Food Dyes Linked to Cancer, ADHD, Allergies

      Pollution Science 101 - Cancer Investigated

                                          (California)

                                    Edited by Michael J. Ross

                                  Last update: May 20th, 2022                               


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The following documents will detail evidence of corruption in the state of California. This information will include a detailed report of the ongoing pollution and contamination harming the state of California.

 

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Chapter   1: Carcinogens in childhood food & clothing
Chapter   2: Orange County
Chapter   3: Los Angeles
Chapter   4: San Diego
Chapter   5: Fukushima & Uranium sites
Chapter   6: San Francisco area
Chapter   7: Sacramento area
Chapter   8: North San Joaquin Valley area
Chapter   9: Groundwater
Chapter 10: Drought
Chapter 11: Redwoods & Sequoias
Chapter 12: Wildfires
Chapter 13: Volcanoes & Calderas
Chapter 14: History
Chapter 15: Endangered Animals
Chapter 16: Plastic Pollution
Chapter 17: Pesticides: Monsanto, DuPont & Syngenta
Chapter 18: Rotenone
Chapter 19: Piperonyl butoxide (PBO)
Chapter 20: Anthranilic diamide
Chapter 21: Antimycin A
Chapter 22: EDTA
Chapter 23: Propylene oxide (PPO)
Chapter 24: Pesticides & foods 
Chapter 25: Jerry Brown
Chapter 26: Santa Barbara
Chapter 27: Oakland
Chapter 28: Southern California
Chapter 29: Farming: Hydroponics, Aquaponics & Aeroponics
Chapter 30: Northern California
Chapter 31: Bohemian Grove
Chapter 32: Humboldt County area
Chapter 33: Lake Tahoe
Chapter 34: California Superfund sites, toxic sites & pollution summary
Chapter 35: Illegal dumping
Chapter 36: Red Tides: California
Chapter 37: Mexico
Chapter 38: Transboundary pollution China
Chapter 39: Additional information
Chapter 40: California prisons
Chapter 41: Cellphone sites
Chapter 42: Corruption in Laguna Beach


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Chapter   1: Carcinogens in childhood food & clothing

 

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The following chapter will detail the amount of carcinogens in childhood food, clothing and everyday consumer items. This will include what we can do as a civilization to solve many of these issues.

  

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Are your child’s clothes TOXIC?

Most likely the clothes you are wearing on you back and the ones you dress your kids in have harmful toxins in them. The effects of these toxins on your children can range from hyperactivity to hormone imbalances. - See more at: http://www.mygutsy.com/are-your-childs-clothes-toxic/#sthash.lp1FtYEF.dpuf

Most likely the clothes you are wearing on you back and the ones you dress your kids in have harmful toxins in them. The effects of these toxins on your children can range from hyperactivity to hormone imbalances...


http://www.mygutsy.com/are-your-childs-clothes-toxic/

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 The 6+ Synthetic Fabrics You Most Want to Avoid, and Why 


Toxins in Your Textiles

Most synthetic fabrics, from towels to dress shirts to bed linens, are treated with chemicals during and after processing. These chemicals not only leach into the environment, leaving an impact on groundwater, wildlife, air and soil, but they also may be absorbed or inhaled directly.

• PFCs in "wrinkle-free" pants, often used for school uniforms, may cause cancer, according to the EPA.

• Acrylic fabrics are polycrylonitriles, which may be carcinogenic.

 • Nylon and polyester are made from petrochemicals, whose production creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that's 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide.



http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/12/21/the-6-synthetic-fabrics-you-most-want-to-avoid-and-why.htm 

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The Clothes that Kill You Slowly but Surely
 

 

Today's clothing (a $7 trillion/year industry) is manufactured using an astounding 8,000 synthetic chemicals. Nowadays, clothes also contain toxins like formaldehyde, brominated flame retardants, and perfluorinated chemicals (Teflon) to provide "non-iron" and "non-wrinkle" qualities. 

For half a century, skin and chemicals have been interacting… creating problems like infertility, respiratory diseases, contact dermatitis, and cancer. -

When toxins are absorbed through your skin — your largest organ — they bypass your liver, the organ responsible for removing toxins.

You also may not realize that your skin keeps you healthy by venting toxins… up to a pound per day.

