5-19-09

 
5-19-09
Merced-Sun-Star
Merced City Council OKs business park with retailers...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/853523.html
The business park at N. Highway 59 and Buena Vista Drive can be home to an Italian restaurant, sandwich shop and dialysis center, a divided City Council decided Monday.
The city will allow Fahrens Park Plaza, built for business offices and light manufacturing, to have one of its three buildings available for restaurants, grocery stores and other retail shops. The council voted 4-2 to amend the general plan for the fledgling center.
Mayor Ellie Wooten, Councilwoman Michele Gabriault-Acosta, and councilmen Jim Sanders and Bill Spriggs supported the change. Mayor Pro Tem John Carlisle and Councilman Noah Lor opposed it. Councilman Joe Cortez was absent.
For a year-and-a-half, the developer has been trying to land tenants imagined for the park but has only found success with a sports equipment store and Mexican restaurant.
The change went against the park's initial purpose and set off a fierce debate on the council about bending the rules for the developer, L.J. Steiner LLC, in an effort to boost the local economy.
"We're setting a precedent of sorts," Carlisle said, calling it a switch from smart growth to situational growth. "It opens the door to just about anything."
The core issue for supporters was about supporting business in a foundering economy.
Jeff Reid, an attorney for Steiner Development, said the park was designed to be a hub for construction company showrooms, a nonexistent need these days.
"We need to do what we can to maintain economic viability," Reid told the council.
The change wouldn't hurt the ability of other developers to build centers because Steiner isn't trying to attract any anchor tenants, such as a major grocery store, he said.
Yosemite Village LLC, which owns 15 acres of vacant commercial land nearby, opposed the change, arguing in a letter that it's going to be difficult for other centers to compete because Fahrens will be able to charge less in rent since the design standards for business parks are looser.
Dave Romano, a civil engineer speaking for the Yosemite Village partnership, said he was fine with the dialysis center, but argued that the City Council wouldn't be opposing business if it voted down the change.
DiCicco's, the Italian restaurant looking at opening in the business park, could just as easily open downtown where there are empty buildings, he said.
"A difficult economy is not when to waver on your principles," Romano said.
Spriggs said by denying the request the city would contribute to blight by having an empty business park. "In a perfect world there'd be no recession," he said.
The city's Economic Development Advisory Committee didn't support the change because it could open the gate for other developers to demand a zoning change in hopes of boosting business.
"This could have the appearance of being a bailout for L.J. Steiner LLC," the committee wrote in a letter to the Planning Commission, which voted 4-3 to approve the changes.
John Hinchey, a broker with Steiner Development, told the council that it can't dictate where businesses can open.
"It's a free economy," Hinchey said. "It's a free market."
Modesto Bee
Retail center 'moving forward'...Ken Carlson
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/708946.html
CERES -- The company that wants to develop a Wal-Mart Supercenter here told shareholders early this month that it is slowing the pace of new projects because of the recession.
Florida-based Regency Centers Corp. is a national developer of grocery-anchored shopping centers and has developed almost 200 centers since 2000. Its chief executive officer said at the company's annual meeting May 5 that it will invest in new projects with caution.
So what does that mean for the Ceres center?
"We have heard nothing at this time that it means the Ceres project is on hold," City Manager Brad Kilger said Friday. "We have been having weekly meetings with the development team, including Regency, and they have given us every indication they are still moving forward."
Pete Knoedler, a vice president of investments for Regency, said through an assistant that the company could not comment at this time.
A Wal-Mart representative said the project is still viable, despite the tough economy. "We continue to see our customers looking for ways that we can save them money, particularly with their food purchases," said Aaron Rios, a Wal-Mart spokesman. "We are still working on that store."
The Colliers International real estate firm is marketing the proposed 26-acre center at Mitchell and Service roads near Highway 99 with a potential opening in September 2010, although a Colliers representative said that is optimistic.
According to the marketing literature, the center would have 304,000 square feet of commercial space anchored by a 195,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter. It would be slightly smaller than the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Stockton. The remainder of the Ceres center would have retail stores, shops and restaurants.
Supercenters are larger than regular Wal-Marts and sell general merchandise and groceries, including fresh meat, fruit and vegetables.
Rios said the timeline for building and opening the center depends on city approvals. A draft environmental study should be completed in a couple of months. Planning Commission hearings on Mitchell Ranch could start in late fall, followed by hearings before the City Council.
Kilger said the shopping center could be built and opened within a year of issuing city permits, which could place the opening of Mitchell Ranch in late 2010 or the first half of 2011.
At its annual meeting, Regency announced a plan for steering the company through the recession. It recently cut dividend payments to shareholders and has laid off 100 employees, or 18 percent of its work force, since early 2008.
The company noted, however, that grocery-anchored shopping centers are fairly resistant to a recession. The sale of more than $300 million of company stock will cover capital needs for the next three years.
"A lot of projects that have (opened) recently have struggled, but this project is still pretty far out," said Ben Rishwain, an associate retail specialist for Colliers. "We have had interest from some pretty strong tenants."
He said he expected to know more after talking with potential tenants, architects and others at a Las Vegas convention over the weekend.
Rios said Wal-Mart is awaiting release of the environmental impact report, which will tell what improvements are needed to mitigate effects on traffic, air quality, noise and public services.
The Mitchell Road turnoff on Highway 99 would be the main freeway access to the center. Traffic counts at Mitchell Road and Highway 99 have exceeded 110,000 vehicles per day; there is no estimate on how much additional traffic the supercenter would generate.
For years, the state Department of Transportation has planned a new interchange on Highway 99 to replace the Mitchell Road turnoff and the Service Road crossing. There is no need to build the interchange before the shopping center is allowed to open, said Tom Westbrook, a senior planner for Ceres.
Homes in reach of more people...J.N. Sbranti
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/708944.html
Home affordability has hit a record high in Stanislaus County.
New statistics show Stanislaus' median-income families could afford to buy 83.5 percent of the homes sold during the first three months of this year.
That's the highest affordability rate in California and the highest in Stanislaus County's history.
It's a remarkable turnaround since 2005, the height of the building boom, when just 3 percent of homes were affordable to Stanislaus' median-income families.
Merced and San Joaquin counties also set records for affordability this year, according to the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released Monday.
Merced hit 81 percent. San Joaquin reached 80.3 percent.
The national average is 72.5 percent. The index has been calculating affordability rates since 1991.
The Northern San Joaquin Valley now is among the most affordable places in the United States for homeownership. The opposite was true from 2004 through 2006, when the three counties routinely ranked among the nation's least affordable.
Home prices have plummeted since then, however, primarily because foreclosure rates have soared. In Stanislaus, for instance, prices dropped 66 percent, from a median $396,000 in December 2005 to $135,000 this March.
The crash in home prices has created a buying frenzy for first-time homeowners. They're able to tap near record-low mortgage interest rates, federal and state income tax credits, and down payment assistance grants to make buying even more attractive.
