12-30-08

 12-30-08Badlands JournalCalifornia sues on ESA changes...Badlands Journal editorial boardhttp://www.badlandsjournal.com/2008-12-30/007021“The Bush Administration is seeking to gut the Endangered Species Act on its way out the door,” Attorney General Brown said.News Release December 30, 2008For Immediate ReleaseContact: Christine Gasparac 916-324-5500Attorney General Brown Sues to Overturn Bush Administration Rules Undermining Endangered Species Act http://www.ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1644&SAN FRANCISCO– California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has filed suit in federal court to block an “audacious attempt” by the Bush Administration to gut provisions in the Endangered Species Act mandating scientific review of federal agency decisions that may threaten endangered species and their habitat. “This is an audacious attempt to circumvent a time-tested statute that for 35 years has required scientific review of proposed federal agency decisions that affect wildlife.”The new regulations, initially proposed by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce in August 2008 and made final on December 16, largely eliminate a requirement in the Endangered Species Act that mandates scientific review of federal agency decisions that might affect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.The changes allow federal agencies to undertake or permit mining, logging, and other commercial activities on federal land and other areas without obtaining review or comment from federal wildlife biologists on the environmental effects of such activities.The new regulations are the most significant changes to the Endangered Species Act and its implementing regulations in 20 years. Now that these regulations have been adopted, many decisions on whether to permit commercial activities on protected land will be made at the discretion of federal agency project proponents. These agencies generally lack adequate biological expertise and have incentives to conclude that their projects will not have adverse affects on endangered and threatened species and their habitat.The changes also eliminate the requirement to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on species and ecosystems from proposed federal projects. Federal agencies now no longer need to consider the possible adverse impacts on species like the polar bear from commercial projects that require federal approval or funding such as highway construction and coal-fired power plants.The lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the Bush Administration:• Violated the Endangered Species Act by adopting regulations that are inconsistent with that statute; • Violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the environmental ramifications of the proposed new regulations; and • Violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not adequately considering public comments submitted by the Attorney General and numerous other organizations and concerned citizens.The Attorney General’s lawsuit follows three similar lawsuits challenging the regulations filed earlier by environmental groups.Attorney General Brown’s complaint challenging the regulations and comments on the proposed regulations are attached. http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1644_esaregscommentsfinal.pdfhttp://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/press/pdfs/n1644_agesaregscomplaintfiled.pdfMerced Sun-StarSelenium still enters water of San Joaquin River in Merced CountyThe naturally occurring element is stirred up by farm irrigation...JONAH OWEN LAMBhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/615049.htmlMore than 1,300 pounds of one toxic element churned this year into the San Joaquin River just south, or upstream, of where the Merced River empties into it. The selenium-laced water comes from farmland south of Los Banos via the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, a major stopover for birds migrating to and from Canada.In 2009 the discharge, because of a 13-year-old agreement called Grassland Bypass Project, was scheduled to cease. But now, the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, a conglomerate of local, state and federal agencies, wants to continue sending toxic water through the refuge for another decade.The conflict represents the ever-present balancing act between the demands of agriculture and the broader economy with the need to preserve small but vital enclaves of wildland.The 10-year extension is needed so that the funds required to build a water treatment facility can be obtained, said Joseph McGahan, drainage coordinator for the Grassland Bypass Project."This has been going on for a long time," he added. "The goal of the project is to not have any discharge of selenium from this area. We have reduced the discharge of selenium by 85 percent."The toxic water is born in fields irrigated along the Merced-Fresno county line. Since the area was opened for farming by the Bureau of Land Reclamation in 1968, naturally occurring selenium, boron and salt have been leaching out of the soil into the water table below. Because high levels of those substances can be toxic to crops as well as wildlife, the groundwater beneath crop land must be pumped down so it doesn't injure crops, according to McGahan. The only problem is that the groundwater must then be sent somewhere. Originally, much of it was sent to a series of evaporation ponds in the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in Merced. By the late '70s mostly saline agriculture drainage was being pumped into the Kesterson Reservoir, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey. But after a widely publicized biological disaster from selenium buildup at Kesterson Reservoir where many birds and fish died, the reservoir's use as a dumping ground ended. In 1987 the reservoir was declared toxic, drained and finally capped off, according to the USGS.This pattern, in which agricultural drainage leaches toxins from the soil that then poisons swaths of habitat, became known as the Kesterson Effect. And it wasn't just happening in Merced. Across the country regions with agricultural drainage problems faced similar problems. In 1985 the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program was founded to try to solve the problem. Since 1995 agricultural drainage water has been channeled north through the San Luis Refuge and into the San Joaquin River -- instead of flowing into one fixed locale.Since the mid '90s the quantity of toxic water has gone down, said McGahan. When the program began, about 50,000 acre-feet a year went into the San Joaquin. Now that number is down to 16,000 acre-feet a year.(An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons of water, or what an average Valley family uses in a year.)Still, while the quantity of wastewater has been reduced, according to a 2007 study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are still ill effects. Fred Paveglio and Kevin Kilbride wrote an article in the Journal of Wildlife Management noting that in 2005 the level of selenium found in animals from the San Luis Refuge was still high enough to harm wildlife. "We recommend selenium-contaminated water not be used for management or allowed as an input into arid wetlands through the western United States," they wrote.Even the drainage extension's draft environmental impact statement acknowledges that the continued flow of this water may cause ecological damage to the area. It points out that some species could be affected by a buildup of selenium, including the San Joaquin kit fox, the bald eagle, burrowing owls and others. In any case, the plan would lessen its effects on the refuge by hazing animals away from drainage channel and building buffer areas as well as several other ideas. Bob Parris, deputy refuge manager of the San Luis Wildlife Refuge, said he's seen improvement. "Things are not as bad as they were," he said. But he added: "There's obviously more that needs to be done."A public hearing on the draft EIR will be held at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 10, at 842 Sixth St., Suite 7, in Los Banos.Rangeland coalition to hold annual summit...Carol Reiterhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/615032.htmlThe California Rangeland Conservation Coalition will host its fourth annual summit on Friday and Jan. 8 at California State University, Chico.There will be speakers at the summit discussing how ranchers and environmentalists can partner together toward joint ecological success.This year, the summit will expand to include a second day for a field trip, which will allow participants to view first-hand how conservation can work for ranchers. The participants will tour the Llano Seco Ranchero near Chico.The event is open to anyone interested in working landscapes and natural resources. To register, call Tracy Schohr at (916) 444-0845 or go online to http://store.calcattlemen.org/summit.aspx.Modesto BeeLaser experiment aimed at saving farm water...JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer. Associated Press Writer Jacob Adelman contributed to this story.http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/v-print/story/547397.htmlSeventy-six years after the invention of the modern sprinkler helped revolutionize farming, a professor of environmental engineering is pointing a laser beam across an alfalfa crop in Southern California's bone-dry Imperial Valley, looking for a better way to conserve the millions of gallons of water sprayed each year on thirsty crops.Jan Kleissl and a handful of his students at the University of California, San Diego, have rigged up a telescope-looking contraption called a large aperture scintillometer to study exactly how much water crops lose to evaporation and the peak times that water disappears.The hope is to give farmers a more accurate, up-to-date reading of how efficiently their crops are using water than current technology allows."What's new about our approach is the monitoring side of it," Kleissl said by phone from his office. "We're trying to improve on that."Some advancements in irrigation have focused on the water delivery system - such as Southern California grower Orton Englehart's 1932 invention of the horizontal action impact drive sprinkler, which he patented the following year.But while most farmers are experts at managing their irrigation by