Agriculture Daily News 11/14

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took the unprecedented step Tuesday of banning fishing in the San Francisco Bay and off portions of the Northern California coast until Dec. 1 because of last week's oil spill. The decision will delay the local Dungeness crab season past Thanksgiving and could end up delaying the start of the herring season, the only commercial fishery left in the Bay. Contra Costa Times 11/14/07

 

In a deal worked out between the Port of San Francisco and members of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, commercial crabbers, who over the weekend agreed to delay their Dungeness season, are now plying the bay to help with the cleanup of last week's fuel spill from the container ship. SF Chronicle 11/14/07

 

Central Valley farmers are bucking a national trend and sticking with cotton. Nationally, many cotton growers are moving toward grains, like wheat. The national shift is due in part to a global trade battle over the US cotton subsidy program. Pensacola News Journal 11/14/07

 

A portrait of popular comic Dilbert creator, Scott Adams’, attempts to manage a restaurant in the East Bay in the NY Times also highlights some of the realities of independent restaurant ownership. Adams moved into a management position at one of his restaurants in the face of competition from popular chain restaurants gaining popularity in the area. 11/11/07

 

In Pennsylvania, and soon Ohio, dairies will no longer be able to label their milk as ‘free of artificial bovine growth hormone’ for a number of reasons. Competing companies have complained that in the eyes of the USDA milk with the hormone and without it are the same, and they cite, cows naturally produce an amount of rBGH. Also, a number of large grocers, Kroger, Publix and Costco for example, already use it for their house brands. There are currently no scientific tests able to verify the claim ‘non-rBGH’. NY Times 11/11/07

 

For years, the arrival of an ethanol distillery in agricultural America was greeted mainly with delight, a ticket to the future in places plagued by economic uncertainty. Now, faced with the reality of plants in their own backyards, locals bemoan an increase in noise, traffic, odor, emissions and demand on the water system. NY Times 11/13/07

 

Transporation Daily News 11/14

Underscoring the urgent need to combat global warming, Attorney General Jerry Brown warned county leaders from across the state Tuesday that they must reduce greenhouse gases when planning new developments or run the risk of costly lawsuits. At a meeting of more than 500 leaders gathered in his hometown of Oakland at the annual California State Association of Counties conference, Brown said, he can sue local governments to ensure they are complying with the state's landmark environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act. Contra Costa Times 11/14/07

 

The state agency that wants to link Northern and Southern California with 220 mph passenger trains will propose today to route the high-speed rail line through San Jose instead of the East Bay. The report will be presented to the agency's board of directors, who will take at least a month before voting. One major factor in the decision was the fact that the alternative path over the Altamont Pass would require a new bridge be built over the Bay, but proponents said it would better serve growing commuter cities such as Tracy. Contra Costa Times 11/14/07

 

The California DMV has started its own channel on the video-sharing site YouTube and a profile on the social networking site MySpace t o attract the attention of new drivers and give them safety tips. Contra Costa Times 11/14/07

 

A record $19.9 billion transportation bond pitched to voters last fall as a way to “fast track” projects is hitting slowdowns in some areas. Legislation to set guidelines for distributing $2 billion to improve the movement of freight was stalled in part because of partisan bickering, and other money is waiting on votes. San Diego Union Tribune 11/14/07

 

The purpose of annual Darpa races like those held 11/3 has been to help build robot vehicles for the United States military by the middle of the next decade. Progress, however, has been so dramatic that the impact is likely to be felt soon and far more broadly, in the commercial automotive world and elsewhere. Scientists describe the ‘behaviors’ that emerge in self-directed machines such as these, aggressive, sneaky, cautious, as ways to protect themselves as well as to make choices among competing demands. NY Times 11/11/07

 

For years, the arrival of an ethanol distillery in agricultural America was greeted mainly with delight, a ticket to the future in places plagued by economic uncertainty. Now, faced with the reality of plants in their own backyards, locals bemoan an increase in noise, traffic, odor, emissions and demand on the water system. NY Times 11/13/07

