8-7-09

 
8-7-09
Merced Sun-Star
Letter: Squelching speech...JOHN LUTZ, Atwater
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/990700.html
Editor: President Obama and the "left" have stooped to calling good American citizens right-wing radicals, extremist and fanatics who are organized angry mobs being planted at town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health care reform.
In fact, these are simply good, God-loving Americans, who are practicing their constitutional right, guaranteed under the constitution, i.e., "Congress shall make no law, abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
What part of the American constitution is it the "left" and the Obama administration do not understand?
The Obama administration's strong-arm tactics to Americans' exercising their constitutional rights was to have White House director of new media, Macon Phillips, write in a blog urging readers "to flag" questionable claims about health care proposals: "If you get an e-mail or see something on the Web about health insurance reform that 'seems fishy,' send it to: flag@whitehouse.gov" (www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things).
What is America coming to, that the executive branch of the United States of America asks American citizens to report on other American citizens on the White House Web site?
Scary.
Letter: A firsthand view...GARY J. WILMOT, Atwater
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/990706.html
Editor: I appreciate Rep. Dennis Cardoza's op-ed column Thursday on health care reform.
The statistics, he provided, paint a dismal picture of health services for many here in the Valley.
However, I urge Cardoza to return to Merced during his break so he can see firsthand the real faces behind those statistics.
Surely, he'll learn more than just reading about it back in Washington.
Letter: Answer questions...DAVID J. SILVA, Los Banos
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/990703.html
Editor: I called the Merced office of Rep. Dennis Cardoza to find out if he planned to hold any town hall meetings during the congressional recess. I was told that none are planned.
I feel that because of all the money that has been spent, and the proposed overhaul of our health care system, he would be willing to answer the questions and concerns of his constituents.
Letter: 20 percenters...JOHN FITZGIBBON, Merced
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/v-print/story/990702.html
Editor: I overheard two local doctors say that 80 percent of their patients are on Medi-Cal. So the majority of their patients are the only ones in the state of California that have "affordable health care."
Thank God for us 20 percenters.
Modesto Bee
New Calif law limits cost in public records fights...last updated: August 06, 2009 04:41:07 PM
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/808576.html
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A barrier to the public's ability to seek government records has been reduced under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
When the law takes effect Jan. 1, judges no longer can order plaintiffs to pay the legal costs of government agencies after the sides tangle over access to records or meetings.
The bill by Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, still allows agencies to recover their costs if they can prove the lawsuit was frivolous.
Yee says the potential for paying legal fees can deter people or groups from seeking public information.
He sought the law after a nonprofit was ordered to pay $80,000 in legal fees last year. The group had sued the Orange Unified School District for allegedly altering a meeting video.
Area earnings still shrinking in comparison to rest of U.S....J.N. Sbranti
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/808878.html
Northern San Joaquin Valley incomes continue to fall behind the rest of the nation.
Personal incomes averaged $41,455 in metropolitan regions nationwide last year; Stanislaus County incomes averaged $29,463. That's about 29 percent less.
Residents earned even less in Merced County: $25,221. In San Joaquin County, the amount was $29,178.
Valley incomes always have been lower than elsewhere in the country, but statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the gap is widening.
On a per-person basis, Stanislaus residents earned nearly $12,000 less than those in other metropolitan regions last year. In 2003, the difference was about $8,700.
"We all talk about this region's poverty, and these income statistics do not bode well for the economic parity of this region compared to the rest of the country," said Shawn Kantor, an economics professor at the University of California at Merced.
Kantor said valley residents are losing ground compared with what those elsewhere earn. In 2003, for example, Stanislaus' per-capita income was nearly 74 percent of the nation's metropolitan average, but it dropped to 71 percent last year. Merced dropped from 65 percent to 61 percent. San Joaquin dropped from 74 percent to 70 percent.
"This is really not very good news," said Kantor, who joined UC Merced in 2004. He said when people don't earn as much, "they don't spend as much and the economy suffers, especially the retail sector."
Of the 366 metropolitan regions measured in 2008, Stanislaus incomes ranked 309th, San Joaquin was 318th and Merced was 355th.
While the Bureau of Economic Analysis calculated that valley incomes increased from 2007 to 2008, the growth was significantly less than elsewhere in the nation.
Stanislaus per-capita incomes increased 1.6 percent, San Joaquin 1.5 percent and Merced 0.8 percent. Average for metropolitan regions was 2.2 percent and for the nation as a whole it was 2.5 percent.
The valley's economy was better last year than it is now. Unemployment in the three counties has jumped more than 5 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, according to California's Employment Development Department statistics.
And many of those who still have jobs are earning less than they did last year because of pay cuts and furloughs. Most valley families also received economic stimulus checks of as much as $1,200 from the federal government in 2008, but there's no such rebate program for 2009.
"If you think these 2008 income numbers are bad, just wait until the 2009 numbers come out," warned Jeffrey Michael, director of the University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Cen- ter. He predicted that this year's per-capita incomes may be as much as 1 percent lower than last year's.
"Remember, these income numbers aren't adjusted for inflation," Michael said. So residents must find other ways to compensate for increased consumer costs.
The per-capita income also isn't adjusted for family size. It is calculated by dividing all personal income in a region by the total number of residents -- including children.
"We have a lot of nonearners here because we have a lot of children here," Michael explained. "Our income looks better when it's measured by the household or family."
