• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) recently led 10 colleagues in strongly opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule limiting the application of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, under which states and tribes would effectively be unable to regulate many of the water quality impacts of hydropower dams within their lands. The legislators addressed their concerns in an April 8 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer. “This is a step backward, and tribes have not even had sufficient time to apply for or implement these new authorities before EPA seeks to reverse course. Rather than providing clarity, this change would create additional uncertainty in the regulatory process,” the letter states. “The Clean Water Act has been successful for decades in large part because EPA has recognized and deferred to state and tribal authority over water quality impacts within their lands. We respectfully request that EPA preserve this tradition of cooperative federalism.” In addition to Padilla, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Adam Schiff (D-California), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Patty Murray (D-Washington), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington). The April 8 letter received support from several organizations, including the American Rivers Action Fund. “We appreciate Sen. Padilla’s leadership in urging the EPA to reverse course and get this right—so that federally permitted projects, including hydropower, are developed, upgraded, and operated in ways that serve the public interest and protect our rivers,” Kelly Catlett, American Rivers Action Fund senior advisor, said in a statement.
•Gov. Gavin Newsom congratulated NASA’s Artemis II crew on April 10 after they touched down in California. Around 5 p.m. that day, a joint NASA and U.S. Navy team deployed from Naval Base San Diego to recover the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft. This recovery concluded the United States’ first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years and the farthest distance ever traveled by humans, reaching 248,655 miles from Earth. “For the over 16,000 California workers, 500 companies, and three NASA centers who worked on the mission, the crew splashing down off the California Coast is a full-circle moment and point of immense pride,” Newsom said in an April 10 statement. The Artemis II crew of four astronauts included California native Victor Glover, who was born in Pomona and earned his undergraduate degree at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, along with a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.
•On April 8, U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-California), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) issued a joint statement urging Senate Republicans “to vote on a War Powers Resolution and be a check on this president, like our founders intended.” Before President Donald Trump started “his illegal and unpopular war of choice, the Strait of Hormuz was open and free of violence, gas was significantly cheaper, and thousands more people—including 13 American service members—were alive,” the legislators wrote. “Absent immediate steps by Republican leadership to stand up to Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, we will once again force a vote on a War Powers Resolution to finally end this dangerous war in the Middle East. The American people do not want and have not authorized it but nonetheless keep paying the price.”
This article appears in April 16 – April 23, 2026.