"Who would have thought buyers would be able to buy homes at these unbelievable prices, then borrow the money at fantastic rates and then get a tax credit for doing so," said Chad Costa of Re-Max Executive, who is among the region's top-selling agents. "It is a recipe for an unbelievable buyers' market."
Costa said so many homes have been selling that the number of houses for sale declined dramatically the past six months. But new listings -- mostly bank-owned foreclosures -- have started increasing recently, giving buyers more choices.
There's competition for the best deals, however, and sellers have become choosy about with whom they sign contracts.
"It is imperative that buyers get pre-approved before they enter the marketplace," Costa said. "All sellers in this market require a pre- approval or at least a pre- qualification when the offer is submitted. Besides, the buyers need to know how much they can afford."
More than 700 potential home buyers got advice on how, what and when to buy during Sunday's Homeownership Modesto event at Modesto Centre Plaza.
The event, sponsored by The Modesto Bee and the city of Modesto, offered workshops and informational booths to explain government and private programs designed to help people buy homes.
About 350 people completed an intensive four-hour homeownership training program, which was the largest such HUD-certified educational session ever offered in the region.
Among the things emphasized in that training was the importance of families not committing too much of their income to a mortgage.
The Housing Opportunity Index is based on the same premise. It is calculated based on the assumption that a family can afford to spend up to 28 percent of its gross income on housing.
The index uses home sales data from government records to determine median prices, and it uses federal income estimates for each county. It calculates mortgage costs based on average 30-year, fixed-rate interest with a 10 percent down payment.
Housing construction, permits hit record lows...MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer. AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel contributed to this report.
http://www.modbee.com/business/v-print/story/709132.html
WASHINGTON -- A modest rebound in single-family home construction in April raised hopes Tuesday that the three-year slide in housing could be bottoming. But with the supply of unsold homes bulging, foreclosures rising and prices falling, no broad recovery is expected until next spring at the earliest.
The Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments fell 12.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units - the lowest pace on records going back a half-century. Applications for new building permits dropped 3.3 percent to an annual rate of 494,000, also the lowest on record.
All of last month's weakness, though, came in the volatile multifamily part of construction. Single-family construction and permits both rose, a signal that this bigger sector of home construction is starting to stabilize.
Construction of single-family homes rose 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 368,000, following a 0.3 percent gain in March and no change in February. Building permits for single-family homes were up 3.6 percent to a rate of 373,000 last month.
"U.S. housing remains very weak, but the stability in single-family units is encouraging," Benjamin Reitzes, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a research note.
Multifamily construction plunged 46.1 percent to an annual rate of 90,000 units after a 23 percent fall in March. Permits for multifamily construction dropped 19.9 percent to 121,000 units.
Analysts said apartment construction is being hurt by a glut of condominiums on the market and by tightening credit conditions for commercial real estate.
They also said a real rebound for single-family construction remains distant as heavy job layoffs and record levels of foreclosures will continue to weigh on this sector.
The number of unsold homes on the market at the end of March fell 1.6 percent from a month earlier to 3.7 million, not including new homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. But since sales remain sluggish, it would take almost 10 months to rid the market of those properties, compared with about 6.5 months in 2006.
"Home building conditions remain weak," Paul Dales, U.S. economist for Capital Economics, said in a note to clients. "The excess supply of new homes for sale is still high and heavy discounts on foreclosed properties have made new homes less appealing. Any rebound in starts will be modest."
On Wall Street, stocks rose modestly in morning trading. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 20 points and broader indices also edged up.
The nation's current recession, the longest since World War II, began with a collapse in housing that triggered rising loan losses and the worst crisis in the financial sector in seven decades. The government has provided billions of dollars in support to try to stabilize the financial system and get banks to resume more normal lending to consumers and businesses.
Housing construction and sales are expected to bottom out in the second half of this year but economists are forecasting that prices will keep falling until next spring.
The median price of a new home sold in March was $201,400, down 23 percent from a peak of $262,600 two years earlier. The median price is the midpoint, which means half of the homes sold for more and half for less.
In April, housing construction fell 30.6 percent in the Northeast, the largest drop for any region. Housing starts dropped 21.4 percent in the Midwest and 21.1 percent in the South.
The West was the only region showing strength with a 42.5 percent jump in housing starts.
The National Association of Homebuilders reported Monday that its survey of builder confidence increased for the second straight month in May, reflecting growing optimism on the part of many builders.
The Washington-based trade group's index rose two points to 16, the highest reading since September. Even with the rebound, the index remains near historic lows. Index readings lower than 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market.
The housing slump has affected related industries such as home remodeling, but two nationwide chains reported better-than-expected earnings this week.
Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday its first-quarter profit climbed 44 percent on fewer charges, and the nation's largest home improvement retailer beat Wall Street's expectations despite lower sales. Smaller rival Lowe's Cos. on Monday reported a quarterly profit that also beat analysts' expectations and the company boosted its full-year outlook.
But the nation's top three homebuilders reported financial results earlier this month that give little hope the spring selling season will be strong enough to stop the red ink.
Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp., which agreed to combine this year to become the largest U.S. homebuilder, said that while their quarterly losses narrowed, they continued to be battered by falling prices and a glut of unsold homes.
D.R. Horton Inc., currently the industry's No. 1 home builder, also reported that its losses had shrunk, but the company said it still faces challenges from foreclosures, high inventory levels, tight homebuyer credit, low consumer confidence and job losses.
The economy contracted by more than 6 percent in the final three months of last year and the first three months of this year, the steepest six-month downturn in a half-century. Analysts believe the recession will end sometime in the second half of this year but they are looking for the jobless rate, now at a 25-year high of 8.9 percent, to keep rising into 2010.
First lady's visit boosted many valley merchants...Danielle Gaines
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/708932.html
MERCED -- Now that the glitter has settled from first lady Michelle Obama's visit to the University of California campus, many residents -- especially business owners -- say the event boosted the economy.
"Business was good," said Mike Santos, manager of DeAngelo's Italian Restaurant.
Santos said the restaurant sold more than 50 "Obama Mama" cocktails its bartenders created for the occasion.
The pineapple rum, passion fruit vodka and orange juice concoction was made with top-shelf liquors, Santos said.
"We are still going over the receipts from the weekend," Santos said. "We were at least 50 percent busier on Saturday than a normal weekend."
Another business saw the opposite trend.
Robert Bilyeu, a manager at Applebee's, said the restaurant did less business than expected. On Friday, the restaurant made only $1,000 more than usual. On Saturday, Applebee's made $2,000 less than what it was expecting.
Bilyeu said he thought out-of-town guests would spend more. "We did notice a little bit of a surge (Friday), and that's about it," he said.
Hotels may have fared the best.
Julie Benavidez, front desk manager of the Comfort Inn, which has 65 rooms, had to turn away guests Friday and Saturday. "We did 100 percent both nights," she said. "I think (Michelle Obama) helped Merced out a lot."
Steve Patel, general manager of Best Western, which has 42 rooms, said he had to turn people away Friday. "It's good for Merced," he said. "All over America now, people know about Merced."
