An excellent example of how technology, in this case building a huge new reservoir to store water, can help restore and protect an environment (the Everglades) suffering from the previously and often unknown, harmful effects of technology.
An object lesson of continuing education for the public leadership contemplating the good results for the Parkway and the salmon, from the river flow and temperature that could be controlled by the water stored behind the Auburn Dam
An excerpt.
Engineers to Build Everglades Reservoir
July 21, 2006 —
By Brian Skoloff, Associated Press
IN THE EVERGLADES, Florida — Engineers next month will begin building one of the world's largest manmade reservoirs -- the size of a small city -- as efforts continue to restore natural water flow to the Everglades.
The reservoir, roughly 25 square miles in area, is set for completion in 2010. It will hold 62 billion gallons of water, equivalent to about 5.1 million residential swimming pools, and will be seven miles across at its widest point.
Most reservoirs are built amid mountains and valleys or where a natural water source feeds the pool. In this case, 30 million tons of earth will be dug from flat land and surrounded by a 26-foot high, 21-mile long levee, making it larger than any other reservoir not connected to a natural source, according to state officials.
"When you stand on one side of this reservoir, you will not see the other side," said Carol Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, the agency charged with managing Everglades water. The so-called "flagship" project is part of the overall 30-year, $10.5 billion federal-state partnership in the world's largest wetland restoration effort.
Decades of dikes, dams and diversions have left the Everglades in a state of sickness. Lake Okeechobee, once the vast wetland's liquid life source, has been encircled by a dike, its waters now laden with high levels of phosphorous from farms and suburban sprawl. The nutrient is choking life from the ecosystem. And because officials have historically had few places to store water, Lake Okeechobee is maintained at a higher than optimal level, which keeps sunlight from reaching vital vegetation on the lake's bottom.
The $400 million, 16,700 acre reservoir will allow water managers to redirect storm drainage, lowering Lake Okeechobee levels and reducing pressure on its aging earthen dike.
The diversion will also minimize the need for damaging deluges let loose through the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries that feed into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
The stored water will also provide nourishment for the Everglades during dry seasons.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Hetch Hetchy & Auburn Dam
The enduring discussion over what value we place on beautiful places dams cover up or create, given the water lost or gained, is a good one, and applies as well to Auburn Dam; which we feel clearly comes down on the side of building the dam, protecting Sacramento from flooding, stabilizing the river flow through the Parkway, thus protecting its integrity; and the created beauty of a new mountain lake trumps the objections being raised.
But that’s why it’s called discussion and we should continue to have it until all of the facts are out, the interests have spoken, the costs weighed and the public decides, for Auburn and Hetch Hetchy.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: Hetch Hetchy report merely sets stage for long political fight
By Dan Walters -- Bee ColumnistPublished 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
State water officials Wednesday released an overview of removing a nearly century-old dam from the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, and within minutes two reactive statements were e-mailed to journalists.
A coalition of environmental groups that want to demolish the dam and restore the now-underwater valley to its natural state quickly seized upon the Department of Water Resources' findings, saying they "confirm … it is feasible to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park."
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, however, just as quickly declared that the report "confirms that dismantling O'Shaughnessy Dam and draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir are unwarranted and the cost is indefensible."
The mutually exclusive responses reflect not only the polarization of the issue, which has been kicking around in one form or another for decades, but also its many ironies.
Feinstein is a former mayor of San Francisco, and Hetch Hetchy is a major source of water for San Francisco and other Bay Area communities.
Her stiff opposition is almost universally shared among Bay Area civic and political leaders who relish having an exclusive water source protected from the uncertainties of being part of a larger system, as are most local supplies.
Feinstein terms Hetch Hetchy "a truly remarkable system which provides high-quality, reliable drinking water to 2.4 million residents in the San Francisco Bay Area."
San Francisco's tapping Hetch Hetchy's Tuolumne River during the early 20th century was an exercise in pure power politics -- the equivalent of how Los Angeles secured its water supply from the Owens Valley during the same period. But while Los Angeles has been excoriated mightily for its highhanded tactics in the Owens Valley, San Francisco has, for some reason, largely escaped criticism for jamming Hetch Hetchy through Congress.
It's doubly ironic since the Bay Area contains the state's -- and perhaps the nation's -- largest concentration of environmental activists who adamantly oppose new water projects such as an Auburn dam. And the irony is compounded further by Hetch Hetchy's natural beauty, often equated with its larger cousin, the Yosemite Valley -- an honor that the Owens Valley could never claim. In the macro sense, therefore, the Bay Area's defense of maintaining the Hetch Hetchy system drips with a kind of "we've got ours, so to heck with everyone else" attitude.
But that’s why it’s called discussion and we should continue to have it until all of the facts are out, the interests have spoken, the costs weighed and the public decides, for Auburn and Hetch Hetchy.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: Hetch Hetchy report merely sets stage for long political fight
By Dan Walters -- Bee ColumnistPublished 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
State water officials Wednesday released an overview of removing a nearly century-old dam from the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, and within minutes two reactive statements were e-mailed to journalists.
A coalition of environmental groups that want to demolish the dam and restore the now-underwater valley to its natural state quickly seized upon the Department of Water Resources' findings, saying they "confirm … it is feasible to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park."
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, however, just as quickly declared that the report "confirms that dismantling O'Shaughnessy Dam and draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir are unwarranted and the cost is indefensible."
The mutually exclusive responses reflect not only the polarization of the issue, which has been kicking around in one form or another for decades, but also its many ironies.
Feinstein is a former mayor of San Francisco, and Hetch Hetchy is a major source of water for San Francisco and other Bay Area communities.
Her stiff opposition is almost universally shared among Bay Area civic and political leaders who relish having an exclusive water source protected from the uncertainties of being part of a larger system, as are most local supplies.
Feinstein terms Hetch Hetchy "a truly remarkable system which provides high-quality, reliable drinking water to 2.4 million residents in the San Francisco Bay Area."
San Francisco's tapping Hetch Hetchy's Tuolumne River during the early 20th century was an exercise in pure power politics -- the equivalent of how Los Angeles secured its water supply from the Owens Valley during the same period. But while Los Angeles has been excoriated mightily for its highhanded tactics in the Owens Valley, San Francisco has, for some reason, largely escaped criticism for jamming Hetch Hetchy through Congress.
It's doubly ironic since the Bay Area contains the state's -- and perhaps the nation's -- largest concentration of environmental activists who adamantly oppose new water projects such as an Auburn dam. And the irony is compounded further by Hetch Hetchy's natural beauty, often equated with its larger cousin, the Yosemite Valley -- an honor that the Owens Valley could never claim. In the macro sense, therefore, the Bay Area's defense of maintaining the Hetch Hetchy system drips with a kind of "we've got ours, so to heck with everyone else" attitude.
Restoration of the San Joaquin
This is a great project, cheap at the price and when we get cracking on capturing more of the water falling in our state as rain, which is increasing as the climate warms, there will be enough water for restoring rivers and water storage for controlling floods.
An excerpt.
San Joaquin restoration starts at $600 million
By Michael Doyle -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
WASHINGTON -- A plan to restore the San Joaquin River will cost at least $600 million and possibly much more, prompting sticker shock among some of the lawmakers who must find the money.
In a private Capitol Hill briefing Thursday, members of Congress started learning about what could become one of the nation's most ambitious environmental endeavors. It would end an 18-year-old lawsuit and return life to a river channel stripped bare long ago. It could also force California to cash in lots of political chits.
"If all goes well," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Thursday, "I'd like to get it done this year."
The actual river restoration downstream from Friant Dam could be a lifetime's work. But to get it started, Congress soon will be asked to approve legislation authorizing myriad river-related projects. The pending legislation could be tricky to pull together, but it's an integral part of the lawsuit settlement now coming into focus.
Between $600 million and $700 million will be needed for the river restoration, lawmakers learned Thursday. Even those estimates may be low, and some outside analysts believe the real costs could reach $1.2 billion.
The money will pay for levees, streambed improvements and other work along the state's second-longest river. Ever since construction of Friant Dam in the 1940s, the San Joaquin has all but dried up in portions of western Fresno and Merced counties.
An excerpt.
San Joaquin restoration starts at $600 million
By Michael Doyle -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, July 21, 2006
WASHINGTON -- A plan to restore the San Joaquin River will cost at least $600 million and possibly much more, prompting sticker shock among some of the lawmakers who must find the money.
In a private Capitol Hill briefing Thursday, members of Congress started learning about what could become one of the nation's most ambitious environmental endeavors. It would end an 18-year-old lawsuit and return life to a river channel stripped bare long ago. It could also force California to cash in lots of political chits.
"If all goes well," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, said Thursday, "I'd like to get it done this year."
The actual river restoration downstream from Friant Dam could be a lifetime's work. But to get it started, Congress soon will be asked to approve legislation authorizing myriad river-related projects. The pending legislation could be tricky to pull together, but it's an integral part of the lawsuit settlement now coming into focus.
