9-5-09

 
9-5-09
Merced Sun-Star
Congress to tackle health care
After hearing critics and supporters during recess, it's back to work...MICHAEL DOYLE, Sun-Star Washington Bureau
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/268/v-print/story/1040375.html
WASHINGTON -- San Joaquin Valley lawmakers didn't catch much of a break this August recess, and neither did the health care reform package now awaiting them on Capitol Hill.
The lawmakers return Tuesday having gotten an earful for a month from constituents worried or just plain confused about the legislation that at last count totaled 1,026 pages. At the very least, the proposal appears badly hobbled coming out of the summer break.
"I think this health care bill needs a significant amount of alteration," acknowledged Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.
Cardoza belongs to the House Blue Dog Coalition, whose 52 moderate-to-conservative Democratic members can make or break President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. The Blue Dogs, whose members also include Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, largely represent the kind of rural districts where big-government skepticism abounds.
Neither Cardoza nor Costa hosted the kind of summertime town hall meetings that in other congressional districts erupted into shouting matches. For that, the two Democrats received some local criticism. Both lawmakers, though, heard plenty in other events; Cardoza estimated he met with at least 2,500 people in 50 different sessions.
"My views were reinforced by what I heard," Cardoza said.
Costa, too, said he heard from many different people in many different meanings; a common theme, he said, was a desire for more "clarity" about what the legislation actually does.
"I'm one of the members that want to slow the process down, so that we have a better understanding of what it is we're looking at," Costa said. "I'm not prepared to vote for (the House bill) as it is today."
Both Democrats distanced themselves from at least part of the bill approved July 31 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The panel narrowly approved the measure on a largely party line vote following an unusually long five-day markup.
The House bill includes a public insurance option, but that could easily change once lawmakers reconvene. Costa, for one, said he doesn't think a public option is critical for any final bill. Instead, he suggested the wisdom of "incremental change" that addresses the portability of insurance and the coverage of pre-existing conditions
Undeniably, the House bill is a work in progress; the House committee alone considered roughly 100 amendments. Some won quick approval, like one by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, which protects insurance coverage for children under 2.
Other, more dramatic, revisions are certain to come. Republicans as well as many Blue Dogs want to shrink the bill's price tag, now estimated to be at least $1 trillion over 10 years. Blue Dogs in congressional districts nationwide have told various newspapers about their concerns that have grown over the past month.
"During August, almost every member of Congress heard the message to slow down, and take our time," said Spencer Pederson, spokesman for Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
Radanovich did not hold a town hall meeting in August, though he is considering one in a few weeks. One of his GOP Valley colleagues who did host a conventional town hall, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, knows what to expect.
"There were basically 180 or so really ticked-off people," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia. "I never used to get health care questions. Now, it's all people want to talk about."
Emboldened, Republicans are trying to corner potentially vulnerable Democrats by associating them with certain health care phrases and personalities. In recent days, for instance, Cardoza and Costa both were targeted by Americans for Tax Reform press releases that invoked politically loaded phrases like "aspirin tax" and the names of hot-button liberals.
"Only one week is left before (Cardoza) goes back to Washington to get his arm twisted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and New York's Charlie Rangel," one press release stated, using language identical to that in an anti-Costa press release.
The Americans for Tax Reform reports receiving more than $1 million a year for lobbying, Clerk of the Senate records show. The organization declines to make public its donors, though past reports have identified tobacco companies, Indian tribes and myriad corporations as among its contributors.
Lack of water putting a hurt on Mariposa agriculture...CAROL REITER…9-3-09
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/1036300.html
Drought, drought and more drought has hit agriculture in Mariposa County hard.
In the third year of sparse rainfall, the Mother Lode county lost about $4 million in agriculture value from the year 2007.
Because cattle and calves drive Mariposa's ag revenue, the drought has upended the economy. Livestock value fell from more than $19 million in 2007 to only about $15 million in 2008. The total worth of ag commodities in the county dropped from about $29 million in 2007 to about $25 million in 2008.
Cattle from other counties, such as Merced County, are pastured in the foothills of Mariposa County during the winter months when the grasses are green and nutritious.
But without rain, the grasses don't grow. And the lack of rainfall has also dried up stock ponds and natural springs, meaning cattlemen have no way of getting water to their cattle.
