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[Sustain] FW: [CWP_ENews] Desalination ~ Journal focus on water ~ Groundwater and climate change ~ Regional reports
by Mato Ska 17 Jul '08

17 Jul '08

Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:17:07 -0700 From: wpenews(a)water.ca.gov To: cwp_enews(a)water.ca.gov Subject: [CWP_ENews] Desalination ~ Journal focus on water ~ Groundwater and climate change ~ Regional reports This week's California Water Plan E-news http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/docs/enews/2008/cwp_e-news071608.pdf includes: * Desalination findings * Journal's focus on water * Climate change and groundwater * Regional reports online

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[Sustain] FW: 1000 Friends e-Update: July 17
by Mato Ska 17 Jul '08

17 Jul '08

Week of July 13, 2008 IN THIS DISPATCH: Court Ruling on Water Wells a Victory for Water Protection; Smart Growth on the Front Cover; Upcoming Events Latest News http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs4O3WP_YHb3Wk2VqS7GgO1JhPMDMqNNn3b9dtzr… Court Ruling on Water Wells a Victory for Water Protection http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs5arPx1Hw9irX4QXNcR55fWFRrL5QNNBatSDNvc… A highly-anticipated state court decision came out late last week that overturns the practice of automatically granting permits for new domestic wells regardless of harmful impacts. The 1000 Friends NM Water Project has for years challenged the "domestic well statute" based on the understanding that too many domestic wells in an area can affect the long-term ability of groundwater to provide adequate water into the future as well as water availability for existing users. » more http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs6fFNW8U6ytQjPUKI3Q0QBoj2aHo4Jewx8YA0zS… Smart Growth on the Front Cover http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs7iQ3bFQva2cVpXUsSArv7zE1Bfz73H8KeCynHe… Note: Joanne McEntire, our Program Director, is a member of the Public Involvement Committee at the Mid Region Council of Governments and serves on the City of Albuquerque's 21st Century Transportation Task Force. When the Wall Street Journal covers a Smart Growth innovation on its front page, we at 1000 Friends get a little excited. Gas prices have sure helped to raise the media's attention to the link between sprawl and driving cars. Article after article has noted the increase in transit ridership, the growing market for housing close to town centers, and the complaints (or willing adjustments) that we Americans have been making. 1000 Friends has been noticing this, thinking that maybe our message over the last 12 years is sinking in, thanks to peak oil. The Journal's article "When Gas is Over $4, Cities Explore Whether It's Smart to Be Dense http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs4rZ7Oj9g9i4Y7KzgOX53GJKstOTMn2wzi1hZuJ… ," describes how the Sacramento region has provided a working model for integrating transportation and land use. (The website offers a video and photos too http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs4mhKo7aFisgtFzgkseas91o-RyS-sz4e7R7YZw… .) The state of California supported the region with developing scenarios called the Blueprint several years ago, and over time, the preferred regional plan has been used by the local communities - as well as many land developers! (Note the initial opposition of the Building Industry Association - sound familiar?) » more http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs5B_nlpwAeaa2X1XQjFQEr-UdmG1pOmAtUTjoga… Upcoming Events July 24: Form-Based Code Hearing August 7: Sustainable Transportation: Paying Our Way From Here to There, with NMDOT http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001CKHWXisifs4pqzgP8K0CVq-rKqdoivCI_pZa10mDeOzgtGrG… -know of an event or important meeting? - let us know! Get to Know 1000 Friends of New Mexico

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[Sustain] Real Estate Interests Tainted Taskforce Peaker Decisions
by Eric Brooks 16 Jul '08

