Transporation Daily News 11/30

The top Coast Guard commander for the Bay Area region announced his sudden retirement on Thursday, apparently forced out after the wave of criticism of the agency's response to the oil spill. Uberti has been with the Coast Guard for nearly 30 years and had been appointed commander of the San Francisco sector in July 2005. Capt. John E. Long, chief of staff of the 11th Coast Guard District, has been appointed as temporary commander. SJ Mercury 10/30/07

 

State lawmakers investigating the recent Bay Area oil spill and cleanup effort suddenly are facing a major difficulty in determining what happened. Company officials responsible for the initial response are refusing to be questioned at today's hearing. In response, Sen. Dean Florez, a Fresno-area Democrat, vowed to hold a future hearing that focuses entirely on the company's actions.  The O'Brien's Group, a homeland security and domestic disaster government contractor, was the first to be contacted by the ship's crew. In turn, the firm was responsible for alerting the U.S. Coast Guard, state Department of Fish and Game and cleanup crews. O'Brien's Group is the largest name in an industry often criticized for very little public oversight. CC Times 11/30/07

 

The state Air Resources Board will launch into a yearlong planning effort today that it hopes will yield a workable plan for slashing California's annual greenhouse gas emissions by 100 million metric tons in just 12 years. The specific regulations enacted to meet it likely will affect virtually every sector of the California economy, from how electricity is generated to how new communities are planned. At today's public meeting in Diamond Bar, the agency will consider how to divide the state's greenhouse-gas sources into six economic sectors: electricity; local initiatives and land use; transportation; business and industry; agriculture; and forestry. Sacramento bee 11/30/07

 

Officials removed 370 gallons from a commercial fishing boat that hit the rocks and sank off Pigeon Point early Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. SF Chronicle 11/30/07

 

The government, the International Maritime Organization and the shipping industry are exploring how to bring some order to the jumble of electronic navigation aids proliferating on the seas — a movement that has been given greater impetus by an accident in San Francisco Bay earlier this month. In its report on the incident, expected out next year, the NTSB will look at the role navigational aids played, and at the differences in symbols between charting systems across the industry, a board spokesman said. AP 11/30/07

 

Here are some of the most talked-about policy changes that deserve serious consideration following the Cosco Busan oil spill:

Improve vessel traffic management and control

Require additional tug escorts

Pre-train, pre-certify responders and pre-place equipment around the bay

Evaluate role and oversight of spill contractors

Improve communication and coordination

Promote safer ship designs

SF Mercury 11/25/07

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/30

State officials have opened San Francisco Bay to almost all fishing, effective immediately. Tests on fish and crabs show that the spill is no longer causing most seafood to be unhealthy to eat, officials announced today. Local crab could be available to consumers in a couple of days. But officials said it may not yet be safe to eat mussels from the Berkeley Pier or Rodeo Beach in Marin County. SF Chronicle 11/30/07

 

IHOP Corp. (NYSE: IHP) today announced that it successfully completed the acquisition of Applebee's International, Inc. for $25.50 per share in cash, representing a total transaction value of approximately $2.1 billion. Reuters 11/30/07

 

A scientific panel from the National Research Council said this week that a more comprehensive study needs to be done on the problem-plagued Klamath River Basin, one that focuses on its tributaries. The river suffered a massive fish kill in 2002 that led to such low salmon returns by 2006 that a 700-mile swath of the Northern California and Oregon coast was largely closed to commercial fishing. LA Times 11/30/07

 

California farmers used 10 million fewer pounds of pesticides on crops last year, but strawberry growers increased their reliance on fumigants, which are considered among the most dangerous pest-killing chemicals, according to a state report released Thursday. Compounds linked to cancer or affecting reproductive and neurological functions declined by 2.5% to 9.3% in 2006, while fumigants saw a 9% increase in acreage treated and a 3% increase in tonnage. Fumigants are toxic gases that are injected into soil to kill a broad spectrum of weeds, insects and other pests. Traces evaporate from the soil, raising the risk that farm workers and nearby residents will inhale them. LA Times 11/30/07

 

A group of consumers have raised charges that California markets have failed to clearly distinguish salmon caught in the wild from its farm-raised cousin, which is injected with red dye to appear more palatable. Though federal and state laws require suppliers to clearly label salmon containing dye, officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the California Department of Public Health acknowledge that because of limited resources, they don't actively enforce the rule. The suit has the backing of a dozen prosecutors, and California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown. LA Times 11/30/07

 

The state Air Resources Board will launch into a yearlong planning effort today that it hopes will yield a workable plan for slashing California's annual greenhouse gas emissions by 100 million metric tons in just 12 years. The specific regulations enacted to meet it likely will affect virtually every sector of the California economy, from how electricity is generated to how new communities are planned. At today's public meeting in Diamond Bar, the agency will consider how to divide the state's greenhouse-gas sources into six economic sectors: electricity; local initiatives and land use; transportation; business and industry; agriculture; and forestry. Sacramento bee 11/30/07

 

On Thursday, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency approved an overarching environmental impact report for a massive levee-strengthening project in Sacramento's Natomas basin. The project, estimated to cost more than $400 million, will raise or widen nearly 25 miles of Natomas levees over three years. It is designed to double flood protection in the deep-flood basin and prevent levee underseepage that threatens the basin's more than 70,000 residents. Sacramento Bee 11/30/07