Petrochemical fibers restrict and suffocate your skin — shutting down toxic release. Meanwhile, they contribute to your total toxic burden and may become the "tipping point" for triggering the onset of disease.

Two contributing factors are (1) toxic buildup in your body and (2) multiple chemicals that interact together to create even worse problems than the individual chemicals by themselves.

Skin rashes, nausea, fatigue, burning, itching, headaches, and difficulty breathing are all associated with chemical sensitivity. If you have mysterious health symptoms that you can't seem to get control over, it's worth checking out whether your clothes could be the problem.

http://cancerdefeated.com/newsletters/The-Clothes-that-Kill-You-Slowly-but-Surely.html


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Toxic chemicals in children's clothes, explained

 

16.01.2014

 A report released this week by Greenpeace has detected a range of toxic chemicals in children's clothing, made by various manufacturers around the world. The environmental organization found the chemicals in most of the 82 items of children's apparel that it tested, bought in 25 different countries and produced by 12 major brand names, including from high-end retailers.

http://www.dw.de/toxic-chemicals-in-childrens-clothes-explained/a-17366181

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Synthetic Dyes: A look at Environmental & Human Risks

The CNN report October 2007 which Shana wrote about on Green Cotton, revealed that new testing procedures (chemical burden testing) reveal that young babies and children actually do have increased levels of chemicals in their bloodstream and skin. Because clothing comes into prolonged contact with one’s skin, toxic chemicals are often absorbed into the skin, especially when one’s body is warm and skin pores have opened to allow perspiration. We also know that some individuals have what is known as chemical sensitivity, including when exposed to garments of many types.

 Symptoms in adults for chemical sensitivity range from skin rashes, headaches, trouble concentrating, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, difficulty breathing, irregular heart beat, and/or seizures.  Symptoms in children include red cheeks and ears, dark circles under the eyes, hyperactivity, and behavior or learning problems.


http://greencotton.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/synthetic-dyes-a-look-at-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/


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How Green Are Your Jeans? 

http://www.onearth.org/article/how-green-are-your-jeans

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The eco guide to green jeans

27 Dec 2015

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/27/eco-guide-the-green-jeans

 
 

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How to Tell if Your Jeans Were Made Sustainably

Feb. 5 2021

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/sustainable-denim-brands
 

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Clothing Dermatitis and Clothing-Related Skin Conditions

Textile formaldehyde resins are used in materials such as cotton or cotton/polyester blend fabrics to make the fabric wrinkle-resistant. There are nine formaldehyde resins in current use in the United States and most do not release a significant amount of formaldehyde as older formulations in the past. An allergic reaction may actually be due to the resin and not the released formaldehyde.

Allergic reactions to the dyes used in fabrics are more common than a reaction to the fabric material that has been dyed. The specific type of fabric to be dyed determines the type of dye used. Most reported allergic reactions have been to dispersal dyes with azo and anthraquinone structures. These dyes are loosely held on the fabric structure and easily rubbed off on the skin.

Fine metallic dust particles such as antimony trioxide and arsenic trioxide that are capable of imbedding into the clothing fabric can result in irritant skin reactions. When there is sweat combined with the metallic dust particles, pruritic, erythematous, papular lesions develop where the clothing is in contact with the skin. Workers at smelting furnaces where there is high heat, dust and using heavy protective clothing are susceptible to these irritant rashes.

Friction from clothing can also cause a condition called intertrigo. This rash is a result of friction and sweating in high heat situations. Red, macerated skin is present at the waistband area, under the arms and the inner thighs. This rash can become secondarily infected with yeast or bacterial organisms in hot, humid environments.

http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research/Dermatitis/files/clothing.pdf

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These facts show how unsustainable the fashion industry is

31 Jan 2020

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/fashion-industry-carbon-unsustainable-environment-pollution/

 

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Many plastic shoes toxic - study 

Sep 15 2009

 

MANILA - Consumers who wear plastic shoes may be at risk for long-term health problems, according to a study by an international environmental group.
In its study titled "Chemicals Up Close", the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNCC) found "disturbing concentrations" of harmful chemicals in a variety of plastic-based flip-flops, sandals, clogs, and other shoes.

The SNCC tested 27 shoes sent by partner groups from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Tanzania, Sweden, and Uganda; and found high levels of phthalates in 17 shoes.

Phthalates (pronounced "thalates") are chemicals used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.

