The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region announced a
temporary closure of all 18 national forests in California
due to the wildfires ravaging the state. Earlier this week, the
Forest Service closed eight forests in the state including
Sequoia, Angeles, Los Padres, Inyo, San Bernardino, Stanislaus,
Sierra and Cleveland National Forests.
CSAC’s Executive Director Graham Knaus was recently quoted
in a New York Times article regarding the issue of
homeowner’s insurance in California. The article was written by
Christopher Flavelle, who specializes in reporting on the impacts
of climate change on financial instruments including bonds,
mortgages, home prices and insurance.
This week California has experienced an unprecedented “heat dome”
hovering over the western states. With moisture from a tropical
storm over Baja, California, the state experienced 10,849
lightning strikes over a 72 hour period. At the same time, a
world record 130 degree temperature was observed in Death Valley.
Every county in the state has been impacted by the extreme
weather that lead to rolling blackouts on Friday and calls for
conservation throughout this week.
This week, Governor Newsom indicated that the state was facing a
historic heatwave and had experienced a significant shortfall in
electricity supply over the course of 72 hours. This shortfall
included a predicted deficit of 4,400 megawatts of expected daily
need. These shortfalls prompted the California Independent
System Operator (CAISO) to issue a Stage 3 Electrical Emergency
notification which requires utility provides to enact “Load
Shedding” through rolling blackouts in order to reduce demand for
electricity and prevent system overload.
CalRecycle has released a guidance document regarding how the
agency will approach the compliance and enforcement process for
its SB 1383 Organic Waste Diversion regulations. The regulations
will become effective Jan. 1, 2022, however CAL Recycle is
proactively reaching out to local now to help with
implementation. Per the guidance document, the enforcement
process will be an escalating process and the timelines are not
triggered until a Notice of Violation (NOV) is issued.
On Tuesday August 4, President Trump signed the Great Outdoors
Act into law. The new law was passed with bi-partisan support and
will provide up to $9.5 billion over five years to fix deferred
maintenance at national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and
other federal lands, with $6.5 billion earmarked specifically to
the 419 national park units. The Act is expected to create more
than 108,000 new jobs to repair park infrastructure, including
access roads and bridges in adjacent communities.
Department of Water Resources (DWR) is conducting its first
Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Implementation Grant
solicitation, providing a minimum of $103 million in
Proposition 68 funds for competitive grants. The Round 1 grant
solicitation will provide $26 million for critically overdrafted
(COD) basins only. The future Round 2 grant solicitation will
provide a minimum of $77 million for medium- and high-priority
(including COD) basins. The two rounds of grant solicitations may
fund implementation projects that:
The CSAC AENR team will be monitoring the following bills during
the last month of session and has a support position on the
following two bills which have been set for hearing.
This week, the Office of Administrative Law submitted an approved
emergency rulemaking regarding Fire Safe Regulations to the
Secretary of State. These new rules are now in effect across the
state. Earlier this year, the California Board of Forestry and
Fire Protection (Board) decided to move forward with an emergency
rulemaking to clarify the applicability of the existing SRA Fire
Safe Regulations and inspection authorities to increase the
availability of affordable housing in the state and improve the
safety of communities developed in the SRA.
As many counties are beginning to implement groundwater
management programs under the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act (SGMA), the Department of Conservation will host two
workshops to answer potential applicants’ questions about the
SGMA Watershed Coordinator Program application. The workshops
will take place on August 6 and
August 11 and are open to all interested
applicants. Each workshop will cover the same content.
CSAC is requesting feedback on the following proposed bills
related to fire insurance in high fire threat areas by close of
business Thursday, July 30. Please email Legislative Analyst
Nick Cronenwett at ncronenwett@counties.org
with any thoughts or feedback.
The Caltrans Landscape Architecture Program, in partnership with
CalRecycle, University of California Riverside, University of
Washington, Filtrexx Sustainable Technologies, Salix Applied
Earthcare, United States Composting Council, California Compost
Coalition, and R. Alexander Associates, Inc., is presenting two
half-day workshops that focus on the use of compost-based best
management practices (BMPs) to improve roadside revegetation,
control erosion, filter stormwater, reduce runoff, and improve
stormwater quality.
Governor Newsom recently visited McClellan Air Force Base to
highlight the state’s wildfire mitigation capabilities and
discuss new efforts to protect emergency personnel and evacuees
from COVID-19 during wildfires. The Governor also announced the
state would hire 858 more firefighters and six California
Conservation Corps (CCC) crews through October because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. These crews are anticipated due, in part, to
the reduction in inmate crews from correctional facilities.
CSAC and a coalition of local government advocates, consumer
rights groups, and telecommunications companies have filed a
joint motion to require the California Public Utilities
Commission to review PSPS after-action reports in order to make a
determination on whether the benefits of the decision to
de-energize outweighed potential impacts to public safety.
