On Tuesday, the group secured another landmark property in Santa Clara County, announcing it had purchased Mead Ranch, a 1,921-acre parcel between San Jose and Morgan Hill, for $24.3 million.

The ranch, located in the picturesque rolling foothills along Uvas Road, will be preserved as open space, according to the organization, commonly known as POST. It’s the latest property in recent years to be set aside for wildlife, farming or open space in and around Coyote Valley, an area west of Highway 101 on San Jose’s southern edges where tech giants Apple and Cisco once proposed to build huge campuses in the 1980s and 1990s.

“There are rolling hills, oak-studded grasslands, ponds and beautiful views,” said Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, during a recent visit to Mead Ranch. “This property is a key linchpin that connects the Santa Cruz Mountains to Coyote Valley.”

Clark said the purchase, which was funded in large part by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, is the latest example of a wider strategy to provide places to roam for mountain lions, deer and other wildlife that are increasingly isolated by freeways and development across California.

“We’ve been filling in puzzle pieces on the valley floor at Coyote Valley and bigger pieces on the hillsides around it,” Clark said. “We’re trying to protect big blocks that wildlife can use as habitat, and which link to the  Diablo Range and the rest of the state.”

The ranch is roughly twice the size of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. From its highest hills, visitors can see Mount Hamilton to the east, and Mount Umunhum and Loma Prieta to the west. With the purchase, about 49,000 acres of open space now exists between Mount Umunhum and Highway 101 — an area six times the size of Stanford University.

Since 1954, Mead Ranch had been owned by the family of Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., who from 1960 to 1990 served as president of Bechtel, a major American engineering and construction company. Bechtel was married to Elizabeth Mead Hogan, who died two years ago. Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., died in 2021 at age 95, with a net worth estimated at $3.5 billion.

Founded in San Francisco in 1898, the Bechtel company built Hoover Dam, BART and the Channel Tunnel between England and France, along with airports, nuclear plants and other huge projects around the world. Over time, some Bechtel heirs have moved out of the Bay Area, and the company shifted its headquarters to Virginia in 2018.

Along with his friends and family, Bechtel used Mead Ranch for getaways and hunting trips. In 2007, he hosted the National Retriever Championship on the property, an annual event in which hunting dogs from around the United States compete to retrieve birds, like ducks or pheasants, while navigating challenging terrain.

Evan Johnstone of Reno, Bechtel’s grandson, declined to comment on the sale.

In 2023, another branch of the family sold an adjacent property called Lakeside Ranch to POST for $22 million.

POST transferred that property to the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, a government agency that preserves open space as part of a broad countywide plan in which developers pay fees to offset harm they do to endangered species on their properties so they can obtain permits. Clark said the same outcome is likely with Mead Ranch.

Santa Clara County’s landscape and politics have shifted considerably since the Bechtels, who also have lived in San Francisco and Piedmont, first bought the two ranches during the Eisenhower years.

From the 1950s until the 1980s, San Jose sprawled in all directions. With a booming post-war economy driven by military contractors, electronics companies and computer firms, city leaders eagerly approved bulldozing orchards and farms that had given the area the name “Valley of Heart’s Delight” for freeways, subdivisions and businesses.

By the 1980s and 1990s, political views began to shift. San Jose, neighboring cities and Santa Clara County began passing rules to limit development on hillsides and some farmland. Environmental groups and land trusts began pushing for new parks and open space preserves. Many old-time ranching families sold their properties, which have increasingly become parks and open space preserves.

“It used to be that Grandpa bought the land,” said Henry Coletto, a retired game warden with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office from 1988 to 2004, who also worked as a county parks ranger starting in 1967. “His family raised cattle, then the second generation raised their family there, and the third generation sold the property because they didn’t want to be in the cattle business. It’s a tough life. Today, there are only a handful of cowboys who own their own land in this area. The rest are renting it from open space and parks agencies.”

Coletto said that amid the working ranchers, several wealthy families from the Peninsula and San Francisco, including the Hewletts and Packards, bought large pieces of land in rural Santa Clara County in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Back then, it was a trend for people who had money to have a big ranch and be a cowboy or raise horses,” Coletto said. “The Bechtels didn’t spend a lot of time on the property. But they did invite friends to do pheasant hunting and work with dogs. They did a beautiful job of maintaining the fences and the corrals and the houses.”

The Bechtel family allowed cattle grazing on the ranch, which POST will continue. The family also built six homes on the property. POST says it’s not sure yet what it will do with them or if there ever will be public access to the property, although it could provide a 1.5-mile addition to the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Coletto said he hopes it’s not too heavily grazed in the future, particularly around two sensitive streams that run through the property, Uvas and Llagas creeks.

“The big thing is that the land is not going to be developed,” he said. “It’s like its own little mountain range back there. There are some good water areas there on the west side. The whole area is pretty important for wildlife.”

It began so dry that Lake Tahoe ski resorts couldn’t open for their usual Thanksgiving kickoff. Then, 10 feet of snow fell around Christmas, saving ski season and bringing totals up to historic averages. But five weeks of warm, dry weather followed. Then in mid-February blizzards dumped another 9 feet in five days, contributing to deadly avalanche conditions.