The chemicals are widely believed to cause health complications like infertility and testicular problems among men, endocrine disorders, birth problems, and even cancer.

"The problem really will be the chronic exposure of people to environmental pollutants. Wearing shoes [that contain harmful toxins] increases the chances of contamination, and even the factory workers who make [them] are affected," said Manny Calonzo, president of the Eco-Waste Coalition, a partner organization of the SNCC.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/09/15/09/many-plastic-shoes-toxic-study



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High level of toxins detected in shoes 

Sep 22, 2009

http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/high-level-of-toxins-detected-in-shoes-1.707500#.UeYfM23piSo

In a study released last week, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) found high levels of a toxic chemical known as diethyl-hexyl phthalate (DEHP) in 17 out of 27 pairs of shoes manufactured in various countries including India, Indonesia, Tanzania, The Philippines, Sweden and South Africa. -

The chemical can cause cancer, severe damage to a developing fetus and the central nervous system... 

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Toxic chemical found in school shoes


A toxic chemical banned in Europe because it can cause burns, rashes and respiratory troubles has been found in imported children's school shoes sold by major retailers. Tests undertaken three months ago by the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries revealed 25 per cent of the shoes it bought and tested contained the toxic chemical DMF (dimethyl fumarate)...


http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/toxic-chemical-found-in-school-shoes-20120519-1yxik.html



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Toxins in leather shoes

A study done by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation tested twenty-one pairs of brand-name shoes manufactured in various countries. They were analyzed for a number of metals and organic compounds. The metals analyzed in the study were arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc. High levels of trivalent chromium were found in all the shoes. All but one shoe, contained high levels of mercury. All of the other metals were found in varying degrees in all of the shoes.

Also found were organic compounds either used for tanning, dying or preserving the leather.

Chlorinated phenols (biocide), ortho-phenylphenol (fungicide, anti-bacterial agent, preservative), 2,4,6-tribromphenol (fungicide, bactericide, flame retardant), chlorinated paraffins (de-fatting, re-fatting), dimethylfumarate (preservative), formaldehyde (preservative) were just some of the compounds tested and found in the shoes. Two of the tested shoes contained azodyes (banned in many countries) and capable of forming carcinogenic amines.

Many of these metals, dyes and organic compounds can easily cross the skin barrier if one perspires in one's shoes. Blisters and cuts on the foot may enhance the uptake.

Not only should we worry about our feet, but when we landfill our leather products these toxins could leach into our drinking water. Incineration is no better, as many of these compounds when mixed with other organics, become even deadlier. Trivalent chromium may oxidize into carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. Combustion of halogenated compounds, such as chlorinated and brominated phenols, may result in formation of dioxins and furans...

http://inspirationgreen.com/toxins-in-leather-shoes.html

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Occupational cancers in leather tanning industries: A short review  

 

2007

http://www.ijoem.com/article.asp?issn=0019-5278;year=2007;volume=11;issue=1;spage=3;epage=5;aulast=Rastogi

 

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Be cautious of water resistant clothing with PFCs

What are PFCs - http://www.everydayexposures.com/toxins/pfcs

Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) are organofluorine compounds that have an ability to make products stain, grease, and water resistant, and are popular for their non-stick and stain-repellant uses. Due to these properties, PFCs are often used in paper food containers such as microwave popcorn bags and fast food wrappers. PFCs are considered persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and resist chemical, biological, and photolytic degradation in the environment. These chemicals biomagnify in the food chain and bioaccumulate in animal and human tissues.

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Euro 2012 football shirts are "toxic"

 

2012

 The EU consumer watchdog BEUC have announced that testing has shown that nine of the sixteen first choice shirts of the Euro 2012 finalists contain "worrying" levels of chemicals and may pose a health risk.

Six of the shirts - Spain, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, France and Italy - were found to contain lead, a heavy metal, with the Spanish and German shirts (both adidas) carrying an amount exceeding the legal limit for children's products.  The Portugal and Holland shirts (both Nike) were found to contain nickel.

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/12/13-kits/euro-2012-football-shirts-are-toxic.html


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PFAS widespread in water- and stain-resistant outdoor clothes, home linens

Jan 26, 2022

https://www.ehn.org/household-products-with-pfas-2656476590.html
 

 

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Harmful Effects of Polyester Resin 

http://www.ehow.com/list_6757223_harmful-effects-polyester-resin.html

 

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Researchers Name New Cars with the Most Toxic Interior Materials 

 2012

 

CNET says, “These chemicals are used to make plastics flexible, make fabrics fire-resistant, and contribute to that ‘new car smell.’ But they're also associated with birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.”

