California

Green jobs in California kept growing in 2010 but at a slower pace than before, according to an annual survey of the state's emerging clean-tech industry.

For SmartMeter critics, it was a major win. Last month, the Sebastopol City Council voted to ban the wireless meters, which Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been installing under a $2.2 billion program to improve service, cut costs and shift to a "smart grid."

Two large-scale solar projects on federal land east of the Coachella Valley in California received key federal approvals Wednesday, but both still face significant obstacles before either breaks ground or generates power or jobs for the region.

A massive plan to build new plumbing in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's most important water supply, began trickling out Thursday as state officials released hundreds of pages of draft documents.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar may be headed for the exits, but he isn't slowing down. The quiet Westerner who oversees America's public lands stopped by San Francisco Wednesday to announce the approval of three more big renewable-power projects.

In November 2010, after the Berkeley City Council approved a proposal to build one of the greenest housing projects in East Bay history, a small group of activists sued to block the project, using the California Environmental Quality Act to do it. It's still tied up in litigation.

Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state, is a remote frontier, the gateway to Mayan ruins, chilly highland forests and steamy rain forest jungle. You might not expect this to be a place that draws California lawmakers.

Bucking his party on climate change, Shultz said all forms of energy should compete "on a level playing field" by incorporating the cost of their carbon pollution.

Better planning for how the coastline might be impacted by climate change, as well as protecting water systems from a warming environment, are goals in bills reintroduced into Congress by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.

Fresno Unified leaders Thursday afternoon urged state lawmakers to consider poverty and extreme weather conditions when granting $2.5 billion in Proposition 39 funds to improve energy efficiency in schools.