On Thursday, the statewide Sierra snowpack — which provides nearly one-third of California’s water supply — stood at 68% of its historical average and falling, with at least two more weeks of dry weather forecast.

“It’s a weather-whiplash scenario,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab near Donner Summit. “We are going from warm and dry to really intense snowstorms, and right back to dry within a few days. It’s been chaotic.”

With dry skies expected for the next two weeks, the chances are low of reaching 100% of normal by April 1, typically the date that ends California’s winter snow season, Schwartz added.

“We have a long way to go to get back to average, and not much time to do it,” he said. “The likelihood of big storms coming through in the second half of March and April is not high.”

In prior years, water managers in cities and farm communities throughout California would have been nervous. But after a rare three wet winters in a row leading up to this year, reservoirs across the state began the winter with more water than normal and now are near full.

On Thursday every major reservoir in California was above its historical average. The largest, Shasta, near Redding, was 82% full, or 115% of normal; the second largest, Oroville, in Butte County, was 83% full and 129% of normal. San Luis, east of Gilroy, was 84% full and 105% of normal; and Southern California’s largest reservoir, Diamond Valley, in Riverside County, was 94% full and 127% of normal.

“The good news is that our reservoirs are in good shape,” said Jeff Mount, a professor emeritus at UC Davis and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California Water Center in San Francisco.

“That’s our buffer. It is unlikely we will be seeing water restrictions this summer,” Mount added. “I don’t hear a lot of drought talk. But what happens next year matters. We’ll draw our reservoirs down and hope for the best next winter to keep them topped up.”

Mount and Schwartz agreed that if the Sierra Nevada snowpack is only about half its historical average by April 1, wildfires are probably more of a concern this summer than water shortages.

“Snowpack is so critical to maintaining soil moisture,” Mount said. “Without it, everything dries out earlier. Low snowpack is a proxy for an earlier and longer and possibly tougher fire season.”

In years when California has had many major snowstorms, summer wildfire season is delayed also for the simple reason that much of the mountains and foothills are covered with snow later into the spring and early summer.

This year, warm temperatures have been a major factor.

From November through the end of January, much of the American West, and large portions of the Sierra Nevada, experienced their hottest temperatures since modern weather records began in 1895, about 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average from 1991 to 2020, according to data from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So when storms were able to break through, much of the precipitation fell as rain instead of snow. And although none of California is experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly federal report issued every Thursday, all the other Western states are suffering through some level of drought, with conditions in Colorado and Utah particularly bad.

“We are going to be hearing a lot about worsening water crises on the Colorado River this summer, as well as about large forest fires in the Rockies and possible Cascades,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California’s California Institute for Water Resources.

Water shortages on the Colorado River, which flows through seven Western states and includes two massive reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — affect California, because the river and the reservoirs provide water to Los Angeles and other Southern California cities, along with irrigation water to Imperial County. When Southern California has limited Colorado River supplies, it puts more pressure for water to be pumped from Northern California through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, Mount noted.

Climate change appears to be playing a role in the all-or-nothing conditions California is seeing, Swain said.

“There are clear climate links to the record warmth, and the generally low and variable snowpack,” he said.  “And modest evidence linking the recent ‘whiplashiness’ and record-breaking rain events to warming as well.”

In addition to hotter weather that melts snow, warmer conditions often bring bigger more drenching storms and blizzards when they do occur, because more water can evaporate into storms from the Pacific Ocean. Climate studies that Swain and other scientists have published in recent years say more “weather whiplash” with drier dry periods and wetter storms, are likely to increase as the climate warms in coming decades.

“I actually just received a photo from someone in South Lake Tahoe this morning who received 3-4 feet of snow last week,” Swain said. “And it is now already completely melted.”

The five East Coast offshore wind projects that recently won court victories over the Trump administration have restarted construction, but they make up just a small fraction of Atlantic states’ ambitious plans for offshore wind. And the dozens of projects that have yet to start construction have little chance of advancing while Trump remains in office.

“If you were going to make the best estimate of what’s going to happen, it would be that no other projects other than these five are going to move forward over the next three years,” said Warren Leon, executive director of the Clean Energy States Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of state energy agencies.

State leaders have been relying on these projects to underpin their transitions to clean electricity and to meet their growing energy needs, largely driven by data centers and artificial intelligence. But Trump’s hostility toward offshore wind has shown the political vulnerability of an industry that operates in federal waters and relies on the government as a landlord.

Trump has opposed offshore wind for years, making false claims that it harms whales, is unreliable and drives up energy costs. He seems to have adopted that stance following the construction of an offshore wind farm near his golf course in Scotland, viewing the turbines as an eyesore.

In trying to halt the five East Coast projects, the Trump administration cited classified national security threats. But judges reviewed the classified materials and ruled that those concerns were not sufficient to stop work. They also noted the irreparable economic losses from delays and the likelihood that the developers’ lawsuits could eventually succeed.

Some analysts have noted that Trump’s long-standing campaign against wind may make it difficult for federal lawyers to convince the courts that the stop-work orders were not politically motivated.

If completed, the five projects will produce nearly 6 gigawatts of electricity to East Coast states, enough to power roughly 2.5 million homes. Offshore wind advocates say the projects will provide a massive boost to the region’s energy stability.

