After seeing land sinking in Red Bluff and Corning areas, Tehama County calls meeting
Parts of Tehama County, including around Red Bluff, Corning and Antelope, are sinking, officials have discovered, prompting an emergency meeting to decide next steps to intervene.
In a statement announcing the June 3 meeting, county officials said they found the mid- to southwestern part of Tehama had "observable land subsidence on a scale that has never been recorded."
Land subsidence is a drop in the Earth's crust — sudden or gradual — into empty underground space, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In Tehama County, some of the area's groundwater dried up during years of heavy drought, according to the announcement. The soil is now collapsing into the cavity left by the absent water, making the ground above it sink.
Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know.
Other factors are further stressing what's left of the underground water supply, according to the county. These include changes in agricultural practices and less surface water available from lakes, creeks and other water bodies.
As empty underground water channels fill with collapsed soil from above, the space available for water sources to fill them becomes smaller. That means even during wet years, when there's more water, there's less opportunity for those water sources to refill or 'recharge' those underground reservoirs fast enough to save them.
All this doesn't bode well for county plans to expand agriculture wells in areas where the ground is sinking, the county reported in the announcement.
The Tehama County Groundwater Sustainability Agency gave county supervisors the results of their findings after monitoring groundwater levels and rate of sinking.
Supervisors plan to look at the agency's latest data, figure out how serious the situation is, look for possible solutions and intervene as needed, according to the county. The meeting — scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3 in board chambers (727 Oak St., Red Bluff) — is a chance for residents to hear the results and participate in the discussion, the announcement said.
People can get more information and submit comments to Tehama County Deputy Director of Public Works Justin Jenson at 530-690-0700, extension 201. They can also email Jenson at jjenson@tcpw.ca.gov.
Jenson didn't return a phone call from the Record Searchlight late Tuesday afternoon.
Land subsidence in other parts of California is most often caused by people pumping out the groundwater for a variety of uses. These include directing water to urban centers and using it for agriculture and industrial projects, according to the USGS.
For more information about land subsidence in the state, go to usgs.gov/centers/land-subsidence-in-california.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Tehama finds land is sinking in Red Bluff, Corning areas after drought
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Australia is 'safe and reliable' critical minerals alternative, minister says
PARIS (Reuters) -Australia offers a secure alternative supply for critical minerals vital to industry, its trade minister Don Farrell said on Thursday, in the face of rising concerns about Beijing's dominance of the sector. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets crucial to sectors ranging from automakers to aerospace and defence was widely seen as Beijing using that dominance for leverage in its trade war with the Trump administration. While China is a top global producer of 30 of the 50 minerals considered critical by the U.S. Geological Survey, Australia has some of the largest critical minerals deposits. "We think we can be a safe and reliable supplier into the supply chain for critical minerals around the world," Farrell told Reuters in an interview. But Australia does not want to just "dig and ship" the minerals and aims to process them as well, although that would require capital from outside such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and India, he said. The EU and Australia signed a partnership agreement last year to develop critical materials along the supply chain ranging from extraction to refining and processing leftover waste. Farrell said critical minerals could end up in a free trade agreement with the EU that Australia and the bloc are trying to revive after talks broke down in 2023, mainly over agriculture. Australia has sent top trade officials to Brussels this week to nail down the next steps forward as both sides seek access to alternative markets as the Trump administration aggressively builds tariff barriers to its trade partners. "I think there is now impetus on both sides to look at another crack at the agreement," Farrell said in Paris, where he met EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on the sidelines of a meeting at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Farrell also met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the OECD and told him Australia wanted the Trump administration to remove its 10% baseline tariffs and 50% tariffs on aluminium and steel. The United States, which has had a free trade agreement with Australia for two decades, ran a $17.9 billion trade surplus with the country last year, according to Greer's office. Sign in to access your portfolio
E&E News
4 days ago
- E&E News
Trump issues Defense Production Act waiver for minerals, weapons
The Trump administration issued a waiver allowing it to expand the use of the Defense Production Act in a bid to boost production of critical minerals and weapons in the United States. The presidential waiver, dated May 23 and set to publish in the Federal Register on Wednesday, lifts certain statutory requirements under the Cold War-era law for 'munitions, missiles and associated equipment, and minerals.' It also notes the order extends to uranium, copper, potash and gold, which are not on the U.S. Geological Survey list of critical minerals. Advertisement 'Shortfalls in these areas would severely impair national defense capability,' the waiver reads. 'Ensuring a robust, resilient, and sustainable domestic industrial base is essential to our national security and the preservation of domestic critical infrastructure.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Researcher explains why earthquakes are rattling parts of New Mexico
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – While you may think earthquakes are a rarity in New Mexico, think again. Dr. Urbi Basu, manager of the New Mexico Tech Seismological Observatory, said earthquakes regularly happen in the state. 'We regularly see earthquakes of magnitude ones or twos, so people don't feel it,' Basu explained. Basu said there are dozens and dozens of fault lines in the state. In fact, the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources said that there are more than 160 quaternary faults — or faults that have been seen on the surface of the Earth — within the past 1.6 million years. Among the most prominent is the Rio Grande rift, which runs from central Colorado down to Chihuahua, Mexico. 'So, the Rio Grande rift, which is like a north-south trending rift along which is the Rio Grande Valley. So, that's a series of what we call normal faults, which is slowly extending in the east-west direction. So, we know a lot about these existing faults through several years of geologic mapping through the bureau,' Basu said. The rift follows the river, which played an important role in the development of the state. But according to Dr. Basu and research being conducted at New Mexico Tech, we're now seeing an increase in the amount of seismic activity. Quidditch meets robotics: How drone soccer at this Albuquerque school is inspiring students 'In the last four or five years, we have seen a rise in induced seismicity, which is earthquakes caused by human activity,' Basu explained. According to data from the seismology observatory, there have been more than 80 earthquakes measuring above 2.0 on the Richter scale between January 1 and May 31 of 2025 alone. Multiple academic studies have shown a direct link between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and an increase in earthquakes. Additionally, data from the U.S. Geological Survey found an increase in the number of quakes within a 100-mile radius of fracking sites throughout the southern half of the United States. 'That technique creates a lot of wastewater or salt water, which is reinjected back into the formations, shallow formations. And this injecting of water causes stress changes in existing faults. And that is kind of the main reasons of oil… and earthquakes,' Basu said. It's no surprise, then, that the southeastern part of the state is seeing far more seismic activity than other parts. However, considering the economic impact the oil and gas industry has on the state, it's unlikely the practice will stop any time soon. That's where active monitoring comes into play. 'They use our earthquake data and they create something called like the seismicity response areas, SRAs. So, if there is an earthquake 2.5 or higher, there are restrictions about how much disposal volumes can occur. Companies might have to lower their disposal volumes, stop injecting for a few days, or have to decide if they can inject there as well. So, our data is really important to help the state in creating all those regulations,' said Basu. The observatory currently has 16 monitoring stations throughout the state, with 11 located in the southeast. They plan to upgrade those stations in the near future, as well as add 15 additional monitoring stations statewide. 'Without having the stations, we would not know of a magnitude three earthquake in the Socorro area or the Albuquerque area. So we would not understand the hazard risk,' Basu explained. Dr. Basu said the USGS website features a 'Did You Feel It?' page where citizens can report incidents themselves, which will help scientists understand the effects of seismic activity on the community. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
