Tag Archives: Calif.

LA Forest Fires From Space

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lafiresspace 300x225 LA Forest Fires From Space

LA Fires from Space

Thank NASA for this almost pretty image of the California Forest Fires near Los Angeles.  Click for the larger image. NASA
Triple-digit temperatures, extremely low relative humidities, dense vegetation that has not burned in decades, and years of extended drought are all contributing to the explosive growth of wildfires throughout Southern California. The Station fire, which began Aug. 26, 2009, in La Canada/Flintridge, not far from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, had reportedly burned 105,000 acres (164 square miles) of the Angeles National Forest by mid-day Aug. 31, destroying at least 21 homes and threatening more than 12,000 others. It is one of four major fires burning in Southern California at the present time. This image was acquired mid-morning on Aug. 30 by the backward (northward)-viewing camera of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite. The image is shown in an approximate perspective view at an angle of 46 degrees off of vertical. The area covered by the image is 245 kilometers (152 miles) wide. Several pyrocumulus clouds, created by the Station Fire, are visible above the smoke plumes rising from the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles in the left-center of the image. Smoke from the Station fire is seen covering the interior valleys along the south side of the San Gabriel Mountains, along with parts of the City of Los Angeles and Orange County, and can be seen drifting for hundreds of kilometers to the east over the Mojave Desert. The accompanying plots are histograms that display the heights of the smoke plumes and wind speeds. In this data set, the plume is injecting smoke more than 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) above sea level. MISR observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. This image was generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 51601. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The MISR data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

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EPA DENIES Environmental Enforcement Law

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Recently, the EPA has made a large decision against California that many are struggling to understand.  The EPA was created to enforce and encourage environmental protections.  The EPA recently ruled that tough anti-pollution laws recently enacted by California are to be blocked and not enforced.  California's efforts are stricter than Federal limits recently signed into law and aim at higher gas mileage and less emissions. The EPA has never before ruled against a stricter Californian Law.   EPA Administrator Johnson commented on the decision stating:
“The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution – not a confusing patchwork of state rules,” Johnson said in a conference call with reporters. “I believe this is a better approach.”
LINK California's law would not have conflicted in any way with the Federal law.  There was no real reason to override California in this. After that report, it has also come out that this decision was made AGAINST the advice of the EPA Administrator's own staff.
"California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts." EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act. But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media or because they feared reprisals. California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said she was also told by EPA staff that they were overruled by Johnson. She said Johnson's decision showed "that this administration ignores the science and ignores the law to reach the politically convenient conclusion." Nichols, who served as assistant EPA administrator overseeing air regulations under President Clinton, said she had helped write waiver decisions there, and "I know California met all the criteria on this one."
LINK Due to the conflicts arising from this decision, and the way it was carried out, the House Oversight Committee is now investigating the whole incident. LINK California is also suing the Federal Government and the EPA in particular to have this decision overturned.  From the article:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for denying its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, challenging the Bush administration's conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards. Other states are expected to join the lawsuit[...] "There's absolutely no justification for the administrator's action," Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday. "It's illegal. It's unconscionable and a gross dereliction of duty."
LINK This is not over and there is every indication California will win the lawsuit and somebody is going to be very embarrassed by the end of this.

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Infant killed execution-style

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This is just really really sad and angering.....
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Two men fatally shot a 21-year-old man during a suspected home-invasion, then shot his 7-month-old son in the head as he was strapped in a car seat outside the home, police said.
Continued

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