9-17-08

 9-17-08Merced Sun-StarMerced pays $45,000 to send Wal-Mart plan back for reviewMoney will pay for additional traffic studies...SCOTT JASONhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/457273.htmlThe Merced City Council agreed Tuesday to pay an additional $45,000 on the proposed Wal-Mart distribution center's environmental review, because more work needs to be done to make it bulletproof before its release to the public.The council approved a request from consulting firm EDAW Inc. on Monday to spend more money on the review, bringing its cost to $447,455. The bill, and all the staff time spent on the project, will be reimbursed by Wal-Mart.Opponents of the distribution center seized on the funding increase to point out that Wal-Mart was late on paying one of its bills two years ago.The money will pay for additional traffic studies to account for more intersections and the Mission Avenue interchange. The consultant will also make revisions on the noise analysis and on how the project will affect air quality based on new San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District regulations.The environmental review is expected to be released to the public in December 2008, launching the public comment period that will pit the pro-Wal-Mart people against those who say the proposed project does more harm than good.It won't go before the City Council for a vote until next year.The consultant must answer all questions from residents, which are included in the final environmental review. As a result, EDAW says that even more money may be needed. "We expect an unusually large number of detailed comment letters once the draft (review) goes public," according to a letter to the city.The environmental report, which addresses how the project will affect roads, air quality, water and land, is the most critical part of the project. It's typically what gets sued, which can stall a project for months or years.The environmental review, begun in 2006, has taken longer and become more expensive than the consultant expected. Twice EDAW has come back to the city requesting more money.Merced has made a point to make it defensible in court, ordering a third-party to pore over it, searching for holes or weak parts that could be targeted by attorneys... The Merced Stop Wal-Mart Action Team posted a statement on its Web site wondering whether the world's largest retailer would reimburse the city for the additional work.The group pointed out that Wal-Mart didn't pay a $114,000 bill on time in October 2006. The city sent a letter threatening to send the matter to collections if the bill -- already 30 days overdue -- wasn't paid within 10 days. Wal-Mart paid the bill, though city spokesman Mike Conway said no one in the finance department could remember why the payment was late. There are no other outstanding bills.Valley's competition for water threatens honeydew...From reportshttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/457276.htmlHoneydew melon production in the Valley may decline in the near future because of tight water supplies.Farm advisers say the soils and climate in the Valley are ideal for honeydew melon production, but with limits on irrigation water, permanent crops like almonds and walnuts will use most of the available water.There are areas of the southern Sacramento Valley where growers are able to "dry farm" the crop. Our View: Get serious about rail safetyhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/story/457282.htmlThe deadly crash involving a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train has Friday refocused attention on a long-standing railroad safety issue -- the lack of automatic control systems capable of overriding mistakes made by human operators.The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but the initial indication is that the engineer operating the Metrolink locomotive failed to stop at a red light.Had automatic controls been in place, the locomotive's brakes would have activated automatically. The collision could have been averted and lives saved. Currently, federal railroad regulators require sophisticated control systems only along sections of the congested Northeast rail corridor, where passenger trains can reach speeds of 125 mph or more.A less sophisticated system operates between San Diego and Los Angeles, where trains can reach speeds up to 90 mph.In the wake of Friday's disaster, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation to require all U.S. railroads to install train control systems designed to avoid collisions.The measure sets a December 2012 deadline for these systems to be in place on high-risk rail lines where major freight and passenger railroads share tracks. It's an ambitious goal but necessary... Such systems are particularly important in places where passenger trains and freight trains operate on the same tracks.That is true for virtually all the commuter rail systems in California, including the San Joaquins, which run from Bakersfield to Sacramento and the Bay Area, and the Capitol Corridor, which runs 32 trains a day between Sacramento and the Bay Area.At times, those trains run shoulder-to-shoulder with freight trains. At other times, they slip behind or run ahead of the freights...Given the huge surge in passenger rail travel in California and the growth of freight traffic, the risk of accident has grown too great.It's time for Congress to act.Lawmakers should mandate automatic control systems now and appropriate funds to help pay for it...Modesto BeeAgency expands protected habitat for Calif. frog...SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writerhttp://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/431698.htmlFederal wildlife officials on Tuesday proposed expanding protections for the California red-legged frog, providing up to four times as much habitat than was set aside two years ago.