 “The good news is overall vehicle ratings are improving,” the Ecology Center says. “The best vehicles today have eliminated hazardous flame retardants and PVC. Today, 17 percent of new vehicles have PVC-free interiors and 60 percent are produced without BFRs.”

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/best-cars-blog/2012/02/Researchers_Name_New_Cars_with_the_Most_Toxic_Interior_Materials/


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Tests Find Cancer-Causing Chemical In 98 Personal Care Products

2013

http://consumerist.com/2013/08/27/tests-find-cancer-causing-chemical-in-98-personal-care-products/


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Many hair dyes contain carcinogen, report finds

June 7, 2004

 

Manufacturers are using known carcinogens in dozens of hair-dye products despite studies that link hair dyeing to increases in bladder cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to a report released yesterday by environmental and public health advocates.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Many-hair-dyes-contain-carcinogen-report-finds-1146660.php

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Carcinogenicity of hair dye components.

 1980

 

The available animal carcinogenicity data on hair dye components was reviewed. From this review it became clear that certain hair dye components, some of which are still in hair dye formulations now on the market, are animal carcinogens. The compounds of concern that are still in use are: 3-amino-4-methoxyaniline, 2-nitro-4-aminoaniline and 3-nitro-4-hydroxyaniline. Certain azo dyes formerly used, and related compounds still in use, contain the benzidine moiety. Two of these compounds, Direct Blue 6 and Direct Black 38, have been shown to be metabolized in animals to the human carcinogen benzidine. Furthermore, skin absorption studies carried out with radiolabeled hair dye components applied to animal or human skin have conclusively shown that these compounds are systemically absorbed and excreted. Known cocarcinogens such as catechol and pyrogallol, which enhance benzo(a)pyrene carcinogenicity on mouse skin, are used as hair dye components. It is not known whether such compounds will enhance the carcinogenicity of substituted aniline hair dye chemicals. The available epidemiologic data are not sufficient to link hair dye use with an increased incidence in human cancer.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6993608

 

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Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Can be Cancer Risks

The skin is extremely permeable. Cosmetic ingredients most certainly are absorbed through the skin. Some chemicals may penetrate the skin in significant amounts, especially when left on the skin for long periods, as in the case of facial makeup. One study showed that 13 percent of the cosmetic preservative butylate hydroxytoluene (BHT) and 49 percent of the carcinogenic pesticide DDT (which is found in some cosmetics containing lanolin) is absorbed through the skin...

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/cosmetics/cosmetics_personal_care.htm


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The Price of Red Lips

 

May 22, 2013

Red lipstick is notorious for being the lipstick color with the highest prevalence of lead. But research shows that it’s not just limited to tubes of red. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores for nine metals. They found manganese, titanium, chromium, nickel and aluminum in practically every product, lead in 75% of them, and cadmium in nearly half. - See more at: http://www.emagazine.com/blog/the-price-of-red-lips#sthash.57xSdVe0.dpuf

Red lipstick is notorious for being the lipstick color with the highest prevalence of lead. But research shows that it’s not just limited to tubes of red. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley’s School of Public Health tested 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores for nine metals. They found manganese, titanium, chromium, nickel and aluminum in practically every product, lead in 75% of them, and cadmium in nearly half...

http://www.emagazine.com/blog/the-price-of-red-lips

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Safety Assessment of Nylon as Used in Cosmetics

 

http://www.cir-safety.org/sites/default/files/nylon122012tent_faa_final%20for%%2020posting.pdf

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The dangerous toxins in your shampoo

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-dangerous-toxins-your-shampoo

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Toxic Shampoo: Read before Applying

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/toxic-shampoo-read-before_b_1932049.html


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Are You Using This Popular But Cancer-Causing Shampoo? 

