12-21-08

 12-21-08Modesto BeeTentative West Park ruling on right track...Editorialhttp://www.modbee.com/opinion/v-print/story/540548.htmlA Fresno County judge is headed in the right direction with his tentative ruling about West Park and when an environmental impact report is required under state law.First, there's no doubt about whether there needs to be a major environmental review. If it proceeds, this project will cover more than 4,000 acres and have a dramatic impact on roads, air quality, noise levels, wildlife, water sources and many other aspects of life on the West Side.In fact, the environmental review is under way, with a draft report expected out by next summer. Inevitably, the draft will -- and should -- generate significant public comment.But the city of Patterson filed a lawsuit against Stanislaus County, claiming that this large and expensive environmental review should have been done before supervisors signed a memorandum in April with Gerry Kamilos and his West Park partnership. That memorandum allows Kamilos to continue planning the project, not to build.Patterson filed its lawsuit in May. It's an obvious tactic to delay and eventually kill the short-haul rail proposal. County officials interpret it the same way, which is why they are fighting the lawsuit in court.Fresno Superior Court Judge Tyler D. Tharpe, in his tentative ruling Tuesday, said the county's memorandum did not constitute a project under the California Environmental Quality Act. The judge is expected to issue a final ruling in a few days.CEQA is a valuable way to measure the negative impacts of a project against the benefits, which the developers are always eager to talk about. We believe in the act, but we also believe it can be misused, and this appears to be a case of that.Patterson and other opponents of West Park have already registered their objections to West Park and they'll have more opportunities to do so. City leaders are understandably concerned about the impact of additional trains through their community.But to argue that the county has to roll everything back almost a year would be a ridiculous waste of time and money. A majority of supervisors like West Park, but it not yet a done deal. There will be significant impacts to mitigate and, frankly, the economy casts some doubt on all big projects.But developing the former Crows Landing Naval Air Field for business and industry remains one of Stanislaus County's best opportunities to bring in a significant number of new jobs. We hope the judge confirms his tentative ruling and the planning continues. More than ever, Stanislaus County needs an economic boost and West Park offers that possibility.Housing bottom in sight?...J.N. Sbranti...12-20-08http://www.modbee.com/reports/realestate/v-print/story/538365.htmlStanislaus County housing prices stabilized a bit last month, slowing the brutal price plunge that began three years ago.Median-priced homes sold for $160,000 during November, which was $1,500 less than October. That decline was far less than previous price drops. Between September and October, for instance, home prices fell $17,500.Stanislaus home values have fallen nearly 60 percent since peaking three years ago, according to housing statistics provided by MDA DataQuick. First-time home buyers and investors are taking advantage of the now-affordable pricing. Sales volume was strong during November, as more than twice as many homes sold compared with the same month last year.The sales statistics aren't nearly as comforting for Merced and San Joaquin counties.Merced prices continued plummeting in November, falling to a median of $124,500. That was $12,250 less than October, and nearly 66 percent below what houses were selling for three years ago.San Joaquin prices dropped to $172,000 last month, a staggering $28,000 fall from October. Its home values have declined nearly 62 percent in three years.The Northern San Joaquin Valley has been rocked by the foreclosure crisis, which experts agree is pushing down home prices. Those experts disagree, however, on whether the region is through the worst of the housing mess."It comes down to just the sheer volume of problem loans in your area," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosures nationwide. Sharga predicted the region will continue to lead the country in foreclosures through 2009.But since this region was first to enter the foreclosure mess, some think it may be among the first to rally."It is already recovering," said Sean O'Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar, which tracks California real estate. He said it's a good sign that the valley's sales are up and prices are affordable. "Whereas the so-called strong areas in California, like San Mateo or San Francisco, are now only beginning to correct (by lowering prices). At current prices, I'd much rather own property in Modesto than Palo Alto at the moment."Bargains to be hadLocal realty firms also are seeing some positive signs."There's a tremendous amount of demand for housing at these prices, and there are good interest rates right now," said Mike Zagaris, president of Modesto-based PMZ Real Estate. Whether home buyers will continue to be able to take advantage of low-cost housing opportunities depends on the economy, Zagaris said, "because we have a growing recession that's putting people out of work." Zagaris also is concerned that many current owners are giving up their homes because they've lost so much equity. "I'm being told by my people in the trenches that the vast majority of those facing foreclosures now