Between $600 million and $700 million will be needed for the river restoration, lawmakers learned Thursday. Even those estimates may be low, and some outside analysts believe the real costs could reach $1.2 billion.
The money will pay for levees, streambed improvements and other work along the state's second-longest river. Ever since construction of Friant Dam in the 1940s, the San Joaquin has all but dried up in portions of western Fresno and Merced counties.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Bike Tour Through the Parkway
A major international bike tour appears to be developing in Northern California, which will include the American River Parkway in the 2007 version, and it looks like once the kinks are worked out we will have a new and real wonderful biking event in the area.
An excerpt.
Wheel deal for Sacramento
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
Organizers of the eight-day Amgen Tour of California bicycle race are expected to announce today that the event will visit Sacramento in 2007.
The news, coming in the final week of the Tour de France, signals an opportunity for Sacramento to be a focal point in an event that exceeded most people's expectations in its first year this past February. In fact, many in Sacramento's thriving cycling community felt left out, as the Tour of California route largely hugged the coastline.
"It's a statewide event and it's got national and international exposure," said John McCasey, executive director of the Sacramento Sports Commission. "We figured that if they're going to do something big in the state of California, we need to be at the table."
The 2006 tour featured all of America's top road racing cyclists and several top European teams with Tour de France pedigrees. It drew more than 1 million spectators -- unlike Le Tour, few if any were clad only in Speedos and sneakers.
Like the much grander and historic event in France, the Tour of California is intended to be more than a grueling professional bike race -- it's a rolling cultural festival that brings money to local economies, gives companies sponsorship and promotional opportunities and allows tourism bureaus to show off to a well-heeled audience.
The 2006 race began in San Francisco with a short prologue, or individual race against the clock, that attracted about 200,000 people. Two days later, when the cyclists stormed into Santa Rosa for a finishing circuit through town, 50,000 fans turned out.
"It was amazing. We've never seen anything like it," said Mo Renfro, executive director of the Santa Rosa Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We're not one of the big gateway cities, so it was enormous exposure for us.
In 2007, Sacramento will host the finish of a stage that begins in Santa Rosa, some 100 miles away, race organizers said.
An excerpt.
Wheel deal for Sacramento
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
Organizers of the eight-day Amgen Tour of California bicycle race are expected to announce today that the event will visit Sacramento in 2007.
The news, coming in the final week of the Tour de France, signals an opportunity for Sacramento to be a focal point in an event that exceeded most people's expectations in its first year this past February. In fact, many in Sacramento's thriving cycling community felt left out, as the Tour of California route largely hugged the coastline.
"It's a statewide event and it's got national and international exposure," said John McCasey, executive director of the Sacramento Sports Commission. "We figured that if they're going to do something big in the state of California, we need to be at the table."
The 2006 tour featured all of America's top road racing cyclists and several top European teams with Tour de France pedigrees. It drew more than 1 million spectators -- unlike Le Tour, few if any were clad only in Speedos and sneakers.
Like the much grander and historic event in France, the Tour of California is intended to be more than a grueling professional bike race -- it's a rolling cultural festival that brings money to local economies, gives companies sponsorship and promotional opportunities and allows tourism bureaus to show off to a well-heeled audience.
The 2006 race began in San Francisco with a short prologue, or individual race against the clock, that attracted about 200,000 people. Two days later, when the cyclists stormed into Santa Rosa for a finishing circuit through town, 50,000 fans turned out.
"It was amazing. We've never seen anything like it," said Mo Renfro, executive director of the Santa Rosa Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We're not one of the big gateway cities, so it was enormous exposure for us.
In 2007, Sacramento will host the finish of a stage that begins in Santa Rosa, some 100 miles away, race organizers said.
Hetch Hetchy Study
In what will continue to be a long public conversation around the principle of whether it makes sense to spend billions to restore a exquisite public treasure (a wilderness valley) by removing a dam, which itself has created another one (a wilderness lake); the arguments will become abstract.
What remains though is the vital discussion we are having about the importance we continue to place on preserving, protecting, and strengthening our natural resources, and that is a good discussion.
Editorial: Half a Hetchy study
State's review doesn't resolve debate
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Schwarzenegger administration's new analysis of restoring Hetch Hetchy, the lesser known of Yosemite National Park's magnificent valleys, provides ammunition for both sides in the debate.
Hetch Hetchy, with its stunning granite cliffs and waterfalls, is less well known than Yosemite Valley. It has been underwater since 1923, serving as a source of water and hydroelectric power for San Francisco.
This new study suggests that the benefits of draining the dam could easily outweigh the cost of restoring the valley and impounding the necessary water supplies outside the national park. The study also suggests the opposite could be true.
In keeping with the history of the Hetch Hetchy controversy, San Francisco launched the spin before the study was even released in hopes of killing the idea. Sorry.
This was never intended to be an exhaustive, definitive, end-the-debate study. This study was supposed to provide a road to clarifying the conflicting public values posed by the choice of keeping the valley underwater or returning it to the American people.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Water Resources took the lead on this study.
Given few financial resources to accomplish the task, it did an admirable job overall. (Our quibbles will come later.) It looked at existing research from the University of California, Davis; Environmental Defense; Restore Hetch Hetchy; and other groups on how to restore the valley and restructure the water system. It found no "fatal flaws" in the concept, but found it "premature" to make a conclusion about the idea.
The study's neutrality was utterly lost on U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who falsely claimed that the report "confirms that dismantling the Yosemite dam and draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir are unwarranted."
Is is no secret that Feinstein's mind is closed on the issue of Hetch Hetchy. She is a former mayor of San Francisco and is fast becoming a living caricature of the city's residents, who care passionately about the environment, except when it comes to Yosemite. Even so, her office's rush to mischaracterize this study is disappointing.
What remains though is the vital discussion we are having about the importance we continue to place on preserving, protecting, and strengthening our natural resources, and that is a good discussion.
Here's a link to the report: http://hetchhetchy.water.ca.gov/docs/Hetch_Hetchy_Restoration_Study_Report.pdf
And an excerpt from the editorial about it.Editorial: Half a Hetchy study
State's review doesn't resolve debate
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Schwarzenegger administration's new analysis of restoring Hetch Hetchy, the lesser known of Yosemite National Park's magnificent valleys, provides ammunition for both sides in the debate.
Hetch Hetchy, with its stunning granite cliffs and waterfalls, is less well known than Yosemite Valley. It has been underwater since 1923, serving as a source of water and hydroelectric power for San Francisco.
This new study suggests that the benefits of draining the dam could easily outweigh the cost of restoring the valley and impounding the necessary water supplies outside the national park. The study also suggests the opposite could be true.
In keeping with the history of the Hetch Hetchy controversy, San Francisco launched the spin before the study was even released in hopes of killing the idea. Sorry.
This was never intended to be an exhaustive, definitive, end-the-debate study. This study was supposed to provide a road to clarifying the conflicting public values posed by the choice of keeping the valley underwater or returning it to the American people.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Water Resources took the lead on this study.
Given few financial resources to accomplish the task, it did an admirable job overall. (Our quibbles will come later.) It looked at existing research from the University of California, Davis; Environmental Defense; Restore Hetch Hetchy; and other groups on how to restore the valley and restructure the water system. It found no "fatal flaws" in the concept, but found it "premature" to make a conclusion about the idea.
The study's neutrality was utterly lost on U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who falsely claimed that the report "confirms that dismantling the Yosemite dam and draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir are unwarranted."
Is is no secret that Feinstein's mind is closed on the issue of Hetch Hetchy. She is a former mayor of San Francisco and is fast becoming a living caricature of the city's residents, who care passionately about the environment, except when it comes to Yosemite. Even so, her office's rush to mischaracterize this study is disappointing.
More Hetch Hetchy
In a discussion that will continue for a long time, and should, more facts come out about the restoration.
An excerpt.
Hetch Hetchy plan feasible, report says
But cost to restore the valley could be much higher than estimated.
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
Efforts to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park got a boost Wednesday from a long-awaited state study, which finds the idea is "technically feasible" but possibly much more expensive than previous estimates.
Demolishing Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and providing another water supply for 2.4 million San Francisco Bay Area residents could cost between $3 billion and $10 billion, the report finds. Even the low end is double what independent studies have estimated.
The state's broad range of costs reflects huge uncertainties about the project.
"Clearly, we know there's nothing here that says it's infeasible technically," said Gary Bardini, project leader of the Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study for the state Department of Water Resources. "But this project would take a very, very long time. It's a very ambitious project."
Environmental groups cheered the report, saying it verifies that restoring one of the nation's natural wonders is feasible.
"It was a beautiful, beautiful place. One of the most precious on all the planet Earth," said Jerry Cadagan of Restore Hetch Hetchy, based in Sonora. "As a society, we should be big enough to admit a mistake and take the steps to correct that mistake."
Sierra Club founder John Muir called Hetch Hetchy the "wonderful exact counterpart" to nearby Yosemite Valley, one of the most spectacular national park attractions in America.
But Hetch Hetchy was flooded in 1923 with the completion of O'Shaughnessey Dam, owned and operated by the city and county of San Francisco. The 312-foot-high dam stores 360,000 acre-feet of water that is used by several Bay Area cities.
