On Dec. 29, the California Energy Commission released an environmental impact report on the proposed Soda Mountain Solar Project, a 300-megawatt solar electrical generating plant and 300-megawatt battery storage system on 2,670 acres of federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The proposed facility, about seven miles southwest of Baker and west of the Mojave National Preserve, would operate year-round and deliver electricity to the state’s power grid.

CEC staff recommended an alternative design that would create a quarter-mile buffer zone to protect desert bighorn sheep habitat and allow them more movement and grazing area. The proposed mitigation would, according to the EIR, result in “less than significant impacts” on the sheep, according to the CEC.

Additionally, the battery energy storage system would be built 500 feet away from the 15 Freeway for public safety in the event of a fire, according to the EIR.

The project, however, would “substantially degrade” public views of the site and its surroundings, according to the CEC.

Neal Desai, senior Pacific regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the proposed design still falls short of what wildlife biologists and researchers have proposed.

“The nation’s leading bighorn sheep scientists are saying this project presents profound risks, including local sheep extinction and making useless a $35 million taxpayer-funded wildlife crossing. Common sense screams this is a terrible idea, yet the Commission seems content with pursuing that outcome,” Desai said in an email.

“It’s tough to see how harming a national park, subverting science and wasting taxpayer funds is good politics for the State of California.”

The project’s footprint is in the vicinity of where one of three wildlife crossings is planned between Barstow and the state line. Caltrans, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Brightline West, a privately funded, 218-mile high-speed rail project connecting Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas, have partnered on the $120 million project, about $35 million of which goes toward the Soda Mountain crossing, Desai said.

“The possibility that state government decision-making could undermine the success of the overpass, a legislatively required conservation effort, stands to damage public perception of and support for wildlife crossing structures,” according to a report submitted to the CEC by wildlife biologist Christina M. Aiello and wildlife researcher Clinton W. Epps, a professor at Oregon State University.

In addition to reducing the project’s footprint, Aiello and Epps also recommended in their report to delay construction of the solar plant until the wildlife crossing is built and adopted by the bighorn sheep, then to reassess the conditions for further mitigation if needed.

Construction of the project, according to the EIR, would contribute toward meeting the state’s greenhouse gas-reduction goals for 2030 and beyond.

First proposed nearly 20 years ago, the project has been scaled back 36%, from 4,179 acres in 2007 to 2,670 acres. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors rejected the project in August 2016 due to environmental concerns and limited local benefits.

After eight years of inactivity, the applicant revived the project on Aug. 1, 2024, by applying directly to the California Energy Commission under Assembly Bill 205, a 2022 law allowing state-level approval. In August, the CEC provided an overview of the project at its first public scoping meeting.

The public has until 5 p.m. on Feb. 27 to weigh in on the EIR and project proposal. The commission then will vote at a future hearing to either approve or deny the project.

Soda Mountain is one of four energy projects making their way through state certification since the implementation of the opt-in process. The other three are the Compass Energy Storage Project in San Juan Capistrano, the Corby Battery Energy Storage System Project in Solano County, and the Potentia-Viridi Battery Energy Storage System in eastern Alameda County, according to a CEC spokesperson.

Two other projects have completed the opt-in certification process and were voted on by the commission. The commission approved the Darden Clean Energy Project in Fresno County in July 2025, but it denied the Fountain Wind Project in Shasta County in December 2025, according to the CEC.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — One of the world’s rarest whale species is having more babies this year than in some recent seasons, but experts say many more young are needed to help stave off the possibility of extinction.

The North Atlantic right whale’s population numbers an estimated 384 animals and is slowly rising after several years of decline. The whales have gained more than 7% of their 2020 population, according to scientists who study them.

The whales give birth off the southeastern United States every winter before migrating north to feed. Researchers have identified 15 calves this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

That number is higher than two of the last three winters, but the species needs “approximately 50 or more calves per year for many years” to stop its decline and allow for recovery, NOAA said in a statement. The whales are vulnerable to collisions with large ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear.

This year’s number is encouraging, but the species remains in peril without stronger laws to protect against those threats, said Gib Brogan, senior campaign director with environmental group Oceana. The federal government is in the midst of a moratorium on federal rules designed to protect right whales until 2028, and commercial fishing groups have pushed for a proposal to extend that pause for even longer.