have no interest in redoing their loans. They just want out," Zagaris said. "If that's true, there's no stopping these foreclosures."Demand catching upWhat has stopped is most new home construction.That's good, according to Sharga, because the region needs to reduce its overall inventory of homes so demand can catch up with supply.Most of the valley's new home builders have sold all their finished houses and they're only building new ones after they sign sales contracts, according to Kent Steinwert, chief executive officer for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California. He thinks that will stabilize new home prices.Steinwert is bullish on the valley's housing future: "The fundamentals are there. We're growing in population ... and we can't build enough homes long term to meet demand."Population estimates released this week show there's been a shift in who is living in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.More people are moving out of the region than are moving in. New population estimates from California's Department of Finance determined that about 6,824 more people moved to other parts of the United States from Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties this year than moved to the region.But new immigrants from foreign countries and high birth rates among current residents more than made up for that loss, the figures showed, so the three counties still gained in population.Rash of break-ins at UC Merced...last updated: December 21, 2008 03:35:24 AMhttp://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/540539.htmlThe University of California at Merced Police Department issued a campus crime bulletin last week after several break-ins at Valley Terraces student housing. "This is the first time I have sent an alert out to students," Cmdr. Mike Parish said. "This semester just seemed to have more thefts occurring." Parish said thieves are targeting electronics such as laptops, televisions and video games. The most recent cases occurred in the Kings Building. Another laptop theft was reported recently at Sierra Terraces, another housing complex, the bulletin said. Parish said he did not know the value of the items stolen. He said five apartments had been hit. Police said the doors to the common area of the apartments were left unlocked by students. Parish said the department doesn't have any leads on suspects.Sacramento BeeMy View: Many Delta regulations miss the mark...Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of State Water Contractors, a nonprofit association of 27 public agencies from Northern, Central and Southern California that purchase water under contract from the California State Water Project. For more information on the State Water Contractors, visit www.swc.org.http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/v-print/story/1487879.htmlEvery day, Sacramento's wastewater treatment plant sends 13 tons of ammonia downstream to the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, potentially disturbing the Delta's food web in profound and destructive ways. Agricultural runoff flows freely through the estuary's waters. Exotic species of clams consume much of the critical food supply. Nonnative fish prey on native smelt and salmon.Unchecked and unmanaged, these and other threats to the Delta's fisheries are tolerated on a regular basis. Yet, in an imbalance that grows greater with every passing month, the already heavily regulated water projects in the Delta - projects that supply water to millions of California residents, businesses and farmers - get hit with restriction after restriction on water flows.It happened in November, when the California Fish and Game Commission made a decision that could drastically reduce water supplies in an attempt to protect a single species, the longfin smelt. It happened again this week, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed new restrictions - cutting up to half of the traditional water supplies in dry years - because of a different species, the Delta smelt. Come spring, still more restrictions may be looming for two different species of salmon. The endless churn of bureaucracy and conflict surrounding the singular issue of water pumping is not creating a healthier Delta. Too many other stresses contributing to the Delta's decline have been left unaddressed.As the recent special report in The Bee points out, the Delta is a unique, valuable and historically significant place - an ecological treasure chest and water hub in the heart of California. Clearly, this magnificent estuary deserves a more comprehensive and long-term approach to healing the fragile ecosystem while creating a more sensible and effective water system for the state.Leading scientists, water providers, policy experts and environmentalists are working on just such an approach. Called the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,the effort is aimed at developing a new water conveyance system around the Delta that will separate and secure the movement of the fresh water supply while restoring habitat for the Delta's ailing fisheries. (To learn more about BDCP on the Internet, visit www.resources.ca.gov/bdcp). The state and federal wildlife agencies responsible for the Delta are the ones who must ultimately approve this plan (the target date is the end of 2010) as meeting all the many environmental and water supply needs. The Legislature, in the meantime, could do the Delta a great service by reviewing the many other stresses to the Delta ecosystem, and taking decisive action.Changing