sight, recent years' droughts have called for more sophisticated ways to use - and save - water.Water became an even more valuable commodity in California last year, when a federal judge ordered federal and state agencies to restrict pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect the threatened delta smelt, severely cutting the growers' supply.Further restrictions could result from last month's decision by state fish and wildlife managers to limit pumping to protect another native fish, the longfin smelt.These shortages are prompting researchers to devise new ways to determine when to irrigate and how much water to use, said Khaled Bali, an irrigation expert for the University of California Cooperative Extension office in Imperial County."There's not enough water to go around," he said.San Diego County farmer Bob Polito, who was forced to remove 10 of his 60 acres of citrus and avocado trees from production after last year's pumping restrictions, said high-tech irrigation aids have so far been too expensive for him to use. But he said the increasing scarcity of water may force him to invest in technology to monitor his trees' water efficiency."Anything that gives you an accurate accounting on that score would be a help to farmers," Polito said.Researchers are also testing a device that measures the velocity at which sap creeps up trees. When the sap's movement slows, growers would know that the trees need less water and reduce the amount that they use.Other tests involve using satellite imagery to measure "evapotranspiration" - the amount of water that seeps into the atmosphere from soil surfaces and plants. During periods of slow evapotranspiration - when plants require less water - farmers can cut down on irrigation.Many farmers already use a formula based on historic evapotranspiration averages gleaned from meteorological data - combined with on-site observations - to devise their irrigation strategies.But Kleissl's team hopes to give farmers more valuable information by using the scintillometer, which focuses laser beams across a farm field and records fluctuations of the refractive index of air that is caused by such things as changes in temperature and humidity.What the device sees is similar to the waves in the air that people see emanating from the pavement of a highway on a hot day. But the scintillometer sees those waves in much greater detail. The hope is farmers can eventually use the lasers to more accurately measure the amount of irrigated farm water lost to evapotranspiration.Kleissl's initial test of the technology seeks to measure evapotranspiration among alfalfa crops to determine the months in which low yields and high evapotranspiration rates coincide. That data would allow farmers to fallow their crops at times of least efficiency and use the water for other applications.A likely scenario, particularly in the parched Imperial Valley, California's southernmost desert, would be to let the alfalfa crop go fallow during the hot summer months when yields are smaller and more water is required, while capitalizing on production during the other three seasons.His study, which will take at least two years to complete, is unfolding on an experimental farm operated by the University of California's extension program. A field about a half-mile long and quarter-mile wide has been planted in alfalfa, a particularly thirsty crop. It is also the crop most commonly found in the Imperial Valley, some 200 miles southeast of Los Angeles, where rainfall averages fewer than 3 inches a year and high temperatures generally exceed 100 degrees for several months of the year.Surveying half of the field is a scintillometer, while the other half is being farmed and irrigated conventionally.If the tests show a substantial water savings, Kleissl would like to see scintillometers placed in agricultural areas around the state. He estimates that 10, which he says could cover a wide range of farm areas across California, could be installed for an initial investment of $500,000 to $700,000, although that wouldn't include the cost of maintaining and monitoring them.David Zoldoske, who leads the International Center for Water Technology at California State University, Fresno, said the scintillometer project shows promise, but would be best used in combination with other technologies that generate and analyze data on plants' water needs."It's simply just another way to have good information," he said. "It's like your doctor: If he can measure your pulse and some other things, that really helps him manage your health. It's the same with plants."Fresno BeeJohn Rapanos Agrees To Pay For Clean Water Act Violations...U.S. Department of Justice...Press Release http://www.fresnobee.com/556/story/1098884.htmlJohn A. Rapanos and related defendants have agreed to pay a civil penalty and recreate approximately 100 acres of wetlands and buffer areas to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at three sites in Midland and Bay counties, Michigan, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today.Rapanos has agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty and will spend an estimated $750,000 to mitigate for 54 acres of wetlands that were filled without authorization under the Clean Water Act. Rapanos has also agreed to preserve an additional 134 acres of wetlands that were unaffected by the unauthorized activity. Under the agreement, the preservation of these areas will be enforced via a conservation easement held by the State of Michigan. "After litigating this case for a number of years, we are pleased to reach a settlement that so strongly benefits the environment and serves the public interest," said Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This longstanding case demonstrates that EPA continues to vigorously pursue violations of the Clean Water Act that adversely affect wetlands," said EPA Regional Administrator Lynn Buhl. "The settlement will benefit the environment in Bay County by preserving a substantial amount of wetlands that play a vital role in water quality, flood control and fisheries."The original enforcement action was filed against Rapanos in 1994 and the case drew national attention after the District Court ruling was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and subsequently sent back to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings. Rapanos challenged EPA's findings that the filled wetlands were under federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The litigation determined that Rapanos did fill wetlands under federal jurisdiction. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rapanos attempted to level three different parcels of land by uprooting vegetation and filling low spots with sand and dirt. He also dug an extensive network of ditches to dry out the sites, which resulted in excavated dirt being sidecast into wetlands. The parcels of land were intended to be developed for a shopping mall and residential homes.There is a parallel criminal matter that is still pending and is not affected by the settlement under the agreement.The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. A copy of the proposed consent decree is available on the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. Deal reached in decades-old Mich. wetlands dispute...Ed White, Associated Press Writerhttp://www.fresnobee.com/641/story/1099015.htmlDETROIT -- A Michigan developer has reached a settlement with regulators in a decades-long dispute over wetlands and development in a case that landed at the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government announced Monday.John Rapanos and other defendants have agreed to pay a $150,000 penalty. The deal also requires him to construct 100 acres of wetlands and buffer areas in Midland and Arenac counties to make up for 54 acres that were filled in.Separately, 134 acres will be preserved in Midland County, with the state of Michigan holding a conservation easement. The agreement was filed in federal court in Detroit and will be open to public comment for 30 days. "We are pleased to reach a settlement that so strongly benefits the environment and serves the public interest," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Tenpas said in a statement.Rapanos, 73, did not admit wrongdoing."I don't want to characterize things as victories or defeats. ... Neither side walks away with everything they want," his lawyer, Arthur Siegal, said. "If they did, it wouldn't be a settlement."Rapanos began tangling with regulators in the late 1980s as he attempted to develop homes and a shopping center. He filled in a portion of one property with sand, defying cease-and-desist orders and insisting it had no wetlands or none that were under federal jurisdiction.The nearest navigable waterway is a Lake Huron tributary about 20 miles away, but regulators said adjacent ditches provided a direct surface link.The government sued in 1994, accusing Rapanos of violating the Clean Water Act. A judge said that the government had jurisdiction over three of the six parcels and that the developer had filled in wetlands.But the Supreme Court in 2006 sent the case back to Detroit for another look, saying regulators might have exceeded their authority in preventing Rapanos and another Michigan landowner from developing their properties.That ruling ultimately led to the settlement.In a related matter, Rapanos was sentenced to three years of probation and a $185,100 fine after a federal jury in 1995 found him liable for environmental violations. Prosecutors wanted 10 to 16 months in prison. Visalia Times-DeltaBreaking news: Tulare City Council OKs motor sports complex...LUIS HERNANDEZhttp://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081230/NEWS01/81230001&template=printartThe Tulare City Council, in a split 3-2 vote, approved late Monday night the proposed Tulare Motor Sports Complex, a 711-acre project that calls for the construction of a race track, a drag strip and commercial and retail development in south Tulare.Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda, Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift and councilman Richard Ortega voted to approve the project, while councilmen David Macedo and Wayne Ross casted a “no” vote.Fresno-based developer Bud Long, who is fronting the project, said he was excited about the outcome.The vote came at the end of a lenghty, three-and-a-half hour, single-issue special meeting held at the Tulare Senior Center, drawing an estimated 240 people.The project will now go before the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission in about a month’s time. The Tulare Planning Comission had already approved the project at a meeting earlier this month.Sacramento BeeHome prices post 18 percent annual drop in October...J.W ELPHINSTONE, AP Real Estate Writer  http://www.sacbee.com/840/v-print/story/1506170.htmlNEW YORK -- Home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate on record in October and there are no signs the housing pain is over, according to a closely watched index released Tuesday.The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index fell by a record 18 percent from October last year, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index tumbled 19.1 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history.Both indices have recorded year-over-year declines for 22 straight months. Prices are at levels not seen since March 2004. Prices in the 20-city index have plummeted more than 23.4 percent from their peak in July 2006. The 10-city index has fallen 25 percent since its peak in June 2006."The numbers are getting worse. And I think they will get quite a bit worse over the next two months because housing demand has plunged since the market went into turmoil," said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight.Underscoring that point, other figures released Tuesday showed consumer confidence hit an all-time low in December, dropping unexpectedly in the face of layoffs and deteriorating markets for housing, stocks and other investments.At the same time, the Present Situation index, which measures how respondents feel about business conditions and employment prospects, has declined close to levels last seen after the 1990 to 1991 recession.So many would-be homebuyers are sitting firmly on the fence.None of the 20 cities in the Case-Shiller index saw annual price gains in October - for the seventh consecutive month - and 14 of them posted record year-over-year declines.Three metro areas clocked in annual declines of more than 30 percent. Phoenix home values lost almost 33 percent, while Las Vegas prices fell nearly 32 percent. San Francisco prices tumbled 31 percent year-over-year in October.Atlanta, Seattle and Portland, Ore., all recorded their first double-digit annual decines in October.Of course, that month was one of the worst in history for U.S. stock markets, and President Bush was forced to sign a $700 billion bailout plan to help quell the global financial panic.Since then, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates and helped drive down mortgage rates to historic lows.On Wednesday, Freddie Mac is set to release its weekly survey of mortgage rates, and the Mortgage Bankers Association will release its weekly survey of mortgage applications.So far, favorable mortgage rates have sparked a mini-refinancing boom, but the for-sale market has yet to see much of a boost. Buyers are nervous about getting into the market when home values are sliding and unemployment is rising.Last week, the government reported that sales of new homes fell in November to the slowest pace in almost 18 years, while new home prices dropped 11.5 percent to $220,400, the largest decline in eight months.Sales of existing homes also fell in November, with the median sales price plunging a record 13.2 percent to $181,300, the National Association of Realtors reported last week.  Rancho business retools to counter downturn...Dale Kaslerhttp://www.sacbee.com/business/v-print/story/1505543.html                                                                                                             Third of four partsMost businesses hunker down in a recession. They cut costs, postpone new initiatives, turn conservative. Things are a little different at Form & Fusion Mfg. Inc., a small, diversified manufacturer in Rancho Cordova. Facing a significant downturn in its main business – cargo racks for commercial vans and trucks – Form & Fusion is aggressively moving into new product lines even as it's trimmed payroll. It plans to launch in early 2009 a line of metal benches, bike racks and other fixtures, geared toward parks, mass-transit stations and other public places.The company's president and co-owner, John Hancock, acknowledged that it's especially tricky to retool in a downturn, when dollars are scarce. But it might be the only realistic way to face the future."We're having to find new business opportunities," he said. "What's the alternative? Things are slow, you've got qualified people, you've got time to fill on your machines. You've got to do something."As the nation enters the second year of the recession, more companies are likely to find themselves in Form & Fusion's shoes: coping with falling sales and wondering if it's time for a new direction.The pressure on manufacturers might be especially intense. Although the construction and real estate sectors have suffered the worst of the recession so far, manufacturing could take the most severe beating going forward. Jeff Michael, director of business forecasting at the University of the Pacific, said the state will lose 120,000 factory jobs over the next two years, an 8.5 percent drop.Michael noted that California manufacturers, forced to compete against low-cost international companies, fare poorly even in good times. In 2004 and 2005, for example, when the economy was red hot, the state lost 27,000 factory jobs.The ongoing recession will make things worse, and manufacturers are smart to look for new strategies as soon as possible, he said."Being nimble is absolutely right," he said. "Trying to position yourself so that you're there and you're ready when the (upturn) comes is a very good strategy."But while retooling the factory to make new products isn't especially difficult, finding buyers for those products might prove tough, said David Woodruff, a manufacturing expert at the University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management."To turn on a dime and get into a new business … that's relatively uncommon," Woodruff said. "How are you going to get yourself known?"With a work force earning anywhere from $10 to $30 an hour, Form & Fusion has had to be flexible to compete globally. Some of the components of its roof racks are made now in Shanghai."That's the reality," Hancock said. "If you want to compete in California, you can't make everything soup to nuts."Founded 35 years ago, Form & Fusion is used to reinventing itself. For a while the company specialized in making parts for the computer industry and defense contractors. Then California's defense industry went into serious decline after the Cold War ended, and much of the computer-assembly business went overseas.About 10 years ago the privately held company started ramping up a side business making cargo racks. By 2006 the business, known as Kargo Master, was doing $7 million in annual sales and had established itself nationally. That accounted for about 70 percent of Form & Fusion's total sales.Then the auto industry collapsed, and Kargo Master sales fell 20 percent in two years. Form & Fusion's total business dropped about 15 percent, to about $8.5 million. The company laid off 25 of its 60 employees and scrambled to find new work.The company has obtained some contracts making components for green-energy companies, but Hancock is somewhat skeptical about the opportunities in that industry. One promising contract to make wind turbines fizzled out after Form & Fusion made just 10 of them.Battling a headache one day last summer, Hancock walked outside and stopped at an adjacent Regional Transit station. He spotted benches and trash barrels and got an idea."I said, 'That's exactly the kind of thing we make,' " he said.About $200,000 has been poured into tooling and other expenses. Prototypes have been made and exhibited at a trade show in San Diego. The company has made preliminary contact with RT officials.RT's chief operating officer Mark Lonergan said he isn't aware of Form & Fusion's offerings. But he said the transit agency is always on the lookout for local suppliers."Up and down the state, there are other markets for this kind of furniture," Lonergan said.Hancock acknowledged the timing is tough for launching a new product line. "If you had your druthers, you'd rather be doing these things when municipalities were flush with cash, people were building parks and mass transit," he said.On the other hand, he said, Form & Fusion's initiatives could benefit from the public-works spending program President-elect Barack Obama has proposed. Obama has yet to spell out details of the package.A tour of Form & Fusion's drafty 50,000-square-foot factory in Rancho Cordova shows why Hancock believes the company must act quickly. Hancock pointed out an expensive laser-cutting machine and a robotic welder, both sitting quietly."You can look around and you can see we've got a lot of fairly exotic equipment that's not doing a lot," he said. Regional Digesthttp://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/v-print/story/1505665.htmlECHO SUMMIT...Matt WeiserFirst field survey of Sierra snowpack set for today The California Department of Water Resources will conduct the season's first field survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack today. Automated gauges show recent storms boosted the water content of the snowpack to 78 percent of average to date."The storms of the last two weeks haven't even brought this season up to normal, much less made up for the last two years of deficit," said DWR Senior Meteorologist Elissa Lynn. "We've really got to keep it going."Southern reaches of the Sierra show 98 percent of normal water content in the snowpack as of Monday, according to automated gauges, with the central and northern Sierra at 81 percent and 58 percent of normal, respectively.There are 130 automated snow sensors and the state conducts manual snow surveys – considered more accurate – at 215 sites through May 1.Fifteen manual surveys are expected to be done today, including one along Highway 50 near Echo Summit.SACRAMENTO COUNTY...Matt WeiserSalmon hatcheries report on their egg collectionThe Nimbus Hatchery on the American River has met its annual quota for spawning fall-run chinook salmon, collecting 6.7 million eggs from returning adult fish.This will allow the Department