That video was captured by EdMass and retitled Climate Change: The Best Evah Weather Report.
Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) normally appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The most recent Wednesday Spotlight can be seen here. More than 21,740 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Because of the relatively small number of eco-diaries the past few days, the categories usually included with the Green Spotlight have been dropped for this edition only.
The Ugly Truth about Methane Pollution from Fracking—by
Earthworks Action: "Recently, the Obama administration came out with its plans to regulate methane from oil and gas wells. These rules will be the first of their kind, and underscore two of the most important problems with fracking-enabled oil and gas production—its impact on the climate and its impact on human health. Oil and gas operations across the country are a major source of air pollution of all types. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), coupled with nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide (together known as NOx) and sunlight, produce ozone, which is hazardous to human health and can cause premature death. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas, found in many shale oil and gas formations, can cause difficulty in breathing and eye and throat irritation. High levels of exposure can be fatal. Families living with oil and gas development nearby experience these health impacts when the wind blows these toxic chemicals near homes and schools. Earthworks has documented this VOC pollution using our FLIR Gasfinder camera—you can hear the stories of people living with this type of development and see the invisible pollution we've captured using infrared technology."
NRDC Attorney Defends Clean Air Act Health Standards From Attack by Energy-in-Depth—by
LakeSuperior: "I've been a member of the national environmental group, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), for 40 years. I still remember the first NRDC workproduct I ever reviewed. It was a 1974 briefing paper on the Clean Air Act of 1970 and what state air pollution control program requirements had to be met to gain EPA approval of individual State Implementation Plans. NRDC is a principle guardian and steward of the Clean Air Act, including the heart of the Act with Senator Muskie's vision and enactment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health from common pollutants called "criteria pollutants" named for the Air Quality Criteria that are the basis for EPA's setting of NAAQS. In this recent blogpost, NRDC Attorney John Walke, a former EPA air enforcement attorney, shows Democrats and everyone else, just how public trust defense of the Clean Air Act and outstanding, highly effective environmental & public health advocacy is done."
You can find more rescued green diaries below the orange garden layout.
How Global Warming creates Volcanic Eruptions with a New Photo Dairy of an unrelated Eruption—by Lefty Coaster: "Global Warming can have such a drastic effect on our planet it can melt glaciers allowing the earth's crust to rebound when the glacier's weight is removed, and even produce volcanic eruptions in the process. From Time Magazine: How Climate Change Leads to Volcanoes (Really). By Jeffrey Kluger. Now, you can add yet another problem to the climate change hit list: volcanoes. That’s the word from a new study conducted in Iceland and accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters. The finding is bad news not just for one comparatively remote part of the world, but for everywhere. Iceland has always been a natural lab for studying climate change. It may be spared some of the punishment hot, dry places like the American southwest get, but when it comes to glacier melt, few places are hit harder. About 10% of the island nation’s surface area is covered by about 300 different glaciers—and they’re losing an estimated 11 billion tons of ice per year. Not only is that damaging Icelandic habitats and contributing to the global rise in sea levels, it is also—oddly—causing the entire island to rise. And that’s where the trouble begins."
Volcan de Colima
PBS Newshour takes top spot for serious reporting on climate change—by
Hunter: "We haven't been hearing as many calls to shut down PBS as we used to. Maybe this will change things: PBS NewsHour takes the 2014 prize for talking the most, and the most seriously, about climate change. PBS NewsHour, which runs for 60 minutes, aired 45 reports last year that covered climate change. By comparison, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and ABC's World News Tonight, which are each 30 minute programs, aired 22, 14, and 11 climate-related reports in 2014, respectively. The other networks have sharper time constraints, and the Earth being in the middle of a major catastrophic extinction event is a little same-y. How you produce an entire year's worth of a network nightly news show while mentioning climate change only a dozen or so times, I couldn't tell you. Must have been a lot of Taylor Swift news this year. But this is where the major difference lies, and it is Not That Damn Hard, people. PBS NewsHour also provided scientific perspectives in climate change stories more often than any of the other major networks, interviewing or quoting 27 scientists over the course of the year. In comparison, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News interviewed or quoted 11 and 7 scientists, respectively, while ABC's World News Tonight interviewed or quoted just two scientists."
