7-17-09

 
7-17-09
Merced Sun-Star
UC regents committee approves plan that may mean furloughs for employees
The plan is equal to a 4 to 10 percent salary reduction...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/953241.html
The University of California Regents Committee on Finance approved on Wednesday a budget reduction plan that will furlough UC employees at levels equal to a 4 to 10 percent salary reduction.
The goal of the furlough plan is to save $181.4 million in salary expenditures between Sept. 1, 2009 and Sept. 1, 2010.
The university is trying to offset an anticipated $813 million reduction in support from the state general fund.
About 860 UC Merced employees would be hurt by the cuts, according to a staffing snapshot from last November. Student workers are not subject to the cut.
Employees will be subject to 11 to 26 unpaid days next year, with higher-paid employees taking larger cuts.
Chancellor Steve Kang addressed members of the Regents finance and compensation committees before the vote.
"The UC Merced operation has been very bare bones with no room to juggle and planning for this new campus has been very challenging due to the budget uncertainty," Kang said. "It has been like trying to build a house in a hurricane."
Kang said the furlough plan would mean that many offices on the Merced campus that have only one employee will have to close down several days during the year.
He added that student services like housing and security would also be "severely hampered."
A 9.3 percent increase in student fees that has already been passed will produce an additional $211 million to cover one-fourth of the shortfall.
The full Board of Regents is expected to approve the committee's plan today.
Loose Lips:
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/115/v-print/story/955377.html
Ready, set, stalled In another sign that Riverside Motorsports Park may never cross the finish line, the Web site touting the project went dark.
The plan, as proposed in 2003, was that CEO John Condren would build a quarter-billion-dollar racetrack next to Castle Commerce Center. Amenities would include eight racetracks, a shopping mall, restaurants and a lake.
As it stands, RMP seems to be without cash, punctuated by the fact that it owes Merced County $300,000.
The domain name -- www.rmpracing.com -- is still registered, so perhaps there's still life in the project.
If you believe that, Lips has a racetrack project we'll sell you.
Letter: Water myths...PAT TRIEWEILER, Atwater
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/955376.html
Editor: I disagree with the Sun-Star's editorial on July 9, "Facts, fiction about water," that water cutbacks to farmers (due to environmental decisions) are largely only the stuff of fiction and myth.
It's a fact that the 10 percent of water deliveries to farmers from the Delta-Mendota Canal were cut due to fish. It may be the opinion of the Sun-Star that this is not a lot of water. But a cut of 10 percent means 100 acres in a 1,000-acre operation. This 10 percent of fiction is having a major impact on communities on the Westside.
The thousands who walked along Highway 33 in the March for Water were not misguided by fiction. Those communities are being directly affected by these cutbacks.
When Valley growers have decisions affecting their livelihood given to them by federal judges and mandates from Washington, weeks before they plant crops, without any input from them, it makes it extremely difficult to manage a farm.
Growers on the Westside have gone to great lengths to conserve water. Tomato production in many fields has nearly doubled with the use of drip systems. Growers are making a great effort to do more with less.
Lastly, I do not believe a "fish czar" is needed. Washington has too many "czars" as it is. What is needed is giving farmers a greater voice and greater feedback from Washington when these decisions are made. Yes, the drought years are the major cause of water deliveries, but to say that environmental decisions and politics are fiction when it comes to water, well that's insulting.
Letter: Affordable housing?...JUDY BROWN, Merced
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/955390.html
Editor: I read with interest the Tip List in Thursday's Sun-Star regarding the house at Willowbrook Drive and North Highway 59.
I have driven by this dilapidated junkyard many times, it has been that way for a long time.
I guess I should not be surprised (but I am) to learn that not only does the city own the property, but that someone in their infinite wisdom actually approved paying $95,000 for this piece of junk.
Has anybody at the Redevelopment Agency looked at the Realtor's Page lately? There are much nicer properties on the market for thousands of dollars less. What Realtor sold this bill of goods to the city? On top of that how much of our tax money will be spent putting up "affordable housing" on this small piece of property? I could think of other titles for the "King of Blight."
Modesto Bee
Home sales prices on upward swing...J.N. Sbranti
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/784743.html
Stanislaus County home sales prices rose for the second straight month in June, jumping $4,000 to a median $139,000.