longstanding patterns is always difficult. Re-engineering a water system the size of California's certainly will be costly. And restoring health to the ecosystem will be an unprecedented balancing act.But the future of California depends on such a comprehensive and sustainable approach to managing the natural resources of the Delta and the statewide water supply. Twenty-five million Californians in the East and South Bay, the Central Valley and Southern California need and deserve a reliable water source now and into the future. So do the countless businesses, industries and farmers who contribute to our economy and to our individual and collective well-being.Until a new mind-set takes hold,we will continue a cycle of regulating that misses the mark. And we will continue living with the consequences. As Delta problems such as Sacramento's tons of daily wastewater pollution go unaddressed, farms south of the Delta are going without water because of water supply restrictions. And farm communities such as Mendota, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, are struggling.There, the unemployment rate is approaching 40 percent. And the local food bank can't keep up with the demand and is turning away hungry families for the first time. Mendota's mayor, recently speaking to the press of the situation, said it best. "We're supposed to supply the world. And people are starving." Stockton RecordPacific economist willing to bet $10,000 study on peripheral canal is wrong...Alex Breitlerhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081221/A_NEWS/812210317/-1/A_NEWSJeffrey Michael didn't step, wade or even leap into the state's water wars.He made a cannonball splash.The 38-year-old University of the Pacific economist wrote a biting critique of a major study that recommended a peripheral canal to solve the Delta's problems.Michael moved here nine months ago from Maryland. He's driven through the Delta once. He wasn't around for decades of arguments for and against a canal."When I started reading this (study), my assumption was that these academic experts are right and these water war veterans have an ax to grind," he said.Closer calculations, however, turned up serious errors in the study by the Public Policy Institute of California, he said.In that widely anticipated report, the PPIC found that while ending exports from the Delta would be best for the environment, it would be far more expensive than constructing a canal. The report was one source considered by a governor-appointed task force that later concluded that at least some kind of canal is necessary.Michael, who presented his findings to local water officials last week, says the PPIC overestimated the state's future population and the cost of alternative water sources that could help make up for the water that would be lost should the giant export pumps near Tracy grind to a halt.Ultimately, the cost of ending exports and building a canal may be a wash, Michael said. And in that case, the environment should win out. Ending exports would be the way to go.The PPIC says that while some of its numbers may be on the high end, others are likely low. Michael's critique changed only "one or two variables from a complex analysis," the group wrote in response."He's done back-of-the-envelope (calculations) and is touting that as some great science," said Ellen Hanak, director of research with the San Francisco-based PPIC.She said the PPIC stands by its conclusion."We don't have any vested interest in a peripheral canal," Hanak said. "We would have been totally happy to say ending exports would be best for fish and the best solution overall. We had no interest in cooking numbers to come up with the peripheral canal."Here's where Michael says the PPIC fell short:» The PPIC estimated California's population at 65 million by 2050, a number Michael says is likely 6 million to 10 million too high. If he's right, fewer people means less urban demand for water.Even the state's current population appears to be incorrect in the report, which claims 39 million Californians this year. The state Department of Finance reports 38 million."It's a problem when you can't get the current population right," Michael said.The PPIC said that its population projection rests on a more in-depth but older study from the University of California, Berkeley.» Desalination - turning salty water fresh - will be cheaper in 2050 than the PPIC projects, Michael said. So, too, will be the recycling of wastewater. This would further reduce the cost of ending exports, he argues.A report by the National Research Council in May put desalination at about $1,000 per acre-foot (that's enough water to serve an average family for about one year). The PPIC said desalination in 2050 is likely to cost $2,072 per acre-foot in today's dollars.In Orange County, a wastewater recycling plant costs about $550 per acre-foot, Michael reported; PPIC projected $1,480 per acre-foot in 2050, again not counting for inflation.It's true that electricity costs could cause these numbers to climb. But pumping water from the Delta to Southern California also takes tremendous amounts of energy, Michael said.While uncertainty in studies such as these is inevitable, Michael said PPIC experts should have picked figures that were middle-of-the-road when they ran their model to determine the overall cost."There are some really obvious and hard-to-defend issues here," he said.In the end, claims that California's economy will run dry without water conveyed through the Delta "are less credible than previous predictions