Enviro Updates

SuzanneMarch 17, 2025March 21, 2025Climate Change & Energygeothermal, Geysers geothermal field, legislation, permitting

Geothermal expansion effort at The Geysers seeks help from California lawmakers on speeding up permits

Jeff Quackenbush, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

California’s effort to generate much more round-the-clock clean energy from geothermal resources such as The Geyers area straddling Sonoma and Lake counties seems to be running out of steam because of the state’s permitting system.

One of the three initial partners in the geothermal opportunity zone (GeoZone) effort promoted by Sonoma Clean Power has acquired its first parcel of land, known as Pocket Ranch.

However, the permitting process in California is proving to be a significant obstacle for Chevron New Energies to move forward with finding out what potential there is for next-generation geothermal technologies that aim to generate more energy using far less water.

“They are putting that into a slow-moving process, because they’re finding that California’s permitting process for the exploratory phase is adding too much cost and risk relative to all the other western states,” said Geof Syphers, CEO of Sonoma Clean Power, the public electricity supplier for Sonoma and Mendocino counties, that draws a portion of its renewable power from The Geysers.

SuzanneMarch 16, 2025March 16, 2025Sonoma Coastbeach access, California Coastal Commission, development, recreation

Op-Ed: Does our coast need saving again?

Steve Lopez, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Donald Trump’s threats underscore the importance of defending the 1972 ballot initiative that protects California’s coast.

In 1972, thousands of Californians came together in what was a defining moment in state history. They were united by fears that the spectacular coast was in danger of becoming overdeveloped, heavily industrialized, ecologically diminished and irreversibly privatized.

Rue Furch, a Sonoma State University student, signed on as a volunteer for Proposition 20, which called for a commission to “preserve, protect, restore, and enhance the environment and ecology of the coastal zone.”

“I was just one of the worker bees, and it felt great to be doing something positive,” said Furch, whose role was “collecting signatures and holding signs and showing up to rallies.”

In Sacramento, a young legislative assistant named Sam Farr (who would later become a congressman), helped organize a coastal bike ride, led by state Sen. Jim Mills, that galvanized Proposition 20 support and drew hordes of reporters as cyclists pedaled from Land’s End in San Francisco to Balboa Park in San Diego.

“The highway patrol kind of designed the route,” said Farr, who recalled that cyclists camped at state parks along the way and dined on food donated by supporters of the rolling “save our coast” call to arms.

SuzanneMarch 14, 2025March 14, 2025Climate Change & Energy, TransportationCONGAS, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, gas station ban, gas stations

Op-Ed: The zombie gas station proposal that won’t die

Jenny Blaker & Woody Hastings, CONGAS

There will be a rally and news conference at the site: 874 North Wright Road, on March 25, 2-4 pm.

On April 10 the Santa Rosa Planning Commission will decide whether or not to approve a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a new gas station at 874 North Wright Rd, (Intersection of Highway 12 and Fulton/Wright Roads), Santa Rosa. One of the requirements for a CUP is that the project should not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare. This proposal clearly is, and the Commission should reject it.

A proposal for a gas station at this site was rejected by the Planning Commission and the City Council in 2007 due to concerns about traffic safety, noise, idling cars, and proximity to the Joe Rodota trail and land zoned for housing. In a 2013 flip-flop it was approved, but the developer never acted and the permits expired.

Although Santa Rosa adopted an ordinance prohibiting new gas stations in 2022, in line with similar actions taken by the County and five other cities, this one was exempted not because it was superior in any way but only because it had a completed permit application. It was on the agenda for the Planning Commission in October 2024 but was postponed due to lack of the required public notification. In November 2024 it was postponed again because it was pointed out that there is an autogas fueling station right next door and for safety reasons it is against the city’s rules to have two fueling stations within 500 feet of one another.

Over 20 organizations, representing hundreds if not thousands of Sonoma County residents, oppose this project. It is not needed because there are already 10 gas stations within a 5-mile radius. Multiple concerns include traffic and safety issues, pollution of surface and groundwater and impacts to nearby wells, and proximity to land zoned for medium-density housing and the Joe Rodota Trail. Much has changed since 2013 and much more is known about the impacts to human health of toxic pollutants from gasoline, such as benzene which has been linked to childhood leukemia. The proposal is based on outdated studies including traffic studies from 2006-7. Many circumstances that have changed since 2013 have not been considered. This project conflicts with Santa Rosa’s own policies such as the Climate Action Plan, Climate Emergency Resolution, and the General Plan.