That's the first two-month rise since the housing market began crashing 3½ years ago.
"There was an overcorrection on the way down, just like there was when prices were going up," said Craig Lewis, president of Prudential California Realty. "We've hit the bottom. I don't think prices will move up rapidly, but they'll rise slow and steady now."
Credit a classic case of supply and demand.
"There are plenty of buyers at these prices, but not enough homes," explained Lewis, who said his 300 agents sold a record number of houses during the last year.
Any house in decent condition priced less than $250,000 is getting multiple purchase offers. Some homes have more than 40 people competing to buy.
That competition is pushing up values.
Though prices rose 3 percent in June, there's a long way to go before most homeowners will be happy. The median price paid for a Stani- slaus home was $396,000 in December 2005.
Virtually every home purchased since 2001 is worth less now than it was then.
The same is true in Merced and San Joaquin counties.
According to statistics released Thursday by MDA DataQuick, median-priced homes in Merced sold for $110,000 in June, up $5,000 from May. San Joaquin homes sold for a median $152,000 in June, which was the same as May but up $6,500 from April.
Northern San Joaquin Valley home values have fallen further than about any other region in America, and prices have been recovering more slowly.
Statewide, for example, the median-priced home sold for $246,000 in June, up 7 percent from May. Bay Area homes rose 3 percent to $352,000.
Just as it did a decade ago, the hefty difference between Northern San Joaquin Valley home prices and those elsewhere in California is attracting buyers to Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties.
"There are lots and lots of investors buying here. They think it is the time to get into the market," said Chad Costa, a Re/Max Executive agent in Modesto who sold 500 homes last year.
Stiff competition
Costa said investors making all-cash offers are tough for first-time buyers to compete with because they don't have to convince lenders or appraisers that homes are worth what they're willing to pay.
Home values are changing so frequently that appraised values can vary dramatically, and lenders won't issue loans for more than what their appraiser determines a home is worth.
"If you get five appraisers, you're going to get five different values," said Costa, noting how frustrating that can be for buyers trying to close a deal.
Another big problem with the current market, Costa said, is that many vacant, foreclosed properties haven't been put up for sale yet. Many bank-owned homes sit empty for months without any attempt to find a buyer.
'Don't give up hope'
But that's starting to change.
Costa lists foreclosed properties for 30 banks, and he said those listings are increasing. Recently he has been listing two or three bank-owned homes for sale each day, which he said should help meet pent-up buyer demand.
"Don't give up hope," Costa advised buyers. "There's going to be plenty of homes on the market in the next three to six months. The market is going to balance itself out."
There certainly are plenty of homes in the process of being foreclosed on to quench buyers' thirst.
During June alone, 749 Stanislaus homes were lost to foreclosure and more than 1,000 additional homeowners were told their homes are in jeopardy of foreclosure unless they catch up on delinquent mortgage payments.
Nearly 14 percent of all Stanislaus homeowners with mortgages are 90 days or more behind on payments.
For the last couple of years, nearly all of the used homes sold in Stanislaus have been foreclosed properties or those at risk of being foreclosed on.
But that, too, is changing.
Increasing numbers of homeowners who aren't in mortgage trouble are choosing to sell their current homes so they can buy elsewhere.
"It's a secret in the real estate business: The very best time to buy a move-up home is during a down market like this," Lewis said.
Here's why: Even though homeowners must sell their current homes for relatively low prices, they may get even bigger bargains buying their next homes.
"For higher-priced houses (such as those listed at more than $300,000), there's more inventory to choose from and less competition to buy," Lewis said. "People are starting to see that. The last 60 days we've started to see traditional sellers putting their homes on the market."
Fresno Bee
Fewer foreclosed homes squeeze Valley market...Sanford Nax
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/v-print/story/1541709.html
Last year, real estate agents were swamped with houses they couldn't sell. Prices were too high, and foreclosures were flooding the marketplace.
Today, it's vastly different.
The glut has turned into a shortage. Prices fell, interest rates stayed low, moratoriums slowed the flow of foreclosures onto the market, and bargain-hunters snapped up lower-priced houses.
"Now, Realtors are saying they want more foreclosures because they need more inventory," said Sean O'Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar, which tracks the market.
