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Regulator seeks feedback on range of updates to retailer guidelines, following a series of market rule changes and reforms aimed at demystifying electricity bills and keeping retailers honest.

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CATL launches world’s biggest open-source energy storage testing platform, as it starts mass production of sodium-ion batteries and points to lithium-air..

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Update: Marin and Sonoma County voters came through to keep SMART trains moving! With 70% of the vote, Measure B passed! This decision will renew the existing quarter-cent sales tax for SMART train service and the adjacent multi-use pathway. 

Measure B doesn’t create a new tax. It keeps existing investments alive—securing the next 30 years of service.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) train carries over 4,000 riders each weekday, offering a proven alternative to car travel that eases Highway 101 congestion and cuts greenhouse gas emissions. But without renewed funding, SMART cannot sustain current operations, let alone grow.

Greenbelt Alliance proudly endorsed Measure B and is thrilled that Marin and Sonoma counties are supporting climate-smart transit in their region! Thank you to everyone who showed support for Measure B on the ballot!

Why It Matters

SMART is more than a train. Every trip taken on SMART means fewer cars on the road, less pollution in the air, and a cleaner commute for thousands of North Bay residents. For an environmentally motivated community, Marin and Sonoma’s housing and transportation systems still depend heavily on single-occupancy vehicles. This measure represents a needed investment in public transportation. 

Without Measure B, SMART will not be able to maintain today’s service levels. That means fewer trains, fewer riders, and more cars on 101. It means an incomplete pathway system. And it means abandoning an investment that voters in Marin and Sonoma counties have already made in their shared future.

Protecting and Growing a Regional Investment

Over the past decade, SMART has extended its reach across the North Bay, and the 24 mile pathway running alongside the tracks has become a beloved active transportation corridor for cyclists and pedestrians alike. Measure B protects that progress and opens the door to more: expanded service hours, greater geographic reach, and a pathway system that’s finally complete.

Measure B directly funds:

• Continued daily SMART train service connecting Sonoma and Marin counties.
• A reliable, low-emissions alternative to Highway 101.
• Expansion of service hours and geographic reach across the North Bay.
• Completion and maintenance of the SMART pathway for cyclists and pedestrians.
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the region’s transportation sector. People who ride SMART reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 33% compared to completing the same trip in a car.

A Smart Investment in Our Shared Future

At Greenbelt Alliance, we believe that resilient communities require both healthy lands and healthy transportation systems — the kind that give people real alternatives to driving, reduce emissions, and keep our region connected even as climate pressures intensify.

Thirty years from now, the North Bay can be a place where hopping on a train is as natural as getting in a car—where our transportation choices match our values. This vision is now closer to becoming a reality with the passage of Measure B.

The post WIN: Voters Said YES To Keep SMART Trains Moving appeared first on Greenbelt Alliance.

The economics of building new wind farms in Australia is "getting worse, not better," project developers warn, as rising construction costs and a fickle off-take market block the path to final investment.

The post “Worse, not better:” Developers paint grim picture of wind energy economics – even with CIS support appeared first on Renew Economy.

Believe it or not, America has the largest train network in the world, but it’s mostly used by freight companies who ship coal at five miles per hour. But how on earth did things get so bad for trains that carry people?

If you need a crash course in why it’s so hard to travel a long distance in America outside of a car or an airplane, look no further than one of our favorite YouTube channels, Climate Town, to learn about the last 200 years of U.S. passenger rail history in under 30 minutes.