Restoration has been a dream of environmental groups ever since. The idea gained strength in 2004 after UC Davis and the groups Restore Hetch Hetchy and Environmental Defense produced studies showing the valley could be restored, without reducing Bay Area water supplies, at a cost of about $1.6 billion.
An excerpt.
Hetch Hetchy plan feasible, report says
But cost to restore the valley could be much higher than estimated.
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, July 20, 2006
Efforts to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park got a boost Wednesday from a long-awaited state study, which finds the idea is "technically feasible" but possibly much more expensive than previous estimates.
Demolishing Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and providing another water supply for 2.4 million San Francisco Bay Area residents could cost between $3 billion and $10 billion, the report finds. Even the low end is double what independent studies have estimated.
The state's broad range of costs reflects huge uncertainties about the project.
"Clearly, we know there's nothing here that says it's infeasible technically," said Gary Bardini, project leader of the Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study for the state Department of Water Resources. "But this project would take a very, very long time. It's a very ambitious project."
Environmental groups cheered the report, saying it verifies that restoring one of the nation's natural wonders is feasible.
"It was a beautiful, beautiful place. One of the most precious on all the planet Earth," said Jerry Cadagan of Restore Hetch Hetchy, based in Sonora. "As a society, we should be big enough to admit a mistake and take the steps to correct that mistake."
Sierra Club founder John Muir called Hetch Hetchy the "wonderful exact counterpart" to nearby Yosemite Valley, one of the most spectacular national park attractions in America.
But Hetch Hetchy was flooded in 1923 with the completion of O'Shaughnessey Dam, owned and operated by the city and county of San Francisco. The 312-foot-high dam stores 360,000 acre-feet of water that is used by several Bay Area cities.
Restoration has been a dream of environmental groups ever since. The idea gained strength in 2004 after UC Davis and the groups Restore Hetch Hetchy and Environmental Defense produced studies showing the valley could be restored, without reducing Bay Area water supplies, at a cost of about $1.6 billion.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Billions to Reclaim Hetch Hetchy
With the cost appearing to be about ten times what the environmentalist report “Paradise Regained” assumed awhile back, this really visionary project idea might not see the light of day for some time.
Too bad, but under-inflating costs for public projects to get them improved is becoming a tactic that no longer works very well with the continually higher access to good information the internet makes available to advocate and policy wonks.
An excerpt.
Awe-inspiring price tag to drain Hetch Hetchy
Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross Wednesday, July 19, 2006
It would cost anywhere from $3 billion to $10 billion to fulfill one of California environmentalists' fondest dreams -- draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and restoring a valley in Yosemite National Park that John Muir called "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples."
That is the conclusion of a report worked up by the state Department of Water Resources, analyzing what it would take to bring back Hetch Hetchy Valley and find alternative sources of water and power for San Francisco, which operates the valley's O'Shaughnessy Dam. The cost estimate is more in line with what critics of the idea expected, and as much as 10 times the figure floated by environmentalists.
"Clearly, it's not cheap,'' said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, one of a handful of officials who have been briefed on the findings. The report has not been made public.
"But we knew it was going to be expensive, no matter what the option,'' said Canciamilla, who is nevertheless still intrigued by the possibility of restoring Hetch Hetchy.
The idea was first raised back in the 1980s by then-Energy Secretary Donald Hodel, but it really gained traction two years ago when the nonprofit group Environmental Defense issued a report called "Paradise Regained." It put the cost of draining Hetch Hetchy, coming up with other sources of water for 2.4 million Bay Area customers and replacing the electricity that Hetch Hetchy generates for San Francisco at anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion.
Canciamilla and other state and local officials who have been informed of the state report, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered up at environmentalists' urging, said its $3 billion estimate wouldn't even cover the cost of knocking down O'Shaughnessy Dam -- that would be enough only to punch a hole through it to drain the basin. The $10 billion figure would pay for full restoration of a valley drowned by the Tuolumne River after Congress authorized the dam's construction in 1913.
Too bad, but under-inflating costs for public projects to get them improved is becoming a tactic that no longer works very well with the continually higher access to good information the internet makes available to advocate and policy wonks.
An excerpt.
Awe-inspiring price tag to drain Hetch Hetchy
Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross Wednesday, July 19, 2006
It would cost anywhere from $3 billion to $10 billion to fulfill one of California environmentalists' fondest dreams -- draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and restoring a valley in Yosemite National Park that John Muir called "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples."
That is the conclusion of a report worked up by the state Department of Water Resources, analyzing what it would take to bring back Hetch Hetchy Valley and find alternative sources of water and power for San Francisco, which operates the valley's O'Shaughnessy Dam. The cost estimate is more in line with what critics of the idea expected, and as much as 10 times the figure floated by environmentalists.
"Clearly, it's not cheap,'' said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, one of a handful of officials who have been briefed on the findings. The report has not been made public.
"But we knew it was going to be expensive, no matter what the option,'' said Canciamilla, who is nevertheless still intrigued by the possibility of restoring Hetch Hetchy.
The idea was first raised back in the 1980s by then-Energy Secretary Donald Hodel, but it really gained traction two years ago when the nonprofit group Environmental Defense issued a report called "Paradise Regained." It put the cost of draining Hetch Hetchy, coming up with other sources of water for 2.4 million Bay Area customers and replacing the electricity that Hetch Hetchy generates for San Francisco at anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion.
Canciamilla and other state and local officials who have been informed of the state report, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered up at environmentalists' urging, said its $3 billion estimate wouldn't even cover the cost of knocking down O'Shaughnessy Dam -- that would be enough only to punch a hole through it to drain the basin. The $10 billion figure would pay for full restoration of a valley drowned by the Tuolumne River after Congress authorized the dam's construction in 1913.
City of Trees
We tend to call the Parkway our crown jewel, but the real crown jewel of Sacramento, literally, is its trees; and it is in its trees that we see the great charm and beauty often resulting from the work of human hands improving nature for human habitation.
From the filling in of the former wetlands that became McKinley Park, to the shady, cool neighborhoods in the former sun-boiled valley floor, Sacramento truly has become a city of trees, embracing us all in their cool refreshing shade, fluttering leaves, and latticed light.
An excerpt.
Me and my shadows
Looking for a break from summer's heat? These spots were made for the shade
By Fahizah Alim -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Wednesday, July 19, 2006
You want to enjoy the great outdoors, but it's so hot in Sacramento you can almost see the heat - or at least the waves off the pavement.
There's some relief awaiting in the area's urban forests, where massive shade trees create a canopy that can lower temperatures as much as 10 degrees, local arborists say.
With more than 6million trees, the shade in Sacramento and surrounding communities can take the edge off some of that pervasive heat, says Fran Clarke, stewardship coordinator for the Sacramento Tree Foundation.
The "City of Trees" appellation seems deserved in the capital.
As early as the Gold Rush of 1849, Sacramentans understood the importance of densely planting trees that could grow and eventually spread a leafy canopy over this summerscorched city.
The drive to create some natural cooling with trees was under way as early as 1853 when city ordinances directed the planting of willow trees on the levees, according to a history compiled by Greg McPherson. He's a researcher for the U.S. Forest Service and director of the Western Center for Urban Forest Research and Education at the University of California, Davis. The first public treeplanting campaign was launched in 1877 with the importing of 4,000 eucalyptus trees, McPherson writes.
City fathers found space for trees wherever they could - in parks, along streets, in backyards - creating a tree-loving legacy that continues to flourish. "The trees are what make Sacramento livable in the summertime," says Dan Pskowski, an arborist with the city of Sacramento's Urban Forest Services.
"I grew up somewhere else and I am still in awe of the number of trees here. I look at something new and different every day because of the amount and variety of trees in Sacramento."
The hundreds of varieties include camphor, Southern magnolia, Chinese hackberry, Japanese maple, American liquidambar, juniper, elm, ash, redwoods, blue spruce, European linden and Chinese pistache.
Perhaps the most notable are the native valley oaks that envelop McKinley Park and William Land Park, two of the shadiest parks in the city.
From the filling in of the former wetlands that became McKinley Park, to the shady, cool neighborhoods in the former sun-boiled valley floor, Sacramento truly has become a city of trees, embracing us all in their cool refreshing shade, fluttering leaves, and latticed light.
An excerpt.
Me and my shadows
Looking for a break from summer's heat? These spots were made for the shade
By Fahizah Alim -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Wednesday, July 19, 2006
You want to enjoy the great outdoors, but it's so hot in Sacramento you can almost see the heat - or at least the waves off the pavement.
There's some relief awaiting in the area's urban forests, where massive shade trees create a canopy that can lower temperatures as much as 10 degrees, local arborists say.
With more than 6million trees, the shade in Sacramento and surrounding communities can take the edge off some of that pervasive heat, says Fran Clarke, stewardship coordinator for the Sacramento Tree Foundation.
The "City of Trees" appellation seems deserved in the capital.