On Thursday, 2,384 houses and condos were for sale in Fresno and Clovis, which Fresno Association of Realtors president Jared Martin said is a two-month supply.
Most of the properties being sold are at the lower end of the market, which is keeping overall values down. The median price of an existing home in Fresno County in June was $141,500, up from $137,500 in May, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
DataQuick said 829 existing houses changed hands in Fresno County last month, a 4.4% hike from May. Real estate agents say a dwindling supply and multiple offers on the lower-priced properties have helped drive values up slightly.
Whether that trend continues remains to be seen.
Martin said prices aren't increasing faster in part because appraisers are having trouble determining value in a fluctuating market. More sales are falling through, and more offers are rejected.
At least one real estate expert warns of a "false bottom" in the housing market. He said the pressure is on those selling higher-priced houses as the supply of lower-priced homes is clearing. That means the median price is reported as increasing when in fact more expensive houses are dropping in value -- but not to the level of an entry home.
"Home prices at the upper end are falling, but the median price is coming up because $600,000 houses are selling for $300,000 -- and last year the $300,000 homes sold for $100,000," said Gregor Watson, managing partner of McKinley Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based real estate fund that is investing in residential real estate in the battered California market.
Watson said a new wave of foreclosures is expected in the next six months and could hit in full force in 2010 as option ARMs come due.
An option ARM is an adjustable-rate loan in which a borrower can opt to pay less than the monthly balance, and tack the difference onto the outstanding loan balance. Many have automatic triggers about to adjust.
Banks have incentive to hold foreclosures off the market to avoid classifying them as nonperforming loans, but increasing defaults in the commercial and retail sectors may force banks to dump them, Watson said.
O'Toole isn't so sure. California's new Foreclosure Prevention Act, which prevents banks that don't have a loan modification program from filing a foreclosure for 90 days, limited the number of default notices in June.
Even some banks with approved modification plans held back, although they didn't have to participate in the moratorium.
"We don't expect a large wave of foreclosures, because of political pressure," O'Toole said.
Homebuilder sentiment index rises in July
The National Association of Home Builders says its housing market index climbed in July to the highest level in nearly a year, as low interest rates and other incentives helped builders woo homebuyers.
The Washington-based trade association said Thursday the index rose two points to 17, its highest reading since it was 17 in September.
Index readings lower than 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market. The last time it was above 50 was in April 2006.
The reading for traffic by prospective buyers rose one point to 14. The sales expectations index over the next six months was unchanged at 26.
The report reflects a survey of 484 residential developers nationwide, tracking builders' perceptions of market conditions.
Stockton Record
S.J. sees foreclosure rate fall
Two other counties in region have fewer filings...Reed Fujii
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090717/A_NEWS/907170322
Rising unemployment is taking its toll on the U.S. housing market as 1.9 million foreclosure filings were reported in the first half of the year, a nearly 15 percent increase from the same period of 2008, RealtyTrac reported this week.
But San Joaquin County and other mid-Valley regions were headed in the opposite direction, according to RealtyTrac, an online market for foreclosure properties.
San Joaquin County had nearly 12,800 foreclosure filings - mortgage defaults, trustee sales or bank repossessions - from January through June, nearly 4 percent fewer than the roughly 13,300 reported in the last half of 2008 and almost 13 percent down from nearly 14,700 in the first six months last year.
Stanislaus County to the south and Sacramento County to the north also saw foreclosure filings ease. RealtyTrac reported year-to-year and six-month declines of 9.2 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.
At the same time, nearly all other California counties - in fact, most other areas of the nation - saw foreclosure filings increase, said Daren Blomquist, marketing communications manager for Irvine-based RealtyTrac.
"We were somewhat surprised by the declines in those (mid-Valley) markets," he said Thursday.
However, he noted, "There are some tentative signs, and maybe this is one more, that some of the hardest-hit areas are getting close to some sort of bottom in the market.
"I think, especially when you're keying on the year-over-year (comparison), that you're seeing a positive sign," he said.
Jeff Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific, agreed.
"It's certainly good news to see it coming down a little bit," he said Thursday by phone.
But Michael emphasized it's only one small positive.