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/13

Despite cleanup efforts, some of the 58,000 gallons of spilled bunker fuel will remain at-large for the next decade, poisoning sensitive habitats and infiltrating the food web, environmental watchdogs said. Contra Costa Times 11/10/07 A preliminary Coast Guard investigation has found that "human error" caused a cargo ship to crash into the Bay Bridge. CCT 11/10/07 Four days after Wednesday's 58,000-gallon spill, dozens of oil-drenched birds are arriving shivering and in shock at the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Cordelia. CCT 11/11/07 Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into last week's massive oil spill, the top Coast Guard official said Sunday night. CCT 11/12/07 Bay Area members of Congress suggested Monday that tougher safeguards might be needed on cargo ships to prevent accidents. Oakland Tribune 11/13/07

 

In the wake of the bay oil spill and fearing a food-contamination scandal, fishers from Pillar Point Harbor, San Francisco and Bodega Bay voted unanimously Saturday to ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to delay the regular opening of crab season, Nov. 15. A delay would mean taking a huge financial hit and losing the best two weeks of the season. But there was no indication when Public Health officials would announce their findings. Contra Costa Times 11/13/07

 

State officials Friday night were reviewing the progress of their aerial spraying efforts in Santa Cruz County to combat the brown apple moth. They are likely to announce that their work here is over for the time being.  The spraying program began in the moth's southern-most stronghold, on the Monterey Peninsula, and, after Santa Cruz County, is expected to move to the Berkeley and San Francisco areas, as soon as February or March. State officials expect to spray the pesticide periodically over the next three years. Contra Costa Times 11/10/07

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has deemed it acceptable for meat companies to cook and sell meat on which E. coli,  bacteria that can sicken and even kill humans, is found during processing. The agency allows companies to put this E. coli positive meat in a special category -- "cook only." But some USDA inspectors say the "cook only" practice means that higher-than-appropriate levels of E. coli are tolerated in packing plants, raising the chance that clean meat will become contaminated. Companies that find E. coli are allowed to shift that meat immediately into "cook only" lines, without reporting it to the USDA, which can lead to false assumptions about the cleanliness of a plant. Contra Costa Times 11/11/07

 

A transportation taxing board has decided to decrease fees on East County wineries and olive oil producers -- a move that could encourage growers to move their businesses to Contra Costa. Proponents of the new policy, including Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho, pointed to Alameda County's success in fostering a strong wine industry in the Livermore Valley with a similar fee structure. Contra Costa Times 11/11/07

 

The state has changed its approach to dealing with potential Medfly infestations over the past decade,  spraying insect-killing Sinosad, an organic formula derived from a naturally occurring bacterium, within 200 meters of a find. Contra Costa Times 11/13/07

 

Al Gore announced he is joining the prestigious Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner in the firm's effort to finance global warming solutions. SF Chronicle 11/12/07

 

No one has yet succeeded in producing wave power commercially in the United States, but the lure of future feasibility as a clean source of energy is spurring potential developers to claim prime wave sites. The Sonoma County Water Agency plans this week to ask federal regulators for exclusive rights to study and develop wave-energy technology along 41-miles of county coastline. SF Chronicle 11/12/07

 

The Drakes Bay Oyster Company has temporarily closed after globs of oil were found near its oyster farm in Point Reyes National Seashore. The company produces more than 80 percent of Marin County's oyster crop. SJ Mercury 11/12/07

 

 

 

 

Transporation Daily News 11/13

Despite cleanup efforts, some of the 58,000 gallons of spilled bunker fuel will remain at-large for the next decade, poisoning sensitive habitats and infiltrating the food web, environmental watchdogs said. Contra Costa Times 11/10/07 A preliminary Coast Guard investigation has found that "human error" caused a cargo ship to crash into the Bay Bridge. CCT 11/10/07 Four days after Wednesday's 58,000-gallon spill, dozens of oil-drenched birds are arriving shivering and in shock at the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Cordelia. CCT 11/11/07 Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into last week's massive oil spill, the top Coast Guard official said Sunday night. CCT 11/12/07 Bay Area members of Congress suggested Monday that tougher safeguards might be needed on cargo ships to prevent accidents. Oakland Tribune 11/13/07

