7-7-09

 
7-7-09
Merced Sun-Star
Merced River has a vital role
Re-licensing of Merced Irrigation District's dams could have far-reaching consequences...JONAH OWEN LAMB
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/937912.html
The Merced River is not often thought of as ground zero in the state's water wars.
Most think of it as just one of many dammed-up rivers that make their way from the Sierra to the Valley floor and feed the San Joaquin River's path north.
But because of the overuse of the San Joaquin River water south of Merced County, the Merced River has effectively become the San Joaquin's headwaters, according to water managers and environmentalists.
So the re-licensing of Merced Irrigation District's dams on the Merced River with the Federal Energy Commission may have much farther reaching consequences in a state water system of interconnected mazes of pumping stations and canals.
"The Merced is essentially the headwaters of the San Joaquin River," said Ron Stork, a senior policy advocate at Friends of the River, an environmental group.
Three rivers, the Merced, Tuolumne and Stanislaus -- the Merced being the first and furthest south -- are all that contribute to the San Joaquin's meager northward flow.
Much of that water, along with water from the Sacramento River, is pumped back south to Westside farmers and Southern California's cities through the Delta Mendota Canal and the California Aqueduct, according to state and federal officials.
So much water is diverted from the Central Valley Water Project's Friant Dam in Fresno County that the San Joaquin River is little more than a stream for much of its southern length, Stork said.
"The San Joaquin is kind of a stagnant, very turbid, river," he said.
By the time it crosses Highway 99 and heads north, the river is all but gone. It only becomes a real river again where it meets the Merced River.
Currently, the Merced and its two sister rivers to the north, the Tuolumne and Stanislaus, make up the the San Joaquin's main watershed, according to the irrigation districts and federal managers of dams along those rivers.
Each year, the three rivers main dams must release a certain amount of water to the San Joaquin depending on drought conditions and federal environmental regulations.
The Merced River releases 159,000 acre-feet in a normal year (An acre foot is equivalent to 326,000 gallons.)
Upstream the Tuolumne's Don Pedro Dam, run by Turlock Irrigation District and Modesto Irrigation Canal, released 158,386 acre-feet into the San Joaquin in 2008. Finally, the Stanislaus River's New Melones Dam, run by the Bureau of Reclamation, releases more than 800,000 acre-feet a year.
These combined releases make up the majority of San Joaquin water that flows into the delta.
Not far from the mouth of the San Joaquin, north of Tracy, is the California State Water Project's pumping station.
In 2008, according to the California Department of Water Resources, 1,633,324 acre-feet were pumped from the delta at this site, the majority of which went to Southern California.
The Bureau of Reclamation has its own pumping station nearby -- part of the Central Valley Water Project -- which in turn pumps roughly 2 million acre-feet a year south along the Delta Mendota Canal, according to the bureau.
While the pumping from the delta by these two bodies is dependent upon a series of factors -- tides, rainfall and snowmelt -- there is no way to count water molecules, said Stork, so it's unknown where the water that is taken south actually comes from -- the Sacramento or the San Joaquin River.
For instance, in a wet year the state puts 85 percent of the Feather River's flows into the Sacramento and hence the delta. But the delta pumps are closer to the San Joaquin than the Sacramento where the Feather's water ends up.
Much the same is true for the Bureau of Reclamation's CVWP.
Two huge northern dams -- Shasta and the Keswick -- release 5.1 million acre-feet into the Sacramento River every year. (Friant Dam on the San Joaquin is also run by the CVWP.) But the project's pumping station -- like the state's -- is closer to the mouth of the San Joaquin than the Sacramento where most of the CVWP's water flows into the delta.
Pete Lucero, the Bureau of Reclamation's spokesman, says that it's not that simple. The San Joaquin might be closer to the pumps, he said, but the sheer volume of water coming into the delta does not compare to the much larger Sacramento.
"The Merced River is not a major factor in the CVWP," said Lucero. Neither are the other rivers that flow into the San Joaquin.
While the Merced River's contribution to the state's water picture is small compared to the whole, a change in its FERC licensing could affect its down-river flows.
The licensing process, that will end in 2012, is moving toward a scoping document that will effectively study the area influenced by the river's dams. That scoping document is a bone of contention between the river's stake holders.
PG&E and MID, that own dams on the river, want the study of the dam's effects to be limited to the immediate environs of Lake McClure. Environmentalists want the study to go as far as the delta.
Whichever side's choice is picked may influence the rules under a new license, specifically water releases.
Whatever happens on the Merced will influence decision that affect delta fish, nearby dams, Westside farmers and Southern Californians.
Modesto Bee
Study: No increased fire threat in owl habitat...JEFF BARNARD, AP Environmental Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/772345.html
GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- A new study challenges a basic justification about the threat of wildfires that the Bush administration used to make room for more logging in old growth forests that are home to the northern spotted owl.
The study, appearing in the journal Conservation Biology, found no increasing threat of severe wildfires destroying old growth forests in the drier areas where the owl lives in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.
"The argument used to justify a massive increase in logging under the (spotted owl) recovery program was not based on sound science," said Chad T. Hanson, a fire and forest ecologist at the University of California, Davis, who was lead author of the study. "The recovery plan took a leap-before-you-look approach and did it without sound data."
The spotted owl was declared a threatened species in 1990 primarily due to heavy logging in old growth forests. Its numbers continue to decline, despite sharp reduction in logging on federal lands in 1994 that caused economic pain still felt in the region.
The Bush administration agreed to produce a new spotted owl recovery plan to settle a timber industry lawsuit.