And because it’s created by the hilarious “guy with a climate science and policy degree” Rollie Williams and his crack team of researchers and producers, we promise it’ll be one of the most informative and funny things you’ll watch all month. Seriously: make it all the way to the end for a truly deranged illustration of a horse, more than one jump scare of Jim Cramer eating Spam, and most important, a recipe for fixing this mess and getting America’s transportation future back on the rails:

• Can more investment save Brightline? The first privately owned intercity rail company in the U.S. since the formation of Amtrak in the 1970s looked like it would be a huge success, but is now on the verge of going bankrupt. It’s not quite fast enough, a bit too expensive, and because it uses existing at-grade rail lines, kills a lot of people. (Fast Company)
• Despite high gas prices, Americans were driving more than ever in April, according to new Federal Highway Administration statistics. (Wall Street Journal; paywall)
• Electric vehicle owners save money on gas and maintenance, but they pay an average of $1,000 extra for insurance because EVs cost more to fix after a crash. (Grist)
• Planners have retreated from politics since the Jane Jacobs area and no longer lead community discussions about transportation or other issues, writes Billy Cooney. (Southern Urbanism)
• Commercial roads lined with aging strip malls could become transit-oriented boulevards with mixed-income housing instead. (Architect Magazine)
• Almost half the miles driven by California’s Waymo robotaxis are “deadheading,” without any passengers inside. (Findings)
• Texas is cracking down on immigrant school bus drivers, already in short supply. (Observer)
• Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s administration is treating the failure of a transportation funding referendum as a PR problem, not a policy one. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Voters in two Bay Area counties overwhelmingly approved a sales tax measure to fund rail transit. (KQED)
• The Illinois legislature passed a bill allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. (Capitol News)
• Transit advocates want to make sure addressing a funding shortfall is at the top of Pennsylvania legislators’ minds. (Capital-Star)
• As the Trump administration continues to make hay over a supposed crime wave on transit, the Federal Transit Administration is now investigating MARTA after a stabbing on an Atlanta train and another at a station. (WABE)
• Minneapolis bikeshare Nice Ride shut down in 2023, but could return with e-bikes. (MinnPost)
• Warsaw is turning a large parking lot in front of a government building into a park. (Pragmatika)
• Coach operator FlixBus restored the route number 666 to a bus connecting Krakow and the Polish seaside resort of Hel. (BBC)
• Walking and biking rather than driving made an Irish Times writer feel more connected to her city.

On April 11 2026, union members from Los Angeles and San Diego crossed the border into Mexico to attend the first Crossborder Labor Summit (Encuentro Binacional) in Tijuana since the late 1990s, organized by the Casa Obrera de Baja California, and hosted by the Telephone Workers Union of Baja California and Sonora (SINDETEL).

Flyer for the April 11 2026 Crossborder Labor Summit.

In recent years, there has emerged an increasingly combative, independent, and organized labor movement in Mexico’s maquiladora industry. It has resulted in largescale wildcat strikes like those of Matamoros workers in 2019, as well as in independent union campaigns in more established industries. Within this context, Casas Obreras, labor organizing centers, emerged as leading hubs of activity in Mexico’s main industrial regions.

The Casas Obreras have been supporting independent, democratic unions that challenge the traditional top-down unionism that has characterized Mexican labor for decades. For example, in 2022 the Casa Obrera del Bajio helped coordinate the victory of the newly organized National Independent Auto Workers Union (SINTTIA) at General Motors in Silao, Guanajuato. In 2024, the Casa Obrera de Baja California, supported the campaign by Luxshare workers to unionize their factory, the first successful independent campaign in the region since 1998. Most recently, they helped the Supply Chain Transporters Union, (SITRABICS) win the right to represent cross-border truckers.

The April meeting in Tijuana created a place for union workers from Los Angeles and San Diego to meet union workers on the Mexican side and learn about labor issues that affect workers on both sides of the border. The event was kicked off with a welcoming message by the Casa Obrera providing a historic background of the Mexican labor movement and labor organizing in Tijuana’s maquiladora industry. Organizers with the Labor Solidarity Action Network (LSAN) opened with a message of solidarity and critical analysis of Trump’s attack on labor and our democratic rights in the US.

Los Angeles brought a contingent of members from the United Steelworkers (USW 675 and USW 137M), SEIU 721, and a few educators. In San Diego, LSAN and SEIU 221 coordinated to bring a large contingent of educators from AFT 1931, AFT1474, UAW 4811 and the CFA. Others came from the flight attendants union, healthcare workers, and state employees. Members of the Tempest Collective, Socialist Horizon, and the Zapatista-affiliated Congreso Nacional Indigena were also in attendance.