 

2011

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/14/johnson-johnson-baby-products-toxic.aspx

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Sunscreen Ingredient May Increase Skin Cancer Risk
 

2012

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507131951.htm

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The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

A 2009 study of Austrian college students found that those who used the most perfume and scented lotion also had the highest levels of synthetic musks, including Galaxolide and Tonalide, in their blood. Research by the Environmental Working Group has even found synthetic musks in the umbilical cord blood of newborn U.S. infants. Preliminary research suggests that musks may disrupt hormones. Both Galaxolide and Tonalide can bind to and stimulate human estrogen receptors and have been shown to affect androgen and progesterone receptors. Tonalide has also been reported to increase the proliferation of estrogen-responsive human breast cancer cells. These musks have an environmental impact – they have been found to be toxic to aquatic life in numerous studies and can accumulate in the food chain...

http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=222

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Toxic Perfume Ingredients Linked to Cancer, Sperm Damage -


Here's what the researchers found, on average:

•  Ten sensitizing chemicals associated with allergic reactions like asthma, wheezing, headaches and contact dermatitis. Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio contained 19 different sensitizing chemicals, more than any other product in the study.

•  Four hormone-disrupting perfume ingredients linked to a range of health effects including sperm damage, thyroid disruption, and cancer.


http://www.rodale.com/perfume-ingredients

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 Is Perfume A Brilliantly Marketed Toxin? 

http://lightworkers.org/blog/51194/is-perfume-a-brilliantly-marketed-toxin

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Cosmetics and Fragranced Products Pose High Risks for Breast Cancer and Other Illnesses

 

Cosmetics and breast cancer
 
To retard microbial spoilage, cosmetics in makeup kits contain synthetic chemical preservatives known as parabens (methyl-, ethyl-, benzyl-, propyl-, butyl- isopropyl- or isobutyl-). Studies have shown that parabens have estrogenic activity on ER+ breast cells. It is well known that cosmetic ingredients can enter the bloodstream through skin absorption...

• Hair dyes. A study conducted by researchers for the American Cancer Society has shown a positive association between the use of black hair dyes and fatal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Although some inconsistencies were seen, a meta-analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed a positive link between the use of permanent hair dyes and Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, unclassified lymphomas and multiple myeloma.

http://www.breastcanceroptions.org/cosmetics_and_fragrances_pose_high_risks_0.aspx

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Mopping can create air pollution that rivals city streets

25 Feb 2022

Pine- and citrus-scented cleaning products react with ozone to create hazardous particles

https://www.science.org/content/article/mopping-can-create-air-pollution-rivals-city-streets

 

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Study: Candle Chemicals Pollute Indoor Air

 THE DETAILS: Most of the candles on the market are made with paraffin wax, derived from petroleum, and scented with synthetic fragrances, also derived from petroleum...

They found varying levels of cancer-causing toluene and benzene, as well as other hydrocarbon chemicals called alkanes and alkenes, which are components of gasoline and can irritate respiratory tracts and trigger asthma.

 Previous research into candle pollution has found that candles can emit ultrafine, lung-damaging particulate matter that's capable of penetrating deep into the lungs. Massoudi adds that candle soot can deposit on furniture, in carpeting, and in walls, lingering for long periods of time...

http://www.rodalenews.com/candles-and-indoor-air-quality

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Beneath The Skin

Landmark legislation passed in Europe will have far

reaching consequences for cosmetics industry regulation

around the world. European Union (E.U.) Directive

2003/15/EEC bans over 1,000 chemicals from use in

cosmetics sold in the E.U., on the basis of scientific

evidence demonstrating that these chemicals are

carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive toxicants (CMRs).

It came into effect in the spring of 2005...

 Phthalates first came to consumers’ attention in 1998

when it was discovered that vinyl toys contained diisononyl

phthalate (DINP). The soft plastic toys –including

teething and other toys made specifically to be put in the

mouth—were exposing kids to very high levels of DINP

because it was released from the toys when children

mouthed them. Despite the evidence of this exposure

route, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission 

 continues to allow the use of DINP in children’s

toys in the U.S. In contrast, the same information

almost immediately prompted bans on similar

products in Europe, and in 2005 the European

Parliament permanently banned six phthalates from

use in children’s toys. Under the E.U.’s action, three

phthalates (DINP, DIDP, and DNOP) are banned

in toys that are intended to be sucked or chewed by

children under three, and three more (DEHP, DBP, and

BBP) are banned in all children’s products sold in the

European Union.

  An Environmental Working Group analysis shows that at least 

146 cosmetic ingredients may contain harmful impurities which 

may be linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, and reproductive problems.

