NOAH’S ARK: Due to low numbers of adult salmon returning to California’s rivers because of previous droughts, officials this year banned recreational and commercial salmon fishing for only the third time in state history. So few Chinook salmon swam up their last remaining strongholds in the Sacramento Valley — Butte, Deer and Mill Creeks near Chico — that scientists this month began capturing then bringing juvenile fish to an emergency hatchery at University of California, Davis.
Chuck Bonham, the director of California’s Fish and Wildlife Department, oversaw the effort with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and called the hatchery a “Noah’s Ark.”
Bonham spoke with POLITICO from his Sacramento office where he keeps a life-size cardboard cutout of the famous Los Angeles mountain lion P-22. He discussed the outlook for salmon in different regions of the state and what can be done for the sought-after species.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Did you expect to have to open an emergency hatchery in the Sacramento Valley?
It didn’t surprise me we had to go out and do an intervention. I just wish we hadn’t had to.
What do you think the future of salmon in the Sacramento Valley looks like?
I think it looks hopeful for salmon in California, big picture. We have significant milestones right at our doorstep, starting with the dam removal in the Klamath River, but also going all the way to the other end of the state.
When you come to the Sacramento Valley, I think the future looks more challenging, but also is optimistic. The reality for these fish is they’ve been living on the valley floor because they’ve lost access to their better habitat up in the forest. And that valley floor is only going to get hotter. So at the end of the day, it’s that heat, it’s that hotness, it’s that dryness, that might be their biggest challenge ahead.
When do you decide that it’s no longer worth it, that you can’t really make any more of a difference?
It’s a fair question. How do you know when it might be too late? We’re absolutely 100 percent not giving up. These fish have been around since time immemorial. They matter for cultural reasons and sustenance reasons. We can’t stop. Sometimes it saddens your heart the challenges ahead of you. It does feel overwhelming at times. And I’m sure that’s true for our scientists. But you can find examples of things that put joy in your step.
What are your priorities for resolving the remaining policy problems facing this fishery?
If I look at salmon across the whole state, not just the Sacramento Valley, I think there’s five things that just absolutely have to happen. One is you’ve got to fix old infrastructure. You can modernize infrastructure for the benefit of salmon, and you can take out dams that are past their useful life. You’ve got to restore habitat. You’ve got to make sure you have enough cold clean water in the right rivers and streams at the right times of year because fish don’t breathe air. You’ve probably got to upgrade our whole hatchery system and modernize it. And we’ve got technology and science leaps that also have to happen.
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LONELY ISLANDS: California utilities are handing out money for microgrids they like, which are microgrids they control.
Pacific Gas & Electric announced last week that it will distribute $79 million for community microgrids, which can be disconnected from the statewide grid to keep the lights on during outages.
The state’s investor-owned utilities have historically resisted attempts to chip away at their monopoly over power infrastructure. But the growing intensity of wildfires and associated power shut-offs have ushered in changes.
Molly Hoyt, PG&E’s principal for microgrid policy and pricing planning, noted the community microgrids are utility-driven and sell excess power on the energy market. That’s different from the rooftop solar program, where utilities have to buy excess power at prescribed prices.
“Where the controversy enters is around ownership and operation of the grid,” Hoyt said. “We believe that as the owner and operator of the distribution system it’s our responsibility to continue to ensure safe operation of the grid at all times.”
A 2018 state law tasked the California Public Utilities Commission with opening the door to microgrids.
The CPUC set aside $200 million in total this year for the state’s three main utilities to spend on community microgrids. In addition to those, PG&E has been expanding microgrids in remote areas where it makes more financial sense than trimming trees, Hoyt said.
Microgrid enthusiasts have been arguing before the CPUC that the utility-run microgrids are not what was envisioned. In a recent filing, four groups including the Green Power Institute said the CPUC hasn’t considered a range of other microgrids they say are cheaper and faster to build.
Part of the problem, said Allie Detrio of energy consultant Reimagine Power, is the utilities retain sole power over whether to allow a microgrid to “island” itself from the main grid.
“This would diminish the principal value and benefit of having a microgrid, which is local control and decision making over (a community’s) energy needs,” Detrio said.
In their recent filing, the microgrid advocates called on an administrative law judge to fully consider non-utility-driven alternatives and to add more opportunities for public comment.
GRAPHITE GRAB: China tightened export restrictions today on natural and synthetic graphite, key ingredients for electric vehicle batteries around the world, reports Hannah Northey from POLITICO’s E&E News.
The move comes just days after the U.S. government tightened exports of advanced semiconductors to China, and marks the escalation of trade tensions around the Biden administration’s climate goals.
China dominates the global supply chain for graphite, and it hasn’t been mined domestically in the U.S. for decades, although the Biden administration has made moves to start funding domestic processing under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
It will be an interesting time for Gov. Gavin Newsom to visit Tesla’s massive electric vehicle factory in Shanghai next week, which has produced two millions cars since it opened four years ago. Tesla has signed deals this year to secure graphite supply outside China but the restrictions on exports could still cause price spikes across the industry.
“It is quite a shocking moment for the battery industry,” Simon Moores from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence told Northey. “It now puts graphite on the same level as lithium, nickel and cobalt, whereas it struggled before for profile attention because there was a perception it was widely produced,” said Moores.
Blanca will be accompanying Newsom on his trip to China next week, starting in Hong Kong on Sunday. Stay tuned to this newsletter for dispatches covering high-speed rail, cap and trade and conservation. And let us know what to be watching for.
BLOOM AND GROW: A decadeslong effort to protect rare wildflowers and limit mining in the San Bernardino National Forest reached a milestone today when federal authorities finalized a plan to ban limestone mining on nearly 3,000 acres for at least 50 years.
The plan — first proposed in 2003 as a deal between mining companies, local and federal agencies and the California Native Plant Society — protects habitats for four species of threatened and endangered plants unique to the region and its soil.
But the partial ban does not alter the operations of four existing cement and limestone mining companies that provide revenue and jobs to the region and have carved out space to expand.
Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said she was pleased by the federal order today because she didn’t think the plan would be finalized in her lifetime. But she also said there were still parts of the 2003 compromise that have yet to see the light of day, including the federal purchase of some of the remaining mining claims in the region.
—The California-based electric truck company Rivian confirmed that it will move ahead with construction on a factory in Georgia early next year.
—EV adoption is strongly concentrated in the most left-leaning U.S. counties and the correlation isn’t really changing over time, says a new study from U.C. Berkeley’s Energy Institute at Haas.
— Los Angeles Times climate columnist Sammy Roth breaks down the whole hydrogen situation.
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Chuck Bonham on what's upstream for California salmon - POLITICO
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