16 Jul '08

Written to the Board of Supervisors on July 15, 2008: Dear Supervisors, On July 1, 2008 in a meeting of the SF Public Utilities Commission Citizens' Advisory Subcommittee on Energy, it was revealed by a member of the Power Plant Taskforce, Mr. Joe Boss, that property values affecting real estate values in Potrero Hill and at Pier 70 were a big factor in the Taskforce's decision to push for the Combustion Turbine 'Peaker' Project. There are landholders and developers who would be enriched by the rapid closure of the existing Mirant facility, which would raise property values in the area. Mr. Boss is a private real estate consultant himself with personal financial interests of his own in that area and said openly that real estate values were involved in the Taskforce power plant decisions. This is the first open confirmation that Taskforce members unconscionably weighed property values against the health and survival of residents in the Bayview Hunters Point who would be heavily impacted by pollution from the proposed Peaker project. The Subcommittee meeting was recorded, and Mr. Boss can be heard making his comments about property values in the following section: http://www.brightlinedefense.org/files/mp3/july_1_cac_joe_boss_discusses_re… This is not the only time that Mr. Boss has been found to be inappropriately using a position of authority to enrich real estate interests, and even his own family and friends. The November 2007 edition of the Potrero View newspaper, on pages 1 and 20, reveals Boss's direct involvement in other highly unethical real estate shenanigans surrounding a redevelopment project in exactly the same geographical area of town. You can read the Potrero View edition in question by going to http://www.potreroview.net/archive.html and clicking on the November 2007 link: http://www.potreroview.net/Archives/PV_Nov_2007.pdf Finally, it was also revealed in the same Subcommittee meeting that both SFPUC GM Harrington, and SFPUC Deputy GM for Power Barbara Hale have now stated openly that a proposed Mirant diesel turbine retrofit would be -less- polluting than the proposed combustion turbine project. A section of the meeting audio in which Hale and others discuss this is at: http://www.brightlinedefense.org/files/mp3/july_1_2008_sfpuc_cac_comparativ… In light of these new facts, I would strongly urge you to finally and permanently reject the ICC Combustion Turbine project and any other such project that would use the Williams Combustion Turbines to build any new power plants in San Francisco. Thank you, Eric Brooks SF Green Party & STOPPP Coalition

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[Sustain] Sugar for Biofuel to Displace Kenya Delta Wildlife
by Eric Brooks 15 Jul '08