of Fish and Game to meet its target to raise and release 4 million young salmon as a regulatory atonement for the loss of natural habitat caused by dams.The Feather River Hatchery also met its goal, collecting 10.2 million eggs. Its release target is 6 million salmon annually.The Mokelumne River Hatchery, however, fell far short of its goal of at least 8 million eggs. It produced just 275,600 eggs. Only 234 adult salmon returned to the hatchery, compared with an annual average of 5,500.Surplus Nimbus eggs will be transferred to the Mokelumne hatchery, the department said in a statement.The Central Valley fall-run chinook population was severely depleted this year. Federal officials blamed poor ocean conditions, but would not rule out poor habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its tributaries.The decline prompted the first complete closure of commercial salmon fishing this year in California and Oregon.Golf WeekSpecial report: Water worries...BRADLEY S. KLEIN and CINDY ELLIOT...12-29-08http://www.golfweek.com/protours/other/story/water-worries-special-report-122908In the golf industry these days, water is the life and death of the party.It makes healthy turf possible and enables the game to flourish. But its shortage, especially in the Southwest and Southeast, is putting the squeeze on superintendents and forcing irrigation managers to innovate like never before. Even in the Northeast, courses are adapting to challenges posed by the lack of fresh water. A resource that seemingly flows freely and in abundance is now increasingly seen as a scarce commodity and is subject to intensifying regulatory control. As communities in the U.S. vie for access to fresh, drinkable water, golf courses are using creative, ecologically-minded strategies to reduce their water consumption.In this aquatic version of a carbon footprint, golf is paddling lighter than ever. But will it be enough? The perception continues in some corners that golf consumes water wastefully. As shortages become more severe, public pressure on course operators will only mount. Already, restrictions on water usage effectively have handcuffed course designers from building new layouts in some areas of the Southwest. And it won’t be long before some existing facilities are forced to shut down. A worst-case scenario, however, can be avoided. It’ll require greater accountability and responsibility among industry leaders and a genuine commitment to better serve the communities in which they exist. As we document in this special report, “Golf and the Environment” (Golfweek, Dec. 6-13), their pledge to a better way already is becoming evident.• • •The problem is most acute in the Southwest, where sustained drought conditions for several years have combined with relentless growth and development. The whole settlement and expansion of the desert – not just Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, but also the vast agricultural areas of the central California valley – would never have been possible without waterworks engineering on a monumental scale throughout much of the 20th century.In areas where 2-4 inches of annual rainfall is standard, it’s nothing short of a miracle that cities and suburban areas can flourish at all. But as Ron Davis, state legislative director of the Association of California Water Agencies, says, “a 20th-century system based on resource extraction for utilitarian purposes” is not necessarily well-suited for a “21st-century approach to sustainable environmental economics.” Among the more revealing statistics he points to is that 20 percent of all energy use in California is devoted just to moving water from one place to another – mainly through a vast system of viaducts, pumps and reservoirs.In such a context, it might seem like conspicuous waste that golf courses are being maintained to a lush green tinge and that the sounds and sights of irrigation heads showering water are commonplace. In golf-rich areas like the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, the 120 courses there consume 17 percent of all water used. In Las Vegas, its 57 courses use 7.6 percent. The bulk of Southwest water use is attributable to homes, lawns, industrial activity and agriculture. Yet even where golf courses rely upon effluent, or recycled water, their use is subject to public scorn for their presumed wastefulness. Increasingly, courses in arid areas are expected to wean themselves from public well water and aquifers and rely upon recycled water. And as with the new Coyote Springs development 50 miles north of Las Vegas, approvals for residential course projects are conditional upon the use of effluent.According to a recent report by the National Golf Course Owners Association called “Troubled Waters,” 12 percent of U.S. courses now irrigate with recycled water. Reliance on effluent, however, has its challenges. Effluent is typically higher in pH, bicarbonate and sodium levels, causing an accumulation of soluble salts that may be intolerable for many turfgrasses. This is especially true in arid regions, where rainfall is not substantial enough to flush the salinity from the soil. Remedying the problem calls for an array of solutions – including using water-treatment systems, aggressive aerification programs and more fertilizers – all of which could balloon expenses. Still, effluent irrigation is a vital practice for golf courses in the Southwest, where the U.S. Drought Monitor anticipates “increased and permanent drought conditions for the next 15 years.” The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a natural estuary that supplies water to more than 25 million Californians, is facing critical financial and structural crises. Severe water restrictions followed at the local level, making golf courses an easy target for lawmakers and the public – many of whom see golf courses as a low priority for water use despite the golf industry’s $76 billion contribution to the national economy.Irrigation acreage also has come under scrutiny. Water districts throughout Nevada and California are paying golf courses as much as $3 per square foot to replace turf acreage with water-efficient landscaping, and have begun imposing financial penalties for any water used over budgeted amounts. The result may be fewer golf courses in the future, and those that are left may look radically different from the ones that exist today. Such a foreboding scenario places all the more emphasis on increasing the use of recycled water. And odds are, the responsibility and the cost of making the switch will need to be embraced by course owners and operators. Many communities do not yet have the infrastructure needed for wastewater treatment, and new infrastructure is expensive. Water-treatment plants alone cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with distribution pipelines costing up to $1 million per mile in some areas. With climate change, pollution and population growth threatening global water supplies, environmental and industry experts agree it is important for communities to invest now in water’s future.Water scarcity isn’t just an issue in the arid Southwest. In the Northeast, where courses depend upon rainfall for the bulk of their water needs, changing weather patterns have meant a greater reliance upon controlled irrigation. The problem is that to do so, courses must draw water, either from sources that are piped in, diverted from streams and lakes or from below, through wells and aquifers. Sustained drought in the Southeast in 2006-07 forced many courses in Georgia, for example, to absorb cutbacks in irrigation. But rather than accept mandates that were insensitive to the needs of turfgrass, the state’s superintendents worked closely with Georgia regulators and devised a flexible allowance enabling them to maintain their courses.• • •As a matter of survival, course managers are seeking such proactive cooperation with water regulators.But they also insist it’s not all about them.Greg Lyman, director of environmental programs for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, says that “the golf industry can provide a win-win situation for local communities. We need to be efficient, effective users of water, and to do that we must continue to adopt technology that will allow us to become more adept at determining when and how much water to apply; provide marketable conditions; and protect our natural resources.”Lyman points to the efforts of the GCSAA’s Environmental Institute for Golf in helping to further research, education and outreach within and outside the golf industry. Golf 20/20, an industrywide initiative of the World Golf Foundation, also is taking a leadership role in environmental issues with the recent establishment of an Environmental Committee. And at the state level, consortia like the California Alliance for Golf are taking a leadership role in coordinating lobbying efforts on water quality, water-resource management and their impact on the vitality of the golf industry.In addition, industry leaders say continuing education is a must to inform golfers, lawmakers and the public-at-large that the sport can be eco-friendly. Indeed, industry-sponsored polls suggest core golfers are more aware today than they were five years ago regarding golf courses’ environmental efforts.And there are many to applaud. Take for instance, irrigation company Rain Bird’s awarding of its second annual intelligent Use of Water honor to superintendent Chris Gray of Marvel Golf Club in Benton, Ky. Gray was recognized for developing a water-harvesting program that captures not only rain, but run-off from roads and the waste discharge from the 513 residences surrounding his course. Residential water is gathered from separate septic tanks, then treated through aeration and mixed with surface drainage water in a holding pond – enough so that the 175-acre golf course is entirely self-sufficient. Ultimately, the fix for a water-shortage crisis lies in course operators and superintendents being better stewards of the planet. Like Gray.Stockton RecordS.J. bank gets warning letterCommunity Bank told to improve its lending practices...Bruce Spencehttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081230/A_BIZ/812300314STOCKTON - State and federal regulators have hit Community Bank of San Joaquin, based in Stockton, with a cease-and-desist order that charges bank management with unsafe or unsound banking practices.The