New Fact Check, New Model Validation—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "FactCheck.org has launched a new feature, "SciCheck," authored by a new writer, Dave Levitan, to check science-based claims. Levitan has been a science writer for the past 10 years with some of our favorite outlets: Inside Climate News, Grist, Yale Environment360, etc. The inaugural SciCheck looks at recent claims made by Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, two potential GOP presidential candidates. Santorum wrongly claimed US efforts to reduce emissions won't make a difference, while Huckabee jokingly suggested all we have to worry about from climate change is a sunburn. Both claims are thoroughly debunked. Speaking of debunking, a new study in Nature shows how the deniers' claims that models are too hot are 'unfounded.' Researchers looked at 15-year trends from 1900 to 2012 and were able to show that the average observed trend (0.086°C/decade) and the model average trend (0.088°C/decade) are in close agreement. LA Times and Carbon Brief both have great stories on the study."
NYT poll: "Overwhelming" majority favors gov't action on climate change—by Laughing Planet: "Good news, perhaps. In a finding that could have implications for the 2016 presidential campaign, the poll also found that two-thirds of Americans say they are more likely to vote for political candidates who campaign on fighting climate change. They are less likely to vote for candidates who question or deny the science of human-caused global warming. Among Republicans, 48 percent said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports fighting climate change, a result that Jon A. Krosnick, a professor of political science at Stanford University and an author of the survey, called 'the most powerful finding' in the poll."
Science Enlightens Me, Again (But then, I'm not a Republican)—by Steven D: "In 2010, Freund proposed an experiment to test his hypothesis. And now an experiment conducted by German scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light has proven that Freund's theories about polarized light were correct" […] Once upon a time, this sort of ground-breaking research might have been conducted at an American university or science institute, but we live in a country where one political party can unilaterally determine whether to fund government funds into basic research into many scientific field, from biology, medicine, climate and physics, among others. That same party has consistently opposed spending on essential scientific research as well as funding for critical medical research by the NIH and the emergency response funding for the CDC. In general, Republicans have promoted illegitimate junk science, attacked scientists because their research did not conform to the GOP's political agenda, and they even promote weakening our kids' education by requiring the teaching religious dogma as legitimate science.
Scotland Places Indefinite Ban on Fracking—by ericlewis0: "From thinkprogress.org: The Scottish government has announced that it will place a temporary ban on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, the Guardian reported Wednesday. Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing reportedly told the country’s parliament that the ban would allow for time for the government to conduct a public health assessment on the process. The decision and rationale closely resembles that of former New York Governor David Paterson, who in 2008 imposed a moratorium on fracking in the state pending a full-scale public health study. That moratorium lasted six years, and ended with current Gov. Andrew Cuomo banning the practice."
Nine Democrats join 53 Republicans in approving Keystone XL. President Obama's veto certain—by Meteor Blades: "There were no real surprises in the Senate vote to force construction of the 1,179-mile northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday. Sixty votes were needed and the tally of senators in favor was 62, with 36 opposed. That included all the Republicans who were present and nine Democrats, all of whom had backed the pipeline in previous votes. The nine: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia. […] This isn't the first time that Congress has tried to force President Obama to approve the pipeline. He overruled an attempt in 2012. The White House has indicated from the minute that the current bill was proposed last year by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that Obama would veto it because it overrides presidential authority over approving international pipelines. That process has been governed by executive orders dating back to 1968 and most recently updated in 2004 by President Bush. Presidents have made decisions on pipelines, bridges and tunnels that cross international boundaries since the Grant administration."
