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
No comments:
Post a Comment