There is still time left for more baby whales to be born this winter, but 50 is not a reasonable expectation because of a lack of reproductive females in the population, Brogan said.

“We’re not going to be able to calve ourselves to recovery,” Brogan said. “We also need to be doing more to tackle the two primary causes of right whale deaths, being entanglement in fishing gear and being hit by boats.”

The whales have fared better than last winter, when they gave birth to only 11 calves, according to NOAA data. The whales have reached 20 calves only twice since 2010, and they gave birth to no calves in a disastrous 2018 season. The whales are less likely to reproduce when they have suffered injuries or are underfed, scientists have said.

The whales were hunted to the brink of extinction during the era of commercial whaling and have been federally protected for decades. They remain in a crisis at the moment because there have been more deaths than births in the population in the past decade, NOAA said in its statement.

Pipeline safety regulators on Monday assessed their largest fine ever against the company responsible for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana in 2023. But the $9.6 million fine isn’t likely to be a major burden for Third Coast to pay.

This single fine is close to the normal total of $8 million to $10 million in all fines that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hands out each year. But Third Coast has a stake in some 1,900 miles of pipelines, and in September, the Houston-based company announced that it had secured a nearly $1 billion loan.

Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said this spill “resulted from a company-wide systemic failure, indicating the operator’s fundamental inability to implement pipeline safety regulations,” so the record fine is appropriate and welcome.

“However, even record fines often fail to be financially meaningful to pipeline operators. The proposed fine represents less than 3% of Third Coast Midstream’s estimated annual earnings,” Caram said. “True deterrence requires penalties that make noncompliance more expensive than compliance.”

The agency said Third Coast didn’t establish proper emergency procedures, which is part of why the National Transportation Safety Board found that operators failed to shut down the pipeline for nearly 13 hours after their gauges first hinted at a problem. PHMSA also said the company didn’t adequately assess the risks or properly maintain the 18-inch Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline.

The agency said the company “failed to perform new integrity analyses or evaluations following changes in circumstances that identified new and elevated risk factors” for the pipeline.

That echoed what the NTSB said in its final report in June, that “Third Coast missed several opportunities to evaluate how geohazards may threaten the integrity of their pipeline. Information widely available within the industry suggested that land movement related to hurricane activity was a threat to pipelines.”

The NTSB said the leak off the coast of Louisiana was the result of underwater landslides, caused by hazards such as hurricanes, that Third Coast, the pipeline owner, failed to address despite the threats being well known in the industry.

A Third Coast spokesperson said the allegations were a shock because the company “consistently meets or exceeds regulatory requirements across our operations.”

“After constructive engagement with PHMSA over the last two years, we were surprised to see aspects of the recent allegations that we believe are inaccurate and exceed established precedent. We will address these concerns with the agency moving forward,” the company spokesperson said.

The amount of oil spilled in this incident was far less than the 2010 BP oil disaster, when 134 million gallons were released in the weeks following an oil rig explosion, but it could have been much smaller if workers in the Third Coast control room had acted more quickly, the NTSB said.

Another landslide in San Clemente has shut down a section of the town’s coastal beach trail, though rail service continues.

Debris fell onto the trail sometime in the evening of Sunday, Jan. 4, or early morning hours of Monday, Jan. 5, with the call coming into the Orange County Fire Authority at about 6 a.m., said OCFA battalion chief Nathan Arellano.

“We have a significant amount of dirt that came down from the hillside, blocking about 150 feet of the walking trail. It did come down onto the railroad, but is not affecting rail traffic at this time,” he said.

Landslides in recent years have forced a shutdown of rail service through the city multiple times.

A section of the dirt trail at Lasuen Beach, also known as Lost Winds, was blocked off and the city will send a geologist to assess the cliff’s stability, Arellano said.

City Manager Andy Hall said the trail has been closed pending assessment of whether debris removal could cause additional slippage.

Homeowners with houses near the crumbling cliff nearby have been notified, and Leslie Park above has been closed as a precaution, Arellano said.

The call came in from a walker before dawn and by about 8 a.m., the OCFA’s “live find” rescue dogs, Cooper and Nancy, and Rubble, which is trained for detecting someone who is deceased, were on scene sniffing the area for anyone who may have been trapped under the debris.

