect on state of democracy on the anniversary of deadly riot at US Capitol
by Andrew Graham
Rep. Mike Thompson is a combat veteran who was seriously wounded in the Vietnam War. Representing the North Bay and North Coast, he has served nine terms as a congressman - governing across nearly two decades of tumultuous American history. But taking stock of all that experience, back to his days as an Army paratrooper, it was the long, gut-twisting hours of one shocking, bloody day a year ago that Thompson said marks "probably the most troubling time in my lifetime." On Jan. 6, 2021, … Continue Reading
January 04, 2022
Overnight Energy & Environment — Manchin raises hopes on climate spending
by Rachel Franzin
Welcome to Tuesday's Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup. Today we're looking at Manchin's latest comments on the Democrats' climate and social spending bill, Democrats signaling they're open to changes to get the bill across the finish line and a new study indicating that the Northeast could see more hurricanes. For The Hill, we're Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. … Continue Reading
December 24, 2021
A closer look at the $25 million Eel River Canyon preserve set to become California’s newest wildland park
by Guy
COVELO - The Grand Canyon of the Eel River, a vast, seldom-seen wildland, unfolds before a visitor's eyes from a knoll at 3,200 feet, the silvery waterway snaking north through the Coast Ranges of Mendocino and Trinity County as a red-tailed hawk glides effortlessly below. Teeming with wildlife - including elusive Roosevelt elk, bears, bobcats, feral pigs, bald eagles and mountain lions - it is a realm few Californians have seen or even know about. It is also a treasure to conservationists, … Continue Reading
December 23, 2021
Dems on 2022: ‘We’re Toast’ if Build Back Better Is Dead
by Ursula Perano
Inflation is at record highs. Roe v. Wade is in limbo. Voting rights are under attack. The filibuster is intact. Student debt isn't canceled. Climate change is unaddressed. And the Build Back Better Act-the cornerstone of President Joe Biden's agenda-looks doomed. And now, despite those failures, Democrats have to sell their unified control of Washington as a success. Democrats have certainly achieved some policy wins this year. They passed a bipartisan infrastructure deal, providing $1 … Continue Reading
December 22, 2021
Billions of dollars coming for broadband upgrades, seeking to close digital divide for North Coast residents
by Guy Kovner
A 200-foot tower recently installed at a remote tribal rancheria in the northwest corner of Sonoma County brought broadband service to about 70 residents who saw an immediate difference in their lives. Their children can now do their homework and adults can search for jobs online. A federal grant paid for the $471,000 tower that reaches over the treetops to pick up a broadband signal from Annapolis that can also carry wildfire and other emergency alerts, as well as downloading music and video … Continue Reading
December 21, 2021
Hill climate hawks plot next steps after bill’s collapse
by Nick Sobczyk
Democrats are hoping to revive their climate and social spending bill after Sen. Joe Manchin rejected it over the weekend, but hot tempers and uncertain politics have left legislation key to President Biden's climate goals hanging in the balance. The West Virginia Democrat, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, blindsided his party by announcing his wholesale rejection of the $1.7 trillion "Build Back Better Act" over the weekend, leaving Democrats in a tricky situation that … Continue Reading
December 20, 2021
Manchin said no. Now what?
by Matthew Choi
NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL YET: Despite the blow to morale, backers of the climate portions of BBB aren't calling it game over. Activists and lawmakers who worked directly with Manchin and his staff said the West Virginian had appeared receptive to the clean energy portions of the bill during their talks. Leah Stokes, a UC Santa Barbara professor who worked with Democrats on climate provisions of the reconciliation package, pointed to Manchin's posturing ahead of the Covid rescue package early … Continue Reading
December 19, 2021
North Bay wildfire survivors hope federal funding will help prevent future disasters
by Cornell Barnard
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) -- Preventing wildfires is one of the components of the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last month. On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers toured a North Bay neighborhood devastated by wildfire four years ago, officials say new investments may prevent future tragedies.Santa Rosa's Coffey Park was ground zero for the Tubbs wildfire in 2017. 3,000 homes were lost across the city but than 1,000 of … Continue Reading
December 18, 2021
Pelosi, Thompson, Huffman tout wildfire prevention funding in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood
by Emma Murphy
Standing beneath thick fog in Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood, local leaders joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday morning to tout a surge of new funding for wildfire prevention and climate resilience. President Joe Biden's recently passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes what Sonoma County's two congressmen, Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman, hailed Saturday as historic investments to prevent devastating wildfires like the 2017 Tubbs fire. It razed 1,422 Coffey Park … Continue Reading
December 17, 2021
Greens regroup as offshore drilling ban appears doomed
by Emma Dumain
The Senate's climate and social spending package could exclude permanent bans on offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico - and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is the reason. It would be the latest major environmental priority Manchin has nixed from the Democrats' reconciliation package. His opposition to the larger bill caused party leaders to delay its floor consideration until at least January (see related story). Multiple sources on Capitol Hill and within the … Continue Reading
December 17, 2021
A green Puerto Rico
by Matthew Choi
INTO THE NEW YEAR: Biden acknowledged Thursday that Democrats' $1.7 trillion reconciliation package won't get done this year. But Senate climate hawks remain adamant yet another delay is not damaging to the fortunes of the legislation, Pro's Josh Siegel reports. "It's just a hope we get it done before Christmas," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). "But if we get it done after Christmas, that would be just fine." "This is a hard thing to do, but it's an incredibly important thing to do. We … Continue Reading
December 16, 2021
Kamala Harris and the bipartisan infrastructure law
by Tim Perry
Surrounded by lawmakers of both parties and Vice President Kamala Harris, Joe Biden celebrated the biggest win of his presidency so far, signing into law the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill last month. "It's a big deal," the president said, a reference to something he had said more than a decade ago as vice president, when then-President Obama signed his landmark health care law. Mr. Biden's turn as the second-in-command received largely positive reviews. Vice presidential … Continue Reading
December 15, 2021
Studies continue for Last Chance Grade Project
by Jackson Guilfoil
Caltrans is working to assess the environmental impacts of two proposed construction projects which aim to find a solution to the routine landslides and storms damaging Last Chance Grade, a three-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 101 between Klamath and Crescent City. The reports, which are expected to be completed in 2023, are assessing the impact of two alternatives. Alternative F, which would build an estimated $1.3 billion tunnel, and Alternative X, which would move the road inland, install … Continue Reading
December 10, 2021
‘It’s grotesque’: Inside the Hill methane fight
by Nick Sobczyk and Heather Richards
Progressives set out to write a reconciliation bill that would scrap special tax treatment for fossil fuel companies. Instead, they might hand the oil and gas industry a new subsidy. Democrats struck a deal in October with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Texas moderates to pair a methane fee with $775 million in grants, loans and rebates for oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce methane pollution, which accounts for 20 percent of all global emissions, … Continue Reading
December 08, 2021
Climate and the parliamentarian
by Matthew Choi
SHARING THE COST OF WATER: A group of House lawmakers are hoping to make it easier for American Indian tribes to get access to federal water relief. Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Huffman, Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) are introducing the WaterSMART Access for Tribes Act today, which would allow the Interior secretary to reduce or waive cost-share requirements for tribal governments … Continue Reading