Eddie Contreras, a member of USW Local 675, and worker for Savage Infrastructure at the Marathon refinery in Wilmington, CA was also in attendance at the labor summit. He and his coworkers recently organized a union at that workplace and successfully negotiated a first contract. He was impressed by the turnout and saw opportunities for collaboration: “The workers can all learn from one another. Maybe there’s something we tried at my job that they might want to try. Maybe there’s something they tried that we can try at my job.”

Mexican unions in attendance included the SINDETEL, SINTTIA, SITRABICS, UNTA (app/gig workers) and SINDJA, the National Independent Democratic Agricultural Day Laborers Union. UNTA members shared recent organizing updates and some success organizing app and delivery workers. SINDJA members attended the congress to express solidarity and thanks for past support in their own unionization campaigns in the agricultural fields of San Quintin, Baja California.

Based on the testimonies from Mexican workers, we learned of the difficult organizing conditions at such factories as Prime Wheel in Tijuana, maker of aluminum and alloy wheel rims, where workers have been organizing for democratic union representation. Since 2024, workers have called for justice and investigations of the disappearance of Servando Salazar Cano, a worker at Prime Wheel who was leading a unionization campaign in the plant but who mysteriously disappeared in the factory and has never been seen again. His body hasn’t been found, either, and his widow has called on authorities to carry out forensic investigations and accountability.

Alarmingly, journalists, environmental activists, and labor organizers in Mexico are at high risk of violent retaliation or human rights violations for carrying out advocacy work. In recent months, workers at the Camino Rojo mine in Zacatecas denounced management’s negotiations with the Sinaloa cartel to harass and intimidate a unionization drive. Since the case broke, the mining sector, led by Canadian companies, has been under scrutiny for sabotaging union elections. Orla Mining, the parent company of Camino Rojo, was forced to fire top executives thanks to a rapid response clause negotiated in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

During the first half of the meeting, workers from both sides spoke about union elections. During the second half of the meeting, attendees split into working groups to discuss a series of questions focused on the common interests of workers in Mexico and the US. Participants discussed campaigns where US-based unions could support Mexican unions leading the independent labor movement through boycotts, protests, or public pressure campaigns. All working groups agreed to continue coordinating these campaigns and to meet once a year at a similar summit to assess progress and collaboration.

Attendees at the Crossborder labor summit, April 2026.

At the end of the Labor Summit, many participants had discovered common ground and common workplace issues. Jordan Dearden, the First Vice President of USW Local 675, who works as an Instrument Technician at the PBF refinery in Torrance, CA, stated,

The issues we’re having north of the border are the same issues as south of the border. It’s not a border thing. It’s just where you are; you need safer working conditions, better benefits, you know, equal pay for equal work. The issues that we have as workers are the same.

He also pointed out the importance of organizing crossborder meetings at a time when the Trump Administration continues to divide workers with anti-immigrant racism: “I think anytime you’re able to meet and work on a grassroots level, that’s really what impacts. This is how we change things.”

Since the April meeting, organizers on both sides have continued to coordinate efforts and disseminate information about this initiative to labor networks in Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. In recent weeks, the focus has been on contract negotiations at the Luxshare plant in Tijuana, where in 2024 SINTTIA won the first independent union in the region since 1998. The Luxshare workers, Casa Obrera de Baja California, and its allies hope to continue the string of independent, democratic, union victories.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: Héctor Rivera and Hannah M; modified by Tempest.

The post Rebuilding labor solidarity across the border appeared first on Tempest.

Repairs to one of its three transformers allows Australia's most powerful battery to reach full storage capacity, but still short of delivering its full "shock-absorber" contract.

The post Transformer repair allows Australia’s most powerful battery to reach full storage capacity appeared first on Renew Economy.

Lightsource bp hails "new phase" in global power sector after announcing the start of construction of major new solar and battery project to help power smelter.