In April, CSAC along with RCRC and a number of other local
governments and energy advocates filed a joint motion requesting
the CPUC to issue emergency PSPS de-energization protocols for
electric investor-owned utilities (IOUs) that specifically take
the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration. The CPUC has taken no
action on this request to date. In the face of shelter in place
orders and a global pandemic, PSPS events could be even more
impactful than in previous years.
On June 11th, the CPUC released a
proposed decision that would require wireless providers to
develop comprehensive resiliency strategies to prepare for
catastrophic disasters and power outages. This decision would
promulgate resiliency requirements for wireless provider’s
facilities in Tier 2 and Tier 3 High Fire Threat Districts.
Specifically, the decision would:
CSAC is requesting feedback regarding how the following bills
might impact counties. Policy areas for these bills include
wildfire, PSPS, resource recovery, and flood control. Please
email Legislative Analyst, Nick Cronenwett at ncronenwett@counties.org
with any thoughts or feedback.
The California Fire Foundation is accepting application for its
Fire Prevention Grant Program through July 15. Applications
will be considered on a rolling basis for awards of up to $15,000
per grantee and early application is recommended.
Next Friday, May 29 from 9:30 to 10:30 AM, CSAC will host a
roundtable Zoom call with PG&E staff and representatives from
counties in PG&E territory. CSAC staff sent out invitations
to this meeting to CSAC’s Board members with PG&E as a
service provider in their county on May 19. CSAC is respectfully
requesting that counties choose one representative to join the
call. Please RSVP your county’s selection to Nick
Cronenwett at ncronenwett@counites.org by
May 27.
On April 15, the California Fish & Game Commission adopted a
temporary emergency regulation that would allow the Executive
Director to work with local county officials to temporarily
delay, restrict or suspend fisheries where needed. This order
does not end fishing season statewide. This regulation is
intended to help counties with concerns about large aggregations
of fishers, areas where new aggregations are occurring, areas
with significant numbers of nonresident fishers, and areas
with limited emergency and health services available.
This morning’s emergency Fish and Game Commission meeting is
postponed until next week due to overwhelming call and webinar
volume. The Commission is considering whether or not to allow to
provide temporary authority to the Director of the Department of
Fish & Wildlife (DFW) to delay, suspend, or restrict sport or
recreational fishing due to COVID-19 based on state, federal,
local, and tribal public health guidance and public safety needs.
CSAC is monitoring for updated meeting information and will
distribute it when it becomes available.
Pacific Gas & Electric recently released a number of billing and
service modifications to help customers experiencing financial
challenges related to COVID-19. PG&E encourages customers
experiencing COVID-19 related financial issues to call
1-800-743-5000. PG&E’s options include:
CalRecycle recently announced that it will make clarifying
changes to its proposed SB 1383 Organic Waste Diversion
Regulations in response to a review by the Office of
Administrative Law (OAL). CalRecycle will make these clarifying
changes available for a 15 day public review and will also allow
for modifications to the rulemaking package unrelated to the
clarifying changes. CSAC will monitor CalRecycle for a start date
of this 15 day comment period.
CSAC staff provided public comments during the second meeting of
the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board. CSAC’s comments suggested
keeping the focus of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) on
mitigation efforts and to consider the use of public safety power
shutoffs (PSPS) as a tool of last resort.
CSAC is requesting comments from counties on recently submitted
investor owned utility (IOU) wildfire mitigation plans. These
plans are available for public comment and can be found
here. Links to the major IOU plans can be found below:
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO
Biz) announced that grant solicitations for the Cannabis Equity
Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions are available. The
Grant Solicitation, link to the Online Application Portal, an
Application User Guide, and required documents can be found at
www.business.ca.gov/CEG.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has granted $20
million to the State of California for its Earthquake Brace +
Bolt (EBB) program. The grant will subsidize the work of the
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and
the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) for earthquake
retrofits on more than 6,300 at-risk structures likely to shake
from their foundations in the event of an earthquake.
The CPUC has announced upcoming workshops for evaluations of 2020
Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs). 2020 WMPs are due to the
Department by February 7th. The CPUC has announced the
following tentative dates and will provide more details soon.
Workshop #1: February 18th and possibly February
19th: Informational Workshop, Utility
Presentations of 2020 WMPs
Workshop #2: February 24th and February
25th Technical Workshop to Discuss Specific Aspects of
WMPs across Utilities
The Legislative Analyst’s Office recently released a reported
titled Preparing for Rising Seas: How the State Can Help Support
Local Coastal Adaptation Efforts. The report predicts that by
2100 California could experience as much as 7 feet of sea level
rise and also suggests that local governments will be the key
leader in preparation and mitigation of sea level rise.
The Legislature is back in session and has begun taking up
two-year bills. Measures that didn’t clear their house of origin
last year must do so by the end of the month. CSAC recently
submitted a support letter on AB 1525 which is set to be heard in
Assembly Business & Profession Committee on Tuesday January
14th.