 

 

Transporation Daily News 11/29

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is developing regulations that target heavy-duty diesel vehicles that are currently in service in California in an effort to meet federal requirements in a timely fashion. The goal of the regulations is to reduce diesel particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in order to meet standards set forth under the federal Clean Air Act and the State Implementation Plan. CARB is expected to vote on the proposed regulations in the summer of 2008.  The types of vehicles covered by the regulations would include diesel trucks over 14,000 pounds, concrete mixers, dump trucks, bucket/boom trucks, crane trucks, hay squeeze vehicles, tow trucks, fuel tank trucks, passenger buses and more. CalChamber 11/28/07

 

Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the U.S. government Wednesday, accusing environmental regulators of relaxing rules that require industry to report toxic pollution. The lawsuit, filed by California and 11 other states in federal court in New York City, contends that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has weakened its Toxic Release Inventory rules, a national system that requires industries to produce detailed annual reports on the release of chemical pollutants. Under new rules, said Brown, about 5,300 facilities nationwide could conceal vital safety information about production and waste management. Contra Costa Times 11/29/07

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signaled a controversial push to engage private companies in the building and management of state and local public works projects, proposing a strategy widely employed in Canada, Europe and elsewhere. In such partnerships, which could take a variety of forms, private companies could finance, build and manage roads, schools, waste-water treatment plants, ports, levees, hospitals and other projects. The companies would rent the facilities to the government or collect fees from users. LA Times 11/28/07

 

The Bush administration reported a small drop in greenhouse gas emissions for the United States last year, the first decline since 2001, but the emissions still represented a sizable increase over the last decade and a half. LA Times 11/29/07

Agriculture Daily News 11/29

The Delta Task Force will meet today and tomorrow and are expected to finalize their plane for the region. The Blue Ribbon Task Force is expected to conclude that the Delta's ecosystem should no longer be treated as an afterthought and that Californians may have to get by with less Delta water. It was still unclear Wednesday whether the panel would endorse new dams or a new aqueduct to move water around the Delta.  Contra Costa Times 11/29/07

 

Worry over California's future water supply has reached "crisis" levels in government and among water agencies. But concern by most Californians over the issue is still at a trickle, officials said at the Association of California Water Agencies' annual fall conference on Wednesday. The Desert Sun 11/29/07

 

The Inland Empire's water supplies from Northern California next year are going to be cut in half thanks to a drought as well as an endangered fish swimming in a delta near Sacramento that needs the water. San Bernadino Sun 11/28/07

 

The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency is expected to vote today on bolstering nearly 25 miles of levees in Natomas. A decade ago North Natomas levees were certified as meeting minimum standards – able to withstand great floods likely to occur once every 100 years. But a recent study found the levees remain vulnerable to underseepage. The $400 million-plus project was unveiled two months ago. Since then, critics have emerged from all sides. Sacramento Bee 11/29/07

 

A National Research Council report Wednesday supported more water being released down the Klamath River to protect salmon runs, siding with authors of a 2006 study that critics said the Bush administration tried to suppress. The Klamath, once the third most productive salmon river on the West Coast, in recent dry years has been a battleground over water and the Endangered Species Act. The 172-page report raises some of the same concerns of critics of the settlement talks – that important tributaries of the Klamath, particularly the Scott and Shasta rivers in Northern California where irrigation withdrawals are heavy, are being ignored. Sacramento Bee 11/29/07

 

Americans have stopped getting fatter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 34.3% of adults -- or more than 72 million people -- were obese in 2005 and 2006. The figures were essentially unchanged from the previous two-year period for the first time since 1980. LA Times 11/29/07

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/28

Today, the new Yoshi's in San Francisco opens as the anchor of the new $72 million Fillmore Heritage Center -- a 13-story mixed-use development that also includes a restaurant, gallery/museum and housing. Contra Costa Times 11/24/07

 

A federal investigation has confirmed that a former high-ranking Bush administration official improperly participated in a decision to remove a Delta fish from the list of endangered species. Julie MacDonald should have recused herself from editing documents affecting Sacramento splittail because the status of the fish could affect her financial interest in an 80-acre farm near Dixon. MacDonald resigned as deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks April 30 after a scathing report from the inspector general's office that found she broke rules while granting preferential treatment to industry groups and friends. Contra Costa Times 11/28/07

 

Although Americans are spending less overall on presents, sales of food gifts grew almost 50 percent to nearly $16 billion from 2004 to 2006 and about one-third of consumers shop for food gifts during the winter holidays, according to a new report. In addition, some food gift companies do as much as 75 percent of their business during the winter holidays. Contra Costa Times 11/23/07

 

In an effort to reduce the number of bluegills -- an exotic fish brought into the country more than 40 years ago that has been preying on indigenous fish -- in Japanese waters, various attempts are being made in both public and private sectors to encourage people to eat the fish. Contra Costa Times 11/23/07

 

Popular opinion of ethanol has started a steep descent. A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concluded that biofuels "offer a cure [for oil dependence] that is worse than the disease." A National Academy of Sciences study said corn-based ethanol could strain water supplies. Last month, an outside expert advising the United Nations on the "right to food" labeled the use of food crops to make biofuels "a crime against humanity. Wall Street Journal 11/28/07