Benavidez said hotels in Madera had full occupancy. Other chains referred customers to Turlock and Modesto.
Official numbers to determine the economic impact of the first lady's visit won't be available until quarterly figures are released in August or September, said Frank Quintero, Merced's economic development manager.
Even so, "I would, with confidence, say that we achieved the $1.1 million" target for local business sales above average weekends, Quintero said. "I can tell you the downtown merchants are very happy."
Despite all the money changing hands, some people on the coast were bummed out because of Obama's appearance.
"Rock 'n Roll on the Knoll," a benefit show at the University of California at Santa Cruz, was canceled Thursday. Organizers said the event was scuttled because several Santa Cruz officers were sent to Merced for extra security on campus.
School officials at Santa Cruz couldn't be reached.
The concert was created to benefit the Homeless Services Center of Santa Cruz.
Nate Bennett, a performer in Nate's Action Playset, handled media relations for the event. After the cancellation, he wrote letters to the campus administration and the White House: "I am sure Michelle didn't intend for this to happen. Any small statement (that) would help bring the attention back to the homeless issue would be appreciated."
Hats off to pioneer UC Merced class...Editorial
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/v-print/story/708929.html
For those who supported the establishment of the University of California at Merced, Saturday's commencement ceremony was a landmark event for a campus that many of the state's most powerful politicians didn't want to build. But UC Merced supporters overcame the resistance and the campus finally opened in 2005.
Even though first lady Michelle Obama grabbed much of the attention, Saturday's ceremony was about the 500-plus graduates. They and their families are to be commended for taking a chance on a new university, and then following through by finishing their rigorous course work amid the campus's growing pains.
The pioneer class not only had to attend to their academic responsibilities, but also create a campus environment. And thanks in part to their efforts, this 10th UC campus has been embraced by the San Joaquin Valley, and it holds great promise for the region.
Future UC Merced students will thank members of the Class of 2009 for the role they played in establishing this university. We thank them, too.
Fresno Bee
Clovis Wal-Mart decision delayed
Urban decay report is at issue in controversial Herndon supercenter project...Marc Benjamin
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1413459.html
Approval of an environmental report for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter was delayed Monday night by Clovis City Council members as new information was revealed about a new 95,000-square-foot Winco Foods store being proposed in the city.
The council, which continued discussion until June 29, held off on a decision to do a further evaluation of an urban decay report that was finished before the nation's economic collapse and before stores such as Mervyns and Gottschalks declared bankruptcy.
Clovis planning commissioners recommended a revised environmental document for the Herndon Avenue and Highway 168 center to the Clovis City Council in April. The center is to include a Wal-Mart Supercenter, Kohl's, Petco and Bed, Bath and Beyond.
The urban decay study by CB Richard Ellis said the 491,000-square-foot center would not have a significant impact on urban decay.
Greg Keller of CB Richard Ellis said data show that food sales continue to rise each year and that larger problems are occurring in apparel, automotive and building materials. He said the new food stores, Winco and Wal-Mart Supercenter, will take away business from all grocery stores in the city, but that none should close as a direct result of their presence.
CB Richard Ellis' report said "some closures of market area stores could occur," but that it will not add to urban decay.
The Winco Foods store, which is proposed at Herndon and Peach avenues, was previously addressed in the city's economic analysis, Keller said, but the project was originally planned a half-mile west along Herndon Avenue in Fresno.
David Paynter, the Wal-Mart center's developer, said he can empathize with the owners of Sierra Vista Mall, who are opposed to the project, because he built a shopping center with Mervyns. He said the project will provide construction jobs, new retail jobs and property and sales taxes.
He pledged that he "will not build vacant buildings," he said. "In the current environment, we cannot build vacant buildings."Clovis resident Don Derleth said he thinks the new shopping center will keep people shopping in the city.
"I know people who live at Shepherd and Highway 168 and go to River Park, so it will be nice to get their tax revenue back in Clovis," he said.
But Bennett Lee of Clovis, a Save Mart store manager, said the store he ran in Dinuba was forced to close because a Wal-Mart Supercenter went in.
Grocery stores were not the only ones affected. "A friend of mine is trying to sell his auto parts store, and he can't sell it," Lee said.
In a revised water report, consultant Provost & Pritchard said the shopping center land has a water entitlement greater than the expected water demand.
Stockton lawyer Steve Herum, who represents Save Our Crossroads Center, said the water report is incorrect because the land is not being used and water is not required on the land now.
He also said the water analysis needed to examine large water users that were not included in the report.
Herum also said the economic impacts revision should be invalidated because CB Richard Ellis has done 24 reports for Wal-Mart and never found urban decay.
Vicki Westburg of Fresno, who is represented by Herum in the lawsuit against the city, said the city is not following its own plans in building on the property.
"I like Clovis having a village feeling," she said. "It's a way of life, but that way of life is changing."
Sacramento Bee
For some, prominent power lines dim enthusiasm for green power...ED FLETCHER...McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.sacbee.com/702/v-print/story/1873629.html
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In the summer heat, Rockney Compton's spring-fed koi pond doubles as a swimming hole for his three kids, and in the spring it is a water bowl for his dogs.
The pond is a centerpiece for an almost postcard-worthy vista of green, tree-lined hills near Round Mountain, a quiet stretch of Northern California's Shasta County.
What keeps this landscape shy of perfect are the high-voltage power lines that cut through Compton's property, built in the 1960s to funnel electricity from mountain reservoirs to urban customers far away.
Compton can't do anything about those lines. He believes he can, however, help halt plans to build two more sets of massive transmission towers and power lines through his tiny community, 28 miles northeast of Redding.
The $1.5 billion project envisions stringing 600 miles of new lines from northeast California to Sacramento and the Bay Area with a targeted completion date of 2014. It would be the largest power infrastructure venture undertaken in Northern California in nearly two decades, sponsored by a consortium of 15 Northern California municipal power providers, including Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the city of Roseville.
But it's also a new front in an emerging, nationwide fight over green power that pits environmental concerns against each other.
In Southern California, opposition - including from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein - is mounting against plans to erect a large array of solar panels in the desert, and the miles of transmission towers needed to connect them to customers in Los Angeles and San Diego.
The Northern California project could help bring online new, renewable sources of power such as wind, solar and geothermal. But it negatively impacts residents, wildlife and ecosystems beneath long, wide power line corridors.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been among those leading the push for big investment in green energy.
"Renewable energy is key for California's energy future," Schwarzenegger said at a recent San Jose solar summit.
State energy officials identified Lassen County as the best site in Northern California for wind, solar and geothermal energy generation. The renewable-power plants don't exist yet, but officials are confident that once transmission capability is in place, private industry will follow.
The Lassen area has enough potential alternative energy to generate up to 9.4 billion kilowatt hours annually, enough to serve between 1.3 million and 1.6 million homes, state energy officials said.
Democratic state Sen. Rod Wright said that adding more renewable energy to the mix is absolutely the right way to go. He wrote California's law requiring power providers to get 20 percent of their electricity from green sources by the end of 2010. Now he's offering one of three bills in the Legislature to boost that requirement to 33 percent.