As early as the Gold Rush of 1849, Sacramentans understood the importance of densely planting trees that could grow and eventually spread a leafy canopy over this summerscorched city.
The drive to create some natural cooling with trees was under way as early as 1853 when city ordinances directed the planting of willow trees on the levees, according to a history compiled by Greg McPherson. He's a researcher for the U.S. Forest Service and director of the Western Center for Urban Forest Research and Education at the University of California, Davis. The first public treeplanting campaign was launched in 1877 with the importing of 4,000 eucalyptus trees, McPherson writes.
City fathers found space for trees wherever they could - in parks, along streets, in backyards - creating a tree-loving legacy that continues to flourish. "The trees are what make Sacramento livable in the summertime," says Dan Pskowski, an arborist with the city of Sacramento's Urban Forest Services.
"I grew up somewhere else and I am still in awe of the number of trees here. I look at something new and different every day because of the amount and variety of trees in Sacramento."
The hundreds of varieties include camphor, Southern magnolia, Chinese hackberry, Japanese maple, American liquidambar, juniper, elm, ash, redwoods, blue spruce, European linden and Chinese pistache.
Perhaps the most notable are the native valley oaks that envelop McKinley Park and William Land Park, two of the shadiest parks in the city.
Levee Funding Moving
The funding for our levee improvements is slowly moving through Congress, and it is a daily reminder of why strategic planning needs to be done, problems anticipated and solutions developed prior to the problems actually rising.
Families used to call it, “Saving for a rainy day.”; a good concept for families, a good concept for government.
An excerpt.
Senate voting today on funds to fix levees
Boxer amendment is approved to hasten flood control report on Folsom Dam.
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington BureauPublished 12:01 am PDT Wednesday, July 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to approve today a water resources bill authorizing $106 million in levee repairs and improvement work in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a $16 million jump from the last authorization bill two years ago.
On Tuesday, the Senate also approved an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would keep the pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to complete a report on flood control improvements to Folsom Dam by June 2007 so that design work can begin.
"We all know bureaucracies," Boxer said. "They'll figure out one way to delay, and then another … We pray that during that there will not be a catastrophic flood."
Families used to call it, “Saving for a rainy day.”; a good concept for families, a good concept for government.
An excerpt.
Senate voting today on funds to fix levees
Boxer amendment is approved to hasten flood control report on Folsom Dam.
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington BureauPublished 12:01 am PDT Wednesday, July 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to approve today a water resources bill authorizing $106 million in levee repairs and improvement work in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a $16 million jump from the last authorization bill two years ago.
On Tuesday, the Senate also approved an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would keep the pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to complete a report on flood control improvements to Folsom Dam by June 2007 so that design work can begin.
"We all know bureaucracies," Boxer said. "They'll figure out one way to delay, and then another … We pray that during that there will not be a catastrophic flood."
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
New York’s Homeless
New York, which leads so much social policy around homeless issues, is moving with more vigor in clearing the streets of homeless encampments.
An excerpt.
Homeless in City Face New Effort To Clear Streets
Publisher: The New York Times
By: Diane Cardwell (Leslie Kaufman and Matthew Sweeney contributed reporting for this article) First published: July 18, 2006
Beginning an aggressive push to reduce the number of people living on New York City's streets, the city will start pressuring homeless men and women to leave makeshift dwellings under highways and near train trestles and will raise barriers to make those encampments inaccessible, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.
The city has found 73 of those sites inhabited by groups of chronically homeless people, the mayor said. "Humanely, respectfully and firmly, we'll work to get these men and women to enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs or go into shelters," Mr. Bloomberg said to a gathering of government officials and social service providers from around the country.
The changes amplify the mayor's longstanding effort to steer the city away from its emphasis on emergency shelter for the homeless, and toward providing permanent housing and using social services to prevent homelessness.
The measures discussed by the mayor on Monday represented a significant shift in the culture of the Department of Homeless Services.
"While everyone has a right to emergency shelter, that doesn't always make emergency shelter right for everyone," Mr. Bloomberg said, adding that his administration was working to replace "the dead-end model of managing homelessness with the new goal of ending it."
He cited his administration's program to create 12,000 units of supportive housing, which offers social services like mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment. And he announced plans to expand another program, which helps people on the verge of homelessness hold onto their homes.
But the new element is potentially controversial. The Department of Homeless Services, under its new commissioner, Robert Hess, has identified 73 makeshift encampments, including 30 in Manhattan, to which roughly 350 homeless men and women -- of a total homeless population of about 3,800, according to the city's last count -- return nightly.
An excerpt.
Homeless in City Face New Effort To Clear Streets
Publisher: The New York Times
By: Diane Cardwell (Leslie Kaufman and Matthew Sweeney contributed reporting for this article) First published: July 18, 2006
Beginning an aggressive push to reduce the number of people living on New York City's streets, the city will start pressuring homeless men and women to leave makeshift dwellings under highways and near train trestles and will raise barriers to make those encampments inaccessible, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.
The city has found 73 of those sites inhabited by groups of chronically homeless people, the mayor said. "Humanely, respectfully and firmly, we'll work to get these men and women to enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs or go into shelters," Mr. Bloomberg said to a gathering of government officials and social service providers from around the country.
The changes amplify the mayor's longstanding effort to steer the city away from its emphasis on emergency shelter for the homeless, and toward providing permanent housing and using social services to prevent homelessness.
The measures discussed by the mayor on Monday represented a significant shift in the culture of the Department of Homeless Services.
"While everyone has a right to emergency shelter, that doesn't always make emergency shelter right for everyone," Mr. Bloomberg said, adding that his administration was working to replace "the dead-end model of managing homelessness with the new goal of ending it."
He cited his administration's program to create 12,000 units of supportive housing, which offers social services like mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment. And he announced plans to expand another program, which helps people on the verge of homelessness hold onto their homes.
But the new element is potentially controversial. The Department of Homeless Services, under its new commissioner, Robert Hess, has identified 73 makeshift encampments, including 30 in Manhattan, to which roughly 350 homeless men and women -- of a total homeless population of about 3,800, according to the city's last count -- return nightly.
ARPPS Press Release, Parkway Advocate Award
For Immediate Release - July 18, 2006 - Sacramento, California
AMERICAN RIVER PARKWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY ANNOUNCES:
2006 SLOBE PARKWAY ADVOCATE AWARD RECIPIENT
Mary E. Tappel
The award will be presented to Mary during the ARPPS Board of Directors meeting October 9, 2006.
Over the past several years, in many capacities, most recently as the organizer of the lower American River Parkway* River Keepers, Mary has been a dedicated, deeply committed, and leading community voice advocating for the lower Parkway.
Mary is an environmentally-knowledgeable Parkway user and environmental activist who lives close to the lower Parkway. She has been very active in Sacramento’s Creek Week**, for nearly 20 years now, having led and organized creek, river, and neighborhood clean ups throughout North Sacramento for the past 15 years. For the past 5-7 years, she has led many of the most popular Creek Week field trips, the local evening beaver walks.
Mary works for the State Water Board as an Environmental Scientist, where she has worked with Adrian Perez, one of our State’s Environmental Justice leaders, for over 20 years. She also maintains some of the Water Board’s public outreach websites, which promote public engagement in watershed cleanup and restoration. She has completed some five years of contractual work for SAFCA, protecting the lower Parkway’s extensive native riparian restoration plantings from both excessive beaver pruning and destructive human vandalism, developing new low cost ecological methods along the way. She has always maintained a strong environmental and social justice perspective in all her work.
Mary continues her dedicated advocacy for the Parkway, often appearing in front of the Sacramento City Council and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to press for more effective and affordable public safety and maintenance to keep the Lower Reach area of the Parkway safe and clean.
Mary backs up her public requests by getting out on the Parkway regularly, focusing, with many others from all walks of life, on organizing volunteer efforts initially to keep one area near the Rusty Duck clean and safe, and then expanding outwards from this area as the success of the effort has allowed. Mary is doing the absolutely vital work of coordinating volunteers from all walks of life in now successfully protecting the public against Parkway crime in the area formerly having the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the Parkway.
Mary works continually to involve all of the stakeholders in the process of dealing compassionately with illegal campers and others who are responsible for causing and/or sustaining public safety and/or environmental problems in the Parkway, while insisting on the primacy of equal public safety for everyone, and environmental and social justice for everyone.
Mary is currently working with the largest local homeless support organization, Loaves and Fishes, other Parkway organizations, a wide range of area neighborhood and conservation groups, Sacramento County Park Rangers, the Sacramento City Police Department, Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies working in the Parkway, the City of Sacramento Department of Utilities Stormwater Management Program Community Action grants, and the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, where she is a member of the American River Parkway Task Force.
Mary is an excellent example of the type of committed advocacy the Slobe Parkway Advocate Award was created to recognize, and it is our honor and pleasure to be able to present it to her.
