Environmental groups have begun a lobbying campaign to stop California Governor Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to divert money from the cap-and-trade program.
Environmentalists say money from the sale of carbon pollution permits is supposed to go to programs that help further reduce emissions. Brown wants to borrow $500 million for the general fund.
Vien Truong with the Greenlining Institute says environmental advocates are angry. She says that money could be used for clean air programs in low-income communities.
California is launching a big part of its fight against climate change on Wednesday. The state is holding its first auction in the "cap and trade" program where industrial businesses will have to buy allowances to emit greenhouse gases. The goal is to reduce the state's emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. From Sacramento, Kathleen Masterson reports on how the complex market is designed to reduce pollution.
Thomas Mace, senior scientific adviser to NASA, helps Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer pour a soil sample into a test tube near Bear Valley Springs.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Californian
Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer wades through mustard plants in Bear Valley Springs to get to collect a soil sample.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Californian
Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer wades through mustard plants in Bear Valley Springs to collect a soil sample.
Credit Shelby Mack / The Bakersfield Californian
Samples of soil lie in ice in the trunk of Cal State Bakersfield microbiologist Antje Lauer so they can stay preserved on the trip back to Bakersfield.
By Kellie Schmitt and Rebecca Plevin, Reporting On Health Collaborative
Valley fever feeds on heat.
And as the average temperature ticks up with each passing decade, experts are concerned that the fungus’ footprint and impact are expanding, as evidenced by a rise in cases in areas far outside the hot spots of the Central Valley of California.
