In the News
What if the Progressive Revolt…Isn’t a Revolt at All?
by Kara Voght
Progressive lawmakers first suspected they'd delayed the bipartisan infrastructure bill when no one asked them to vote for it. "No, not at all," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told me when I asked if any Democratic congressional leaders had pressured him. "Zero squeeze," added an aide to a progressive House lawmaker. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had been feverishly working the phones all day Thursday to see what support she could find for the legislation. By Thursday evening, only a few … Continue Reading
October 01, 2021
Sea Level Rise | U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman | This Week in California Politics
Sea Level Rise in East Palo AltoAs the impact of climate change is being felt in the form of bigger wildfires, deeper droughts and longer heatwaves, the community of East Palo Alto is preparing for another kind of climate impact: rising sea levels. Built on the edge of rolling wetlands, this town is figuring out how to adapt to potential flooding and storms. KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero has this story. Tackling Climate Change in CaliforniaCalifornia has 3,000 miles of coastline to … Continue Reading
October 01, 2021
Dem divisions, Manchin demands highlight climate struggles
by Nick Sobczyk
Democratic infighting on Capitol Hill this week underscores how difficult it will be to get the biggest climate bill in U.S. history across the finish line. Climate policy has emerged as one of the toughest challenges in striking a deal on Democrats' reconciliation package, with a chasm between Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and much of the rest of the party. That divide crystallized yesterday after POLITICO reported a July 28 memo signed by Manchin and Senate … Continue Reading
September 29, 2021
Huffman and allied Democrats take stand that could cancel $1 trillion infrastructure bill
by Guy Kovner
A progressive group of Democrats in Congress, including North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman, is ready to vote down the Senate's $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill if it comes to a floor vote Thursday. The standoff between Democrats over an economic initiative that could define President Joe Biden's first term is one of several overlapping legislative battles dominating discussions on Capitol Hill and at the White House this week. The other is the race to avert a government shutdown -as key … Continue Reading
September 29, 2021
Democrats Won’t Work With Marjorie Taylor Greene. Tonight, They Play Baseball With Her.
by Addy Baird
WASHINGTON - On Wednesday night, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will take the field with the Republican congressional baseball team, joining the ranks of more than a century's worth of lawmakers living their major league dreams in the name of charity and bragging rights. The game - seven innings on a big league field - is a Washington tradition from an earlier era, marked with the kinds of odes to bipartisanship that either cause eyes to roll or people to admit that yes, it's important after all … Continue Reading
September 29, 2021
On climate change, Biden $3.5T plan making up for lost time
by Matthew Daly and Lisa Mascaro
WASHINGTON (AP) - As President Joe Biden visited one disaster site after another this summer - from California wildfires to hurricane-induced flooding in Louisiana and New York - he said climate change is "everybody's crisis" and America must get serious about the "code red" danger posed by global warming. In many ways, the president is making up for lost time. Biden and Democrats are pursuing a sweeping $3.5 trillion federal overhaul that includes landmark measures to address climate change … Continue Reading
September 28, 2021
Furloughs, Program Halts Loom as Highway Bill Approaches Lapse
by Lillianna Byington and Emily Wilkins
Lawmakers are banking on the House to pass a major infrastructure bill Thursday that would reauthorize expiring surface transportation programs and avert thousands of furloughs and halted payments. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he is "not speculating on failure" of the legislation, which is up for a vote the day of the deadline to reauthorize highway, transit, and safety programs. Sept. 30 is also the deadline for lawmakers to pass a broader … Continue Reading
September 28, 2021
Memo shows involvement of Utah agency and 2 tribes in North Coast coal export proposal
by Andrew Graham
A Utah state official and the leaders of two federally recognized tribal nations in March discussed shipping Rocky Mountain coal by rail along the Northern California coast and exporting it out of Humboldt Bay, according to a newly revealed document that sheds additional light on parties involved in the controversial proposal. The internal memo from a Utah port agency, first published last week by the Salt Lake Tribune, indicates coal industry players in Montana and Utah were at least … Continue Reading
September 28, 2021
Climate plans in flux as Democrats eye reconciliation deal
by Emma Dumain, Geof Koss, Nick Sobczyk, Jeremy Dillon
House Democratic leaders continued to project outward confidence last night they'll be able to reach an agreement with the Senate by Thursday on a massive spending package, despite a litany of outstanding policy differences related to climate and continued clashes over the current $3.5 trillion top-line number. In a closed-door caucus meeting, however, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delivered a sobering reality check: They may not meet the deadline to close the deal, which progressives … Continue Reading
September 28, 2021
NOAA’s plan to curb harassment includes hiring more women
by Rob Hotakainen
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad told a House panel last week that the agency has already made history on the hiring front this year, with women now occupying half of all the assistant administrator jobs. And he hinted that more could be on the way, after Louis Uccellini retires on Jan. 1 as head of the National Weather Service. "We may have an opportunity to have a woman in that position, as well," Spinrad told lawmakers (Greenwire, Sept. 8). For Spinrad, who took charge of NOAA in June, … Continue Reading
September 27, 2021
Congress shows signs of movement on stalled Biden agenda
by Scott Wong, Mike Lillis and Cristina Marcos
After weeks of impasse, there were signs on Monday night that the dam was beginning to break on President Biden's multitrillion-dollar domestic agenda. Democrats don't have much time to spare after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) set a Thursday vote on a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, which some liberals are vowing to oppose without more movement on Biden's $3.5 trillion social spending and climate package. But on Monday, three days ahead of that key roll call, the … Continue Reading
September 27, 2021
Could LA water recycling be a miracle for parched West?
