Salmon:
*All salmon fishing banned on West Coast -- Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
*Salmon fishery may get federal bailout -- With a historic salmon fishing ban keeping the West Coast fleet tied up at the docks, a top Bush administration official Thursday declared a fishery failure that could allow the industry to land a $60-million federal bailout. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez's announcement comes amid what he called "the unprecedented collapse" of the salmon population off California and Oregon. By proclaiming a salmon fishery failure for waters off the two states, Gutierrez gives Congress a green light to consider a bailout of the West's fishing industry for the second time in the last three years. LA Times Blog 5/2/08
Study suggests dams could benefit salmon runs in California -- California's vast network of reservoirs—which destroyed more than 5,000 miles of salmon habitat when their dams were erected decades ago—could turn out to be a savior for a species on the brink of collapse, according to a new study. Those dams store cold water, which the study says will be vital to the salmon's survival as climate change is expected to warm California's rivers. SJ Mercury 5/2/08
Health:
*Bill prohibits bias based on genes -- A bill that would prohibit discrimination by health insurers and employers based on the information that people carry in their genes won final approval in Congress on Thursday by an overwhelming vote. The legislation, which President Bush has indicated he will sign, speaks both to the mounting hope placed in genetic research to greatly improve health care and the fear of a dystopia in which people's genetic information could be used against them. SJ Mercury 5/2/08
House OKs bill banning genetic discrimination -- The bill passed with overwhelming support in the House on a 414-1 vote, a week after being approved by a 95-0 vote in the Senate. The bill has strong support from medical researchers and Bay Area biotech companies, who say the fear of genetic discrimination has discouraged people from participating in clinical trials, slowing the development of treatments. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
Water:
*Cost to Funnel Water Around Delta Has Soared -- The price tag for addressing the declining health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, while providing a reliable water supply to California cities and farmers, keeps getting higher. Officials met last week to discuss one of the state’s most contentious proposals—piping fresh water around the delta and into the canals that carry it south and into the San Francisco Bay area. The various options are projected to cost between $4 billion and $17 billion. The estimates were provided to a panel created by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to come up with solutions to preserve the delta. The estimates are far higher than the $1.3 billion cost in 1982, when California voters rejected the so-called Peripheral Canal. Sacramento Union Tribune 5/1/08
Drought certain if solutions are absent -- The challenges for California - and indeed, the West - were acutely illustrated on Saturday during Stanford's "Walk the Farm: Stanford Waterways" hike. The walk also showcased some of the nation's most innovative conservation methods - from a power plant poised to become the first in Northern California to recycle cooling tower water for use elsewhere, to a watering system that is computer-driven to switch off in rain or cool temperatures. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
Need to deal with water needs crucial -- Two parched years - punctuated by the driest spring in at least 150 years - could force districts across California to ration water this summer as policymakers and scientists grow increasingly concerned that the state is on the verge of a long-term drought. State water officials reported Thursday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of a huge portion of California's water supply, was only 67 percent of normal, due in part to historically low rainfall in March and April. SF Chronicle 5/1/08
Dry year leading to water shortage -- Forecasters say a key water index that measures snowpack and reservoir storage make this year a dry one that borders on the most severe "critical" category. The number, which will be assigned in the coming days or weeks, is likely to be the lowest since 1994. SJ Mercury 5/2/08
Life-threatening low-oxygen zones spread in oceans -- Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, researchers warn. Oxygen-depleted zones in the central and eastern equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans appear to have expanded over the past 50 years, researchers report in today's edition of the journal Science. a research oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Environmental Research Division in Pacific Grove (Monterey County), called the finding "compelling" but not surprising. Researches who, have studied trends in dissolved oxygen in the ocean off California have found an expansion of the area of the continental shelf there that is exposed to low-oxygen conditions. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
Bio-fuel:
Facility to change garbage into gas -- In a feat of modern-day alchemy, methane generated by garbage rotting at the Altamont Landfill near Livermore will be converted to clean fuel for garbage trucks at a $15.5 million onsite facility starting in 2009. Houston-based Waste Management Inc. and Linde North America, a subsidiary of a German company, are working together to create what the two describe as the world's largest facility converting landfill gas to clean vehicle fuel. SJ Mercury 5/2/08
Food and Wine:
Springtime sakes from A to Y -- Sake lists at restaurants like Ame and Yoshi's are becoming even more specialized. Namazake, or unpasteurized sake - "nama" means raw - are seasonal, available directly from Japan only during spring and early summer. Many were bottled just two months ago. Spring namazake is young, robust, fresh and lively, often with more vinous-seeming characteristics than pasteurized sake. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
Pork passes Pinot's acid test -- There is enough acidity in Pinot Noir to take on fried dishes; the wine's acidity helps cleanse the palate of the oil and rich fried breading of the dish. Pork tonkatsu - a Japanese-style breaded, fried pork cutlet - fills this culinary niche nicely. Pounding slices of the pork loin into cutlets is the most time-consuming step of this quick-to-prepare meal. SF Chronicle 5/2/08
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