The cave is his classroom, the environment his passion

I picked up my candle lantern and entered the cool, damp and dark Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park. I had paid my fare to take candlelit tour at dusk, hiked down the steep mountainside and prepared to enter the cave’s gaping mouth with a handful of park visitors, expecting to see fanged bats in the shadows.

And then came the cave naturalist and tour guide, Billy Dooling, 26, who promptly reminded the group to hold the candle upright, not to touch any of the dagger-like stalactites or stalagmites, and to not worry about the bats …because there were none.

Bummer, I thought to myself, blinking to see in the flickering darkness. The 48-degree chill crawled up my spine and I shuddered as the gigantic cavern opened up to reveal hundreds of ghoulish calcite formations that had spent millions of years twisting and warping in the marbled sanctuary.

Of 280 caves in the park, Crystal Cave is the only one open to the public, but is inaccessible without a professional guide, such as Dooling.

A biology graduate from Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis, Dooling works for the nonprofit organization Sequoia Natural History Assn. and has spent his first season as a guide educating visitors about cave conservation. It was about halfway through the tour when I realized Dooling was going beyond the history of the cave, informing us of its future and how we can help keep it intact.

I connected with him soon after to learn more about his role as a national park tour guide, active environmentalist and undercover educator.

Oregon joins fight against shark finning

Oregon is joining a national effort to end the shark fin trade.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber signed bill HB 2838 Thursday, banning the sale, trade and possession of shark fins. The fins are often cut from a live shark, which is then tossed back in the ocean to bleed to death, drown or be attacked by other predators.

Oregon’s bill joins similar legislation in Hawaii and Washington. A California measure passed the Assembly in June, but has yet to clear the Senate. President Obama signed federal legislation tightening a ban on shark finning in U.S. waters earlier this year.

“With the global trade in shark fins pushing sharks toward extinction, it will take strong actions such as this to prevent us from making irreversible changes to our ocean ecosystems,” said Whit Sheard, senior advisor for Oceana, a maritime conservation organization. “The bipartisan support for this bill once again demonstrates that support for healthy oceans is a non-partisan issue.”

Finning is illegal in the waters of the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and several other countries, although it is still common in international waters. It is illegal for U.S. fishing boats to dock with shark fins on board unless they are attached to the carcass, but fins are imported to the U.S. from countries with less stringent protections.

Los Angeles solar power rebates slashed 32%

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

Rebates for Los Angeles solar panel installations are 32% lower under the newly relaunched Solar Initiative Program, which will start accepting applications next month. The program was put on hold in April as the demand for incentives hovered around $112 million, far outpacing the program's $30-million budget. During the hiatus, the Department of Water and Power was able to catch up with a backlog of applications and identify alternative financing options.

A mixture of bond financing and lower incentives will allow the DWP to double the budget to $60 million. The department's general manager, Ronald O. Nichols, said the lower rebates, which previously covered as much as 45% of the costs for residential buildings are "more in line with market pricing and allow greater participation."

If the program is approved by the DWP board and the City Council, rates for potential costs for large-scale (1,500 kWh/month) users could increase to $4.59 by 2016. The program hinges on what’s called a feed-in tariff, which allows business owners and eventually homeowners to connect to the electricity grid and sell their unused electricity back to the utility at a fixed rate for 20 years, about $0.19 per watt.

"We also want to grow solar at a steady and sustainable pace while being prudent about the cost to all customers who pay for this program through their rates," Nichols said in a news release.

Of nearly 8 million single-family homes statewide, 60,000 have solar panels. Fewer than 2,000 homes in L.A. are solar-powered.

When the rebate program first started in 2007, incentives were $3.25 per watt, or $13,000 for a four-kilowatt system. Under the September relaunch, the rebate will be $2 to $2.20 per watt, depending on how efficient a system is -– a reimbursement of $8,000 to $8,800.

Rebates for commercial buildings went down by 8%, and rebates for government and nonprofit facilities went down by 32%. Although home and business owners will see smaller rebates paid over 11 to 15 years, they have larger federal tax incentives to offset the lower returns, now ranging from $7,000 to $8,000, up from $2,000.

"Our rebates for residential, commercial, government and nonprofit customers will still beat the state incentive levels when you consider that DWP will continue offering a higher incentive to customers who elect to sell their Renewable Energy Credit to LADWP" –- an additional $0.40 per watt, said Lorraine Paskett, DWP senior assistant general manager.

Yellowstone National Park again gets 900,000 visitors in July

Yellowstone National Park saw 900,000 visitors in July, marking the third year in a row the park has seen such volume.

July is typically the park’s peak visitation month. The park recorded 906,935 recreational visitors in July 2011, 957,785 in July 2010, and 900,515 in July 2009.

This year is the second-highest monthly visitation level recorded since 1872, when the park first opened, according to park officials. 

“We believe it has something to do with the economy,” said park spokesman Al Nash. “Visiting the park is a great value. A seven-day pass for a family is just $25; you can’t even take a family to a movie and get by with spending $25”

July’s numbers are higher than the previous seven months combined, recording 1,848,658 recreational visitors from January through July 2011. During the same period in 2010, visitation was 8% higher, at 2,011,586 visitors recorded.

DWP's solar program to relaunch in September with lower rebates

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power gave the go-ahead Tuesday to relaunch the Solar Incentive Program next month. Applications will be accepted starting Sept. 1 at 10 a.m.

The revised program is doubling its budget from $30 million to $60 million for the next three years and lowers rebates to be more in line with market pricing for residential, government, nonprofit and commercial buildings.