 

Federal wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific decisions. LA Times 11/28/07

 

Local crabbers have started to reload their boats with crab traps, hoping that test results expected by the end of the week will show that wildlife caught in the Bay and the nearby ocean is safe for humans after toxic shipping fuel spilled into the water earlier this month from a container ship. SF Examiner 11/29/07

 

 

Transporation Daily News 11/28

Contra Costa County officials slammed Coast Guard leaders and others coordinating the Cosco Busan oil spill response Tuesday, saying they were slow to clean up East Bay shorelines and share critical information. Local hazardous materials crews conducted cleaning themselves -- disposing of more than 4,000 pounds of oil and contaminated debris – after crews failed to arrive before Nov. 12. Contra Costa Times 11/28/07

 

Ignoring a warning from one of the state's most powerful politicians, the California Transportation Commission approved a funding formula Tuesday that would allocate as much as $840 million to improve freight transportation corridors serving the Bay Area and Northern California. State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, urged the panel to allow more money for Southern California in its funding formula for the $2 billion Trade Corridors Improvement Fund. Voters approved the fund a year ago as part of the $20 billion Proposition 1B bond measure.Meeting Nunez's demand would have left a smaller percentage for Northern California. Contra Costa Times 11/28/07

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signaled a controversial push to engage private companies in the building and management of state and local public works projects, proposing a strategy widely employed in Canada, Europe and elsewhere. In such partnerships, which could take a variety of forms, private companies could finance, build and manage roads, schools, waste-water treatment plants, ports, levees, hospitals and other projects. The companies would rent the facilities to the government or collect fees from users. LA Times 11/28/07

 

While the population of San Francisco and the Bay Area is growing, it's nothing compared with the boom occurring in the surrounding rural areas, according to a report released Tuesday.Called the Northern California megaregion, it's the result of a booming population, the rising cost of living, and a housing shortage in urban areas like San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. Planners say the growth could lead to more traffic, a lack of resources and more pollution. SF Examiner 11/28/07

 

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 11/27

Seeking to stave off a bitter regional battle over transportation money, state officials said Tuesday they will add $1 billion to funding for port infrastructure and trade-route improvements throughout California. The move came as a coalition of five Southern California counties was gearing up an aggressive lobbying campaign to try to land nearly 85 percent of transportation bonds set to be doled out soon - or $1.7 billion out of $2 billion. SGV Tribune 11/27/07

 

Although TransLink is still years away from being fully implemented, transit authorities are already thinking about upgrading it so that it can be used to pay for parking. BART representatives are eager to allow their riders to use one pass to pay for rides and for parking at the station lots, and San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency is interested in having one card that will let people pay for a ride on a cable car, bus or streetcar - and to pay for parking at street meters and city-owned garages. SF Chronicle 11/27/07

 

West Sacramento public works officials will reveal later today the extent of contamination from a sewage spill Monday into the Port of Sacramento. A malfunctioning valve was responsible for the raw sewage spill. Sacramento Bee 11/27/07

 

The Registered Traveler program was supposed to offer regular air travelers the technology that would speed them through airport security. But now that the technology has hit big road bumps, the program has, for the time being at least, evolved into something else. The Transportation Security Administration has not yet allowed innovations such as shoe scanners to be integrated into the security checkpoint process, leaving some to describe it as a "go to the head of the line" pass. NY Times 11/27/07

 

The Dublin City council voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve the 309-unit Windstar apartment complex on St. Patrick Way and Golden Gate Drive about 200 yards from the West Dublin/Pleasanton BART station, now under construction  Contra Costa Times 11/24/07

 

From data released by the Coast Guard on the Bay oil spill:

  19,466 gallons of oil recovered from water, rocks and beaches

  58,000 gallons of oil spilled

 1,891 dead birds

Contra Costa Times 11/24/07

 

Private boats soiled by the Cosco Busan oil spill are expected to be cleaned for free in the next few months after crews finish work on beaches, rocks and marinas. The process to remove and recycle oil stuck to some of the 11,000 boats at 40 marinas around the central Bay Area was outlined Wednesday by a field supervisor for the company overseeing the cleanup. Contra Costa 11/24/07

 

A U.S. Coast Guard commander disputes claims by Mayor Gavin Newsom and other city officials that the agency unilaterally canceled the response of a city fireboat to this month's oil spill in the bay, saying the decision was made by the San Francisco Fire Department. SF Chronicle11/22/07

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/26

On Nov. 30, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world’s largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. The San Diego City Council approved a pilot plan in October to bolster a drinking water reservoir with recycled sewer water. The mayor vetoed the proposal as costly and unlikely to win public acceptance, but the Council will consider overriding it in early December. Water officials in the San Jose area announced a study of the issue in September, water managers in South Florida approved a plan in November calling for abundant use of recycled wastewater in the coming years in part to help restock drinking water supplies, and planners in Texas are giving it serious consideration. NY Times 11/27/07

 

