The Daily Catch: Bay Area headlines

• Record snow melt drenches Yosemite in waterfalls
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/31/2011

  Now’s the time to see record snow melt in Yosemite National Park after a winter season drenched in precipitation. Yosemite Falls, the nation’s tallest, is throwing down enough water to fill a gasoline tanker truck every two seconds. Mid June will be the time of peak melt, coinciding with peak visitor season. Go and you’ll be able to see so many waterfalls that some don’t even have names and don’t exist on maps.  [Read more - Oakland Tribune].

• Cost trumps seismic safety in California bullet train route
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/31/2011

  The “Grapevine” along I-5 is emerging as a possible route for California’s high speed rail line despite its high terrane and its location alongside two major earthquake faults. The route is less expensive, according to an analysis commissioned by the state, in part because it shaves 9 minutes and $1 billion off construction costs. But critics say the new bullet train should go through the densest population centers, the leading alternate route taking passengers through Antelope Valley serving the town of Palmdale. In other bullet train news, officials from Spain visited the Bay Area to impart their wisdom on building [...]

• Google CEO “green” house irritates water-saving neighbors
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/31/2011

  Google CEO Larry Page may be building a certified “green” house in Palo Alto, but the neighbors don’t like the steady stream of water running off the construction site. To create his 3.488 square foot basement, contractors have been pumping water from a shallow aquifer on site down a storm drain. The neighbors say the local vegetation needs that water, but city officials deny there is an environmental problem. Question: does building a 9,446 square foot mansion ever qualify as “environmental” no matter how many solar panels are on the roof? [Read more- San Jose Mercury News].

• California waters contain toxic fish
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/31/2011

  On the heels of news that a number of San Francisco Bay fish are too contaminated to eat, comes another advisory warning against ocean fish.  A California water board survey found that 19 percent of the urban coastline sampled had fish with mercury levels too high for pregnant women and children to safely eat, while 14 percent had similarly high levels of PCBs. The highest levels were found in sharks, a top predator in the food chain, while chub mackerel ranked lowest. The survey results, part of a two year study, are being used to craft new fish consumption guidelines. [...]

• Closure of some California parks illegal, says feds
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/31/2011

  California plans to close one-quarter of its parks has met another stumbling block. The National Park Service says it would be a breach of contract (a.k.a illegal) to close 16 of them because they receive federal land conservation funds that requires them to remain open to the public. The parks mentioned include Castle Rock State Park in Santa Clara County, Portola Redwoods in San Mateo County, and Candlestick near San Francisco. Last week the state coastal commission said beach park closures on the list could not prevent people from using the shoreline anyway. [ Read more - San Jose Mercury [...]

• PG&E reduces rates for its biggest consumers
  By Victoria Schlesinger 

  05/27/2011

  PG&E is in for another spate of public criticism. This time it will be over the utility’s new usage rates, which were approved by regulators on Thursday. Homeowners consuming the most electricity will pay less per kilowatt hour than they did previously, causing critics to accuse PG&E of incentivizing wasteful energy habits. Still, the most frugal consumers pay 12.2 cents per kilowatt hour, while the biggest users pay 33.3 cents per kWh, down from 40.4 cents per kWh. [Read more - San Francisco Chronicle]

• Chevron besieged by protests of its environmental record
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/26/2011

  Chevron, which just this week announced it would renew plans for an expansion of its refinery in Richmond, faced a deluge of anger at its shareholder meeting in San Ramon on Wednesday. Activists gathered to protest Chevron’s “environmental crimes,” in particular the alleged destruction of Amazon rainforest in Ecuador  by its subsidiary, Texaco. Complaints were also hurled about the Richmond refinery as the CEO reported $19 billion in profits, its second best performance. [ Read more -- Contra Costa Times].

• Chevron to renew plans for Richmond refinery expansion
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/25/2011

  Chevron has announced it will go after a permit to upgrade its Richmond oil refinery again, two years after a judge halted construction on the grounds that the oil company had not properly addressed questions in the project’s environmental impact report. Environmentalists were against the expansion saying it would lead to increased air pollution. This time around, Chevron has scaled back its plans as rising gas prices and the recession lower demand for gasoline. [Read more - San Francisco Business Times].

• Shark fin ban passes California Assembly
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/25/2011

  The California Assembly passed a ban on the sale and distribution of shark fins, sending the controversial bill to the Senate. The measure, which has pitted conservationists against the Asian community, would make shark fin soup illegal. While advocates of the bill note the harm that’s come to shark populations as a result of fin fishing, opponents note that restricting imports does little to address the legal killing of thousands of sharks in California. [Read more- San Francisco Chronicle].

• State advisory against eating some San Francisco Bay fish
  By Alison Hawkes 

  05/25/2011

  Planning on making a meal of your fresh catch from the San Francisco Bay? The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment warns against eating bay fish. A whole host of fish species, including striped bass, white sturgeon, and shark, were found to have high levels of mercury. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were a problem in shiner perch. The findings come after 15 years of fish and shellfish monitoring in the bay.  [Read more-California Watch].

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