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Solar industry needs workers
San Francisco Chronicle
05/10/2008
California's fascination with solar power has created thousands of jobs in the state and will probably add thousands more, according to a new survey of the industry.
The survey, by two community college researchers, estimates that solar companies in California now employ between 16,500 and 17,500 people and may hire another 5,000 in the next year.
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B.C. adopts California tailpipe standards
BC Local News
05/10/2008
B.C. vehicles will soon match California emissions standards, but like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'll still be able to drive a Hummer.
Environment Minister Barry Penner has introduced legislation adopting California tailpipe standards, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent relative to current vehicle models. The regulations won't restrict consumers or even dealerships, but will instead force manufacturers to meet increasingly strict "fleet average" emissions between now and 2016.
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Salmon Gone, Fishermen Adapt
New York Times
05/09/2008
With most of Oregon and California's commercial salmon fishery shut down because of sharp declines in the number of the fish returning to the Sacramento River to spawn, many fishermen are looking for almost any alternative, trying to diversify along with the rest of the regional economy.
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Murrelet Populations Trend Down
Eureka Times-Standard
05/09/2008
Studies started in 2000 appear to show a decline in the population of federally protect marbled murrelets on the West Coast -- but not at the high end of earlier estimates, said a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologist.
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Auburn dam may be dealt death blow
Sacramento Bee
05/09/2008
A long-stalled Auburn dam on the American River has suffered many defeats. But the next could be truly fatal.
The State Water Resources Control Board plans to revoke the water rights held by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the project. The unfinished dam, in other words, would no longer have any water to hold back.
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'Conservation on a staggering scale' at Tejon
San Francisco Chronicle
05/09/2008
A vast mountainous region glimpsed by generations of Californians mainly through bug-pocked windshields on Interstate 5 was preserved Thursday in what conservationists say is the largest, most ecologically crucial acquisition of public land in state history.
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Golden Gate Bridge unveils peak-hour toll plan
San Francisco Chronicle
05/09/2008
Drivers crossing the Golden Gate Bridge will pay as much as $7 during the morning and evening commutes and on weekend and holiday afternoons if bridge directors approve a congestion-based toll unveiled Thursday.
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Schwarzenegger challenges automakers to meet Calif. rules
Business Week
05/09/2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that pressure from the auto industry will not deter California from attempting to impose strict emission rules for vehicles sold in the state.
The Republican governor met privately with seven auto executives who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them "the train has left the station" and that they should stop challenging California rules that are intended to help slow the rate of global warming.
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San Francisco Building Up
San Francisco Bay Guardian
05/07/2008
Arguments about urban sprawl and the need to drastically improve transit services at the Transbay Terminal are driving plans for massive new skyscrapers in the SoMa District. Although the project is still in its initial phase, as many as seven towers — some higher than the Transamerica Pyramid — would surround the centerpiece Transbay Tower.
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Flame Retardant Found in Falcon Eggs
San Francisco Chronicle
05/08/2008
The eggs of peregrine falcons living in California's big cities contain some of the highest levels ever found in wildlife of a flame retardant used in consumer products, a new study has found.
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Restoration for the San Joaquin River
San Francisco Chronicle
05/08/2008
Long-stalled legislation to bring life back to the dried-up San Joaquin River and restore its historic salmon run cleared a significant hurdle Wednesday when a U.S. Senate committee gave its approval.
The bill passed by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee now joins similar legislation approved by a House committee in November. The legislation would pay for restoring the once-mighty river, which foamed with spawning salmon until it was dammed in 1942.
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EPA Gets Push to Update Carbon Monoxide Standards
San Francisco Chronicle
05/08/2008
The Bush administration has violated legal deadlines for updating the nation's clean-air standards on carbon monoxide, a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White told the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to follow a schedule that would allow a full scientific review, public comment and any proposed changes in the standard to take place by May 2011.
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Views: Hands Up in National Parks
San Francisco Chronicle
05/08/2008
Senators want to change national park gun laws, but is a national park really so lawless and dangerous that hidden handguns are the answer?
