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Los Angeles Times
Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental staff reporter at the Los Angeles Times, specializing in public lands and endangered species
PROFILE
Julie Cart
Guest
FROM Julie Cart
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Cleanup Efforts are Underway in the Santa Barbara Oil Spill More than 100 thousand gallons of oil may have spilled in this week’s pipeline rupture in Santa Barbara. Even though the pipeline runs on land, more than 20 thousand gallons of oil flowed into the ocean. Cleanup efforts are underway and could take months. The pipeline is owned and operated by the Texas-based company, Plains All American Pipeline, which runs 18 thousand miles of pipelines across several states. This is not the company's first safety issue.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Grey Wolves Endangered California has voted to give endangered species protection to the grey wolf, despite the fact that no grey wolves currently live in the state. So what’s the future look like for the grey wolf in California? And how does this action fit in to the ongoing debate between environmentalists and landowners?
Which Way, L.A.?
Solar Power: Out in the Desert or Up on Your Roof? Five years ago, President Obama envisioned a boom in the building or large-scale solar generating projects all over the Southwest. Today, out of 365 applications, only 20 are on track for construction and just three are operating — two in California, one in Nevada.
To the Point
Western States in Drought, New Mexico Is Worst Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming- all are experiencing drought, but New Mexico has been hit the hardest. The last three years have been the driest and warmest on record. New Mexico's water storage in reservoirs is just 17 percent of normal levels, and some people have to live on trucked-in water. Julie Cart, Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times , explains how drought in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and elsewhere is changing the landscape.
To the Point
Wolves, Bears, Chimpanzees and the Endangered Species Act Hunters who kill endangered wolves say they thought they were shooting coyotes or wild dogs. Endangered whooping cranes look like Sandhill cranes, which aren't even threatened. Under what's called the McKittrick policy, ignorance of the law can be an excuse after all. Now, environmental groups are taking the Justice Department to court because it has declined to prosecute a hunter who said, "I didn't know." That's according to Julie Cart, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times .
Which Way, L.A.?
Will the Mexican Wolf Survive the Obama Administration? Mexican gray wolves are the most endangered mammal in the United States. In 1998, the Clinton Administration began a recovery program on 4 million acres of mostly public land in New Mexico and Arizona. The goal was to have 100 animals living in the wild by 2006. Today, there are only about 50.
To the Point
Will the Mexican Wolf Survive the Obama Administration? President Obama is focused on climate change and what it could mean for the future of Planet Earth. What about trade-offs that have to be made right now? A case in point is the Mexican gray wolf. In 1998, the Clinton Administration began a recovery program on 4 million acres of mostly public land in New Mexico and Arizona. The goal was to have 100 animals living in the wild by 2006. Today, there are only about 50, a dismal failure. Environmentalists blamed Texan George Bush for siding with cattle ranchers rather than wolves. Will the President from Chicago be any different? When development clashes with conservation, how is the new administration likely to manage millions of acres of federal land?
To the Point
Fighting Mega-Fires More than 100 years after the federal government declared war on wildfire, wildfire is winning. The US Forest Service reports there are 40 large fires currently burning, from Florida to California, with 564 contained so far this year. They are "bigger, fiercer and costlier to put out [than they've ever been]… and there is no end in sight." Ten years ago, the National Forest Service spent $307 million on fire suppression. Last year, the bill was $1.37 billion. Private contracting for firefighters and their equipment can turn potential disasters into bonanzas for local communities. Does firefighting itself create future problems? Would preventative management save big money? What are the roles of politics and the media?
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