"The cattle are being sold off," said Cathi Boze, agricultural commissioner for Mariposa County. "Their weight went down, and now cattlemen are selling their breeding stock, too."
The price of cattle took another hit when dairies dumped cattle earlier this summer because of low milk prices.
The number of cattle in California saw a huge drop, Boze said. "The California cattle herd is the smallest in 40 years," she said.
The water situation actually became critical last year, especially along the Merced/Mariposa county border, which is prime rangeland, Boze said.
"No water on those properties meant that the land couldn't be rented," she said. "The cattlemen have nowhere to put their cattle, so they sell them off."
While cattle were No. 1 in Mariposa County in 2008, other ag products included field crops, worth about $6 million, and fruit and nut crops, worth about $397,000.
One way the county is trying to push agriculture is to start an agri-tourism program.
Boze said there's an advisory committee ready to report to the Board of Supervisors, and she believes agri-tourism can help the small mountain county.
"It's a tool," she said. "It will help keep farmers in production, help them keep their employees, and most of all, help them keep their land."
Los Banos Enterprise
Letter to the Editor: Congressman lied...Fred Aspesi, Gustine...9-4-09
http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/129/v-print/story/46588.html
Congressman Cardoza, don't you get tired of lying to the American people? I could remember when there was a time when most of us believed in what you were doing in Congress. Now you just tell us what we want to hear while you are putting a knife in our backs.
I called your office several times, and your personnel assured me you would not vote yes on the Health, and Cap and Trade Bill. Now we know you are going to vote yes on both bills. A few weeks back you attended the farmers' water meeting held in Fresno. You promised us that you would work real hard to get the water well needed back to the farmers. While you were lying to us, you signed a bill as of Oct. 1, 2009. There would be no more water from the Friant Dam allocated to the farmers. The water would go to the Delta, so the fish would not die from the sewage deposited from the Bay Area.
Congressman you have lied and lied; when are you going to stand up and be a man and stop kissing Nancy Polosi's butt. You have been called a "Blue Dog." That title should be changed to a "Red Dog" so that you can be treated the same way that Michael Vick treated his dogs. In my opinion, you have become a traitor to the United States of America. One other thing Congressman - I won't run nor will I hide from your union thugs.
Modesto Bee
Calif. lawmakers debate cost of water projects...SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/842429.html
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California lawmakers are racing to craft a legislative package that would revamp the state's decades-old water system but are at odds over how to pay for it.
Among the biggest concerns is whether California, hard hit by the recession and facing continued budget deficits, can afford to take on more debt.
The answer given Friday to a legislative committee formed specifically to address water issues - maybe.
Budget experts warned the state could not afford to pay for new debt because of the budget troubles plaguing California. However, a bond that would be paid back by water users or those who benefit from any projects might be feasible.
"There is no more capacity from the general fund, at this time, to fund any additional cost unless a revenue source is established," said Jason Dickerson, a budget expert at the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office.
For example, every billion dollars in new bond debt would cost the state about $65 million a year for the next 30 years if it were paid out of the general fund, Dickerson said.
State Sen. Dave Cogdill said the state would need a bond issue totaling $12 billion to pay for all the water measures.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he wants a bond put before voters next year and any proposal must include provisions for new dams. He said new reservoirs are crucial to ensure enough water for agriculture.
Republicans have said any bond should be paid by water contractors who will get more water and state taxpayers who would benefit from fewer floods with new dams.
Cogdill, the Senate's lead Republican in water talks, said it would be shortsighted for lawmakers not to approve a bond that addresses one of the state's most pressing issues.
"It's a matter of us managing our debt in such a way to reflect that priority," said Cogdill, who has offered a bond proposal.
Whether California voters are in a mood to approve more state spending at a time when unemployment is at record high, wages are stagnating and workers are worried about their jobs is an open question.
Democrats emphasize conservation and want to impose user fees on farmers, water districts and cities that take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The money would be used to restore habitat.
Behind the effort to reach a water deal is a general agreement that California's water system is outdated, unreliable and inadequate to serve a population projected to grow to 49 million by 2030.
At the center of the debate is the delta, a vast region where Sierra snowmelt mixes with water from San Francisco Bay, creating the largest estuary on the West Coast. Giant pumps suck water from the delta's network of rivers, bays and canals, funneling it to roughly two-thirds of California's population and thousands of acres of farm land.
