News Briefs
LAKE COUNTY
CAL FIRE secures funding to enhance
sustainable forest management
On January 6, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced receiving $5 million to support the California Forest Improvement Program (CFIP).
This funding comes as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inflation Reduction Act funding to strengthen financial incentives for private forest landowners to manage their forests sustainably and to permanently conserve private forests in partnership with states.
CAL FIRE’s CFIP will deliver technical assistance and direct cost share payments to support the implementation of forest resilience and climate mitigation practices across 2,458 acres of private nonindustrial forest land with this additional funding.
“Forests provide innumerable benefits to people and communities, and private forestlands make up more than half of all forests in the U.S.,” said United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we are helping to provide the resources private forest landowners need to keep working forests working so that future generations of Americans will be able to enjoy all the benefits they provide.”
Of the total U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inflation Reduction Act funding, nearly $210 million was awarded as competitive grants to state agencies, for-profit entities and a broad array of non-profit organizations. This funding was made possible thanks to investments from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The funded proposals add financial incentives and opportunities to landowners to adopt sustainable forest management practices. Forest management, like thinning trees or removing invasive species, helps to reduce the susceptibility to forests pests and disease and lowers the risks of catastrophic wildfires.
For details on these funded proposals, visit the Forest Service Forest Landowner Support Funded Projects webpage. Learn more about the California Forest Improvement Program on the program’s webpage.
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Clearlake Oaks Post Office Resumes Retail Services
LAKE COUNTY
PO Box Lobby Access and retail services will resume regular schedule this Saturday, clarified the Clear Lakes Post Office. Action was taken after a vehicle crash into the front entry of the facility required temporary retail suspension for repairs.
Clearlake Oaks Post Office, located at 13280 E Hwy 20, Clearlake Oaks CA 95423, did resume retail operations and PO Box pick-up Monday- Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Sat 8:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
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WASHINGTON D.C.
President Biden Takes Action to Protect America’s Coastlines
WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland today celebrated President Biden’s decision to withdraw certain areas offshore the United States from all future oil and natural gas leasing. Today’s action recognizes that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh any limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies – including fishing, recreation and tourism – from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling.
“President Biden’s actions today are part of our work across this Administration to make bold and enduring changes that recognize the impact of oil and gas drilling on our nation’s coastlines,” said Secretary Haaland. “Today, the President is taking action that reflects what states, Tribes and local communities have shared with us – a strong and overwhelming need to support resilient oceans and coastlines by protecting them from unnecessary oil and gas development.”
Using his authority under section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), President Biden today issued memoranda to withdraw significant portions of the Outer Continental Shelf from future oil and natural gas leasing, including the entire U.S. Pacific and Eastern Atlantic coasts, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the remainder of the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area offshore Alaska. The withdrawal areas announced today encompass more than 625 million acres – and represent the largest withdrawal in U.S. history.
On federal lands and waters, oil production in 2024 is at an all-time high. In fiscal year 2023, the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) produced approximately 675 million barrels of oil and 796 billion cubic feet of gas, accounting for roughly 14 percent of all oil production and two percent of natural gas production in the United States. Nearly all of this production is in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico, where industry has yet to produce on more than 80 percent of the 12 million acres already under lease.
The National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2024-2029 includes three potential oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico planning areas, which are not impacted by today’s action. In contrast, the previous Administration’s Draft Proposed 5-year Program included 47 lease sales and included potential oil and gas auctions in all planning areas subject to these withdrawals – a proposal that garnered significant bipartisan opposition from coast to coast.
Industry activity in the newly withdrawn areas has been very low, historically. There is no active oil and gas exploration and development along the eastern U.S. Atlantic or in the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. There are approximately 30 decades-old existing leases offshore southern California, and approximately a dozen in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Nothing in the withdrawals affects rights under existing leases.
The President’s memoranda and maps of the areas withdrawn will be made available on the White House’s website.
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WASHINGTON D.C.
Thompson Sworn in to Serve in the 119th Congress
On January 6, 2025, U.S. Representative Mike Thompson (CA-04) was sworn in as a Member of the
United States House of Representatives by the Speaker of the House.
“It’s the honor of my life to serve the people of the community where I was born, grew up, raised my own family, and live today,” said Thompson. “Over the next two years, my priority will remain the same: To deliver for the constituents of the 4th District. That includes working to lower costs, improve community safety, fight climate change, and protect your fundamental rights and freedoms.”
The Honorable Mike Thompson was elected to serve as representative of California’s 4th Congressional District Representative Mike Thompson was added to the rolls of the House today upon executing the oath of office.
He is a senior member of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Rep. Thompson is
Chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is also Co-Chair of the bipartisan,
bicameral Congressional Wine Caucus and a member of the fiscally – responsible Blue Dog Coalition.
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