L.A. Times - Environment

A statewide Cal Fire program risks making fires worse by removing native chaparral and allowing the spread of more flammable grasses, a court ruled.

It's been the wettest November on record for several Southern California cities. But experts say that despite the auspicious start, it's still too soon to say how the rest of California's traditional rainy season will shape up.

L.A. County Fire plans to order Topanga residents to shelter-in-place if evacuating from fire isn't possible. It's raised concern from experts and residents, but the department says it has no other options.

Record-breaking rain in Southern California has brought little mountain snow, forcing multiple ski resorts to delay their season opening amid warm temperatures.

The person, who lived in Grays Harbor County, Wash., had been hospitalized earlier this month in Kings County, where Seattle is located.

A firefighter with the National Park Service says a fire wiped out more than a thousand Joshua trees amid the government shutdown. Restoration could be limited by a depleted staff, they said.

During the Palisades fire, a nearby reservoir was empty for repairs. State officials say even if it had been full, the water system would have been quickly overwhelmed.

Clark Pest Control of Stockton, Crane Pest Control and Orkin Services quickly settled with Ventura, Orange and Riverside counties and nine other California county district attorney's offices over those illegal waste and customer records allegations.

California air regulators adopted new rules designed to reduce methane leaks and better respond to disastrous underground fires at landfills statewide.

The plan would mark the first new oil and gas leases in federal waters of the Pacific Ocean in more than four decades.

A new report describes flames approaching west Altadena even earlier than previously reported, raising more questions about why evacuations were ordered there so late.

Child laborers and other farmworkers in California are being exposed to toxic pesticides, in part because of splintered enforcement of safety regulations.

Cleanup was underway Wednesday in a wooded, remote area of Ventura County after about 420 gallons of crude oil inundated a waterway, officials said, and crews were working to beat the upcoming storm.

California is considering adopting new rules to better identify and more quickly to respond to dangerous methane leaks and underground fires at landfills statewide.

It is more than a little surprising that the wind-powered electricity generator took so long to invent. Even more surprising is how long it took to deploy at scale.