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends designating up to 1.8 million acres in 28 California counties as habitat critical to the frog's survival. The proposal must undergo 60 days of public comment and another review before it becomes final."The goal of the service is to help recover this species," agency spokesman Mike Fris said in a statement.The frog, the largest species native to the western U.S., is believed to have inspired Mark Twain's tale, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." It was listed as a threatened species in 1996.The frog's native habitat includes coastal areas of California, the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Central Valley and other wet areas stretching from Mendocino County to Los Angeles. Federal wildlife officials say the frog once lived in 46 counties, but now remain in only 238 streams or drainages in 31 counties.If approved, the Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal would be the first critical habitat expansion since the agency announced last year that it would reverse seven rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.The reversals came after an investigation found Interior Department official Julie MacDonald had pressured government scientists to alter their findings about several species, including the red-legged frog."This is the first species from the Julie MacDonald scandal where they've gone back to try to improve it, but it's half the acreage their biologists told them was needed to recover the species," Miller said..."It would have a potential to have a devastating impact," said Paul Campos, general counsel at the Home Builders Association of Northern California. "Land prices in California and land holdings are historic lows, and there's not a day that goes by without either a builder or a lender or an investor going bankrupt. There couldn't be worse timing for this regulatory overkill."The land proposed for critical habitat in the latest recommendations includes sections of two military bases, Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County and Camp San Luis Obispo.Fresno BeeNew proposal gives frogs more territoryRed-legged species may get 1.8 million-acre habitat...Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureauhttp://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/872952.htmlWASHINGTON -- The California red-legged frog regained political territory Tuesday as the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed designating 1.8 million acres in California as critical habitat for the threatened species. The proposal spans 28 counties and more than triples the agency's previous critical habitat proposal. The largest native frog in the western United States, the California red-legged frog casts an equally outsized political shadow. The new critical habitat proposed Tuesday is the fourth revision in seven years. The last rewrite was retracted after federal investigators began examining former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald. Though avoiding her name, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated Tuesday that MacDonald "may have inappropriately influenced the extent and locations" of the frog's prior critical habitat proposal...The latest critical habitat proposal grew, in part, because officials added land adjacent to known populations. Officials also lifted a previous restriction that kept upland critical habitat to within several hundred feet of a water source.Critics, including Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, have suggested critical habitat designation effectively lowers property values because landowners feel more constrained. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they avoid developed land where possible. "I have reservations about the need for a listing," Cardoza said Tuesday, adding that "the process is broken, because they have had to go back and redo this a number of times." Feds retreat on Northern Rockies wolf hunting plan...MATTHEW BROWNhttp://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/872547.htmlA federal wildlife official says the government plans to retreat for now from its attempt to take gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list. Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the government in the next week plans to withdraw a rule issued this spring. The rule was based on the assertion that the region's approximately 1,500 wolves were recovered fully, opening the way for public hunting of wolves to begin this fall in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Those hunts had been in doubt since July, when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy blocked them from going forward pending resolution of a lawsuit by environmentalists. The decision to withdraw the rule listing wolves as fully recovered is subject to final approval by Department of Justice attorneys. Stockton RecordHousing construction plummets 6.2 pct. in August (6:23 a.m.)http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/A_NEWS/80917001WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes and apartments fell to the lowest level in 17 years last month, showing the country is still gripped by a severe housing downturn that has triggered billions of dollars of losses and is reshaping the structure of U.S. finance. The Commerce Department reported today that housing construction dropped a surprise 6.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 895,000 units. That’s the slowest building pace since January 1991, another period when housing was going through a painful correction. The decline is larger than the 1.6 percent drop analysts expected and showed weakness in all the country except the West. The data was bound to shake Wall Street, already rattled by a crisis in the financial system. Stock futures pointed to a lower opening. The housing downturn has depressed overall economic activity and pushed the country close to a recession. Thousands of construction jobs have been lost, contributing to an economic slowdown that has pushed the overall unemployment rate to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August. There have been steep declines in home prices in much of the country. This has helped trigger record levels of mortgage defaults, dumping more homes on an already glutted market and further depressing prices. The billions of dollars of losses on mortgage investments have sent shockwaves through the country’s financial sector, triggering the biggest restructuring on Wall Street since the Great Depression. In the past 10 days, the government has seized control of the country’s two biggest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and late Tuesday announced it was providing an $85 billion emergency loan to the country’s largest insurance company, American International Group Inc. All three titans were brought low by soaring losses on mortgage investments...Spanos-backed group steps up bid to undo General Plan pact...David Sidershttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/A_NEWS/809170329/-1/A_NEWSSTOCKTON - Developer A.G. Spanos Cos.' bid to bust the City Council's accord with state Attorney General Jerry Brown and environmentalists over Stockton's General Plan intensified