• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Aug. 22 that California’s request for a presidential major disaster declaration was approved by the White House. This declaration aids in the state’s emergency response to wildfires, which are currently burning across the state after record high temperatures. “California is battling two of the largest fires in our history and has seen nearly 600 new fires in the last week caused by dry lightning strikes,” Newsom said in a statement. “These are unprecedented times and conditions, but California is strong—we will get through this.” The presidential declaration gives people in impacted counties access to various support services including crisis counseling, housing and unemployment assistance, and legal services, according to Newsom’s office. It also provides funding assistance for emergency response, recovery, and protective measures. Newsom declared a statewide emergency on Aug. 18 because of the fires, and California also secured fire management assistance grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the state’s fire response. In early July, Newsom announced that the state would hire nearly 900 more firefighters and additional California Conservation Corps crews. “In the past year and a half, California has taken major action and made critical investments to fortify wildfire preparedness and response capabilities,” according to the governor’s office. “Cal Fire completed the last of its 35 emergency fuels management projects in May, making 90,000 acres safer ahead of wildfire season and protecting 200 vulnerable communities.”
• In an Aug. 23 Facebook post, U.S. Rep Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) commended the efforts of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for making a drug bust on Aug. 20, which the department said was the largest in local history and resulted in 33 suspect arrests. “At approximately 3:04 a.m. this morning, Santa Barbara Sheriff’s detectives, patrol deputies, and personnel with allied agencies intercepted a panga boat at Arroyo Quemada beach that was carrying 3,164 pounds of methamphetamine, making this the largest drug seizure in the history of Santa Barbara County,” a statement from the Sheriff’s Office reads. “Going back to my first year in Congress, I have fought for federal funding to ensure local law enforcement has the resources necessary to combat Panga smuggling through operations like this one,” Carbajal said in his Facebook post. “This year, I requested $90 million in federal dollars to offset the costs to our local law enforcement so they can continue their work to protect the Central Coast from international drug and human trafficking.”
• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Aug. 17 to free up additional energy capacity in response to the statewide heat wave. This suspends permitting requirements “that restrict the amount of power that a facility may generate, restrict the amount of fuel that a facility may use, or impose air quality requirements that prevent the facility from generating additional power during peak demand hours,” the order states. Newsom also signed an emergency proclamation on Aug. 16 “that temporarily allows some energy users and utilities to use backup energy sources to relieve pressure on the grid during peak times during the energy emergency,” according to the governor’s office. Newsom additionally sent a letter to the California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit that oversees the operation of California’s bulk electric power system; the California Public Utilities Commission; and the California Energy Commission, “demanding an investigation into the service disruptions that occurred over the weekend [Aug. 15 to 16] and the energy agencies’ failure to predict and mitigate them,” according to Newsom’s office.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2020.