Southern California's major water wholesaler announced plans to buy billions of gallons of water from farmers in the state to make up for a shortfall left by drought and restrictions on pumping out of the Delta. Central Valley farmers on the state grid calculate they can make more selling their water allotment than by using it to grow crops. District board members on Tuesday authorized the agency to seek as much as 200,000 acre-feet of water -- about 65.2 billion gallons -- from farmers in the state. Contra Costa Times 11/22/07

 

Illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California, according to a study published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. Illegal immigrants, who often work at jobs that don't offer health insurance, are commonly seen as driving both the closures and the crowding of emergency rooms. But the study found that while illegal immigrants are indeed less likely to be insured, they are also less likely to visit a doctor, clinic or emergency room. LA Times 11/27/07

 

State and federal officials on Monday said they were investigating the death of thousands of game fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after a federal agency drained the water around a protected island during a levee repair. Masses of fish could be seen floating in shallow water on Prospect Island, a 1,253-acre plot next to Sacramento's Deep Water Ship Channel that is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The California Department of Fish and Game launched its own investigation Monday, focusing on how and why the fish died. 11/26/07

 

The Bay Area’s nine-county pollution agency said Monday it has revamped a proposed charbroiler pollution rule so emission controls would be required only at restaurants that cook large amounts of beef. The California Restaurant Association still opposes the rule even though the group is less upset now that the revamped proposal would exempt places that charbroil chicken and fish or only small amounts of beef. Steakhouses and other restaurants would have to install pollution control devices by Jan. 1, 2013. Contra Costa Times 11/27/07

 

There were no signs of any deals on Monday on sweeping health care reform and water proposals as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders tried to salvage something from the special legislative sessions called in September. SJ Mercury 11/27/07

 

The U.S. government is considering listing loggerhead sea turtles that live along California's coast and off Hawaii as an endangered species and further protecting their habitat. CBS News 11/17/07

 

A pharmacy in San Jose is starting a program to help people dispose of unwanted prescription drugs. Consumers once were advised to flush medicines down the toilet to keep them away from children and pets, but medicines eventually found their way into the nation's rivers, streams and bays, potentially harming people and wildlife. The drugs cannot be filtered out by water treatment plants. Contra Costa Times 11/24/07

 

Four boats, believed to be from Oregon and Washington, unloaded their hauls of crab Monday and Tuesday at Monterey and Santa Cruz harbors and headed back out to trap a second load, harbor officials and fishers said, causing frustration in Bay Area fishers. Fishers in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay have declined to fish until the state Department of Fish and Game confirms the crabs were not contaminated by a Nov. 7 oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The fishers say the crabs are perfectly safe because they were trapped more than 30 miles off the coast, far from the no-fishing zone. Contra Costa Times 11/22/07

 

 

 

Ag news 11/21/07 (cont.)

An all woman butcher shop and store opens in Bernal Heights SF Chronicle 11/18/07

 

Higher energy costs are taking a bigger bite out of farm businesses across the West - from keeping crops in production and in moving products to markets at home and abroad. Gasoline, diesel, natural gas and propane prices have climbed skyward for many agricultural operations and the businesses that serve them. Capitol Press 11/16/07

 

___________________________

 

Patrick Ripton

Consulate General of Japan
50 Fremont St., Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel.  (415) 356-2431
Fax. (415) 974-3660
email.  commerce@cgjsf.org
____________________________

 

Transporation Daily News 11/20-21

Oil spill investigation on the part of the National Transportation Safety Board could take up to a year. For Sen. Pelosi, who several days ago said she asked the top Coast Guard commander in Washington to shift the investigation to another agency so it would not be investigating itself, the NTSB explanation was hardly satisfying. "What I'm discouraged about is that it will take a year. That's just too long," Pelosi said.  Contra Costa Times 11/20/07

 

The Bay Area's efforts to clear up its clogged freight corridors got a big boost Tuesday with a proposal to expand the state's trade routes program by as much as $1 billion for a total of $3 billion. The Bay Area Council of major business leaders helped organize shippers, manufacturers, the Port of Oakland and neighboring regional governing bodies to coordinate Northern California's trade corridor funding push. Contral Costa Times 11/21/07

 

State air regulators are asking the federal government to grant them an 11-year extension to bring the San Joaquin Valley's smoggy air in line with current federal ozone standards. If approved, California's farm belt will be the first region in the country to be granted the extra time by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. SJ Mercury 11/20/07

 

When the Cosco Busan struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge earlier this month, scores of community and environmental groups rushed to respond to the emergency. But scant attention was paid to the one “human factor” in this episode: the immediate fate of the ship’s crew. The Busan, like so many other vessels coming through the Golden Gate, was sailing under a “flag of convenience,” which permits the owners to hire crews from developing countries with low wages. Owing to the heightened state of today’s security, those seamen without visas are not even permitted to leave their vessels. Logistics Management 11/21/07

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/20-21

Today San Francisco launches SFGreasecycle, a free program in which the city will pick up used cooking oil and grease from local restaurants, hotels and other commercial food preparation establishments. Those substances then will be turned into biodiesel, a fuel made of plant oil that burns cleaner than petroleum-based fuels. San Francisco officials believe theirs will be the largest such effort in the nation. Eventually, the city wants to recycle grease produced in homes with the intention of someday using the locally produced biodiesel to power all city vehicles, including public buses and fire trucks. SF Chronicle 11/20/07