 

The oil spill plaguing San Francisco Bay has raised fresh questions about the changing mission of the U.S. Coast Guard, with critics Monday saying the agency's new homeland security duties have eroded its ability to tackle such environmental disasters. Last March, the Coast Guard disbanded its department that helped set up oil-spill response exercises and reassigned more than a dozen people to homeland security duties. LA Times 11/13/07

 

Three realigned ramps could open next week on the Pacheco Pass Highway, at highways 152 and 156, providing some relief now on a popular road used by motorists headed toward southern California. Bad driving conditions have led to a number of accidents over the years. These openings represent only a stopgap solution; real reform to the road will begin next summer. Contra Costa Times 11/10/07

 

Two bridges currently unlikely to survive a major earthquake are among the final seven projects in the earthquake safety program awakened by the devastation suffered on that freeway. Their eventual replacement is expected to coincide with the completion of the more infamously delayed Bay Bridge retrofit project, which is being done under a separate toll bridge seismic safety program. Today, the massive job of fixing elevated freeways is nearly finished, with 2,187 out of 2,194 bridges deemed inadequate to stand up to a major temblor having been retrofitted or replaced. Contra Costa Times 11/11/07

 

The board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority is scheduled to decide next month how to get the bullet trains through the coastal mountains between the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area, and the debate over the options has become fierce. Five members of Congress representing districts from the Bay Area to Monterey have threatened to oppose federal funding for the project if the board chooses a northern route that generally would follow Interstate 580 through the Altamont Pass. Supporters of an Altamont Pass option have raised the possibility of a lawsuit if the board picks a southerly route following Highway 152 through Pacheco Pass. Contra Costa Times 11/13/07

 

Richmond city officials are talking with Honda about importing and distributing cars at the port, potentially bringing up to $6 million a year in revenue -- nearly double what the port currently generates. In recent years, the trend in the import auto industry has been to add ports of entry in Northern California. Local cities with ports, such as Richmond and Benicia, are capturing the industry's attention. Contra Costa Times 11/12/07

 

The United Parcel Service (UPS) rolled out a small parcel delivery service this week in Northern California using 42 electric cars and trucks from ZAP. Small parcel deliveries are becoming more challenging for the trademark big, brown UPS delivery vans, which is why UPS is using the electric city cars and trucks to handle small parcel deliveries. CNN 11/13/07

 

Large vessels are among the fastest-growing sources of air pollution, with emissions projected to double in North America in the next decade, according to Earthjustice, an Oakland, Calif., environmental law firm. Daily Press 11/11/07

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 11/9

Congress delivered its first override of a veto by President Bush on Thursday, giving final approval to a $23 billion bill that authorizes water projects eagerly sought by lawmakers from both parties. In the Bay area the bill would provide money to study the feasibility of developing a desalination project, a number of waterway enhancement projects, a water recycling plant in Richmond, and salt marsh and pond restoration projects. Contra Costa Times 11/9/07

 

The black oil spreading for miles from the Golden Gate is staining one of the richest wildlife regions on the Pacific Coast and threatening hundreds of thousands of birds as well as marine mammals and fish that feed around San Francisco Bay. SF Chronicle 11/9/07

 

An attorney for the U.S. Navy urged federal appeals judges Thursday to allow the Navy to continue to use high-powered sonar during training exercises in Southern California waters, saying it would cause only "temporary and minor problems" for whales and dolphins. Judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had recently overturned an injunction stopping the process until the court could hear the case. The Department of Defense this year exempted the Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, citing national security. But the environmental groups won an injunction under the National Environmental Policy Act, which has no provision for such an exemption. LA Times 11/9/07

 

Fruit flies from Mexico, among the most voracious of crop pests, were found this week in Escondido, prompting immediate spraying and a new quarantine that could last for months. The good news is the flies were young and had not mated. But officials are nonetheless concerned and are treating the find as an infestation. Sign on San Diego 11/9/07

