The governor of California has declared a state of emergency in a suburb of Los Angeles over the leaking of methane from an underground storage field. Jerry Brown directed his administration to take “all necessary and viable actions” to make sure Southern California Gas Company – which owns the stricken storage facility – captures the leaking gas, says the Guardian. He also asked the company to spell out how it planned to plug the well if its current effort failed. Residents have fallen ill and around 2,500 people have evacuated their homes since the leak was discovered on October 23, reports Vice. Reuters also covers the story, while Climate Home has a real-time counter of the leaking methane.

The chairman of the Environment Agency has defended being on holiday in Barbados at the height of the Christmas floods, but said he now wished he had returned earlier. Appearing before MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee, Sir Philip Dilley said he signed off a press statement that stated he was “at home with family” because “when I’m there I don’t feel I’m away.” Sir Philip said that one of his biggest regrets was that the focus on him had detracted from the victims of the floods, reports Times. Sir James Bevan, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, also told the committee that he regretted the misleading press release, notes the Independent.

The company behind the rejected Keystone XL oil pipeline has launched two legal challenges, accusing President Obama of overstepping his authority and violating the North American Free Trade Agreement. TransCanada Corporation said it was looking to recover an estimated $15bn it spent over many years trying to win approval for the pipeline before Obama rejected the project last November. The company said Obama’s refusal to grant a presidential permit was “arbitrary and unjustified”, reports the Financial Times. The pipeline was designed to pump crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta across the US to refineries on the Texas gulf coast – but spent years in limbo after running into strong opposition from climate campaigners and Nebraska ranchers. The Hill also has the story.

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords are aiming to force the government to reverse its planned cuts to solar power subsidies. Baroness Featherstone, a former Liberal Democrat coalition minister, has tabled a “regret motion” calling for the 65% cuts to feed-in tariff subsidies – due to kick in in February – to be rescinded. If the motion wins the support of Labour and significant numbers of cross-benchers, it could see the government defeated in the Lords.

Droughts and heatwaves have reduced cereal harvests by an average of about 10% globally over the past half century, and their impact has become stronger in recent decades especially in developed countries, a study has found. The analysis compared national production of 16 cereal crops in 177 countries with the data on 2,800 weather disasters between 1964 and 2007. The research provides the first detailed snapshot of how extreme weather has affected overall cereal production globally, the researchers say. The New York Times, Time and Grist also cover story, as does Carbon Brief.

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pressed David Cameron on the government’s response to recent flooding and its funding of UK flood defences. Cameron argued that spending had increased over the past three parliaments, from £1.5bn under Labour to £1.7bn under the coalition and a projected £2bn through this parliament. He also insisted “no flood defence schemes have been cancelled since 2010”. Elsewhere, experts have warned that plans to allow farmers to clear water courses on their land could make floods worse in towns, reports theBBC. And the New Scientist looks at the role of attribution studies in linking extreme weather to climate change.

In a letter to the Times, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd defends the benefits of smart meters after criticisms of the government’s £11bn plan to roll them out to millions of homes. “Smart meters form part of our digital future, will underpin the smart grid and provide energy networks with crucial data to help them become more efficient,” she says.

The environmental impact of the UK’s food supply is increasingly being displaced overseas, according to new research. Over 50% of the UK’s food and feed is imported, accounting for for 70% of the associated cropland and 64% of associated greenhouse gas emissions. The study also finds the global footprint of UK food supply in terms of cropland increased by 23% from 1986 to 2009.

A new study quantifies, for the first time, the impact of droughts, floods and extreme temperatures on global crop production between 1964-2007. The researchers find that droughts and extreme heat decreased cereal yields by around 10%, though the results for floods and extreme cold were less conclusive. Developing countries experienced around 10% more damage to crops than developed ones, say the authors.