The board of supervisors Tuesday gave the final OK needed to create the ID card program, effectively legitimizing the city's estimated 40,000 illegal immigrants. SJ Mercury 11/21/07

 

The Board of Supervisors in this famously liberal enclave is expected to give final approval today to an ordinance that would give undocumented immigrants a way to gain easier access to city and business services and prove residency. According to a Newsom spokesman, the bill continues with the thinking established in a 1989 ordinance that declared San Francisco an "immigration sanctuary." All city departments and companies with city contracts would be required to accept the card as valid proof of identification and residency, unless state or federal law requires other documentation. Contra Costa Times 11/20/07

Two fishers filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against the owners and operators of a container ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel Nov. 7 after hitting with the Bay Bridge. It says the accident, which caused an oil slick that flowed out of San Francisco Bay and into the ocean, threatens the livelihood of commercial fishers throughout the Bay Area. Contra Costa Times 11/21/07

 

Oyster-growers in Tomales Bay are dealing with slow sales of their product despite the fact it was left completely untouched by an oil spill in the Bay. Other farms have been closed by just the possibility that some oil may have contaminated their oysters, but growers in this area are blocked from the oil by a major landmass. Customers are afraid, still, the oysters might be contaminated. Contra Costa Times 11/21/07

 

Southern California water officials said on Tuesday that they plan to purchase large amounts of water from Central Valley farmers, a move designed to ease an anticipated water shortage but likely to increase customers' bills. But because the farmers' market-rate water is more expensive than the water the MWD normally imports, officials said, residents can expect their bills to rise in 2009. LA Times 11/21/07

 

Nearly 100,000 pounds of live Dungeness crab apparently caught by Oregon fishermen near the Farallones are headed to Bay Area seafood wholesalers for distribution to consumers - a major blow to local commercial fishermen. Most Bay Area seafood wholesalers and distributors had agreed not to purchase locally caught Dungeness. At about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, two Oregon fishing boats that had been seen setting their crab gear outside the Golden Gate docked at a Monterey commercial pier, and later attempted to sell their pull, effectively ignoring a ban on fishing agreed on by Bay Area fishers. SF Chronicle 11/21/07

 

 

Coast Guard Congressional Panel

Ten lawmakers questioned Rear Adm. Craig Bone at a Congressional hearing Monday about whether the Coast Guard could have done more to warn the ship it was in trouble. Bone responded that the spill was solely the ship operator's fault. The committee also asked Bone why the agency waited hours to inform city officials of the spill and why it did not press fishermen and volunteers into service sooner. Bone acknowledged that the Coast Guard was too slow to inform city officials. The Coast Guard said Monday it was initiating a nationwide "incident-specific preparedness review" to ensure its personnel in other regions would be ready for such a disaster. AP 11/20/07

 

A timeline of the Bay Area oil spill

Sources: House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; Mercury News reporting.

 

The congressional committee, unhappy with the responses from the Coast Guard, announced Monday they would seek a new probe by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security. In particular, members of the committee were concerned that the Coast Guard and California Department of Fish and Game office of Spill Prevention and Response were investigating problems in which their own officials might have played a part, doubting the organizations’ ability to take an honest accounting of their own actions. The group expressed interest in unearthing problems in the Coast Guard’s response as quickly as possible. SF Chronicle 11/20/07

 

Panel criticizes Coast Guard's response to spill LA Times 11/20/07

 

 

 

___________________________

 

Patrick Ripton

Consulate General of Japan
50 Fremont St., Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel.  (415) 356-2431
Fax. (415) 974-3660
email.  commerce@cgjsf.org
____________________________

 

Transporation Daily News 11/19

The first major congressional hearing into the "chain of errors" in the San Francisco Bay oil spill begins Monday at the Presidio, and the questions are almost certain to produce damning answers for the Coast Guard and for the operators of the ship that spilled the fuel that has been fouling beaches along a 40-mile stretch of coastline. Interviews with maritime experts indicate that pilot John Cota should not have tried to sail the freighter under the Bay Bridge because of questions about the ship's navigation equipment and heavy fog, and the electronics the Coast Guard uses to monitor bay shipping traffic are apparently out of date, SF Chronicle 11/19/07

Recreational boaters might find themselves paying as much as $1,500 for a federal environmental permit every time they cross into California waters thanks to a ruling last year by the U.S. District Court for Northern California required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate “effluent discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels.”  Sen. Boxer has pledged to seek an exemption for recreational boats but currently they are included in the plan, which goes into effect next September. San Diego Chronicle 11/19/07

 

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION NOVEMBER 19, 2007 Statement of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

 

The Coast Guard did not warn helmsmen of a cargo ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay that the ship was poised to hit the Bay Bridge, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said. NY Times 11/16/07

 

Captain William Uberti, the Coast Guard commander for the bay region, had been overseeing the agency's response to the spill. He'll be replaced by Captain Paul Gugg. SJ Mercury 11/14/07

 

The O'Brien's Group, which specializes in managing messes, is handling the disaster for the container ship Cosco Busan. It is the most established cleanup management company in the United States, probably the world, and it has the longest track record, however there is little oversight or outside evaluation of the company's performance. Virtually everything that O'Brien's was supposed to be in charge of has since been criticized by lawmakers, environmentalists or the public. SF Chronicle 5/19/07

