Transporation Daily News 2/11

Coast Guard regulators want to bolster the ranks of aging barge-towing captains and mates by slashing from 30 months to 30 days the experience needed to qualify for a federal barge towing endorsement on a master's license. Mariners have organized opposition, but few outside of the towing industry have paid attention. Coast Guard regulators appear ready to go ahead with writing the new regulation after a 90-day comment period that ended in December. CC Times 2/19/08

 

Attorney General Jerry Brown is taking the global warming enlightenment skills he honed in the Bay Area across sprawling California today -- a move supporters such as San Jose's mayor said will meet resistance. Brown's aides told MediaNews that he will announce he is convening voluntary regional schools for California's more than 500 elected county supervisors and city mayors to advocate tough actions such new transportation impact fees and costly energy-efficiency. CC Times 2/19/08

 

The battle between Northern and Southern California rages on in Burlingame today, as the California Transportation Commission receives $4.2 billion in project nominations to be considered for $2.5 billion to $3 billion in bond funding to improve how cargo moves around the state. Bay Area officials and their counterparts in Sacramento and San Joaquin County are asking for $1.1 billion, mainly to improve rail routes to and from ports in Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, Sacramento and Stockton. Meanwhile, Southern Californians coalescing around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have beefed up an earlier, unofficial wish list from $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion. CC Times 2/13/08

 

When it comes to traffic, California has the worst in the country. But when it comes to traffic laws, California has among the most effective in the nation. A report released Monday by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety ranks California No. 4 in the nation based on 15 laws that it says enhance road safety. However, California was dinged for allowing teens to be on the road until 11 p.m. (the group favors 10 p.m.), not requiring special breath-testing ignition devices for drunk-driving offenders and failing to require kids to be in booster seats until age 8. CC Times 2/19/08

 

California Highway Patrol Commissioner Mike Brown resigned Tuesday as he was under increasing pressure from some state lawmakers, who had called him an ineffective leader and criticized his oversight of the department. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Deputy Commissioner Joseph Farrow to replace Brown as head of the agency and its more than 10,000 employees. Farrow will take over March 1. CC Times 2/13/08

 

Hoping to speed up traffic across bridges, a regional toll agency committee commissioned a $600,000 feasibility study Wednesday about using a video system to collect tolls from drivers who now pay cash at the booths. Bridge operators would snap photographs of car license plates automatically to identify their owners, and then send out a bill or deduct money from accounts linked to credit cards. CC Times 2/14/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday clamped down on state spending, ordering cuts that will cancel nonessential travel for thousands of employees and freeze hiring at most state agencies as California grapples with a $14.5 billion budget deficit. The governor's executive order comes after he filled several positions in his own administration and appointed dozens of people to state jobs, boards or commissions since Jan. 10, when he announced a fiscal emergency. San Diego Union Tribune 2/19/08

 

On Thursday, the BART board will consider a $3.7 million contract to purchase 180 million plastic tickets. Once the fare gates and ticket machines are reprogrammed, the new tickets would use a different kind of magnetic stripe and be less prone to damage by an iPod, cell phone, purse clasp or other device that contains a magnet. The retrofit isn't expected to be completed until November. SF Chronicle 2/12/08

 

The Port of Oakland will receive almost $4 million to beef up its security as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disperses a total of $40 million for 11 of California's ports. The 11 ports were approved for funding by Proposition 1B under the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security Bond Act of 2006.Prop. 1B approved $20 billion to enhance safety and security in the state's transportation systems, as well as ameliorating its air quality. Of that fund, $1 billion will be allocated to the ports and mass transit systems.  CC Times 2/15/08

 

Budget negotiators have settled on a package of emergency spending cuts that would freeze a half billion dollars planned for schools, cut payments to doctors caring for the poor and vacuum up hundreds of millions in unspent funds intended for projects over the remainder of the year. The package of cuts comes under the state's first fiscal emergency declaration, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued last month when he announced falling state tax revenue had left California facing an estimated $14.5 billion shortfall. CC Times 2/15/08

 

In the past five years, cycling has become the hip sport of Silicon Valley. Technology entrepreneurs have taken to whirring through redwood groves on bicycles worth as much as some cars. Climate, demographics and terrain have combined to make the Bay Area one of the most cycling-rich regions in the United States, if not the world. CC Times 2/19/08