that the nation's economy would collapse with gas at $3 per gallon," Michael wrote, further noting that the cost of ending Delta exports would account for about 0.03 percent of the state economy.In a written response to his work, PPIC said there are many other factors, including climate change, that could affect how much water is available by 2050. Some may be overestimated, and some may be underestimated. It would take an "improbable confluence" of errors to narrow the $1 billion difference that PPIC says exists between ending exports on the one hand, and building a peripheral canal on the other."We feel like, on balance, we don't think there is any significant upward bias on our results," Hanak said.She said the PPIC did not plan to rerun its analysis using Michael's numbers. That would be time-consuming.Michael, who heads the university's Business Forecasting Center, published his informal critique on the Internet and was surprised to see it devoured with interest by the public, in particular anti-canal advocates.It's also got the attention of the state. Keith Coolidge, a spokesman for the Delta Vision process, said officials there were aware of Michael's work and said it will "clearly play a role in discussions as they move forward."It's not too late for Michael's report to have some kind of influence, said Tom Flinn, San Joaquin County's director of Public Works.Flinn called Michael's work "refreshing" given the fact that he's new to the Delta scene."He was purely looking at the facts," Flinn said.San Francisco ChronicleSenators want probe of Merced case...Susan Swardhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/21/MNQI14RH6V.DTL&type=printableBoth California's U.S. senators have called for a full review of allegations by residents in a Merced neighborhood who claim that a nearby manufacturing plant contaminated their drinking water with a cancer-causing chemical. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer made their comments in response to a Dec. 14 Chronicle story that reported that 2,200 residents of Merced's Beachwood neighborhood have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Fresno, saying the plant's operators concealed the contamination for years. Many cases of cancer and other illnesses resulted, they say.The companies whose subsidiary operated the plant, Merck & Co. of New Jersey and Amsted Industries of Chicago, say there is no evidence any plant discharge contaminated the area's water or caused anyone to become ill. Their lawyer, Stephen Lewis of San Francisco, says they are spending $38 million to clean up the site of the plant, which closed in 1994.Nevertheless, Feinstein said in a statement that she was "disturbed" about the case. She sent an aide to Merced last week to inquire. "I read this story and was disturbed that, in this day and age, we can have this kind of situation," she said. "I've asked my staff to look into it, and they are in the process of talking with the Regional Water Quality Control Board, relevant state agencies and residents in the area where 20 people have either been diagnosed with cancer or died from it."My heart really goes out to the people of Beachwood, and I believe there must be a full review of this matter."Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also expressed concern. "We know that the Bush administration has done nothing to ensure that our children and families are protected from toxic contaminants in our environment, whether in our air or water," she said in a statement. Boxer said that issue "will be a major focus of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the nomination of the new administrator of the EPA, Lisa Jackson."From 1961 to 1994, the plant built cooling towers for industry. For most of that time, it used a cancer-causing chemical called chromium 6 to preserve wood used in manufacturing. The state Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, which enforces water laws and regulates industries' discharges, has confirmed there is chromium 6 in Beachwood's drinking water, but the agency says it is a small amount and the water is safe to drink.In their suit, the neighbors say the contamination is responsible for a cluster of cancer and other illnesses. Alameda Briggs, one of the Beachwood residents interviewed by The Chronicle, said that within two blocks of her home, 20 people either had cancer or died from it. Briggs' husband, Bennie, who is a lifelong smoker, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, and the Briggses believe that water they drank and air contamination from plant operations may have increased his chance of contracting the disease. Alameda Briggs had a fibroid stomach tumor removed in the 1990s and wonders whether it, too, might have been caused by contamination.Last week, one of Feinstein's regional representatives, Sarah Moffat, visited Briggs and told her that she "was interested in the quality of the water we are getting and the air in the neighborhood," Briggs said. "I told her I didn't know until 2007 that the chromium was in the water, and Merck and the other companies had been knowing it since the 1980s. I told her my grandchildren and one of my sons have kept having nosebleeds for years, and I told her about the 13-year-old girl across the street who died from a brain tumor."Dawne Azevedo, another resident visited by Moffat, said the representative told her Feinstein was very concerned about the situation and wanted to see that "something like this never happens again."Mick Marderosian, Brett Runyon and Tom Girardi, three of the lawyers