Natural resources and environment reporter

Paul Rogers

Paul Rogers is the Bay Area News Group natural resources and environment reporter. He has covered a wide range of issues for The Mercury News and East Bay Times since 1989, including water, oceans, energy, logging, parks, endangered species, toxics and climate change. He also has worked as managing editor of the Science team at KQED, the PBS and NPR station in San Francisco, and has taught science writing at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

A series of storms is expected to bring rain across the Bay Area and much of California from Saturday Dec. 20, 2025 to Friday Dec. 26, 2025. The forecast model for Christmas Eve on Wednesday Dec. 24 shows rain across nearly all of California with snow in the Sierra Nevada. (Image: Tropical Tidbits, National Weather Service)

Bay Area weather: Atmospheric rivers will bring storms all week until Christmas

December 22, 2025 at 6:29 a.m.

Steady rain could delay fights at airports and travel, while bringing snow to desperate Sierra ski resorts.

Cars move slowly in a traffic jam on I-880 near the Alvarado Boulevard/Fremont Boulevard North exit on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Fremont, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

California sues Trump to free up EV charging funds

December 16, 2025 at 9:39 p.m.

Bonta says $180 million is being illegally withheld to build new chargers and repair existing ones

Marieta Chapman, right, lights up as fellow client Peter Arnone joins the group for afternoon activities at Live Oak Adult Day Services in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 4, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

A place for South Bay seniors to make friends and stay active — with a little help from a robot

December 15, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Live Oak Adult Day Services brings smiles and activities to elderly residents, and a respite for their caregivers

A man jogs along a trail on West Frontage Road as the sun sets over San Francisco seen from Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. The Bay Area has been without rain for 18 days. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

No rain is forecast through Christmas. Is it time to worry about drought?

December 9, 2025 at 4:05 a.m.

Wet November conditions have given way to weeks of sunny, dry weather

The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, a native tribe that lived in the Yosemite area for thousands of years until being pushed out in the 1850s, purchased 896 acres along the Yosemite National Park's western boundary at Henness Ridge on Dec. 1, 2025 from the Pacific Forest Trust, a San Francisco environmental group, for $2.4 million. (Photo: Pacific Forest Trust)

Nearly 900 acres of land on Yosemite border returned to tribe forced out 175 years ago

December 9, 2025 at 4:30 a.m.

Scenic property was once considered for inclusion in Yosemite National Park but blocked by GOP congressman

Seismograph with paper in action and earthquake – 3D Rendering

5.9 earthquake alert Thursday morning was a false alarm, USGS says

December 5, 2025 at 4:27 a.m.

ShakeAlert early warning system lit up more than 600,000 phones up across Northern California at 8:06 a.m.

The Morro Bay Power Plant, photographed in Morro Bay, Calif., on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, closed down in 2014. Vistra, a Texas energy company, had proposed building one of the nation's largest battery storage plants there. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group)

Plans for huge new oceanfront battery storage plant are withdrawn following disastrous Moss Landing fire

December 4, 2025 at 4:10 p.m.

January fire cost Texas company $400 million and stiffened opposition to the projects, which are key to renewable energy

Fire blazed Thursday night Jan. 17, 2025 at the Vistra power plant’s battery storage facility in Moss Landing in Northern Monterey County, closing Highway 1 and forcing the evacuation of 1,200 people. (Shmuel Thaler - Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Study: Moss Landing battery fire dumped 55,000 pounds of toxic metals into wildlife-rich marshes

December 3, 2025 at 4:29 a.m.

San Jose State University research sheds new light on impacts from disastrous January fire

Restoration work in pond A2W, a former industrial salt pond that is being converted back to wetlands on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Mountain View, Calif. The 435-acre project involves moving 180,000 cubic yards of dirt, operating a floating crane and conveyer belt, and building 5 islands as part of the decades long South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Wetland project nears completion: wildlife, trails, bridges

December 1, 2025 at 5:01 p.m.

Restoration near Shoreline park in Mountain View expected to be completed this month.

Motorist heading southbound on I-680 pass a FasTrak sign in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. The special federal authorization for CAV decals expired Sept. 30 and the CHP says officers will begin writing tickets Dec. 1. Drivers of electric vehicles will need to meet the standard occupancy requirements to use the lanes. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

California’s popular EV carpool lane decal program ends today: $490 tickets for violators

December 5, 2025 at 11:05 p.m.

That "Clean Air Vehicle" sticker on electric vehicles has expired, and along with it a key perk

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