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/20

California produced a bumper crop of corn in 2007, with production climbing 98 percent thanks to factors such as an increased demand for ethanol, a corn product used as a clean-burning additive for gasoline. Soaring demand for grains in China, India and other Asian markets and a growing thirst for biofuels have doubled the price of corn, said Tom Koehler, vice president of Sacramento-based Pacific Ethanol. Contra Costa Times 2/12/08

 

Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc., Kroger Co. and six other grocery store chains must face consumer lawsuits alleging they sold farm-raised salmon that was dyed pink, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. The justices unanimously overturned lower court rulings that threw out deceptive-marketing lawsuits concerning the fish. Contra Costa Times 2/12/08

 

Ripple effects of the nation's largest meat recall ever are being felt throughout East Bay school districts, with many of them holding off serving any beef products as a precaution. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads the agriculture appropriations subcommittee, said she plans to hold hearings March 5 and 13 about the issue "so that we can take steps to ensure that the school lunch program does not become the industry dumping ground for bad meat." CC Times 2/20/08

 

Trader Joe's will stop offering some Chinese-grown food products because of customer concerns about safety, the grocery chain announced Monday. Garlic, frozen organic spinach and other "single ingredient" food items from mainland China will be phased out by April 1, although products that include ingredients from both China and other sources will remain.  CC Times 2/12/08

 

Federal investigators concluded after a study last year that the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin was "ill-prepared to respond to a spill, catastrophic or otherwise." The report, released Tuesday, was based on an October 2007 review at the agency's Mill Valley plant by inspectors for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who targeted the plant because of its higher-than-average spill rates. CC Times 2/13/08

 

A review in the CC Times of Iron Chef Morimoto’s new cookbook. 2/13/08

 

Bay Area cities and counties could face hundreds of millions of dollars in higher annual costs to eliminate industrial chemicals called PCBs from storm runoff, under pollution limits adopted Wednesday by a state water board. Responding to health concerns about people who eat PCB-laden fish, the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted the first-ever mass limit on PCBs entering the Bay. CC Times 2/14/08

 

California agricultural authorities announced Wednesday plans to spray a pesticide in cities in the Bay Area and Central Coast to stop a crop-eating moth. The aerial spraying, intended to disrupt the pest's mating cycle, would start this summer. The sprayings in San Francisco are expected to begin Aug. 1. Other infested areas to be sprayed as early as June include Oakland, Emeryville, Albany, Piedmont, El Sobrante, Daly City, Colma, Tiburon, Belvedere and Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. CC Times 2/14/08

 

California will require reporting of severe cases of staph infections, including an antibiotic resistant "superbug" known as MRSA, health officials announced Thursday. But some health advocates are upset that the new reporting requirements will apply only to staph infections acquired in the community, which represent about 20 percent of such cases. CC Times 2/15/08

 

Officials wasted no time Thursday notifying the public of a 1,500-gallon spill of raw sewage from San Quentin State Prison into San Francisco Bay. San Quentin's public information officer, said the spill occurred when a sump pump in the prison's lower parking lot malfunctioned at 9:50 a.m. The prison reported to the state Office of Emergency Services that an estimated 1,500 gallons of untreated sewage overflowed into San Francisco Bay. California law requires that spills of 1,000 gallons be reported to the state. Marin Independent Journal 2/14/08

A water advisory has been lifted around San Quentin after 1,500 gallons of raw sewage escaped from the state prison there last week. Health officials say water tests show contamination levels are now low enough to meet state requirements. SJ Mercury 2/18/08

 

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. reported Thursday that its profits soared and sales jumped during the fourth quarter of 2007. The Emeryville-based coffee roaster earned $3.3 million, or 23 cents a share during the quarter -- a 53 percent boost compared with $2.2 million during the same period the previous year. CC Times 2/15/08

 

Almond industry officials look forward to another strong year for the $2.5 billion California crop as the crucial annual bloom begins to pop.  Despite January wind storms that downed some trees in northern Sacramento Valley orchards, statewide this year more acres than ever are expected to yield the nuts. Experts expect a bout 50,000 acres of new almond plantings to begin bearing this season, so overall California acreage will continue to rise. CC Times 2/15/08

 

Transporation Daily News 2/11

As Hercules prepares to move forward on a railroad station and ferry terminal, residents of the budding Waterfront district who fancied themselves pioneers in a bold New Urbanism statement fear they could end up with something resembling Larkspur Landing or El Cerrito Del Norte instead -- a transit center built around cars, not pedestrians. CC Times 2/11/08

