"The driest year on record is turning the golden hills of California to dust, drying up wells, pastures and cash reserves in a season that is traditionally lush and generous."

"The California Public Utilities Commission has called on utilities and private companies to install about $5 billion worth of batteries and other forms of energy storage to help the state power grid cope with the erratic power supplied by wind and solar energy."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- Chevron Corp. failed to maintain equipment at a California refinery and has not responded adequately to multiple airborne chemical releases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday."

"Department of Toxic Substances Control sets urgent deadline for battery recycler, saying rains could wash lead and other metals into Los Angeles River."

"SAN JOSE -- A Santa Clara County judge on Monday handed a billion-dollar victory to 10 California cities and counties that sued the paint industry in the interest of cleaning up old lead toxins permeating the walls of millions of homes."

"In recent years, California’s Agassiz’s desert tortoise population has been decimated by shootings, residential and commercial development, vehicle traffic, respiratory disease and predation by ravens, dogs and coyotes. Now, dwindling populations of the reptiles with scruffy carapaces and skin as tough as rhino hide are facing an even greater threat: longer droughts spurred by climate change in their Sonoran Desert kingdom of arroyos and burrows, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study."

"The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court Wednesday asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to follow through on upholding an environmental justice pledge."

"About 70 people were taken ill after a sulphuric acid leak at a chemical company in California late on Monday, Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said."

"On paper, California's rules on the transport and disposal of hazardous waste are among the nation's strictest. But there are huge holes in the system."