The EWG study also identified three common impurities

in personal care products that are linked to mammary

tumors in animal studies—ethylene oxide, poly-aromatic 

 hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 1,3-butadiene. At least one of

these ingredients is found in one quarter of the personal

care products on the market.Two common impurities are 

1,4 dioxane and nitrosamines. The EPA considers these 

chemicals probable human carcinogens.

http://www.iehn.org/filesalt/IEHNCosmeticsReportFin.pdf

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Food Dyes Linked to Cancer, ADHD, Allergies

 

2010

 

”Red 3 and Citrus Red 2 should be banned under the Delaney amendment, because they caused cancer in rats (some uses were banned in 1990), as should Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6, which are tainted with cancer-causing contaminants.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/07/popular-food-dyes-linked-to-cancer-adhd-and-allergies/#.UmH8shDNkmx

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Food Dyes Linked to Behavioral Problems

Red 40 is used mainly in junk foods. Linked to hyperactivity. Banned in Denmark,
Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Sweden being phased out in the entire EU. Made of petroleum and 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid.

http://www.inspirationgreen.com/food-dyes-linked-to-behavior-problems.html

 

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50 Jawdroppingly Toxic Food Additives to Avoid

http://mphprogramslist.com/50-jawdroppingly-toxic-food-additives-to-avoid/


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Dangerous Food Additives - AVOID!

http://www.traditionaloven.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/list_of_food_additives.pdf

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POSSIBLE CARCINOGENIC POTENTIAL OF VARIOUS MARKETED DYES

Water pollution due to effluents from textile dyeing industry is a cause of serious concern. The techniques for detection of dyes are cost intensive and futile because the dyes undergo chemical changes under environmental conditions and the transformation products may be more toxic and carcinogenic than the parent molecule. Hence instead of detecting each chemical individually it is advisable to study the toxic effect of the effluents on various living organisms.

Various techniques of toxicity and carcinogenicity measurements are discussed in this review. Remediation using physical, chemical and biological methods has also been critically reviewed.

http://www.ijpcbs.com/files/10-353.pdf

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How Food Companies Fool Consumers with Food Coloring Ingredients Made From Petrochemicals   

You'll notice artificial colors in foods like blueberry muffins or blueberry bagels, too. Read the ingredients on blueberry bagels at your local grocery store next time, and you'll find that there are really no blueberries but plenty of artificial blue and green colors to create the impression of little blueberry bits. They can't even put blueberries in their bagels. They have to trick you with artificial colors.
Do you know what liquid they're using to hold the color? Propylene glycol -- the same chemical you put into your RV when you want to winterize it. It is antifreeze. You're eating antifreeze and petrochemicals -- and that's just the blueberry part. We haven't even gotten to everything else, like refined sugars, chemical preservatives and refined bleached white flour, which has diabetes-causing contaminants. A blueberry bagel is no longer a blueberry bagel. When you really understand what's in the foods, it's mind blowing.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11042.cfm


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Pretty Scary: Heavy Metals in Face Paints

What We Found

For this report, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics sent 10 children's face paints to an independent lab to test for heavy metals. Among our findings:

• 10 out of 10 children's face paints we tested contained low levels of lead, ranging from 0.05 to 0.65 parts per million (ppm).
  

6 out of 10 products contained the potent allergens nickel, chromium and/or cobalt at levels ranging from 1.6 to 120 ppm – far above the safety recommendations of industry studies.

http://www.safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=584

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Pilot Study Links Toxic Metal Dust at Home to Worksite Practices

March 3, 2022

https://www.enr.com/articles/53710-pilot-study-toxic-metal-dust-home-worksite-practices

 

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Toxic chemicals are hiding in your house dust, study says

Sept. 14, 2016

https://www.ksl.com/article/41472889/toxic-chemicals-are-hiding-in-your-house-dust-study-says

 

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The Secret of Dust Revealed: What's dust, where it come from & how to deal with it

Sep 29, 2021

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/how-to/the-secret-of-dust-whats-dust-where-it-come-from-how-to-deal-with-it/articleshow/86549977.cms

 

 

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Household Dust Is Laced With Toxic Chemicals, Study Finds

September 14th 2016

https://www.news9.com/story/5e34ac2d527dcf49dad8a163/household-dust-is-laced-with-toxic-chemicals-study-finds

 

 

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Are You Decking the Halls With Toxic Tinsel? 