The plan blamed declining owl numbers on the barred owl, an aggressive East Coast cousin that has driven spotted owls from their territory, and on wildfires that have destroyed old growth forests. It eliminated habitat reserves in the Northwest Forest Plan and proposed aggressive thinning in the dry forests of the Klamath Mountains and the east side of the Cascades to reduce the threat of fire.
The Obama administration told a federal court last April it would not defend the Bush administration's plan because an inspector general's report concluded it had been politically manipulated. The administration is negotiating over the scope and timing for a review with conservation groups that filed lawsuits.
"By July 30 we should know how we are going to proceed," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Joan Jewett said. "We will be reviewing the study, which is just the type of information we'll be considering as we determine what, if any, changes need to be made to the spotted owl recovery plan."
The study took satellite imagery on fire severity from 1984-2005, and compared it with government data identifying old growth forests on the east side of the Cascades in Oregon, Washington and California, and the Klamath Mountains of southern Oregon and California - all identified in the recovery plan as having the highest fire danger.
The rate of high-severity wildfires in old growth was 1.34 percent on the east side of the Cascades, and 1.74 percent in the Klamath Mountains, the study found. That amounts to a high-severity fire burning a given piece of old growth forest every 746 years on the east side of the Cascades, and every 575 years in the Klamaths.
The recovery plan looked at smaller portions of the landscape than the study and shorter periods of time, and extrapolated those results to reach its conclusions, Hanson said.
"The existing recovery plan is so clearly based on these incorrect assumptions that you can't just tweak it here and amend it here and fix it," Hanson said.
Forests are actually maturing into old growth suitable for owl habitat five to 14 times faster than they are being burned by wildfire, added co-author Dominic DellaSala, chief scientist for the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy and a member of the spotted owl recovery team that fought with the Bush administration over the owl recovery plan.
Conservation Biology: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122463194/abstract
Wiley InterScience:  http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122463194/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Michelle Obama's UC Merced visit cost school $1M...last updated: July 06, 2009 03:45:51 PM
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/772351.html
MERCED, Calif. -- The final price of the University of California, Merced's commencement ceremony featuring first lady Michelle Obama was more than $1 million - surpassing the original estimate tenfold.
Private contributions and interest on a private endowment fund have helped cover the cost. UC spokeswoman Patti Waid Istas said that nonstate dollars and other contributions will be used to cover the remaining balance of around $362,338.
The school had budgeted $100,000 for the May commencement ceremony. The price tag ended up being $1.04 million.
The address attracted about 12,000 visitors, requiring additional transportation, audiovisual and multimedia needs and other items. Obama was neither paid for her appearance nor compensated for travel and security.
Fresno Bee
Lawyer again plumbs depths of state water issues...Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau
http://www.fresnobee.com/1072/v-print/story/1517810.html
WASHINGTON — David J. Hayes is once again No. 2 at the Interior Department and No. 1 for California water.
Call it political déjà vu.
After an eight-year absence, the Stanford-trained environmental lawyer has reclaimed both the California water portfolio and the title as deputy secretary of the Interior. The high-profile, high-risk assignment puts him back in the middle of the Central Valley’s interminable fish-vs.-farm water disputes.
“I expect I’ll have to pay taxes in California, I’ll be spending so much time out there,” Hayes said, half-jokingly.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar introduced Hayes as his department’s go-to California water guy at a Fresno town hall meeting a week ago. Beyond serving as what he calls the “chief operating officer” of the $10 billion-a-year Interior Department, Hayes will coordinate the Obama administration’s role in California water use.
When Valley congressmen are unhappy, they’ll call Hayes. When irrigation district officials want their concerns really heard, Hayes is their man. When decisions get made on protecting species or approving projects, Hayes will be in the middle of things.
Unsolved dilemmas are now his problem, including what to do about irrigation drainage on the San Joaquin Valley’s west side. Specific proposals will now float across his desk. These might range from a proposed “Inter-tie” connecting California’s state and federal aqueducts to a proposed $26 million “Two Gates” project that would permit more irrigation deliveries by protecting fish from being sucked into Delta-area water pumps.
“Both projects are on our radar screen,” Hayes said, adding that “we’re going to give a vigorous review” to the Two Gates proposal widely promoted by Valley lawmakers.
California’s complex water challenges have long invited the appointment of special emissaries.
“I’m pleased the president has assigned somebody to California water,” said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa. “That offers a little bit of hope they will actually do something.”
For Hayes, the burden is a familiar one. A 55-year-old native of New York state, Hayes graduated from the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Law School. Active in environmental issues, and a former vice chair of the board of American Rivers, Hayes was deputy Interior secretary during the Clinton administration.
Between 1999 and 2001, Hayes focused on Colorado River conflicts and California’s Bay-Delta problems, among others.
Hayes returned to the law firm Latham & Watkins after his Clinton administration job expired. There, public records show, he was registered as a lobbyist for San Diego Gas & Electric, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and a handful of other firms.
The lobbying registrations temporarily impeded Hayes’ confirmation for the Interior Department post, as did some of his commentary about Republican environmental postures.
“Like Ronald Reagan before him, President Bush has embraced the Western stereotype to the point of adopting some of its affectations, the boots, brush-clearing and get-the-government-off-our-backs bravado,” Hayes wrote in April 2006 for the Progressive Policy Institute.
Under questioning by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Hayes conceded his anti-Bush language was “overly florid.”
Hayes’ 11-page article, though, also promoted what he termed a “moderate” Western agenda that included more federal flexibility in dealing with private landowners and avoidance of a “Washington-is-always-right model” of decision-making.
Now, overseeing 70,000 Interior Department employees, Hayes will get a chance to put his stated principles into practice.