For more information contact the Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations (CONGAS) at contact.congas@gmail.com

Jenny Blaker & Woody Hastings are Co-coordinators of the Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations (CONGAS).

SuzanneMarch 14, 2025March 21, 2025Habitats, Water, Wildlifeamphibians, Porter-Cologne, vernal pools, wetlands, wetlands ecosystem

‘Puddles and ditches’: California considers protecting wetlands from Trump order

Alastair Bland, CALMATTERS

Legislators and environmentalists are considering how to safeguard California’s wetlands after the Trump administration announced its plans to rein in — once again — the nation’s 53-year-old law protecting waterways.

At stake are seasonal streams, ponds and pools, which are only inundated part of the time and found throughout the Southwest. In California, an estimated 80% of all linear miles of streams and rivers are ephemeral or intermittent.

The Trump administration’s plan to alter the Clean Water Act’s definition of wetlands to exclude such waterways could render vast areas of California essentially unprotected from developers and growers.

The plan proposed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday comes as no surprise. Trump ordered the same move during his first stint in the White House. In 2017 Trump called many wetlands “puddles and ditches” and said the rules were “one of the worst examples of federal regulation and it has truly run amok.” The Biden administration in 2022 enacted new rules that reversed his decision.

During Trump’s first term, California officials said they would take action to protect the state’s wetlands from the president’s order. The State Water Resources Control Board in 2019 adopted new rules to strengthen protection of waters and establish a “single accepted definition of wetlands at the state level.”

Now a new bill introduced last month, Senate Bill 601, would build in more protection, amending the state Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act to copy existing federal protections. It would, among other provisions, require new permitting rules for pollutants from business operations or construction.

SuzanneMarch 9, 2025March 14, 2025Climate Change & EnergyCPUC, electric transition, electric utilities, electricity rates, fossil fuels industry, rooftop solar

Op-Ed: California must act on cheaper, cleaner energy

Sammy Roth, PRESS DEMOCRAT

In the age of climate change and Donald Trump, California must find ways to produce renewable energy at affordable rates.

Californians pay some of the nation’s highest electricity rates. They’re also being devastated by the consequences of fossil fueled climate change, including more deadly and expensive wildfires, droughts and heat waves.

Politicians need to stop promising they’ll confront these challenges and start doing it.

The recent fires in Los Angeles County should serve as a political rallying cry to accelerate the phaseout of oil and gas. Instead, they’re threatening to derail Sacramento’s long-promised focus on more affordable energy.

Before the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, lawmakers were gathering ideas to slow fast-rising electric rates. Now, though, wildfire response — and President Donald Trump — are taking up most of the oxygen in Sacramento.

“The Legislature has only so much bandwidth,” said Matt Freedman, an attorney for the Utility Reform Network.

SuzanneMarch 6, 2025March 13, 2025Land Use, Transportationsprawl development, urban infrastructure, wildfire evacuation

Hanna Center abandons large housing, hotel project next to its Sonoma Valley campus

Daniel Johnson, SONOMA INDEX-TRIBUNE

• Hanna Center has canceled its 60-acre development plan to focus on strengthening mental health and community programs.

• New initiatives include a community mental health center and expanded residential services for youth.

• Hanna Center aims to enhance collaboration and sustainability while serving Sonoma Valley effectively.

Hanna Center officials have confirmed they are dropping ambitious housing and commercial development plans on a 60-acre property next to their sprawling campus in Sonoma Valley, where neighbors’ concerns about the project’s scale and issues such as wildfire evacuation clouded its future.

It was one of the largest proposed developments in Sonoma Valley, calling for more than 600 homes in various types of housing as well as a hotel, retail and office development and open space off Agua Caliente Road next to the 76-year-old center, a residential campus for at-risk youth that also provides some services for adults.

Concerned neighbors said it would overtax water and sewage systems and worsen traffic congestion, which could be particularly problematic in the event of a wildfire.