Wright said large-scale solar and wind power mean going where the sun shines brightest and the wind blows hardest.
"You have to put it where it works," he said. His bill, SB 805, would give power providers an additional 10 years to reach the higher goal for energy from green sources.
But getting that electricity to users means power lines. "If you are building renewables, you have to build transmission lines," Wright said.
He said it's hard to find a development project that everyone likes, but everyone wants their lights to work.
Shasta County residents fighting the power line plan make up just one pocket of resistance. A Yolo County environmental group and the Colusa County Board of Supervisors have expressed concerns about the planning process.
Faced with opposition and mountains of questions, the Transmission Agency of Northern California, often referred to as TANC, extended public comment for the project's environmental study until May 31. Some critics suggest a more radical route: Restart the process from scratch.
Round Mountain is already the site of a Pacific Gas & Electric substation built in the 1960s. The new project would tie two parallel, 500-kilovolt transmission lines to the existing substation and add a new substation.
Between logging, the existing substation and the devastating Fountain fire of 1992, this community of 350 has given enough, residents say. "Why does one community have to always sacrifice for the good of all?" asks activist Beth Messick. "We are not averse to the big power lines. We just don't want them coming right over our community."
Opposition to the plan has galvanized the community, Messick said. In short order, 165 people signed a letter of opposition. And a couple weeks ago, most of the town showed up for a meeting on the project. They've even set up an opposition Web page at www.stoptanc.com.
"This is not a group of people that are going to lay over and say, 'Oh, poor us,' " said Lynn Dorroh, who runs the local medical clinic. This town will fight, she said.
Beyond predictable concerns about power lines encroaching on backyards, Messick and Dorroh also asked whether the state instead should put more energy into conservation programs and smaller, localized solar projects that produce clean electricity for consumers nearby.
That's the preference of Winters resident Kate Kelly.
"We should be focusing more on local generation of power," Kelly said.
The TANC project's $1.5 billion tab could build a lot of solar arrays on top of office buildings and parking garages, she said.
"We should be pursuing things like that rather than building power lines across the state," Kelly said.
She said transmission agency officials did a poor job notifying landowners and should have held community meetings in each affected county.
Winters farmer Stan Lester has his own problems with the process: "It's just incredible how unprofessional they have treated property owners," he said.
His main complaint is what might happen to the thousands of walnut, apricot and cherry trees on his 600-acre ranch if 500-kilovolt power lines are dangling overhead.
"There are a lot of consequences to my family and the families that work for me," Lester said.
He said some land will have to be cleared for access roads. Trees under sagging lines may have to be topped.
The agency will pay landowners for the impact to their land, but Lester said, "I don't want their money."
While the contracts may not be in hand yet, agency members won't give the final go-ahead until they are satisfied the plan will pencil out, said Patrick Mealoy, a spokesman for the transmission agency.
Mealoy admitted to some missteps along the way, and said TANC is committed to more effectively communicating with stakeholders. And while this feedback period is important, it's not the end of the road.
"I'm very happy with the dialogue that has been opened," Mealoy said. "We will sit down and talk with all interested parties, and we will make refinements."
Aside from questions about the process, critics are asking if the project is needed.
SMUD, the largest participant in the project, says yes.
"We will need access to more renewables than we can get locally in Sacramento," said Jim Shelter, SMUD's assistant general manager for energy supply.
If the project doesn't work out for whatever reason, it still means going elsewhere for green energy that can replace existing plants that run on natural gas. Rooftop solar can reduce the load but isn't the entire answer, Shelter said.
"When you start talking about 33 percent (renewable) by 2020, we have to start going further out to get that additional energy."
If the project is approved, SMUD will pay about a third of the costs, money that is not now reflected in utility bills.
"If we are going to move to renewables at the percentage that we are talking about, the cost of energy is going to go up," Shelter said.
Pacific Gas and Electric is not a participant in the project. The investor-owned utility discussed plans for a separate transmission line to the Canadian border.
Plans for tapping new sources of green power have utility regulators priming the public for erecting new power lines across California.
People should keep their eye on the big picture, said Jeffrey Byron, a member of the California Energy Commission. "If we are going to have to move away from fossil fuels, we are going to have build some transmission lines," Byron said. "I really think we are serving the greater good."
Pacific Ethanol plants seek bankruptcy protection...Dale Kasler
http://www.sacbee.com/business/v-print/story/1872835.html
Pacific Ethanol Inc.'s dream of a West Coast biofuels empire has landed in bankruptcy court.
The Sacramento ethanol maker said Monday it has put its four production plants under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the result of low fuel prices and the high cost of corn, ethanol's main ingredient.
Pacific Ethanol lined up new financing and promised to keep operating. But its troubles symbolize the sad state of an industry that was a darling among Wall Street financiers and the venture capital crowd not long ago. Bill Gates once invested $84 million in Pacific Ethanol stock.
The long-term outlook for biofuels remains strong, with federal and state governments ramping up requirements for blending ethanol into gasoline. President Barack Obama is expected to announce tight new standards on greenhouse gases today, paving the way for increased biofuel use.
"The future has to be rosy for the industry," said Dan Sperling, a member of the California Air Resources Board and a transportation fuel expert at UC Davis.
But in the short run, prices are too low to make a profit.
"Even though the government is mandating it, you can't (sell) it if people aren't driving," said Joel Karlin, a market analyst at Western Milling in Goshen. "Gasoline demand is lower."
Founded in 2003 by former California Secretary of State Bill Jones, the company built two of California's earliest ethanol plants – in Stockton and Madera – and was an aggressive lobbyist at the state Capitol for increased ethanol usage. President and Chief Executive Officer Neil Koehler became the face of the industry, popping up frequently on the cable business channel CNBC.
But as prices sank, the company closed three of its four plants – the two in California and one in Idaho. Only its plant in Oregon is open.
Pacific Ethanol defaulted on about $250 million in debt and warned in March that it was nearly out of cash and might file for bankruptcy. A week ago it reported a $23.9 million first-quarter loss and a 50 percent drop in revenue.
The bankruptcy "really isn't a surprise," said Rick Kment, analyst with DTN market news service in Omaha, Neb.
The Chapter 11 filing, made Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, applied to the four debt-ridden plants. The company itself and its marketing subsidiaries didn't file. Pacific Ethanol obtained $20 million in new financing; loans made after a company is in bankruptcy generally have a good chance of being repaid.
"We have worked well with our creditors to develop a plan that we believe allows us to continue operations," Koehler said in a press release. "We are unwavering in our vision of being a leading producer and marketer of low carbon fuels."
But its future is unclear. Clayton McMartin of the Clean Fuels Clearinghouse said oil companies might try to buy its plants, the way Texas refiner Valero Corp. recently bought seven Midwest ethanol plants in bankruptcy court for 30 cents on the dollar.
Koehler declined an interview request. So did Jones, the founder and chairman. The two loaned the company a combined $2 million in late March.