After Voting Down a Renewable Energy Standard, the Senate Votes to End Debate on KXL.—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "The Senate continued the amendment process on Keystone XL today by voting down three amendments and then voting to end debate. There will be a few more amendment votes this afternoon, and final passage is expected later tonight. […] Renewable Energy Standard. Tom Udall (D-NM) offered an amendment to establish a '25-by-2025' renewable electricity standard (i.e., 25% of electricity coming from renewables by 2025). It failed 45 to 53. Four members from each party crossed party lines. Four Republicans voted for it: Kelly Ayotte (R-NH); Susan Collins (R-ME); Dean Heller (R-NV); Mark Kirk (R-IL). Four Democrats voted against it: Joe Donnelly (D-IN); Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND); Joe Manchin (D-WV); Bill Nelson (D-FL)."
The 47-Part Keystone XL Vote-a-thon is Now Done. How Often Did Your Senator Break Party Line?—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "Over the past two and a half weeks, the Senate cast a total of 47 votes related to the Keystone XL bill. They consisted of 4 cloture motions, 42 amendments (whether voted on or tabled), and 1 vote on final passage. […] I would like to highlight the last three amendment votes and then do a review of the 47-part vote-a-thon, looking at how often each Democrat broke party line to take the anti-environment position. If people are interested in the corresponding information for Republicans, let me know. The only Republicans to cross party lines to vote with Democrats ten or more times were Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Mark Kirk (R-IL)."
The Senate Voted on 12 More Keystone Amendments. Did Any of Them Pass?—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "Today, the Senate voted on 12 more amendments to the S. 1, the Keystone XL bill. This vote-a-thon followed their 15 vote marathon from last Thursday. The Senate will vote on 13 more amendments tomorrow. How many of the 12 passed? One. It was an amendment from Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mark Warner (D-VA) to help school officials learn more easily about federal programs and incentives that are available to improve energy efficiency. It passed by voice vote. I have chronicled the 11 roll call votes below. Twelve Democrats broke party line on at least one vote: Manchin (7), Heitkamp (6), Bennet (3), Donnelly (3), McCaskill (3), Tester (3), Warner (3), Carper (2), Henrich (1), Kaine (1), Klobuchar (1), and Udall (1). Six Republicans broke party line on at least one vote: Collins (4), Ayotte (3), Alexander (2), Gardner (2), Grassley (2), and Kirk (2)."
We need Keystone XL, because Football?—by owsleyskid: "Is there something in the water up there? The air? This is Senator Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska,speaking on the floor of the Senate on the the 22nd of January. Any comparisons to another Alaskan, I'll leave to you. […] My point here is not necessarily about football--although that is what a lot of us are talking about—it is to demonstrate that a lot can happen over the course of 2,300 days, and it does, whether we are talking about what goes on in politics, in world events, or the world of sports. My point is that it should probably take the Federal Government less time to approve an important infrastructure project--what the President himself has called just a single oil pipeline—than it takes to build an NFL championship team."
The American Pipe Dream Part I: The Political Football that Refuses to be Deflated—by katy6170 : "As much as I had hoped that actual facts about KXL would be a driver for a majority of Americans to come out against this pipeline, it hasn't worked out that way. A recent Washington Post poll shows solid support for building Keystone XL among Americans 61-27. This solid support is built out of misinformation and a total lack of media coverage of the facts about KXL, and pipelines all over the country. I sincerely hope that Obama's veto of the Keystone bill will be a catalyst to turn the tide on this, and soon!"
10 Senate Ds Think Drillers Should Be Able to Inject Whatever the Frack They Want into Your Water—by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: "The Halliburton Loophole, alluded to in the passage above, is the term for the provision that exempted gas drilling and extraction from requirements in the underground injection control (UIC) program of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Injecting carcinogens into the ground during fracking? Don't ask. Don't tell. It got the name 'Halliburton Loophole' because it is widely viewed as the effort of former Halliburton CEO who happened to occupy the vice presidency. […] Here's how Kirsten Gillibrand described her amendment, the one of three she offered to receive a vote: Amendment 48, to remove the Halliburton loophole from the Safe Drinking Water Act, and finally require gas storage and gas drilling companies to comply with the clean water laws of the United States. Every other energy industry already has to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, and this amendment would finally hold the gas industry to the same environmental and public health standards as everyone else. It finally got a vote last night, and as expected, it failed: 35 to 63."