15 Jul '08

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-26-03.asp *Sugar for Biofuel to Displace Kenya's Tana Delta Wildlife* *NAIROBI, Kenya*, June 26, 2008 (ENS) - Kenya's Tana River Delta, inhabited by 350 species of birds, lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles, is about to be converted to sugar cane production over the objections of conservationists and local communities. Kenya's National Environment Management Authority, NEMA, has approved a proposal by the Mumias Sugar Company, a publicly traded company based in Nairobi, to covert 2,000 square kilometers of the pristine delta into irrigated sugarcane plantations. A view over the Tana River Delta (Photo by Zuc123 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuc123/>) The government is behind the project, with President Mwai Kibaki expressing his personal approval at a public rally in Garsen last year. But conservationists and villagers living in the delta believe the decision is illegal and are determined to block the development. The groups are considering what action they might take. Paul Matiku, executive director of Nature Kenya said, "This decision is a national disaster and will devastate the delta. The Tana's ecology will be destroyed yet the economic gains will be pitiful. It will seriously damage our priceless national assets and will put the livelihoods of the people living in the Delta in jeopardy." "The environmental assessment for the scheme was poor yet the government has defied even those very modest recommendations," said Matiku, whose 99-year-old organization is the Kenyan affiliate of BirdLife International. The National Environment Management Authority put 14 conditions on the sugarcane plan. But Matiku says the conditions are weak and ignore the environmental assessment, which showed that irrigation of crops would cause severe drainage of the Delta. NEMA's decision also overlooks an ongoing dispute over compensation for farmers and fishermen who would lose their land and fishing rights. "This is the only dry-season grazing area for hundreds of miles and its loss will leave many hundreds of farmers with nowhere to take their cattle," Matiku explained. "We refuse to accept that this decision is final," he said. "The development must be stopped at all costs." The Tana is the largest river in Kenya. It flows from the central highlands down to the Indian Ocean where it enters the sea at Kipini with a delta 40 kilometers wide. A herd of topi, a savannah antelope, on the Tana River Delta. (Photo courtesy Tana Delta Camp <http://www.tanadelta.com>) The district is generally dry and prone to drought, but this week at least 15,000 residents of the Tana Delta are coping with the destruction of their crops by floods. After touring the flooded communities, their elected representative MP Danson Mungatana is asking the Ministry of Agriculture to give farmers seed for replanting and urged Mumias Sugar to start their Sh24 billion (US$373 million) project, saying all requirements have been met. "They have a license and everything else has been finalized, let them start the project immediately so that the youth can get jobs," he told "The Nation" newspaper Tuesday. But the economic benefits of the conversion of the Tana Delta to sugar cane are not clear. A report commissioned in May by Nature Kenya and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found deficiences in the calculation of benefits presented by Mumias. The company says the income from sugar cane cultivation will be US$2.45 million over 20 years. But the conservationists' report shows that the revenue from fishing, farming, tourism and other lost livelihoods would be US$59 million over the same period. The report found that Mumias has overestimated profits, ignored fees for water use and pollution from the sugarcane plant, and has disregarded the loss of income from wildlife tourists to the delta. The study said the delta's ecological benefits "defied valuation" and that the proposal would cause the "irreversible loss of ecosystem services," benefits such as flood prevention, the storage of greenhouse gases and the provision of medicines and food. Mumias Sugar grows some sugar cane; its own estates provide up to seven percent of its annual output, but its primary source is over 50,000 registered "out growers" with a total of more than 400 square kilometers under cultivation. African fish eagles breed on the Tana River Delta. (Photo by Michel Laplace-Toulouse of African Latitude <http://www.africanlatitude.com> courtesy BirdLife International <http://www.birdlife.org>) The Tana Delta land conversion covers an area nearly five times larger than the area currently farmed by all the company's out growers. Sugar cane grown on the Tana Delta is likely to fuel ethanol production. In 2005, Mumias Sugar Managing Director Evans Kidero announced plans to expand into the production of ethanol to take advantage of the high cost of fuel. "Until now, Kenya's support for global agreements to protect wildlife has been excellent but this development could severely damage Kenya's reputation for caring for its environment," said Paul Buckley, an Africa specialist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which is the BirdLife affiliate in the UK. Conservationists say that an integrated management plan for the entire Tana River basin should precede any development considerations. The lack of project design documents, required by Kenyan environmental law, has been a critical omission in the whole Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, process, Matiku points out. "The current EIA was hurriedly produced and lacks vital information. NEMA should reject it and request for a new EIA study for the new project site," said Matiku. "The government's decision to approve the Tana River sugarcane and biofuels project will not only destroy biodiversity but also threaten rural livelihoods." Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved. -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

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[Sustain] FW: [sfbayoil] Fw: Attached Infrastructure section (Draft) Peak Oil Rept.
by Mato Ska 14 Jul '08

14 Jul '08

From: Monica.Fish(a)sfgov.org Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:35:56 -0700 Subject: [sfbayoil] Fw: Attached Infrastructure section (Draft) Peak Oil Rept. Attached is a copy of the Draft of the Infrastructure Section of the Peak Oil Report for your review before the meeting.

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[Sustain] Looming Natural Gas Attack On NY Catskills
by Eric Brooks 14 Jul '08