Tuesday: A Spanos-backed referendum campaign placed a full page advertisement in The Record, and the company said it is considering filing a lawsuit to undo the landmark deal...The Alliance for Responsible Planning - the Spanos-backed group attempting to force a referendum on the council's vote last week to consider green building standards and otherwise reduce the environmental impact of new development - also Tuesday released a list of members. They include the Spanos Cos., former Mayor Gary Podesto, the Stockton Police Officers Association and leaders of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.Not listed are developers The Grupe Co., Arnaiz Development Co. or John Verner. Nor is the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce a member. The chamber opposed the settlement's adoption but rejected an invitation to join the alliance, chamber CEO Douglass Wilhoit said.In an ad in The Record, the Alliance for Responsible Planning said it was "formed because the public was shut out of the process that led to the dramatic changes that have just been made to the Stockton General Plan."After months of negotiations among senior city officials, Brown and the Sierra Club, a divided council last week adopted a settlement agreement requiring the city to consider measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributable to growth...City Attorney Ren Nosky said the city expects Spanos to file a lawsuit attempting to block the deal. The settlement is legally sound, he said...Builders, it's not all about you...Michael Fitzgeraldhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/A_NEWS0803/809170318/-1/A_NEWSThough City Hall is pro-growth and has for years accommodated developers, some builders are treating Stockton with profound disrespect and disregard for quality of life here.Led by the A.G. Spanos Cos., they now seek to subvert the City Council's decision last week to cut down the sprawl in Stockton's General Plan 2035.The bloated General Plan - doubling Stockton's size - was bad, precisely because it was more an accommodation to developers than an expression of planning logic or citizen will.So bad was it that Attorney General Jerry Brown threatened to sue Stockton. The Sierra Club did sue. The council realized it had gone overboard.The settlement ends litigation, preserves farmland and balances sprawl with infill. It also restores vitality to downtown by supporting housing there.The decision shows City Hall, like many an ordinary Stocktonian, increasingly grasps that sprawl (though to be fair, not only sprawl) weakened existing neighborhoods and overtaxed city servicesThe revised Stockton will be safer, greener, easier to get around, less of a bedroom community, with a downtown all can be proud of instead of a sprawl-sapped wasteland.Equally to the point, the settlement was decided upon by the people's elected representatives.Builders now seek to usurp this authority. But they have to fool the public to do it. Showing the requisite cynicism for the task, developers have suddenly become champions of public input."Five years in the making, significant public participation putting it together; the settlement plan that was adopted by the City Council the other night will upend much of that plan," objected Spanos lieutenant David Nelson.That's what lawsuit settlements do. The settlement was reached because leaders realized the overstuffed General Plan stood to lose the court challenge...Some builders have formed a group called, without irony, Alliance for Responsible Planning. They are gathering signatures to force a referendum.They are running ads that state, "The public was shut out of the process."But the public's elected representatives were part of the process. Builders' real complaint is that they were shut out of the process.That was only proper; they were not party to the lawsuit. They have no standing in its settlement.But, they were part of the process that caused the city's legal problems; the process that worsened the quality of life in Stockton; the illogical, wasteful process of developer-driven sprawl.They bought up land north and south of the city, outside city limits, and asked it be annexed. It was annexed against the principles of smart growth.They asked special permission to build before the city's General Plan was even finished. The rules were bent for them. That's how much they care about process.They contrived a way to outflank Measure Q, the 2004 growth boundary, though it was passed by a majority of voters. That's how much they care about public input.Now they run ads filled with scare tactics, such as claiming balanced growth may result in cuts to police and fire...Sprawl - not lack of sprawl - weakens public safety. As Jerry Brown pointed out, during Stockton's most rapid growth, from 1999 to 2005, violent crime almost doubled.The building industry is a great asset when properly channeled.But the current campaign reveals that the public some of them purport to represent is just another obstacle to bulldoze. So is the council that bent over backward for them.Frog species gains ground with officialsLand increase for habitat proposed...Alex Breitlerhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/A_NEWS/809170319/-1/A_NEWSThe celebrated California red-legged frog may gain more protections - at least on paper - following an investigation of a former high-ranking Department of Interior official.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday proposed quadrupling the threatened frog's "critical habitat," lands where the frog is known to exist, or lands that may be needed for its eventual recovery.Critical habitat can slow down or stop development if scientists believe the frogs are imperiled. However, federal officials say critical habitat in reality affords little extra protection for most species.The frog is one of eight species reviewed by Fish and Wildlife after it was revealed that former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald may have had "inappropriate influence" over decisions concerning endangered species. MacDonald, said to have pressured staff scientists, Tuesday's news is the latest twist in an amphibian saga that has seen proposed frog habitat plummet from 4.1 million acres in 2001 to 450,000 acres in 2006, now rebounding to 1.8 million acres in 28 counties, including Calaveras and San Joaquin."It's better than what was last proposed but still only half of the area that their scientists said are essential for recovering the species," said Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity. Miller's