“We just want to do our due diligence to verify there’s no one under there,” Arellano said, getting the clear from K-9 handler Michael Bruce. “They didn’t hit on anything, which is a really good sign.”

OCTA spokesman Joel Zlotnik said rail service between San Clemente and Oceanside was suspended briefly in the early-morning hours due to debris.

“The small amount of debris from the hillside did not land on the track, but came into the rail right-of-way,” he said. “Trains are currently operating safely through the area without issue.”

The north end of the 2.3-mile trail has been shut down since Nov. 26 following a hillslide that posed danger on the popular beach trail.

But there have been a series of landslides in the area in recent years, starting in 2021 following a big storm and strong surf that damaged the railroad track and homes on the south end of the town, following by several landslides north of the pier that have shut down the rail line on several occasions, damaged the city’s historic Casa Romantica and destroyed the popular Mariposa Bridge. 

The Orange County Transportation Authority has spent millions of dollars in its efforts to hold back the slipping hillsides, with a 1,400-foot-long reinforcement wall being built on the north end of town. 

The city had to foot the bill – an estimated $8.5 million –  to stabilize the historic Casa Romantica building and the hillside below.

Late last year, San Clemente officials voted to join a coalition with other coastal cities that are facing similar landslide threats and bluff failures.

City officials hope to urge the state to add landslides as emergencies, the same way fires and floods are, for assistance when they impact the city or personal property.

San Clemente resident Ann Beard was playing volleyball at the nearby beach, saying the landslides have become a common occurrence.

“I’m concerned, but it’s normal,” she said. “I thought it might happen with all the rain. That’s probably what most people around here think.”

Friend Nancy Wills hoped the debris will be cleaned up quickly, saying she walks the trail nearly every day.

Resident John Tully, an architect familiar with San Clemente’s landscape, said it’s a natural occurrence.

“It’s natural,” he said, “slopes are going to erode.”

ALTADENA, Calif. (AP) — “DANGER: Lead Work Area” reads a sign on a front door of an Altadena home. “May damage fertility or the unborn child. Causes damage to the central nervous system.”

Block after block there are reminders that contaminants still linger.

House cleaners, hazardous waste workers and homeowners alike come and go wearing masks, respirators, gloves and hazmat suits as they wipe, vacuum and power-wash homes that weren’t burnt to ash.

It’s been a year of heartbreak and worry since the most destructive wildfires in the Los Angeles area’s history scorched neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Two wind-whipped blazes that ignited on Jan. 7, 2025, killed at least 31 people and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and places of worship. Rebuilding will take years.

The disaster has brought another wave of trauma for people afraid of what still lurks inside their homes.

Indoor air quality after wildfires remains understudied, and scientists still don’t know the long-term health impacts of exposure to massive urban fires like last year’s in Los Angeles. But some chemicals released are known to be linked to heart disease and lung issues, and exposure to minerals like magnetite has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Ash in the area is a toxic soup of incinerated cars, electronics, paints, furniture and every other kind of personal belonging. It can contain pesticides, asbestos, plastics, lead or other heavy metals.

Many with homes still standing are now living with the hazards left by the fires.

People forced back into their Altadena homes

Nina and Billy Malone considered their home of 20 years a safe haven before smoke, ash and soot seeped inside, leaving behind harmful levels of lead even after professional cleaning. Recent testing found the toxin is still on the wooden floors of their living room and bedroom.

They were forced to move back home in August anyway, after insurance cut off their rental assistance.

Since then, Nina wakes up almost daily with a sore throat and headaches. Billy had to get an inhaler for his worsening wheezing and congestion. And their bedroom, Nina said, smells “like an ashtray has been sitting around for a long time.” She worries most about exposure to unregulated contaminants that insurance companies aren’t required to test.

“I don’t feel comfortable in the space,” said Nina, whose neighbors’ homes burned down across the street.

They’re not alone.

Data shows dangerous lead levels still in homes

According to a report released in November by the Eaton Fire Residents United, a volunteer group formed by residents, six out of 10 homes damaged from smoke from the Eaton Fire still have dangerous levels of cancer-causing asbestos, brain-damaging lead or both. That’s based on self-submitted data from 50 homeowners who have cleaned their homes, with 78% hiring professional cleaners.