 

In the first such program in California, and perhaps the United States, Bay Area air pollution regulators are proposing to charge an annual fee to thousands of businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee - 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide - would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants, and landfills, factories and small businesses like restaurants or bakeries. The fees, proposed this week by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, set a precedent as the first time that businesses and government agencies would face financial consequences for contributing to global warming. SJ Mercury 2/08/08

 

Researchers from the UC Berkeley teamed up with wireless hardware maker Nokia and the state transportation department, Caltrans, dispatched 100 Berkeley students to the slings and arrows of Interstate 880 for most of Friday to develop a system that could generate real-time traffic data to nearly anywhere. In a few years, researchers expect that just about all phones sold in the United States will have GPS technology and motorists who carry them will be able to contribute data to a traffic information system much more extensive than anything currently operating in the nation. CC Times 2/09/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is heading a cast of California food and wine celebrities in a new tourism ad campaign. The campaign focuses on a new Web site, http://www.landofwineandfood.com, and stems from a partnership between the California Wine Institute and the California Travel and Tourism Commission. The TV ad features a number of food and wine stars, including top chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley and vintner Andrew Firestone, who also appeared on ABC's "The Bachelor." SJ Mercury 2/11/08

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/11

A new hot line, 211, is a national number modeled after 911, is just beginning to catch on in the Bay Area. Trained operators answer the phone and direct callers to social services that help with food, housing, shelter, immigration assistance and many other needs. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and in 150 languages. On Monday, 211 will expand to Marin, Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties. SF Chronicle 2/09/08

 

The Bering Sea trawl fleets last year set a new and unwelcome catch record: Their vessels accidentally snared more than 120,000 chinook salmon as they dropped their nets in pursuit of pollock in North America's biggest seafood harvest. The pollock harvest rules are shaped by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, a group of state, federal and industry officials who are meeting this week in Seattle. Saturday, they are scheduled to consider several options to reduce the chinook catch, including placing a limit on the chinook harvest that -- if reached -- would terminate the annual Bering Sea pollock harvest. CC Times 2/10/08

 

Today, fishers are helping lead the process of defining the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that officials hope will help overfished near-shore species rebound. A variety of major protected areas are proposed for state waters off San Mateo County. On Tuesday, at the Montara Lighthouse, the Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve will sponsor a public workshop on the different proposals that have been submitted by a group of specially appointed stakeholders, including fishers, conservationists and local park managers, over the past few months.On Wednesday and Thursday, the public is invited to attend two all-day meetings of the Blue Ribbon Task Force, a group of corporate and municipal representatives.  CC Times 2/10/08

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is heading a cast of California food and wine celebrities in a new tourism ad campaign. The campaign focuses on a new Web site, http://www.landofwineandfood.com, and stems from a partnership between the California Wine Institute and the California Travel and Tourism Commission. The TV ad features a number of food and wine stars, including top chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley and vintner Andrew Firestone, who also appeared on ABC's "The Bachelor." SJ Mercury 2/11/08

 

A Democratic lawmaker is pushing legislation that would prohibit doctors from considering age, race or genetic factors in determining the size of workers' compensation benefits for employees who suffer job-related disabilities. The bill by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, would alter a key provision of the sweeping workers' compensation changes promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and employers in 2004. AP 2/11/08

 

This week, the Bush administration proposed a revamped guest worker program meant to make it easier for farmers to legally hire foreign workers. But the move failed to soothe California's agricultural employers, who say the little-used guest worker program will remain costly and cumbersome. The change also drew protests from farmworker advocates for provisions that cut wages and weaken current guarantees on employer-provided housing and travel expenses. Whether a significant number of the state's farmers use the new rules will depend largely on whether the White House follows through on a promise to prosecute the employers of undocumented workers, experts said. Sacramento Bee 2/11/08

 

You can take the salt out of the water, but can you make the policy stick?: Politically divisive in the past, desalination is steaming forward as the Delta's water supply grows more tenuous. More than a dozen seawater treatment plants are proposed in California, including a large regional plant in the Bay Area. A pilot project is under way at Mallard Slough in eastern Contra Costa County. RecordNet 2/10/08

 