*Meaning the Lower American River Parkway from the CalExpo/Bushy Lake area and Paradise Beach/River Park neighborhood downstream to the confluence with the Sacramento River
**Sponsored and organized by the Sacramento Urban Creeks Council
Organizational Leadership
American River Parkway Preservation Society
Sacramento, California
July 2006
AMERICAN RIVER PARKWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY ANNOUNCES:
2006 SLOBE PARKWAY ADVOCATE AWARD RECIPIENT
Mary E. Tappel
The award will be presented to Mary during the ARPPS Board of Directors meeting October 9, 2006.
Over the past several years, in many capacities, most recently as the organizer of the lower American River Parkway* River Keepers, Mary has been a dedicated, deeply committed, and leading community voice advocating for the lower Parkway.
Mary is an environmentally-knowledgeable Parkway user and environmental activist who lives close to the lower Parkway. She has been very active in Sacramento’s Creek Week**, for nearly 20 years now, having led and organized creek, river, and neighborhood clean ups throughout North Sacramento for the past 15 years. For the past 5-7 years, she has led many of the most popular Creek Week field trips, the local evening beaver walks.
Mary works for the State Water Board as an Environmental Scientist, where she has worked with Adrian Perez, one of our State’s Environmental Justice leaders, for over 20 years. She also maintains some of the Water Board’s public outreach websites, which promote public engagement in watershed cleanup and restoration. She has completed some five years of contractual work for SAFCA, protecting the lower Parkway’s extensive native riparian restoration plantings from both excessive beaver pruning and destructive human vandalism, developing new low cost ecological methods along the way. She has always maintained a strong environmental and social justice perspective in all her work.
Mary continues her dedicated advocacy for the Parkway, often appearing in front of the Sacramento City Council and Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to press for more effective and affordable public safety and maintenance to keep the Lower Reach area of the Parkway safe and clean.
Mary backs up her public requests by getting out on the Parkway regularly, focusing, with many others from all walks of life, on organizing volunteer efforts initially to keep one area near the Rusty Duck clean and safe, and then expanding outwards from this area as the success of the effort has allowed. Mary is doing the absolutely vital work of coordinating volunteers from all walks of life in now successfully protecting the public against Parkway crime in the area formerly having the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous in the Parkway.
Mary works continually to involve all of the stakeholders in the process of dealing compassionately with illegal campers and others who are responsible for causing and/or sustaining public safety and/or environmental problems in the Parkway, while insisting on the primacy of equal public safety for everyone, and environmental and social justice for everyone.
Mary is currently working with the largest local homeless support organization, Loaves and Fishes, other Parkway organizations, a wide range of area neighborhood and conservation groups, Sacramento County Park Rangers, the Sacramento City Police Department, Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies working in the Parkway, the City of Sacramento Department of Utilities Stormwater Management Program Community Action grants, and the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, where she is a member of the American River Parkway Task Force.
Mary is an excellent example of the type of committed advocacy the Slobe Parkway Advocate Award was created to recognize, and it is our honor and pleasure to be able to present it to her.
*Meaning the Lower American River Parkway from the CalExpo/Bushy Lake area and Paradise Beach/River Park neighborhood downstream to the confluence with the Sacramento River
**Sponsored and organized by the Sacramento Urban Creeks Council
Organizational Leadership
American River Parkway Preservation Society
Sacramento, California
July 2006
Crisis or Opportunity
Here is a San Francisco based organization that seeks opportunity in crisis and has begun a reward program to honor those discovering them, and one is from Sacramento.
An excerpt.
Drowning in Disasters ... or Swimming in a Sea of Ingenuity?
By David Bornstein
"In a world buffeted by change, faced daily with new threats to survival, the only way to conserve is by innovating." ––Peter Drucker
Open a newspaper, turn on the TV, and within minutes you’re likely to be treated to a story about a violent crime, a political scandal, a natural disaster or another depressing installment from the so-called culture war. Reading the papers, one could be forgiven for concluding that the country, or indeed the world, has never been in worse shape. But there is a flipside to the story.
While the news tells us that our society is drowning in problems, we are also swimming in a sea of ingenuity in response to these problems. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen the widespread emergence of an ambitious and savvy breed of problem-solvers. These social innovators, or social entrepreneurs, are building new kinds organizations to attack problems more successfully than in the past.
Why now? Because of the intersection of need and opportunity. Today millions of people recognize problems that are not being adequately addressed by existing institutions – mishandled or ignored by government, business, and the media, among others. They see systems that have failed to keep up with changing times. And, significantly, they see how they can step in and advance practical and often scalable solutions.
It’s an exciting development, here and around the world. And yet there remains a lack of awareness about this ingenuity, and among those who are aware, a misguided assumption that these innovators are all of a certain type – in a word, young. That’s why I’m so impressed by The Purpose Prize, a social innovation in and of itself.
The entrepreneurs at Civic Ventures, and their funders at Atlantic Philanthropies and the Templeton Foundation, took a look at the nation’s problems, the sea of ingenuity, and the deep well of experience, energy, and entrepreneurship in today’s older adults – and put all the pieces together. A big prize, they figured, could bring awareness and investment to the field of social innovation, while dispelling myths about aging and encouraging a generation once known for social activism to reclaim its vision.
You just have to look at the finalists for the first-ever Purpose Prize to know that they were right. These exceptional innovators demonstrate that those over 60 represent one of the greatest areas of untapped potential in society. They are tackling some of the toughest jobs we face: finding new ways to educate hard to reach kids, managing the diseases of poverty, creating economic opportunities in forgotten neighborhoods, and promoting tolerance among age-old foes. They are making change and making real news – and they will be making a lot more of it in the years ahead.
Tonight, instead of tuning into the world’s problems for 30 minutes, use that time to check out the Purpose Prize finalists. You’ll discover stories of personal and social transformation that just might change your view of the world – and your life.
David Bornstein is a senior fellow at Civic Ventures and author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.
An excerpt.
Drowning in Disasters ... or Swimming in a Sea of Ingenuity?
By David Bornstein
"In a world buffeted by change, faced daily with new threats to survival, the only way to conserve is by innovating." ––Peter Drucker
Open a newspaper, turn on the TV, and within minutes you’re likely to be treated to a story about a violent crime, a political scandal, a natural disaster or another depressing installment from the so-called culture war. Reading the papers, one could be forgiven for concluding that the country, or indeed the world, has never been in worse shape. But there is a flipside to the story.
While the news tells us that our society is drowning in problems, we are also swimming in a sea of ingenuity in response to these problems. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen the widespread emergence of an ambitious and savvy breed of problem-solvers. These social innovators, or social entrepreneurs, are building new kinds organizations to attack problems more successfully than in the past.
Why now? Because of the intersection of need and opportunity. Today millions of people recognize problems that are not being adequately addressed by existing institutions – mishandled or ignored by government, business, and the media, among others. They see systems that have failed to keep up with changing times. And, significantly, they see how they can step in and advance practical and often scalable solutions.
It’s an exciting development, here and around the world. And yet there remains a lack of awareness about this ingenuity, and among those who are aware, a misguided assumption that these innovators are all of a certain type – in a word, young. That’s why I’m so impressed by The Purpose Prize, a social innovation in and of itself.
The entrepreneurs at Civic Ventures, and their funders at Atlantic Philanthropies and the Templeton Foundation, took a look at the nation’s problems, the sea of ingenuity, and the deep well of experience, energy, and entrepreneurship in today’s older adults – and put all the pieces together. A big prize, they figured, could bring awareness and investment to the field of social innovation, while dispelling myths about aging and encouraging a generation once known for social activism to reclaim its vision.
You just have to look at the finalists for the first-ever Purpose Prize to know that they were right. These exceptional innovators demonstrate that those over 60 represent one of the greatest areas of untapped potential in society. They are tackling some of the toughest jobs we face: finding new ways to educate hard to reach kids, managing the diseases of poverty, creating economic opportunities in forgotten neighborhoods, and promoting tolerance among age-old foes. They are making change and making real news – and they will be making a lot more of it in the years ahead.
Tonight, instead of tuning into the world’s problems for 30 minutes, use that time to check out the Purpose Prize finalists. You’ll discover stories of personal and social transformation that just might change your view of the world – and your life.
David Bornstein is a senior fellow at Civic Ventures and author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.
Technology Works
Reading meters automatically, with the added bonus of the consumer being able to control power use to when it costs the least is such a no-brainer, and such an optimal use of technology by public utilities the only question here is; “How long before this is adopted by all utility companies?”
An excerpt.
Editorial: Needed: Smarter meters
When power is pricey, consumers should pay
Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Electricity meters are going to be whirring away this week as residents crank up the air conditioners throughout the state to cope with the heat.
These rather antiquated devices manage to record the overall use of power, but that isn't enough information for either consumers or the utilities. If consumers knew just how expensive it was for the utility to buy that extra power during a hot afternoon, they might shift some of their uses (such as the laundry) to other times. If consumers actually had to pay more for power at the peak, and less for power at night, they might get downright serious about shifting their habits.
A new generation of electric meters, known as "smart meters," is necessary so that consumers know the ever-changing price of delivering the power. In Northern California, give credit to Pacific Gas and Electric for proposing to get rid of the old meters and bring in a new, smarter era.