environmental group has sued the feds, saying that their prior critical habitat plans violate the law.Under the latest plan, about 4,500 acres of private ranchland in Calaveras County would be considered habitat, as well as the far southwestern corner of San Joaquin County and the hills around the Altamont Pass.What does this mean for the people who live or own property there?While these lands are not akin to wildlife refuges, designating them critical habitat can be an impediment to growth...Developers who need federal permits also could find critical habitat to be a stumbling block. But individual landowners are usually not affected.Critical habitat can spur lawsuits by those hoping to block the construction of schools or new neighborhoods, said Paul Campos, vice president of government affairs for the Home Builders Association of Northern California. His group also sued Fish and Wildlife when it first proposed 4.1 million acres for the frog..."This isn't just about the red-legged frog," he added. "It's a broad agenda by a very narrowly focused group (the Center for Biological Diversity) to use federal environmental law to hijack land use in California."An analysis on how much the critical habitat rule would cost is pending. The previous designation of 450,000 acres was expected to have an economic impact of nearly $500 million, according to Fish and Wildlife documents.In a statement, Fish and Wildlife Assistant Regional Director Mike Fris called the frog a "California icon," made famous in Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.""The goal of the service is to help recover this species," he said. The frog was once a food delicacy and has been harmed by the introduction of bullfrogs and the conversion of wetlands to agricultural fields.Lodi SentinelA drought en route? County: One more dry winter could cause problems…Ross Farrowhttp://www.lodinews.com/articles/2008/09/17/news/6_drought_080917.txtSan Joaquin County can handle the past two years of below-average rainfall, but if we have another dry winter, there could be trouble, county officials told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday."This is going to be a 'watch' winter for us," Deputy Public Works Director Steve Winkler told the board. "The sky hasn't fallen just yet, but we're one winter away."The Board of Supervisors directed Public Works to develop a plan — which could include mandatory rationing — in case the county has a third consecutive dry year. Water officials are expected to present a plan within the next six months.Ruhstaller and Supervisor Victor Mow urged county staff to work with Lodi and the other six cities to develop a unified plan. Mow also suggested that Public Works communicate with schools and farmers about how acute the water supply is.Mel Lytle, the county's water resource coordinator, said that droughts are nothing unusual, and they usually last for two to three years. The last drought to plague the Central Valley was from 1987 to 1992. Before that, there were significant droughts in 1976-77, in the 1950s, and the disastrous Dust Bowl of the 1930s.However, with Southern California and southern San Joaquin Valley interests pursuing a peripheral canal to transfer water south from the Delta, Lytle noted that several Southern California dams have significantly more water than those in Northern California, which include Camanche, New Hogan, New Melones, Folsom and Shasta dams.Many Northern California dams are slightly more than 30 percent of capacity, although Pardee is 88 percent full, Lytle said. Meanwhile, in Southern California, Lake Mathews is 78 percent full, Diamond Valley Lake is 64 percent of capacity and Lake Skinner is 91 percent full.Quenching a neighbor's thirst Woodbridge sells Mokelumne water to East Bay...Ross Farrow...9-15-08http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2008/09/16/news/3_water_080916.txtThe Woodbridge Irrigation District is helping residents in Alameda and Contra Costa counties with their critical water needs by selling them a little more than 6,000 acre-feet of water.The irrigation district board approved the sale on Thursday, while the East Bay Municipal Utility District board approved it the previous day.The deal calls for Woodbridge to sell at least 6,000 acre-feet for $1.2 million. EBMUD will receive as much as 9,000 acre-feet, based on how much water Woodbridge has available. The additional cost is $200 per acre-foot.Woodbridge has between 6,000 and 7,000 acre-feet available to sell to EBMUD, according to John Wookey, Woodbridge irrigation District's assistant to the manager.The deal is for this year only, through Oct. 15. EBMUD will use the water to help its 1.3 million East Bay customers who are subject to mandatory water rationing this year.The Woodbridge district, which serves agricultural customers in Woodbridge, Thornton and areas west and south of Lodi, has water to sell EBMUD because Woodbridge had conserved water due to the dry winter, Wookey said.Woodbridge's water savings dates back to July, when EBMUD informed Woodbridge officials that Woodbridge would get only 39,000 acre-feet of water from the Mokelumne River this year because Pardee Reservoir contained less than 375,000 acre-feet. Woodbridge normally gets 60,000 acre-feet during normal and wet winters. So WID cut down water allocations to its customers.But Woodbridge Irrigation District filed a protest, claiming that Pardee had more water storage than EBMUD thought. After hours of negotiations with three arbitrators, the East Bay Municipal Utility District agreed in August to give the Woodbridge Irrigation District its full allocation of 60,000 acre-feet.Since Woodbridge conserved water, thinking it would only get 39,000 acre-feet, the district had some extra water to sell to EBMUD...Meanwhile, Ed Steffani, manager of the neighboring North San Joaquin Water Conservation District, criticized the Woodbridge-EBMUD deal because the Woodbridge water is leaving San Joaquin County.North San Joaquin, which doesn't have the infrastructure to pump 20,000 acre-feet out of the Mokelumne River, has asked the city of Lodi to donate the water it purchased from Woodbridge to North San Joaquin to help replenish the parched groundwater basin in the northern and eastern part of the county. The Lodi City Council hasn't taken action on North San Joaquin's request.San Francisco ChronicleOhio Wal-Mart closed amid methane-gas concerns...APhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/16/national/a084135D10.DTL&hw=wal+mart&sn=003&sc=1000Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has