Environment News Service
Dry California Sucks Up Federal Water Recycling Dollars
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2009/2009-07-06-091.asp
SACRAMENTO, California, July 6, 2009 (ENS) - Drought-stricken California is receiving 98 percent of the Recovery Act funding announced nationally for water recycling projects, according to federal and state water officials.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last week announced $134.3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for water recycling and reuse projects in the West.
California water agencies received $131.8 million of this funding for 26 of the 27 total projects.
"We are working around the clock with the federal government to pump Recovery Act funding into the California economy quickly and responsibly," said California Recovery Task Force Director Cynthia Bryant.
"As California copes with ongoing drought conditions, this funding is especially welcome to help fund critical water recycling and conservation projects up and down the state," she said.
The funding will be provided through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Water Reclamation and Reuse Program. Projects cover a broad range of recycling, reuse and recovery activities which met federal criteria for funding.
The largest single amount, $20 million, will fund the first phase of the City of Oxnard's Groundwater Recovery Enhancement and Treatment program. This long-range water supply strategy aims to combine wastewater recycling, groundwater injection, and groundwater desalination to make more efficient use of existing local water resources to meet projected water supply needs of the city through 2020.
Nearly as much, $17.7 million, will fund three projects in the Irvine Ranch Water District, which serves a population of 330,000 in and around the Orange County city of Irvine, south of Los Angeles. IRWD's philosophy is that "water is too valuable to be used just once."
Recycled water now makes up 20 percent of IRWD's total water supply. Eighty percent of all landscaping for businesses, parks, and schools in the district is irrigated with recycled water. Recycled water also is used for toilet flushing in more than 25 office buildings, for cooling towers and for industrial uses.
Every gallon of recycled water used to irrigate crops or landscaping means a gallon of potable water that can be saved for drinking and cooking, say California water districts, a way of thinking about water that has become increasingly important as the current drought gripping the state continues.
Following a dry 2007 and 2008, California is now in its third year of a drought. Water years 2007-09 represent the 12th driest three-year period in the state's measured hydrologic record.
These years also mark a period of unprecedented restrictions in State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect listed fish species such as the Delta smelt.
"Together, these factors are having a significant impact on the ability to meet the state's water supply needs," said, Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, in a mid-year report released last week.
Drought impacts from this year's water shortages are most severe in the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, said Snow. Central Valley Project deliveries for that area are at 10 percent of contractors' allocations this year, following deliveries of 40 percent in 2008 and 50 percent in 2007.
"The resulting water shortages are causing major economic impacts to agriculture and communities that depend on agriculture for employment," Snow said. "Demands for social services – food banks and unemployment assistance programs – have stretched the ability of local agencies to respond, as described in the Governor's recent request for a presidential declaration of major disaster in Fresno County." President Barack Obama has not yet offered the requested declaration, which would activate federal assistance programs.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the DWR will release up to 100,000 acre-feet of water to Central Valley farms. The action comes after the governor visited the farming community of Mendota on June 19 where he met with local elected officials to discuss the three-year drought and its effects throughout the region.
"Nothing is more important to Central Valley farmers than ensuring there is water to fuel jobs and feed families, and with today's announcement, we are taking quick action to deliver water to those who need it most," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "This situation further highlights the seriousness of our state's water crisis and the critical need to upgrade California's water infrastructure for our jobs and our families."
The release represents a "water loan" from State Water Project supplies to the federal Central Valley Project conditioned on "repayment" of the water after this summer's irrigation season. The emergency action will allow Central Valley farmers to continue receiving water supplies promised by the federal CVP. It will not result in a net reduction of supply for users of SWP water, which will be repaid no later than November 30, 2009.
Water year 2009 was notable in that January, normally the single wettest month, was extremely dry. A strong ridge of high pressure prevented storms from entering the state at the usual frequency, influenced by a warm Northern Pacific and cooler than normal conditions over the tropical Pacific and Pacific Northwest, according to the DWR report.
January 2009 was the eighth driest on record for the state, and 11th driest for the Northern Sierra, the source of much of the state's water supply.
Sierra Nevada snowpack makes an important contribution to much of California's developed water supplies. Storms that occur in January are typically colder, and would usually result in snowpack accumulation. Warm spring storms were unable to compensate for the low January snowpack, and as a result, spring refill of snowmelt-fed reservoirs with larger watersheds, such as Lakes Oroville and Shasta, was adversely affected.
On April first — historically considered as the peak of snowpack accumulation and the beginning of the snowmelt season — the water year 2009 Sierran snowpack was at 85 percent of average.
These conditions, coupled with statewide reservoir storage approximately 65 percent of average, led Governor Arnold Swartzenegger to proclaim a statewide water shortage state of emergency in February.
Statewide precipitation conditions improved in February and March, with an unusually wet storm sequence in early May providing a final boost to increasing seasonal totals.
Still, Snow says the state is already beginning to think about preparing for the possibility of a dry 2010.
The $131.8 million for these projects is part of President Barack Obama's $1 billion investment of Recovery Act funding provided by the Department of the Interior for water projects across the West. This federal funding will be leveraged to construct a total of more than $675 million in projects that will reclaim and reuse wastewater and naturally impaired ground and surface waters.
In April, Secretary Salazar announced an additional $260 million in Recovery Act funding to address California's drought conditions and to meet the state's long-term water supply infrastructure needs.
New America Media
California's Disappearing Towns -- Huron may not be here a year from now...Viji Sundaram
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=fe824636288f2231f5e75d0e0b6d7ca3
HURON, Calif. -– As you drive down Highway 198 toward the tiny Central Valley city of Huron, yellow-and-black signs poke out from parched fields with a message that harkens back to the days of the Great Depression: “Congress Created Dustbowls.”