On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to approve PG&E's plan to switch to smart meters for its 9.3 million customers. The change in hardware comes at a cost (about $1.74 billion for the entire project). But this is one of those long-term investments that must be made.
The smart meter is a key building block to a future generation of smarter appliances that will be able to time their activities around when electricity is cheap, at least comparatively speaking.
There is no way for a washing machine to know when it's time to run on the cheap juice if it is not connected to the home's "smart" electricity meter.
Change can be discomforting, and this is no exception. Consumers will justifiably have a lot of questions about varying prices for their power, the most obvious being: Will this increase or reduce their overall bill? There can be a fine line between a pricing structure that motivates consumers to do the right thing and one that punishes them for something out of their control, such as the weather.
Change is definitely discomforting to the labor unions that represent the electricity meter readers. PG&E, for example, has 900 meter reading positions that will become obsolete.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is behind PG&E when it comes to the conversion to smart meters. The local utility plans to switch to meters that can be remotely read by an employee who can stay safely in a SMUD vehicle in front of the home. (No more dog bites from Fido.) But this new meter won't be smart enough to know the changing price of power.
An excerpt.
Editorial: Needed: Smarter meters
When power is pricey, consumers should pay
Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Electricity meters are going to be whirring away this week as residents crank up the air conditioners throughout the state to cope with the heat.
These rather antiquated devices manage to record the overall use of power, but that isn't enough information for either consumers or the utilities. If consumers knew just how expensive it was for the utility to buy that extra power during a hot afternoon, they might shift some of their uses (such as the laundry) to other times. If consumers actually had to pay more for power at the peak, and less for power at night, they might get downright serious about shifting their habits.
A new generation of electric meters, known as "smart meters," is necessary so that consumers know the ever-changing price of delivering the power. In Northern California, give credit to Pacific Gas and Electric for proposing to get rid of the old meters and bring in a new, smarter era.
On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to approve PG&E's plan to switch to smart meters for its 9.3 million customers. The change in hardware comes at a cost (about $1.74 billion for the entire project). But this is one of those long-term investments that must be made.
The smart meter is a key building block to a future generation of smarter appliances that will be able to time their activities around when electricity is cheap, at least comparatively speaking.
There is no way for a washing machine to know when it's time to run on the cheap juice if it is not connected to the home's "smart" electricity meter.
Change can be discomforting, and this is no exception. Consumers will justifiably have a lot of questions about varying prices for their power, the most obvious being: Will this increase or reduce their overall bill? There can be a fine line between a pricing structure that motivates consumers to do the right thing and one that punishes them for something out of their control, such as the weather.
Change is definitely discomforting to the labor unions that represent the electricity meter readers. PG&E, for example, has 900 meter reading positions that will become obsolete.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is behind PG&E when it comes to the conversion to smart meters. The local utility plans to switch to meters that can be remotely read by an employee who can stay safely in a SMUD vehicle in front of the home. (No more dog bites from Fido.) But this new meter won't be smart enough to know the changing price of power.
Heat Calls for Dam Building
Many things, seemingly unconnected, sometimes are, and the summer heat's connections to dams is one such connection we need reminding of.
Hydroelectric power, which comes from dams, supplies a good percentage of our power running our air conditioners, and is one of the options needed to be included in the mix as our population grows and our infrastructure grows to cope.
Hopefully we won’t have another disaster like the blackout meltdown five years ago to spur our public leaders to prepare for the future.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: California beats the heat this time around, but for how long?
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Electric power consumption mushroomed to record levels Monday as interior California baked in the year's most powerful heat wave, raising the specter of blackouts in the minds of those who recall the state's energy crisis five years ago.
The good news is that California's power grid, with more generation on line and some transmission bottlenecks fixed in the last few years, handled Mother Nature's test with aplomb.
While statewide power consumption approached 60,000 megawatts as air conditioners battled the late afternoon heat, California maintained a relatively comfortable cushion against the failure of one or more power plants.
The bad news is that the state Energy Commission, in a new projection published this month, says that the state's power reserves will shrink as its population continues to grow by more than a half-million people a year, with especially heavy growth in hot interior valleys.
California's increasingly evident east-west political division is also a meteorological split, as Monday's weather indicated. Temperatures along the coast were expected to top out in the 70s, or even lower, while those in inland areas soared well past the century mark, approaching 110 in Sacramento and even hotter in Palm Springs and other desert towns.
The Energy Commission pegs the state's peak power supply at over 70,000 megawatts, including about 13,000 imported from out of state. But new power plants due to come on line will be offset by retirements of older plants, leaving the supply virtually stagnant while each year the peak demand increases by about 2 percent, or approximately 1,000 to 1,200 megawatts. Thus, the commission says, the reserve cushion may shrink by a third or more by the end of the decade.
Hydroelectric power, which comes from dams, supplies a good percentage of our power running our air conditioners, and is one of the options needed to be included in the mix as our population grows and our infrastructure grows to cope.
Hopefully we won’t have another disaster like the blackout meltdown five years ago to spur our public leaders to prepare for the future.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: California beats the heat this time around, but for how long?
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Electric power consumption mushroomed to record levels Monday as interior California baked in the year's most powerful heat wave, raising the specter of blackouts in the minds of those who recall the state's energy crisis five years ago.
The good news is that California's power grid, with more generation on line and some transmission bottlenecks fixed in the last few years, handled Mother Nature's test with aplomb.
While statewide power consumption approached 60,000 megawatts as air conditioners battled the late afternoon heat, California maintained a relatively comfortable cushion against the failure of one or more power plants.
The bad news is that the state Energy Commission, in a new projection published this month, says that the state's power reserves will shrink as its population continues to grow by more than a half-million people a year, with especially heavy growth in hot interior valleys.
California's increasingly evident east-west political division is also a meteorological split, as Monday's weather indicated. Temperatures along the coast were expected to top out in the 70s, or even lower, while those in inland areas soared well past the century mark, approaching 110 in Sacramento and even hotter in Palm Springs and other desert towns.
The Energy Commission pegs the state's peak power supply at over 70,000 megawatts, including about 13,000 imported from out of state. But new power plants due to come on line will be offset by retirements of older plants, leaving the supply virtually stagnant while each year the peak demand increases by about 2 percent, or approximately 1,000 to 1,200 megawatts. Thus, the commission says, the reserve cushion may shrink by a third or more by the end of the decade.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Public Leadership Does Work
We often rail against public leadership in its failure around parks and flood protection issues, but today’s column by Dan Walters reminds us that public leadership can do great and very good things; and the falling (almost off the charts) crime rates is one such thing they have to be very proud of in California.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: Crime rate is falling, but importance as political issue remains
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
Fear of crime -- once an obsession -- appears to have faded as a major concern for Californians, and for good reason.
The state Department of Justice reported recently that the number of violent crimes committed in California dropped from nearly 350,000 in 1992 to well under 200,000 last year, and when population growth is included, the actual violent crime rate is just half of what it was then.
There's been a similar, if slightly less dramatic, drop in property crimes.
The causes of the crime decline are much in dispute among those who deign to offer opinions, ranging from demography to a much-improved economy, better policing and the effects of "three strikes and you're out" and other get-tough sentencing laws.
Whatever its causes, the trend is reflected in polls of Californians indicating that while they are worried about many aspects of their lives these days, crime isn't one of them. When the Public Policy Institute of California polled Californians recently on what issues they want the candidates for governor to address, crime didn't even make the list. Immigration was No. 1, followed by education, state finances, the economy and infrastructure deficiencies. The same poll also found that when Californians were asked to rank priorities for spending more public money, education was on top, with just 24 percent listing prisons.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: Crime rate is falling, but importance as political issue remains
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
Fear of crime -- once an obsession -- appears to have faded as a major concern for Californians, and for good reason.
The state Department of Justice reported recently that the number of violent crimes committed in California dropped from nearly 350,000 in 1992 to well under 200,000 last year, and when population growth is included, the actual violent crime rate is just half of what it was then.
There's been a similar, if slightly less dramatic, drop in property crimes.
The causes of the crime decline are much in dispute among those who deign to offer opinions, ranging from demography to a much-improved economy, better policing and the effects of "three strikes and you're out" and other get-tough sentencing laws.
Whatever its causes, the trend is reflected in polls of Californians indicating that while they are worried about many aspects of their lives these days, crime isn't one of them. When the Public Policy Institute of California polled Californians recently on what issues they want the candidates for governor to address, crime didn't even make the list. Immigration was No. 1, followed by education, state finances, the economy and infrastructure deficiencies. The same poll also found that when Californians were asked to rank priorities for spending more public money, education was on top, with just 24 percent listing prisons.
Persistence & Vision Creates Good Works
Gold Rush Park is a wonderful vision, truly a grand plan for Sacramento, and is being led by people who believe in it and will persist in seeing it through.
That is an unbeatable combination, and Sacramento will someday embrace its great park, and be the better city, a great city, for it.
An excerpt.
Lawyer readies bandwagon for his grand park plan
By Mary Lynne Vellinga -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
These are the oft-quoted words of architect Daniel Burnham, who led Chicago's audacious and ultimately successful quest to host the 1893 World's Fair and eclipse an attendance record previously set by Paris.
