Immigration and labor:
*S.F. mayor shifts policy on illegal offenders -- San Francisco will shift course and start turning over juvenile illegal immigrants convicted of felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday as he took the blame for what he conceded was a costly and misguided effort to shield the youths. SF Chronicle 7/3/08
Water:
*$1 million water-conservation campaign begins -- Elected officials from around the Bay Area hope a new public awareness campaign spurs people to voluntarily cut their water use by 10 percent - enough perhaps to avoid the mandatory water rationing already imposed on some East Bay cities. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and a representative of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums gathered at a San Francisco park Wednesday to announce a new "Water Saving Hero" campaign aimed at persuading residents to take little steps like turning off the tap when they brush their teeth and taking shorter showers. SF Chronicle 7/3/08
EBMUD water rationing allocations debated -- Roger Avery and 165 of his San Ramon neighbors slashed water use 25 percent in their front yards served by a common irrigation system two years ago, when they installed sophisticated computerized water controls. Now, they fear they will be penalized by the East Bay Municipal Utility District's water-rationing plan, which requires large irrigators to cut water use 30 percent from past use amounts. SJ Mercury 7/6/08
*District wants water use cut by up to 10% -- More than a quarter-million residents in Granite Bay and northeastern Sacramento County have been asked to cut their water use between 5 percent and 10 percent. For efficient water use, San Juan Water District officials are asking customers to tune up their irrigation systems, fix leaky plumbing, and water their lawns before noon. In announcing the voluntary program Wednesday, San Juan officials said the region's exceptionally dry spring triggered the Stage 2 alert. Sacramento Bee 7/3/08
New lab to safeguard water supply -- The new water quality lab is the canary in the coal mine for the drinking water supply of 1.7 million people in Santa Clara County. Its 16 chemists and microbiologists conduct 138,000 water tests a year, sampling water as it comes into the district's three drinking water treatment plants from underground wells and San Francisco Bay's delta, and again as it goes out to taps across Silicon Valley. The new facility, among the most advanced drinking water labs in the nation, is built to never stop running. SJ Mercury 7/6/08
*Greenhouse gases called threat to Pacific life -- Ocean waters welling up from the depths along the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico are threatening a wide variety of marine organisms as carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, saturates the water and increases its corrosive acidity, government scientists report. In separate recent reports in the journal Science and in congressional testimony, the scientists warn that the rate of "ocean acidification" is increasing, and say damage to some of the most important living organisms in the sea's food web is becoming more apparent. SF Chronicle 7/4/08
Parks and forests:
California fine dies along with the lawn -- Sacramento city officials have admitted their code enforcement policies may not be drought-friendly, and said they won't fine the couple featured in a local newspaper who let their front lawn die to save water. The story prompted a torrent of outrage from the public. McClatchy News 7/3/08
*Fungus-killed oaks make Basin Complex fire hotter, harder to fight -- Firefighters battling to protect Big Sur are working in forests riddled with many thousands of flammable dead oak trees, making the savage Basin Complex fire burn hotter and and travel faster, forest experts said Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of oak trees in the area have been killed in recent years by a disease known as sudden oak death, producing fuel that allows flames to spread more quickly through redwoods and other evergreens, they said. LA Times 7/7/08
Food:
*Restaurant lobby sticking a fork in menu-label reform -- The restaurant industry is walking the halls of the California Legislature offering a "compromise" to a major obesity prevention bill. But this compromise is like banning smoking and exempting cigarettes. Now that New York City, San Francisco and other localities have passed menu-labeling policies for fast-food and other chain restaurants, the restaurant industry has changed its lobbying strategy. Instead of just opposing the menu-labeling bill, Senate Bill 1420 introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley, as it did last year, it's gotten its own bill introduced. Sacremento Bee 7/3/08
Cost of a meal driven higher by hoarding nations -- At least 29 countries have sharply curbed food exports in recent months, to ensure that their own people have enough to eat, at affordable prices. The restrictions are making it harder for impoverished importing countries to afford the food they need. The export limits are forcing some of the most vulnerable people, those who rely on relief agencies, to go hungry. International Herald Tribune 7/1/08
Biofuel:
Weather Hazards Threaten Promise of Biofuels -- As the world grows more reliant on crops like corn and palm oil for its fuel supply, it is becoming vulnerable to the many hazards that can damage agriculture, ranging from droughts to plagues to storms. Estimates released Monday suggest that damage from the floods may not have been as bad as initially feared. But corn and ethanol prices are still up substantially from their recent lows on fears that supplies would be tight over the next year. The price of ethanol, which was already rising before the floods, has nearly doubled in the United States from its low of $1.50 a gallon, or 3.8 liters, in September. NY Times 7/2/08
*Ethanol mixes finding way into traditional tanks -- The practice has caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency as a handful of filling stations install pumps that allow drivers to select different ethanol blends with the push of a button. Auto manufacturers warn that ethanol can corrode fuel lines and damage hoses, seals and the fuel pump in cars not made to carry ethanol. That can lead to bad gas mileage, poor performance and may even affect the vehicle computers that warn of problems. AP 6/25/08
Biodiesel users find oasis in San Leandro -- Biodiesel, an alternative fuel usually produced from animal fat or vegetable oil, has steadily been gaining interest among environment-conscious Bay Area drivers. The problem for many: Only about 20 service stations between Santa Cruz and Fairfield offer the fuel, including locations in Berkeley and San Jose, according to the National Biodiesel Board. But a growing number of Bay Area motorists are discovering a biodiesel oasis in a small gas station in San Leandro. At the moment most of the station's biodiesel customers are commercial truck drivers. But a number of local municipal governments get their fleet vehicles filled up there, and a modest number of noncommercial drivers have been steadily coming to fill up their personal vehicles. Inside Bay Area 7/6/08
Agriculture:
Farmers say salmonella scare has hurt tomato sales -- With a salmonella scare causing many customers to shun what's normally a summertime favorite, tomato farmers nationwide have had to plow under their fields and leave their crop to rot in packinghouses. As losses across the supply chain top $100 million, industry leaders are calling for a congressional investigation into the government's handling of the outbreak, the source of which hasn't been determined. AP 7/4/08
Farmers market is bustling despite salmonella worries -- Officials with the Food and Drug Administration said Saturday they are investigating cilantro and Serrano peppers as possible culprits. Tomatoes, however, are still the leading suspect. Shoppers at the busy farmers market in downtown Sacramento said Sunday they were aware of the salmonella outbreak but were not deterred. Tomatoes at the market run about $1 a pound. Several stands were selling tomatoes. All appeared busy. Sacramento Bee 7/7/08
Wal-Mart to sell locally grown produce in stores nationwide -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to purchase and sell $400 million worth of produce grown by local farmers within its state stores this year, an effort the company says will only grow. Academic studies show buying locally cuts down on transportation mileage while also assuring customers of a product's provenance amid mass recalls. SF Chronicle 7/6/08
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