Pacific Ethanol was part of an ethanol boom that went overboard. Five major plants have been built in California since 2005, including Pacific Ethanol's. All are closed.
The industry's business model was based in part on high prices for oil, which encouraged refiners to blend in more ethanol. When oil fell, refiners cut their ethanol use to the minimum required by law, reducing prices for the biofuel.
At the same time, ethanol makers got hit by high corn prices.
"There's very little margin left in the market," Kment said. "It's still going to be a very challenging situation for the rest of the year."
With ethanol selling for about $1.70 a gallon, producers are losing about 30 cents on the gallon, he said.
Profits will remain under pressure even as government mandates increase. In California, the nation's largest ethanol market, demand for ethanol is expected to jump 66 percent in January because of new regulations.
The bankruptcy filing sent Pacific Ethanol's stock plummeting to 32 cents a share, down 25 cents, on the Nasdaq market.
Potshots at UC salaries miss the point...Jesse Bernal
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/v-print/story/1872585.html
Let me say that I, too, was once an ardent and vocal critic of the University of California's funding priorities. In particular, I thought all UC executives were paid too much and that too often, UC looked too quickly to student fee increases as an option for making ends meet.
I have since joined the UC Board of Regents as a student regent-designate and have come to recognize the value of a new and, quite frankly, more accurate perspective while still maintaining a critical eye.
The situation is grim. UC is saddled with a $437 million shortfall. Programs are being slashed, most hiring is frozen, and it's likely there will be more to come. Access and quality are threatened. The fat is gone. We are cutting into the bone.
But is UC to blame and, as The Bee seemed to suggest, is executive compensation a significant cause? The answer is no. History may not be on our side, but in my opinion our new president, Mark Yudof, has responded to executive pay issues and has set UC on a path of transparency, moderation and accountability. He has frozen senior managers' salaries, cut bonuses and significantly downsized the system's central office in Oakland.
The Bee editorial ignored all this and instead focused on what the new UC Davis chancellor will be paid. It neglected to mention that Linda Katehi's $400,000 salary is at least $200,000 below her peers at comparable institutions and that she is a proven higher education executive and a nationally recognized engineer.
The editorial also neglected to take note of the fact that UC Davis is not a little schoolhouse on the prairie but a vast, multifaceted research university and medical center that contributes significantly in many, many ways to the vitality of the region, the state and beyond.
Despite chronic underfunding by state government, UC is doing its best to uphold its service and keep its promise to the people of California. Part of that involves recruiting and retaining leaders who can steer our campuses through these tough fiscal seas, making the right cuts, generating contributions and grants, and still demanding excellence that students and Californians deserve.
Unjustified potshots at chancellor salaries might stir up some readers, but they point the finger in the wrong direction. It is time to hold state legislators and other elected officials accountable, and for a renewed prioritization of education in this state.
Capital Press
Calif. officials approve first water transfers...The Associated Press.
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=51368&TM=45151.77
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - California officials are moving ahead with a plan to ship water from farms north of Sacramento to growers in the drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley.
The California Department of Water Resources is buying the water from two irrigation districts in the Sacramento Valley. It will be sent to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and sold to a group of 10 buyers, most of whom are located in the drier southern half of the state.
Department officials are requiring buyers to cut their normal water use by 20 percent as a condition for participating in the program.
Most farms won't receive the extra water until the beginning of July, when federal officials say increased flows in the delta won't risk harming a threatened native fish.
Study finds decline of honeybee colonies slowing...The Associated Press
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=801&ArticleID=51370&TM=47413.13
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Federal officials say the decline of honeybee colonies may have slowed slightly but warn that mysterious ailments are still affecting the insects.
U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that honeybee colonies declined by 29 percent between September 2008 and early April. That's an improvement over the last two years, when researchers found that 32 percent and 36 percent of beekeepers surveyed lost colonies.
Domestic honeybee stocks have been waning since 2004, when scientists learned of a puzzling illness they called colony collapse disorder. Bees now appear also to be suffering from other ailments.
Honeybees help pollinate many fruits and vegetables, including blueberries, tomatoes, apples and almonds
Stockton Record
Stuck in the middle
Zoning proposal adds new chapter to the lengthy story of Stockton, Lodi's efforts to create a buffer between the cities...Daniel Thigpen
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090519/A_NEWS/905190319
STOCKTON - At times and in ways, the concept of creating some kind of buffer between the cities of Lodi and Stockton has been presented as urban growth pushed the boundaries of those cities closer to one another.
It's been given several labels: community divider; agricultural separator; greenbelt.
The idea of something other than sprawling development between has spawned plenty of debate, particularly because doing so involves property rights, open space, development, protection of agriculture and the preservation of community identity.
Officials representing the two cities and San Joaquin County government differ concerning a recent proposal from Lodi city officials and a group of landowners on unincorporated county land.
The plan would change zoning of agricultural land to allow one home per five acres. Proponents said clustering new homes together could preserve a buffer of agricultural land while respecting property-owner rights. Critics said the cluster-homes approach still is new development of open space.
The future of this plan is far from certain, but it is clear that points of view vary widely on what is the best course of action.
"We've been looking at this for 16 or 17 years," said Supervisor Ken Vogel, whose district includes Lodi and the potential buffer zone.
In the meantime, the width available for a possible buffer has decreased, he said. "The area being considered is shrinking."
Zoning proposals
Three years ago, Lodi leaders proposed the city include a ribbon of Armstrong Road, just south of the city limits between Interstate 5 and Highway 99, in its planning area and designate it as open space.
Farmers and landowners along the rural corridor were fearful of losing their property rights, as well as millions of dollars in diminished development potential.
So they came up with their own proposal: New zoning that allows one residential building for every five acres, potentially in clusters. The area is zoned for agriculture on 40-acre parcels.
Landowners like the proposal because it allows them to leverage economic benefit from their land, while the city retains a rural buffer south of the city limit.
But the area is not in Lodi. It's on unincorporated land governed by the county Board of Supervisors.
Vogel represents the district containing Lodi, and he was the only dissenting vote when the board recently decided not to share the planning cost of a proposed zoning change with the city of Lodi.
Protecting agricultural land and property owners' rights are important, and Lodi has long sought to maintain some kind of buffer to its south, Vogel said.
The Lodi plan is a compromise. "Whatever you call it, it would preserve agriculture, to a degree," Vogel said.
But if it opens up agricultural land to development, do not call it a greenbelt, Chairman Leroy Ornellas said. "I believe that the cluster zoning and the five-acre lots are poor planning," he said.
Momentum slowed
The zoning proposal is seen by Lodi officials and rural landowners as the best compromise in years. But the county's decision to treat Lodi as if it were a private developer requesting a land-use change slows the proposal's momentum, Lodi City Manager Blair King said.
Two days after the supervisors weighed the proposal, Lodi Planning Director Kerry Sullivan sent a memo to King stating that to formally apply for the zoning change, the city must serve as the landowners' "authorized agent," meaning Lodi would need to get written permission from every landowner in the proposed greenbelt.