But the valley's biggest income problems stem from the education level of its residents and the types of jobs available here, said Edward Erickson, an economics professor at California State University, Stanislaus.
"Agriculture is still our predominant economic base, and ag doesn't pay much," Erickson said.
Fortunately for valley residents, Erickson said, the cost of living here is lower than in many other metropolitan areas.
Income levels nationwide also vary greatly.
McAllen, Texas, had the country's lowest per-capita income in 2008: $19,377.
Bridgeport, Conn., had the highest per-capita income: $82,266.
Fresno Bee
Union Pacific Railroad Company Agrees to Settle Clean Water Act Violations in Nevada ...U.S. Department of Justice...Press Release 
http://www.fresnobee.com/556/v-print/story/1583290.html
Company takes on extensive stream restoration efforts estimated to cost $31 million WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has agreed to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act in Nevada by restoring 122 acres of mountain-desert streams and wetlands, implementing storm water controls at its construction sites, and paying a civil penalty, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.
As part of the settlement, UP will restore 21 sections of Clover Creek and Meadow Valley Wash, in Clark and Lincoln Counties, Nev., and will monitor eight major restoration areas for at least five years. The work will include removal of illegal fill, restoration, monitoring, maintenance, re-vegetation, and invasive species removal, at an estimated cost of $31 million. UP will also pay $800,000 in civil penalties.
"This settlement will restore Clover Creek and Meadow Valley Wash," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "We are pleased that this agreement will result in the restoration of important mountain-desert streams and habitat for the state of Nevada."
"Meadow Valley Wash and Clover Creek are valuable, sensitive water resources which provide habitat to many fish species and endangered wildlife, such as the desert tortoise and southwestern willow flycatcher. Union Pacific's long term restoration will restore Meadow Valley Wash and Clover Creek," said Laura Yoshii, Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest region. "This significant settlement underscores EPA's commitment to protect valuable water resources in Nevada."
The settlement resolves a complaint filed today by the United States against UP for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from the railroad's activities in Clover Creek and Meadow Valley Wash in 2005. In January 2005, UP railroad tracks sustained significant damage following a flood in southern Nevada. The company made time-critical actions to repair damage.
However, UP also conducted extensive non-emergency construction and stream alteration work without obtaining the required Clean Water Act permits, which could have minimized and compensated for the damage to the streams. UP's unauthorized discharges included the construction of massive structures to control stream flows, such as dikes, berms, levees and diversions within the stream systems. The structures ranged from five to 15 feet high, and from 20 to thousands of feet long.
The Clean Water Act requires anyone engaged in construction within waters of the United States to obtain permits when altering waterways. The Corps of Engineers issues permits to discharge fill in water bodies. The state of Nevada is authorized to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for the discharge of pollutants in storm water from construction sites.
The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. A copy of the proposed consent decree is available on the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
For more information, go to: http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/wetlands/index.html and http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/npdes/stormwater.html.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
Ready-Mix Concrete Producer Agrees to Resolve Clean Water Act Violations...U.S. Department of Justice...Press Release 
http://www.fresnobee.com/556/v-print/story/1582281.html
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ Aggregate Industries - Northeast Region Inc., will pay a $2.75 million civil penalty and implement a regional evaluation and compliance program to resolve numerous violations of the Clean Water Act at 23 facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.
The penalty is the largest ever assessed to a nationwide ready-mix concrete company for storm water violations under the Clean Water Act. The settlement is the latest in a series of federal enforcement actions to address storm water violations from industrial facilities and construction sites around the country.
Under the terms of the consent decree, the company will implement pollution control measures, such as closed-loop water recycling systems, to eliminate discharges into surface waters. These measures will result in the elimination of approximately 158,854 pounds of sediment, 2,106 pounds of oil and grease and 1,143 pounds of iron from the environment, as well as significant reductions in nitrate and nitrogen, by the end of 2009.
"We are committed to seeing that owners and operators of industrial facilities undertake the actions necessary to comply with storm water regulations," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This settlement will result in better management practices and a robust compliance program at multiple facilities in the northeast to prevent harmful storm water run-off."
"Storm water run-off from industrial facilities such as these can carry sediment, debris, and other pollutants into surrounding waterways," said Ira W. Leighton, Acting Regional Administrator of EPA's New England office. "This settlement is an important step in protecting our waters -- and we expect others in the industry to assess the adequacy of their own storm water controls."
The settlement also requires that the company perform comprehensive compliance evaluations at each of its 43 facilities in New England, as well as any facilities acquired in the next three years, to ensure that the facilities are in compliance with the Clean Water Act. The settlement also requires that the company conduct additional monitoring and reporting of storm water discharges, to hire personnel certified in storm water management to oversee compliance at all facilities where storm water permits are required, and to provide training in storm water management for all operational employees.
The complaint, filed in federal court with the settlement, alleges a pattern of violations since 2001 that were discovered after several federal inspections at the company's facilities. The alleged violations included failure to document routine facility inspections and failure to perform quarterly monitoring and annual evaluations. In addition, the company allegedly discharged process waste waters, sanitary waste waters and storm water without proper permits from several facilities. Process waters include waters from sand-and-gravel and concrete production manufacturing operations such as vehicle and equipment cleaning, aggregate processing and washing, and concrete truck washout.