 

http://www.rodalenews.com/christmas-ornaments-toxic


 Your stocking might be more toxic than the lump of coal sitting inside it. While the lights, garlands, bells, and balls springing up in your home are lovely, their toxic chemical load suggests that they were made by the Grinch, not happy elves, according to HealthyStuff.org, a project of the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

 Testing seasonal products from major U.S. retailers, the nonprofit found that more than two-thirds contained at least one hazardous material at a concerning level. Thirteen percent contained lead above 100 parts per million (ppm), 35 percent contained chlorine greater than 1 percent by weight (suggesting that the product contained PVC plastics), 12 percent contained bromine above 800 ppm (suggesting use of toxic flame retardants), and 54 percent contained antimony at 100 ppm. (In case you were wondering, antimony is a metal linked to stomach ulcers, heart problems, and skin and lung irritation.)

Putrid Plastic Plants

• Holiday Swag Bundle (aka fake mistletoe), manufactured and sold by Target contains 670 ppm antimony; 2,400 ppm bromine; 24,700 ppm chlorine; and 152 ppm tin.

• Poinsettia Wreath, sold at Walmart, manufactured by Holiday Time, has 230 ppm antimony; 900 ppm bromine; 6,500 ppm chlorine; and 830 ppm lead.

 • Silver Jingle Bell Door Hanger, sold at Kroger, manufactured by Holiday Home, contains 150 ppm arsenic; 1,900 ppm chlorine; 170 ppm lead; and 1,500 ppm tin.



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Non-edible 'luster dust' sprinkled on cakes can be toxic, health officials say

Oct. 30, 2021

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/10/30/cakes-luster-dust-nonedible-toxic/1371635539902/

 

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Cake decorating dust linked to heavy metal poisoning in kids, CDC warns

Oct 28, 2021

https://www.wate.com/news/cake-decorating-dust-linked-to-heavy-metal-poisoning-in-kids-cdc-warns/

 

 

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Sorry, But Turns Out Your Favorite Blueberries May Be Entirely Fake

Oct. 29, 2014

Bad news for blueberry lovers. You know those teeny "blueberry" pieces dotting your favorite flavor of muffin, bagel, cereal, cereal bar or other breakfast treat? It turns out they may not have ever been actual berries in their sad, small lives. The ingredient list on some breakfast treats reveals that these "blueberries" are in fact just sugar, corn syrup and food coloring clumped into berry-sized bits.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fake-blueberry-breakfast-foods_n_6016288

 

 
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Don’t Be Fooled. Fake Honey Is Everywhere! Here Is How To Detect It (And Brands To Avoid)

May 26, 2020

Hiding The Origin of Honey

Companies try to hide the origin of honey, because they don’t want consumers to know that it likely came from China. Honey from China, as mentioned above, is over-processed, but also diluted with high-fructose corn syrup and sweeteners, as well as tainted with chemicals, heavy metals, and antibiotics.

In 2001, Chinese beekeepers had their hives inundated with foulbrood disease. They fought off the disease with strong animal antibiotics like chloramphenicol, a carcinogenic antibiotic that has been banned by the FDA. The FDA has since confiscated over $32,000 worth of imported Chinese honey contaminated with this drug – however, the FDA only tests about 5% of imported honey, so who knows how much tainted honey actually gets through to North America.

https://livelovefruit.com/fake-honey-is-everywhere/

---------------------------------------------------

China’s Fake Eggs Made of Plastic – Facts Analysis

2013

http://www.hoaxorfact.com/Health/china-s-fake-eggs-made-of-plastic-facts-analysis.html

 

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

 

China revealed: From toxic food to toxic politics

01/28/22

Could you imagine a place where soya sauce is made with human hair, collected from salons and hospitals?

Could you imagine a place where sewage can be used to manufacture cooking oil and red dye can be added into chili sauce and noodles?

A place where pigs and sheeps are fed with a banned steroid to gain in weight, while babies might suffer from malnutrition and even be caused to death by fake milk powder including a poisonous substance.