Projects move ahead

In December, federal officials issued a stop-work order for the five offshore wind projects currently under construction, off the coasts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia. Developers and states sued to block the orders.

In a ruling earlier this month, Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an injunction blocking the federal order for the Sunrise Wind project off New York. He cited the four previous cases in which offshore wind developers had prevailed against the feds.

“Every court to review this question has now found that the loss of specialized vessels and resulting delays amounts to irreparable harm,” Lamberth said from the bench, according to the East End Beacon. “I agree.”

The Empire Wind project, off the coast of New York, is expected to provide enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

“We absolutely need this energy, and we need it yesterday,” said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat. “The fact that now we are back on track and anticipating energy to start coming through by the end of this year is enormously exciting and enormously beneficial.”

Sam Salustro, senior vice president of policy and market affairs with Oceantic Network, an industry lobbying group for offshore wind energy, noted that many states have seen surging electricity demands in recent years, adding to the urgency of completing the projects.

“These projects are so close to the finish line and putting electricity on the grid,” he said. “Every single time we get another turbine up, it gets harder to justify stopping the industry from moving forward.”

Some Republicans have joined Trump in challenging offshore wind and clean energy. But nine U.S. House Republicans wrote a letter to federal officials last month questioning Trump’s efforts to halt construction on the projects.

“America’s energy policy should be grounded in facts, fiscal responsibility, and the national interest — not ideology or politics,” the lawmakers wrote, according to E&E News.

While developers resume work, some observers have noted the rulings were specific to the construction phase on the projects, not their operation. Some expect Trump to mount a fresh challenge once turbines are actually spinning.

“This administration has had fervent and frequent opposition to offshore wind and has demonstrated a retaliatory posture when they lose in court,” said Timothy Fox, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, an independent research firm. “We could see the administration trying to stop these projects again.”

Backers note that the projects have already undergone extensive, yearslong reviews in consultation with federal agencies that found no national security concerns.

Officials with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management declined a Stateline interview request, citing ongoing litigation.

Larger plans stalled

Across the East Coast, eight states have committed to building more than 45 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040 — enough to power more than 30 million homes. Those states have also invested heavily in upgrading their ports to handle specialized vessels and giant turbines, building manufacturing facilities, expanding transmission infrastructure and training an offshore wind workforce.

While no states have yet abandoned their commitments to offshore wind, even industry backers say their timelines will be nearly impossible to reach after Trump’s attacks on the industry.

“You’re going to have to change the timeframe,” said New Jersey state Sen. Bob Smith, the Democratic chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. “I don’t think there’s any way you can avoid that.”

Since taking office, Trump has halted permits and leases for other planned offshore wind projects, canceled $679 million in funding to support manufacturing and ports, ended clean energy tax credits and announced plans to cancel the approval of a Maryland offshore wind project.

Maryland state Del. Lorig Charkoudian, a Democrat who has been a key backer of offshore wind, said the state’s commitment of 8.5 gigawatts by 2035 is “probably not going to happen.”

Trump’s administration has said it will revoke the permit for a pending project in federal waters off Maryland, but Charkoudian expressed hope that it will survive legal challenges and move toward construction. But in two other lease areas that Maryland was counting on to meet its target, developers have been thwarted by Trump’s halt on new permits.

States still committed

Despite the setbacks, state lawmakers say they still believe in the long-term future of offshore wind.

Smith, the New Jersey legislator, said it’s a matter of basic economics. He pointed to the country’s rapidly increasing energy demands, and the massive amounts of power offshore wind can provide.

“The more wind farms that are up and the more they’re providing electricity for America, the more they prove the value of the concept,” he said. “My bet is that in two years and 11 months [when Trump is out of office] we’re going to have a very robust wind program in the U.S.”

Smith is pushing for improvements to the state’s transmission infrastructure, so new projects can be added quickly in the future.

Massachusetts Democratic state Sen. Jamie Eldridge said he also believes offshore wind can outlast Trump.

“Massachusetts is facing high utility bills, brownouts and blackouts as energy use goes up,” he said. “Offshore wind is a very dependable source of energy, and projects coming online will provide assurances for that power in times when there’s significant energy needs on the grid.”

In Maryland, state leaders are focused on building more battery energy storage facilities as they wait for wind to catch up.

“I don’t want to downplay the damage that this administration is causing, but we’re resilient,” Charkoudian said. “We’ll be a couple of years delayed for sure, but we do have a path forward.”

But some analysts say Trump has exposed the political vulnerability of offshore wind, which could make developers and investors wary even if a new administration takes office. Fox, with the energy research firm, said that the best case for offshore wind may actually be a more traditional Republican winning the presidency.

“A Democratic administration could revert right back, but if you saw a pivot among the Republican party to a more traditional all-of-the-above energy ethos, favoring state rights, that could provide the four-plus year stability that may be necessary to rebuild this industry,” he said.

Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at abrown@stateline.org.

©2026 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Refilling a bottle instead of throwing it away has become a popular way for people to reduce waste — a small, tangible action in response to larger environmental problems.

But whether refilling actually makes a difference depends on how these systems are used and what they replace. Scores of refill stores have opened in recent years as retailers and customers seek fresh ways to reduce waste. Some brands are also using specialized recycling programs for tricky packaging.