While most landowners agree to the new land use in concept, it is less likely they will option their land for free to the city of Lodi, King said.
It's unclear what new options exist. Lodi city leaders say they don't want to drop the issue. And a 2007 survey of Lodi residents found an overwhelming majority list a buffer as a priority.
Stockton citizens also have supported limits on northward growth. In 2004, greenbelts and growth figured heavy on citywide ballot measures.
Local smart-growth advocates backed an initiative passed by Stockton voters to create an urban growth boundary. But it was negated by a "poison pill" clause in another measure that passed with even more votes. The winning referendum was sponsored by property owners outside the city's limits and created a right-to-farm ordinance. It called for Stockton and Lodi to cooperate on funding and buying conservation easements but did not include how they would be purchased.
General Plans amended
If the goal is to keep a buffer between Lodi and Stockton while preserving agricultural land and property owner's rights, a solution could be quite simple, Supervisor Steve Bestolarides said.
It could be a one-page agreement between the two cities and the county to not develop the area for the duration of their general plans, he said. This would require Stockton to amend its 2035 General Plan. Lodi and the county are in the midst of updating their general plans.
"It is the most expedient and least-expensive way," Bestolarides said.
Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston said that idea was worth consideration.
"I think we should be throwing a lot of things out on the table," she said.
Stockton could play a role by not approving development north of Eight Mile Road, Johnston said.
Even though its General Plan calls for that, Johnston said she doubted it would happen anytime soon because of a settlement with state Attorney General Jerry Brown. Lodi does not have to worry about an encroaching Stockton, she said.
"We're under a mandate to be more dense and stop sprawling," she said.
Susan Hitchcock, a Lodi City Councilwoman who is a strong greenbelt supporter, expressed doubt that General Plan updates will preserve a buffer.
"The problem with that is it doesn't create anything that can't be changed at the whim of a new council or a new board," she said. "In order for people to plan their livelihood around something, they need to have something they feel has a little more permanency than that."
San Francisco Chronicle
A push for thousands of homes on bayland site...Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/19/BAQC17MN5P.DTL&type=printable
An Arizona company has released plans to build as many as 12,000 houses on Cargill Salt's bayland property in Redwood City, touching off a battle over development of one of the largest remaining chunks of restorable wetlands on San Francisco Bay.
DMB Associates of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Cargill are expected to submit the plan covering 1,433 acres - the size of San Francisco's Presidio - to officials in the Peninsula city today.
The concept, billed as a smart-growth community of 30,000 people who would live near jobs and retail stores, has been in the works for three years. Half of the property would be dedicated to parks and restored tidal marsh.
Environmental groups, including Save the Bay and the grassroots Citizens Committee to Complete the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, have eyed the industrial saltworks for refuge expansion.
When the federal and state governments forged an agreement to purchase 16,500 acres of Cargill property for $100 million in 2002, the groups had tried to include in the deal the diked bayland purchased from Leslie Salt in 1977.
In 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the bayland as a wildlife haven to be preserved and placed in federal ownership should Cargill be willing to sell and the purchase money available.
John Bruno, vice president and general manager of DMB's Redwood City Saltworks, said the project has been put before hundreds of Redwood City residents. The companies plan to design construction below sea level given projections of rising bay waters.
Scientists predict the bay to rise as much as 16 inches by 2050 and 4 1/2 feet by 2100.
The plan envisions about 700 acres of houses and industrial and commercial development. About 250 acres would be dedicated to parks, including an extension of the Bay Trail and other public access, and 440 acres would be returned to tidal marsh.
"This would all be done as part of the total project at private expense for the benefit of the public," Bruno said.
The developers hope to get approval from the city, the Bay Conservation Development Commission and a host of agencies to break ground in 2013. The project would take 25 years to build, Bruno said.
Redwood City voters last year turned down a measure, put on the ballot by environmentalists, that would have required citizens to approve bayside development.
In previous years, voters had defeated other major development, including two-dozen office towers on Pete's Harbor and 4,700 houses on Bair Island in Redwood City.
Ralph Nobles, founder of Friends of Redwood City, called the new development plan "so anachronistic, it leaves me flabbergasted."
"There hasn't been a project like this since Foster City nearly 50 years ago," which sparked the creation of the bay conservation agency, which has authority over shoreline development.
"They'll be building below sea level on deep bay mud subject to liquefaction. I don't think the people of Redwood City will go for this."
Nobles also wants the proposed development to be considered in the context of the city's general plan to prevent piecemeal development and avoid negative impacts.
In March, the developer made a presentation before the BCDC.
"There was skepticism about building in low-lying areas, there was enthusiasm about restoring wetlands and there was willingness to look at the final plans," said Will Travis, executive director.
The developer promised to refine the plan and bring it back to the agency in the fall, Travis said.
Calif. condor deaths shows lead still a problem...TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/19/national/a025017D71.DTL&type=printable
PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. (AP) -- No. 286 had been a hopeful sign in this park's California condor restoration effort. Hatched in a zoo seven years ago, he was the old man of the program, living wild and nearly ready to breed.
This month he succumbed to the biggest killer of the once nearly extinct species: lead poisoning.
There are signs that a year-old state ban on lead bullets has begun to help the endangered vultures, but defiance by at least a few hunters and setbacks like the death of No. 286 have researchers worried that the majestic birds remain far from having a solid footing in their natural habitat.
"It's sad, and it indicates the uphill battle we have," said Jim Petterson, a wildlife biologist at Pinnacles.
Since 1982, when the 22 California condors left in the world were rounded up for a captive breeding program, the species' population has grown to more than 300. More than half the gangly birds, marked by bald heads that turn bright red in adulthood, are living in the wild in California, Arizona and Mexico's Baja California; the rest are in zoo breeding programs.
Lead poisoning has been a major threat to the scavengers. It has killed at least 14 condors in California since 1992, and about a dozen in Arizona since 1996.
On July 1, California started banning lead bullets in the 15 counties covering condor country. Arizona has a voluntary effort in which wildlife officials give hunters non-lead bullets, but lead bullets and fishing tackle have been barred on National Park Service land since March, and a lawsuit filed by an environmental group aims to ban lead on condor habitat controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
California's ban appears to have helped immediately. Federal information the state fish and game commission will consider next month shows that 59 percent of condors and two of five nestlings sampled in California tested high for lead from January to June 2008, compared with 45 percent from July to December.
The deaths continue, however. No. 286's death was the second fatal lead poisoning of a Pinnacles condor in just over six months, and lead poisoning is suspected in a third.
Chris Stoots, a California game warden, said about 90 percent of hunters he checked in San Benito County parking areas during summer deer season used steel and copper shot, encouraging scientists that lead-free areas could eventually become a reality.
"It's important to credit the hunting community for moving the needle in the right direction," said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the nonprofit Ventana Wildlife Society, which monitors 20 or so birds released at Big Sur on California's central coast.
