The new courthouse building reflects the area’s natural surroundings, taking its balanced massing and materials from the geological outcroppings and woodlands.
Suspecting that the California High- Speed Rail Authority intentionally misled the state Legislature on costs, state Assembly Republicans are seeking to subpoena state documents on the estimated $68-billion high-speed-rail (HSR) project and set up a special committee to receive sworn testimony from CHSRA officials.
Energy storage is a hot topic in California, where lawmakers are mandating that the state’s three biggest utility companies provide 33% of their electrical energy from renewable sources by 2020. Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric are mandated to buy a total of at least 1300 MW of energy storage to help make the plan work.
Conservationists are celebrating a new law in California that expands the state’s building energy-use benchmarking program to include multifamily housing and facilitates the implementation of the state’s log-jammed commercialbuilding benchmarking program.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has declared 17 levee systems in the California Central Valley—about 180 miles' worth— ineligible for federal rehabilitation assistance should they be damaged in a flood.