At Lufka Refillable Zero Waste store in Tampa, customers bring in reusable containers to fill with soap, shampoo and cleaning supplies instead of buying products in single-use packaging. The idea is to cut down on packaging waste by reusing what people already own.

Customers’ containers are weighed first, then filled. They’re charged by the amount of product added. Over time, that reuse can add up.

For customer Julie Hughes, the act of refilling feels rewarding. Hughes discovered Lufka two years ago while looking for skincare products and has returned regularly, drawn by the ability to reuse packaging rather than discard it.

“When you do something positive, you get a little bit of like a dopamine hit and you feel good,” Hughes said on a recent trip to buy liquid hand soap. “There are so many big problems in the world, but we can’t solve all of the big problems, but we do have control over our choices.”

Some shoppers have been refilling the same containers for six years, said Lufka founder Kelly Hawaii.

“Just imagine how much waste they’ve personally stopped consuming because they have that one container for that one product,” Hawaii said.

A new spin on old packaging systems

Refillable packaging is less a new invention than a return to earlier distribution models. Many industries historically relied on refillable or returnable containers, with familiar examples in the U.S. including soda, beer and dairy in the recent past.

A 2020 study of reusable packaging explains that a shift to single-use packaging took hold mainly because disposable systems simplified logistics and reduced handling costs for producers and retailers. That transition contributed to a steady increase in packaging production and waste over time as reuse infrastructure declined, according to the study published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling: X.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in reuse as part of a broader move toward a “circular economy” that keeps products and materials in use longer to limit waste. The Public Interest Research Group estimates there are hundreds of refillable stores around the country, part of what it calls a “generation of new businesses” aimed at reducing packaging waste.

Larger chains and brands are also offering refillable options and other innovations. Lush Cosmetics sells certain products “naked,” without packaging, and offers discounts to customers who return containers from its other products. The reusable packaging platform Loop, available in France, partners with major brands such as Nestle and Coca-Cola to distribute products in durable containers that are collected, cleaned and refilled for reuse.

Despite this resurgence, refillable packaging makes up a small share of the overall market. The systems face barriers to expansion, including hygiene requirements and the need for systems to collect and process containers, according to the study, which also noted that these additional processing and cleaning costs may make them more expensive.

The ‘payback period’ for reusable containers

Reusing vessels for everyday products has advantages over recycling single-use packages, as long as people follow a thoughtful approach, according to experts.

Shelie Miller, a University of Michigan professor who studies sustainability, said consumers should think of the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” as a priority order, meaning reuse should generally come before recycling.

Still, reuse doesn’t automatically mean lower environmental impact. Durable reusable containers typically require more energy and materials to produce, so they need to be used long enough to offset the resources that go into them, Miller said. What this means is that the environmental advantage emerges only after repeated use spreads those initial impacts across many uses, which Miller refers to as a “payback period.” How much water and electricity consumers use at home to clean reusable products also factors in.

A 2021 study by Miller and a colleague examined reusable products including drinking straws, forks and coffee cups and measured their payback periods in separate categories including greenhouse gas emissions, water use and energy demand. The study found that a ceramic coffee mug must be reused between 4 and 32 times before outperforming disposable cups on those measures, which represented faster paybacks than reusable coffee cups made from metal or plastic.

Convenience also plays a role. If refilling requires a special trip, the added transportation emissions can cancel out the benefits, making refill systems most effective when they fit into existing routines.

“If you are making dedicated trips just to reduce packaging, it actually can be worse for the environment than if you use the single-use product,” said Miller.

Handling hard-to-recycle items

Large beauty retailers such as Ulta Beauty and Sephora are also partnering with Pact Collective, a nonprofit that collects hard-to-recycle beauty packaging through in-store bins.

Carly Snider, executive director of Pact Collective, said the program collects packaging made of mixed materials that regular recycling programs can’t process or small pieces measuring less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) — like pumps, droppers and sample-sized containers — that fall through the cracks of machines at recycling facilities.

“There’s specific things with beauty packaging that makes it really difficult,” said Snider.

Pact routes those materials through specialized processing, diverting large volumes of material from landfills, said Snider.

Experts emphasize that refilling and recycling programs aren’t a perfect solution, but when they replace single-use packaging and fit into everyday life, they can help reduce waste.

“Small things do add up,” Miller said. “And so when you have millions of people who are all doing small things, that really can make a difference, make a change.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change.

The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, one of multiple lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change.

Governments around the country have sought damages totaling billions of dollars, arguing it’s necessary to help pay for rebuilding after wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms worsened by climate change. The lawsuits come amid a wave of legal actions in California, Hawaii and New Jersey and worldwide seeking to leverage action through the courts.

The case out of Boulder County will likely have implications for other lawsuits, some of which have been dismissed while others work their way through state courts.

Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil appealed to the Supreme Court after Colorado’s highest court let the Boulder case proceed. The companies argue emissions are a national issue that should be heard in federal court, where similar suits have been tossed out.

“The use of state law to address global climate change represents a serious threat to one of our Nation’s most critical sectors,” attorneys wrote. ExxonMobil said Monday that “climate policy shouldn’t be set through fragmented state‑court actions.”

President Donald Trump’s administration weighed in to support the companies and urge the justices to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court decision, saying it would mean “every locality in the country could sue essentially anyone in the world for contributing to global climate change.”