The delta is held together by a fragile maze of earthen levees and is subject to federal court rulings ordering a reduction in water pumping to protect fish. Those and other issues have created increased risks for the farmers and cities that rely on delta water.
Three years of drought are largely to blame for water shortages and fallowed fields in the Central Valley, one of the richest agricultural regions in the country, but the shortage has been compounded by the federal pumping restrictions. Cities around the state have imposed water rationing and raised rates.
Members of Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision task force - which spent two years studying the delta and state water issues - released a report earlier this week faulting lawmakers for failing to address options for improved storage.
Cogdill has proposed a $12.4 billion bond, with a third of the money set aside for dams and underground aquifers. In the past, Democrats have balked at similar proposals because lawmakers would have no say about when and where money on dams would be spent.
Earlier this week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said $10 billion or more for water bonds was too high. The Sacramento Democrat said he would like to consider a combination of fees and a smaller water bond.
Democratic aides said the state cannot afford to take on the amount of debt Republicans have proposed. According to the state treasurer's office, California has nearly $69 billion in general obligation bond debt.
Seeking an American reform of health care...Jerry McNerney. McNerney, D-Pleasanton, represents the 11th Congressional District, which includes Manteca, Escalon and Ripon.
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/v-print/story/842440.html
Our country is engaged in an important discussion on the future of our health care system. Over the summer, I've traveled our district on a health care listening tour to meet with families, patients, seniors, veterans, small business owners, doctors and nurses. I've also toured health care facilities including hospitals, clinics and local practices, and hosted telephone town halls with thousands of participants to listen to, and answer, questions about health care reform proposals.
During my listening tour, I've met with people from across the political spectrum who believe that our health care system needs improvement. In Tracy, I listened to a small-business owner whose health care premiums have increased over the past two years at a time when revenues are dropping. In Pleasanton, I toured a community health clinic and spoke with doctors who are managing a patient load that has grown significantly since the downturn in the economy. In Stockton and Manteca, I met with seniors who are struggling with the high cost of prescription medication.
In all of the communities that I've visited, I've heard from hardworking people who want the security and peace of mind of knowing that affordable, high quality health care services will be available when they need them. Health care costs are rising dramatically, and this growth is simply too much for many families and businesses. Health care reform that is fiscally responsible, reduces costs, improves quality of care and provides security for our families is important to our country's long-term economic future.
Health care reform should build on the best of our current system to find uniquely American solutions, not create a brand new system from scratch. People who are pleased with their health care -- whether it is through Medicare, an employer, purchased individually, or from another source -- must be able to keep their coverage.
Reform should also reduce health care costs for families and small businesses by harnessing competition in the insurance marketplace, cutting wasteful spending, cracking down on fraud, eliminating common abuses in the insurance industry, and establishing a new emphasis on preventing illness before it strikes.
We have many tough decisions ahead about the direction of our country's health care system. We can all be united in working towards a truly American system that makes health care more affordable, provides the highest quality health care in the world, reduces costs and contributes to our country's economic future.
The discussion regarding health care is ongoing, and I'll continue to listen to all of the thoughts and ideas that people are offering me. I'm fighting for reforms that let people choose their plan and their doctor, rein in costs for families and small businesses, protect benefits for seniors and veterans, and build on the best traditions of this country's entrepreneurial spirit. I look forward to continuing this national discussion on how to improve our American health care system.
Fresno Bee
Sage grouse hunt begins as feds mull protections...MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer
http://www.fresnobee.com/state/v-print/story/1627473.html
CHEYENNE, Wyo. Listing a species as endangered and hunting it might seem mutually exclusive, but the same environmentalists who want sage grouse listed aren't absolutely opposed to hunting the birds.
Wyoming is believed to be home to more than half of the nation's sage grouse. The state's sage grouse hunting season begins later this month.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to decide by February whether to list the bird as threatened or endangered.
Jon Marvel, head of the environmental group Western Watersheds Project, says grouse should be listed. But he says hunting alone doesn't have much effect on sage grouse.
Some opposed to federal protections for the bird say the hunting season could send a mixed message to decision makers in the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Wal-Mart files site plan for Kerman superstore...Sanford Nax
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/v-print/story/1626968.html
Kerman could be the latest battleground for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has filed a site plan for a superstore on 17 acres on the city's fringe.