Second letter to Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) on Keystone XL—by Certifiable Genius: "Nobody sane actually believes that Keystone XL will create more jobs than it will cost, that it will improve American energy independence one iota, that it won't be an environmental disaster when (not if) it blows a major leak. I take your decision to not merely vote in favor of, but co-sponsor a bill forcing the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to be a cowardly attempt to appease the right-wing anti-science plutocrats whose money dominates our elections. It won't work. They will attack you just as viciously when you come up for re-election, simply because you are a Democrat. They don't care about the difference between "centrist" and "liberal" Democrats. Since you're going to be cast as a far-left Democrat by your enemies regardless of the facts, you could at least do the people who actually voted for you the favor of acting like a Democrat when it matters."
Record number of oil train spills in 2014—by Jen Hayden: "2014 was a record-breaking year in many ways. Not only was it the hottest year on record, it also saw a a new record for oil train spills: The record number of spills sparked a fireball in Virginia, polluted groundwater in Colorado, and destroyed a building in Pennsylvania, causing at least $5 million in damages and the loss of 57,000 gallons of crude oil. By volume, that's dramatically less crude than trains spilled in 2013, when major derailments in Alabama and North Dakota leached a record 1.4 million gallons -- more than was lost in the prior 40 years combined. But by frequency of spills, 2014 set a new high with 141 "unintentional releases," according to data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). By comparison, between 1975 and 2012, U.S. railroads averaged just 25 spills a year."
The Daily Bucket: Pelican Winter?—by matching mole: "This morning I saw approximately a dozen white pelicans from my house (we were just leaving and they were moving in and out of our field of view so an exact count was not possible). I've recorded white pelicans on our yard list every year since the backyard bird race began. As the largest bird on my list they are hard to miss when they are around. Most years I have one or two observations usually in the spring when the birds are leaving the coast to head north. In the winter of 2012-2013 a group of about 40 overwintered on lake Jackson and we saw them many times. This is my second sighting in about a week so I'm wondering if a group has decided to relocate to the lake for the rest of the winter?"
Canada Begins Effort To Save Most Endangered Mammal in Contiguous US—by ban nock: "The Selkirk Caribou herd has lost 2/3 of it's already critical population in the past five years bringing the total number of individuals down to 18. It's thought that without assistance the caribou would be extirpated. You're probably wondering why Canada is saving US species. Me too. Probably because the Selkirk herd wanders back and forth across the international border between our two countries and the Selkirk herd is part of the efforts in the South Peace to reverse the decline of caribou herds. The most expensive and immediate effort by the Canadiens is to eradicate the two wolf packs that prey on the Selkirk herd. Officials expect to cull 24 wolves from the area by the time the snow melts, part of a wider plan to cull roughly 180 wolves. I think they got a pack last week. There's been a lot of back and forth about the causes of the caribou decline, but one thing they do know is that if they want to reverse the decline they first have to end the predation by wolves. They probably should have done this fifteen years ago. Woodland caribou eat lichen which takes a long time to grow. It's been suggested that saving old growth is the key to caribou survival. Also the new access to caribou provided by ski and snowmobile trails is thought to have aided wolves in finding the animal, also logging adds habitat for deer and moose which wolves use as alternate prey to survive when they can't find caribou."
5 yrs after the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Obama wants to drill in the Atlantic from Va. to Ga.—by
Lefty Coaster: "Five years after the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico President Obama unfortunately has joined the 'Drill Baby Drill' chorus. The Obama Administration wants to start leasing tracts in the Atlantic off of Virginia the Carolinas and Georgia.