Trump, a Republican, criticized the lawsuits in an executive order, and the Justice Department has sought to head some off in court.

Attorneys for Boulder had agued that the litigation is still in early stages and should stay in state court. “There is no constitutional bar to states addressing in-state harms caused by out-of-state conduct, be it the negligent design of an automobile or sale of asbestos,” they wrote.

City officials said the case was about dealing with problems people are facing in Colorado. “Our case is, fundamentally, about fairness. Boulder is already experiencing the effects of a rapidly warming climate, and the financial burden of adaptation should not fall solely on local taxpayers,” said Jonathan Koehn, its climate initiatives director.

The Supreme Court also asked the two sides to present arguments on whether the case is truly ready to be heard by the justices. Arguments are expected in the fall.

Kelp restoration efforts have begun to address some of the most obvious losses, but the scale of these human intervention activities is smaller than a football field and will never be able to fully compensate for regional losses of kelp.

So, which kelp forests are most critical to restore, and which are worthy of high-resolution monitoring by drones? These and related questions are what Melissa Ashley, a California Sea Grant fellow with Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary asked in a study she conducted.

“I’m interested in how people and local economies benefit from a healthy ocean ecosystem, and I wanted to contribute to the sanctuary’s Iconic Kelp Action Plan, developed with input from our local community and the sanctuary advisory council. Even if it’s a kelp forest that is a tended garden, where regular seeding of spores and sea urchin removal is needed, there are many people that want kelp to flourish along our coastline.”

Ashley interviewed a diverse group of kelp users: kelp harvesters that need kelp for aquaculture; fishers, surfers, scuba divers and kayakers who seek kelp habitat for recreation; scientists that use kelp forests as a living classroom and study sites; educators that link kelp to student’s day-to-day activities; and tour companies that seek kelp canopies for wildlife viewing. She asked a number of kelp users what areas they thought were seen as priorities for kelp restoration and/or monitoring along the coast and why. Responses were varied and revealing. Common reasons people gave for ranking specific kelp areas included easy access, high species diversity, long-term scientific data sets, ongoing restoration efforts, good fishing spots, and excellent wildlife viewing.

While respondents selected locations ranging from the Half Moon Bay area south to San Simeon, the highest priority kelp beds and most commonly chosen were seen along the Monterey Peninsula and in Carmel Bay. Some of the priority kelp beds identified were located at Otter Cove in the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens State Marine Conservation Area, North Monastery Beach, Stillwater Cove and those nearby Cannery Row and Hopkins Marine Station.

“I found out that lots of people want kelp to flourish along our shoreline and value kelp forests because they provide vital goods and services to our coastal communities,” according to Ashley. Kelp beds also provide natural coastal protection against storm surges and erosion, absorb carbon dioxide and are nursery grounds for fish.

Monitoring of these important nearshore areas is actively taking place. Marine ecologists from wildlife management agencies such as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are working closely with Hopkins Marine Station, San Jose State University Moss Landing Marine Labs, Cal State Monterey Bay, University of California Santa Cruz, and other partners to determine how ocean temperature, predators, grazers, water movement patterns, and other factors are determining the causes of kelp loss and recovery. Additional local interest groups like Reef Check and the Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project have conducted small kelp restoration efforts at specific areas with agency permits.

The local community is invested in the health of our kelp forests, seen as a bedrock to support our coastal economy – from jobs to enjoyment and recreation. Steve Lonhart, a research ecologist with the sanctuary, summed it up nicely. “Kelp is a community resource enjoyed by many, and it will take all of us to understand and protect it for future generations.”

Andrew DeVogelaere is a research ecologist at Monterey Bay  National  Marine Sanctuary

“We always have to be prepared to protect not just the coastline, but obviously … our coastal economy,” said Panetta. “Hospitality, recreation, commercial fishing, even our agricultural industry, all of it that generates billions annually for our region and supports tens of thousands of local jobs.”

The administrations newest proposal is part of a 6-year leasing plan, proposing as many as 34 lease sales across 21 of the 27 existing outer continental shelf planning areas, said Panetta. That includes off the coast of Alaska, the gulf on the western part of Florida and the Pacific Coast. Mandating at least six of these lease sales off the coast of California, with two of them off the central coast.

It would be the first time in more than 40 years that new oil and gas drilling would occur off the California coast.

Last December, Panetta joined the two U.S. Senators from California along with 25 House members of the California Democratic Congressional delegation, in condemning the Trump Administration’s official draft 2027-2032 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

The lawmakers stressed that this plan would undermine state laws that prohibit new offshore drilling along its 1,110-mile coastline and ban new leases for oil and gas infrastructure in state waters.

The proposal includes ocean waters surrounding the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Though oil drilling is not directly proposed inside the MBNMS, oil drilling anywhere near it has the potential to adversely, if not catastrophically, impact the marine sanctuary.

“With this administration we have to be prepared for anything,” said Panetta.

The administration just wrapped up a 60-day comment period of the draft proposed program, that garnered close to 260,000 comments, according to Panetta. A 90-day public comment period is expected for sometime this spring.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has already announced the issuance of two calls for information and nominations to solicit industry information for potential offshore oil and gas lease sales for the two areas of Central California and Southern California.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior responsible for all outer continental shelf leasing policy and program development issues for oil, gas and other marine minerals.

