US agency offers $307 million for rural water projects [Associated Press]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue up to $307 million in grants and low-interest loans in an effort to modernize rural water infrastructure, officials announced Wednesday. The programs are aimed at towns with less than 10,000 people in 34 states and the territory of Puerto Rico. Officials made the announcement at a wastewater treatment center in the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, where employees have worked to keep the aging plant running for its thousands of residents along the Rio Grande.
US agency offers $307 million for rural water projects (apnews.com)
Biden to target railroads, ocean shipping in executive order [Wall Street Journal]
The Biden administration will push regulators to confront consolidation and perceived anticompetitive pricing in the ocean shipping and railroad industries as part of a broad effort to blunt the power of big business to dominate industries, according to a person familiar with the situation. The administration, in a sweeping executive order expected this week, will ask the Federal Maritime Commission and the Surface Transportation Board to combat what it calls a pattern of consolidation and aggressive pricing that has made it onerously expensive for American companies to transport goods to market….The result, the administration contends, will be more leverage for smaller companies and individual workers, and less ability for a few huge companies to dictate terms for the economy at large.
Biden to Target Railroads, Ocean Shipping in Executive Order – WSJ
Pace of California wildfires well ahead of disastrous 2020 [Associated Press]
The number of wildfires and amount of land burned in parched California so far this year greatly exceed totals for the same period in the disastrous wildfire year of 2020. Between Jan. 1 and July 4, there were 4,599 fires that scorched 114.8 square miles (297 square kilometers), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In the same time frame last year, there were 3,847 fires that blackened 48.6 square miles (126 square kilometers). By the end of 2020, a total of 9,917 wildfires had charred a record 6,653 square miles (17,231 square kilometers) and damaged or destroyed 10,488 structures. Thirty-three people were killed. This year’s increased wildfire activity, which has damaged or destroyed 91 structures, has been driven by hot and dry conditions, Cal Fire said this week.
Pace of California wildfires well ahead of disastrous 2020 (apnews.com)
Buzz off, bees. Pollination robots are here [Wall Street Journal]
Farmers have long relied on insects, wind and even human workers to help pollinate their crops. Now, advances in artificial intelligence are helping some startups develop another way to pollinate plants: robots. Across the globe, startups are testing robots to pollinate everything from blueberries to almonds. And in Australia, one company is so confident in robots’ abilities that it will soon deploy a fleet of them to pollinate tomatoes in its greenhouses….Pollination robots could give future farmers a significant advantage, increasing yield compared with using insects, such as bees, and the human workers who are sometimes needed to help with certain crops. Scientists are also concerned that insect populations are declining because of habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change and other factors, which would make pollination robots even more important.
Buzz Off, Bees. Pollination Robots Are Here. – WSJ
How solar panels on farmland could help California fix its water and power crises [Los Angeles Times]
…It’s a reasonable fear, especially after the state’s power grid operator issued an urgent call for electricity supplies last week and warned of possible shortfalls this summer. The California Independent System Operator is seeking bids from power plants that can fire up after sundown, when solar panels stop generating but air conditioners keep humming. Why the newfound urgency? State officials wrote that California’s ability to produce hydropower could be reduced by as much as 1,000 megawatts this summer as reservoir levels fall due to drought. At least 300 megawatts of gas-fired power won’t be available either due to “unforeseen circumstances.” And a few hundred megawatts of new energy resources that were expected to be ready to go by Aug. 1 — mostly lithium-ion batteries — could be “delayed by one to several months,” officials wrote….“Summer has barely begun and we have already had repeated extreme heat events creating dangerous conditions and shattering records,” leaders of the Independent System Operator, the Public Utilities Commission and the Energy Commission wrote in a joint statement. “Climate change is here and with increasing intensity.”
Solar on farmland could help California keep the lights on – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
An extreme heat wave is coming to Northern California. How hot will Sacramento get? [Sacramento Bee]
…National Weather Service forecasts show temperatures near the capital ratcheting up from 100 degrees on Thursday to 106 on Friday, 110 by Saturday and 108 on Sunday. Nighttime lows Friday and Saturday will be in the lower 70s. Temperatures are predicted to soar as high as 115 farther north in the Sacramento Valley, including near Redding. South Lake Tahoe could approach 90 degrees.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/weather-news/article252646038.html
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