In the News
Water Authority asks residents to conserve during storm Posted February 4, 2010
Businesses and residents in San Diego County were asked Thursday to
help conserve water by shutting off their landscape watering systems in
advance of a forecasted storm expected to hit the region.
San Diego County Water Authority officials said irrigation systems
can be turned off for several weeks following a significant storm.
The National Weather Service has forecast that about a half-inch to
an inch of rain will fall in the coastal and valley areas starting late
tomorrow and continuing through Saturday.
According to the SDCWA, a one-week hiatus from using landscape
watering systems throughout the region could save 2,000 acre feet of
water, enough to meet the needs of 4,000 households for a year.
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02-04/local-county-news/water-authority-asks-residents-to-conserve-during-storm
CARLSBAD: Proposed power plant Posted February 3, 2010
A 558-megawatt power plant proposed for Carlsbad's Encina Power
Station won't have any significant harmful effect on people's
health, project consultants and state agency representatives
repeatedly testified Tuesday.
Speaking during the second day of state Energy Commission
hearings on the proposed plant, air quality consultant Alvin
Greenberg called his review of the proposal "the most in-depth
human health assessment" he has done on a stationary power plant
project.
Greenberg, who has reviewed 82 power plant cases for the state
commission, said that his assessment went into great detail
"because there was great public concern" about the proposed
plant.
Opponents, including a local homeowners association
representative, who attended Tuesday's hearing questioned
Greenberg's work and other documents produced by experts.
http://nctimes.com/news/local/carlsbad/article_0155ed6a-3d91-54d2-9ae5-b7f8fa586dd7.html
Have we been saved by the snowpack? Posted February 2, 2010
Not to rain on the parade, but California’s drought is far from over.
Nonetheless, water managers from San Diego County to Silicon Valley toasted the latest snowpack numbers yesterday as a marked improvement over the past three years.
“Cautious optimism,” said Sue Sims, chief deputy director for the state Department of Water Resources.
The new measurements came in at 115 percent of normal, compared with 61 percent at this time last year.
But water managers were quick to give caveats. Much more rain and
snow are needed to bring reservoirs up to the average benchmark.
Court-ordered environmental restrictions will still divert billions of
gallons to fish and away from farms and cities. And there’s no
guarantee the storms won’t pull a disappearing act like they did in
2008, which led to a record dry spring in the Sierra.
Snow melt from that mountain range and water from other sites in
Northern California used to fill as much as half of San Diego County’s
need. But with drought and the pumping restrictions, the figure has
dropped to less than 20 percent. The Colorado River is the primary artery now.
“In years past, we have seen the storm tracks change and the
rainfall drops off the end of the table,” said Keith Lewinger, general
manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District. “We are never more
than a year away from drought and restrictions.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/30/have-we-been-saved-by-the-snowpack/
REGION: Bullet train board to meet Thursday in San Diego Posted February 2, 2010
The panel that governs California's bullet train plans will meet
Thursday in San Diego, providing the public with a chance to
comment on the region's high-speed rail progress.
It will be the first meeting of the California High Speed Rail
Authority's board of directors since that agency received a $2.25
billion pledge from the federal government for its 800-mile bullet
train network.
None of that money is expected to be available for the local
167-mile Los Angeles to San Diego stretch of the project, largely
because the region's planning documents won't be done until 2013 at
the earliest.
Other rail legs, from San Jose to San Francisco and from Anaheim
to Los Angeles, are about a year away from completing their plans
and will get slices of the $2.25 billion.
Still, missing out on federal funds doesn't doom San Diego and
Riverside counties, said Jeff Barker, the authority's deputy
director. State funds from the 2008 voter-approved high-speed rail
bond will continue to finance the region's planning effort.
"There's no hindrance to that work," Barker said, referring to
plans that call for bringing rail from Los Angeles east to the
Inland Empire and south to San Diego along Interstate 15. "It's
going to go on as scheduled."
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_1b602c3a-4ebb-58dd-b251-c857dd143495.html
Sapphire Energy addresses water use Posted February 2, 2010
Sapphire Energy's planned biofuel refinery in Luna County will use water responsibly, the company says.
Tim Zenk, vice president of corporate affairs for the San Diego-based
alternative fuel developer, said the facility's operations will
resemble that of a rice paddy.
"Sort of an open pond setting," he said. "If you can imagine what a rice paddy looks like, but with much more technology."
In a nutshell, the facility will grow algae within ponds to refine into
fuel. The planned open ponds at the facility has sparked concern among
some locals on the chance for an ideal mosquito breeding ground. Zenk
hopes to put those concerns down.
"We have a 100 acre
facility up and running in Las Cruces with many acres of ponds; We have
found zero mosquito issues with water," he said. "Mosquitoes dislike
salt water very much."
He said mosquitoes -- which can carry
various diseases -- are not attracted to the type of water to be used.