closed one of its stores in the Cleveland area built atop a landfill amid concerns about potentially explosive methane gas.An independent contractor confirmed there is a problem with the odorless gas generated by rotting garbage, said Tara Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer. The closure of the store is probably permanent, she said.The store also had electrical and plumbing problems and a shifting foundation, Stewart said.The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recently threatened to shut down the entire City View Center after finding methane under the big-box retail plaza. The agency asked several weeks ago for more monitoring and venting of the gas. Since then, the center's owners have been working to fix the problem.No other tenants have pulled out of the center, which opened in 2006 as the first major commercial development in Ohio to be built atop a landfill.Chuck Satchwill, City View's senior project manager, said he was shocked by Wal-Mart's decision."As far as we know, everything is under control and everything is safe," he said."Wal-Mart often builds and owns its buildings. We didn't build this building," Stewart said. "Everything was creating a volatile environment in and around the store. If we felt it was something that could be fixed, we could have stayed in the store. At this point we're confident the problems can't be fixed."Garfield Heights Mayor Thomas Longo said the plaza has no safety problem, citing reports from the city's fire department. He questioned Wal-Mart's stated motivation for closing the store, saying the company might not have been satisfied with the number of customers because there are two other Wal-Mart stores in the area...Los Angeles TimesA California frog may be about to get room to stretch its red legsErrors by a former federal official took land from the red-legged frog, a threatened species. Now an agency wants to rectify that...Julie Carthttp://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-frog17-2008sep17,0,5762672,print.storyCalifornia's red-legged frog may be getting some of its land back. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on Tuesday to more than triple the habitat set aside for the threatened frog, citing scientific miscalculations and political manipulation by former Interior Department official Julie MacDonald that had greatly reduced the protected acreage.MacDonald resigned in May 2007 after an internal investigation showed she had altered scientific conclusions to reduce protections for endangered species and had provided internal documents to lobbyists. Since then, the department has been reconsidering eight decisions made while MacDonald oversaw the endangered species program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, part of the Interior Department.Tuesday's decision, a result of that review, would create a 1.8-million-acre habitat in 28 Central and Northern California counties. Development and destruction of wetlands have eliminated the frogs from more than 70% of their historic range. MacDonald would have reduced what was left of the frog's range by 82%.An Interior Department investigation found that MacDonald pressured staff to count three sub-species of the California tiger salamander as one, which undermined the case for protection. A federal judge overturned that decision in 2005, saying it was made "without even a semblance of agency reasoning."The investigation determined that MacDonald improperly provided department information to lobbyists and private-sector interests, such as the California Farm Bureau and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California."MacDonald appears to have a close personal and business relationship with a Farm Bureau lobbyist," the report said.The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed habitat. The agency will undertake an economic analysis to determine if the financial burden on property owners from habitat protections is outweighed by any benefit to species. The Fish and Wildlife Service previously released a study that showed nearly $500 million in costs to home builders for protecting the frog's habitat.Threatened red-legged frog may get more habitat...Julie Cart...Greenspace...9-16-08http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/09/red-legged-frog.htmlThe California red-legged frog, which got caught in a political tempest created by an Interior Department official, may get much of its habitat restored.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on Tuesday to increase the threatened frog's critical habitat to some 1.8 million acres in the state. The agency revisited the original habitat designation, citing scientific miscalculations and political manipulation by a former Interior Department official, Julie MacDonald. MacDonald resigned last year after an internal review found that she pressured scientists to alter conclusions to reduce protections for endangered species and provided internal documents to lobbyists. The report said MacDonald improperly provided department information to lobbyists and private-sector interests, such as the California Farm Bureau and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.                     "MacDonald appears to have a close personal and business relationship with a farm bureau lobbyist," the report said.The California red-legged frog was one of the species whose habitat was reduced to make way for development interests. The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed habitat. The agency will undertake an economic analysis to determine if the financial burden on property owners from habitat protections is outweighed by any benefit to species. A final rule is expected by late next summer.San Diego Union-TribuneResidents fail to meet water conservation goal...UNION-TRIBUNEhttp://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080917-9999-1m17water.htmlSan Diego residents have cut their water use by 5.7 percent since last October – well below the 10 percent goal adopted by water officials, Mayor Jerry Sanders announced during a news conference yesterday.