Panetta said that Thursday’s roundtable is to make sure the people of the 19th Congressional district and surrounding areas have the ammunition to ensure people talk about the threat to not just the California Coastal economy, but the economy of the state and peoples lives and livelihoods.

Managing Director of the Portola Hotel and Spa Janine Chicourrat, said from the hotel’s and industry’s perspective “it’s critical that we get engaged and get involved.”

Kirk Gafill, president of Big Sur Chamber of Commerce and owner of Nepenthe restaurant pointed out that Big Sur’s entire identity and mythology is all about the environment and scenic beauty.

“Anything that would be of that magnitude, not only just the visual disfigurement of the coast by having drilling rigs, but also the possibility of spills and all that would come of that would be entirely transformative,” said Gafill. “Iit’s hard to imagine that the value of the extracted resource in these areas is going to offset the risk and the diminishment of the value of the existing growing economy.”

Gafill said that Highway 1 is the number one reason people come from all over the world to visit and something that diminishes that attractiveness will impact people’s decision to come here.

“This is a real call to action,” said Gafill.

Rick Aldinger, representing the Monterey County Hospitality Association, said that this administration has proven its desire to do what it wants to do regardless of the law “so we need to take this seriously.”

Monterey County Business Council Program Manager Jose Luis Barajas made the connection between the ocean and groundwater by stressing the fact that the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency is considering multiple projects one of which is the Brackish Groundwater Restoration Project.

Groundwater provides 95% of the water used in the Salinas Valley, supporting families, communities and the multi-billion dollar agricultural economy. But decades of heavy pumping have lowered groundwater levels and allowed seawater from Monterey Bay to move inland, threatening wells, crops and drinking water. The project combines coastal extraction wells with advanced water treatment to both stop seawater intrusion and create a new, reliable water supply. It would also work in collaboration with the proposed desalination plant in Marina.

Barajas said that when the economic impact of both of those is considered, on top of the fact that Castroville and that portion of the lower Salinas Valley is dependent on its water sources, there is a lot at stake with ag production, but also from a human perspective.

“If that water gets contaminated everyone in Castroville has to go offline. If the water into Marina at the desalination plant gets contaminated, the entire water supply for the Monterey Peninsula potentially would be at risk,” said Barajas. “There’s a lot of human factors and health factors that need to be considered.”

Melissa Mahoney, executive director of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust said her organization’s mission “is to ensure we have sustainable local seafood and a viable fishing community,” but the issue of possible new oil and gas leases in the waters off the Central Coast is a huge threat to “our way of life and heritage.”

Mahoney said that before oil and gas leases are issued and permitted, those companies will need updated seismic data which comes from air blasting through the water column. It is not yet known when the 3D seismic imaging will occur, but those areas will be closed off to the fishing community which will adversely affect fishermen.

But 3D seismic imaging is damaging to sea life also.

Mahoney described the process as “hugely detrimental and disturbing to everything from whales to invertebrates” that will cause them to scatter and has the potential to cause injury, hearing loss, behavioral changes.

Mahoney said that beyond oil and gas leases in the waters off the Central Coast is the specter of deep sea mining. Oil companies may not be into drilling but other companies are into mining and what that does to the water column is really a concern.

The roundtable was held at the Portola Hotel and Spa in downtown Monterey and attended by others, including Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Monica Lal, Director of Operations at the Monterey County Business Council Jenny McAdams, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership Associate Director of Economic Development and Digital Access Maure Gildea, and President and CEO of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce Christi Metzner.

This was the second community roundtable Panetta hosted on the Administration’s proposal, following one last fall where he convened community advocates and local leaders in Santa Cruz. Panetta also hosted a telephone town hall with a panel of experts last month ahead of the first public comment period with the Department of Interior ending, where he educated constituents on best practices to submit their comment on the Administration’s proposal.

The state agency announced Thursday that it acquired the 153-acre NoraBella property in Boulder Creek from Sempervirens Fund, California’s first redwoods conservation land trust.

The $2.41 million purchase will allow State Parks to expand the footprint of Big Basin Redwoods State Park as part of the first land addition to the local recreational resource in 15 years, according to a State Parks release.

“Big Basin is California’s oldest state park, and this keystone expansion will help accelerate the park’s recovery from the devastating 2020 CZU wildfire while supporting the Newsom administration’s Outdoors for All and 30×30 initiatives,” California State Parks Director Armando Quintero said in the release. “NoraBella is the gateway into Big Basin and will serve as a world-class entrance to the park’s new visitor center for generations to come.”

Commonly referred to as the “gateway to Big Basin” by those familiar with the mountainous region, NoraBella’s expansive natural ecosystem has long made it a conservation priority for state authorities and regional partners. State Parks had its eye on preserving the property even before it was severely impacted by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires and it will be a key addition to the park’s general plan that is meant to improve visitor-serving facilities.

Sempervirens, which played an integral role in establishing Big Basin in 1902, also has a long history of collaboration with State Parks and has been a key partner in the 124-year effort to protect Big Basin’s now 18,376 acres.