San Joaquin County's rate of foreclosure notices - at 5.6 percent, or roughly one filing for every 18 properties in the county - is third highest in California. It's behind only drought-stricken Merced County at 6.9 percent and Riverside County at 6 percent, where the real estate collapse has triggered massive, ongoing layoffs.
"That will have to come down 90 percent before we're in any kind of normal situation," Michael said of the foreclosure rate. He said it will take a year or two before that happens.
Still, San Joaquin County no longer tops the nation in foreclosures, a dubious honor that attracted television, newspaper and magazine reporters from across the nation and around the world as the real estate bust hit the headlines.
Nevada now has a higher foreclosure rate with more than 6 percent, or one in 16 properties, having been affected in the first half of 2009. Nevada's more than 68,700 foreclosure filings is a jump of 61 percent from the first half of 2008, RealtyTrac reported.
"Arguably, we had the biggest bubble of all the bubbles, and we were certainly the area first to hit the very high foreclosure rates. The other places are catching up to where we're at," Michael said of San Joaquin County.
Nationally, the rise in foreclosures is due more to the poor economy than subprime or high-risk mortgages.
"Unemployment-related foreclosures account for much of this increased activity, and the high number of borrowers who find themselves owing more on their mortgages than their homes' are now worth represent a potentially significant future risk," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement Thursday.
San Francisco Chronicle
White House scraps Bush plan to boost logging...Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/17/MNVU18Q38H.DTL&type=printable
Grants Pass, Ore. -- The Obama administration has scrapped the Bush administration's last-ditch attempt to boost logging in Northwest forests by scaling back protection for the northern spotted owl.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that a plan to increase logging on federal lands in western Oregon could not stand up to challenges under the Endangered Species Act.
The Department of Interior will develop new measures protecting the spotted owl, which is listed as threatened under the act, he said.
The Bush administration had cut the size of critical habitat for the owl and revised the spotted owl recovery plan to make the logging increases possible.
The Western Oregon Plan Revision was created to increase logging on millions of acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands and boost federal revenue shared with timber counties. The plan, five years in the making, was completed in the final days of President George W. Bush's administration.
To make the deadline, the Bureau of Land Management argued that it did not have to consult with federal biologists over the potential harm to spotted owls and salmon, and would do that on individual timber sales as they were offered.
Salazar said their review determined that argument would never withstand a court challenge. He said repeatedly that an inspector general's report last year found that Julie MacDonald, former deputy secretary of the Interior, had manipulated scientific findings on protections for the owl.
Decisions on offering timber sales will once again be governed by the Northwest Forest Plan, and Interior will work to speed timber sales not likely to be challenged under environmental laws, Salazar added.
Lawsuits from conservation groups sparked the Northwest Forest Plan, which cut logging by more than 80 percent in national forests of Oregon, Washington and Northern California to protect habitat for the spotted owl and salmon.
Thursday's announcement came after Ned Farquar, acting assistant Interior secretary, told a conference call of attorneys that the department was withdrawing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's plan to boost logging in Western Oregon and seeking dismissal of four lawsuits challenging it.
Andy Stahl, director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, said Thursday's decision reverses Bush's "backward step in protection of Oregon fish and wildlife habitat."
Unemployment rate remains at 11.6 percent for June...Friday, July 17, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/17/state/n084909D05.DTL&type=printable
Sacramento, Calif. (AP) --
California's unemployment rate remained steady at 11.6 percent from May to June, the highest in modern record-keeping.
The U.S. Department of Labor says about 66,500 Californians lost jobs in June. It was the largest drop in the country after Texas, Ohio and Michigan.
The federal government last month reported an 11.5 percent jobless rate in California but revised its number to 11.6 percent.
California's unemployment rate is up from just 7.1 percent a year ago.
Declines in construction, mining, manufacturing, finance, trade, transportation, professional services, leisure, health, education and government are blamed for the job losses.
The national unemployment rate is 9.5 percent.
CSU to join UC in cutting pay, raising tuition...Nanette Asimov. Staff reporter Richard Procter contributed to this report.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/17/MN1618Q3U3.DTL&type=printable
Just as the University of California's Board of Regents was voting Thursday morning to cut $813 million from the UC budget, the chancellor of the California State University system announced he will ask trustees to approve a hefty 20 percent fee hike on students next week.
CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said he will also ask for layoffs, unpaid furloughs and a range of other measures Tuesday to save the university system $584 million.
"It's nothing short of a mega-meltdown financially," Reed said.
CSU has so far escaped the mass protests and letter-writing campaigns by employees, scientists and professors that have swirled around UC President Mark Yudof's cost-cutting plan - which, like the CSU plan, includes unpaid furloughs and reductions in courses and programs at all 10 UC campuses.
'We're very upset' at CSU
But the calm at CSU won't last for long, said Steve Dixon, president of the California State Student Association.
It's hard to round up angry students in summer, he said. But plenty of them will show up at the trustees' meeting Tuesday in Long Beach, Dixon said, not only to demonstrate against the fee increase and cuts, but to urge the board to vote no.
"We're very upset," Dixon said. "Every time Sacramento can't balance the books, we students end up bearing the financial responsibility. But we're not getting an increase in quality. We'll see increased class sizes, fewer courses and fewer teachers of Ph.D. quality. Worse, we'll also see tens of thousands of students denied access."
Reduced admissions
State lawmakers are trying to close a $26.3 billion budget shortfall and are bickering over which state programs to slash. But they have largely settled the magnitude of cuts to UC and CSU.
Consequently, Reed has already locked the door on new admissions for next spring as one way to save money. He said additional steps will be taken to reduce CSU enrollment by 40,000 students over the next two years by making it harder for some students, including out-of-staters, to attend. Fewer students will inevitably mean layoffs, he said.
If Reed's fee increase is accepted, students will pay almost $1,000 more this year than last year to attend one of CSU's 23 campuses.
Last year, students paid $3,855. The trustees raised the basic fee by 10 percent in May, bringing the total to $4,155. If they raise it again on Tuesday, it will cost $4,827 to go to a CSU school.
Not all students are angry.
"I understand that they can't do anything about it," shrugged Aznaur Midov, an incoming senior at San Francisco State University who studies banking. "The university has to help itself to survive."
Lest anyone take Midov for an affluent gent, he works as a waiter and as a security guard, and he pays his tuition with - yes - a credit card.
Employees also hit
College employees are also facing financial pain.
Unpaid furloughs meant to reduce layoffs are part of the cost-cutting plans at UC and CSU. Yet the approaches are very different.
UC's regents approved a seven-tiered furlough plan Thursday in which employees who earn more money will take more unpaid days off. So those earning the most, $240,000 or more, will take a 10 percent pay cut and 26 days off. Those earning the least, $40,000 or less, will take a 4 percent cut and 11 days off.
By contrast, the CSU plan would require everyone to take off two unpaid days per month to save $275 million.
Employees are worried.
"If my pay is cut, I could very well lose my house," said Jane Veeder, a professor of visual communication design at San Francisco State. "Is the CSU going to co-sign my loan?"
At Cal State Long Beach, librarian Tiffini Travis said she was hoping to teach a community service seminar this fall in which freshmen would help feed the homeless at a local shelter.
"Now I'm afraid we're going to be the ones eating there," she said.
In Bay Area: World War II-era Japanese American UC students who were unable to graduate because they were sent to internment camps will get honorary degrees, the regents have decided. D1
California State University's proposal
California State University's Board of Trustees will decide Tuesday whether to approve Chancellor Charles Reed's plan to cut $584 million from the CSU budget. Here are the basics of his plan:
Higher student fees: A 20 percent fee hike, on top of the 10 percent increase approved in May, would bring the cost of attending a CSU school to $4,827.
Furloughs: All employees would take off two unpaid days per month.
Enrollment reduction: About 450,000 students attend CSU. Efforts would be made to reduce enrollment by 40,000 over two years.
Campus cuts of $190 million: Layoffs, course reductions, freezes on maintenance, construction, travel and more. Cut to be decided by officials at each campus.
University of California's budget cuts
The University of California Board of Regents voted 20-1 Thursday to approve UC President Mark Yudof's plan for cutting $813 million from the system's budget. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a regent, cast the "no" vote. Here are the basics of the plan:
Campus reductions: (40 percent, or $325 million) The 10 campuses are deciding what to cut. All have begun axing programs, courses and employees.
