CalMatters
California was deluged with storms and floods at the beginning of 2023, bringing home the severity of impacts from climate change, particularly in the low-income communities of Planada in Merced County and Pajaro in Monterey County.
Despite the deluge, California’s longstanding groundwater crisis continued. With hundreds of wells in the Tulare Lake groundwater basin at risk of going dry under new groundwater plans, state water officials for the first time moved to crack down on local groundwater managers.
The year opened with California at an impasse with other Western states as they negotiated allocation of the Colorado River’s overtapped supplies. But it closed with the federal government poised to greenlight a historic pact by California, Arizona and Nevada to use less water through 2026.
Facing little opposition, the Legislature passed a law that will force businesses and institutions to remove decorative lawns. But the state’s new proposals to cut water use in cities and towns were more contentious, with water providers saying they will be costly and difficult to achieve.
The year also brought a major milestone to California’s far north, where four aging hydroelectric dams spanning the California-Oregon state line will be removed by the end of 2024. Now tribes and communities along the river wait anxiously to see what the future holds.
California filed suit seeking to hold ‘Big Oil’ accountable financially for contributing to “climate change-related harms in California,” including extreme drought, wildfires and storms. The state alleges that oil companies deceived the public for decades. Newsom also spoke at a United Nations panel on climate change and traveled to China on a climate-themed trip.
On the policy front, California approved two closely-watched, first-in-the-nation bills that will force large companies to disclose their greenhouse gases and the financial risks posed by climate change. California met its goals for new electric car and truck sales ahead of schedule, and announced plans to eliminate its popular electric car rebate program to focus instead on providing subsidies only to lower-income car buyers.
The state also pressed ahead with plans to harness offshore wind, despite many uncertainties about building floating platforms in deep ocean waters off Humboldt County and Morro Bay.
Major issues for 2024
California has set aside $52.3 billion to prepare the state for climate change but fiscal uncertainty could test the state’s ability to spend those dollars. Climate activists will be watching closely to see whether two key climate bills passed in 2023 are watered down, with Gov. Gavin Newsom calling for revisions to delay their implementation. California is bracing for what could be another wet year, even as it wrestles with how to manage a drier future. Lawmakers may consider reviving bills taking aim at the state’s ancient, byzantine water rights system, and negotiations will continue over how to allocate the Colorado River’s dwindling supply after 2026.
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
Given the overwhelming scientific data at this point, only carbon shills and their dupes are denying AGW.
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24021772
The deniers trot out the same old tired arguments every time.
You can see them debunked by climate scientists here:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/
ANON – now hold on just a second…….. Nearly all of the world’s respected scientists and weather experts say it’s true, but that’s just what “they” want you to “think.”
Stoner is “right” about how so many “buy into conspiracy theories and label them as fact” LOL!
Cold hard facts, verified by numerous experts in a particular field are meaningless and obsolete if Joe Rogan or some anonymous person on YouTube says those world renown experts are wrong.
I wish there was a sarcasm emoji……
🙄 that works…
Climate Change? Give it a break. If the drought continues, its climate change. if you finally get the much-needed rain, it is climate change. It’s called The weather. Climate change. the new religion of the left and the biggest scam of the century!
Whoa Chalf, careful you might hurt their feelings.
They can’t help that they buy into conspiracy theories and label them as fact
Ask yourself why you’re so opposed to taking better care of our environment and our planet.
Us saying that the drought and rain aren’t climate change doesn’t mean we are felling trees or tossing trash out the car window
Somebody needs a good dose of Cranky Uncle:
https://crankyuncle.com
They (the State) should change the title to this story…”Everything Newsom and Sacramento Legislators do to Destroy The State of California…”
Somebody needs a heap more active neuronal synapses.