Scuba divers plunged into a reservoir south of San Jose on Friday to hunt for a tiny, troublesome shellfish that is seeking, like so many travelers from afar, to start a new life in the Bay Area. In this case, it's the dread zebra mussel, a native of Russia and the scourge of fishermen, boaters and reservoir managers everywhere. SF Chronicle 2/10/08

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/8

When all relevant factors are accounted for, biofuels produce more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. So conclude two studies published yesterday in Science, adding to a growing body of research suggesting that crop-based fuels, once hailed as a clean answer to oil, are not a magic green bullet. Previous studies didn't always account for the energy that would be needed to grow, harvest and refine the fuels. Most importantly, they didn't consider that greenhouse gas-gobbling vegetation would need to be cleared for fuel crops -- or, if these were planted on existing pastures, that new fields would be cleared to make space for displaced food crops. Wired 2/08/08

 

State regulators took steps to add yet another Delta fish to the list of endangered species Thursday and implemented emergency regulations that could further cut into state water supplies. Meeting in San Diego on Thursday, the state Fish and Game Commission designated longfin smelt as a candidate for the list of threatened or endangered species, meaning it must decide within a year whether to add it to one of those lists. Then the commission enacted emergency measures that give Department of Fish and Game biologists new authority to cut deliveries from massive pumps near Tracy that supply water to 25 million people in the East Bay, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. CC Times 2/08/08

 

Australia's government on Thursday released graphic pictures of Japanese hunters harpooning whales and dragging their bleeding carcasses onto a ship near Antarctica, calling it evidence of the "indiscriminate" slaughter of the animals. CC Times 2/08/08

 

The California Fish and Game Commission rejected a proposal Thursday to ban fishing for two months on the lower American River. The 7,000-member Northern California branch of the Federation of Fly Fishers had sought the ban between Nimbus Dam and the Sacramento River, fearing unseasonably low river levels would endanger steelhead trout. Sacramentee Bee 2/08/08

 

Backers and foes of a plan to pump billions of gallons of water to booming Las Vegas differed Thursday over the economic prospects of the rural Nevada valleys that would have to give up the water. Proponents of the Southern Nevada Water Authority plan to draw more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys maintained that a population boom in the isolated area is unlikely no matter what. AP 2/08/08

 

Central Valley chinook salmon are in deep distress. Their rapidly disappearing numbers during their fall run upstream are alarming evidence of the misuse and declining health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's. Record Net 2/07/08

 

Construction of a plant to treat contaminated groundwater migrating from Aerojet's Rancho Cordova site near Sacramento is scheduled to begin in April. The 8,500-square-foot structure to be built on 0.8 acres at 10557 Coloma Road, west of the Church of Christ, is designed to blend in with the neighborhood, said Tim Murphy, GenCorp public affairs director. The council last year approved locating the treatment plant at the Coloma Road site, despite protests from homeowners in the adjoining Mills Ranch neighborhood, who feared the operation would lower their property values. Sacramento Bee 2/07/08

 

 

Transporation Daily News 2/8

When all relevant factors are accounted for, biofuels produce more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. So conclude two studies published yesterday in Science, adding to a growing body of research suggesting that crop-based fuels, once hailed as a clean answer to oil, are not a magic green bullet. Previous studies didn't always account for the energy that would be needed to grow, harvest and refine the fuels. Most importantly, they didn't consider that greenhouse gas-gobbling vegetation would need to be cleared for fuel crops -- or, if these were planted on existing pastures, that new fields would be cleared to make space for displaced food crops. Wired 2/08/08

Clearing land to produce biofuels such as ethanol will do more to exacerbate global warming than using gasoline… Washington Post 2/08/08

 

The California High-Speed Rail Authority's debate over where a 200-mph-plus bullet train should enter the Bay Area resurfaced Wednesday when the board balked at creating a committee to study ways of improving commuter rail service through the Altamont Pass and Livermore Valley. Kopp said it appeared the group wanted the new committee to work on high-speed rail through Altamont, not the improved commuter service the authority wants to facilitate. CC Times 2/08/08

 

The end of an era is unfolding at Mineta San Jose International Airport as demolition crews Tuesday night began tearing down Terminal C, built in 1965, which for years was the airport's lone one-story building that served all travelers. CC Times 2/08/08

 