At the facilities where permits were in place, the complaint alleges the company failed to implement best management practices such as having proper drainage, failed to perform pavement sweeping and failed to clean and maintain catch basins. The runoff, which contained total suspended solids, oil and grease, metals, and caustics detrimental to aquatic life and water quality, flowed into wetlands, streams and brooks that flowed into tributaries of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Clean Water Act requires that industrial facilities, such as ready-mix concrete plants, sand and gravel facilities and asphalt batching plants, have controls in place to prevent pollution from being discharged with storm water into nearby waterways. Each site must have a storm water pollution prevention plan that sets guidelines and best management practices that the company will follow to prevent runoff from being contaminated by pollutants.
Since being notified of the violations by EPA, the company has made significant improvements to its storm water management systems.
Without onsite controls, runoff from ready-mix concrete and sand and gravel facilities can flow directly to the nearest waterway and can cause water quality impairments such as siltation of rivers, beach closings, and fishing restrictions, and habitat degradation. As storm water flows over these sites, it can pick up pollutants, including sediment, used oil, pesticides, solvents and other debris. Polluted runoff can harm or kill fish and wildlife and can affect drinking water quality.
Aggregate-NE, a fully owned subsidiary of Aggregate Industries, Inc., a Delaware corporation with facilities in several regions throughout the United States, operates approximately 43 facilities in New England. The company is one of the largest producers of aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel), asphalt batching, and ready-mixed concrete in New England.
The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court. A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
Aggregate-NE is required to pay the penalty within 30 days of the court's approval of the settlement.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
Stockton Record
Falcon flies in face of trend
In rare move, it's taken off state's endangered list...Alex Breitler
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090807/A_NEWS14/908070327/-1/A_NEWS
STOCKTON - Birder David Yee drove to the central California coast nearly 30 years ago to admire his first peregrine falcon.
It would be another six years before Yee saw one in the Central Valley.
These days, at Staten Island in the Delta, he might spot two or even three falcons at the same time as they dive-bomb ducks at speeds greater than 100 miles per hour, showing off their steely blue "royal" plumage. The peregrine falcon is now so common that many birders no longer bother to report it.
On Thursday, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to remove the peregrine falcon from the state's endangered species list. It is only the second species in nearly four decades to be delisted, with the exception of two fish - the Tecopa pupfish and the thicktail chub - that went extinct.
The commission's low-profile action Thursday raises spirits for spotters such as Yee at a time when a wide and diverse range of species - tiny mammals, salamanders, salmon and songbirds - are declining.
"It (the falcon) is one of the big success stories of the Endangered Species Act," Yee said.
The falcons are so abundant that, to the serious bird-watcher, they can be a bit of a nuisance if they chase away rare ducks or songbirds, Yee said. But make no mistake: Those falcons, prized throughout the world for their ability as trained hunters, still have a grip on avian enthusiasts.
"When birders are out looking, no one ever calls out 'Redtail hawk!' or anything like that," Yee said. "But if a peregrine flies by, they call out, 'Peregrine!' Everyone stops and says, 'Where?'
"The falcons carry an aura about them, and they deserve it."
The pesticide DDT, a culprit in the decline of the bald eagle, also ravaged the peregrine falcon as it climbed up the food chain. Eggshells grew thin and adult raptors often crushed their own young during incubation, according to state Department of Fish and Game documents.
Reproduction rates plummeted.
Since pesticide use was restricted in the early 1970s, the falcon has reclaimed most of its historic range in California with the help of a captive breeding and reintroduction program. There are now more than 200, and perhaps close to 300, pairs of monogamous mating peregrine falcons, said Fish and Game's Dale Steele.
"It really is a positive thing, and it's quite a story," he said. "A whole host of people over 30-odd years have been working to recover this species."
The federal government took the falcon off its own endangered species list in 1999. Some remain concerned that these decisions are premature.
Lydia Miller, head of the San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center in Merced, said delisting the falcon could allow humans to further infringe on its habitat. Last year, her center treated a peregrine falcon that was shot in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It later died.
"The delisting is a disappointment," she said.
It remains illegal to kill a peregrine falcon despite Thursday's action, Steele said. The birds remain protected by a separate state law.
The commission's vote must still be approved by the state Office of Administrative Law before it becomes official.
State of the species
• The peregrine falcon is just the second species to recover and be taken off of California's endangered species list in the nearly four decades since the law took effect. The first species removed was the California brown pelican. It was removed earlier this year.
• About 80 species remain listed as threatened or endangered by the state. Even more "” close to 130 species "” are listed under federal law.
• Other notable species in California that have recovered include the Aleutian Canada goose and the gray whale. These species, however, were listed at the federal level only.
• Two state-listed species, both fish, have gone extinct: the thicktail chub (1980) and the Tecopa pupfish (1987).
Lodi grants access for canal surveys...Alex Breitler's Blog
http://blogs.recordnet.com/sr-abreitler
We've heard a lot about private landowners refusing to allow state officials access to their lands to survey for a possible peripheral canal.
Last night, the Lodi City Council, confronted with the same question, said OK.
Council members on their consent agenda approved this item (see pg. 64) allowing surveyors to enter the White Slough area. The staff report says that the state could have accessed the land anyhow through eminent domain, even if the city -- which has publicly denounced a canal -- had said no.
At least the city will get $500 in compensation out of the deal. That's the standard sum which the state is offering all affected landowners.