Funding was increased by using long-term bond financing and by decreasing incentives, which the DWP said are consistent with the California Solar Initiative and existing solar markets. Residential rebates went down from $3.24 per watt to $2.20 per watt. Officials said the lower rebates will be offset by a federal tax allowance available for solar systems.

“Now that significant tax incentives are being offered by the federal government, we have an opportunity to reduce our incentive levels to be more in line with market pricing, which should give more customers the opportunity to build solar and increase the amount of solar PV that can be built through this program,” said Aram Benyamin, DWP's senior assistant general manager.

Climate change and health: How vulnerable is your city?

As temperatures rise, so could the threats to your health.

Climate experts predict average temperatures in California could rise between 4.7 to 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century, potentially worsening illnesses related to extreme heat and air pollution, according to Natural Resources Defense Council, which released web-based climate change impact maps Wednesday.

The maps forecast the average number of days likely to spread infectious diseases, such as dengue fever, and when people might suffer from extreme heat, unhealthful air pollution, as well as flooding and droughts. Residents may also use the site to find out more about their city’s strategy to prepare for the effects of climate change and tips to mitigate the effects of unhealthy days.

“Climate change is one of the most serious public health threats in the 21st century,” said Kim Knowlton, NRDC senior scientist. Knowlton said warmer weather can exacerbate smog and ragweed pollen, threatening those suffering from allergies, respiratory problems and asthma.

“We need to start connecting the dots between climate change and our health,” Knowlton said. “It’s time we make it a personal, national priority.”

Warmer temperatures to expand California exotic grass populations

Warmer temperatures in California could lead to a substantial statewide expansion of exotic grass populations, according to a new study that catalogued over 400 native and exotic grasses in the state.

Researchers from UC Berkeley say exotic grasses dry out faster than native varieties, making the state more vulnerable to wildfires. Exotic grasses also hold pathogens that attack crops, such as wheat, or affect people who eat beef from cows that graze on exotic species. They also compete with native grasses for water.

“As climate changes in the coming century, which at this point is quite certain, this means we expect the distributions of the grasses to change as well,” said David Ackerly, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology and the inspiration behind the study. “Sadly, what this predicts is that the alien species that already dominate the Central Valley and other hotter regions of the state will become even more widespread in the future.”

Since 2008 Ackerly has studied functional ecology, which measures the role plants play in the ecosystem and how those roles may alter with climate change. Functional ecology is being used to predict the consequences of global warming in California, which models predict will be between 2.2 and 5.8 degrees warmer by 2100.

“Over the next century, changes in the global climate are expected to have major consequences for plant communities, possibly including the exacerbation of species invasions,” the study said. 

Caterpillar Inc. to pay $2.55 million penality [Updated]

Manufacturing company Caterpillar Inc. will pay a $2.55-million penalty and recall 925 engines that failed to meet emission control standards under the Clean Air Act, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, which settled with the company last week.

The EPA said the company did not report emission controls or correctly label the engines built between 2001-2005. Failing to comply with emission controls allows engines to release excess nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other air pollutants that cause respiratory illness and aggravate asthma. 

"The enforcement of vehicle emissions standards, labeling and reporting requirements is critical to protecting the air we breathe and ensuring that companies play by the rules,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. The “settlement will protect public health and create a level playing field for companies that meet their environmental obligations.”

Of the $2.55-million fine, Caterpillar will pay $2.04 million to the U.S. government and $510,000 to California for the sale of improperly configured engines in the state, the EPA said.

Yellowstone grizzly bear euthanized for 'predatory behaviors'

An aggressive grizzly bear was euthanized Monday by Yellowstone National Park staff after it charged at a man sitting along the Storm Point Trail on the north edge of Yellowstone Lake last month.

The man threw his food-filled pack, distracting the bear, which rummaged through its contents while the man ran away. He reported the encounter to rangers, who knew it was the 4-year-old, 258-pound male bear that has been involved in 25 similar encounters over the last three years, though not all of them involving confrontations. They quickly decided this attack was the last straw and euthanized the animal.

“It’s hard to speculate what would have happened,” said park spokesman Dan Hottle, “but the pack might have saved his life.”

Although bear management repeatedly attempted to drive the bear out of populated areas by  making loud noises and shooting non-lethal shells, the bear had become conditioned to human foods and was hostile.

Green energy: California poll finds overwhelming support

A new statewide survey of environment issues conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found more residents favor climate change policy, want to cut greenhouse gas emissions and believe they are already experiencing the effects of global warming.

“This is a clear mandate that people want to move beyond dirty energy,” said David Graham-Caso, Los Angeles Sierra Club spokesman.

The survey, the 11th since 2000, sampled more than 2,500 people and found Californians are strongly supportive of policies that encourage fuel efficiency and renewable energy, according to Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of PPIC.

Most survey takers (67%) support the state’s law reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Across the board, state residents agree that automakers should be required to improve fuel efficiency standards (90% Democrats, 81% independents, and 76% Republicans).

They also overwhelmingly favor (79%) government regulation of the release of greenhouse gases from sources such as power plants, cars and factories to reduce global warming. While 79% favor greenhouse gas regulations, they are split between a cap and trade system (54% in favor) and a carbon tax (60% in favor).  

“People see it as a tax to discourage fossil fuel use and to improve state infrastructure,” said Jim Metropulos, senior advocate of the Sierra Club in Sacramento.  “The Sierra Club believes something like a carbon tax would make it easier to achieve outcomes that we want quickly.”