 

After four straight nights of no-show due to fog, planes took to the skies over Santa Cruz County and sprayed a pesticide in residential areas in an attempt to wipe out the light brown apple moth, a crop-eating bug that's capable of causing millions of dollars in damage to California's agricultural industry. SJ Mercury 11/9/07

 

Israeli researchers are calling for a reassessment of the use of desalinated water for irrigation, warning in an article published in today's issue of Science Magazine that desalinated water adversely affects some crops, such as tomatoes, basil and certain varieties of flowers. The article says that the water's the low mineral content, once believed to be an advantage, is bad for the crops. Calcium shortage, for example, causes physiological defects, while magnesium shortage damages the plant's development. Haaretz 11/9/07

 

A host of interesting wine facts in today’s SJ Mercury:

- Wine sales in the U.S. peaked for the 13th year in a row in 2006, outpacing beer as the preferred alcohol beverage of Americans. Sales grew 3 percent.

-Wineries are second only to Disneyland as tourist hot spots in California. More than 14.8 million tourists visited wineries throughout the state in 2005.

- Behind France, Italy and Spain, California is the fourth largest wine producer in the world.

11/9/07

 

Transporation Daily News 11/9

Coast Guard officials said they knew within an hour Wednesday that the original report of the size of an oil spill in the Bay was too small, but they could not get a full handle on its size until late afternoon. Original estimates of 150 gallons have since grown to 58,000 gallons, of which officials had cleaned up at least 9,500 gallons of the marine bunker oil Thursday. The U.S. Coast Guard deployed 10 vessels equipped with cleanup gear, seven inside the Bay and three in the Pacific. Contra Costa Times 11/9/07

 

The pilot guiding a container ship that struck the Bay Bridge early Wednesday, causing the biggest oil spill in the Bay in more than a decade, passed his alcohol tests along with the Cosco Busan's 26-member crew, the Coast Guard reported Thursday. Meanwhile, an official with the Board of Pilot Commissioners said the bar pilot's record reflects 13 reportable incidents in his 26-year career, although not all of them were found to involve pilot error. The law holds the employer, not the Coast Guard, responsible for drug testing. Contra Costa Times 11/9/07

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the Bush administration Thursday to allow California to set a stricter tailpipe emission standard than the federal government. After filing the lawsuit, the top legal officials of 14 other states, interested in implementing similar laws, released a joint statement that they back California in the federal court case and would join on as co-plaintiffs. Contra Costa Times 11/9/07

 

The Oakland A's took a major step Thursday toward playing ball in Fremont, submitting a long-awaited development application. The submittal kick-starts an estimated 14- to 18-month environmental review of the A's plan for a 226 acre park. Contra Costa Times 11/9/07

 

In a sign that Californians may be open to funding the global warming fight, a majority of residents support a carbon tax on businesses and individuals, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. Only a slight majority of Californians favored taxing individuals however, but support grew to 65 percent if the money from the tax was dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The survey found 70 percent of Californians believe global warming is extremely or very important, compared to 52 percent of Americans who reported the same in a national poll earlier this year. Sacramento Bee 11/9/07

 

A host of interesting wine facts in today’s SJ Mercury:

- Wine sales in the U.S. peaked for the 13th year in a row in 2006, outpacing beer as the preferred alcohol beverage of Americans. Sales grew 3 percent.

-Wineries are second only to Disneyland as tourist hot spots in California. More than 14.8 million tourists visited wineries throughout the state in 2005.

- Behind France, Italy and Spain, California is the fourth largest wine producer in the world.

11/9/07

 

On a hot day, so-called "cool coatings" can reduce the air temperature in a parked car by more than 17 degrees, according to a federal study. The coatings, including sun-shielding windows and specially treated paint, may become mandatory on new cars if a draft by the CARB goes to vote in 2009. Sacramento Bee 11/9/07

 

 

Fuel Leak