The nation's largest retailer proposes a 154,648-square-foot store at the southwest corner of Whitesbridge Road and Goldenrod Avenue. Three commercial pads also are planned on three additional acres.
City officials say the store will generate up to 300 jobs, $500,000 in new sales tax and badly needed shopping opportunities for residents who often go out of town to buy school clothes and other supplies.
Others say the community can't support a store that large, and fear local businesses could be hurt. Grocery store owner Gary Yep notes that 20% of the giant store would sell food items — and potentially be a competitor.
"If you can survive without 20% of your business, you'll be OK," said Yep, whose family owns Valley Food Super Center in Kerman.
City officials estimate that Wal-Mart would draw from a trade area of 40,000 people, which includes San Joaquin, Mendota, Firebaugh and other west-side towns.
Yep isn't so sure. He thinks some of those people would choose to travel to Madera, Merced or another city. "That Wal-Mart would be one of the largest stores in the Valley in a town that can't support it," Yep said.
He said he fears that Wal-Mart could come back to city officials, asking for some subsidies.
City Manager Ron Manfredi points to a 2007 survey in which more than 90% of the respondents said they shop out of town. The most common request: someplace to buy clothes.
Kerman has about $950,000 in annual sales tax today. Wal-Mart would boost that by half a million dollars, Manfredi said.
Wal-Mart has agreed to pay $320,000 for an environmental impact report that could take 11 months to prepare even though the site it bought is already zoned for major retail. The company also has agreed to pay for 15% of the city's staff time that is devoted to the project and to put in millions of dollars of road and site improvements, Manfredi said.
"We are not going to subsidize it," he said.
A development plan by Wal-Mart is an attention-getter in many cities. Opponents have been fighting a proposal for a superstore in Clovis since 2003. Even before the chain was announced as a tenant, a lawsuit was filed that alleged Clovis violated state environmental law by approving a shopping center.
Reedley residents blocked the company at the ballot box, but Dinuba and Sanger embraced Wal-Mart. In Sanger, the company went into a former Kmart.
Tracy Press
City, county get closer to wetlands deal...TP Staff
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-City-+county+get+closer+to+wetlands+deal%20&id=3532053-City-+county+get+closer+to+wetlands+deal&instance=home_news_bullets
Tracy is nearing a deal to sell San Joaquin County 200 acres of land near the old Holly Sugar plant that might one day be turned into a public wetlands.
Parks officials from the city and the county toured the acreage north of the old sugar plant this week.
Tracy parks director Rod Buchanan said he hopes to have a contract proposal in place for an October vote of the City Council. San Joaquin County Supervisors also will have to approve the sale.
How much the land will go for remains to be seen. The city owns 1,100 acres surrounding the plant and plans to build youth sports fields on 150 of those acres. Tracy might allow the development of racetracks for cars and motorcycles on part of the land, as well.
The proposed wetlands would be used to help cool treated water from Tracy’s sewer treatment plant. Buchanan said the city would use the money from the sale of the land to the county to help design the wetlands and to pay for the environmental impact report that would have to be done.
If no wetlands are built, the county would turn the land into a long sought-after South County Park.
“Hopefully, by October, we’ll have some contracts to be passed around to governmental agencies,” said county parks director Craig Ogata. “That’s our goal.”
Mayor warned for conflict of interest...Eric Firpo
http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Mayor+warned+for+conflict+of+interest+%20&id=3532215-Mayor+warned+for+conflict+of+interest+&instance=home_news_bullets
The state Fair Political Practices Commission found that Tracy Mayor Brent Ives violated conflict-of-interest laws in 2002 when he voted on a project proposed by a company with which he did private business, ending its investigation with a letter of warning.
In December 2002, Ives, then a councilman, voted to allow Tracy Toyota to expand its parking lot at the same time the company was a client of Ives’ private consulting business, BHI Management Consulting. The business helps train people to manage others.
“At the time of the vote and discussion, Tracy Toyota was an economic interest of yours,” the commission wrote to Ives on Tuesday. “This was a violation of government code section 87100.”
The commission also said Ives failed to correctly report his income on the forms public officials fill out to detail their “economic interests.” The mayor corrected those errors after he met with commissioners in 2006.
How much Tracy Toyota paid to Ives is unclear. The mayor did not return a phone message seeking comment.