The signs, believed to be the handiwork of the Central Valley’s agricultural industry, reflect a collective cry of desperation from a community of about 7,300 Mexican immigrants, who have made this Fresno County town their home, with hopes of realizing the American dream.
That dream, many of them are finding out, is increasingly getting more and more elusive.
It certainly is for Maria Ramos, 57, a widow and mother of three, who was laid off a few months back after working for 25 years, sometimes as a farm hand and sometimes on the assembly lines of an onion packaging plant. At the time she was let go, she was making the minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. She’s not sure she’ll find another job any time soon, given the current water crisis Huron and many other Central Valley communities are experiencing.
“There are a lot of people in my situation,” Ramos said in Spanish through an interpreter, adding: “We don’t know where to go; there are just no jobs.”
“No water, no jobs,” is the dismal mantra you hear everywhere around Huron these days, as a combination of a long-standing drought and a federally enforced diminished supply of water from nearby lakes has turned this once bustling city half way between the giant metropolises of San Francisco and Los Angeles into a land of the hungry.
Huron’s economy has for years been powered by agriculture. Acres and acres of tomatoes, melons, onions, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cotton and garlic were once the pride of this rural community. In fact, 95 percent of the processing tomatoes in the United States were grown in Huron.
But the economy is now shredded by a three-year drought, and, to a greater extent, by a round of safeguards for threatened fish imposed late last year by the feds that has diminished the transfer of water from lakes up north through the delta and into the state’s system of aqua-ducts.
Those restrictions were to prevent a little fish called the smelt, which has no commercial value, from being sucked into the pumps.
Stockton Record
Meeting to assist with medical school planning...The Record
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090707/A_NEWS/907070314/-1/A_NEWS
MODESTO - The Valley Coalition for UC Merced Medical School will conduct a Community Listening Tour from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the basement meeting chambers at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St., Modesto.
The meeting - one of nine to be held throughout the San Joaquin Valley - is to educate, inform and engage the public about the University of California medical school planning process. A similar meeting is planned for San Joaquin County, but details have not been finalized.
University of California, Merced, has been working for several years to open the Valley's first medical school. Its outreach and education campaign is funded by The California Endowment.
Information: The Rios Co., (559) 485-1320.
Manteca Bulletin
Goodwin Dam got water rolling for SSJID users...Dennis Wyatt
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/5182/
Nestled in the rustic Stanislaus River canyon below the western horizon from busy Highway 108-120 in the bottomland of Tuolumne County is arguably the most critical chunk of concrete ever poured when it comes to powering the Manteca economy.
It is here, some 35 miles to the northeast of Manteca, you’ll find Goodwin Dam. The 400-foot high dam was completed in December of 1912 primary as a storage and diversion point for the South San Joaquin Irrigation District and its century-old partner – the Oakdale Irrigation District.
The SSJID share was $342,500 – the median price of a new home in Manteca today.
Goodwin Dam was the first part of the SSJID system constructed after voters authorized the formation of the district on May 11, 1909 as well as authorized the issuance of $1,875,000 in bonds.
The dam site is two and a half miles above Knights Ferry on the river.  It was named for the first president of the SSJID governing board – Benjamin A. Goodwin.
The dedication of Goodwin Dam on April 6, 1913 featured California’s famous reform governor Hirman Johnson opening the head gate. He delivered the dedication speech to a crowd newspapers at the time estimated at well over 4,000 people.
One newspaper – the Manteca Enterprise – inventoried the picnic grounds near the dam that day and counted 927 autos, 107 motorcycles, and over 100 buggies.
As soon as work was completed on the dam, the SSJID started the next phase of 300 miles of tunes and ditches to bring water to the Manteca-Ripon-Escalon area.
It included a 2,000-foot long wooden flume carrying water 68 feet in the air bridging a major depression some six miles south of Knights Ferry.
Two giant dry land dredges worked 20 hours a day digging the main canal. Four months after Goodwin Dam was completed, water started rushing through the ditches.
The first water released was on Aug. 13, 1913 to the E.N. Pierce Ranch on the southeast corner of Austin Road and Highway 120 where Calla High stands today.
Spring of 1914 was the first season for full water deliveries.
Manteca went from 15,539 acres under cultivation to 51,095 acres of farm production almost overnight. The South County’s growth mirrored the increased farmland production irrigation water made possible as the population soared from 3,000 in the years prior to the dam being built to over 15,000 once water was flowing.
The next phase was building Woodward Reservoir that provided 36,000 acre feet of in-district storage. That reservoir some 16 miles northeast of Manteca was completed in 1916.
The SSJID tried to float a bond for a component board members thought was critical for the long-range economic health of South County farming – the Melones Dam. Voters rejected the bond. It wasn’t until the drought of 1924 that public opinion changed. Bonds for Melones Dam were passed that year clearing the way for the dam’s dedication on Nov. 11, 1926.
An agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation allowed the Melones Dam operated jointly by SSJID and OID to be replaced by the New Melones Reservoir that was completed in 1979 creating some 2.4 million acre feet of storage on the Stanislaus River.  A large chunk of the two district’s water supply is factor into the inflow into New Melones that replaced the original water rights of the two agencies.
San Francisco Chronicle
UC Davis chancellor's actions cause concern...Nanette Asimov
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/07/BARN18JUSS.DTL&type=printable
New e-mails released by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggest that Provost Linda Katehi - who arrives as chancellor of UC Davis next month - knew of and may have played a role in at least one of the improper "clout admissions" under investigation in that state.