Furloughs/pay cuts: (25 percent, or $203 million) Pay cuts range from 4 to 10 percent, and unpaid days from 11 to 26, with higher-paid employees taking a greater percentage of the cuts.
Student fee increases: (25 percent, or $203 million) Student fees were raised by 9.3 percent in May.
Systemwide belt tightening: (10 percent, or $82 million) This includes debt restructuring and other adjustments.
Indybay.org
Initial Victory in Striped Bass Lawsuit
Judge Denies Motion that Striped Bass Regulations are Illegal...Dan Bacher
In a significant court victory, corporate agribusiness was defeated in their attempt to divert attention from the massive state and federal export pumps in the South Delta that have spurred the collapse of Central Valley salmon, green sturgeon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and striped bass populations. Here are all of the details from Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/16/18608405.php
In an important victory for fisheries and striped bass, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta (Coalition) lost their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in their lawsuit against the Department of Fish and Game.
The “Coalition” is comprised of water agencies in San Joaquin Valley that have been attempting to divert attention away from the massive state and federal export pumps in the south Delta that are killing Delta fisheries and water quality. The Coalition filed a lawsuit against DFG claiming the Department's enforcement of fishing regulations that protect striped bass violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because striped bass prey upon salmon. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno California and is attached.
The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA, California Striped Bass Association and the Northern California Council of the Federation of Flyfishers (CSPA, et al.) and Central Delta Water Agency joined the lawsuit as Defendant-Intervenors in support of DFG.
The Coalition filed a motion for Summary Judgment seeking the court to declare:
1. That the Central Valley Improvement Act does not exempt striped bass fishing regulations from “take” (i.e., killing) prohibitions under the ESA.
2. That a single “take” of a salmon would violate the ESA.
3. That it is a violation of the ESA for DFG to “take” a federally listed species without first receiving “take” authorization.
4. That Dee Dillion has standing under the US Constitution to pursue the litigation. (Mr. Dillion is a Sacramento resident that claims he has been harmed by DFGs striped bass regulations)
Summary Judgment can only be granted where there are no material issues of fact in dispute. The motion was heard on 29 June 2009.
On 16 July 2009, Judge Oliver W. Wanger issued a decision denying the request for Summary Judgment in its entirety. Should the Coalition continue to pursue the issue, the case will now move to trial in May 2010.
Judge Wanger's decision is noteworthy in that he identified relevant evidence and set forth the guidelines of what the Coalition would be required to prove at trial. Below are several important excerpts from the decision that demonstrate the uphill battle faced by the Coalition.
“It is undisputed that striped bass prey on Listed Species. PSUF 10. Plaintiffs maintain that by promoting and maintaining an artificially high population of striped bass in the Delta, the striped bass sport-fishing regulations have also artificially increased striped bass predation of the Listed Species. PSUF 11. However, while CDFG concedes that evidence shows that the Listed Species are among the species that constitute the striped bass' food source, the Listed Species “are not common in the striped bass diet and striped bass predation is not responsible for their current status.” Fuchs Dec., Exh. G (Biological Assessment for the California Department of Fish and Game Striped Bass Management Program, June 1995- June 1996 (“BA”)) at 54-56. As the Conservation Plan observed, “[s]almon and striped bass populations coexisted in much greater abundance than the populations existing today and available historical information on population trends does not suggest that high periods in striped bass abundance coincided with lower populations of salmon as would be expected if striped bass were a major factor limiting salmon abundance.” Conservation Plan at 26. In fact, statistical analysis of species abundance data referenced in the Conservation Plan disclosed a positive, rather than a negative, correlation between striped bass abundance and salmon abundance.” P.7 of the ruling.
CDF&G declarant Matthew 'Nobriga notes that, while striped bass do eat delta smelt, they also eat their predators and competitors, like the Mississippi silverslide. Id. at ¶10. From this, Mr. Nobriga suggests that it is possible that the elimination of striped bass from the Bay-Delta system could increase silverside abundance, which would increase silverside predation of the Delta smelt. Id. at ¶ 10. Increased silverside predation of the Delta smelt could potentially offset any reduced striped bass predation of the smelt.” P. 9 of the ruling.
CSPA et al. filed an independent brief on two of the four issues presented by plaintiffs for summary judgment and the Court ruled that “Two of the Four Requested Determinations are Not Amenable to Summary Judgment” on those issues.