The commission acted after a conflict-of-interest complaint was filed in 2004 by Mark Connolly, whose wife, Celeste Garamendi, has lost the mayor’s race to Ives in the past two elections.
“He was doing business with entities that had business with the City Council,” Connolly said. “It’s clear there were violations — there’s no doubt about that.
“He played them off as minor reporting corrections that needed to be made. That just wasn’t true. I think the penalty should’ve been greater. A warning wasn’t strong enough.”
Ives once listed several Tracy companies as clients on BHI’s Web site, including The Surland Cos., whose subdivision Ives voted for last year. The Tracy companies were excised in 2006 from the Web site list, which now shows mostly public entities.
Ives has said those Tracy companies qualified as clients only because their representatives once attended a single seminar he presented.
The commission decided to warn Ives, it told him, because he has “taken steps to assure you no longer have clients within the jurisdiction in order to avoid future conflicts of interest.”
It also said future violations could result in “monetary penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation.”
San Francisco Chronicle
Official: Utah not considering nuclear waste deal...BROCK VERGAKIS, Associated Press Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/04/national/a114637D57.DTL&type=printable
SALT LAKE CITY, (AP) -- The Utah attorney general's office said Friday it is not in negotiations with EnergySolutions Inc. to drop the state's objections to importing foreign nuclear waste for disposal here.
The company wants to import as much as 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in the desert about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City.
If approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it would be the largest amount of radioactive waste ever imported into the country.
The state is currently appealing a federal judge's ruling that the state can't use a regional compact to keep foreign nuclear waste out.
EnergySolutions said in a statement earlier in the day it was in settlement discussions with Utah.
After previously declining to comment, Paul Murphy, a spokesman for Attorney General Mark Shurtleff sent an e-mail to The Associated Press saying his office was not in any settlement talks with the company.
EnergySolutions clarified its earlier statement.
"We have let the new administration know that our offer is still on the table. There are no new settlement terms being proposed or negotiated," the statement said. "Because this issue is still before the court it would be inappropriate to comment further."
In February, the company said it would offer Utah 50 percent of its net revenues from the disposal of foreign nuclear waste if it agreed to let it in Utah.
Former Gov. Jon Huntsman scoffed at that proposal, saying the long-term impact wouldn't be worth a temporary financial windfall.
Huntsman resigned last month to become U.S. ambassador to China. In May, Huntsman's replacement, former Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, said he wouldn't do anything differently from Huntsman in regard to foreign waste.
"While Gov. Herbert is aware of the proposal, it should be noted that he has not formally been presented with any offer on this issue," Herbert spokesman Angie Welling wrote in an e-mail to the AP.
"The governor remains committed to the lawsuit that is currently on appeal and continues to believe that foreign waste should not be imported into Utah," the e-mail said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., are pushing forward with legislation to ban the importation of foreign radioactive waste unless it served a strategic national purpose.
There are only three low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities operating in the U.S. Matheson and Gordon contend those sites should be preserved for domestic waste.
The Utah facility is the only one available to 36 states.
EnergySolutions has said it has plenty of capacity at its site for the Italian waste and has pledged to cap the amount accepted at the site to 5 percent of all capacity.
It also says the Italian waste would represent less than 1 percent of the waste it accepts annually
Monterey Herald
Deal shapes CSUMB growth
Agreement reached on traffic, water and habitat issues...LARRY PARSONS
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_13276567?nclick_check=1
A decade-old legal fight over CSU-Monterey Bay's payment of Fort Ord redevelopment costs promises to be put to rest at long last with an agreement reached this week.
The agreement should draw the curtain on a 1998 environmental lawsuit by the city of Marina and Fort Ord Reuse Authority against the university and its growth plans. The deal would eliminate a lingering hurdle to scaled-back CSUMB expansion plans.
The mayors of Marina and Seaside say the settlement clarifies what will be required of CSUMB as campus growth generates thousands more daily vehicle trips on off-campus roads.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Seaside Mayor Ralph Rubio, chairman of the FORA board.
The agreement was announced Wednesday in a press release from CSUMB, in which university President Dianne Harrison called it "a historic milestone for all of our organizations." The press release contained no details.
Later, university Vice President James Main said, "It allows the university to grow and to develop, and that is important for the entire region."
The deal was negotiated during the past month. The university asked the court in July to end the litigation, but FORA and Marina objected, saying that major issues remained unresolved. In hopes of going to court with a unified front, the parties went back to the negotiating table, Main said.