“A 5.7 percent reduction is simply not enough to avoid water restrictions in the future,” he said. “All of us need to do more.” Sanders said mandatory conservation measures could be rolled out this winter. The city compared water use from October 2006 to July 2007 with that from last October to July of this year.Across the county, residents are saving a similar amount – about 6 percent so far this year, according to the San Diego County Water Authority.Washington PostU.S. Seizes Control of AIG With $85 Billion Emergency LoanInsurer's Wide Reach Justifies Intervention, Fed Says...David S. Hilzenrath and Glenn Kesslerhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091602174_pf.htmlInvoking extraordinary powers granted after the 1929 stock market crash, the government seized control of the insurance giant American International Group to preserve a crucial bulwark of the global financial system.The move to lend the Wall Street giant up to $85 billion in exchange for nearly 80 percent of its stock effectively nationalizes one of the central institutions in the crisis that has swept through markets this month.The government had sought to avoid federal intervention by lining up private companies to rescue AIG. But the effort failed when companies were unwilling to take on the massive financial risk, forcing the government's hand.AIG found itself on the verge of bankruptcy because of mounting losses from investments tied to subprime home mortgages and also from the insurance it was providing to others who invested in mortgages.When credit-rating agencies downgraded the company Monday, AIG suddenly faced a crunch to come up with $14.5 billion to meet its commitments. If the company failed, it could have set off cascading losses across the global financial system...Since years of loose mortgage lending caught up with the housing markets, spurring a decline in home prices and a wave of foreclosures, a contagion has spread through the financial system, infecting investors who bet on the bad debt. To contain the damage, the government has also intervened to prop up Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the investment bank Bear Stearns.Treasury officials appeared to draw a line over the weekend when they allowed the Wall Street investment house Lehman Brothers to fail, sending a signal that other firms could not count on taxpayer help.Government officials drew two distinctions between AIG's situation and that of Lehman. First, ever since the demise of Bear Stearns in March, the government and private firms had been drawing up contingency plans for easing the collateral damage from a Lehman bankruptcy filing. AIG's failure was a surprise -- the company first went to the government for help Friday -- and its sheer size and complexity made it impossible to quickly prepare for its collapse.The other difference is that AIG does business in ways that get to Americans' pocketbooks. Its short-term debt is held by institutions all over the world, including money-market mutual funds, and its overnight collapse could have caused big losses in those funds, perhaps even risking a run on them...The Fed is using the emergency authority it was granted during the Great Depression. By law, the Fed can lend money to any individual, partnership or corporation in unusual and exigent circumstances, when the borrower cannot access funds in other ways. The power had not been exercised until March, when the Fed used it to rescue Bear Stearns...Source: Regulators gauge banks' interest in WaMu...MADLEN READ and STEPHEN BERNARD, The Associated Presshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091700849_pf.htmlNEW YORK -- The U.S. government has been reaching out to large banks in an effort to organize a buyout of the beleaguered Washington Mutual Inc., according to a person briefed on the talks between regulators and banks.The obstacle, however, is that "no one knows what's in their books," the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. There could be, the person said, "a minimum amount of value there."A New York Post report Wednesday citing unnamed sources said regulators have reached out to Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings PLC, among other institutions. The Post said no discussions of a deal between any of those banks and Washington Mutual were under way."I think people do know what is in our books and we've been pretty transparent," said WaMu spokeswoman Olivia Riley. "If you do want to know how we're doing, take a look at the numbers we released last week."A week ago, Washington Mutual said it has "sufficient liquidity and capital to support its operations while it returns to profitability." The nation's largest savings and loan said it expects its provision for bad loans in the third quarter to be $4.5 billion. Of that amount, $3.4 billion is for residential mortgages. Both totals are lower than in the second quarter.The Seattle-based bank also said last week that net charge-offs are expected to rise by less than 20 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of nearly 60 percent in the second quarter, and that net interest expense is expected to be down about $200 million...sharply during the second quarter as well to 3.62 percent of total assets, from 2.87 percent just three months earlier...Washington Mutual has been among the banks hardest hit by the slumping housing and mortgage markets. Since the middle of 2007, mortgages have increasingly defaulted, forcing nearly all banks to set aside more cash to cover borrowers who are no longer paying off their loans.CNN MoneyBailouts - The new rate cutsThe Fed held interest rates steady. A few hours later it tossed an $85 billion lifeline to AIG. Can this possibly save Wall Street?...Paul R. La Monicahttp://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?postversion=2008091713NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve, we are often told, has a dual mandate: to promote stable prices and maximum employment.Well, it looks like the Fed now has a third mandate that trumps the other two: putting out the fires raging on Wall Street.The central bank's $85 billion bridge loan to insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) last night is an unprecedented (we've been using that word a lot lately) move to try to prevent the firm from meeting the same fate of the now bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500).The AIG bailout came just a few hours after the Fed's policy-rating committee decided to leave its key interest rate at 2% and said that it did not think a rate cut was necessary to stimulate the economy at this time despite the fact that "strains in financial markets have increased significantly." (Now that's the understatement of the millennium!) Tellingly, New York Fed President Timothy Geithner - who is also Fed vice chairman - did not attend the meeting as apparently he and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were busy trying to hammer out the AIG rescue.Talkback: Is the Fed's $85 billion loan to AIG a good or bad idea?So what