San Francisco Chronicle
Suit to halt Calif. desalination plant dismissed...Thursday, August 6, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/06/national/a182320D31.DTL&type=printable
(08-06) 18:23 PDT SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A judge has dismissed an environmental lawsuit challenging what is being billed as the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere in Carlsbad.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith F. Hays issued her decision Thursday regarding the lawsuit filed by the Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper.
The environmental groups challenged the State Lands Commission's approval of the project by Poseidon Resources, citing concerns about its impact on sea water and marine life.
CoastKeepers attorney Marco Gonzalez says his organization plans to appeal or object to the decision.
The $320 million project could produce 50 million gallons of drinking water a day, or 10 percent of the supply for San Diego County.
New water legislation in California: Start of a new era?...Dr. Peter Gleick
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gleick/index
Water Number: 5. This week the California Legislature unveiled five (5) new major water bills: three Senate Bills and two Assembly Bills. These are BIG and important bills. I applaud the Legislature and the Governor for trying to institute substantive and comprehensive changes in the way the State deals with water.
The bills are:
Assembly Bill No. 1 - AB 39 (Huffman)
Assembly Bill No. 2 - AB 49 (Feuer)
Senate Bill No. 1 - SB 12 (Simitian)
Senate Bill No. 2 - SB 229 (Pavley)
Senate Bill No. 3 - SB 458 (Wolk)
Summary of Delta/Water Legislation
Read them.
Think about them.
Talk about them.
But hold your fire. (Do I think this will happen? No. But I can dream, can't I?)
Given the volatile nature of water in California, the large scope and complexity of these bills, and the short period of time they've been out, I would urge that California's water warriors hold their opinions until they actually read and digest them.
There is a lot in these bills: creation of a new, potentially powerful water institution (a Delta Stewardship Council); an effort to strengthen an existing water institution (the State Water Resources Control Board); a requirement that water conservation be pursued more aggressively in both the urban and agricultural areas; a call for evaluating new infrastructure (including, yes, some kind of Peripheral Canal); creation of a Science Board; establishment of a standardized water use data collection and reporting system; establishment of a user fee for Delta water users; a call for monitoring of groundwater levels.
These are BIG issues. Obviously the devil is in the details and the wording, and we don't know what will happen in the coming politically messy negotiations and arguments in the Capitol. But as I have said before: doing nothing is not an option, unless whatever we do makes things worse. And posturing right now will make things worse.
A win for the backcountry...Editorial
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/07/EDUD1951J8.DTL&type=printable
Nearly 60 million acres of backcountry, mostly in the West, are trails, trees, mountains - with no roads for big-tired lumber trucks or drilling rigs.
But these industries want a crack at this acreage and won approval from the Bush administration for a state-by-state approach to allow road building. The change upended a ban imposed by President Bill Clinton after years of study and debate.
The roads were sold as a state's rights issue, but the plan played on the fact that many western statehouses had Republican governors in sync with development plans.
Nearly two-thirds of the national forests already are crisscrossed by roads. And there are legitimate reasons to consider roads for fire fighting and public safety.
But the battle over the "roadless rule" wasn't about these larger public concerns. It was about access for drilling and logging. More narrowly, the battle turned on the environmental effects of the roads, which loosen soil on steep slopes, take out trees and muddy rivers. These were the concerns that led the ban in the first place.
The debate is nearing a legal finale. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, whose department oversees the forest service lands, pledged he would personally review requests for new roads, a sign the Obama team intends to reverse the Bush stance.
This week an appeals court, based in San Francisco, ruled the Bush plan undercuts environmental rules, a decision that leaves the original roadless rule in place.
But these actions aren't the final word. Another appeals court is weighing a similar case in Wyoming, meaning the final outcome lies ahead. Road proponents may keep the issue in doubt through further legal appeals.
It's time to resolve the issue, both in court and in the public's mind. Gouging new roads in wild places harms this country's natural heritage and shouldn't be allowed for short-term gain of a few industries.
Execs still get raises as UC cuts staffing, pay...Nanette Asimov
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/06/BASG194N2P.DTL&type=printable
On the same July day that the UC Board of Regents cut $813 million from UC budgets - setting in motion pay cuts, layoffs and campus cutbacks - the board quietly approved pay raises, stipends and other benefits for more than two dozen executives.
University officials were quick to characterize the increased pay in a positive light.
"It's really a story about cost savings," said Barbara French, a UCSF spokeswoman, adding that three people on her campus who won hefty pay increases took on new duties and deserved to be compensated.
French said they are all filling in for Chief Operating Officer Tomi Ryba, who left in January and was not replaced, hence the savings. She earned $547,600.
But critics - from janitors to physicians, whose salaries have all been slashed - said that people earning between a quarter million and half a million dollars can afford to take on new duties without extra pay. After all, they said, they themselves are now paid less money for more work.
"These are outrageous actions, taken at the same time as UC has been pleading poverty, giving layoff notices, forcing staff and faculty to take furloughs and hinting at more student fee increases," said library assistant Kathy Renfro, chairwoman of the UC Berkeley Labor Coalition.
At UCSF, the three employees in question are getting yearly stipends - periodic payments above their salaries that are meant to compensate them for additional duties.
UCSF's chief financial officer, now the interim chief operating officer, is getting a yearly 6.5 percent stipend, boosting his salary this year to $500,763.
