California has proposed closing up to140 oil-field wells that inject into protected aquifers, according to a plan sent to the Environmental Protection Agency last week. Ellen Knickmeyer has the story for Associated Press.
“An ongoing state review mandated by the EPA found more than 2,500 oil and gas injection wells that the state authorized into aquifers that were supposed to be protected as current or potential sources of water for drinking and watering crops.
“An Associated Press analysis found hundreds of the now-challenged state permits for oil-field injection into protected aquifers have been granted since 2011, despite the state's drought and growing warnings from the EPA about lax state protection of water aquifers in areas of oil and gas operations.
“Steve Bohlen, head of the state Department of Conservation's oil and gas division, told reporters that the proposed regulatory changes were ‘long overdue.’
EPA spokeswoman Nahal Mogharabi said Monday that federal authorities would review the new state plan over coming weeks. ‘EPA will then work with the State to ensure that the plan contains actions that will bring their program into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act,’ Mogharabi said.”
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office projects 2014-2015 state revenues to be at least a billion dollars higher than the Brown administration had projected in the spending plan released in January.
From Jim Milller at the Sacramento Bee: “In a new review of incomes, sales and corporate tax collections, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reports that January revenue was about $512 million above estimates in the budget plan released by Gov. Jerry Brown last month. But the biggest piece of that – $500 million in additional sales-tax money generated by holiday sales – is likely a quirk of timing because January ended on a weekend.
“’This all suggests that February sales taxes will fall below projections by a large amount,’ the LAO reported.
“Overall, though, the analyst’s office remains ‘of the opinion that 2014-15 General Fund revenues are likely to exceed the administration's new projections by $1 billion to $2 billion and perhaps more, barring a sustained stock market drop between now and June…’”
Much of that extra revenue is destined for education, notes Ben Adler at Capital Public Radio.
“Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature’s majority Democrats agree on the need to raise per-pupil K-through-12 spending. The governor also wants to set aside money for adult education and career tech programs…
“Asked about those dueling priorities at the California State PTA Legislative Conference in Sacramento Monday, San Jose parent Patricia Andrade picked preschool.
“’We do obviously need to fund other levels of education, but I think we can’t lose sight of the fact that if you start from the top and there’s nothing at the bottom, then you’re not gonna be able to support that,’ Andrade says.”
Senate Democrats are poised to unveil new legislation to combat climate change and encourage clean energy. From Alexei Koseff at the Sacramento Bee:
“Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León will join senators Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, for the announcement at 1:30 p.m. on the east lawn of the Capitol. The package will include bills increasing the proportion of electricity California derives from renewable sources, reducing petroleum use for transportation, and requiring the state’s public pension systems to divest from coal companies.”
A new poll reported by The Hill has Attorney General Kamala Harris leading potential challengers, including Antonio Villaraigosa, by significant margins. Meanwhie, Capitol Weekly’s Samantha Gallegos looks at Harris’ prospects in the Central Valley, which could be a key battleground in the 2016 senate race – especially if a Latino tosses a hat in the ring.
“The political importance of the region, particularly the lower valley with its huge agricultural yields, hasn’t been lost on Harris, a Democrat, as she cranks up her campaign.
“’She’s spent a lot of time in the Central Valley as A.G., and not all the time in the presence of camera or a press pool,’ said Harris’ campaign strategist Brian Brokaw. ‘When she was pushing for the passage for the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights she went down to some of the hardest hit areas in California, in terms of the foreclosure crisis, and the Central Valley was really ground zero to a large extent.’
“Of 10 farm-belt counties – Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Tulare, Harris was beaten for reelection by a Republican opponent in all but San Joaquin, and that race was razor thin, with Harris winning by less than a thousand votes out of 114,000 cast.”
Capital and Main continues its series on income inequality in California with a long piece by Anthony York examining the connection between poverty and participation.
“’As home prices soar throughout the state and the middle class shrinks, we are increasingly creating a democracy where a growing number of people on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder are not participating,’ says Mike Madrid, president of GrassrootsLab and author of a forthcoming study on poverty and voter turnout. ‘The result is a political system that increasingly ignores the political needs of poor people.’
“Socioeconomic status has long been a good predictor of voter-participation, Madrid adds. Wealthy Americans vote at much higher rates than those of lower socio-economic status. During the 2008 presidential election, only 41 percent of eligible voters making less than $15,000 a year voted, compared to 78 percent of those making $150,000 a year or more.
“’Poorer people by and large vote in smaller numbers than more affluent people,’ he says. ‘It is no accident that turnout has decreased as our underclass grows.’”
And, the single strangest story we have heard in a very long time: a baby born in China in 2010 was discovered to be pregnant. With twins.
“Being born pregnant is so rare it has only been documented 200 times, but it does happen. Now researchers are reporting this week in the Hong Kong Medical Journal on the November 2010 case of a newborn girl thought to have two tumors in her abdomen that were found to be 8- to 10-week-old fetuses instead…
"’Since it is impossible for the little girl to have conceived the pregnancy on her own, the fertilization of the twin fetuses, of course, belongs to her parents, which has gone to the wrong place,’ a local doctor tells the South China Morning Post.
“The baby girl carrying the fetuses underwent successful surgery to remove them at just two weeks of age.
“The condition, called fetus in fetu, is thought to occur in 1 in 500,000 births worldwide.”