The long standoff made supporters of a new building at CSUMB — a proposed economic development institute in a 10,000-square-foot facility — nervous because of the unresolved issue. They plan to seek federal grant money soon to build the institute, after receiving a $180,000 planning grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration in June.
Rubio said the agreement eliminates ambiguities on how new traffic impacts generated by university expansion will be dealt with.
"We all understand the importance of CSUMB to the community," Rubio said. "But the expansion of the campus has impacts on the community as well — traffic and water use. While they may be overridden, the community needs to know what they are overriding."
Rubio said "the right direction of cooperation" has been achieved. "I'm confident if there are any other issues, we'll be able to work through them," he said.
The five-page agreement says it clarifies parts of the environmental impact report approved earlier this year for CSUMB's 2007 master plan. That plan calls for an on-campus enrollment of 8,500 students by 2025, up from about 4,300 today.
The university's earlier 1998 master plan called for a campus that would handle up to 25,000 full-time studies. Marina and FORA challenged the environmental impact report for that bullish growth plan and, eventually, prevailed at the state Supreme Court.
Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado said reaching the agreement was important in two ways.
It makes it easier to understand what is expected of the university to deal with growth impacts. And putting the long fight to rest will allow the university to grow, which is crucial to Marina and other communities, he said.
"If we hadn't signed this, there was a strong possibility the university would have been frozen in ice," Delgado said. "That would be a serious blow the regional economy."
Main said final dismissal of the environmental litigation will allow CSUMB to move ahead, not only on the economic institute but with a planned classroom building that also "is in the chute."
"Both of those would not be coming our way without an approved master plan," he said.
Here's a look at the nuts and bolts of the agreement:
· CSUMB will take steps to ensure that campus growth doesn't generate more than 4,361 additional daily vehicle trips. The baseline is 8,550 trips, which was established in fall 2008.
· If traffic nears the threshold number, the university must take steps to reduce vehicle trips or limit development.
· Before beginning the second phase of its planned "North Campus Faculty/Staff Housing," the university will seek $1.34 million from the Legislature to cover its fair-share costs of a regional water augmentation project.
· The university will also seek about $52,000 to pay its share of habitat-conservation programs.
The agreement acknowledges the the Legislature may not provide the money, but obligates CSUMB to discuss alternate funding sources with Marina and FORA.
Los Angeles Times
Simply put, every drop of water counts
Halt global warming? It's simple, one expert says: to save energy, save water...Emily Green
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-dry5-2009sep05,0,3557515,print.story
More than 1,000 climate experts from around the world gathered last month in Stockholm for World Water Week. If you didn't read about it or hear about it on TV, it's not necessarily because of the crisis besetting modern journalism. It could easily be the subject. If there is anything that can clear a room faster than a plague of toads, it's discussion of climate change and water.
Peter Gleick, a MacArthur fellow and president of a nonprofit environmental and public policy group called the Pacific Institute in Oakland, was in Stockholm for the meeting. He is, above any Californian, our man on the unmentionable.
So, are there ways to address this topic, I asked Gleick recently, without leaving everyone feeling utterably depressed and helpless? Absolutely, Gleick responded. "If you want to save energy, save water."
Aha, logical. Energy saved amounts to greenhouse gas emissions prevented. Energy is a hidden cost of water. In 2004, Gleick published a report with the Natural Resources Defense Council on the subject. As the date of the report suggests, the knowledge isn't new, but comprehension is so low, thousands of climatologists still feel compelled to sing the message in Stockholm.
It may be the stealthy quality of water. It simply seems to flow naturally into our sprinklers and garden hoses, while it's actually moved to us. This takes so much power that the pumps that convey and treat California's water account for roughly 20% of the electricity consumed in the state.
Southern California, particularly, drives that figure way up. We are so far away from the sources of our water in the Sacramento Delta and the Colorado River that the energy cost for bringing water to us is 50 times higher than for Northern Californians and five times the rate for the typical American.
Why so high? Water is heavy. In the case of the State Water Project coming from the Sacramento Delta, Southern California supplies must be pumped 2,000 feet over the Tehachapi Mountains. This is "the highest lift of any water system in the world," according to the Pacific Institute and Natural Resources Defense Council report.
