Drought + heat + fire
A trifecta of troubling conditions continue to collide in California this weekend.
First: drought. With the vast majority of the state gripped by extreme dryness, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday asked all Californians to voluntarily cut their water use by 15% and put nine more counties under drought emergency declarations — which now cover a whopping 50 of 58 counties representing 42% of the state’s population, CalMatters’ Rachel Becker reports. But that wasn’t enough for some members of a bipartisan group of lawmakers representing especially parched regions of the state.
- State Sen. Andreas Borgeas, a Fresno Republican: “We are well beyond the need for a statewide declaration or voluntary reductions in water usage. We need Governor Newsom to issue specific instructions to relevant state agencies … that they must execute decisions that formally prioritize human welfare and food production.”
Newsom, perhaps wary of issuing unpopular mandates ahead of a quickly approaching recall election, emphasized he was “not here as a nanny state” or “trying to be oppressive.” But the political challenges keep piling up: State officials warned this week that “nearly all” juvenile members of an endangered salmon species could die this fall as drought causes Sacramento River temperatures to rise.
That brings us to the second condition: heat. Much of California will spend the rest of this weekend under an excessive heat watch, with Death Valley expected to hit 130 degrees on Sunday — just four degrees shy of the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth! The heat wave could also put California at risk of another round of rolling blackouts; the state’s electric operator on Thursday issued a Flex Alert for Friday. Although a state agency last year voted to keep four controversial gas-powered plants running to stave off future energy shortfalls, three of the plants broke down as temperatures skyrocketed in June.
- Bill Powers of the Protect Our Communities Foundation: “The state has put itself between a rock and a hard place by relying so much on these plants. You don’t want that plant taking a final shot in the big ballgame.”
Last but not least: fires. Experts warn the heat wave could result in increased fire danger, a dismaying prospect given that the state has already seen nearly 4,000 wildfires this year — up from around 3,300 during the same period last year. A crew of Mississippi firefighters is heading to California to help contain the flames.
Other stories you should know
A little more than three weeks after California fully reopened, the state’s coronavirus positivity rate has tripled from 0.7% to 2.1%, COVID hospitalizations have risen 34% and the highly infectious Delta variant is accounting for an increasingly large proportion of positive cases. But the pandemic is now primarily raging among unvaccinated people: The Bay Area, one of the most highly vaccinated regions in the world, didn’t report a single COVID-19 death from Sunday through Tuesday — the first time three consecutive days passed without a COVID fatality in more than 15 months, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In San Diego County, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents make up 99.8% of deaths, 99.88% of hospitalizations and 99.1% of cases. Statewide, only 0.0003% of the more than 19.5 million Californians fully vaccinated as of June 23 died from the virus, CalMatters’ Barbara Feder Ostrov reports.
- Newsom on Wednesday: “This is the call to anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated: Get vaccinated. What more evidence do you need?”
Meanwhile, a coronavirus outbreak is sweeping through the state Capitol, prompting the state Assembly to consider a vaccine mandate for members and employees.
Is the California Exodus real?
Is there such a thing as the California Exodus, or isn’t there? Two reports released this week offer conflicting answers, underscoring the topic’s complexity and opacity. First, there was the Tuesday report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office that found a sustained increase in the number of older, wealthier residents leaving the state. Then, there was the Wednesday report from the University of California that found there isn’t an unusual amount of people leaving the state — or evidence of “millionaire flight.” The UC study also found that a majority of residents still believe in the “California Dream,” though, tellingly, that was a view held primarily by those making more than $150,000 annually. Residents making between $50,000 and $99,999 per year were the most pessimistic about California’s future.
Coincidentally, the Public Policy Institute of California on Thursday released a report finding that 65% of Californians think the state should do more to address income inequality.