 

The low-grade, tarry fuel that spilled into San Francisco Bay from the Cosco Busan last week is attracting scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and environmentalists because of how badly it can foul beaches and wildlife and the amount of soot and sulfur it puts into the air. Less than a month ago, state regulators got the green light from a federal appeals court to ban so-called "bunker fuel" from the auxiliary tanks that power ships' generators. Even if bunker fuel is banned, critics say there are obvious questions about what is used to replace the fuel in ships. Contra Costa Times 11/17/07

 

Scrutinizing the golf handicaps of major CEOs has become a popular access into normally private lives. Last week the Wall Street Journal ran a story about Bear Stearns Chief Executive James Cayne, who may have played more golf than he should have last summer while two of his company's biggest hedge funds were melting down. The public availability of personal scoring records is necessary if players want to golf using handicaps. Wall Street Journal 11/14/07

Agriculture Daily News 11/19

By now, oil from the Nov. 7 spill has largely dispersed. Cleanup efforts have switched from recovering oil to scouring beaches. And wildlife experts fret that the spill's true impact is just emerging: Tarlike fuel oil blanketing fragile marshland and hiding in rocky bluffs and rip-rapped shores, where it will contaminate the region for years to come. As of Saturday night, 16,974 gallons of oil had been recovered from this spill. An additional 4,060 likely evaporated, according to the state Office of Spill Prevention and Response. Most of the remaining 37,000 gallons will likely never be recovered. Contra Costa Times 11/18/07

 

Government biologists have concluded the most promising way to save the Delta is to divert water around it through a canal -- an idea often derided as a Southern California water grab that would ensure the destruction of the region. By siphoning water out of the Sacramento River before it reaches the Delta, the canal would reduce the amount of fresh water near Contra Costa Water District's intakes in the south Delta and increase the concentration of pollution and salt water. If built, however, a new canal probably would be operated and managed in conjunction with the existing state and federal intakes near Tracy. That would ensure more water stays in the Delta. Contra Costa Times 11/19/07

 

A drive to revamp the nation's costly farm subsidies died Friday in the Senate, leaving in place a system widely criticized for being out of step with the modern agriculture economy, for favoring crops with minimal nutritional value and for funneling large federal payouts to wealthy investors. The 55-42 vote, short of the 60 needed, scuttled a bill that had drawn severe criticism for falling far short of reforms Democrats had promised when they took over Congress. The chairman of the agriculture committee, pledged to try to bring the bill back to the Senate floor after lawmakers return from their two-week Thanksgiving break. LA Times 11/17/07

 

Next year a state senator is planning to bring back three bills he introduced in February in response to e. coli outbreaks that killed at least three people. Sen. Florez plans to ask assembly leaders to send them first to the Health Committee, a more liberal panel that also had been scheduled to consider the legislation. The bills would have prohibited growers from using certain practices that could result in contaminated produce, such as placing portable toilets in the fields or using uncomposted or untreated manure as fertilizer. Contra Costa Times 11/18/07

 

The sweeping cleanup of San Francisco beaches tapered off Saturday as authorities reopened miles of shoreline, shifting cleanup efforts to the less accessible marshes and rocky shores that were doused by last week's oil spill. Meanwhile, as a precursor to possibly reopening the bay and coast to commercial fishing, biologists are testing fish and crab for contaminants up to 3 miles from the coastline. SF Chronicle 11/18/07

 

A defiant Japan has embarked on its largest whaling expedition in decades, targeting protected humpbacks for the first time since the 1960s despite international opposition. An anti-whaling protest boat awaited the fleet offshore. The whalers plan to kill up to 50 humpbacks in what is believed to be the first large-scale hunt for the once nearly extinct species since a 1963 moratorium in the Southern Pacific put the giant marine mammals under international protection. The anti-whaling group Greenpeace said its protest ship, Esperanza, was moored just outside Japan's territorial waters and would chase the fleet to the southern ocean. There was no immediate word Sunday of an offshore confrontation. CNN 11/18/07

 

For the world's anti-whaling activists, whaling in Japan an atrocity that must be stopped. But the men who harpoon, flense and sell these whales at four small-scale coastal hunting communities have another word for it: tradition. SJ Mercury 11/18/07

 

According to the On Language column of the NY Times the phrase conventional produce now describes fruits and vegetables which are not organic. 11/18/07

 

A new USDA rule allows citrus not infected with canker - but from a grove where some citrus has the disease – to be shipped to non-citrus-producing states, even if other fruit from the same grove is infected. Bizjournals 11/19/07

 

Fluctuating temperatures have made for a slow-and-go wine grape harvest in California this year. Temperatures cooled in September, extending the season as growers waited for grapes to ripen. Estimates from CDFA point ti 3.2 million tons, up slightly from last year's 3.1 million tons. TheOnline 11/18/07

Agriculture Daily News 11/16

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has given preliminary approval to an ordinance allowing municipal identification cards to be issued to anyone living in the city, regardless of their legal status. Supporters said that the ordinance was intended to make life easier for the large number of illegal immigrants working in the city, many of whom cannot get access to services because they have no formal identification.  NY Times 11/15/07