the Fed is saying is that it realizes that further rate cuts would do more harm than good since rates are already at a relatively low 2%. I applaud them for holding rates steady (and many readers agree, it seems) since more rate cuts would have just hurt savers and also possibly stoke new inflation fears.Instead, the Fed is signaling that the only way out of this credit crisis is by making sure that the most important financial companies do not collapse. And not every financial company is going to be deemed important enough to save: exhibit A is Lehman. But will the loan to AIG work? The market seems skeptical. Tuesday afternoon's post-pause rally has been more than completely wiped out, with the Dow falling more than 300 points late Wednesday morning. The Fed giveth and the Fed taketh away.Now, the government is spinning this as not a bailout per se because they hope to get the money back with substantial interest. In fact, they are charging AIG a loan shark-esque premium of the 3-month Libor rate plus 8.5%. That works out to about 11.4% based on today's rates.Of course, the government is saving AIG at a difficult time. But this "bailout" may be different from the Fed's bailouts of Bear Stearns in March and the Treasury's takeover of Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) last week. The key difference: the Fed may actually be able to sell off parts of AIG at a decent price...It is highly unlikely that $85 billion will be able to keep AIG in its current form. The government is obviously betting that the various parts of the company can be sold off over the next two years for a decent enough price so that the loan can be eventually repaid in full with the proceeds from these sales...If the Fed pulls this off, it could wind up being looked back upon as a brilliant move that helped get the financial system eventually back on track.But that's a monumentally big IF.Finally, even if this gambit does work out, how many more times will the Fed be forced to make a decision about who to save and who to let fail? Shares of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs both plunged Wednesday.Will the Fed throw them lifelines if they are needed or will the central bank let them also go the way of Lehman? Vincent Boberski, market strategist with FTN Financial, suggested that if push came to shove, the Fed will draw the line at more big bailouts. A collapse of AIG, with more than $1.1 trillion in assets and businesses that touch far more many consumers around the globe than the investment banks, had to be prevented, Boberski said.That's a scary thought. But the Fed does have to draw a line somewhere...Investors running away from bank stocks As the government reportedly seeks a buyer for Washington Mutual, shares of most big banks plunge again as investors brace for a bigger financial shakeout...Aaron Smithhttp://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/news/companies/wamu_banks/index.htmNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the government reportedly tries to broker a buyer for Washington Mutual, shares of WaMu and other banking and finance firms continued to spiral downward Wednesday.WaMu (WM, Fortune 500) fell 11% in midday trading on reports that federal regulators were trying to organize a buyout for the battered bank. Shares of other big commercial banks, including Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500), all tumbled more than 10% as well. And the nation's top two investment banks were hit particularly hard: Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) plunged 38% and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) plummeted 23%.All this follows what have been a historic few days for Wall Street and the financial services sector as a whole..."Right now, John Q. Public is worried that the banks aren't going to make it," said Will Schwartz, analyst for the rating agency DBRS. "It's nerve-wracking. The public confidence has been shaken. It needs to be restored."Schwartz said the recent actions of the Federal Reserve, which chose to rescue AIG but abandoned Lehman, are confusing and distressing to the general public."It's a crisis of confidence," said Schwartz. "It's not a liquidity crisis. The fundamentals of the system are actually OK."Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, said the government makes its decisions based on the companies' perceived importance to the general economy."Assessing risk of 'system' failure, AIG's knock-on effects would have been too great, whereas a Lehman failure didn't risk the entire system," said Achuthan.But now, investors appear to be turning their focus towards the fates of the remaining two big Wall Street investment banks as well as struggling commercial banks that have been hit hard by mortgage-related losses. Regarding the commercial banks, DBRS analyst Steve Picarillo said that the government may have a better time finding a buyer for WaMu than it did for Lehman. "WaMu has a very strong retail banking franchise that would be attractive to certain suitors," Picarillo said.Feds gauging banks' interest in WaMuSource says regulators reaching out to Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC in effort to organize buyout of bank plagued by soured loans.http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/news/companies/wamu.ap/index.htmNEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. government has been reaching out to large banks in an effort to organize a buyout of the beleaguered Washington Mutual Inc (WM, Fortune 500)., according to a person briefed on the talks between regulators and banks.The obstacle, however, is that "no one knows what's in their books," the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. There could be, he said, "a minimum amount of value there."A New York Post report Wednesday citing unnamed sources said regulators have reached out to Wells Fargo & Co (WFC, Fortune 500)., JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM, Fortune 500). and HSBC Holdings PLC, among other institutions. The Post noted that no discussions of a deal between any of those banks and Washington Mutual were under way.Shares of Washington Mutual have plummeted in recent weeks amid continued concerns about mounting losses in the bank's lending portfolios. In early trading Wednesday, they rose 6 cents, or 2.6%, to $2.38...Washington Mutual has been among the banks hardest hit by the slumping housing and mortgage markets. Since the middle of 2007, mortgages have increasingly defaulted, forcing nearly all banks to set aside more cash to cover