Of the 50 homes, 63% have lead levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard, according to the report. The average lead levels were almost 60 times higher than the EPA’s rule.

Even after fires were extinguished, volatile organic compounds from smoke, some known to cause cancer, lingered inside of people’s homes, according to a recent study. To mitigate these risks, residents returning home should ventilate and filter indoor air by opening windows or running high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifiers with charcoal filters.

Zoe Gonzalez Izquierdo said she can’t get her insurance company to pay for an adequate cleanup of her family’s Altadena home, which tested positive for dangerous levels of lead and other toxic compounds.

“They can’t just send a company that’s not certified to just wipe things down so that then we can go back to a still contaminated home,” Gonzalez said, who has children ages 2 and 4.

Experts believe the lead, which can linger in dust on floors and windowsills, comes from burned lead paint. The University of Southern California reported that more than 70% of homes within the Eaton Fire were built before 1979, when lead paint was common.

“For individuals that are pregnant, for young children, it’s particularly important that we do everything we can to eliminate exposure to lead,” said pediatrician Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and a member of the climate group Science Moms.

The same goes for asbestos, she added, because there is no safe level of exposure.

‘We have to live in the scar’

People who lived in the Pacific Palisades, which was also scorched, face similar challenges.

Residents are at the mercy of their insurance companies, who decide on what they cover and how much. It’s a grueling, constant battle for many. The state’s insurer of last resort, known as the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, has been scrutinized for years over its handling of fire damage claims.

Homeowners want state agencies to enforce a requirement that insurance companies return a property to pre-fire condition.

Julie Lawson won’t take any risks. Her family paid about $7,000 out of pocket to test the soil in their Altadena home, even though their insurance company had already agreed to pay to replace the grass in their front yard. They planned to test for contaminants again once they finished remediating the inside, the process of making a home contaminant-free after a fire. If insurance won’t cover it, they’ll pay for it themselves.

Even if their home is livable again, they still face other losses — including equity and the community they once had.

“We have to live in the scar,” she said. “We’re all still really struggling.”

They will be living in a construction zone for years. “This isn’t over for us.”

Challenges and mental health toll

Annie Barbour with the nonprofit United Policyholders has been helping people navigate the challenges, which include insurance companies resisting to pay for contamination testing and industrial hygienists disagreeing on what to test for.

She sees the mental health toll it’s having on people — and as a survivor herself of the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California, she understands it.

Many were at first joyful to see their houses still standing.

“But they’ve been in their own special kind of hell ever since,” Barbour said.

Now residents like the Malones are inspecting their belongings, one by one, fearing they may have absorbed toxins.

Boxes, bags and bins stuffed with clothes, chinaware and everything in between fill the couple’s car, basement, garage and home.

They have been painstakingly going through their things, assessing what they think can be adequately cleaned. In the process, Nina is cleaning cabinets, drawers, floors and still finding soot and ash. She wears gloves and a respirator, or sometimes just an N-95 mask.

Their insurance won’t pay to retest their home, Billy said, so they’re considering paying the $10,000 themselves. And if results show there’s still contamination, their insurance company told them they will only pay to clean up toxins that are federally regulated, like lead and asbestos.

“I don’t know how you fight that,” said Nina, who is considering therapy to cope with her anxiety. “How do you find that argument to compel an insurance company to pay for something to make yourself safe?”

AP staff writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would propose a drinking water limit for perchlorate, a harmful chemical in rockets and other explosives, but also said doing so wouldn’t significantly benefit public health and that it was acting only because a court ordered it.

The agency said it will seek input on how strict the limit should be for perchlorate, which is particularly dangerous for infants, and require utilities to test. The agency’s move is the latest in a more than decade-long battle over whether to regulate perchlorate. The EPA said that the public benefit of the regulation did not justify its expected cost.

“Due to infrequent perchlorate levels of health concern, the vast majority of the approximately 66,000 water systems that would be subject to the rule will incur substantial administrative and monitoring costs with limited or no corresponding public health benefits as a whole,” the agency wrote in its proposal.

