California

"Firefighters are tackling larger and more aggressive wildfires as drought conditions continue for a fifth year in California, drying out swaths of forest land."

"Delta smelt have hovered close to extinction for years, but biologists say they’ve never seen anything like this spring. 'There’s nothing between them and extinction, as far as I can tell,' said Peter Moyle, a UC Davis biologist who has studied smelt and other Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fish species for nearly four decades."

"Bernie Sanders, traipsing across far-flung regions of California as he seeks a comeback victory here next week, swatted at likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for minimizing the state’s water shortage and the effects of climate change."

"Democrats in the California Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would delay a proposed export facility in Oakland to ship coal to Asia, a project that's drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists."

"California officials have talked tough about the contamination of up to 10,000 homes with lead from a battery recycling plant, calling it a regulatory failure, an environmental injustice and a public health disaster. Yet accountability for years of pollution by Exide Technologies has been scant."

"Efforts in Congress are heating up to bring some relief to California’s historic drought, just as the dry summer season is starting."

"California’s fire marshal has launched an investigation into an oil pipeline rupture that spilled at least 20,000 gallons of crude near Tracy over the weekend — eight months after the same pipeline had a break in a similar location."

"A Houston-based pipeline company has been indicted in California on 46 criminal charges stemming from a major oil spill last year that forced beach closures and fouled miles of shoreline near Santa Barbara, prosecutors said on Tuesday."

"Young starfish are staging a comeback in Oregon and Northern California, after a virus that melts the animal devastated adult populations along the northern West Coast starting in 2013."

"The future of the Newport Banning Ranch site, where developers want to build a hotel and hundreds of homes, now rests with the California Coastal Commission — which is engaged in its own struggle for identity."