Obama administration opens up southern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling – but restricts it in Alaska. By Joby Warrick. The Obama administration on Tuesday outlined a politically fraught plan for allowing oil and gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters, announcing steps to open parts of the southeastern U.S. coastline for oil leasing while imposing new restrictions on environmentally fragile waters off Alaska’s North Slope. The draft plans could potentially lead to the appearance of drilling platforms off the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Georgia, in a region where state governments have traditionally backed expanded oil development offshore."
The Daily Bucket - Bald Eagles of the Pacific Northwest—by RonK: "Our national emblem, the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalu) is the only eagle unique to North America. As I am sure many of you know, had Ben Franklin had his way, our symbol would have been the Wild Turkey. According to Franklin, the eagle ' … is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.' Maybe Ben was right about the eagle. Here one flees from a dive bombing crow. […] Despite Franklin’s denigration of our symbol, most of us think of the bald eagle as stately, proud, strong, and well,.. aquiline. Among its other stellar attributes, this bird is a survivor. The Bald eagle’s very existence today is one of the crowning achievements of the Endangered Species Act. It is estimated that there were between 25,000 and 75,000 eagles in the lower 48 in 1782 when it became our national emblem. By 1963 there were just 417 nesting pairs in the lower US, (not counting Alaska)."
Crow chases bald eagle.
Let Them Eat Glyphosate—by
joieau: "I am an organic gardener, small-time producer of vegetables, fruit and herbs in the mountains of western North Carolina. Have about an acre of truck and culinary herbs in terraced beds, grapes enough for jam, wine and vinegars every year, plus apples, pears, peaches, cherries and blueberries. In the forest I manage extensive crops of ginseng, black cohosh, goldenseal and assorted other medicinal herbs, and I tap more than a dozen big maple and hickory trees for sap/syrups. Have an acre of black elder as well, the most valuable of my herb crops (after the 'sang, but it's valued in situ and only a few of the elder man-roots are used/sold every year), from which I make tinctures and syrups for a steady stream of clients who use them to help ward off and/or shorten the duration of colds and flu. An anti-viral use for elderberry preparations that has considerable scientific support, just so you know. […] Anyway, all that is to establish that I am no fan of Monsanto, their various agrichemical concoctions, or their genetically engineered staple food crops designed to allow for increased use of their agrichemicals. Like Roundup, a.k.a. glyphosate. 2,4D is an even more toxic component of Monsanto's Agent Orange, now being used on food crops in increasing amounts as the glyphosate resistance engineered into food crops has spread to invasive weeds (transgenes are promiscuous, it turns out). As herbicide use has steadily increased in our known to be unsustainable Big Agribiz monocropping food supply system, a compliant EPA [somewhat hilariously mis-titled "Environmental Protection Agency"] has agreeably and steadily increased its allowances for residues of these chemicals in our food and water supplies."
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 10.49 - Seed starting starts now!—by Merry Light: "Our weather has been so spring-like, it's hard to believe it's January! Sunny, 50's and 60's, and all the snow we had (which wasn't a lot) is now melting. Today we have rain/snow mix, moisture for the first time in a couple of weeks. Still, the fact that I have to wear a heavy coat and scarf in the morning and I'm scraping frost off the windshield are reminding me that it's the dead of winter. I was looking through photos of last year about this time and we had about 2 feet of snow on the ground on the 1st of February. This year—almost zip. Most of the yard is clear of snow and there is no ice on the side streets and along the roadways, which is very unusual. If it wasn't for the short days, and dark by 6pm, I'd be thinking it was spring. No matter what, I'm glad to see the back side of January as usual. HOWEVER—seed catalogs and spring bulb catalogs are filling my mailbox every day. I've gone through the seeds I have and it's looking like I'll have to order some for my seed starting in February. Although I sometimes end up with extra seeds after I get everything planted in my seed trays, I try to use them up each year. I usually can get seeds to sprout for me if they are last year's, but any older and the germination rate begins to go down."