bank was operating with insufficient capital, had too large a volume of "poor quality" loans and engaged in unsatisfactory lending and collecting practices, according to an order issued jointly by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the California Department of Financial Institutions.The order also said that bank managers' policies and practices were detrimental to the bank and that the board of directors failed to adequately supervise bank management.The order came after a regularly scheduled examination of the bank's operations in May.Bank CEO Jane Butterfield flinched at the "cease and desist" order designation, saying that bank officials agreed to changes and actions cited by the order, she said.The core of the order focused on concerns that the bank wasn't being aggressive enough in identifying problem loans and either negotiating paybacks or repossessing assets, she said.Changes have already been put into place to address that, she said. That includes her spending three-fourths of her time these days focusing on problem loans and restructuring, as opposed to spending all her time previously working to boost business.The bank had assets of $146.8 million at the end of the quarter ended Sept. 30 and had about $8.9 million in problems loans, Butterfield said.The bank did no subprime mortgage lending, she said, and all of the "nonperforming" loans were to local home builders taking out loans before 2007 to buy land and build single-family homes.The bank has written off as lost about $2.5 million of the nonperforming loans, she said, while the bank has repossessed about $4 million worth of property.No one guessed the real estate and financial sectors would see such a harsh downturn, she said, and San Joaquin County is "ground zero" as the worst market in the country in the real estate-related meltdown."Hindsight is 20/20," Butterfield said. "I don't feel we were operating in an unsafe and unsound manner. ... At the time we made the loans, they were good loans."The bank, founded in November 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank On It Inc., has two branches, both in Stockton. In its most recent report for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, the bank reported a loss of $917,118.Butterfield also denied that the bank was undercapitalized, saying that the bank's capital ratio stood at 16.3 percent, well above the 10 percent mark that regulators say denotes a "well-capitalized" bank."We're a very healthy bank," she said. "We have problem loans, but we have enough capital to absorb them. I'm quite confident about that."The order also calls for the hiring of a banking specialist to conduct an independent review of bank management and the board of directors.Both Butterfield and Robert Wheeler, a member of the board of directors since the bank's founding, said the language concerning management and the board of directors was standard language in such orders.Wheeler predicted the bank will return to profitability in the first quarter of next year.Management and the board have done as well as possible, he said, although ultimately all have to be accountable for whether they could have better seen the real estate downturn coming."We just didn't predict - along with an awful lot of people - what would happen to property values in San Joaquin County," Wheeler said. "We took our hits and will work with the regulators."Wheeler, retired as plant manager of the General Mills in Lodi, said the board already has hired a banking specialist to conduct the independent survey. The study will be finished by the end of January, he said, and the board will start laying out any changes in February.Still, the bank was profitable for 24 consecutive quarters until the real estate downturn suddenly hit, he said."So we had done something right for a number of quarters while growing our bank," he said.Butterfield said the bank was started with $11.5 million in capital and has grown to $140 million. Earnings over those 24 consecutive quarters totaled $5.8 million.Asked whether the order was an indictment of bank management and the board of directors, Butterfield said that in these difficult economic times, the regulators will and should scrutinize bank leadership more closely."They want to make sure that we have the skills required to weather this economic storm," she said. "Given the severity of this current downturn, I would expect they are asking the same question of every bank in the country."San Francisco ChronicleNew law renames Calif. Resources Agency...(12-30) 10:28 PST Sacramento, CA (AP) --http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/30/state/n102845S00.DTL&type=printableCalifornia's Resources Agency is getting a new name in 2009.Under a new law that takes effect Thursday, the agency will be called the California Natural Resources Agency.The law's author, Republican state Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, says the name better reflects the agency's primary mission of safeguarding California's natural resources.It has 17,000 employees in 25 departments, commissions, boards and conservancies. It oversees conservation, water, fish and game, forestry, parks, energy, coastal, marine and landscape issues.It might be awhile until the agency's new name is seen, however. The law requires that all forms, insignia, signs and logos carrying the old name be used until they run out.High arsenic levels in water near ash spill...Associated Presshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/30/MNL6150K4U.DTL&type=printableKingston, -- Tenn. - Some water samples near a huge spill of coal ash in eastern Tennessee are showing high levels of arsenic, and state and federal officials on Monday cautioned residents who use private wells or springs to stop drinking the water.Samples taken near the spill slightly exceed drinking water standards for toxic substances, and arsenic in one sample was higher than the maximum level allowed for drinking water, according to a news release from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the power plant where the spill occurred, the Environmental Protection Agency and other officials.TVA spokesman Jim Allen said there are four private drinking-water wells in the area affected by the spill and the agency should have tests from them this week."I think they were beyond the actual slide point of the material," EPA spokeswoman Laura Niles said of the wells. "There shouldn't be direct impact, but that's why they are sampling."Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, but elevated levels can cause ailments ranging from nausea to partial paralysis, and long-term exposure has been linked to several types of cancer, according to the EPA.Authorities have said the municipal water supply is safe to drink.The warning came a week after a retention pond burst at the Kingston Steam Plant, spreading more than a billion gallons of fly ash mixed with water over roughly 300 acres of Roane County and into a river. The deluge destroyed three homes and damaged 42 parcels of land, but there were no serious injuries.Spill may have permanently altered Tenn. community...KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writerhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/29/national/a003014S04.DTL&type=printableA week after more than a billion gallons of coal ash broke through a retention pond dike and roared into a small river cove, the landscape has turned into a muddy pit that's little like the scenic spot that attracted people to live here.The Emory River is clogged with giant chunks of gray ash sticking out of the water and trees ripped out by their roots and washed downstream during the Dec. 22 disaster. Ducks float in a film of sand-like residue on the surface. Dozens of pieces of heavy equipment are digging along the river to try to clean it of coal ash.The Kingston Steam Plant, a coal-fired power plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, sits on the confluence of two rivers, about 35 miles west of Knoxville.The deluge destroyed three houses, displaced a dozen families and damaged 42 parcels of land, but there were no serious injuries.There are 62 pieces of heavy machinery slowly gathering up the spilled ash from residential roads, railroad tracks and the river, plant manager Ron Hall said Monday.But no one at TVA can say how long the cleanup will take and how thorough the restoration can be."It's almost like someone dying, because it's so permanent," said Crystell Flinn, whose home was swept away.Hall said workers will pull the sludge out of the river using barges and skimmers, and dump trucks will carry it to a different site at the plant. But the material won't return to the large riverside retention ponds still there."We will not likely put in wet ash ponds again, even though they have shown to be structurally integral," TVA environmental executive Anda Ray said Monday. "We are looking at options for what to do long term for that ash disposal, but there are dry ash pond technologies."In the days after the spill, officials are finding more reasons to be concerned about the possible harmful long-term effects. Federal officials on Monday cautioned residents who use private wells or springs to stop drinking the water.But the area isn't densely populated, and TVA said that no more than four wells are in the spill area.Samples taken near the spill slightly exceed drinking water standards for toxic substances, and arsenic in one sample was higher than the maximum level allowed for drinking water, according to a press release from TVA, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies.Federal officials should have tests on the affected wells sometime this week."I think they (the wells) were beyond the actual slide point of the material," EPA spokeswoman Laura Niles said. "There shouldn't be direct impact, but that's why they are sampling."Authorities have said the municipal water supply is safe to drink.Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, but elevated levels can cause ailments ranging from nausea to partial paralysis, and long-term exposure has been linked to several types of cancer, according to the EPA.Ray said arsenic levels were high because of the type of measurement that the EPA used, which included soil mixed in with water."Those samples were not dissolved arsenic," Ray said. "The dissolved arsenic, which is what you look at for drinking water samples, are undetectable in all the cases. The elevated arsenic that the EPA is referring to is the data that we collected when it was stirred up. It is routinely filtered out through all water treatment plants."Environmental concerns could shift when the sludge containing the fly ash, a fine powdery material, dries out. The EPA and TVA have begun air monitoring and on Monday advised people to avoid activities that could stir up dust, such as children or pets playing outside.The dust can contain metals, including arsenic, that irritate the skin and can aggravate pre-existing conditions like asthma, Niles said.The EPA recommends that anyone exposed to the dust should wash thoroughly with soap and water and wash the affected clothes separately from other garments.Ray said TVA will start installing sprinkler systems in areas where the ash has dried out to keep it moist.Knoxville-based TVA supplies electricity to Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.Santa Cruz SentinelElkhorn Slough acquisitions help combat global warming...Kurtis Alexanderhttp://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_11333922MOSS LANDINGThe need to protect coastal marshes, where great seabirds journey and tiny shellfish scurry, has focused largely on saving wildlife.This month's expansion of the Elkhorn Slough, however, highlights another reason to care for the wetlands: global warming.Three properties added in recent weeks to the federally and state-managed preserve mean more land to soak up water, a key to preventing flooding and lessening the impacts of sea-level rise as the Earth's climate warms, environmentalists say."The wetlands are not just for wildlife habitat, but serve the fundamental needs of humans," said Mark Silberstein, executive director of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation.The new properties, while expanding the 7,000-acre preserve by just 38 acres, serve as vital links to "connecting drainage bottoms", Silberstein says, which allows more water to percolate through the marshlands. In addition to nourishing plants and animals as well as the water supply, this means providing a buffer to warming."It's becoming painfully clear that we have to take care of these things," Silberstein said.The prospect of climate change has environmentalists pushing to restore and expand wetlands across the nation, perhaps most aggressively in low-lying parts of the Southeast most susceptible to flooding, but in California as well.In addition to moderating tides and absorbing runoff, wetlands have an uncanny ability to capture carbon in the atmosphere, says David Lewis, executive director of San Francisco's Save the Bay, which is working to restore the sloughs of the Golden Gate. Every acre of the slough's fast-growing vegetation soaks up 870 kilograms of greenhouse gas annually, roughly equal to the emissions of driving 2,280 miles, according to Lewis."There's been a lot of talk about replanting forests, but tidal marshes are good, too," he said.Back at Elkhorn Slough, second only to the San Francisco Bay in its expanse of tidal marshland in California, Silberstein says there's no shortage of reasons to expand the wetlands.The region harbors a diversity of wildlife -- 340 types of birds and 100 fish species -- as well as the groundwater supplies of nearby communities, both of which have been threatened by development.This month's most visible acquisition is 24.5 acres at the intersection of Highway 1 and Struve Road. The land was obtained by the state Wildlife Conservation Board for $135,000.Elsewhere, 11 acres off Dolan Road were obtained by the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve for $465,000, and a 2.5-acre conservation easement along Castroville Boulevard was transferred, at no cost, to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation.None of the new properties in the jointly run preserve are developed.The parcels join more than 2,500 acres of slough that have been brought under protection during the past seven years.Silberstein says the effort will continue."The longer we wait, the more it costs and the less there is," he said.Los Angeles TimesBush's ocean protection decisionPresident Bush has a chance to create huge marine reserves, which the first lady supports but Vice President Cheney opposes...Editorialhttp://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-oceans30-2008dec30,0,4945323,print.storyLaura Bush does not have a halo, and, as far as we know, Dick Cheney doesn't wield a pitchfork. Yet it's hard not to see the two as the angel and the demon on President Bush's shoulders as he ponders whether to protect vast stretches of pristine ocean habitat in the remote Pacific.For months, Bush has been considering the creation of two sweeping marine reserves, a move that would make him the most ocean-friendly president in history. Bush had already achieved distinction when, in 2006, he approved a 140,000-square-mile marine national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. But the new plan would dwarf that, potentially protecting up to 900,000 square miles around the Mariana Islands and around a series of tiny, U.S.-controlled territories stretching from the Line Islands to the Rose Atoll in American Samoa.Usually it takes congressional approval to designate national parks and monuments, but a controversial law passed in 1906 called the Antiquities Act allows presidents to declare unlimited expanses of federal land off-limits to hunting, fishing, oil exploration, mining or other extractive uses. President Clinton designated more national monuments using this act than any other president, but Bush could potentially protect quite a bit more territory.According to the Washington Post, the first lady supports the sanctuaries and has requested briefings on them from scientists and White House aides, while Vice President Cheney opposes them. Backing up Cheney are the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, a federal agency that regulates fishing from Hawaii to Guam, and many political leaders in the Marianas, who complain that the designation would harm their economy. Yet the majority of residents of the Marianas seem to disagree with their leaders; polls and petitions of the islands' 10,000 registered voters show strong support. Most likely, that's because they recognize that the rich marine life surrounding the islands is more valuable as a tourist attraction than as a fishing spot. Moreover, the fishery council has proved itself a poor steward of fish stocks, and seems unclear on the concept that sanctuaries don't just improve fish populations within the protected area, but in surrounding areas as well.Bush should designate these monuments, and impose the maximum allowable protections, because it's the right thing to do -- enhancing biodiversity and helping to ward off the threats of overfishing and pollution to our oceans. But if that's not enough to convince him, he should consider that he doesn't have to sleep next to Cheney for the rest of his life. Detroit NewsDeal nears in wetlands case involving Midland developer...Paul Eganhttp://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081229/METRO/812290410DETROIT -- A Michigan businessman has agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty and complete a 100-acre wetlands mitigation project near Midland as final settlement of a 14-year-old property rights case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Rapanos has also agreed to leave undeveloped about another 135 acres as part of a proposed settlement of a civil lawsuit filed against him by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government filed the proposed consent order today in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The order is still subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman. "The standard line when people sign a settlement is it should make everyone equally unhappy," said Southfield attorney Arthur H. Siegal, who represents Rapanos. "Probably that's the case here." Lynn Buhl, EPA regional administrator, said in a statement the settlement will benefit the environment by preserving a substantial amount of wetlands. "This longstanding case demonstrates that EPA continues to vigorously pursue violations of the Clean Water Act that adversely affect wetlands." The case -- seen as an important test of federal limits on property rights -- involved allegations Rapanos violated the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act by filling in about 54 acres of wetland in Bay County where he wanted to build a shopping center. The developer's lawyers argued the land involved mostly was not wetlands, and even if it was, it wasn't linked to a navigable waterway so that it would fall under federal jurisdiction. In 2006, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court said there must be a substantial connection between wetlands and the waters they feed in order for the land to fall under the Clean Water Act. But the court did not define how close to a waterway wetlands must be to merit federal protection. The Supreme Court sent the Rapanos case back to the federal court in Detroit, leading to the proposed settlement. The proposed settlement admits no fault or liability by side. Siegal said Rapanos succeeded in changing federal law by showing that the federal government's reach did not extend as far as it wished, though the extent to which he changed the law is yet to be determined. "One person, if they're willing to stand up, can have a profound effect on the rest of us," he said. Rapanos was also indicted in 1993 and convicted in March 1995 of two felony counts related to discharging pollutants into U.S. waterways. He was sentenced to a fine and probation. The federal government appealed that sentence, seeking prison time. That appeal is still pending.Environment News ServiceRapanos Will Pay for Clean Water Act Violationshttp://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-30-091.aspDETROIT, Michigan, December 30, 2008 (ENS) - In long-running case that affects the scope of federal jurisdiction over wetlands and other waters, developer John Rapanos and related defendants agreed Monday to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at three sites in Midland and Bay counties, Michigan. Rapanos has agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty and will spend an estimated $750,000 to mitigate for 54 acres of wetlands that were filled