The facility will use high-salinity, brackish water that Zenk said is
not suitable for agricultural use or human consumption.
"From a processing standpoint, there is zero waste," he said, noting
the water is 100-percent recycled throughout the process. "It's a
complete closed-loop system."
http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/news_display/140748662.html
Supes vote for reconsideration of Merriam Mountains project Posted February 2, 2010
The proposed Stonegate Merriam Mountains development will have
another San Diego County Board of Supervisors hearing on March 24.
The supervisors heard debate on the proposed project
December 9, and a 2-2 vote denied the project the three votes needed
for passage. Supervisor Ron Roberts, who was in Sacramento for a
California Air Resources Board meeting the day of the original hearing,
asked for a reconsideration of the matter, and on January 13 the
supervisors voted 3-2 to grant a new hearing and take another vote on
the zone reclassification, general plan amendment, specific plan
amendment, vesting tentative map, and site plan associated with the
project.
"I think the appropriate thing is we have a full hearing before the full board," Roberts said.
Under
the reconsideration procedure, which had not been used by the Board of
Supervisors for at least 25 years, the new hearing is a "de novo"
hearing in which all public speakers can testify regardless of whether
they commented at the previous hearing.
At the December 9 hearing, Supervisors Bill Horn and
Greg Cox voted in favor of the project while Supervisors Dianne Jacob
and Pam Slater-Price voted in opposition. Although a 2-2 tie vote is
equivalent to a denial since three votes were not obtained, any county
supervisor has 30 days to request reconsideration. The request itself
is docketed for a Board of Supervisors meeting, and if the
reconsideration is approved the hearing itself will occur at a
subsequent meeting.
Horn and Cox joined Roberts in supporting the motion for
reconsideration, which included the March 24 hearing date. Jacob and
Slater-Price opposed the reconsideration.
"We had a full public hearing, a fair public hearing,"
Jacob said. "I think it’s unfortunate that we have to take everybody’s
time to do this."
http://www.thevillagenews.com/story/44984/
Coalition has hand in water recycling plan Posted January 28, 2010
An unusually diverse coalition of community groups last night helped
persuade the San Diego City Council to keep moving ahead on a landmark
water recycling plan.
Environmentalists, labor leaders, business officials, taxpayer
advocates, building managers and engineering professionals lent their
combined support to an $11.8 million pilot project to turn wastewater
into drinking water.
“Early on, someone suggested that we call ourselves the
Unprecedented Coalition because of the diverse membership,” said Lani
Lutar, head of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association and a member
of the Indirect Potable Reuse Coalition.
The alliance officially formed last summer when Lutar was talking
with Bruce Reznik at San Diego Coastkeeper about how to swing council
votes and public opinion on what has been a touchy subject. It now
boasts 13 member organizations, including high-profile groups such as
the Surfrider Foundation and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/27/coalition-has-hand-in-water-plan-ok/
Wind Energy Proposal Gets Mixed Reviews In Boulevard Posted January 28, 2010
A Portland, Oregon-based company wants to build a wind farm in
Southeastern San Diego County. The first of several public hearings on
the project will be held Wednesday evening in Jacumba. The proposal is
one of three interconnected energy projects in the same area.
Iberdrola Renewables has proposed building a wind energy project on
1,600 acres in southeastern San Diego County near Boulevardl.
Ed Clark with Iberdrola Renewables says the plan calls for at least 100, and possibly 133, wind turbines stretching up to 400 feet from base to blade-top.
"The very first turbines would be on this ridge we see right over
here on this ridge right over here to the west," said Clark, pointing
out the ridge tops in the McCain Valley where the turbines would be
placed. "And go north on that ridge and further to the north and to the
west there would be additional turbines and those also will have
strings of turbines on them."
The turbines would be placed on federal, private, state and tribal lands in the McCain Valley.
The proposal also includes access roads and a 138-kV transmission line.
Clark says the project would generate enough power for 60,000 San Diego-area homes and provide 10 permanent jobs.
The wind project requires federal, state and county approval.
Housing: New Homes Getting Smaller Posted January 25, 2010
With homebuyers unable to borrow the tremendous sums that blew up the housing bubble, and buyers suddenly uninterested in the McMansions of yore, builders are focusing on smaller, more affordable houses that offer floor plans with reduced square footage and new amenities such as improved energy efficiency.
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_1a2e5023-8625-53df-8c5a-0db3665fc2ab.html
Energy: Sempra Execs Outline Plans to Go Green Posted January 25, 2010
Sempra Energy, the San Diego-based parent of The Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., spent the last 12 years building up new companies outside its regulated utilities.
Executives say they plan to spend the next five years investing in Sempra's utilities and in renewable power
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_5c6a27c3-ddd4-5b57-863d-d9fb0d6757d6.html