Numbers making you dizzy? Then turn your attention to twin maps of the southwestern U.S. from a recent White House report on global climate change.
They show two futures projected by federal climate modelers: The most optimistic model, the "Lower Emission Scenario," predicts that in the last two decades of this century, Southern California will be lucky to lose only 20% to 30% of its current precipitation.
If we fail to restrict our energy consumption and cap our carbon emissions, the second map shows precipitation falling by 40%, not just here but also in the places that supply our water.
Gleick said saving hot water has a double benefit because it saves the energy to move as well as heat the water. But he isn't picky about where we find the savings.
"If you can, if you're replacing your washing machine, buy a high-efficiency water machine and you save a huge amount of energy and water and, in the long run, money," Gleick said. "But even if you're saving cold water, that's water that doesn't have to be pumped over the Tehachapi Mountains or water that in the future doesn't have to be desalinated."
This column being about gardening, an observation: About 40% to 60% of our water goes outdoors, depending on our climate zone. There's no time better than now to kill your lawn and go native. What Gleick was telling us, and what those maps were underscoring, was that we could act now to arrest global warming and plant gardens fit for the future.
Rebates are still being given by major water authorities for all manner of water-saving devices: washing machines, dishwashers, garden sprinkler and drip systems, toilets, shower heads. To find out details, look up BeWaterWise.com.
Web links to the reports cited in this column can be found on our L.A. at Home blog, latimes.com/home, where Green's columns appear weekly. She also writes on water issues at www.chanceofrain.com.
San Diego Union Tribune
America's Finest Blog...Chris Reed
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/05/americas-finest-blog905/?uniontrib
Water authority must fight absurd pension spike — not pass cost to customers
Beware, San Diego County residents: You're under financial assault, and few of you even know it.
I refer to the giant Metropolitan Water District's plan to spike the pensions of its 2,000 employees by 25 percent at its Sept. 15 meeting. The plan changes the multiplier for determining an employee's pension from 2 percent times years of service to 2.5 percent. The consortium of water agencies wants to add this $70 million long-term expense even as it ups the water rates of 18 million Southern Californians — including customers of the San Diego County Water Authority — by 19 percent this month and another 12 percent next year.
How can this possibly be happening? Is the MWD simply operating in a bubble, unaware of all the public anger that's developed the past year over revelation after revelation about mammoth public employee pensions? Is the MWD just hoping no one notices it wants to spike pensions at a time when its pension portfolio is at least $400 million unfunded?
The MWD says various concessions it won in negotiations make the pension spike a good deal. Bunk. Other government agencies have won just as many or more concessions without a pension spike. Any claim the MWD needs the spike on retention grounds is also bunk.
County residents must make clear to the county water authority that it and its four representatives on the MWD's 37-member board of directors better not go along with this outrage. The water authority gets about two-thirds of its water from the MWD, so starting this month, you're going to be paying it a lot more. Not a dime should go to inflate already generous pensions.
So call (858) 522-6600 and tell the water authority it better not betray its customers by going along with the pension spike.
It's ridiculous. It must be stopped. If enough of the public wakes up, it will be stopped.
How unions took $4 million from cash-strapped UC
The University of California system is in desperate straits. Its budget woes are so extreme that students are being squeezed in a dozen ways to pay more, not just through tuition. Classes and services are being cut to unprecedented extremes.
So why on Earth would UC President Mark Yudof go to extraordinary lengths to defy Gov. Schwarzenegger to provide millions for a bogus labor “think tank” that in reality is a taxpayer-funded training program for union activists?
You guessed it: the raw political power of the unions.
Kevin Dayton of the Associated Builders and Contractors of California hunted down the e-mails chronicling the pressure put on Yudof after Arnold vetoed the labor program's $5.4 million in funding last year.
Who delivered the warnings to Yudof that UC would pay dearly unless it ponied up replacement funds?
No less than the frontrunner in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial race — Attorney General Jerry Brown — and the two most powerful Dems in the Legislature, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate boss Darrell Steinberg.
This pressure caused anguish within UC. Dayton quoted two e-mails from Debora Obley, associate vice president in the UC Budget Office.
“I think if we give them more than $1 million or so in cash, we'd be doing a disservice to the rest of the university,” she wrote in the first.
“We have $150 million worth of cuts to deal with. That is huge and we don't have money just lying around. Can you imagine the firestorm inside the university if we cut everyone more in order to fund this one?” she wrote in a second.
