Climate change will worsen in 2022. But it won't be the end
LA TimesThis is the Dec. 30, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. “Without the tribes, there’s no deal.” My colleagues Ian James and Jaweed Kaleem wrote about the key role played by Native American nations in the latest Colorado River negotiation, which ended with California, Arizona and Nevada agreeing to leave more water in Lake Mead. “In a sense, the Forest Service is the nation’s largest water company.” Most of Utah’s water comes from forest snowpack, but state and federal officials aren’t tracking how much water is diverted from forests or even reviewing expired permits, Joan Meiners reports in a thorough investigation for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. An energy company owned by the billionaire Phil Anschutz — who is developing both the wind farm and the TransWest Express power line — sent me a settlement signed last week, in which Colorado’s Cross Mountain Ranch and federal officials agreed to allow construction. The longtime Nevada politician not only got President Obama’s Affordable Care Act passed as Senate Majority Leader but also played an influential role in Western environmental issues, helping to establish Great Basin National Park and protect millions of acres of wilderness, killing coal plants and the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility, and brokering deals to settle water disputes while allowing the Las Vegas Valley to keep growing — a controversial tradeoff in the nation’s driest state.