“The land, habitats, waterways, and redwoods at NoraBella have been through so much over more than a century — from clearcutting, to being treated like a junkyard, to the CZU wildfire — and it feels like redemption to finally secure the forest’s future as part of Big Basin,” said Sempervirens Fund Executive Director Sara Barth. “Even before the 2020 wildfire, we knew NoraBella would provide a dramatic entranceway to Big Basin, and enhance the conservation values of the park.”

The massive redwoods on the NoraBella property, which is the ancestral homeland of the Ohlone people, were clear-cut at the turn of the 20th century, but the trees were subsequently given more than a century to grow back to their former glory. Now, with the entire 153-acre property forested once more, it has become an important component of the local watershed with three ridges that lead down to creeks, waterfalls and canyons. The land, which forms a miniature basin that complements Big Basin nearby, includes a primary tributary to the headwaters for Boulder Creek, which flows into the San Lorenzo River. Mountain lions, gray foxes and other striking wildlife critters have been observed on the property, according to the release.

“NoraBella is a conservation gem,” added David Cowman, Sempervirens Fund’s director of land stewardship. “Permanent protection of NoraBella as part of Big Basin is critical to ensure the long-term health of the Boulder Creek watershed and the San Lorenzo River system it supports. The property has abundant and healthy stands of redwoods, as well as mixed evergreen forests of Douglas-fir, coast live oaks, tan oaks and madrones.”

In the wake of the 2020 fires, State Parks and its local partners established the Reimagining Big Basin project that is meant to guide the park’s recovery in a way that is mindful of current and future climate change impacts. That comprehensive plan aims to make NoraBella’s Saddle Mountain the site of a new welcome center for park visitors who can be shuttled in and out of the park, while operational facilities will be constructed on other parts of the land.

Placing the welcome center at Saddle Mountain is also advantageous because it will reduce the size of parking and other buildings in the heart of the old growth area, in turn, reducing the overall impact on these ancient behemoths.

In addition to its immense natural resources, NoraBella also has a fascinating history of local ownership. The property was previously owned by Roy Kaylor, an eccentric inventor who stored numerous cars and objects on the property, leading to heated disputes with the county as debris accumulated and chemicals leached out into the surrounding area. Kaylor’s quirks were broadcast to the world in the 2011 episode of “Hoarders” from the A&E network.

Verve Coffee Roasters co-founder Colby Barr acquired the property from Santa Cruz County in June 2020 and completed various environmental assessments with help from Sempervirens. Eventually, the cleanup effort resulted in the NoraBella property receiving a clean bill of health and Barr sold it to Sempervirens in February 2021.

The State Parks purchase was made possible with partial funds provided by the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the U.S. Department of the Interior and the California Department of Parks and Recreation, according to the release.

Assembly Bill 679, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and signed into law last October, is meant to streamline purchases of properties adjacent to Big Basin, Butano and Año Nuevo state parks. The bill was meant to reflect local and statewide prioritization of expanding outdoor connections, advancing climate resilience, protecting natural and cultural resources and strengthening the state’s economy.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — It takes an immense amount of energy to power venues and make snow for the Winter Olympics and, for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, organizers pledged that virtually all of the electricity would be clean.

The organizing committee said that energy use is where they can make the most meaningful impact, since it has been one of the main drivers of planet-warming emissions at major events. And Italy’s largest electricity company, Enel, guaranteed the supply of entirely certified renewable electricity for event venues.

Here’s a look at what that means:

To guarantee 100% renewable energy, Enel bought certificates

The organizing committee said in its sustainability report from September that its Games-time electrical energy would be 100% green, fed by certified renewable sources. In rare cases where temporary power generation is required, hydrotreated vegetable oil would be substituted for traditional diesel fuels, it said.

“This is also an opportunity to contribute to a broader shift — showing athletes, spectators and future host cities that cleaner energy solutions are increasingly viable for events of this scale,” the committee said Friday in a statement to The Associated Press. “We hope the steps taken for these Games can support ongoing progress across major events.”

Enel said it is supplying 85 gigawatt-hours of power for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It bought “guarantee of origin” (GO) certificates on the market from renewable energy plants to cover the entire Games’ energy demand.

GO certificates are a European mechanism created in 2001. Each certificate corresponds to 1 megawatt hour of electricity produced using a certified renewable source.

Certificates are a way to prove your energy is green

These certificates are traded on the power market, in negotiations between companies or through brokers.

Once used, they are canceled to prevent the same megawatt hour from being claimed twice. This system is meant to support the development of renewable sources, by helping companies meet their green energy targets.

Enel told the AP in a statement that its commitment to cleanly lighting up the events “translates the values of sustainability and inclusion inherent in the Games into concrete terms, combining technological innovation and environmental protection.”

While many say GOs are vital to promote Earth’s decarbonization, the system has its detractors. Matteo Villa, who leads the data lab at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, said it is a “great way to promote your event,” but it’s not making Italy cleaner or more renewable.

The Games can only be as clean, or as sustainable, as the whole of Italy, Villa added.

Enel says it’s producing a lot of clean electricity in Italy

Nearly three-quarters of the electricity Enel produced in Italy in 2025 was carbon-free, according to its preliminary full-year operational data. About 50% came from hydropower, followed by 17% geothermal and less than 10% from wind, solar and other renewables. The remainder was mostly from gas-fired power plants.