Yudof capitulated and rounded up $4 million for the labor program. But the internal angst continued.
“This is an institute created by the Legislature for the purposes of labor advocacy and training programs,” UC Vice President for Budget Patrick Lenz wrote in an e-mail.
“The unions benefit by these programs and use them against the UC in their collective bargaining negotiations and advocacy efforts with the Legislature. I'd find it 'cruel and unusual punishment' if we get stuck funding these Institutes in the future out of the UC budget at a time when the state is cutting our funding but pressuring us to give more at the collective bargaining table.”
Don't be surprised if unions try to get Lenz fired for his honesty.
Memo to the usual e-mailers gearing up to rip me for going after unions: Re-read the item above. Do you really think this is defensible? Really? Really?
If so, that's hard to fathom.
CNN Money
Five more banks fail -- 89 so far in 2009
Regulators close banks in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri...Amy Haimerl
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/04/news/companies/bank_failures/
index.htm?postversion=2009090505
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Five small regional banks were closed by regulators on Friday evening, pushing 2009's tally so far to 89 institutions. Of the five failures, two were in Illinois, and there was one each in Arizona, Iowa and Missouri.
Customers of the banks, however, are protected. The Federal Deposit Insurance Company, which has insured bank deposits since the Great Depression, covers each customer account up to $250,000.
In Illinois, Platinum Community Bank, in Rolling Meadows, and InBank, in Oak Forest, were the latest institutions to be cosed by regulators. This makes for a total of 15 failed Illinois banks this year. The last one to go under was Mutual Bank, in Harvey, on July 31, 2009.
The Office of Thrift Supervision was unable to find a buyer to take over the assets of Platinum Community, which were estimated at $345.6 million with deposits of $305 million. As a result, the FDIC will begin mailing customers checks for their insured deposits beginning on Tues., Sept. 8.
That means customers are out of luck over the weekend and cannot access any of their Platinum Community accounts. "The bank is gone. It no longer exists," said David Barr, spokesman for the FDIC. "We couldn't find an appropriate buyer. We don't do that very often."
For those Platinum Community customers expecting direct deposits from the federal government -- such as Social Security and Veterans' payments -- MB Financial Bank will handle the transactions. But customers must use the MB Financial branch at 2251 Plum Grove in Palatine, Ill., to access those funds.
Unlike Platinum Community, MB Financial agreed to purchase the assets and deposits of Illinois' other failed bank, InBank. MB Financial receives InBank's $212 million in assets and $199 million in deposits, and customers' funds are automatically rolled over to the new institution.
The three branches of InBank will open as normal on Sat., Sept. 5, as new MB Financial outlets. Customers can continue using their debit cards and writing checks as normal.
In the West, the assets and deposits of First State Bank of Flagstaff, Ariz., were sold off to Sunwest Bank, based in Tustin, Calif. All First State customers -- totaling $95 million in deposits -- automatically become new Sunwest clients.
This is the third bank failure in Arizona this year. The last institution to go under was Union Bank in Gilbert, on Aug. 14, 2009.
Check writing privileges and debit card transactions will continue as normal through the weekend. On Tuesday, all six branches of First State will reopen as outposts of Sunwest Bank.
In the Midwest, Vantus Bank, in Sioux City, became Iowa's first bank to fail in 2009. It had been nearly a decade since the state faced a bank closure.
Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Mo., is assuming Vantus' $368 million in deposits. It will take a fwe weeks for Great Southern to finalize the transaction, but until then customers can continue using the existing branches of Vantus as well as write checks and use their debit cards. Great Southern is also managing Vantus' $458 million in assets until it can sell them off later.
Customers of First Bank of Kansas City, in Kansas City., Mo., can now call Great American Bank of De Soto, Kan., their financial home. When the bank was closed on Friday, it became Missouri's second failure of 2009. When the sole branch of First Bank reopens on Saturday, it will be an outpost of Great American Bank. Customers can continue writing checks and using their debit cards as normal.
Great American Bank bought the banks' $16 million in assets and approximately $15 million in deposits.
The FDIC estimates that these five bank failures will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund a total of $401.3 million.
Anyone who needs further information about what deposits or insured or needs additional details on their bank's failure can visit www.fdic.gov or call 1-800-537-4048.