But beyond the parking lots are oak-studded ranches, where thousands of ground squirrels and wild pigs are considered vermin and are shot by ranchers, who often are reluctant to switch to more expensive non-lead ammunition.
Many landowners, some fourth and fifth generation, also believe the ban forcing them to use non-lead bullets violates their property rights. Gun lobbyists say the measure is too strict and that legislators should have used voluntary measures and considered other potential sources of lead, including garbage.
"They see it as a backdoor attempt to ban guns and hunting," said Jake Theyerl, hired by the nonprofit Institute of Wildlife Studies to persuade rural San Benito County gun owners to switch to copper and steel shot.
"Hunters feel this was forced on them," adds Jason Bumann, manager of the RS Bar Ranch, a private hunting ranch southeast of Pinnacles that required hunters to use lead-free ammo even before the law.
"The automatic first response when someone wants to take something from you, regardless of the reason, the first response is 'no,'" Bumann said. "It's such a slippery slope. Once they take one thing it's just the next and the next."
Biologists say condors and hunters can coexist, and condors eventually will rely on the hunters for food. Biologists currently leave "clean" carcasses of stillborn calves at release sites so the birds have a better chance of survival.
Condors are attracted to cliffs, dense forests and rocky areas, making the spires at Pinnacles, about 125 miles south of San Francisco, an ideal place for the birds, North America's largest fliers.
Condor No. 286 was half his 22-pound weight in March, when scientists lured him into a holding pen. The needle peaked on lead tests; X-rays were taken but by that time could not detect a lead bullet in his gut.
Veterinarians at the Los Angeles zoo performed blood transfusions and fed him through tubes, but he died May 11. Scientists did find at least 15 birdshot pellets embedded in his 10-foot wingspan and torso, which would have hurt but not poisoned him.
Around the same time biologists cared for a female condor who also had lead poisoning and birdshot wounds. She recovered and was released, but discovering that two birds had been shot was a concern.
"In our 12 years releasing condors on the Central Coast, one had never been shot," said Sorenson, of the Ventana Wildlife Society. "To find two in such a short period was alarming."
Obama wants increased fuel efficiency, less smog...KEN THOMAS and PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writers. Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Ken Thomas and Dina Cappiello contributed to this report.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/18/national/w102351D96.DTL&type=printable
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- President Barack Obama outlined Tuesday the nation's first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil, calling the plan an historic turning point toward a "clean-energy economy."
Joined in the White House Rose Garden by leaders of the auto industry, labor, government officials and key national and state political leaders, Obama said the agreement that once would have been "considered impossible" was what he termed a "harbinger of a change in the way business is done in Washington."
The two-pronged approach to problems that compound threats to the global environment marks the latest in a series of shifts by the Obama administration away from the policies of his conservative predecessor, former President George W. Bush.
"As a result of this agreement," Obama said, "we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years. And at a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century."
He said the new rules amounted to removing 177 million cars from the roads over the next 6 1/2 years.
In that period, the savings in oil burned to fuel American cars, trucks and buses would amount to last year's combined U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya and Nigeria.
While the new fuel and emission standards for cars and trucks will save billions of barrels of oil, they are expected to cost consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016. Obama said the fuel cost savings would offset the higher price of vehicles in three years.
While requiring that vehicle carbon dioxide emissions be reduced by about one-third by the target date, the plan requires the auto industry to be building vehicles that average 35.5 miles per gallon.
The plan also would effectively end a feud between automakers and statehouses over emission standards — with the states coming out on top but the automakers getting the single national standard they've been seeking and more time to make the changes.
The plan, to be proposed in the Federal Register of pending rules and regulations, must still clear procedural hurdles at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department. Automakers expressed their support for the plan. "We're all agreeing to work together on a national program," said Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Administration officials said consumers were going to pay an extra $700, anyway, for mileage standards that had already been approved. The Obama plan adds another $600 to the price of a vehicle, a senior administration official said, bringing the total cost to $1,300 by 2016.
Under the changes, the overall fleet average would have to be 35.5 mpg by 2016, with passenger cars reaching 39 mpg and light trucks hitting 30 mpg under a system that develops standards for each vehicle class size. Manufacturers would also be required to hit individual mileage targets.
In a battle over emission standards, California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia have urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016 — the benchmark Obama planned to unveil for vehicles built in model years 2012 and beyond.
The Obama plan gives the states essentially what they sought and more, although the buildup is slower than the states sought. In exchange, though, cash-strapped states such as California would not have to develop their own standards and enforcement plan. Instead, they can rely on federal tax dollars to monitor the environment.
The auto industry will be required to ramp up production of more fuel-efficient vehicles on a much tighter timeline than originally envisioned. It will be costly; the Transportation Department last year estimated that requiring the industry to meet 31.6 mpg by 2015 would cost nearly $47 billion.
But industry officials — many of whom are running companies on emergency taxpayer dollars — said Obama's plan would help them because they would not face multiple emissions requirements and would have more certainty as they develop their vehicles for the next decade.
Los Angeles Times
If salmon can't be saved, Snake River dams may have to go...Kim Murphy, Greenspace
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/05/salmon-recovery-snake-river-dams-columbia-river-endangered-species.html
For years, the federal government has struggled to find a way to operate the massive hydropower system on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest--and also try to recover the endangered salmon that are all-too-frequently slaughtered at the massive dams as they make their way up and down the river.
One obvious option for saving the fish has never really been on the table: breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River that stand between the salmon and millions of acres of pristine habitat in central Idaho and northeastern Oregon.
Former President George Bush made it clear it would never be an option on his watch. The dams, after all, are generating enough electricity to power the city of Seattle, and provide Lewiston, Idaho, with a port for barging valuable cargoes of grain 140 miles down the river.
But it's a new watch. And a federal judge in Oregon has signaled that breaching the Snake River dams needs to be considered, at least as a contingency plan, if other options for bringing back salmon fail to do the job.
In a letter to parties in the long-running litigation, U.S. District Judge James A. Redden made it clear he is ready to find substantial shortcomings in the biological opinion for salmon recovery laid out by the Bush administration last year.
"Federal defendants have spent the better part of the last decade treading water, and avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act. Only recently have they begun to commit the kind of financial and political capital necessary to save these threatened and endangered species, some of which are on the brink of extinction. We simply cannot afford to waste another decade," the judge wrote.
The government needs to develop a contingency plan to study "specific, alternative hydro actions, such as flow augmentation and/or reservoir drawdowns," the Portland-based judge wrote, "as well as what it will take to breach the lower Snake River dams if all other measures fail." Download Judge Redden's letter
Reading between the lines, it looks like yet another federal salmon recovery plan is on its way to getting tossed out by the courts--by a judge who's ready to look at the most serious of options, dam breaching, if it comes to that.
"This is a significant development in the case, because it indicates to the new administration that they have a significant problem to solve in order to come up with a plan that will protect these species and all the people that depend on them," said Todd True, attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice.
"We believe that a serious look at the science and the options we have for bringing the fish back will lead to the conclusion that removing dams on the lower Snake River is a critical step that we should stop dancing around and start dealing with."