 

An arrest warrant has been issued for actress Hayden Panettiere in Japan as a result of her Save the Whales protest in the country. Panettiere was part of a group who tried to prevent the slaughter of a group of whales and dolphins by fisherman near Taiji in southwestern Japan. Panettiere said she did not know what repercussions the arrest warrant would bring, but said it would not put her off doing something similar again. New Zealand Herald 11/16/07

 

If cleanup crews followed to the letter every regulation after last week's San Francisco Bay oil spill, then California needs new regulations, said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, in a legislative hearing Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday launched a full state investigation into the causes of the spill. A company contracted to perform oil spill cleanups, testified before a skeptical Hancock and the Assembly Natural Resources Committee that their people were on the scene with cleanup equipment and personnel well within the mandated six hours specified under the ship's state-approved contingency plan. Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

Unwilling to harvest Dungeness in the wake of last week's Cosco Busan fuel spill, hundreds of Bay Area commercial crab boats remained tied up at dock Thursday, as their season opened in waters outside the Golden Gate. Members of crab boat owners associations in San Francisco, Bodega Bay and Half Moon Bay had voted Saturday to delay their season until after Dec. 1, when they hope test results of the health of local Dungeness will be available. SF Chronicle 11/16/07

 

A U.S. House committee voted Thursday to implement a sweeping settlement to restore salmon to the San Joaquin River, but disputes remain before the measure can become law. The vote came over objections from minority Republicans that some farmers in the Central Valley wouldn't get enough water.  The legislation would implement a settlement that would return water to a dry 60-mile stretch of the San Joaquin River by 2009 and bring back Chinook salmon no later than Dec. 31, 2012.Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

Transporation Daily News 11/16

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that federal fuel economy standards for many sport-utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks which were to go into effect next year, didn't properly assess the risk to the environment and failed to include heavier SUVs and trucks. The decision resulted from a lawsuit filed by 11 states and environmental groups that argued federal regulators ignored the effects of carbon dioxide emissions when calculating fuel economy standards for light trucks. NY Times 11/16/07

 

The International Maritime Organization saw the Cosco Busan oil spill coming: Last year, it banned new ships from being built with their fuel tanks along the hull beginning in 2010. Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

Frustrated with the slow progress of legislation in Washington on energy and global warming, the nation’s governors have created regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases and are engaged in a concerted lobbying effort to prod Congress to act. Beginning Monday, three Western governors will appear in a nationwide television advertising campaign sponsored by an environmental group trying to generate public and political support for climate change legislation now before the Senate. The 30-second ad features Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with the governors of Utah and Montana.  NY Times 11/15/07

 

If cleanup crews followed to the letter every regulation after last week's San Francisco Bay oil spill, then California needs new regulations, said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, in a legislative hearing Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday launched a full state investigation into the causes of the spill. A company contracted to perform oil spill cleanups, testified before a skeptical Hancock and the Assembly Natural Resources Committee that their people were on the scene with cleanup equipment and personnel well within the mandated six hours specified under the ship's state-approved contingency plan. Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

State air regulators voted Thursday to reduce diesel pollution at California's ports by ordering ferries, party boats and tugboats to replace their old engines. Although the vessels make up 15 percent of harbor traffic, they generate about half of all harbor emissions. The new rules mark the first time the vessels' emissions will be regulated by the state. Critics say although replacing engines sooner might get quick emission reductions, it actually would increase the amount of pollution in the long term because the cleanest engines not available now wouldn't be used. Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lauded an agreement Thursday that brings nine states in America's heartland in line with his fight against global warming -- his 11th such pact in little more than a year. The pacts enlist governments -- states, foreign provinces and a coalition of European Union nations -- to join a large emissions cap-and-trade system. Contra Costa Times 11/16/07

 

The southbound truck tunnel on Interstate 5 near Santa Clarita reopened Thursday, a month after a fiery crash killed three people and temporarily shut down the West Coast's main commercial route. Contra Costa Times 5/16/07

 

 

Transporation Daily News 11/15

Members of the board mapping out a statewide bullet-train system said they would settle the issue next month. The train system should take the Pacheco Pass route, entering the Bay Area near a stop in Gilroy, rather than coming through the Altamont Pass, if the California High-Speed Rail Authority board follows the recommendation presented Wednesday by its staff. This portion is the last unsettled section of the proposed 700-mile system connecting the state's major cities. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

The Coast Guard may consider restricting movement of ships in heavy fog in the wake of the 58,000-gallon oil spill in San Francisco Bay, the head of the agency said. Another possible change would be to develop a "risk matrix" that could trigger controls on movement of ships when a number of factors such as weather, tide, port congestion, etc., added up to a risky situation. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

On a day the U.S. Coast Guard replaced its lead officer overseeing response to the Nov. 7 oil spill, the agency acknowledged Wednesday that most of the ship's crew was not tested for drugs until two days after the incident, a violation of federal law. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating why the Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge, releasing 58,000 gallons of oil, also said that their expert tested the ship's navigational system, which the bar pilot said was faulty, and that it was "performing as expected." Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