Perchlorate is used to make rockets, fireworks and other explosives, although it can also occur naturally. At some defense, aerospace and manufacturing sites, it seeped into nearby groundwater where it could spread, a problem that has been concentrated in the Southwest and along sections of the East Coast.

Perchlorate is a concern because it affects the function of the thyroid, which can be particularly detrimental for the development of young children, lowering IQ scores and increasing rates of behavioral problems.

Based on estimates that perchlorate could be in the drinking water of roughly 16 million people, the EPA determined in 2011 that it was a sufficient threat to public health that it needed to be regulated. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, this determination required the EPA to propose and then finalize regulations by strict deadlines, with a proposal due in two years.

It didn’t happen. First, the agency updated the science to better estimate perchlorate’s risks, but that took time. By 2016, the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council sued to force action.

During the first Trump administration, the EPA proposed a never-implemented standard that the NRDC said was less restrictive than any state limit and would lead to IQ point loss in children. It reversed itself in 2020, saying no standard was necessary because a new analysis had found the chemical was less dangerous and its appearance in drinking water less common than previously thought.

That’s still the agency’s position. It said Monday that its data shows perchlorate is not widespread in drinking water.

“We anticipate that fewer than one‑tenth of 1% of regulated water systems are likely to find perchlorate above the proposed limits,” the agency said. A limit will help the small number of places with a problem, but burden the vast majority with costs they don’t need, officials said.

The EPA said sampling could be done less frequently if a utility’s initial testing didn’t raise concern. They also said the agency had committed to working with states and communities to reduce contamination.

Nevada, for one, had said in 2020 that it wouldn’t be affected by the reversal, after 20 years of cleanup efforts that dramatically reduced the concentration of perchlorates in Lake Mead. That effort was prompted by decades of accumulation in the Las Vegas Valley, where perchlorates had been produced since the 1950s.

A federal appeals court, however, said the EPA must propose a regulation for perchlorate, arguing that it still is a significant and widespread public health threat. The agency will solicit public comment on limits of 20, 40 and 80 parts per billion, as well as other elements of the proposal.

“Members of the public deserve to know whether there’s rocket fuel in their tap water. We’re pleased to see that, however reluctantly, EPA is moving one step closer to providing the public with that information,” said Sarah Fort, a senior attorney with NRDC.

The nonprofit added that even a 20 parts per billion standard would be weak and put at risk the health of “millions of people across the country, especially fetuses and young infants who are particularly vulnerable to this toxic chemical.”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has sought massive rollbacks of environmental rules and promoted oil and gas development. But on drinking water, the agency’s actions have been more moderate. The agency said it would keep the Biden administration’s strict limits on two of the most common types of harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water, while giving utilities more time to comply, and would scrap limits on other types of PFAS.

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

Community-based organizations and tribal representatives are gathering perspectives from local communities to address climate resilience.

Rivers & Lands Conservancy was recently invited by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority to support efforts to develop a “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan” for the Santa Ana River Watershed; an area that spans from the mountains in San Bernardino, through the valleys of Riverside, to the coast in Orange County. One of the many goals of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan, also known as “CARP,” is to incorporate local perspectives from people living and working throughout the watershed.

Efforts to develop a CARP for the Santa Ana River Watershed are spearheaded by lead project administrator, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.

The Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority formed in 1975 as a joint power authority under California law. It is composed of five member agencies; Eastern Municipal Water District, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Orange County Water District, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, and Western Municipal Water District. The key partnering stakeholders on the project include the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians and the Inland Southern California Climate Collaborative/UC Riverside. Additional groups supporting the CARP include public water agencies, transportation agencies, power providers, tribal communities, and community-based organizations including Rivers & Lands Conservancy, TreePeople, Sierra Club, and Inland Empire Waterkeeper.

Recognizing that climate change has the potential for further impacts for decades to come, the development of the CARP for the Santa Ana River Watershed is a multi-pronged effort. The CARP will identify climate risks and create plans and strategies to address challenges such as drought, wildfire, extreme heat, sea level rise and flooding. Using this information and input from stakeholders, strategies for local and regional adaptation will be developed. This will include a roadmap to implement plans for future collaboration across water, flood, groundwater, quality, forest, ecosystem, and land-use sectors.