borrowers who are no longer paying off their loan.How we got here: It's housing, stupidThe Wall Street crisis has been caused by plunging housing prices. So despite the billions of dollars being thrown at the problem, experts say more trouble lies ahead...Chris Isidorehttp://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/news/economy/housing/index.htmNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's financial system is in the midst of a massive shakeup and many on Wall Street and in Washington are pointing fingers and looking for someone to blame.But in the end, it all comes back to one issue - housing.Earlier this decade, it was much easier to get a mortgage. Home prices soared about 85% from 1996 through 2006in inflation-adjusted dollars, creating a bubble. Then the bubble popped. And the fallout isn't over yet, experts say.In the past two weeks, the government took over Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) sold itself to Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500). If all that weren't enough, the Federal Reserve announced late Tuesday night that it was loaning $85 billion to insurer American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500). None of this would have happened if the housing market had not imploded, leaving all these firms with staggering losses from their investments tied to mortgages. "These institutions, which weathered all kinds of calamities before, including depressions, are being knocked out," said Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. "It's a testament to the significance of the problem we have here."Thus, experts agree that there are likely to be future shocks to the financial system until the housing market finally hits bottom. Even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the administration's point man in the many rescue discussions of the past month, admits this."The housing correction poses the biggest risk to our economy," Paulson said the day he announced the Fannie and Freddie seizure. "Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us."The problem of falling home pricesBut because of the depth of the housing problems, it may take a long time before real estate prices head higher again. Here's why.Home prices, while sharply off from the 2006 peaks, are still high in comparison to long-term gains in income, rents or overall prices, suggesting that they still have a way to fall, according to experts.The reason housing is wreaking havoc even on insurers like AIG and big investment banks, who do not make mortgage loans, is that during the boom, trillions of dollars of mortgages were packaged together into securities that promised to pay investors with the proceeds of those loan payments.Those securities paid better rates than other types of assets during the boom years. So many investors from around the globe poured as much money as they could into those securities.Faced with this demand, lenders starting making more loans to riskier borrowers, including people who might not be able to afford their mortgage payments in the future and even many with no proof of income.When prices were rising, this wasn't a problem. The risk of loan foreclosure or default was limited because many homeowners were able to sell their house for more than they owed and make a profit.But once prices topped out and began falling, loan defaults and foreclosures started shooting higher as homeowners found it more difficult to sell their house. This created problems not just for subprime borrowers but even for those with good credit and income. When foreclosures rose, the value of the various types of securities tied to mortgages started to fall, causing huge losses up and down Wall Street. It also made banks less eager to extend credit because of the risks involved.A downward spiralThis credit crunch in of itself slowed the economy, leading to job losses and more defaults, feeding a downward spiral that has been difficult to stop."A really bad situation -- a home price bubble bursting -- was made significantly worse when the recession began," said Achuthan. "Now we have to let this thing play out."Some experts even argue that the steps being taken to rescue firms like AIG could make a recovery in housing and the broader economy more difficult, as financial firms and investors become more reluctant to lend money."We are certainly taking credit and squeezing it tighter and tighter," said Kevin Giddis, managing director of investment bank Morgan Keegan. "Housing needs buyers. Buyers need credit."Achuthan said that even though rates for mortgages and other types of loans have fallen in the last two weeks, those loans are becoming more difficult for many consumers and businesses to get because banks are severely tightening their lending standards. And if housing prices do fall further, that will only cause more losses in the financial sector and perhaps more failures of banks, insurers and securities firms."I would hesitate to say the worst is behind us," Achuthan said.So even with perhaps hundreds of billions of tax dollars going to AIG, Fannie and Freddie, one expert said the only real solution to the housing problem is for the correction in housing to finish running its course."We want home prices to return to normal," said Barry Ritholtz, CEO of Fusion IQ and author of the upcoming book "Bailout Nation." "Until that happens, you can throw as much money at the market as you want at the situation....and it ain't going to make any difference," Ritholtz said.  -------------------------------------------------------------CENTRAL VALLEY SAFE ENVIRONMENT NETWORKMISSION STATEMENTCentral Valley Safe Environment Network is a coalition of organizations and individuals throughout the San Joaquin Valley that is committed to the concept of "Eco-Justice" -- the ecological defense of the natural resources and the people. To that end it is committed to the stewardship, and protection of the resources of the greater San Joaquin Valley, including air and water quality, the preservation of agricultural land, and the protection of wildlife and its habitat. In serving as a community resource and being action-oriented, CVSEN desires to continue to assure there will be a safe food chain, efficient use of natural resources and a healthy environment. CVSEN is also committed to public education regarding these various issues and it is committed to ensuring governmental compliance with federal and state law. CVSEN is composed of farmers, ranchers, city dwellers, environmentalists, ethnic, political,and religious groups, and other stakeholders.