UCSF stipends
The new interim chief financial officer will get a 25 percent yearly stipend, bringing her salary to $293,125 this year. And a nursing chief with new duties will get a 15 percent yearly stipend, for a total of $287,500 this year.
New positions have also been created at UCSF - "chief quality officer" and "vice chancellor of research" - with potential salaries between $239,700 and $420,100, plus benefits.
On July 16, the regents also approved requests from other campuses to pay new deans and vice chancellors higher salaries than their predecessors had earned, on grounds that this was needed to attract the brightest leaders. The regents referred to the changes as "re-slotting," rather than as raises.
"The timing of this is atrocious," said Dr. Warren Gold, chairman of the UCSF Faculty Association. "The day before, (UC President Mark) Yudof requested the entire university community to take a pay cut."
Salaries above $240,000 were cut by 10 percent. Yudof had rejected a recommendation by Gold's group to cut those salaries by 15 percent to ease the burden on lower-paid employees. "That's why we're so upset," he said.
"If there really is a financial crisis at UC, why do they have all this money for top administrators?" asked Tanya Smith, president of the University Professional and Technical Employees at UC Berkeley.
Limits on using funds
UC typically gets $3 billion of its $19 billion budget from the state. The state is cutting $813 million, and critics say UC should use more of its substantial remaining budget to find ways to avoid cutting salaries and jobs. Yudof has declined, saying that UC could find itself in legal trouble if it used funds for purposes they weren't intended for.
Meanwhile, campus officials defended the pay increases, saying they were in line with what other universities, including top private schools, pay for such work.
At UC Davis, social sciences dean George Mangun will earn $278,500. As acting dean, he earned $275,000 - his salary plus a $28,401 stipend.
"His salary reflects the remarkable academic breadth over which Mangun presides as dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UC Davis," said spokesman Mitchel Benson, noting that the increase is a modest one after including the stipend.
At UC Riverside, the vice chancellor for university advancement will earn 6 percent more than his part-time predecessor would have earned full time.
"Setting Peter Hayashida's salary at $265,000 was in keeping with an external market survey that showed a salary midpoint of $300,000 for comparable positions," spokeswoman Kris Lovekin said.
Indybay.com
Governor Signs Bill Banning In Stream Dredge Mining for Gold...Dan Bacher
Today Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill to temporarily ban the destructive form of recreational gold mining known as suction dredging.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/06/18614410.php
Karuk Tribe · Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations · Institute for Fisheries Resources · Klamath Riverkeeper · Center For Biological Diversity · Friends of the River · California Tribal Business Alliance · The Sierra Fund · California Trout · Environmental Law Foundation · Environmental Justice Coalition for Water · Friends of the North Fork American · California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
P R E S S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release: August 6, 2009
For more information:
Craig Tucker, Litigant and Spokesman, Karuk Tribe, cell 916-207-8294
Glen Spain, PCFFA, 541-521-8655 cell
Mike Thornton The Sierra Fund 530-262-7335 cell
GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL BANNING IN STREAM DREDGE MINING FOR GOLD
Ban will remain in place until new dredge mining rules protective of fish are developed
Sacramento, CA – Today Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill to temporarily ban the destructive form of recreational gold mining known as suction dredging. Other forms of mining are not affected.
With its signing, the bill places an immediate moratorium on all suction dredge mining until the California Department of Fish and Game develops and implements new suction dredge regulations that are protective of fisheries and water quality. Introduced by North coast Senator Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), the bill attracted broad bi-partisan support and passed both houses of the legislature with a 2/3 majority.
The signing marked a major victory by a diverse coalition of Tribes, fishermen, and conservation groups from around the state. It comes a week after an Alameda County Superior Court ordered a moratorium on the issuance of new dredge permits pending resolution of a complaint charging that tax payer money is illegally subsidizing issuance of dredging permits by the California Department of Fish and Games (DFG).
“We’ve been working to protect our fisheries from destructive mining practices for 150 years,” said Bob Goodwin, Karuk Self Governance Coordinator. “This law requires the state use the best available science in determining where and when hobby miners can operate their dredges without harming our fisheries. Until then, no dredging will be allowed in California.”
According to California Trout’s Tom Weseloh, “California’s rivers and streams are suffering from increasing degradation, and the endangered and threatened fish species face ever more obstacles to survival. Suction dredging disturbs spawning beds of trout, steelhead and salmon. Healthy spawning beds are essential to the long-term survival of these species.”
Groups hope that at the end of the rule making process, the size of dredges will be limited and critical habitats and spawning areas for threatened species will be off limits while allowing dredgers access to areas less vital for the survival of at-risk species.
This recent struggle over dredge mining started in 1997 when Coho salmon were added to the state and federal endangered species list. At that point California Fish and Game Department regulations required that mining rules be re-examined. They were not. In 2005, the Karuk Tribe sued the Department which admitted that a rule change was in order.
“In 2006 we actually proposed some modest restrictions limited to the Klamath Basin. The Department agreed, but the New 49ers and other local mining groups intervened and blocked implementation of the settlement,” explains Goodwin.
The judge did order the Department to go through a public rule making process consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by June 2008. However, the Department failed to comply with the court order..
“We kept trying to get the money in the Department’s budget, but the New 49ers kept lobbying against it. We had little recourse other than legislating the ban to protect our fishery,” concluded Goodwin.