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Oil Companies to Pay $423 Million for Water Contamination
Los Angeles Times
05/08/2008
Chevron, BP and other major oil companies have agreed to pay $423 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits brought by water suppliers and users in California and 19 other states over groundwater contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE.
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San Francisco Ready for More Than Recycling
New York Times
05/07/2008
Mayor Gavin Newsom is competitive about many things, garbage included. When the city found out a few weeks ago that it was keeping 70 percent of its disposable waste out of local landfills, he embraced the statistic the way other mayors embrace winning sports teams, improved test scores or declining crime rates.
But the city wants more.
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San Francisco Hostile to Chain Stores
San Francisco Chronicle
05/07/2008
San Francisco - a city that values homegrown companies and neighborhood character - is increasingly hostile to chain stores and restaurants, even if the businesses want to move into empty stores.
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HP, Google Rate High in Climate Change Actions
San Francisco Chronicle
05/07/2008
Several Bay Area companies like Hewlett-Packard and Google got high marks today from a group that monitors corporate response to the threat of climate change, but others like eBay and Apple were criticized for inaction.
Climate Counts, a New Hampshire nonprofit group, released its second annual report rating 60 large consumer companies on their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change.
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California Chemical Spill Kills Up to 300 Fish
San Francisco Chronicle
05/07/2008
A toxic chemical spill Monday at the north end of Richmond apparently killed between 200 and 300 fish in an irrigation canal - and brought an investigation about delays in reporting the spill.
The tanks were the source of a spill of a toxic chemical called toluene that was discovered Monday. Thieves had apparently climbed a chain link fence to get at the tanks and stole brass valve fittings, causing a leak.
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EPA May Not Limit Toxin in Water Supplies
Los Angeles Times
05/07/2008
A top Environmental Protection Agency official told a Senate committee Tuesday that there was "a distinct possibility" that the agency would not limit the amount of perchlorate, a toxic ingredient of solid rocket fuel, that is allowable in drinking water.
State officials and water suppliers across the nation have been waiting for the EPA to set a standard for several years because perchlorate has contaminated the water supplies of at least 11 million people. Last year, California, impatient with the EPA's indecision, set its own standard.
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EPA Unlikely to Limit Perchlorate in Water
Sacramento Bee
05/07/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency probably won't follow California in ridding drinking water of a rocket fuel chemical that has contaminated supplies in Rancho Cordova and in dozens of other communities around the country, a top agency official said Tuesday.
Federal inaction on regulating the drinking-water contaminant perchlorate has left the Pentagon, NASA and defense contractors free to negotiate levels of cleanup with government agencies, potentially trimming the cost of restoring groundwater.
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Longfin Smelt Considered for Endangered Status
Sacramento Bee
05/07/2008
Another Delta fish will be considered for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, following a sharp population decline last year.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it will conduct a status review of the longfin smelt to determine whether it warrants protection as a threatened or endangered species.
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Hidden Taxes for Biodiesel Users
Los Angeles Times
05/06/2008
Drivers who use cooking grease to run their diesel vehicles often don't realize they're supposed to obtain permits and pay a California state tax on each gallon. Even the governor has to comply.
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Views: Shut Down San Francisco Power Plant
San Francisco Chronicle
05/06/2008
It may be easy for those who stand to profit from inaction, and those who aren't impacted directly by pollution, to call for yet another study of the combustion turbine project that will shut down the polluting Potrero Hill power plant in San Francisco. But for those of us who live in the shadow of the smokestacks, the time to act is now.
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San Francisco May Replace Dirty Power Plant
San Francisco Chronicle
05/06/2008
An old and heavily polluting power plant near San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood could soon close as a Board of Supervisors committee today considers a proposal to replace the behemoth with smaller, cleaner generators.
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Formaldehyde in Some Baby Furniture
Sacramento Bee
05/06/2008
Cribs and changing tables may be exposing babies to unhealthy levels of formaldehyde, according to a new environmental report.
In a report published today, Environment California found a half dozen products – out of 21 nursery furnishings it tested – emitted formaldehyde at levels high enough to trigger allergy and asthma attacks in children.
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