California

Federal water managers open valves this week for an ambitious effort to restore salmon from the San Joaquin River.

"Bureau of Land Management's proposal for the West Mojave 'does not contain a reasonable range of alternatives' to limit off-road-vehicle routes in the sensitive habitat, the ruling states."

A new generation of urban, blue-collar environmentalists is waging war over "environmental justice" in the dense, polluted Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

"It All Starts Thursday With a Gentle Surge of Water To Be Released From Friant Dam Into the San Joaquin River. a Massive, Unprecedented and Unpredictable River Restoration Project Will Begin, Reawakening Miles of Dried Riverbed and Salmon Runs That Have Been Extinct for Six Decades."

"Solar energy developer BrightSource Energy, Inc. has withdrawn plans for a 5,000 acre solar thermal facility to be located in the Broadwell Valley in California's Mojave Desert."

California taxpayers could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages if the Schwarzenegger administration moves ahead with plans to close as many as 100 state parks, according to an internal memo drafted by the state parks department's attorneys.

"Abandoned mercury mines throughout central California's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people."

"The governor says California electric utilities must get 33% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, but he plans to veto Democratic bills that push to produce it in state."

A bill to allow offshore oil leasing and a bill to ban BPA in baby bottles both died in the California legislature as it adjourned.

This week, California state parks officials are expected to release a list of up to 100 California parks that will be closed to save money, and the impacts will be felt far and wide.