Burnham went on to design the lakefront park system credited with helping make modern Chicago a beautiful and livable city.
Sacramento lawyer Joe Genshlea appropriated Burnham's credo last week for a PowerPoint presentation he made at a Thursday breakfast meeting of more than 100 of Sacramento's leading citizens.
His goal: To rally attendees behind his ambitious -- some would say quixotic -- proposal to transform an industrial district along the American River north of downtown into a 655-acre park studded with museums, a botanical garden and a San Diego-sized zoo.
"You'll see that I took (Burnham's words) to heart," Genshlea told those gathered at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. "This is not a little plan."
Gold Rush Park, as Genshlea has dubbed it, would be nearly triple the size of William Land Park and almost as big as Central Park in New York. Genshlea envisions an additional 315 acres adjacent to the park being developed to pay for its construction.
The swath of green space would stretch south of the American River to Richards Boulevard, bordered on the east by the Capital City Freeway and on the west by the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers.
Within the next two months, Genshlea and his supporters said, they plan to go before the Sacramento City Council and ask that the park be included in the new city general plan.
That is an unbeatable combination, and Sacramento will someday embrace its great park, and be the better city, a great city, for it.
An excerpt.
Lawyer readies bandwagon for his grand park plan
By Mary Lynne Vellinga -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
These are the oft-quoted words of architect Daniel Burnham, who led Chicago's audacious and ultimately successful quest to host the 1893 World's Fair and eclipse an attendance record previously set by Paris.
Burnham went on to design the lakefront park system credited with helping make modern Chicago a beautiful and livable city.
Sacramento lawyer Joe Genshlea appropriated Burnham's credo last week for a PowerPoint presentation he made at a Thursday breakfast meeting of more than 100 of Sacramento's leading citizens.
His goal: To rally attendees behind his ambitious -- some would say quixotic -- proposal to transform an industrial district along the American River north of downtown into a 655-acre park studded with museums, a botanical garden and a San Diego-sized zoo.
"You'll see that I took (Burnham's words) to heart," Genshlea told those gathered at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. "This is not a little plan."
Gold Rush Park, as Genshlea has dubbed it, would be nearly triple the size of William Land Park and almost as big as Central Park in New York. Genshlea envisions an additional 315 acres adjacent to the park being developed to pay for its construction.
The swath of green space would stretch south of the American River to Richards Boulevard, bordered on the east by the Capital City Freeway and on the west by the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers.
Within the next two months, Genshlea and his supporters said, they plan to go before the Sacramento City Council and ask that the park be included in the new city general plan.
Art & Nature
A delightful story about art and nature with a wonderful closing quote that all who get out there will resonate with, "There's really something about being out in a primeval marsh at dawn..."
And who knew that decoy carving was begun by the Indians at Pyramid Lake in Nevada, one of my favorite spots in years gone past.
An excerpt.
Wildlife art takes wing
Master carvers, painters of nature's masterpieces
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
The longtailed duck was exquisite in Jim Burcio's hands, its brown and white plumage, dark cheek patches and delicate tail all rendered perfectly by the carver.
Well, that's how it looked to a neophyte.
Burcio saw more.
"This bird would have to have broken shoulders to look like that," he said. "Sometimes it will float straight or even, but the butt's too low in the water."
He put the decoy back in the test tank to demonstrate. It sagged in the water, then bumped into a showy harlequin duck, which wobbled in a seasick way but soon returned to floating true.
The harlequin was judged best floater.
Burcio, an Antioch resident and past president of the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association, was judging novice entries on Sunday in the waterfowl decoy carving competition at the group's 36th Annual Classic Wildlife Art Festival.
Held for the 25th year at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento, it is one of the largest waterfowl art events in the nation. The show featured hundreds of exquisite waterfowl and nature paintings, plus a variety of other wildlife carvings, from fish to songbirds.
The decoys were the stars of the show, and their seaworthiness was the main event.
Judges sat in metal chairs around two steel tanks, nudging the colorful wooden birds and muttering comments as a scorekeeper took notes. One species sat too low in the water, like an overloaded steamship. Another leaned drunkenly to one side.
Big mirrors mounted at an angle overhead allowed the crowd to see the action in each tank without straining.
"As soon as you put it on the water, that's the big test," Burcio said. "We're trying to make sure it projects the essence of the species."
Decoy carving, he said, is a uniquely American art form. It traces back to the Paiute Tribe at Nevada's Pyramid Lake, which made the first documented decoys out of reeds and feathers to lure waterfowl within hunting range.
Settlers picked up the trick and improved it so much that by the 1960s, factory-made plastic decoys were driving the centuries-old handmade craft to extinction.
And who knew that decoy carving was begun by the Indians at Pyramid Lake in Nevada, one of my favorite spots in years gone past.
An excerpt.
Wildlife art takes wing
Master carvers, painters of nature's masterpieces
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
The longtailed duck was exquisite in Jim Burcio's hands, its brown and white plumage, dark cheek patches and delicate tail all rendered perfectly by the carver.
Well, that's how it looked to a neophyte.
Burcio saw more.
"This bird would have to have broken shoulders to look like that," he said. "Sometimes it will float straight or even, but the butt's too low in the water."
He put the decoy back in the test tank to demonstrate. It sagged in the water, then bumped into a showy harlequin duck, which wobbled in a seasick way but soon returned to floating true.
The harlequin was judged best floater.
Burcio, an Antioch resident and past president of the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association, was judging novice entries on Sunday in the waterfowl decoy carving competition at the group's 36th Annual Classic Wildlife Art Festival.
Held for the 25th year at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento, it is one of the largest waterfowl art events in the nation. The show featured hundreds of exquisite waterfowl and nature paintings, plus a variety of other wildlife carvings, from fish to songbirds.
The decoys were the stars of the show, and their seaworthiness was the main event.
Judges sat in metal chairs around two steel tanks, nudging the colorful wooden birds and muttering comments as a scorekeeper took notes. One species sat too low in the water, like an overloaded steamship. Another leaned drunkenly to one side.
Big mirrors mounted at an angle overhead allowed the crowd to see the action in each tank without straining.
"As soon as you put it on the water, that's the big test," Burcio said. "We're trying to make sure it projects the essence of the species."
Decoy carving, he said, is a uniquely American art form. It traces back to the Paiute Tribe at Nevada's Pyramid Lake, which made the first documented decoys out of reeds and feathers to lure waterfowl within hunting range.
Settlers picked up the trick and improved it so much that by the 1960s, factory-made plastic decoys were driving the centuries-old handmade craft to extinction.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Big Issues for the City t\That Thinks Big?
The answer to the question, based on past experience, is no, and that is too bad; but one does sense a building of feeling out there that the leadership to tackle these big issues, while not currently in place, does exist here and may soon (fingers crossed) come to the fore.
We anticipate that arrival. Our city needs it to truly become big, in the largest sense of the word.
An excerpt.
Editorial: Full plate: Four big issues will test Sacramento
Suddenly, the air is full of big ideas. Is the city big enough to handle them all?
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
Sacramento is facing a convergence of several big ideas coming to the forefront at about the same time. In normal circumstances, any of these ideas would consume the attention of local government. But these aren't normal circumstances. Some serious municipal multi-tasking is necessary.There is no other way to handle the regular routine, plus:
• The arena. The time is beyond ripe for the public to review, debate and decide on a serious proposal to build a downtown arena. In looking at the birthing process of a new arena in other communities, voters tend to reject one idea before they finally embrace another. To date, Sacramento hasn't even learned a lesson from a defeat. (This isn't to say that the fate of any proposal is preordained.)
This November's election will have relatively few hot-button local issues on the ballot, so this is as good a time as any.
• The railyards. Sacramento's downtown could double in size if 240 acres of decaying railyards are converted into high-rise housing, offices and new retail and entertainment districts.
Developers with Thomas Enterprises have submitted their plans to the city. And the long-awaited sale of the railyards from Union Pacific might happen. (Note the lack of certainty. When the UP is involved, nothing is certain except that things will be difficult.) The planning and logistical challenges of a project like this would tax any big city -- even if it didn't involve a railroad and the likely site of any new arena.
• A landmark park. With as many as 10,000 new housing units in the railyards, the city will need to maximize the potential of its nearby natural assets, the Sacramento and American rivers. A coalition of civic leaders has put together a bold and intriguing proposal to create a park just north of the railyards, on the south side of the American River, that would start at the confluence with the Sacramento and head upriver to the Capital City Freeway overpass. The proposed Gold Rush Park would be a stunning riverfront park unlike any other in the region.
Some complex land swaps and property negotiations would have to take place. But the idea is impressive in scope and sophisticated in its proposed financing. With the city reviewing the general plan that governs its long-term growth strategy, now is the time to give this idea a serious look.
• Executive Airport. The general plan review mentioned above is already examining a contentious issue for the southern part of the city, the possible reuse of Executive Airport. While the airport is a hub for general aviation activities in the region, it sits on 540 valuable acres of city land. This property's potential for redevelopment is enormous.