On one of the remaining issues, Central Delta Water Agency argued that the CVPIA trumped the Endangered Species Act and the Court disagreed, but included in its ruling language that will be important in the eventual trial of this action:
(1) “The CVPIA contains numerous provisions calling for protection and enhancement of striped bass within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. CVPIA section 3403(a) defines the term “anadromous fish” to include “striped
bass;”
(2) The CVPIA requires the Secretary of Interior to “develop within three years of enactment and implement a program which makes all reasonable efforts to ensure that, by the year 2002, natural production of anadromous fish in Central Valley rivers and streams will be sustainable, on a long-term basis, at levels not less than twice the average levels attained during the period of 1967-1991. To this end, it is undisputed that FWS has established a doubling goal for striped bass of 2,500,000 fish.” McDaniel Decl.;
(3) The Court recognized that CVPIA Section 3406(b)(1)(B) provides that “the Secretary is authorized and directed to modify Central Valley Project operations to provide flows of suitable quality, quantity, and timing to protect all life stages of anadromous fish....”
(4) The Court also recognized that Section 3406(b)(14) is directed specifically to striped bass, requiring the Secretary to “develop and implement a program which provides for modified operations and new or improved control structures at the Delta Cross Channel and Georgiana Slough during times when significant numbers of striped bass eggs, larvae, and juveniles approach the Sacramento River intake to the Delta Cross Channel or Georgiana Slough.”;
(5) The Court ruled that “Central Delta is correct that “[i]t cannot be reasonably disputed that Congress intended to protect and restore striped bass.” Doc. 66 at 5. However, Congress also expressed its intention in CVPIA § 3406(b), that the Secretary “operate the Central Valley Project to meet all obligations under state and federal law, including but not limited to the federal Endangered Species Act....”;
(6) The Court ruled, “The express language and the legislative purpose of the CVPIA do not evince an intent to abrogate application of the ESA. Only after the facts are developed will it be possible to determine if a conflict in operation exists between implementation of the ESA to the sport-fishing regulations and achieving the CVPIA objectives by application of those regulations.”
Bill Jennings, Chairman
Executive Director
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
3536 Rainier Avenue
Stockton, CA 95204
p: 209-464-5067
c: 209-938-9053
f: 209-464-1028
e: deltakeep [at] aol.com
http://www.calsport.org
Los Angeles Times
Interior Department drops Bush plan to allow more logging
The Western Oregon Plan Revisions, authorized last year, would have nearly quadrupled the land available to the timber industry in that state...Kim Murphy
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-northwest-forests17-2009jul17,0,3637988,print.story
Reporting from Seattle — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday scrapped a plan, authorized in the last days of the Bush administration, to nearly quadruple the allowable logging on federal lands in western Oregon -- including many prized old-growth stands -- and open up protected northern spotted owl habitat across Oregon, Washington and Northern California to timber companies.
Salazar said the Bureau of Land Management had pushed through its Western Oregon Plan Revisions in 2008 under political pressure from the Interior Department, without meeting scientific review standards mandated under the Endangered Species Act.
The plan was "based on a legally indefensible process," Salazar said. "It will not stand up in court, and if we attempted to defend it in court, it could lead to fruitless years of uncertainty and inaction."
But he also pledged to deliver as many environmentally sustainable timber tracts as possible to the struggling logging communities of western Oregon, where unemployment in many places tops 20%.
Environmental groups applauded Thursday's announcement, which restores to old-growth forests protections that were brokered by the Clinton administration to help end the wars over the spotted owl, which depends on the giant trees' canopy.
"Everyone realized it was going to take some time" for President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan to work, said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice.
"What has been shown is that owls are doing better on federally protected lands than anywhere else."There currently are fewer than 5,000 spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest, and the species continues to decline at a rate of about 4% a year -- in part because of the encroachment into its territory of the more robust barred owl.
In addition to harming the spotted owls, some conservationists said, the Bush forest plan also would have shrunk stream-side buffer zones that are integral to protection of endangered fish stocks.
