One of the largest river-restoration projects in the country, a river in Owens Valley, has sent a gentle current of water meandering through what just a year ago was largely a sandy, rocky bed best used as a horse trail and barely distinguishable from the surrounding high desert scrub. Water is present and flowing in the Lower Owens River for the first time in 100 years, after Los Angeles diverted the river into an aqueduct and sent it 200 miles south to slake its growing thirst. Los Angeles agreed to restore the river as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Owens Valley Committee, over what it called the excessive pumping of groundwater in the valley in the 1970s and 1980s to increase drinking water supplies. NY Times 1/12/08
Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that because people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality, they trick themselves into believing the wines provide a more pleasurable experience than less expensive ones. Reuters 1/14/08
All but a section of Richmond's shoreline has reopened, a little more than two months after an oil spill in San Francisco Bay soiled beaches and forced their closure.CC Times 1/15/08
Two environmental groups are suing the California Coastal Commission, challenging its approval of a proposed ocean-water desalination plant in Carlsbad. The 12-page complaint alleges that the desalination project would harm marine life in Agua Hedionda Lagoon, which would be the plant's water source. It also alleges that the commission did not make the findings necessary to approve the project. San Diego Union Tribune 1/15/08
A federal judge in Los Angeles declined Monday to set aside her order forbidding the Navy from using powerful sonar in training missions in Southern California waters unless it operates farther than 12 miles off the coast and adopts other measures to lessen the effect on whales and dolphins. LA Times 1/15/08
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