Katehi, who has overseen admissions at the university since 2006, has repeatedly denied knowing anything about the secretive admissions known as "Category 1" that has led to about 800 underqualified but well-connected applicants being admitted to the flagship Illinois campus.
The e-mails, however, suggest a train of influence in which Katehi made inquiries and forwarded information about a wait-listed student after a political figure in Illinois contacted her about the applicant. When the student got in, Katehi pronounced the decision via e-mail as "excellent."
Over the weekend, Katehi, who is traveling in Greece, reiterated to UC President Mark Yudof in an e-mail that she had "absolutely no role in the admissions decisions regarding so-called Category 1 admissions."
President remains confident
Regarding the latest disclosures, Katehi told Yudof in a note that "all I did was inquire as to the status of the student's application, and nothing more. I took no action and made no effort to alter, influence or interfere with the admissions decision of this applicant."
In an earlier interview with The Chronicle, Katehi said she was neither aware of the special admissions nor informed of them.
"At this point, I haven't seen anything that would cause me to lose confidence in Dr. Katehi," Yudof said Monday.
But state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, continued his call for a halt to the appointment of Katehi, who as chancellor will earn $400,000 plus a house and other benefits. He urged Yudof to convene a review panel to look into the matter.
"With all due respect to Dr. Katehi, the story and answers she's giving are just not believable," Yee said. "She cannot claim she doesn't know about these categories of privileged individuals, when in fact she directed a staff member to look into one of the applications."
Early in 2008, Katehi received an e-mail from the campaign manager to the Illinois state treasurer providing information about a wait-listed applicant.
Katehi forwarded the application to the vice provost, asking for a status report. She described the student as "the daughter of a fairly prominent Greek family in Chicago."
Specialty admissions uproar
Katehi, the treasurer and the campaign manager are all Greek Americans, as was the applicant, an heiress to a Chicago chocolate fortune, according to the Chicago Tribune, which broke the story of the specialty admissions in May and has continued its series as the state has investigated the scandal.
The newspaper said a Greek Orthodox priest had originally contacted the state treasurer's office asking for help on behalf of the young heiress, whose name has been redacted from the university's e-mails.
Some of the e-mails about the applicant are labeled "Cat 1," indicating the category for special admissions. Applicants in this group had lower test scores but were admitted at higher rates than other applicants, according to the Tribune investigation.
'Late decision' admission
Eventually, in an e-mail copied to Katehi, Vice Provost Ruth Watkins suggested that the applicant be admitted under "late decision" - a method often used to slip underqualified applicants under the radar.
When Katehi received an e-mail informing her that the applicant in question would be admitted, she wrote, "Excellent."
Katehi is to arrive at UC Davis on Aug. 17.
Mercury News
Controversy erupts over budget provision requiring more study for high-speed rail...Paul Rogers
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12765426?nclick_check=1
An obscure sentence inserted deep in a massive state budget bill could delay construction of the proposed high-speed rail route from San Jose to San Francisco, potentially costing the region more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money, high-speed rail planners said Monday.
The language requires that as a condition of getting $139 million next year from the state budget to hire staff and engineering firms, the state High Speed Rail Authority must study "alternative alignments" to the route along the Caltrain tracks, approved by the authority last July.
Though the bill has passed both chambers of the state Legislature, its fate is uncertain because it remains part of the bigger state budget imbroglio.
Some Peninsula residents have opposed the route, citing noise and construction of concrete bridges and overpasses near neighborhoods. Palo Alto, Atherton and Menlo Park have sued the high-speed rail agency seeking to reopen the process.
On Monday, Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County supervisor who sits on the high-speed rail board, said that restudying the route could jeopardize federal stimulus money that requires eligible projects have construction started by September 2012.
"If it were to stay in, only our corridor in the whole state would be penalized, and all the federal stimulus money would go to Southern California," Diridon said.
The San Jose-to-San Francisco route will be seeking $1.3 billion in stimulus money, Diridon said. Two other proposed high-speed-rail routes near Los Angeles also will be seeking similar amounts.
Adding to the drama Monday was that neither Diridon nor any other member of the high-speed rail board said they knew who wrote the provision requiring the extra study.
"We're all mystified. The whole board was caught by surprise how the language got in the bill," Diridon said.
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto — whose constituents are most upset by the route — said he's not the author.
"That's not my language. I didn't have anything to do with it," he said.
Political skulduggery may not be to blame. In the rush to finish the budget, legislative staff members crafted the new requirement based on what Peninsula residents who testified at hearings and senators seemed to want, said Brian Annis, transportation budget consultant on the state Senate budget committee.
"We were incorporating many different comments and issues that staff and legislators were involved in," Annis said. "As far as the specific language, we drafted something we thought was workable."
The language is included in a massive budget bill that the state Senate approved June 30 and that the Assembly approved Wednesday. Its fate remains unclear, however, because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised to veto any budget bill that raises taxes or doesn't solve all of the state's $26 billion deficit.
Last July, after 11 years of hearings, meetings and studies, the high-speed rail authority approved a statewide environmental impact report that called for building a series of bullet trains connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles. The trains would move at speeds of up to 220 mph by 2020, similar to systems in Japan and France.
California voters then approved $9.95 billion in bonds in November to pay the first part of what could be a $45 billion project.
A second environmental study of each segment still needs to be completed. That study for the San Jose-San Francisco route, which involves more public hearings, is expected to be finished by late 2011. Any additional study of new routes, Diridon argues, would delay that report.
Groups who oppose sending bullet trains up the Peninsula — and are pushing for them to enter the Bay Area through Altamont Pass and come across the bay via a new bridge or underwater tube — said Monday that they didn't originate the controversial language, but support it.