Brian Gorman, a NOAA spokesman in Seattle, said the agency could not comment on the judge's letter before reviewing it. But he said government scientists believe they can bring salmon populations back without breaching the dams.
"I don't think anyone argues that conditions in there for fish would be improved if there were no dams, but what we have argued in this biological opinion is that we can get to where we need to go without breaching the dams," he said. "Given the fact that breaching the dams would be enormously disruptive politically and socially and economically."
The Justice Dept. this month requested a delay in the court case of up to two months in order to get up to "more fully understand all aspects" of the plan. Redden said his letter was intended as a guide to what issues he thinks need looking at.
Government scientists "improperly rely on speculative, uncertain and unidentified tributary and estuary habitat improvement actions to find that threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead are, in fact, trending toward recovery," he complained.
"All of us know that aggressive action is necessary to save this vital resource," the judge said, "and now is the time to make that happen."
Judge Redden's letter
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/judge-reddens-letter.pdf
Case 3:01-cv-00640-RE     Document 1699     Filed 05/18/2009
Labor unions find themselves card-checkmated
Business groups have outmaneuvered workers groups, jeopardizing key components of a congressional proposal that has been unions' top priority. Labor supporters say their side has gotten disorganized...Tom Hamburger
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-unions19-2009may19,0,4473987,print.story
Reporting from Washington — In the Ozark Mountain town of Rogers, Ark., more than 250 business owners gathered for lunch at a construction company last month to focus on what they saw as a major threat -- a proposal in Congress to make it easier to form labor unions.
At each place setting, attendees found pre-stamped postcards and pre-written letters to be sent to Arkansas' U.S. senators, Democrats Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, who had supported the labor bill in the past. After lunch, the business owners were ushered to computers to send e-mail messages as well.
Five days later came the good news: Two Senate votes had been stripped from the pro-union bill. Lincoln said she would oppose it outright, while Pryor declared the current version "dead" and said he would look for compromises.
Today, thanks to those and other defections, key components of the bill are in serious jeopardy. And the legislation has produced one of the biggest surprises in Washington since Democrats swept the White House and Congress: The nation's labor unions, which organized so effectively last year to help elect President Obama, have been outmaneuvered so far on their top priority by their opponents in the business community.
"We were outspent, outhustled and outorganized," said one chagrined union advisor who was not authorized to speak by name.
"The legislation is severely challenged," said John Wilhelm, hospitality president of Unite Here -- the textile, hotel and culinary workers' union. "The unified business community has been so strident about the issue, they have effectively achieved solidarity among Republican senators."
The labor movement, somewhat divided, he said, has let Democratic support drift away.
No legislation is more important to the unions than the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ease the rules for forming bargaining units and, union leaders believe, help the depleted labor movement gain new members. Under its core provisions, unions could start a new bargaining unit at a company if a majority of workers simply signed cards requesting one, a process known as "card check."
The new system would eliminate the company's option to call for secret ballot elections, which union officials have long argued give companies the ability to manipulate and intimidate workers before a unionization vote.
Businesses fear that card check would leave workers vulnerable to coercion by union officials.
Organized labor believed it could push card check into law.
In 2007, the measure passed the House and gained more than 40 cosponsors in the Senate. Now, with even more Democrats in the Senate and Obama in the White House, the unions saw the odds in their favor. Obama's campaign stump speech last fall included strong support for the legislation.
But once he was elected, labor leaders made a fateful decision. Originally, they had planned to keep in place their extensive network of field organizers, who had just worked to elect Democratic candidates, and ask them to build pressure on lawmakers to vote for card check.
Instead, they changed course. The labor groups scaled back, partly to give Obama time to get his bearings amid the deepening economic crisis.
Business groups, meanwhile, had started work well before the election and did not stop. They feared that card check would lead to new unions and higher labor costs. Opponents included retailers, such as Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, as well as restaurant chains, construction firms and hotels.
More than 500 business and conservative organizations had formed the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to coordinate an array of trade associations and other groups fighting card check. Since 2007, the umbrella group has spent as much as $10 million. Its members include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which on its own earmarked $20 million in 2008 and 2009 to defeat card check, on top of $35 million to elect business-friendly lawmakers in 2008.
Half a dozen other groups backed by corporate, GOP or conservative ideological interests have also joined the fray.
Before labor groups had fully engaged this winter, the allied business groups successfully cast the legislation as undemocratic: How could Congress oppose secret-ballot elections? They also hired well-connected lobbyists. For example, Wal-Mart, one of the nation's largest employers and a staunch foe of unionization efforts, deployed Lincoln's former chief of staff, as well as Pryor's former legislative director.
But the most important part of the business strategy was coaxing thousands of small companies to pressure their lawmakers, particularly moderate Democratic senators such as Lincoln and Pryor.
Soon, Democrats were complaining at their weekly caucus meetings of being whipsawed by the powerful lobbying on both sides. The issue seemed to be everywhere. Even at a meeting on agriculture, one Lincoln aide recalled, card check would be raised prominently.
When it came to key senators, business interests outmuscled labor.
Lincoln, for example, reported overwhelmingly more calls and letters from business interests and their supporters than from the union side. And thanks to "airlift" programs run by the Chamber of Commerce and allied groups, some key senators received far more personal visits in Washington from card-check opponents than from supporters.
Ten airlifts came from Arkansas alone -- on top of the 100 Arkansas business officials who arrived in April for an annual dinner with the state's delegation.
The unions stepped up their pressure. On a frigid, blustery day in early April, 100 union members gathered outside Lincoln's office in Little Rock and chanted for her to support the legislation.
"Who can give it to us?" a union organizer with a bullhorn asked.
"Sen. Lincoln!" shouted the union members.
But it was too late. Lincoln, the target of so many personal visits in Washington by business interests, had already decided to oppose the legislation.
Another target for both sides in the debate was Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who was then a Republican. Like Lincoln, he had cosponsored the card-check bill in 2007.
Pressure on him came from groups such as the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Assn., which represents grocery stores. In March, it reported to its members that Specter appeared to be "on the fence." The group urged: "Your associates, friends, family and neighbors should flood Sen. Specter's office with letters, phone calls and e-mail messages."
Later that month, Specter announced that he would oppose the legislation in its current form.
At least a half-dozen senators who supported the legislation in 2007 either opposed the bill this year or expressed reservations. That left the unions short of the 60 Senate votes they need to overcome a bill-blocking filibuster.
With its chances fading, labor became divided. Wilhelm complained that another union, the Service Employees International Union, undermined labor unity by signaling openness to a compromise before the rest of the movement was consulted. The SEIU rejected the criticism, with its president, Andy Stern, saying in an interview that he and other major unions coordinated closely on card check.
The legislation's chief sponsor, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), is trying to fashion a modified bill that can win the needed 60 votes.
One possible compromise: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a former cosponsor who now has reservations about the bill, would retain the card-signing process for workers to form unions. But, to ease concerns about coercion, she proposes that workers mail the cards to a third party rather than turn them in at the workplace.