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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 28 May 2022
California, New Zealand announce climate change partnership

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — tal Protection Agency, and
Top officials from California Jeremy Clarke-Watson,
and New Zealand signed a New Zealand’s consul-gen-
pledge Friday agreeing to eral in Los Angeles.
help fight climate change California already has cli-
by sharing ideas and best mate-focused agreements
practices, including how to with many other nations,
put millions more electric including China, Canada,
vehicles on the road. and Mexico.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Former California Gov. Jer-
Democrat, and New Zea- ry Brown, also a Democrat,
land Prime Minister Jacinda helped launch a coalition
Ardern spoke about the of 270 subnational govern-
agreement at San Fran- ments, aimed at keeping
cisco’s Golden Gate Park. an increase in emissions to
The agreement doesn’t below 2 degrees Celsius.
commit either government At last year’s global cli-
to specific policies but out- mate change conference
lines broad areas for coop- in Scotland, California
eration. “We have a natu- signed a brief joint declara-
ral connection and I’m so tion with New Zealand and
pleased we’ve put pen California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pose with the Canadian province of
to paper today to confirm agreements they signed at the San Francisco Botanical Garden in San Francisco, Friday, May 27, Quebec to share informa-
that and continue our co- 2022. tion on climate policies in-
operation on one of the Associated Press cluding carbon markets.
great challenges from our Because of Ardern’s high-
generation,” Ardern said. all car sales to be electric of 39 million and has a that produces many of the profile role in the wake
Cars, trucks and other parts by that year. much smaller economy. Ar- world’s fruits and vegeta- of the 2019 massacre of
of the transportation sec- Newsom said he expects dern said her government bles. The agreement says 51 worshippers at two
tor are California’s biggest competition to grow in the will talk with California of- the two governments may mosques in Christchurch,
contributor of greenhouse electric vehicle market, ficials about programs that engage in joint projects to the issue of gun control was
gas emissions, and New which Tesla currently domi- offer incentives for people expand farming practices also expected to come up.
Zealand’s second largest nates, likening it to when to get rid of older, gas-guz- that build soil health, re- Newsom is pressuring the
behind agriculture, Ardern Netflix started facing com- zling cars. New Zealand is duce methane emissions state Legislature to send
said. California is moving petition from other stream- heavily focused on reduc- and boost water efficiency. him a package of gun re-
to ban sales of new gas- ing services. ing emissions from its impor- The memorandum of coop- form bills in the wake of this
powered cars in the state New Zealand is home to 5 tant agriculture sector. eration was signed by Jar- week’s killing of 19 children
by 2035. million people compared California is also home to ed Blumenfeld, secretary of and two teachers at a Tex-
New Zealand wants 30% of to California’s population a major farming industry the California Environmen- as elementary school.q

U.S. Forest Service: Prescribed burns initiated massive fire

square miles (1,260 square of that month. Fire was re- Emergency Management
kilometers) and destroyed ported again in the same Administration to pay for
hundreds of structures. vicinity on April 9 and es- 100% of costs related to a
The two fires joined in April caped control 10 days lat- broad range of recovery
to form the massive blaze er amid dry, hot and windy efforts.
at the southern tip of the conditions, Forest Service Forest Service Chief Ran-
Rocky Mountains, in the investigators found. dy Moore last week an-
Sangre de Cristo range. Scientist and forest manag- nounced a 90-day pause
One of the fires was pre- ers are racing to develop and review of protocols for
viously traced to April 6, new tools to forecast the prescribed fires that limit
when a prescribed burn, behavior of prescribed fires the buildup of flammable
set by firefighters to clear amid climate change and vegetation that can lead
out small trees and brush an enduring drought in the to extremely hot and un-
that can fuel wildfires, was American West. Prescribed controllable wildfire. He did
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the
active fire lines of the Hermits Peak wildfire, in Las Vegas, N.M., declared out of control. fires are aimed at limiting not specifically link the re-
May 11, 2022. On Friday, investigators the accumulation of tim- view to fires in New Mexico.
Associated Press said they had tracked the ber and underbrush that, “It will also ensure the pre-
source of the second fire if left unattended, can fuel scribed burn program na-
By MORGAN LEE and CE- The findings could hold im- to the remnants of a pre- extremely hot and destruc- tionwide is anchored in the
DAR ATTANACIO plications for the future use scribed winter fire that lay tive wildfires. most contemporary sci-
Associated Press of prescribed fire to limit the dormant through several Gov. Michelle Lujan ence, policies, practices
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two buildup of dry vegetation snowstorms only to flare up Grisham in a statement and decision-making pro-
fires that merged to create amid a U.S. Forest Service again last month. called the investigation re- cesses, and that employ-
the largest wildfire in New moratorium on the prac- Investigators said the pre- sults a “first step toward the ees, partners and com-
Mexico history have both tice. scribed “pile burn” was initi- federal government taking munities have the support
been traced to prescribed They also could affect ated in January at Gallinas full responsibility” for the they need to continue us-
burns set by U.S. forest man- complex deliberations Canyon in the Santa Fe New Mexico wildfire. She ing this critical tool to con-
agers as preventative mea- concerning emergency National Forest outside Las highlighted her pending front the wildfire crisis,” the
sures, federal investigators aid and liability for a fire Vegas, New Mexico, and request to President Joe agency said in a statement
announced Friday. that has spread across 486 concluded in the final days Biden to direct the Federal Friday.q