Good News for the Arctic, But...—by Michael Brune: "When you're working toward a big goal, progress isn't always smooth. If you're lucky, though, the breakthroughs outpace the setbacks, even if it's sometimes a close call. For Alaskan wilderness protection, this week produced a breakthrough that's been a long time coming. President Obama will recommend that Congress designate over 12 million acres of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, including 1.52 million acres of the coastal plain. Unfortunately, there's a greater chance the Yankees will switch to field hockey than that the current Congress will act on the wilderness designation. Even so, the Interior Department has said that it will now manage these lands as if they were officially wilderness, which means no oil and gas leasing. Of course, 'unofficially,' these lands have been wilderness for millions of years and—as long as they remain off limits to oil and gas drilling—they will stay that way. This is one of the situations where, really, all we have to do is not mess things up."
Climate change on steroids—by tsunami: "Sadly, the value of the billions and trillions of dollars worth of fossil fuel assets that must be left below the ground to keep the planet safe are so tremendous, that the owners of these assets see a need for a modest investment in denial to maximize their short-term gains. www.scientificamerican.com/article/dark-money-funds-climate-change-denial-effort/ An article summarizing the disparity of quality between the papers of climate change advocates and deniers. www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/apr/11/climate-change-research-quality-imbalance Both the amount of ice in polar regions and rate of melting are measurable. Luckily there is a large amount of ice. Like the ice in a cold drink, the drink (Earth) stays cool as long as its ice (polar regions) cools it. Once ice cubes melt, mankind will face a devastating climate heating apocalypse. Either say extra prayers for your grandchildren and great grandchildren, or take action now so they won't curse this generation."
Why can't we all just be Waveland Rockallians—by annieli: "The guy who spent 45 days on this island is perhaps a lot crazier, but it seems that not unlike the status of island tax havens whose financial worth far exceeds their territories, it would be nice to think more globally and become citizens of Rockall/Waveland. At 21:40 hours BST on the night of 10 June 1997, Greenpeace activists staged a dramatic occupation of the barren and tiny island of Rockall (25 meters across and 20 meters high) in the Atlantic Ocean—450 kilometers from the Scottish mainland. Rockall lies at the heart of the Atlantic Frontier, an area earmarked for oil exploration. The strategic occupation was part of Greenpeace's Atlantic Frontier campaign which aimed to bring about a halt to oil exploration in the region. Al, one of the three Greenpeace activists, had this to say on the first morning of the crew's occupation of the rock, 'The seas around Rockall, potentially rich in oil, are fought over by four nations—Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Ireland. By seizing Rockall, Greenpeace claims these seas for the planet and all its peoples. No-one has the right to unleash this oil onto our threatened climate.' At dawn on the morning of 16 June, six days after the initial occupation, the world was taken by surprise as the sun rose on a new kind of country with Rockall as its capital. Greenpeace had rejected complete British sovereignty over Rockall and declared a new global state called Waveland."
Glacier Park: Apgar Area, January 2015 (Photo Diary)—by Ojibwa:
Glacier National Park
Raising Shasta Dam is “Massive Waste of Taxpayer Money”—by
Dan Bacher: "Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Governor Jerry Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build giant tunnels that would drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today called upon the California Water Commission to reject funding the raising of Shasta Dam. RTD joins the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, fishing groups and an array of environmental groups in opposing the dam raise, a government boondoggle that would flood many of the Tribe's remaining sacred sites and would devastate Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations. A recent US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) report was highly critical of a proposal to raise the height of Shasta Dam, the US Bureau of Reclamation’s main reservoir in the Central Valley Project northwest of Redding, according to a statement from RTD. The USFWS found that the project would harm fish habitat in the Delta and Yolo Bypass, as well as around Shasta Lake, and along the length of the Sacramento River."