Now the moratorium is statewide and protects not just Northern California Coho, but at-risk species from coastal rivers to high Sierra streams to the few remaining natural waterways in southern California. “Our native fish, frogs, and other at-risk species are declining statewide,” explains Steve Evans, Conservation Director of Friends of the River. “Banning dredge mining is not a silver bullet solution for protecting these species, but it’s a good start.”
Other groups see dredging as a public health issue because it remobilizes toxic mercury left behind by 19th century gold miners. According to Elizabeth (Izzy) Martin, Executive Director of the Sierra Fund, “Dredges suck up mercury buried in river sediment and remobilizes that mercury in our river and streams. This creates a significant health threat to subsistence fishermen, pregnant women and children as well as wildlife.”
Fishermen have taken on miners to preserve jobs. According to Glen Spain, Northwest Regional Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a major trade organization representing commercial fishing families, “Commercial fishermen are out of work again this year due to the fishing ban put in place in response to salmon declines from habitat destruction and flow loss. Everyone whose activities harm salmon habitat must share the conservation burden, including the suction dredgers."
All the groups praised Governor Schwarzenegger for signing the bill. “We call on the Governor to seize every opportunity to protect and rebuild our great salmon fishery and the economies throughout California these fish have supported,” concluded Spain.
Although the moratorium does spare rivers from dredges, other forms of mining are unaffected and miners will still have access to their claims. McCracken, President of the New 4 on his website, “the other types of prospecting or mining that we do are not being challenged. These include panning, sniping & Vack-mining, sluicing & high-banking, booming, electronic prospecting and other types of prospecting that do not use a suction nozzle within an active stream, river or creek. So SB 670 does not affect most of the activity which we do, including our group weekend projects.” (http://www.goldgold.com/newsletterlatest.htm)
What is a Dredge?
Suction dredges are powered by gas or diesel engines that are mounted on floating pontoons in the river. Attached to the engine is a powerful vacuum hose which the dredger uses to suction up the gravel and sand (sediment) from the bottom of the river. The material passes through a sluice box where heavier gold particles can settle into a series of riffles. The rest of the gravel is simply dumped back into the river. Often this reintroduces mercury left over from historic mining operations to the water column, threatening communities downstream and getting into the human food chain. Depending on size, location and density of these machines they can turn a clear running mountain stream into a murky watercourse unfit for swimming.
# # #
Editor’s note: for a picture of a suction dredge in action, email request to ctucker [at] karuk.us
Also see a dredge in action on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1qwdzQ4fzIS. Craig Tucker, Ph.D.
Klamath Coordinator
Karuk Tribe
916-207-8294 
Commission Bans Indians, Seaweed Harvesters From Traditional Areas...Dan Bacher
The Schwarzenegger-appointed California Fish and Game Commission yesterday voted 3 to 2 for a package of Marine Protected Areas that will ban Lester Pinola and the members of the Kashia Rancheria from sustainably harvesting seafood as they have done for centuries.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/06/18614376.php
Commission Bans Indians, Seaweed Harvesters From Traditional Areas
Racism and elitism prevails over science and environmental justice...Dan Bacher
Lester Pinola, the past chairman of the Kashia Rancheria in Sonoma County, and members of his tribe have harvested abalone, seaweed and mussels for hundreds of years in the inter-tidal zone off Stewarts Point.
However, the California Fish and Game Commission yesterday voted 3 to 2 for a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that will ban Pinola and his tribe from sustainably harvesting seafood as they have done for centuries. The new reserve network on the North Central Coast, stretching from the waters near Half Moon Bay to Point Arena, will close approximately 20 percent of the state waters in the region to seaweed gathering and fishing.
“What you are doing to us is taking the food out of our mouths,” said Pinola in a public hearing prior to the contentious vote. “When the first settlers came to the coast, they didn’t how to feed themselves. Our people showed them how to eat out of the ocean. In my opinion, this was a big mistake.”
Pinola spoke in solidarity with recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and grassroots environmentalists that showed in force at the meeting in support of 2XA, the alternative that best met the conservation objectives of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process while incurring the least economic harm to coastal communities. Under this alternative, Pinola and members of his tribe would be allowed to continue harvesting abalone and seaweed, but the Commission instead chose the option pushed by the Governor and his staff, the Integrated Preferred Alternative (IPA), that closes access to Pinola and his tribe.
“We as tribal members abide by the state fishing regulations, even though are we a federally recognized sovereign nation,” he said. “We observe the bag limit of 3 abalone and 45 pounds of seaweed when we pick the rocks. We feed our elders who longer can go down to the ocean to harvest abalone and seaweed.”
The tribe of 600 members is one of 23 Pomo tribes in California. Historically, other tribes in the region would trade with the Kashia for abalone and seaweed. They were known for the jewelry that they made out of abalone shells and traded with other tribes, according to Pinola.
“The state shouldn’t be able to take our traditional harvesting rights away from us,” said Pinola. “We were here first, but these people on the Fish and Game Commission don’t seem to care.”
Fish and Game Commissioner Richard Rogers and Michael Sutton praised the Marine Life Protection Act process for being a transparent one before their vote.
“What we have before us today is the result of a complicated, open, historic process,” said Rogers. “I’ve seen processes before that were real railroad jobs and this isn’t one. It is the singlemost best process in my life that I’ve been involved with."
Pinola disagreed completely with Rogers' contention. “They never contacted us at all,” he stated. “They didn’t let us know they were planning to close the coast to fishing and seaweed harvesting even though we were the first people on the coast.”