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency chief Nathaniel Ford said Thursday that he wants to extend his control over transit and roadway improvements in the city - a move that would take away authority from the elected Board of Supervisors. Ford said a merger of the MTA and the Transportation Authority is necessary to assure more seamless management of San Francisco's transportation programs, making it easier to improve Muni and traffic congestion. Mayor Gavin Newsom, however, said later in the day that taking over the Transportation Authority was not his idea and is not something his office plans to pursue. SF Chronicle 2/08/08

 

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called today for the U.S. Coast Guard to implement stricter standards on oil spill response and preparedness. In a letter to Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, Feinstein called on the agency to implement a revised contingency plan for the San Francisco area, detailing existing oil spill response assets and prioritizing areas vulnerable to spills. SJ Mercury 2/08/08

 

More people are riding Caltrain in order to spare the air, according to the railroad's first major customer survey in five years. A quarter of the 4,200 passengers surveyed cited helping the environment as one of their top two reasons for riding. That's up from 10 percent in 2003. The survey found that the average Caltrain rider is "a 37-year-old college graduate who uses a monthly pass to commute to work at least four days a week, and earns more than $100,000 per year." Inside Bay Area 2/08/08

 

 

Agriculture Daily News 2/7

The state's top environmental official has called for an independent investigation of the agency that regulates Bay Area water pollution after the botched response by Marin County officials to two spills that dumped more than 5 million gallons of raw and partially treated sewage into the bay last month. In a letter, Linda Adams, secretary of the state Environmental Protection Agency, faults the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board for not immediately investigating a decision to release 2.5 million gallons of untreated sewage into Richardson Bay on Jan. 25. SF Chronicle 2/07/08

 

Salinas-area growers and agricultural organizations on Wednesday expressed support for proposed changes to the nation's foreign agricultural-worker program but said they're no substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. The revisions, pitched Wednesday by the U.S. Labor Department, would streamline the application process and modify housing and wage requirements for employing H2-A visa holders. In some cases, it would allow companies to pay lower wages to the workers, who are in the country legally to perform farm-related jobs. The Californian 2/07/08

 

For the second time this week, a federal court found today that a Navy anti-submarine training program threatened to subject whales and other sea creatures to harmful blasts of sonar and ordered protective measures in several sensitive zones, including one near Monterey Bay. She said the Navy must establish sonar-free zones around several areas where sensitive marine life is plentiful, including the Davidson Seamount, which adjoins the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. SF Chronicle 2/07/08

 

In the wake of a USDA announcement this week that it was shutting down operations at a Chino-based meat producer, food industry insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is. The incidents recorded at Hallmark Meat Packing occurred under the noses of eight on-site USDA inspectors. Particularly shocking was evidence of downer cattle entering the human food chain. Downer cattle, cattle that are unable to walk, are banned from use as human food because they show a higher occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease. LA Times 2/07/08

 

New, big ideas are going to be crucial to shore up and secure California's water supply, according to experts who spoke last week at the California Irrigation Institute's 46th annual conference.
The conference took place Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Sacramento. . The Thursday session opened with a status report on water issues in the state Legislature offered by state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, and a panel of water experts took up the issue of the state's water in light of changing environmental and legal conditions. Capital Press 2/06/08

 

Standing on a levee next to the Natomas Cross Canal, Gov. Schwarzenegger and his staff announced they were releasing $211 million in state bond funds several months before the money normally would roll out to help move forward four big flood control projects. Of the total, $49 million will go toward strengthening and raising the Natomas Cross Canal.  The director of the California Department of Water Resources said the state's cash infusion will come from Propositions 1E and 84, which voters approved in 2006 to improve flood control. Sacramento Bee 2/07/08

 

A malady that has killed billions of bees since 2006, threatening about $15 billion in pollinated crops, is devastating hives again, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's top honeybee researcher. The effects of the renewed onset of Colony Collapse Disorder won't become apparent until month's end, when California almond growers begin to assess the quality of crop pollination.  Bloomberg 2/07/08

 

The College of Agriculture at California State University, Chico, says it will host the 2008 Organic Dairy Conference at its Agriculture Teaching and Research Center on March 25-26. Central Valley Business Times 2/07/08

 

In a post on his blog, Michael Bauer, food editor for the SF Chronicle, chimes in over  the problem with hospital food, and argues for the need of a patients’ rights advocated to reform the hospital cafeteria like Alice Waters reformed school lunch. 2/07/08