"It is appropriate. You don't just pick a path and say if you look at alternatives it will take too long. We are spending billions of dollars, we should do it right," said Tina Andolina, of the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental group in Sacramento.
As members of the high-speed rail board write letters to the governor and other state leaders, Sacramento insiders say the requirement to study more routes potentially could be removed later, either by Schwarzenegger vetoing the bill or by other parliamentary maneuvers.
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Cemex fails to pay bill for county's chromium 6 testing...Kurtis Alexander
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12767882
SANTA CRUZ -- Cement manufacturing giant Cemex has so far failed to pay the nearly half-million dollar tab the county apparently accrued in responding to last year's chromium 6 scare.
The discovery of the airborne carcinogen, linked to dust at the Davenport cement plant and the cause of concern in the small North Coast community, prompted county regulators to initiate a series of costly environmental tests to contain the pollutant.
A letter sent last week by county officials to a Cemex vice president threatens legal action if two unpaid invoices for the testing, totaling $488,232, continue to be ignored.
"This is a large amount of money. I have a responsibility to the public to make sure that gets paid back," said Steve Schneider, county environmental health division director, who penned the June 30 letter to Cemex. "We'll use all means at our disposal."
Cemex officials, responding to a Sentinel inquiry by e-mail Monday, said they haven't paid the bill because they want to evaluate the charges.
"We would like to have more information on how the county spent $488,000 and believe that this a reasonable request," Cemex spokeswoman Jennifer Borgen responded in a written statement.
Still, the late payment adds to concerns that the plant, whose owner is struggling financially and temporarily closed the Davenport site because of the lax demand for cement, will not reopen.
The emission of chromium 6 has since been controlled but only after unsafe levels detected during routine testing spurred the county to action last fall.
County health regulators pursued contracts with outside consultants and laboratories to help pinpoint the source of the pollutant and reduce the safety risk to the community. Chromium 6 was believed to have been produced when limestone was heated during cement production.
"There was a lot of work that went into the investigation and that costs a lot of money," Schneider said.
California law allows counties to collect for efforts to protect public health. The county billed Cemex $396,666 for the work on April 2, due June 3. A second invoice, for additional monitoring costs of $91,566, was sent May 26 and is due this month.
In a separate matter, the county recently refunded Cemex $696,151 in property taxes after the Assessor's Office assigned a lower value to the Davenport property. The date of the refund, and whether it was sent before the testing invoice came due, was unclear Monday. The Assessor's Office did not return phone calls.
The Mexico-based Cemex, the world's third largest cement producer, has been hit hard by the downturn of the international housing and construction markets and faces increasing debt. New environmental regulations proposed this year by the Obama administration for cement plants will only add to the company's financial concerns.
The Davenport facility has operated for more than a century and employs 130 people.
County Supervisor Neal Coonerty, who represents the Davenport area and helped coordinate response to the last year's chromium 6 discovery, said he expects the company to pay up.
"It's critical the county get the money back that it spent so far," Coonerty said. "I'm hopeful that Cemex will meet their obligation."
Antelope Valley Press
AV's proposed solar plant still thirsty...ALLISON GATLIN
http://www.avpress.com/n/06/0706_s3.hts
CALIFORNIA CITY - Water remains the central issue at the heart of the state licensing process for a 250-megawatt solar power plant proposed on former agricultural land northwest of California City near the community of Cantil.
Beacon Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC, has applied to the state to construct and operate the solar plant on some 2,000 acres of land off State Route 14 that was once used for alfalfa farming.
The plant would use a series of curved mirrors to capture and reflect sunlight on a series of tubes. Liquids in the tubes would be heated by the sunlight and in turn used to power a steam turbine, which actually produces the electricity.
The California Energy Commission, which is tasked with licensing the plant, held a public workshop on the proposed plant July 1 in Cal City, the second meeting to cover issues raised in the initial state staff assessment of the project.
The power plant application falls under the commission's "in lieu" permitting process, which combines the various permits required from local, state and federal agencies into one process.
The biggest obstacle to the plant's licensing appears to be the company's intent to use 1,400 acre-feet of groundwater from the site each year to cool the solar power system.
The California Energy Commission and the state Water Resources Control Board have policies against using potable water to cool power plants unless there is no other feasible alternative, said Eric Solorio, project manager for the energy commission.
At issue appears to be what is considered "feasible."
Since an earlier workshop in April, Beacon has changed the design of the proposed plant to use 200 acre-feet less water than originally proposed.
The power company contends enough water exists in the Fremont Basin beneath the plant site to serve its needs without affecting the water supply for surrounding communities. They cite their studies showing the groundwater levels rising since the end of water-intensive farming practices in the area. The groundwater use by the power plant would slow this rate of rise, but not reverse it, they contend.
John Fio, a hydrology consultant to the commission staff, questioned the water models, arguing that although wells show water levels rising in some areas, elsewhere in the basin they are falling, indicating shifting recharge levels.
"It's kind of a sensitive situation. There's probably not as much water out there as we thought," he said.
Proposed alternatives
The state commission staff presented several alternatives to using groundwater to the company, alternatives the staff sees as economically feasible.
The first of these is the purchase of recycled water from the Rosamond Community Services District, which would then be piped some 40 miles to the power plant site.
As proposed, Beacon would pay for the pipeline, storage, a portion of the wastewater treatment plant expansion and recycled water. The estimated capital costs for this infrastructure is nearly $50 million, with annual water costs of $1.2 million, according to the RCSD.
"We are going to move that proposal forward in the staff document as a feasible alternative," Solorio said. "We will fully study this alternative and its impacts, along with mitigation."