The Santa Ana River Watershed CARP is supported by the Regional Resilience Grant Program at the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, or LCI. The Regional Resilience Grant Program is an initiative of LCI’s Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, or ICARP, which advances climate adaptation and resilience in California.

Community participation is a critical component to gathering information about how communities are impacted and the public’s concerns about further impacts. Community members can participate and share their thoughts by attending a workshop, listening session, or open house. The unique insight and responses will help shape local programs and future funding to protect our built community and our natural, wild, and open spaces within the Santa Ana River Watershed from climate change impacts.

Community members can also answer a quick, five-minute survey to share their thoughts. Rivers & Lands Conservancy will be sharing information and encouraging the community to participate in the survey throughout 2026. We hope you will visit us at events and take a minute to get more information and fill out the survey online.

Find out more about the Santa Ana River Watershed Climate Adaption and Resilience Plan at: sawpa.gov/climate-adaptation-and-resilience-plan/

Participate in the CARP Community Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/BGKYV5P

Rivers & Lands Conservancy connects our community to natural, wild, and open spaces of Southern California through land conservation, stewardship, and education.

“California State Parks has not observed anything unusual or concerning related to marine life at San Onofre State Beach,” a parks spokesperson said in an email to the Union-Tribune. “While staff have seen lobster exoskeletons along the shoreline, these observations are consistent with typical conditions and do not indicate an abnormal mortality event.”

The Union-Tribune also reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. A spokesperson said the department “is looking into it” and has passed information along to its marine division.

The spokesperson went on to say it “would not be uncommon as seals and sea lions feed on lobster as well as other wildlife and we have had some larger swells recently due to the weather systems offshore that can stir the water up as well.”

Many of the lobster husks lay scattered, near and immediately north of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, also known as SONGS.

Roger Johnson, a retired neuroscience professor who lives in San Clemente, learned of the carcasses on Dec. 20 after his daughter strolled along the beach and took photographs.

Johnson wonders if the deaths are somehow related to a recent “liquid batch release” of wastewater from SONGS.

“I’m raising the question, considering they did a release the week before and then having all those lobster die,” said Johnson, a longtime opponent of nuclear power. “Maybe the lobster die all the time, I don’t know.”

For more than 50 years, SONGS has discharged wastewater that contains very low levels of radiation. All nuclear plants release some effluents, though the nature and amounts can vary by plant site and configuration.

In the case of SONGS, the “liquid batch releases” go right into the Pacific. Traveling through long conduits, the discharges are sent more than one mile offshore and about 50 feet below the surface. The wastewater must be cleaned up and highly diluted before going into the ocean.

Southern California Edison, the plant’s operator, has long insisted the levels are safe for marine life and the humans who swim and surf at San Onofre State Beach.

The most recent discharge came on Dec. 11, when nearly 35,000 gallons were sent into the ocean, according to the SONGS website.

Edison officials say the batch release has nothing to do with the lobster deaths.

“We are aware of no evidence that releases of cleaned up wastewater from SONGS have affected marine life, including lobsters,” said company spokesperson Jeff Monford. “We check batches of wastewater prior to release and can confirm they meet drinking water standards — so there is no logical threat to the marine environment.”

Monford said the utility sent divers into the ocean near SONGS from Dec. 15 through Dec. 19, “and they saw no issues” as they conducted inspections of the offshore conduits, sampled sediment and refurbished buoys in front of the plant.

Edison says it also has a radiological environmental monitoring program — consistent with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements — that monitors the local environment to gauge whether radiation is concentrating over time.

“We sample and monitor ocean water, ocean bottom sediment, shoreline sediment, kelp, and marine species at several beach locations north and south of the plan to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community,” Monford said. “The NRC sets strict limit guidelines for commercial nuclear plants. Through this monitoring, we have seen no detrimental impact from SONGS on the local environment.”

When SONGS was producing electricity, the discharges came on almost a daily basis. After the plant shut down following a leak in a steam generator in 2012, the facility is now in the midst of a major dismantlement effort and the number of batch releases has dropped dramatically.

In its email to the Union-Tribune, the spokesperson for California State Parks said the agency will “continue to monitor the coastline and coordinate with appropriate agencies if any unusual activity is observed.”