The vote took only one day after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed a new member of the Fish and Game Commission, Donald Benninghoven. A Republican stalwart from Santa Barbara, Benninghoven served on the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force in the north central region from 2007 to 2009. As expected, he voted for the "Integrated Preferred Alternative" (IPA) for the North Central Coast yesterday.
Benninghoven replaced the former President of the Commission, Cindy Gustafson, who mysteriously and suddenly resigned from her post on Friday. Although the Schwarzenegger administration claimed she resigned due to a “conflict of interest," political insiders say that the Governor forced her to resign after she indicated
she would vote for 2XA and for a suspension in the MLPA Process.
Commissioners Jim Kellogg and Dan Richards voted for motions to adopt 2XA and to delay the process due to concerns over the lack of funding to enforce the process, but the other 3 commissioners voted no on both motions. The Game Wardens Association had asked for the Commission to delay or the implementation of the North Central Coast process, but the other Commissioners refused to heed the wardens' plea.
“We request you delay or suspend any new mandates until there is some relief from furlough officer to enforce these significant new provisions,” according to a letter from the California Fish and Game Wardens Association that Jerry Karnow presented.
A broad coalition of grass roots environmentalists, Indian Tribes, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen and recreational divers were outraged by the vote – and the political manipulation of the Commission’s decision by the Governor.
“I’m really stunned that our democracy would be trashed like it was today,” said John Lewallen, one of the founders of the Ocean Protection Coalition and the “Seaweed Rebellion” on California’s North Coast, a group that has worked since 1987 against oil drilling, water pollution, wave energy projects and corporate greenwashing. “Californians have to oppose today’s decision and the MLPA process or our coast will be taken over by private money interests.”
The marine reserve package passed by the Commission yesterday will kick Lewallen and his wife, Barbara Stephens-Lewallen, off Sea Lion Cove near Point Arena where they have sustainably harvested sea palms and other seaweed for 25 years.
Lewallen, other North Coast environmentalists, fishermen and Indian Tribes have slammed Schwarzenegger’s MLPA process for being a corrupt process, filled with numerous conflicts of interest. The supposedly “public” process is funded by a private foundation, the Resource Legacy Fund Foundation, in turn funded by the Packard Foundation and the Betty Moore foundation, organizations with many dark ties to corporations involved in environmental destruction and corporate greenwashing.
"The MLPA is the back door to oil,” said Tomas DiFiore, Mendocino County seaweed harvester and environmentalist.
"Conceived as law in 1999 in response to mismanaged fisheries/politics, the science was there all along, but the MLPA was hijacked by the Betty Moore Foundation," DiFiore told the Commission. “Dr. John M. 'Mick' Seidl, the President of Maxxam, Inc, Enron, Kaisertech and many other oil related firms, by June 5, 2001 was the Environmental Grant Program Director for the Foundation's first 4 years. Almost every company Dr. John was president of since the 70's has gone bankrupt. The MLPA Initiative could bankrupt our ocean and our coastal communities."
After DiFiore spoke, Commissioner Richard Rogers claimed that the Betty Moore Foundation didn’t fund the MLPA process. However, later in the meeting Rogers retracted his previous statement and acknowledged that the Betty Moore Foundation indeed funds the process through the Resource Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF).
While the Commission decision was an affront to the democratic process and environmental justice, it was also a huge affront to science.
Jim Martin, West Coast Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance and Dan Wohlford, Science Director of the Coastside Fishing Club and member of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), both pointed out that a landmark study published in Science magazine on July 31 said that the California Current marine ecosystem has the lowest fishery exploitation rate of any place in the world examined. This peer reviewed scientific assessment, coauthored by Ray Hilborn, Boris Worm and 19 other international scientists, contrasts with the claims of Governor and his collaborators that stocks of groundfish including lingcod and rockfish are in severe crisis and that the massive area closures are needed to “save” them – and effectively challenges the need to fast-track the MLPA process.
“Much of the motivation for the MLPA was concern about the state of the groundfish stocks - there is clear evidence that these can be rebuilt without MPAs resulting from the MLPA that have only recently begun to be implemented,” Dr. Hilborn said.
The network of new marine reserves is supposedly designed to "protect" 85 square miles of ocean, but will do nothing to protect these waters from pollution by cities, farms, industry and oil tankers. It only serve to remove Indian Tribe members, fishermen and seaweed harvesters, among the strongest backers of fishery and environmental restoration, from the water permanently.
Los Angeles Times
Will news of more upside-down borrowers = cramdowns?...Peter Y. Hong
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2009/08/will-news-of-more-upsidedown-borrowers-cramdowns-.html
A Deutsche Bank report this week estimates that 26% of U.S. homeowners with mortgages are underwater (owe more than their homes are worth) and predicts that plummeting house prices will push the figure to 48% by 2011.
The causes of this phenomenon are not news to many of us in Southern California: Falling home prices quickly brought values below mortgage amounts, especially for homes purchased in recent years with little money down. Deutsche Bank's researchers point out: "A loan made in California in 2003 enjoyed three years of home price appreciation before prices began to fall, cushioning the impact. A loan made in September 2006 in Los Angeles has experienced nothing but depreciation."
As negative equity rises, more foreclosures inevitably follow. When negative equity levels for individual households become extreme, however, economists and policy makers worry that more people will walk away from their houses rather than keep making payments on a home that, it appears, won't return anything on the investment any time soon.