by Jeremy P. Jacobs
With severe drought strangling the West, the country's largest water provider has embarked on a multibillion-dollar project that could help them cope with increasingly frequent shortages exacerbated by climate change.The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California wants to recycle Los Angeles' wastewater, creating a new supply stream that would significantly reduce the city's reliance on imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River. It would mark a new paradigm in … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
Congressmen Blake Moore and Jared Huffman introduce the Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act to protect saline lakes and habitats
Today, Congressman Blake Moore (R-UT) and Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced the Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act to establish a scientific monitoring and assessment program to better manage conservation efforts for saline lake ecosystems and migratory birds in the West. Saline lakes within the Great Basin-which includes areas of Utah, California, Nevada, and Oregon-provide a critical network of habitats for millions of migrating shorebirds, waterbirds, … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
North Coast elected officials opposing coal train proposal on various fronts
by ANDREW GRAHAM
Elected officials from Northern California counties and cities are rolling out resolutions and even a statehouse bill opposing a mysterious proposal to ship coal up to Humboldt Bay on both existing and defunct rail lines. The flurry of measures came even though no new information has surfaced about who is behind the coal shipping proposal, which came to light in late August through filings with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency that oversees freight rail … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
Group hoping to take over Potter Valley Project denied more time
by Justine Frederiksen
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday denied a request for a pause in the process of re-licensing the Potter Valley Project, which is a hydroelectric plant in Mendocino County that diverts water from the Eel River and into the Russian River via Lake Mendocino. "The Two Basin Partners have worked diligently to find common ground and resources to pursue a revitalized Potter Valley Project - but we always knew that this would be a major challenge," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
North Coast elected officials opposing coal train proposal on various fronts
by ANDREW GRAHAM
Elected officials from Northern California counties and cities are rolling out resolutions and even a statehouse bill opposing a mysterious proposal to ship coal up to Humboldt Bay on both existing and defunct rail lines. The flurry of measures came even though no new information has surfaced about who is behind the coal shipping proposal, which came to light in late August through filings with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency that oversees freight rail shipping. U.S. … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
Pelosi confirms vote ‘next week’ on reconciliation package
by Nick Sobczyk, Emma Dumain, and Geof Koss
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed today she'll bring a multitrillion-dollar reconciliation bill to the chamber floor next week that makes major investments in combating the climate crisis. The California Democrat's announcement could end the intraparty standoff over the fate of a separate, $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Monday, Sept. 27. Moderates say that measure needs to be voted on by that date, but progressives said they'd tank it if they don't have a reconciliation bill to vote on … Continue Reading
September 24, 2021
House Passes National Defense Authorization Act with California’s U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s Bill to Protect Public Lands
September 24, 2021 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) applauded the inclusion of his bill, the Protecting Unique and Beautiful Landscapes by Investing in California (PUBLIC) Lands Act, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 that passed the House on Thursday evening. The PUBLIC Lands Act, which Padilla introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier this year,would increase protections for public lands throughout Northwest California, the … Continue Reading
September 23, 2021
Alaska lawmakers seek allies to save ANWR drilling
by Emma Dumain
Alaska's Republican senators say they are actively exploring avenues to ensure the still-in-flux reconciliation bill does not restrict drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are preparing to go on offense as House Democrats grow increasingly more vocal in their demands that the drilling prohibition, which was included in the House Natural Resources Committee's portion of the reconciliation package, remains in play amid negotiations with the … Continue Reading
September 23, 2021
Regional Coalition Looking to Take Over Potter Valley Project Hits Snag as FERC Denies Request for Extra Time
by Ryan Burns
Bad news arrived Thursday morning for the Two Basin Partnership, a regional coalition of agencies working to take over PG&E's license for the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric system that diverts tens of thousands of acre-feet of water each year from the Eel River into the headwaters of the Russian River. Earlier this month, the Two-Basin Partnership - which is comprised of California Trout, the County of Humboldt, the Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission, the Round … Continue Reading