King tides are a natural, predictable phenomenon that lets scientists and everyday marine enthusiasts marvel at the changing seascape that is vastly different in just a few hours. And with many friends, family and visitors in town, the tide pools that appear are an inexpensive way to get out and explore nature. Hopefully the rain cooperates.

“The king tides have the highest highs, and the lowest lows of the year,” said Christine Whitcraft, professor of biological sciences at Cal State Long Beach, noting that the highest and lowest tides will occur from Jan. 1 through Jan. 4.

King tides are caused when the sun, moon and Earth are aligned, creating a stronger-than-normal gravitational pull.

The drastic changing of tides — near 7 feet high in early morning hours and negative tides in the afternoon —  show “just how cool the ocean is,” she said.

Low tides offer a look as the ocean peels back to give people a glimpse at the critters and plant life usually underwater.

“I love it because suddenly, we can see all the subtidal areas now exposed,” Whitcraft said.

“Suddenly we are seeing the far edges of the tide pools, the oysters beds we have restored and some of the mudflats and eelgrass that are usually hidden,” she said. “I think because we’re not marine creatures, we don’t get access to that very often. This is really the hidden end of the world we’re getting to see on our terms.”

On the other side of the tidal swing, the highest tides of the year can show the “power of the ocean,” Whitcraft said.

From a more scientific perspective, the high tides help visualize what future sea level rise will likely look like, she said.

“When you combine them with any kind of weather — rain or wind or surf surge — it’s pretty dynamic,” she added.

Recent rains mean water levels in harbors are already higher, and there’s a chance of overspill during early-morning hours that could make a mess of Pacific Coast Highway in low-lying areas such as Sunset Beach.

From the ocean side, surf in the 3- to 4-foot range isn’t massive, but the combination of high tides could send ocean water into parking lots or flood streets and homes in areas such as Capistrano Beach and the Newport Peninsula.

Whitcraft’s team is part of the California King Tides Project, an initiative of the California Coastal Commission that asks scientists and the public to photograph the impact of waves and rising groundwater on shorelines and nearby communities during king tides.

Photographing these extreme high tides brings attention to the impact of climate change and helps prepare for the future, organizers with the California King Tides Project said in a statement. “The images are used by climate researchers, as well as local and state officials, to validate sea level rise models and assess local vulnerabilities to erosion and flooding.”

The project is one of many similar citizen science efforts across the world to create a visual record of changing coastlines.

“We’re interested in monitoring sea level rise resilience along the coast,” Whitcraft said. “How do these systems respond to events like king tides and storm surge?”

One area they monitor is San Clemente, where water has been known to overtop railroads tracks. They also document areas that have natural resistance, such as plants and dunes, to see how those systems respond to seawater.

“It’s important to document the conditions for our coast to understand how they will be impacted, but also to design solutions,”  Whitcraft said.

At estuaries, such as Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach and Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach, they monitor plant life and tidal gauges that have been left out to see how high the water reaches.

The public is advised to prioritize safety when taking king tides photos: Stay clear of waves and always be aware of the ocean. Give space to shore birds or other animals that may be further inland than usual during these extreme high tides.

The tides on Thursday will reach nearly 7 feet at about 6:30 a.m. and be at their lowest around 2 p.m.; on Friday, the high tide, which will now be more than 7 feet, is about 7:30 a.m. and low tide is about 3 p.m.; on Saturday, high tide will be about 8:15 a.m. and low tide around 3:30 p.m.; and on Sunday, high tide will be about 9 a.m., still more than 7 feet, and low tide will be about 4:22 p.m.

Some spots for exploring the tide pools are in Crystal Cove, along Laguna Beach’s rocky shoreline, such as Treasure Island, and the shore in Corona Del Mar.

There are several marine protected areas along the coastline, which prohibit removing animals, shells or rocks from tide pools; and experts encourage looking but not touching to preserve the ecosystems.

Submit your photos to coastal.ca.gov/kingtides

Here’s some good news as the holidays wrap up: Many New Year’s resolutions people already make — eating healthier, saving money, getting organized — double as climate-friendly habits.

Whether you want to spend less, declutter or eat right, here are a few choices that could make a difference for you and the climate. Bonus: They’re all low-effort and low-cost.