The post Power sector enters “new phase” as huge solar-battery project that will supply giant smelter starts construction appeared first on Renew Economy.

In an exclusive interview, Tesla Energy’s Asia Pacific boss Josef Tadich discusses energy abundance (read solar), the role of batteries big and small, hybrids, the EV surge and the arrival of V2G.

The post Tesla Energy boss on energy abundance, EVs, V2G and big and small batteries | Energy Insiders appeared first on Renew Economy.

A new technique based on weather data is the first to successfully predict caseloads.

An international team of researchers including our Department of Geography has discovered a vast geological structure hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

The body can notice stress before the conscious brain — and that’s no lie.

Dan Gillikin surveyed the view from his front window and didn’t like what he saw.

For Immediate Release:

June 4, 2026

Contact:
Ashley Castaneda, ashley@restorethedelta.org

SACRAMENTO – Tribes, environmental justice organizations, fishing groups, and environmental advocates joined forces yesterday in a Day of Advocacy for the Delta, engaging with legislators on water policy issues impacting Delta communities, environment and economy. The Day of Advocacy, organized by the Bay-Delta coalition, focused on:

• Support for the California Water Renaissance Plan which proposes a shift towards a sustainable local water supply and away from expensive, unreliable water imports
• Support for AB 2218 which would establish a statewide policy directive to remedy historical water inequities with California Tribes
• Support for SB 872 which invests proactively in Delta levees and subsided state conveyance infrastructure to ensure long term protection for communities and water supply 
• Opposition to AB 2026 which deepens water system inequities, minimal protections for the Delta and extends unpermitted diversions
• Opposition to AB 2215 which fast tracks permitting of the controversial Delta Conveyance Project and bypasses review for environmental impacts

The Advocacy Day brought together 45 volunteers, who organized into 11 teams and held more than 60 meetings with legislative offices. Participants had productive conversations with decisionmakers, voicing broad community support for common sense water solutions desperately needed in the state. 

STATEMENTS FROM COALITION MEMBERS:

Gary Bobker, Program Director, Friends of the River:

“CA Bay-Delta Flows Advocacy Day is a chance for citizen activists to provide a counter-narrative to the official state ‘party line ‘ that in order to address the impacts of climate change, California must divert and dam every drop of water and build incredibly expensive and inefficient projects to move and store that water. Instead, people from diverse communities and regions come together to talk to legislators about how the biggest new source of water for our cities is from reusing and recycling water and capturing storm runoff; how recharging our depleted groundwater aquifers can be done without robbing our rivers and lakes of the water they need to survive, provide clean water and support healthy ecosystems; and how expensive and unnecessary boondoggles like the Delta Tunnel can only be made to seem feasible when the rules are relaxed to ignore legal, environmental and financial realities – steps that the legislature cannot and should not sanction. These citizen voices are vital to helping lawmakers make the right decisions that promote a sustainable water future for all Californians.”

Bruce Reznik, Executive Director, Los Angeles Waterkeeper:

“Agencies throughout the Los Angeles region have established aggressive local water supply goals, aiming to move from 40% local water to 80% countywide by 2045, and they are already moving ahead on major wastewater recycling, stormwater capture and groundwater remediation projects. These efforts will not only make the region more water secure in the face of increasingly less reliable sources of imported water due to our changing climate; they will also help reduce water pollution as well as our carbon footprint, create greener and healthier communities, and provide a tremendous number of local jobs and economic activity for the region. We now need the LA delegation to the state legislature to get behind this agenda if we are going to successfully bring all these critical projects to fruition.”

Cintia Cortez, Policy Manager, Restore the Delta:

“California faces a critical choice in its water planning: legislators can either invest in a resilient and affordable water future for all Californians, or waste billions on the destructive Delta Tunnel, a project that would fail to deliver reliable water supplies for future generations. Over 40 volunteers joined the Delta Flows Coalition to advocate for the Water Renaissance Plan, which would protect the Delta’s annual $7 billion economy, enhance the Delta ecosystem so local communities can reconnect with their waterways, and support local investments in Southern California.”