14 Jul '08

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/28284 http://catskillmountainkeeper.org/ Marcellus Shale - The Impact of Natural Gas Drilling <http://catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/80> *Catskill Mountainkeeper Co-Sponsored Two Educational Forums* *with experts from the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management, Oil and Gas Accountability Project as well as experts on law and community organizing* <http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/June08/28/SC_natgas-28Jun08.html>The pace of gas drilling in New York State and its potential in the Upper Delaware Region has many property owners and municipal officials asking questions about the impacts of drilling on the environment, how gas leases should be written to protect the interests of property owners, and what regulations and land use approaches are available to protect the health and safety of local residents. The Forums took place on Thursday, June 26 at the Walton Theater in Walton, NY, Delaware County and June 27th at the Liberty Highschool in Liberty, NY in Sullivan County. The purpose of these educational forums was to cover these issues and offer case examples. To view the panelists, please click here. <http://catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/529> *Read Peter Applebome's two part series about the Walton Forum in the New York Times * *Part 1 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/nyregion/29towns.html?em&ex=1214884800&en…>: *June 29, 2008, "Gas Drillers in Race for Hearts and Land."* **Part 2 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/nyregion/03towns.html?em&ex=1215230400&en…>: *July 3, 2008, "A Land Rush is Likely, so a Lawyer Gets Ready."* * * * Click here for a detailed overview on natural gas drilling in the Catskills <http://catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/290>** -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Call Mayor To -Demand- Permanent Victory Garden
by Eric Brooks 13 Jul '08

13 Jul '08

Hi all, Gavin Newsom is about to get the most hypocritical, fake enviro photo op of his entire term in office and we must challenge him -hard- on it this time. Please read the Guardian blog below and then call the Mayor's office of neighborhood services at 415-544-7111 to express your outrage at this sham, and demand that the City Hall local organic Victory Garden be made permanent, not ridiculously ripped out two months after it is put in! Please forward this alert widely! peace, Eric http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2008/07/a_hollow_victory_for_urban_gar.h… A hollow victory for urban gardening movement When I first heard about current plans to build a "Victory Garden" in Civic Center Plaza -- which will be officially planted tomorrow at 10 a.m. in a ceremony featuring Mayor Gavin Newsom and Alice Waters, the pioneering restaurateur who founded Slow Food Nation <http://slowfoodnation.org/> -- I thought it was a really cool idea. Here was the city of San Francisco giving some of its most prime and high profile real estate over to the urban gardening movement, which seeks alternatives to the fossil fuel dependent industrialized food system. And the Victory Garden concept is great, conjuring up the collective commitment to our national interests that inspired patriotic citizens to plant gardens during the two world wars. Sure, the logistics of tending and securing the garden might be tough, but Newsom seemed to be making a commitment to put city resources behind this important symbolic statement. Then I heard that they're going to rip out the garden in a couple months, in my mind reducing the garden to a mere photo op for our jolly green would-be governor. Ick. Just what this country needs, another hollow gesture toward environmental sustainability rather than the bold collective action that we actually need to tackle serious problems like climate change, resource depletion, and a wasteful, polluting, and ineffective global food system. "While we would love for the garden to be permanent,it is true that the Victory Garden is temporary, and is being used as a demonstration and educational centerpiece for Slow Food Nation, taking place over Labor Day Weekend," event spokesperson Naomi Starkman wrote to me when I asked about the temporary garden (the mayor's press office still hasn't responded to my inquiry). She said the Victory Garden project will seek out about 15 diverse households to plant more permanent gardens, something that it will be incorporate into the event in August. And she sees value to even having a temporary garden in Civic Center Plaza, for which her group is covering the roughly $180,000 in costs. "The goal and mission of the Victory Garden is to spur to action the future of urban food production. By having the support of the City, and presenting a garden in City Hall's backyard, we intend to inform, educate and inspire citizens to learn to grow their own food and to get involved with local organizations doing just that. It is a huge civic statement that we hope translates into city-wide programs, indeed, into a national trend for cities to support this type of agriculture," Starkman wrote. Indeed, if Newsom and other city officials wanted to make a real commitment to support this effort, they would pursue a citywide program of supporting community gardens (which keep getting ripped up <http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=3337> these days) and doing a survey of what surplus city properties could be turned into gardens that might still be there after the television crews have gone. By *Steven T. Jones*: July 11, 2008 12:16 PM Comments (1) Eric Brooks: Right On! We should all contact Alice Waters through Slow Food Nation http://slowfoodnation.org/contact-us and ask her to insist that the garden be situated in a permanent location. This absurd and typically hollow Gavin Greenwash moment should be challenged vociferously! -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Final Language SF 100% Clean Energy Act!
by Eric Brooks 13 Jul '08