Saving money on bills

If you want to save money, start at home. Electronics and appliances can continue drawing power even when they’re turned off. You can cut phantom energy use by unplugging items you’re not using, such as chargers and entertainment systems or using a power strip with an on-off switch.

Adjusting your thermostat a few degrees when you’re not home can also reduce energy use and save money. The U.S. Department of Energy says that adjusting your thermostat by 7-10 degrees Fahrenheit (4-6 degrees Celsius) for eight hours a day can save up to 10% a year on heating and cooling.

Another simple tip: Washing your clothes on the cold setting and air-drying them when possible can help lower energy use and utility costs. Heating water is the biggest energy draw in laundry, and clothes dryers are among the most energy-intensive household appliances, said Matthew Gonzales, the vice chairman of the National Hispanic Energy Council, which advocates for affordable energy for communities of color. This can also reduce wear and tear on clothing.

Gonzales said other simple swaps include switching to LED bulbs, sealing drafty windows and replacing dirty air filters so heating and cooling systems run more efficiently. He also suggested using natural light during the day, opening or closing curtains and windows strategically to manage heat and turning off the lights when you don’t need them.

Savings vary widely depending on where someone lives, how old their home is and local energy prices. But he said households in high-cost states can see meaningful savings from small changes over time.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough,” Gonzales said.

Eating healthier and wasting less

Cutting down food waste can also benefit your wallet, your diet and the environment.

Food waste costs U.S. consumers $728 every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and generates the annual planet-warming greenhouse gases equivalent to 42 coal-fired power plants.

One place to start is by using what you already have in your pantry before hitting the grocery store, said cookbook author Anne-Marie Bonneau.

“If you have fat and an onion and a couple of random vegetables — or even one random vegetable or some leftover cooked proteins or grains — you’ve got soup in the making,” Bonneau said. “If you’ve cleared out so much food that you don’t even have an onion and fat, it’s probably time to go shopping.”

She also recommends preserving food before it spoils, including fermenting vegetables, which, she says, is easier than it seems. For example, you can make sauerkraut with just cabbage, salt and a glass jar. You can also make sauces from seasonal vegetables like tomatoes and freeze them for use later in the year.

Using a multicooker to make things like apple sauce, yogurt, stews and beans can also help with meal prep while reducing energy use.

As a general rule, Bonneau added, eating fewer ultra-processed foods — such as sugary cereals, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and TV dinners — can benefit both your health and the environment. Those foods are often heavily packaged in plastic, which can shed into food and contribute to pollution.

“You’ll improve your diet, you’ll reduce your waste and your food will come in less contact with plastic,” she said.

Decluttering and buying less

Getting organized doesn’t have to mean buying storage bins or throwing things out. Often, it starts with using what you already have.

Spending even an hour organizing your space, spotting duplicates and rediscovering forgotten items can reduce impulse spending by helping people understand what they actually use, said Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and climate justice in fashion.

She said a “one-in, one-out” rule — where you can only buy a new thing if it replaces an old thing — can be effective because it keeps wardrobes from growing and helps prevent clutter by encouraging more intentional purchases.

Unsubscribing from brand emails and sale alerts can also help. “Most impulse purchases start with a notification, not a need,” Caspelich said, adding that waiting 24 hours before buying something new often turns a “must-have” into a pass.

For a more structured reset, you might try a no-buy challenge, pausing new purchases for 30 or 90 days while re-wearing, repairing, swapping with friends, or, if you can’t commit to buying nothing, shopping secondhand instead of new. “The key is flexibility,” she said. “Framing it as an experiment rather than a strict rule makes it feel empowering instead of restrictive.”

Remake estimates that someone who takes part in a 90-day no new clothes challenge can save about 3,900 liters (1,030 gallons) of water, avoid roughly 300 kilograms (about 661 pounds) of carbon dioxide emissions, and keep around 9 kilograms (about 20 pounds) of clothing waste out of landfills while saving an average of nearly $300 by pausing new purchases.

Zoom out and the scale becomes clearer: Americans generated about 17 million tons of textile waste in 2018, most of it clothing, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

For anyone overwhelmed by the advice, the takeaway is simple: You don’t have to do everything, and you don’t have to do it perfectly. Starting with one habit you’ll actually keep can make a difference for your budget, your routine and the climate.

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.