Christie Ralson, Associate Attorney, San Francisco Baykeeper:

“The San Francisco Bay Estuary ecosystem is in crisis. Through conversations with over 60 legislative offices, San Francisco Baykeeper and our colleagues educated decision makers on the direct threats to the continued survival of this unique ecosystem and the communities that rely on it and shared our vision for the future of water in California.”

###

FoodCorps and Teachers College, Columbia University recently announced a new microcredential designed to help K-5 teachers integrate food education into everyday classroom learning. The six-week program, Food Education in the Classroom (Food-E), combines nutrition science and experiential learning to help educators foster students’ knowledge, curiosity, and confidence around food.

Food-E is launching on the 80th anniversary of the National School Lunch Program, which feeds nearly 30 million students every school day and is an important source of fruits and vegetables for many children, Rachel Willis, President of FoodCorps, tells Food Tank.

But access alone is not enough, according to FoodCorps. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that 60 percent of U.S. children fall short of fruit intake recommendations and 93 percent do not consume enough vegetables.

The launch comes eight months after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts eliminated SNAP-Ed, a federal nutrition education program that served roughly 90 million Americans, including 35 million children. One consequence of those cuts, Willis says, was the loss of nutrition educators in schools and communities. Food-E is designed to help address that gap by preparing K-5 teachers to integrate food education throughout the school day.

The course integrates biology, ecology, environmental science, sociology, and history, allowing educators to connect food lessons to existing learning standards rather than treating food education as a separate subject. Willis says conversations with Pamela Koch, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Education at Teachers College and head of the Food-E program, helped shape this approach.

Koch’s work with educators reveals a common challenge: many teachers recognize the value of food education but struggle to fit it into already packed curricula. Food-E addresses that challenge by helping educators identify opportunities within lessons they already teach. A geometry lesson, for example, might incorporate food through concepts such as measurement, shapes, or fractions.

The course also encourages teachers to make use of “micromoments”—brief periods before an assembly, during transitions, or at the end of the school day—to spark conversations and curiosity about food. Rather than adding another responsibility to educators’ workloads, Willis says the goal is to make food education a natural part of students’ daily learning experiences.

Food-E pairs nutrition science with experiential learning, helping educators help students engage with food through hands-on activities. According to FoodCorps, an average of 60 percent of students who participate in its food education programs report greater preference for fruits and vegetables. Students who participate in more hands-on activities, such as cooking and gardening, consume up to three times as many fruits and vegetables.

Willis says Food-E is designed to help more educators bring these experiences into the classroom through activities ranging from cooking and gardening to science experiments, taste tests and food-related storytelling, helping students build curiosity, confidence, and agency around food from an early age.

In addition to nutrition science and classroom activities, Food-E challenges participants to think critically about their own experiences with food. Early modules ask participants to reflect on their memories of school meals, the messages they received about food growing up, and the experiences that shaped their attitudes toward eating. The course also explores how those experiences can influence classroom conversations and shape students’ perceptions of food.

Willis says this work is important because educators have an opportunity to help children develop curiosity and confidence around food rather than judgment or anxiety. Reflecting on her own experience, Willis says her work in food education has led her to reconsider some of her own assumptions about food. Food-E, she explains, creates space for educators to do the same while ensuring that students have the opportunity to develop their own relationships with food.

Making Food-E broadly accessible was essential to FoodCorps’ vision for the program. Willis says the organization wanted to create a resource that could support nutrition educators, classroom teachers across disciplines, and individuals with little or no prior experience in food education. That approach extends to the program’s cost. FoodCorps set the enrollment fee at US$295 in an effort to reduce barriers to participation and make it easier for both schools and individual educators to enroll.

FoodCorps envisions a future in which all 50 million public school students have access to food education and nourishing meals at school. Willis says Food-E is a critical tool for scaling that impact. By equipping more educators with food education tools, Willis believes the program can help build support for policies and practices that expand children’s access to nourishing school food.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

The post FoodCorps and Teachers College Launch Food Education Microcredential appeared first on Food Tank.