The latest negative equity news, combined with a federal "report card" this week showing only 9% of loans eligible to be modified under the latest federal aid plan had actually been changed. 
Lawmakers are likely to push for more initiatives to head off the 48% national negative equity level Deutsche Bank says is coming. House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has already warned that if more loans aren't worked out, he'll renew the push to allow bankruptcy judges to order reductions in mortgage amounts. Slicing a chunk of principal off mortgages would be one way to make homes "right-side up."
So-called cramdowns were advocated by former Treasuy Secretary Lawrence Summers, now a top White House economic official, and are backed by a majority of Congressional Democrats.
Deutsche Bank says the Los Angeles metro area ranks 33rd in the percentage of upside-down mortgage holders, with 51% of borrowers currently underwater. Merced is in first place, with 81% of borrowers upside down.
Because Southern California home prices began falling earlier than those in other parts of the country, Deutsche Bank thinks we may be closer to the bottom. L.A. doesn't make the list of the 33 regions predicted to have the worst negative equity in 2010.
A bunch of Florida metro areas replace California cities on the 2010 list. Fort Lauderdale tops that list, with 92% of mortgages there projected to be upside down in 2010. At the bottom of the 2010 list is Naples, Fla., with 65% of homes with mortgages projected to have negative equity -- far higher than the current Los Angeles level.
Bloomberg.com
Housing Rebound May Stall on Climate Law, GE, U.S. Builders Say...Daniel Whitten
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=agFVRbmJAUGk
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation requiring new U.S. homes to be more energy-efficient threatens to smother a rebound in the housing market, homebuilders say.
Under a measure approved by the House and being considered by the Senate, new homes would be required to have more insulation, more-efficient doors and windows, and heating and cooling systems that consume less energy. The changes would cost $4,000 to $10,000 a home, and price more than 1 million people out of the market, Bill Killmer, a vice president of the National Association of Home Builders, estimated.
President Barack Obama’s goals of reviving the economy and saving energy clash in the new standards, according to appliance-maker General Electric Co. and the homebuilders association, whose members include Pulte Homes Inc. and KB Home.
Congress would raise builders’ costs “at the absolute bottom of the worst housing market since World War II,” Joe Robson, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, homebuilder, said in an interview.
Housing starts climbed 3.6 percent in June from May to an annual rate of 582,000, a seven-month high, the Commerce Department said on July 17. Starts remained 74 percent below their 36-year high of 2.27 million in January 2006.
GE’s Concerns
Buildings are a target of the climate-change measure because they produce 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases and use more than 70 percent of all electricity, according to the Washington-based Alliance to Save Energy, which supports the new standards. The alliance represents makers of energy-reducing products such as 3M Co. and Dow Chemical Co.
The climate bill passed by the House in June would require states to adopt building codes that increase the energy efficiency of new homes by 30 percent one year after passage and 50 percent by 2014. Builders would have to disclose how efficient their homes are. Renovations of existing homes would have to meet the codes when building permits are required for the work.
The Senate plans to draft its version of the legislation next month.
GE, the biggest supplier of appliances for new homes, is worried that higher costs caused by the codes will curtail new - home sales, preventing installation of more-efficient appliances, said Earl Jones, a senior counsel for government and industry relations at the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company.
“Our concern is that those standards not actually impede the development of new housing stock,” Jones said. “There are issues about costs of those new standards.”
Different Market
The company is planning to sell a $1,500 hybrid-electric water heater that is three times more costly than basic brands and could be as much as 85 percent more efficient, he said.
The homebuilders association, based in Washington, has lobbied lawmakers in both congressional chambers, asking that the 30 percent reduction not take effect for two to three years. The association’s Killmer says its data show that for every $1,000 increase in the price of a home, 250,000 people become unable to get a mortgage to buy the property.
Homebuilders’ concerns are warranted in the current market but their worst fears may not come to pass, said Megan McGrath, an analyst for Barclay’s Capital in New York.
“If we are talking about a 2011 or 2012 requirement, I think the market is in a completely different place by then, and someone may be willing to pay a couple thousand more upfront,” McGrath said. “Right now that’s a tough sell to make.”
Spokespeople for builders Pulte Homes, KB Home and Centex Corp. didn’t return calls seeking comment for this story.
Consumer Savings
Energy use reductions in new homes will save consumers $500 a year, said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who sponsored the House measure, in a July 8 note to lawmakers. “That’s money in the pockets of your constituents instead of the energy companies,” he said.
After lobbying by the National Association of Realtors, the legislation was drafted to exclude existing homes from the energy disclosures that would apply to new-home sales.
“In a good market, any sort of mandates for sale of a home could have negative implications,” said Mary Trupo, public issues director for the realtors group in Washington. “In the volatile housing market that we are in, those implications would be magnified.”
Targeting only new homes is misguided, said Killmer of the homebuilders association.
“It makes no sense to have labeling requirements for new homes and not for less-efficient existing homes,” he said. “It’s like imposing labeling requirements on more-efficient hybrid cars and allowing sport utility vehicles to avoid such mandates.”
The energy efficiency of all homes should be made public, said Lowell Ungar, director of policy at the Alliance to Save Energy.
“If you go buy a dishwasher, there is a yellow label that tells you how much energy that dishwasher is going to use,” he said “If you want to buy a house, good luck getting that information.”