13 Jul '08

Hi again all, Attached is the final language of the San Francisco Clean Energy Act charter amendment which is headed for the November 2008 ballot. It will give the City community owed and managed clean energy at the rate of 51% by 2017, 75% by 2030, ad 100% by 2040. It also expressly bars nuclear power from being defined as 'clean' energy under the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco. This Wednesday I will seek consensus from the General Membership for the SF Green party to support and campaign for this crucial measure so please read it ahead of time if you can. The sections in italics are the parts that represent the new language that will be placed into the City charter. This is huge folks. This measure will finally end PG&E's monopoly control of San Francisco's electricity supply once and for all, will therefore need -strong- SF Greens' support, and will also provide us with an excellent cause around which to register new Green voters. peace Eric Brooks -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Final Language SF 100% Clean Energy Act!
by Eric Brooks 13 Jul '08

13 Jul '08

Hi again all, Attached is the final language of the San Francisco Clean Energy Act charter amendment which is headed for the November 2008 ballot. It will give the City community owed and managed clean energy at the rate of 51% by 2017, 75% by 2030, ad 100% by 2040. It also expressly bars nuclear power from being defined as 'clean' energy under the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco. This Wednesday I will seek consensus from the General Membership for the SF Green party to support and campaign for this crucial measure so please read it ahead of time if you can. The sections in italics are the parts that represent the new language that will be placed into the City charter. This is huge folks. This measure will finally end PG&E's monopoly control of San Francisco's electricity supply once and for all, will therefore need -strong- SF Greens' support, and will also provide us with an excellent cause around which to register new Green voters. peace Eric Brooks -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Turn Out Tomorrow! For 100% Clean Electricity In SF!
by Eric Brooks 08 Jul '08

08 Jul '08

Hi all, The final ballot language for the San Francisco Clean Energy Act (for the November ballot) is nearly complete, and the matter will be taken up in a special Rules Committee hearing tomorrow at around 2pm. For those of you who wanted it clarified in the measure that nuclear energy is -not- clean, it looks like we have prevailed and that this clarification -will- be in the language. (Attached is an older version of the ballot draft which doesn't contain this change but will give you a general idea of what the measure will do.) PG&E and the Chamber of Commerce will be turning out their troops to attack this measure, and so it will be vital for as many of us to show up tomorrow to speak in favor as possible. The hearing is in Rules Committee, in City Hall Room 263, beginning at 1pm (but the Clean Energy Act is item 8 and probably won't come up for at least an hour - so be there by 2pm if you can). For full hearing details see http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=83910 **Talking Points** - The latest science shows that an 80% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050 is NO LONGER either close or fast enough of a reduction to avoid a major climate and sea level catastrophe. We need 100% clean electricity as soon as possible! - The ice caps are melting and polar bears are drowning and PG&E still only has 13% renewable electricity - and PG&E has admitted it will not even meet the minimal State requirement of 20% renewables by 2010. So the only way to get high percentages of clean energy fast enough, is for us, the people of San Francisco, to take ownership and control of our own electricity system. - PG&E has sought permission to build 9 new polluting natural gas power plants in California and is also trying to build a dangerous, methane emitting, 200 mile natural gas pipeline from Oregon to California. With global warming and the price of natural gas skyrocketing just as the price of oil is doing; it is critical that we dump PG&E and switch immediately to stable priced and clean, renewables and efficiency, to meet our energy needs. - Other California cities that have taken community control of their electricity systems have far lower rates and can dedicate far more funds to improving and greening those systems. - Our utility bills are going -up- because PG&E continues to rely on volatile priced, polluting natural gas as its energy base. In recent arguments against clean energy in Marin County, PG&E actual made the ridiculous claim that natural gas rates will go down, even though economic indicators are clearly showing that the price of natural gas is going up! We -must- dump PG&E now and switch to stable priced renewables. Hope to see you all at the hearing! peace Eric -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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