Last Friday, after most people left work, President Trump announced the repeal of two executive orders (11644 and 11989) that govern off-road vehicle (ORV) use on public lands nationwide. He also directed federal land management agencies to rescind or revise their regulations implementing these orders, setting the stage for chaos and confusion across the country.  

For a bit of background, Presidents Nixon and Carter issued those executive orders in response to an explosive increase in ORV use in the 1960s and 70s across public lands and the corresponding environmental damage and conflict. Together, the orders directed federal land management agencies to develop regulations to address that increasing ORV use by “minimizing” the resultant impacts. This included locating ORV areas and trails to minimize damage to public land resources and wildlife as well as conflicts between different recreationists. The orders also empowered agencies to act swiftly to close areas to ORVs when they are causing or will cause considerable damage to natural and cultural resources.  

For roughly 50 years, these orders have helped protect streams, wildlife and their habitats, and opportunities for safe recreation by providing clear and consistent guidance for motorized and nonmotorized users on Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service lands. And each of those agencies subsequently issued regulations to implement the Nixon and Carter orders.  

Trump’s latest action marks a significant shift in public lands management, one that prioritizes ORV use over all other activities and at the expense of clean water, wildlife habitat, cultural sites, and the experience of motorized and non-motorized recreationists alike. 

Off-road vehicle tracks in the Factory Butte area. © Ray Bloxham/SUWA

SUWA is no stranger to the problem of excessive ORV use. BLM lands and redrock country have been at the center of ORV issues for decades, and SUWA has been on the front lines of this issue the entire time. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, we challenged extensive cross-country ORV use in wilderness study areas and BLM’s hands off approach to ORV use across the state. More recently, SUWA successfully challenged unbalanced travel management plans that prioritized ORVs to the detriment of cultural sites, wildlife habitat, desert waterways and those seeking quiet and solitude in redrock country. And we are not going to stop now. 

While motorized groups and the Trump administration like to throw around words like “access,” what they really mean is they want ORV use anywhere and everywhere regardless of the impact to natural and cultural resources or other public land visitors. Simply put, “access” does not only mean motorized access. In Utah alone, right now there are tens of thousands of miles of dirt routes and trails open to ORV use in addition to more than 130,000 acres open to cross-country ORV use (meaning vehicles can literally drive anywhere within those designated areas). 

Trump’s actions won’t make public lands more accessible but will make the public land experience worse for everyone. It will create confusing and unsafe conditions, while at the same time damaging wildlife habitat and cultural resources.  Hikers, hunters, bikers, equestrians, and those seeking quiet time with friends and family in the outdoors will end up being overwhelmed by the dust, noise, and damage caused by unregulated ORV use.  

For now, regulations implementing the two executive orders—requiring local land managers to minimize damage from ORVs and conflicts between different public land users—remain in place, as do existing travel management plans. We expect, however, that the Trump administration will work quickly to weaken if not outright eliminate both the regulations and individual plans. SUWA will be there every step of the way, fighting to protect Utah’s incredible wild places. 

If you haven’t already, please submit comments via our San Rafael Swell and San Rafael Desert advocacy actions; proposals for these areas would add new routes or re-open previously closed routes to ORVs. The comment period closes on Monday, June 8. 

The post Trump Administration Takes Aim at Public Lands . . . Again appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Glade Park, Colo. (June 4, 2026) — The National Audubon Society recognizes Mountain Island Ranch as the newest recipient of the Audubon Certified Bird-Friendly Land certification. Awarded through...

Hammonasset Beach State Park is a 936-acre ecological and recreational treasure located along the coast in Madison. With more than three million visitors each year, it is the most-visited park in the...

Update: Contra Costa voters sent a clear message this past election by voting to protect the county’s Urban Limit Line (ULL). As of June 3,  68% of voters said a resounding YES to Measure A, marking an incredible win!