Sen. Barbara Boxer agreed Tuesday to take more time to work through complex global warming legislation amid concerns about the possible economic impact of mandating sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.  At a hearing of the Environment Committee, which Boxer heads, the California Democrat said she will not try to push through a vote on a bill, as she had once planned, before a major United Nations climate change conference begins in Indonesia on Dec. 3. Tuesday's hearing showed how much work remains and how many obstacles may block passage. Environmental groups worry that too many carbon credits would be given away to heavy polluters, and they want more credits to be auctioned, with the proceeds paying for clean technology and helping low-income consumers. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

Criminal charges for violating environmental laws have been scarce in Bay Area federal courts during the past six years. And they have dropped sharply since reaching a peak in 2001, a MediaNews review of U.S. Justice Department data shows. This mirrors national trends -- from 2001 to 2006, the Bush administration's prosecution of environmental crimes declined 36 percent, the Justice Department data show.  Lawyers familiar with environmental law attribute the decline to a combination of factors, including a shrinking commitment to environmental enforcement and a siphoning of federal law enforcement resources to combat terrorism. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

A 10-year contract between UC Berkley and BP, unveiled by UC Berkeley officials Wednesday, establishes an Energy Biosciences Institute to discover better biofuels and other alternative energy breakthroughs. But it configures a different governing board than was presented after the plan was first announced in February. The main oversight body, the governance board, will be have eight voting members with half coming from BP. The plan proposed by UC and presented to the public in the past called for five board members, with two from BP and three from the three academic partners. SF Chronicle 11/15/07

 

American Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. announced plans at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday to put alternative fuel technology vehicles on the road in California in coming months. Honda and GM's Chevrolet have developed hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars for limited test use, while Ford is producing a plug-in hybrid vehicle. Honda says it will lease the four-door sedans to a limited number of people in Irvine, Santa Monica and Torrance by next summer. LA Times 11/15/07

Agriculture Daily News 11/15

The rusty brown water seen off West Cliff these past few days and in south Santa Cruz County last week is something many scientists refer to as a "red tide" -- a catchall phrase used to describe seawater when microscopic organisms cause it to change colors. It started accumulating about 10 days ago, brought on, perhaps, by the recent rain. Nobody knows exactly what’s causing it, "but it's not part of the oil spill in San Francisco," a water-quality specialist with Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Services said. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

The state Department of Fish and Game announced Wednesday that a ban on fishing included only San Francisco Bay and three miles of coastal waters from San Pedro Point in San Mateo County to the Point Reyes Lighthouse in Marin County. Fishers scrambled to prepare for the opening of the Dungeness crab season because Gov. Schwarzenegger had temporarily suspended all fishing in waters affected by the 58,000-gallon spill in the San Francisco Bay.  Some fishers said they were outraged that state officials decided to leave open most of the Central California crab fishery because of concern over possible contamination from the spilled oil. Contra Costa Times 11/15/07

 

A Democratic health care plan cleared an Assembly committee Wednesday on a party-line vote, but legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger remain divided over how to cover 6.7 million uninsured Californians. The Assembly Health Committee's 11-4 approval, entirely with Democratic support, sets up a Nov. 26 floor vote on a health care package that has dominated the Capitol's attention this year. The plan approved on Wednesday requires businesses to spend 2 percent to 6.5 percent of their payroll on health care or contribute to a state fund. It relies on voters to pass a $2-per-pack increase in the state's cigarette tax. Sacramento Bee 11/15/07

 

A 10-year contract between UC Berkley and BP, unveiled by UC Berkeley officials Wednesday, establishes an Energy Biosciences Institute to discover better biofuels and other alternative energy breakthroughs. But it configures a different governing board than was presented after the plan was first announced in February. The main oversight body, the governance board, will be have eight voting members with half coming from BP. The plan proposed by UC and presented to the public in the past called for five board members, with two from BP and three from the three academic partners. SF Chronicle 11/15/07

 

The outpouring of greenhouse gases from North America far outstrips the ability of the continent's fields, forests and wetlands to absorb all the carbon in the atmosphere, and the United States alone remains the world's largest emitter of climate-warming carbon dioxide, scientists reported Wednesday. SF Chronicle 5/15/07

Twentyfour bipartisan California members of Congress sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture requesting the government not weaken safeguards that prevent the shipment of canker-infested citrus from Florida. Most Florida growers produce for the processed (juice) market, which will accept infected fruit. California growers sell produce primarily for the fresh market. Thousand Oaks Acorn 11/15/07

 

With its fate uncertain, consideration of a $286 billion farm bill resumed Wednesday in the Senate. Democrats had hoped to pass the measure before Congress is scheduled to adjourn for a twoweek recess Friday. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said there were 270 possible amendments, covering everything from estate taxes to immigration to overhauling federal crop subsidies. The Bellingham Herald 11/15/07

 

Constellation Brands, the world's biggest winemaker, said Monday that it has agreed to buy several well-known premium labels, including the popular Clos du Bois brand, a major addition to its California operations. The company, based in upstate New York, will pay $885 million for the U.S. wine business of Fortune Brands, which also includes the Geyser Peak, Wild Horse, Buena Vista Carneros and Gary Farrell labels. As part of the deal, Constellation is acquiring about 1,500 acres of vineyards in Sonoma and Napa counties. SG Chronicle 11/15/07