SuzanneMarch 6, 2025March 10, 2025Habitats, Wildlifebutterflies, climate change impacts, habitat loss, insecticides, pollinators

First national analysis finds America’s butterflies are disappearing at ‘catastrophic’ rate

Seth Borenstein, ASSOCIATED PRESS

America’s butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds.

The first countrywide systematic analysis of butterfly abundance found that the number of butterflies in the Lower 48 states has been falling on average 1.3% a year since the turn of the century, with 114 species showing significant declines and only nine increasing, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science.

“Butterflies have been declining the last 20 years,” said study co-author Nick Haddad, an entomologist at Michigan State University. “And we don’t see any sign that that’s going to end.”

A team of scientists combined 76,957 surveys from 35 monitoring programs and blended them for an apples-to-apples comparison and ended up counting 12.6 million butterflies over the decades. Last month an annual survey that looked just at monarch butterflies, which federal officials plan to put on the threatened species list, counted a nearly all-time low of fewer than 10,000, down from 1.2 million in 1997.

Many of the species in decline fell by 40% or more.

SuzanneMarch 5, 2025Watergroundwater, well ordinance, wells

Court order extends temporary window for Sonoma County to issue well permits

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma County has an extra few weeks to issue permits for nonemergency wells under a recent court order.

A judge ordered the county stop issuing nonemergency permits in December after ruling that the county had failed to follow state environmental requirements.

A second judge lifted the order temporarily, allowing permit applications through the end of February. He has now extended that window to March 27.

Well permitting is critical in county rural areas, which depend on groundwater for agriculture, residential use and new development.

Under the temporary reprieve, the county has issued 69 well permits, since Feb. 6, and there are an additional 24 in process, Tennis Wick, the director of the county permitting department confirmed Tuesday.

SuzanneMarch 1, 2025March 3, 2025Transportationbicycle paths, bike & pedestrian safetey, Highway 101, Highway 101 bridge, pedestrian, Santa Rosa Junior College

Long-planned Highway 101 bike and pedestrian bridge in Santa Rosa finally moving forward

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The crossing, in the works since the 1990s, will provide a safer route for residents to access commercial, government, employment and health care hubs around Coddingtown Mall and Santa Rosa Junior College.

A long-awaited $40 million bike and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101 in north Santa Rosa is expected to break ground later this year after nearly three decades of planning and efforts to line up funding.

The crossing, stretching across the six-lane highway, will link Elliott and Edwards avenues. It will provide a safer route for residents to access commercial, government, employment and health care hubs around Coddingtown Mall and Santa Rosa Junior College as well as the passenger rail line.

The 14.5-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long cable-stayed bridge will feature a dedicated footpath and a two-way cycle track.

Santa Rosa leaders and project backers say it will close a significant gap in the local bike network and reduce traffic risks for those who now get around on foot or bike on busy Steele Lane and College Avenue.

SuzanneFebruary 28, 2025March 3, 2025Land UseLafferty Ranch, Land Paths, parks, Petaluma, public access, Sonoma Mountain

Petaluma landowners staunchly opposed to long-sought park at Lafferty Ranch sue city, extending decades-old saga

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Under an azure sky in the spring of 2024, half a dozen hikers emerged from a grove of oak trees onto a meadow high up on Sonoma Mountain.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” exclaimed Matt Maguire, with a showman’s flair, “I give you the Petaluma Valley!”

To the west was a verdant carpet of ranchlands and rolling hills, a thin marine layer burning off over the Pacific, which lay just out of sight.

Their vantage for that panorama was Lafferty Ranch, a preserve owned by the city of Petaluma since 1959. Rugged, slanted and steep in places, this 270-acre rectangle stamped in a cleft of the mountain contains the headwaters for Adobe Creek, and was purchased by the city as a watershed.

In 1996, Petaluma passed an ordinance declaring that the open space “shall be made available for passive recreational use by the public.”

Easier ordained than done, it turns out.

Twenty-nine years later, Lafferty Ranch is still not close to becoming a park accessible to the general public. A small but litigious group of neighboring landowners has stood in the way, squaring off with the city in a series of rancorous and costly court fights spanning generations of family members and drawing on land records dating back to the 19th century.