Once again, the voters endorsed the renewal of the ULL, which was set to expire by the end of the year, for another 25 years. This effective land-use tool has been in place for over three decades. In that time, the line has been adjusted only six times, and voters renewed it in 2006 with 64% support. The landscapes that define Contra Costa exist in part because that commitment has been kept.

We thank all the voters who endorsed Measure A and our partner Save Mount Diablo who advocated for its passage!

Contra Costa voters just sent a clear message that the farms, the hills, and the open spaces that make this county worth living in are worth protecting. This is smart growth done right, directing development where infrastructure exists, keeping sprawl out of fire-prone hillsides and climate-vulnerable shorelines, and making sure future generations inherit a county they’ll actually want to call home. Greenbelt Alliance is proud to have stood with Contra Costa voters on this one."

Zoe Siegel, Senior Director of Climate Resilience at Greenbelt Alliance Why the Urban Limit Line Matters

When Contra Costa voters approved the Urban Limit Line (ULL) in 1990, they made a decision about what kind of county this would be. They drew a boundary beyond which urban development couldn’t go – protecting the farms in the Tassajara Valley, the open hillsides above Walnut Creek, and the wetlands along the shoreline—and they asked future generations to keep it in place.

The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors has referred the measure to voters, with updates to the boundary to better reflect current conditions on the ground. 

The ULL isn’t about stopping growth. It’s about making sure growth happens in the right places: in existing communities where infrastructure already exists, where people can get around without a car, where new housing and new neighbors strengthen what’s already there. By establishing a clear line beyond which no new urban land uses can be designated, the ULL has protected the county’s agricultural lands, open hillsides, and natural landscapes for more than three decades.

Protected open space and farmland are not optional extras — they are foundational to the health, climate resilience, and livability of Contra Costa communities. Clean water, cooler temperatures, local food, open land that absorbs carbon, and buffers communities from wildfire and flood. The ULL supports all of that by directing growth where it belongs and keeping natural lands open.

Why Greenbelt Alliance Endorsed Measure A

Greenbelt Alliance has worked to protect the Bay Area’s open spaces and farmland for nearly 70 years, and the Contra Costa Urban Limit Line is central to that work. By keeping growth focused within existing communities and away from natural landscapes, the ULL directly supports our mission to protect the greenbelt and help Bay Area cities thrive. 

Measure A is also a critical climate tool. Compact infill development reduces the vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions that drive the climate crisis, while preserving open lands sequester carbon, filter water, and buffer communities against extreme heat, flooding, and wildfire. At a time when federal rollbacks are threatening environmental protections across the board, locally-driven policies like this one matter more than ever.

Passing Measure A advances priorities that matter deeply to residents across the county, including:

• Protecting agricultural lands and open space from conversion to sprawl development.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and traffic by directing new housing and jobs to infill locations.
• Maintaining the 65/35 Land Preservation Standard, which ensures that at least 65% of the county’s land remains non-urban.
• Restricting new development in fire hazard severity zones and on steep slopes, reducing wildfire risk.
• Supporting successful implementation of the county’s newly adopted 2045 General Plan.

By approving Measure A, Contra Costa County is able to maintain approximately $2 million annually in local street maintenance funding from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, which required the permanence of the ULL for the funding.

There Is Room to Grow Inside the Line

Opponents of urban growth boundaries sometimes argue that such limits constrain housing production. The Contra Costa ULL tells a different story. The county’s 2045 General Plan process confirmed that vacant and underutilized land inside the existing ULL can accommodate 23,200 new housing units, 1.2 million square feet of new commercial development, and 5 million square feet of new industrial space. There is no need to expand into open space and farmland to meet the county’s growth needs — and there never has been.

Measure A also includes targeted adjustments to the ULL map that would make it more accurate and functional: removing areas with major development constraints or protected status, aligning the county line with city boundaries where cities have adopted their own urban growth boundaries, and cleaning up inconsistencies like so-called ULL “islands.” These changes reflect reality on the ground without opening the door to sprawl.

The post WIN: Contra Costa Voters Say Resounding YES to Renewing Urban Limit Lines appeared first on Greenbelt Alliance.