representing the neighbors, say they will show at trial that based on reasonable medical probabilities the cancers in the neighborhood were caused by chromium 6 from the plant. Chromium 6, the chemical at the center of the Beachwood controversy, is the same one responsible for the contamination of the drinking water of the San Bernardino County town of Hinkley. The legal fight that ensued was the subject of the 2000 movie "Erin Brockovich."To read The Chronicle's initial coverage of the Beachwood case, go to sfgate.com/ZFSS Desert wind blows health risks from Calif mines...NOAKI SCHWARTZ, Associated Press Writerhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/21/national/a101520S89.DTL&type=printableHeaps of toxic mine waste rise like church steeples over this wind-swept desert town, threatening the health of residents and of thousands of off-road bikers.Tests on dust samples have revealed some of the highest arsenic levels in the country — as much as 460,000 times the level deemed safe by the federal government.But while the poison can cause cancer in people and harm wildlife, little has been done to remove the costly waste here or similar hazardous waste at thousands of other abandoned mines around the nation."Worst case scenario, we'll have to clean up everything, which could do more environmental damage than leaving it and monitoring it," said Richard Forester, who oversees the Rand Mining District cleanup for the Bureau of Land Management.Forester and others worry that particles of arsenic scattered by the area's stiff wind could be slowly poisoning the estimated 300 residents of Randsburg, Johannesburg and Red Mountain.The dozens of old gold and silver mines in the sparsely populated area about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles are among the estimated 500,000 abandoned mines nationwide that have been largely ignored because of their remote locations.In recent years, however, development has crept closer and off-roaders in search of open spaces have descended on many of the sites.A federal audit released in July said the problem was not being effectively dealt with by the Bureau of Land Management."You're basically on a collision course," said Velma Smith, manager of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining, an advocacy group that has been pushing for more federal cleanup money. "Right now it's less than Band-Aids on a hemorrhage."An audit by the inspector general of the Interior Department accused the BLM of endangering public health and safety by failing to clean up and properly fence off the abandoned mines. It found dangerous levels of arsenic, lead and mercury, along with gaping holes, at dilapidated hard-rock mining sites easily accessible by people.The audit singled out the Rand Mining District as an especially hazardous site that needed immediate action.In a rarely issued "Flash Report," auditors said that in 2007 they found piles of contaminated mine waste in residents' backyards and arsenic-laden trails openly used by thousands of off-road bikers.Still, some old-timers just shrug when asked if they're worried about the high arsenic levels."I don't know of anyone who's died of arsenic poisoning," retiree Darell White, 71, said in Randsburg, a living ghost town of Western-themed restaurants and antique stores.Rangers regularly patrol for trespassers but are required to leave when the wind picks up to 25 mph and the air becomes thick with dust.The BLM, a division of the Interior Department, has defended its abandoned mine program as "highly effective" and said it will address the auditors' recommendations.The agency released preliminary results this past week from dust, water, urine and dirt samples taken from the backyards of about 28 residents that did not show elevated arsenic levels. Other lab tests, however, have shown that the arsenic could be inhaled or ingested."Would you want to take a ton of this and spread it around your front yard?" said Chris Kim, a geologist hired by the BLM to test the area. "I think you have to take this very seriously and consider, in addition to short-term doses, what the long-term exposure risk is."In the 1800s, prospectors in California, Nevada and other areas of the West considered areas with high levels of natural arsenic to be good bets for gold and silver deposits.The process of extracting gold concentrated the arsenic and created a semiliquid waste called slurry that miners simply dumped.Kim's preliminary tests show the arsenic is unlikely to get into drinking water but could be ingested by swallowing food exposed to contaminated dust or soil.Money is the biggest obstacle to a cleanup.Estimates of the cost to rid the Rand District of hazardous waste top $170 million. Conservationists believe the cost of cleaning up all the nation's abandoned mines could reach $72 billion.Last year, the House passed a bill that included the creation of an abandoned mine cleanup fund, but efforts stalled in the Senate. In March, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a similar measure but it stalled in committee. She plans to reintroduce it.Forester isn't optimistic that money will be available at a time when the economy has taken center stage. Still, he plans to tap a central hazardous materials fund the Department of the Interior gets annually from Congress and other sources they received this year to at least begin the cleanup."If there were more people dying right and left, then I think you'd have cause to do some quick adjustments," said the 74-year-old. "I'd like to see this done before I turn 80."