Many power plants that use water to produce electricity are in northern Italy, where mountains and rivers make for highly productive facilities. But Italy’s national grid is still largely reliant on fossil fuels, according country-specific data from the International Energy Agency.

Enel built new primary substations in Livigno and Arabba, so electricity could be distributed throughout the territory. It also built and upgraded distribution infrastructure in the Livigno, Bormio and Cortina areas, which will benefit residents after the Games end.

Enel has a spot in the fan village in Cortina, where events are livestreamed.

Another challenge: emissions from spectators and athletes traveling

Sustainability has been a major focus for the Games, as both the organizers and the International Olympic Committee seek to model how to cut carbon pollution while running a major event. Researchers say the list of locales that could reliably host a Winter Games will shrink substantially in the coming years.

“Every Games we strive to push innovation in sustainability, reduce the overall impact and the carbon footprint,” Julie Duffus, the IOC’s head of sustainability, told the AP Friday. She highlighted the use of clean power, upgrades to the energy system and the way these Games were designed so that most venues would be existing or temporary.

Matteo Di Castelnuovo, a professor of energy economics at the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, said he expects the Olympics will stay committed to clean energy, and that “the challenge lies somewhere else to make them greener.” The thornier issue for Olympic organizers, and for any business, is figuring out how to reduce the emissions they do not have direct control over, notably those stemming from transportation, he added.

The amount of greenhouse gases estimated to be released into the atmosphere as a result of the Games is similar to the emissions of 4 million average-sized, gasoline-fueled cars driving from Paris to Rome, the organizing committee said in its greenhouse gas management strategy. The largest share of the carbon footprint are activities indirectly related to the Games, such as accommodations and spectator travel. Air travel is a significant contributor because burning jet fuel releases carbon dioxide.

Karl Stoss, who chairs the Games’ Future Host Commission, has said they may need to eventually reduce the number of sports, athletes and spectators who attend.

Many skiers, including Team USA members Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, expressed concern during the Games about climate change accelerating melt of the world’s glaciers.

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry and video journalist Brittany Peterson in Milan contributed to this report.

AP Winter Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday weakened limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration’s latest effort to boost the fossil fuel industry by paring back clean air and water rules.

Toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired plants can harm the brain development of young children and contribute to heart attacks and other problems in adults. The plants are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. The EPA announced the repeal of the tightened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule, or MATS, at a massive coal plant next to the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky.

“EPA’s actions today rights the wrongs of the last administration’s rule and will return the industry to the highly effective original MATS standards that helped pave the way for American energy dominance,” said EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi. The agency said the change should save hundreds of millions of dollars.

The final rule reverts the industry to standards first established in 2012 by the Obama administration that have reduced mercury emissions by nearly 90%. The Biden administration had sought to tighten those standards even further after the first Trump administration had moved to undermine them.

Operators of the Mill Creek Generating Station gave agency officials a tour of the coal plant before hosting the announcement inside.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest single human source of mercury pollutants. Power plants release the mercury into the atmosphere, which then falls in rain or simply by gravity, entering the food chain through fish and other items that people consume.

Environmental groups said the tightened rules have saved lives and made communities that live near coal-fired power plants healthier. But industry groups argued that the tougher standards, along with other rules that limited emissions from coal plants, made operating them too expensive.

They accused the Biden administration of piling on so many requirements that it would drive a rush of plant retirements.

“For too long, the entire coal supply chain has been the target of bad and onerous environmental regulations,” said Michelle Bloodworth, CEO of America’s Power, a coal industry group. “Repealing the 2024 MATS rule and today’s actions are an important step for maintaining a reliable and affordable supply of electricity and ensuring that coal-based generation can continue supporting the nation’s economy and the electric grid.”

The coal industry’s outlook has changed dramatically in the last year.

In March, the EPA promoted the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” announcing their intention to peal back dozens of environmental protections. The Biden administration’s focus on climate change was over — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the actions marked “the death of the ‘green new scam.’” Fossil fuel rules were big targets, including major efforts to reduce carbon emissions from coal plants and mandate greenhouse gas reporting. The Trump administration has also extended deadlines for dozens of coal-fired power plants to comply with certain Clean Air Act rules.

Beyond fewer environmental protections, the Trump administration has issued emergency orders halting the planned shutdown of several coal plants. Officials say the plants produce consistent power during major storms or at other times when need is high. Removing coal would reduce the grid’s reliability, especially at time when a rush of new data centers is demanding more than ever from the grid, they say. Officials have dismissed concerns about higher customer costs from keeping coal plants operating, their plentiful emissions and their significant contribution to climate change.

And earlier this month, the EPA revoked a finding that climate change is a threat to public health, which has long been the basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, President Donald Trump hosted a group of coal miners who honored him as the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful, Clean Coal.”

Activists say favoring coal makes little sense at a time when renewables are cleaner, cheaper and reliable.

Gina McCarthy, who headed the EPA under former President Barack Obama, said the Trump administration will be remembered for helping the coal industry at the expense of public health.

“By weakening pollution limits and monitoring for brain-damaging mercury and other pollutants, they are actively spiking any attempt to make America – and our children – healthy,” said McCarthy, who is also the chair of the climate action group America Is All In.

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed. Phillis reported from Washington.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.