"WASHINGTON — Five months into a new Congress, and deep into a lasting drought, California water legislation still stymies and splits the state’s lawmakers."

"The drought across much of the Western U.S. is now in its fourth year. In California — where it's the most intense — farms are not under the same strict orders to conserve as cities are."

"Plastic drinking bottles, canned goods and other items containing the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) distributed in California might soon be required to carry a label disclosing that the compound can cause reproductive harm to women."

"California environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday that seeks to halt oil industry injections of drilling wastewater into nearly 500 wells, a practice they say threatens fresh water supplies and is particularly critical in light of a prolonged drought."

"California's drought-plagued Central Valley hogs the headlines, but two-thirds of your winter vegetables come from a different part of the state. Occupying a land mass a mere eighth the size of metro Los Angeles, the Imperial Valley churns out about two-thirds of the vegetables eaten by Americans during the winter."

"California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant residents to deeper conservation."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has cited Plains All American Pipeline LP's Bakersfield crude by rail terminal with a series of violations, according to a notice made public on Monday."

"California's drought led to the deaths of 12.5 million trees in the state's forests last year, leaving behind huge amounts of dry fuel that could burn easily as the summer wildfire season begins, the U.S. Forest Service said Monday."

"The use of treated oil field water to raise Central Valley crops raises questions about food chain safety".

"A controversial plan to divert water from above a key California watershed, pushed hard by Governor Jerry Brown as a vital new anchor for the state's drought-parched water system, would involve far less environmental restoration than initially proposed under changes announced on Thursday."