A similar proposal would use recycled water from California City. Under this scenario, the groundwater at the project site would be pumped to Cal City for potable use, with tertiary-treated wastewater sent back to the power plant for cooling.
This plan would require additional sewer connections in Cal City - where a large percentage of residences use septic systems - in order to provide enough wastewater to the treatment plant to supply the power plant's needs.
The commission staff prefers the Rosamond proposal, as do Cal City officials.
Although the city will not receive the electricity eventually produced, "we still support the Beacon project. It's a good project," said Cal City Public Works Director Michael Bevins.
Cal City officials agreed to the alternative to provide recycled water as part of showing that support, he said.
Despite the high cost of the Rosamond alternative, the city sees value in the pipelines that would be laid, which could help Cal City's own plans for future growth, Bevins said.
The city's tertiary wastewater treatment plant has more capacity than the city currently has use for, he said.
"We have the potential right now" to provide all the recycled water needed, he said, but it would require sewer connections to individual homes.
Other alternatives suggested by staff to avoid using potable groundwater include switching to a photovoltaic system, using "dry-cooling" methods and using brackish water from the Koehn Lake area five miles to the east of the site.
Beacon does not yet have the appropriate studies of the quality of the Koehn Lake water supply to determine if that would be a viable source, company officials said.
Company officials questioned the wisdom of the Cal City proposal, noting it would use the same groundwater, but have the added impacts of a pipeline and intermediary treatment.
Solorio said the impact would be equivalent.
"It appears to us that is a viable alternative," he said.
Focusing on the economic viability of the alternatives, both the Rosamond and Cal City plans "yield greater return than dry-cooling does," he said.
Dry-cooling, which would use no water whatsoever to cool the system and is a more expensive system, was also identified as an alternative plan by the staff.
Scott Busa, project manager for NextEra, pointed out that the previous farming use on the land used far greater water than the power plant proposes, and the alternatives to using on-site groundwater will raise the costs of an already expensive renewable energy project.
"Do we take a common sense approach and use water that's already there?" he said.
The fact that Rosamond is in a different water basin - one that is embroiled in legal wrangling over water rights - may also cause difficulties with transporting the water outside the basin, he said.
"We're still not confident we're not going to get thrown in the middle of all the water fighting in the Antelope Valley," Busa said.
Jack Stewart, general manager of the RCSD which approved a tentative agreement to provide recycled water to the project, said the proposal should not pose a legal issue in regards to water rights.
Busa also questioned the impacts of the 40-mile pipeline, but agreed to cooperate with further study.
"We'll continue to watch along and give our input. But don't be fooled - there's not a cost associated with this," he said. "In the end, we hope common sense will prevail and we'll be allowed to use groundwater."
"There's absolutely a cost to this pipeline, significant cost," Solorio answered. "There is absolutely state policy against using potable water for power plants."
"The issue here is the use of water," he said. "At the end of the day, we're talking about the economic feasibility of using potable water, recycled water or dry cooling."
The power company also put forth its own suggestions for ways of mitigating the impact of drawing 1,400 acre-feet of groundwater annually, realizing this is separate from the issue of using potable water, said Kenny Stein, environmental permitting manager for NextEra.
Their groundwater mitigation plan includes the plant redesign to reduce water use to 1,400 acre-feet from the original 1,600 acre-feet, designing the site to maximize the amount of rainwater that would be collected and recharged into the basin below and continuous groundwater monitoring to ensure the level in the basin does not fall too much.
A fourth mitigation measure suggested is a program to remove non-native tamarisk trees from the region. These trees consume a great deal of water on their own, as much as 250 gallons per day according to some estimates provided by the company's biological consultants.
Creek wash reroute
Water also figured into the lengthy discussion of rerouting a desert wash that currently cuts across the center of the project site.
This wash, important to transporting water across the flood plain during rain storms, will be redirected around the perimeter of the property.
Commission staff had numerous questions regarding the structure of the new channel, focusing on its ability to replicate the water-moving and ecological functions of the existing dry wash.
The new channel design must also take into account the ability of wildlife, specifically the desert tortoise, to traverse it without becoming entrapped. The commission staff questioned the slopes of the channel sides as well as their construction to ensure a tortoise would be able to climb in and out of the wash.
"I think it's a colossal experiment," said Susan Sanders, a biological consultant to the state commission, noting there is no other example of recreating a wash like this one with which to compare the plan.
Stein argued that the staff is looking to improve upon what is already there.
"We have done what we believe is above and beyond the call of duty in designing this wash," he said.
Citing her misgivings in how the rerouted wash will re-create the existing ecological conditions, Sanders also suggested that an additional 16 acres of land off-site would be required for mitigation purposes.
"You're asking us to double-mitigate," Stein said. "We think what we're doing here is going to create a much better thing than we have now. You need to give us a chance to show what we've designed will work."
Aside from the water-related issues, the workshop also covered concerns regarding the visual impact of the power plant, methods for surveying cultural resources that may be on the site, air quality concerns regarding emissions from truck traffic to and from the plant as well as dust control, and impacts to wildlife in the area, especially the endangered desert tortoise.
The use of evaporation ponds is also a concern for migratory birds, with the commission staff seeking to require netting over the ponds, a step the energy company asked to avoid unless monitoring showed a need for it.
"We don't want to wait until there's a stack of dead birds," Sanders said. "I think netting is the most fail-safe way to do it."
The information gathered at the public workshop will be used by the commission staff in formulating the final assessment, which will be presented to the California Energy Commission to use in their decision whether or not to license the solar power plant and with what conditions.
Solorio was hopeful the final staff assessment could be completed by mid-August.
