Sacramento | Reuters — Emergency crews braced for the next bout of high winds and torrential rains forecast to sweep California starting on Wednesday, renewing the threat of power outages and flooding that struck parts of the state over the New Year’s weekend. The latest “atmospheric river” — an airborne current of dense moisture flowing
Another ‘atmospheric river’ storm renews flood threat in California
NASA to conduct first global water survey from space
Data would bolster weather and climate forecasts
Los Angeles | Reuters — A NASA-led international satellite mission was set for blastoff from southern California early on Thursday on a major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time. Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite
U.S. lists first bumblebee species as endangered
The species is just one of 47 in the U.S. and Canada, a quarter of which are considered at risk of extinction
The rusty patched bumblebee, a prized but vanishing pollinator once familiar to much of North America, was listed Jan. 10 as an endangered species, becoming the first wild bee in the continental United States to gain such federal protection. One of several species facing sharp declines, the bumblebee known to scientists as Bombus affinis has
Washington begins killing wolf pack for preying on livestock
Reuters — Wildlife agents authorized to eradicate a group of 11 wolves for repeated attacks on cattle in Washington state have hunted down and killed six animals from the condemned pack and are searching for the rest, a state game official said on Monday. State biologists fatally shot two members of the so-called Profanity Peak
Contract negotiators for U.S. West Coast ports reach tentative deal
Los Angeles | Reuters — A group of shipping companies and a powerful dockworkers union clinched a tentative labour deal on Friday after nine months of negotiations, settling a dispute that disrupted the flow of cargo through 29 U.S. West Coast ports and snarled trans-Pacific maritime trade with Asia. The settlement, confirmed in a joint
U.S. farmers hit hard by labour strife at West Coast ports
Los Angeles | Reuters –– Protracted labour strife and shipping disruptions at U.S. West Coast ports have hit farmers especially hard, posing a major barrier to perishable goods headed to overseas markets and resulting in losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a week. Foreign Pacific Rim customers facing chronic delays in shipments of
U.S. West Coast ports undergo partial shutdown
Los Angeles | Reuters –– The 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast were effectively closed to cargo freighters for the second time in less than a week on Thursday under a partial shutdown imposed by shipping lines and terminal operators in an escalating labour dispute with the dockworkers’ union. The loading and unloading of
U.S. West Coast port operations resume, more labour talks scheduled
Los Angeles | Reuters — U.S. West Coast port operations resumed in full on Monday after shipping companies suspended loading and unloading of freighters for the weekend, citing chronic cargo backups the shippers and dockworkers have blamed on each other during months of labour tensions. Reopening of the ports to cargo vessels idled by the
Drought forces California farmers to idle cropland
The price of California farm goods, including fresh fruits and vegetables is likely to rise
Drought-stricken California farmers facing drastic cutbacks in irrigation water are expected to idle some 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of cropland this year in a record production loss that could cause billions of dollars in economic damage, industry officials said. Large-scale crop losses in California, the No. 1 U.S. farm state producing half the nation’s fruits
California eyes turning off the taps
The forecast for a zero allocation in 2014 is unprecedented
A worsening drought in California will likely force a first-ever complete cut-off this year in state-supplied water sold to 29 irrigation districts, public water agencies and municipalities up and down the state, officials said Jan. 31. Although the state Water Resources Department typically ends up supplying more water than first projected for the year ahead,
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