"We have a duty to ensure that the law and sound science are at the foundation of the way we do business," Salazar said. He pledged to update the Northwest Forest Plan, beginning in southern Oregon, to provide more timber and protect species -- like the spotted owl, marbled murrelet, salmon and steelhead trout -- that depend on healthy forests.
Timber industry officials long have complained that environmental lawsuits and federal bureaucracy have prevented sawmills from getting even the 1.1 billion board feet a year promised under the Clinton-era forest plan.
"We probably only attained about 30% to 40% of that," said Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council.
The Western Oregon Plan Revisions could have provided an additional 502 million board feet a year of timber, enough to support more than 9,000 jobs.
Tom Strickland, assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, said federal officials were working to develop a list of timber tracts that could be harvested rapidly to help sustain logging communities without threatening endangered species.
Ann Forest Burns of the American Forest Resource Council said that the industry was willing to work with the Obama administration, but that she wished federal officials had acted sooner in canceling the Oregon plan.
"The counties of Oregon need the [Western Oregon Plan Revisions]. . . . If they were going to make this decision," she said, "it's too bad there was a six-month delay."
Salazar restores old-growth forest protections in Oregon...Kim Murphy, Greenspace
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/07/salazar-restores-oldgrowth-forest-protections-in-oregon.html
In one of the most important reversals of Bush administration forest policy yet, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has reversed plans to double logging on old-growth forest in a 2.8-million-acre region of western Oregon.
The Interior Department also is backing away from plans to open up for logging about 1.8 million acres of protected critical habitat for the disappearling Northern spotted owl across Oregon, Washington and Northern California.
But Salazar is pledging to quickly deliver as many environmentally sustainable timber tracts as possible to the struggling logging communities of western Oregon, where unemployment in many cases tops 20%.
Salazar said the Bureau of Land Management's massive new plan for managing western Oregon forests, known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (Whopper is what most call it) was pushed through under the political influence of former Bush administration Interior official Julie MacDonald and failed to meet standards for scientific review.
The plan, as a result, was "based on a legally indefensible process," Salazar said. "It will not stand up in court, and if we attempted to defend it in court, it could lead to fruitless years of uncertainty and inaction."
Conservation groups applauded the decision, which will restore protections for old-growth forest critical to the survival of threatened species such as salmon, steelhead, marbled murrelets and the spotted owl, whose numbers have dwindled to less than 5,000 across the Pacific Northwest.
"If we return to the scientifically tested Northwest Forest Plan instead of a sea of stumps with a return to the 1970s-type clearcut logging, that gives western Oregon a shot at keeping its healthy forests, its healthy salmon runs, its clean water and having its economy rebound by having the jobs in the woods that make sense in a 21st century economy," said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for Earthjustice, which filed suit against the Bush administration plans on behalf of several conservation groups.
We'll have the full story soon.
CNN Money
Housing starts surge
Government report says initial construction of U.S. homes rose to an annual rate of 582,000 units last month...Ben Rooney
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/real_estate/housing_starts/index.htm?postversion=2009071709
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Initial construction of U.S. homes and applications for building permits both surged in June, according to government figures released Friday.
Housing starts roseto a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000, up 3.6% from a revised 562,000 in May, according to the Commerce Department.
Economists were expecting housing starts to increase to an annual rate of 524,000 units, according to a consensus estimate gathered by Briefing.com.
Single-family housing starts were especially strong, up 14.4% on a month-over-month basis. It was the biggest surge in that measure, considered the core of the housing market, since December 2004.
Friday's report suggests that the battered housing market is gradually stabilizing, according to Mike Larson, real estate and interest rate analyst at Weiss Research.
"The new home industry has done a good job of reducing supply," Larson wrote in a research report. "But the existing home market is still vastly oversupplied, and we continue to be inundated with an influx of distressed and foreclosed properties."
Applications for building permits, an indicator of future construction activity, rose 8.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 563,000 in June. It was the highest number of applications since December and more than the 530,000 annual rate that economists had forecast.
June marks the second month that starts have increased after the annual rate of new homes breaking ground fell to an all-time low of 454,000 units in April.
New home construction activity was strongest in the Midwest, where starts were up by 33.3% versus the previous month. In the Northeast, starts jumped 28.6% in June.
But the West and the South both saw declines in the number of new homes breaking ground last month. Starts were down 14.8% in the West and 1.4% in the South.