Water Online
EPA Takes New Steps To Improve Water Quality...SOURCE: U.S. EPA
http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/EPA-Takes-New-Steps-To-Improve-Water-Quality-0001?atc~c=771+s=773+r=001+l=a&VNETCOOKIE=NO
Washington — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made available comprehensive reports and data on water enforcement in all 50 states. This is part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson's larger effort by to enhance transparency, promote the public's right to know about water quality and provide information on EPA's actions to protect water under the Clean Water Act.
In a memorandum issued last Thursday, Administrator Jackson directed EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) to develop an action plan to enhance public transparency regarding clean water enforcement. In the memo, she also calls for stronger enforcement performance at federal and state levels and a transformation of EPA's water quality and compliance information systems.
In keeping with this directive, EPA has posted detailed information on the current state of clean water compliance and enforcement in each state, and copies of the latest clean water enforcement and compliance performance reports for each state to the agency's Web site. EPA also launched new Web-based tools to help the public search, assess, and analyze the data the agency used to help prepare those reports.
These actions are among of several aggressive steps taken by Administrator Jackson to improve the nation's water quality by increasing the transparency and effectiveness of the agency's national Clean Water Act enforcement program.
The administrator's memo directed the agency to take several actions, including:
· Improve and enhance the information available on the EPA website on compliance and enforcement activities in each state, showing connections to local water quality where possible;
· Provide information in a user-friendly format form that is easily understood and useable by the public;
· Raise the bar for clean water enforcement performance and ensure enforcement is taken against serious violations that threaten water quality; and
· Improve EPA's enforcement performance in states where EPA directly implements the clean water program.
· Administrator Jackson directed OECA to work with EPA's Office of Water and to consult closely with EPA's 10 regional offices and the states on the action plan. After obtaining input from other stakeholders, the assistant administrator of OECA, Cynthia Giles, will report back to Administrator Jackson in 90 days with recommendations.
· More information on the state-by-state reports: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/state/srf/index.html
· More information on EPA and state enforcement data: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/performance/cwa/
index.html
· Copy of the administrator's memorandum: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/performance/cwa/
jackson-ltr-cwa-enf.html
Bloomberg.com
EPA Air-Pollution Rules on Soot Upheld on Appeal (Update1)...Cary O’Reilly
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=ai7oYjEiOcuk
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restrictions on the amount of harmful soot allowed in the air from coal-fueled power plants, diesel cars and other sources were upheld by a federal appeals court.
The EPA complied with the Clean Air Act and acted reasonably when it established a national ambient air quality standard for fine particulate matter, a category of pollutants, known as soot, consisting of miniscule airborne particles that can cause adverse health risks, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled today.
States and local governments, some of which stand to lose federal highway and other funding for failing to meet the standard, had challenged the rules, which ban fine particulate matter, less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter or one 70th the thickness of a human hair, from exceeding 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air in a 24-hour period. States have until 2015 to meet the new standards.
“With one minor exception, we deny the petitions for review,” the court said. The agency must review its non- attainment ruling for Rockland County, New York, it said.
The rules, imposed in 2006, were in response to a lawsuit brought by environmental and health groups, who estimated that tens of thousands of people die prematurely each year because of health problems caused by fine particles, which can pass from the lungs into the bloodstream.
Utility and business groups opposed the stricter limits, arguing that the tougher air-quality standards might force cuts in auto, factory and power-plant emissions that could cost billions of dollars.
In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had the power to require reduced soot and smog in the air and didn’t need to weigh the cost to industry.
The case is Catawba County v. Environmental Protection Agency, 05-1604, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington).
CNN Money
Credit delinquencies hit record high
Mounting job losses and fallout from housing bust make it tough for consumers to make payments on bank cards and other loans...Julianne Pepitone
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/07/pf/consumer_delinquencies/
index.htm
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Soaring unemployment and the housing bust are leaving consumers hard-pressed to make loan payments on everything from credit cards to cars.
A report released Tuesday by American Bankers Association showed that delinquencies on consumer debt rose to a record 3.23% in the first quarter of 2009, up slightly from the previous quarter.
The percentage of borrowers at least 30 days late paying a balance is the highest since the group began keeping records in 1974.
The statistics are "a natural consequence of mounting job losses in a weakening economy," ABA Chief Economist James Chessen said in a statement.
The economy is losing jobs by the thousands, and mass layoffs and pay cuts have exacerbated the credit crunch. Banks have heightened lending standards because of default risk, providing less credit to consumers.
"The number one driver of delinquencies is job loss," Chessen said. "When people lose their jobs, they can't pay their bills. Delinquencies won't improve until companies start hiring again."
The overall ABA delinquency rate includes loans in eightcategories: home equity, home improvement, indirect and direct auto, marine, RV, mobile home and personal.
That overall rate does not include bank credit cards, for which delinquencies also hit a record high -- rising to 4.75% of all accounts, compared with 4.52% in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Similarly, the balances on those late credit cardaccounts rose to 6.6% of all outstanding bank card debt, marking another record high.
This could indicate that consumers are using bank cards to bridge temporary income loss, especially as falling housing prices continue to punish home equity, Chessen said.
A report last week showed that home prices continued tumbling in April, falling 18% the previous year. Tuesday's ABA report said home equity loan delinquencies increased to 3.52% from 3.03%.
Outlook: The ABA's predictions for loan delinquencies were tied to the fate of the job market, which "is not likely to improve in the foreseeable future," Chessen noted.
A report last week showed the economy shed a much-worse-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June -- the first time in four months that the number of jobs lost rose from the prior month. The unemployment rate climbed to a fresh 26-year high at 9.5%.