We anticipate that arrival. Our city needs it to truly become big, in the largest sense of the word.
An excerpt.
Editorial: Full plate: Four big issues will test Sacramento
Suddenly, the air is full of big ideas. Is the city big enough to handle them all?
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
Sacramento is facing a convergence of several big ideas coming to the forefront at about the same time. In normal circumstances, any of these ideas would consume the attention of local government. But these aren't normal circumstances. Some serious municipal multi-tasking is necessary.There is no other way to handle the regular routine, plus:
• The arena. The time is beyond ripe for the public to review, debate and decide on a serious proposal to build a downtown arena. In looking at the birthing process of a new arena in other communities, voters tend to reject one idea before they finally embrace another. To date, Sacramento hasn't even learned a lesson from a defeat. (This isn't to say that the fate of any proposal is preordained.)
This November's election will have relatively few hot-button local issues on the ballot, so this is as good a time as any.
• The railyards. Sacramento's downtown could double in size if 240 acres of decaying railyards are converted into high-rise housing, offices and new retail and entertainment districts.
Developers with Thomas Enterprises have submitted their plans to the city. And the long-awaited sale of the railyards from Union Pacific might happen. (Note the lack of certainty. When the UP is involved, nothing is certain except that things will be difficult.) The planning and logistical challenges of a project like this would tax any big city -- even if it didn't involve a railroad and the likely site of any new arena.
• A landmark park. With as many as 10,000 new housing units in the railyards, the city will need to maximize the potential of its nearby natural assets, the Sacramento and American rivers. A coalition of civic leaders has put together a bold and intriguing proposal to create a park just north of the railyards, on the south side of the American River, that would start at the confluence with the Sacramento and head upriver to the Capital City Freeway overpass. The proposed Gold Rush Park would be a stunning riverfront park unlike any other in the region.
Some complex land swaps and property negotiations would have to take place. But the idea is impressive in scope and sophisticated in its proposed financing. With the city reviewing the general plan that governs its long-term growth strategy, now is the time to give this idea a serious look.
• Executive Airport. The general plan review mentioned above is already examining a contentious issue for the southern part of the city, the possible reuse of Executive Airport. While the airport is a hub for general aviation activities in the region, it sits on 540 valuable acres of city land. This property's potential for redevelopment is enormous.
Eppies Great Race
The race lived up to its name once again, attracting over 1,700 folks to the Parkway to compete amid thousands of recreational viewers on a normal hot (and dry) summer day in Sacramento where being beside the cool waters of the American River was the place to be.
An excerpt.
Triathlon makes splash as friends run, ride, paddle
More than 1,700 turn out for event that provides a test for some, a sunny play day for others.
By Todd Milbourn -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
Bill Griffith and John Weed are among the more familiar faces at Eppie's Great Race.
The kayakers have participated in the annual event 31 times since it started in 1974.
And they've developed a sort of friendly rivalry: Both seek the right to say they've participated in the most races.
Griffith is 79, so the 53-year-old Weed figures he has an advantage.
"He keeps thinking I'm going to die off," said Griffith, a retired wildlife biologist from Sacramento. "But I can't let him get more races than me."
"Time is on my side," said Weed, a kayak instructor from Lotus who spends his winters kayaking around remote islands in Baja California. "But who knows? With my lifestyle, maybe I'll be the first to go."
Good-natured competition among friends is what Eppie's is all about.
On Saturday, more than 1,700 runners, paddlers and cyclists braved the heat to take part in what's billed as "The World's Oldest Triathlon." Named after retired Sacramento restaurateur Eppie Johnson, the race has grown to be one of the more popular events of its kind.
In the process, the race has raised more than $750,000 for Sacramento County Therapeutic Recreation Services.
Eppie's has three legs: a 5.82-mile run, a 12.5-mile bike ride and a 6.35-mile paddle.
Participants can tackle all three legs themselves or join a team to divide the labor.
The race starts at William B. Pond Recreation Area, winds its way around the parkway, and ends at Goethe Park.
An excerpt.
Triathlon makes splash as friends run, ride, paddle
More than 1,700 turn out for event that provides a test for some, a sunny play day for others.
By Todd Milbourn -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
Bill Griffith and John Weed are among the more familiar faces at Eppie's Great Race.
The kayakers have participated in the annual event 31 times since it started in 1974.
And they've developed a sort of friendly rivalry: Both seek the right to say they've participated in the most races.
Griffith is 79, so the 53-year-old Weed figures he has an advantage.
"He keeps thinking I'm going to die off," said Griffith, a retired wildlife biologist from Sacramento. "But I can't let him get more races than me."
"Time is on my side," said Weed, a kayak instructor from Lotus who spends his winters kayaking around remote islands in Baja California. "But who knows? With my lifestyle, maybe I'll be the first to go."
Good-natured competition among friends is what Eppie's is all about.
On Saturday, more than 1,700 runners, paddlers and cyclists braved the heat to take part in what's billed as "The World's Oldest Triathlon." Named after retired Sacramento restaurateur Eppie Johnson, the race has grown to be one of the more popular events of its kind.
In the process, the race has raised more than $750,000 for Sacramento County Therapeutic Recreation Services.
Eppie's has three legs: a 5.82-mile run, a 12.5-mile bike ride and a 6.35-mile paddle.
Participants can tackle all three legs themselves or join a team to divide the labor.
The race starts at William B. Pond Recreation Area, winds its way around the parkway, and ends at Goethe Park.
Pombo & Species Act
Congressman Pombo makes a lot of sense in the ideas he is putting forth about changes that should be made around the Endangered Species Act, long a bane to property owners in the Valley.
An excerpt.
Pombo lays out case against species act
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Richard Pombo, the Tracy Republican who heads the House Resources Committee, stirs conflict with almost every major initiative he launches, from offshore drilling to Indian gambling.
Few members of Congress have as much influence over the nation's environmental laws as Pombo. And no topic has been more contentious than his legislation to overhaul the Endangered Species Act.
The House approved Pombo's sweeping rewrite of the 1973 law on a 229-193 vote in September. It was widely denounced by environmentalists as a disturbing retreat from habitat protection and a paperwork nightmare for agencies seeking to revive the country's 1,268 threatened and endangered plants and animals, 186 of which are in California.
In the Senate, Pombo's bill was greeted even by Republicans with a measure of skepticism. The Bush administration, while supporting it, is worried about the cost of Pombo's plan to compensate landowners for restrictions on their property use.
In an interview, Pombo discussed why he thinks the act signed into law by President Nixon needs an overhaul and how his bill would work.
Q: What are your problems with the Endangered Species Act now?
A: I didn't like the way it treated private property owners. It was heavy-handed. It didn't really matter what the facts were on the ground or what the science was. It was decisions being driven by somebody in Washington who had never even been to the area being regulated.
I felt it was wrong for them to come in and tell someone who had been farming for a hundred years that you can no longer farm it any more because it was endangered species habitat.
But the more I got into it, I began to realize that the act didn't work. At some point, the agency began to focus on land-use control and forgot all about recovering species.
This was driven by lawsuits. (Environmentalists) would file a lawsuit on the designation of critical habitat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would lose. As more of a defensive posture, they began focusing on designation of critical habitat and they forgot all about recovering species and whether or not the habitat that was being protected actually did anything.
An excerpt.
Pombo lays out case against species act
By David Whitney -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 16, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Richard Pombo, the Tracy Republican who heads the House Resources Committee, stirs conflict with almost every major initiative he launches, from offshore drilling to Indian gambling.
Few members of Congress have as much influence over the nation's environmental laws as Pombo. And no topic has been more contentious than his legislation to overhaul the Endangered Species Act.
The House approved Pombo's sweeping rewrite of the 1973 law on a 229-193 vote in September. It was widely denounced by environmentalists as a disturbing retreat from habitat protection and a paperwork nightmare for agencies seeking to revive the country's 1,268 threatened and endangered plants and animals, 186 of which are in California.
In the Senate, Pombo's bill was greeted even by Republicans with a measure of skepticism. The Bush administration, while supporting it, is worried about the cost of Pombo's plan to compensate landowners for restrictions on their property use.
In an interview, Pombo discussed why he thinks the act signed into law by President Nixon needs an overhaul and how his bill would work.
Q: What are your problems with the Endangered Species Act now?
A: I didn't like the way it treated private property owners. It was heavy-handed. It didn't really matter what the facts were on the ground or what the science was. It was decisions being driven by somebody in Washington who had never even been to the area being regulated.
I felt it was wrong for them to come in and tell someone who had been farming for a hundred years that you can no longer farm it any more because it was endangered species habitat.
But the more I got into it, I began to realize that the act didn't work. At some point, the agency began to focus on land-use control and forgot all about recovering species.
This was driven by lawsuits. (Environmentalists) would file a lawsuit on the designation of critical habitat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would lose. As more of a defensive posture, they began focusing on designation of critical habitat and they forgot all about recovering species and whether or not the habitat that was being protected actually did anything.
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