without authorization under the Clean Water Act, according to a joint statement by the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While Rapanos did not admit doing anything wrong, he has agreed to preserve an additional 134 acres of wetlands that were unaffected by the unauthorized activity. Under the agreement, the preservation of these areas will be enforced through a conservation easement held by the state of Michigan. "After litigating this case for a number of years, we are pleased to reach a settlement that so strongly benefits the environment and serves the public interest," said Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This longstanding case demonstrates that EPA continues to vigorously pursue violations of the Clean Water Act that adversely affect wetlands," said EPA Regional Administrator Lynn Buhl. "The settlement will benefit the environment in Bay County by preserving a substantial amount of wetlands that play a vital role in water quality, flood control and fisheries," she said. In the late 1980s, Rapanos filled 54 acres of wetland that he owned with sand in preparation for the construction of a mall and residences without filing for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He dug an extensive network of ditches to dry out the sites, which resulted in excavated dirt being sidecast into wetlands. Rapanos argued that the land was not a wetland and that he was not breaking the law, but his own consultant and state employees disagreed.The original enforcement action was filed against Rapanos in 1994. Rapanos was convicted of two felonies for filling wetlands in violation of law in 1995. The conviction was overturned and restored several times but, in the end, he was forced to serve three years of probation and pay $5,000 in fines. Eventually, Rapanos appealed the civil case against him, which included millions of dollars of fines, to the Supreme Court of the United States. Rapanos challenged the EPA's findings that the filled wetlands were under federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The case turned on the legality of the federal regulations that define waters of the United States. The focus was on regulation of wetlands adjacent to non-navigable tributaries of traditional navigable waters and regulation of wetlands separated from such tributaries by a berm. Rapanos' land is 20 miles from the nearest navigable waterway, a Lake Huron tributary river. However, the term "navigable waterway" has been broadly interpreted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to include areas connected to or linked to waters via tributaries or other similar means. The 2006 Supreme Court litigation determined that Rapanos did fill wetlands under federal jurisdiction. But the Supreme Court sent the case back to the federal district court in Detroit, saying regulators might have exceeded their authority in preventing Rapanos and another landowner from developing their properties. That ruling eventually led to Monday's settlement. But the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision left the law on federal jurisdiction over waters of the United States and adjacent wetlands unclear. The plurality opinion, authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, interpreted "waters" under the Clean Water Act to be limited to "only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water 'forming geographic features' that are described in ordinary parlance as 'streams ... oceans, rivers [and] lakes.'" This definition does not include channels through which water flows intermittently, or channels that periodically provide drainage for rainfall. Regarding "adjacent" wetlands, the plurality argued that "only those wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right, so that there is no clear demarcation between 'waters' and wetlands 'adjacent to' such waters, are covered by the Clean Water Act." Chief Justice Roberts, in a concurring opinion, suggested that lower courts and regulated entities would have to "feel their way on a case-by-case basis." Justice John Stevens wrote a dissenting opinion in the case, joined by Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The dissenting justices argued that the Supreme Court had previously upheld the regulation of wetlands adjacent to tributaries of navigable waters and that the court should defer to the agencies' regulation of wetlands adjacent to non-navigable tributaries. The Supreme Court's deciding vote was cast by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who in a separate opinion steered a middle course between the opposing sides. Kennedy found that water draining from the Rapanos property does, in fact, flow into a stream and then into a navigable lake 20 miles away. But Kennedy said that just because water drains into a distant navigable lake is not in itself enough to trigger the wetlands protections under the Clean Water Act. Exactly what would be sufficient remained unclear in his opinion. Following the Supreme Court's divided ruling in the Rapanos case, confusion has reigned among the agencies, the regulated community, and the courts over the definition of which waters are covered by the Clean Water Act. Nevertheless, the consent decree to settle the Rapanos civil complaint was lodged Monday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit. It is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. A copy of the proposed consent decree is available on the Justice Department website at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. There is a parallel criminal matter that is still pending and is not affected by the settlement under this agreement. Washington PostGroup sues to reinstate firearms ban...JESSE J. HOLLAND, The Associated Presshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123001373_pf.htmlWASHINGTON -- The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sued the Bush administration Tuesday in hopes of stopping a new policy that would allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns in most national parks and wildlife refuges."The Bush administration's last-minute gift to the gun lobby, allowing concealed semiautomatic weapons in national parks, jeopardizes the safety of park visitors in violation of federal law," said Paul Helmke, the group's president. "We should not be making it easier for dangerous people to carry concealed firearms in our parks."An Interior Department spokeswoman refused to comment on the lawsuit, saying the department does not discuss pending litigation.The Brady Campaign sued the Interior Department and its secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, as well as the leaders of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in U.S. District Court. They want a federal judge to issue an immediate injunction stopping the elimination of the 25-year-old federal rule that severely restricts loaded guns in national parks.The Interior Department rule overturns a Reagan-era regulation that has restricted loaded guns in parks and wildlife refuges. The previous regulation required that firearms be unloaded and placed somewhere that is not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk.But under a rule to take effect in January, visitors will be able to carry a loaded gun into a park or wildlife refuge _ but only if the person has a permit for a concealed weapon and if the state where the park or refuge is located also allows concealed firearms.The rules change would take effect before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. Overturning the rule would take months or even years if the Obama administration wanted to, since it would require the new administration to restart the lengthy rule-making process.The lawsuit said members of the Brady Campaign will no longer visit national parks and refuges "out of fear for their personal safety from those who will now be permitted to carry loaded and concealed weapons in such areas."New York TimesHome Prices Fell Sharply in October...Jack Healy http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/business/economy/31econ.html?ref=business&pagewanted=printHome values in 20 large metropolitan areas across the country dropped at a record pace in October as the fallout from the financial collapse reverberated through the housing market, according to data released Tuesday.The price of single-family homes fell 18 percent in October from a year earlier, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Housing Index. All 20 cities reported annual price declines in October; prices in 14 of the 20 metropolitan areas surveyed fell at a record rate as the financial crisis reached a critical point.“October was clearly the free-fall month,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Everything was going against us in October, without exception.”After increasing steadily through the first part of the decade, home prices have fallen every month since January 2007, their slide accelerating as troubles in the housing market infected the broader economy and brought down financial firms. Prices are falling at the fastest pace on record, a sign that the housing market is a long way from recovery. “It is unlikely that we are anywhere near a bottom in nationwide home prices,” Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at MFR, wrote in a note. And only 2.5 percent of Americans say they plan to buy a home in the next six months, according to a December survey of consumers by the Conference Board. Despite relief from high gasoline prices, overall consumer confidence dropped to its lowest levels on record this month after rising slightly in November, as Americans braced for a long recession.Only 6.6 percent of Americans said that business conditions were good, and 6.2 percent of people said jobs were plentiful, down from 23.6 percent a year ago.The 10-city index dropped 19.1 percent in October, its largest decline in its 21-year history, and the new numbers show that the cities that played host to the greatest excesses of the housing boom are suffering the deepest drops. Prices in Las Vegas and Phoenix, where developers built subdivisions stretching into the desert, fell by nearly a third in October from 2008. Home prices fell 31 percent in San Francisco and 29 percent in Miami. Prices in New York declined 7.5 percent in October over the same month a year ago.Fourteen of the 20 cities in the Case-Shiller survey posted double-digit declines for the year. The relative winner was Dallas, which had the smallest yearly decline, of 3 percent. The value of a single-family house in Detroit, which has been pummeled by closing plants and the implosion of the auto industry, was less in October than it was in October 1998. The Case-Shiller numbers were the latest round of bleak news for the housing sector, which is at the center of the country’s broader economic troubles. Foreclosures, bad loans and collapsing housing prices contributed to the financial crisis earlier this year, and now the widening recession is dragging housing down even more.Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously owned homes, which dominate the market, fell to the lowest pace in years. Home values tumbled 13 percent in November from a year earlier, the sharpest drop in more than 40 years, the industry group reported.A glut of unsold houses is weighing down the market, and housing is likely to deteriorate further in 2009 as the jobs picture continues to weaken. Unemployment is now at 6.7 percent, its highest point in a decade, and economists predict it will rise to 8 or 10 percent next year.“People who think they’re going to lose their job don’t buy a home,” Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities, said. Report From a Perfectly Ordinary Place...VERLYN KLINKENBORG...Editorialhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30tue4.html?th&emc=thI’m in central California, finishing up some family business, the kind that means lawyers, taxes, the Department of Motor Vehicles in Manteca and, somehow, staying in a chain motel at a freeway exit. My room is a few feet from a Starbucks drive-through lane. I’m a few car lengths away from several fast-food joints, all with drive-through lanes, not to mention several gas stations and two truck stops, which by their nature are nothing but drive-through. This is the kind of place where you realize that Americans like to feel full, quick. Highway 99, the commercial spine of the Great Valley, bristles behind me, a vulcanized mist rising from it in the rain. There is also the faint, puckering odor of a distant industrial dairy. Where there is new construction, the mud is light brown. Where there were once meadows that cycled the rain, there are parking lots where it beads up with an oily sheen. This is the kind of exit to which Main Street is still moving. A place like this — meant to be placeless — is, of course, full of epiphanies. Mine is simply this. In the motel last night, I found myself listening to the roar of an ice vending machine rising above the rumble of the soda vending machine and the whine of the fluorescents in the ceiling. I began to think about the sheer number of roaring machines in the immediate vicinity of this freeway interchange: machines for heating and cooling, compressing and expanding. Some are easy to notice, like the diesel semis gearing down with a thump as they come off 99. Some, like the ice machine, seem at first almost as quiet and familiar as the sound of blood through the veins. Then you notice them, and suddenly it’s hard to stop hearing them. At this perfectly ordinary exit, the mechanical and electrical shrieking never stops. If you choose the right direction, you don’t have to go far before you find yourself in nature — I almost said “back” in nature. Choose the wrong direction, though, and you find yourself in the housing wasteland of San Joaquin County, where everything is changing quickly. House sales are way up, although prices are way down, and the number of rentals is also rising quickly. Some of the commuters who moved here from the Bay Area have moved back, giving up on the idea of homeownership and a torturous commute. But these are local concerns, no more the business of Exit 237B in a drive-through state than the egrets standing in an irrigation ditch a few miles away. The true business of this wayfarers’ station is to hum and whine and shriek and roar in its own glare without ceasing. CNN MoneyHome prices post record 18% dropThe 20-city S&P Case-Shiller index has posted losses for a staggering 27 months in a row...Les Christiehttp://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/real_estate/October_Case_Shiller/index.htm?postversion=2008123014NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices posted another record decline in October, falling 18% compared with a year earlier, according to a closely watched report released Tuesday. The 20-city S&P Case-Shiller index has posted losses for a staggering 27 months in a row. In October, 14 of the 20 cities set fresh price decline records. "The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March 2004 levels," says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. Sunbelt cities suffered the most, but most of the country is watching home values fall. Home prices in Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco all fell more than 30% on a year-over-year basis. Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego recorded year-over-year declines of 29%, 28% and 27%, respectively."As of October 2008, the 20-City Composite is down 23.4%," said Blitzer. "In October, we also saw three new markets enter the 'double-digit' club."Atlanta, Seattle and Portland each reported annual rates of decline of about 10%."While not yet experiencing as severe a contraction as in the Sunbelt, it seems the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic South is not immune to the overall demise in the housing market," Blitzer added.Deteriorating environmentMany of the factors affecting home prices turned strongly negative this fall, according to Blitzer. "October was really the first month to feel the full brunt of the credit crunch," he said. "Up until the Lehman Brothers [bankruptcy filing on September 15], everyone felt relatively optimistic."Plus, in many of the free-falling cities the majority of real estate sales consist of distressed properties such as foreclosed homes and short sales. These houses tend to sell at a steep discount to the rest of the market, and when they account for a large proportion of all sales, they can exaggerate the depth of price declines.Of course, foreclosures continue to be a big problem as well. In October alone, nearly 85,000 people lost their homes to foreclosure, adding vacant inventory to an already overburdened market.Home sellers should not expect prices to improve any time soon, according to Pat Newport, a real estate analyst for IHS Global Insight. "I expect it's going to get quite a bit worse over the next couple of months," he said. "Existing home sales reports have really been bad."Home sales fell 8.6% in November, much more than expected, to an annualized rate of 4.49 million units according to the National Association of Realtors.And although interest rates are currently extremely low- the 30-year fixed-rate averaged 5.14% during the week of December 24, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) -that's doing more to help people refinancing existing mortgages than it is to help new home buyers. "Buyers still have to have a 20% down payment," said Newport, "and, in this environment, it can be hard to meet that criteria."The latest Case-Shiller numbers provide more ammunition to Washington policy makers who want to do more to fix the housing mess, according to Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with the Stanford Group, the policy research firm."These data just add to the tremendous pressure on the president-elect and the Democrats to stimulate housing," he said. "That means more lucrative tax incentives and broad foreclosure prevention. All of this will likely be in the stimulus plan that Congress adopts in January."Nicholas Retsinas, Director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, agrees. "Housing problems are at the core of our economic problems," he said, "yet, of the government interventions made during 2008, few were focused on housing."With a new administration and Congress in place next month, he expects to see a renewed interest in stabilizing the housing market.Banks cut lending by 55% in 2008U.S. loan issuance fell to the lowest volume since 1994 as banks repair balance sheets, shun underwriting new, risky deals...Last Updated: December 30, 2008: 2:29 PM EThttp://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/news/economy/loan_issuance.reut/index.htm?postversion=2008123014NEW YORK (Reuters) -- U.S. loan issuance in 2008 tumbled 55% to $764 billion, the lowest volume since 1994, as the global credit crunch choked off lending to American businesses, according to data from Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.Loan issuance was down from $1.69 trillion in 2007 as banks focused on repairing balance sheets damaged by mortgage losses and had little interest in underwriting riskier deals, RLPC reported on Tuesday.Investment-grade loans fell to $319 billion, down 52% from 2007's 658 billion, while leveraged loan issuance slid to $294 billion, down 57% from $689 billion in 2007, RLPC said.JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) was the lead issuer for U.S. loans in 2008, with $198.5 billion, or 26% market share, followed by Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), with $137.4 billion, or 18% market share, and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), with $116 billion, or 15% market share.Lending will likely remain anemic in 2009, according to an RLPC quarterly survey of loan market participants. Nearly 54% of respondents said their lending will be limited to key relationships.Institutional loans were especially hard hit as collateralized loan obligations disappeared from the market. Loans purchased by institutional investors slid to $69.6 billion, down 84% from 2007's $425.8 billion.Loans backing leveraged buyouts, a key source of loan growth for the past several years, were down by 80% to just $41.3 billion from $209.9 billion.Much of the loan slump came in the second half of the year, after Bear Stearns collapsed and Washington Mutual Inc. (WM, Fortune 500) was seized by regulators, sending convulsions through the financial system.As banks scrambled to limit risk, bridge or temporary loans became the only viable funding source for many companies. A $14.5 billion one-year bridge loan backing Verizon Wireless' (VZ, Fortune 500) acquisition of Alltel Corp was the largest deal of the year in the loan market, according to RLPC.