That place unfortunately exists on Earth...

https://thebl.com/china/china-revealed-from-toxic-food-to-toxic-politics.html

 

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Protect kids from toxins

http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehkids/pdf/toxicbro.pdf

 

------------------------------------

11 Disgusting “Natural” Ingredients in Your Food

May 7, 2019

https://www.organics.org/11-disgusting-natural-ingredients-in-your-food/

 

 
------------------------------------

 

‘Dangerous' Lead Levels Found in Spicy Plum Candy Made in San Diego

February 4, 2022

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/california-ag-issues-consumer-alert-for-dangerous-lead-levels-in-candy/2860854/

 

------------------------------------

8 Beers That You Should Stop Drinking Immediately

May 7, 2019

https://www.organics.org/8-beers-that-you-should-stop-drinking-immediately/

 

------------------------------------ 

Pesticides and Children’s Health

Pesticides and Children’s Health

Pesticides and Children’s Health

http://www.emagazine.com/earth-talk/pesticides-and-childrens-health

 

--------------------------------------------------------


How to Raise Chemical Free Kids

http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/chemical-free-kids/non-toxic-hand-sanitizer-47081806


-------------------------------------------------------------

The Advantages of Organic Clothing 

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/advantages-organic-clothing-2630.html

----------------------------------------------------

Teflon Chemical Implicated in Heart Disease

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/teflon-warnings

------------------------------------------------

Study Finds Teflon Chemical In Newborns' Umbilical Cords

2006

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/teflon_umbilical.html

---------------------------------


Toxic Cookware


According to risk assessments by the EPA, PFOA’s present significant developmental and reproductive risks in humans with the use of Teflon:


http://whatscookingamerica.net/LindaPosch/ToxicCookware.htm

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toxic forever chemicals found in almost 75 percent of stain and waterproof gear sold by major retailers

January 27, 2022

Nearly three-quarters of water- and stain-resistant products contain toxic forever chemicals, a new report has found.

Public health and environmental organization Toxic-Free Future tested 60 products from 10 major retailers. Of 47 products labeled stain-or water-resistant, 72 percent of them tested positive for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), chemicals known for their persistence in the environment that have been linked to health problems including cancer, immune suppression, liver damage, reproductive problems and thyroid disease.

“Rain jackets shouldn’t cause cancer — but for some of us, that just might be the case,” Clean Cape Fear co-founder Emily Donovan said in response to the findings, as quoted in a Toxic-Free Future press release. “These companies sold a convenience product to consumers without fully disclosing the toxic trade-off.”

https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/01/27/toxic-forever-chemicals-found-in-almost-75-percent-of-stain-and-waterproof-gear-sold-by-major-retailers/
 

 

------------------------------------------------------------

Your Metal Drinking Bottle Is Probably A Toxic Plastic Bottle In Disguise

 

2010

http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/300-your-metal-drinking-bottle-is-probably-a-toxic-plastic-bottle-in-disguise.html

 

------------------------------------------------------

Foam Cups and Containers Officially Linked to Cancer

 

Sep 5, 2014


http://www.liveinthenow.com/article/foam-cups-and-containers-officially-linked-to-cancer

---------------------------------------------------------


Contamination of Canadian and European bottled waters with antimony from PET containers. 

 

2006
 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16470261

--------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic Water Bottles 

 2008

 

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-04/toxic-water-bottles

 

--------------------------------


Beyond BPA: Could 'BPA-Free' Products Be Just as Unsafe?

 2011

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/04/beyond-bpa-could-bpa-free-products-be-just-as-unsafe/237246/

 

-----------------------------------------------------

BPA-Free Does Not Mean Safe. Most Plastics Leach Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals.

 

 April 12, 2011

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/04/bpa-free-does-not-mean-safe-most-plastics-leach-hormone-disrupting-chemicals/


---------------------------------------------

Legal Battle Erupts Over Whose Plastic Consumers Should Trust

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07/30/157592882/legal-battle-heats-up-over-whose-plastic-consumers-should-trust


--------------------------------------------------------


Mouth guard could carry BPA risks

Aug. 21, 2012

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/21/mouth-guard-could-carry-bpa-risks/

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Bisphenol A in dental sealants and its estrogen like effect

2012

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22629496/

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is Silicone In Baby Products And Bakeware Really Safe?

 July 28, 2011

Silicone is manufactured with 30 to 40 chemicals that YES, over time do leach out into surrounding environment...

 Here are some of the chemicals: methylene chloride (aka Dichloromethan – This breaks down in the body so blood cannot carry oxygen: Metabolizes carbon monoxide poisoning.), platinum (I was in a clinical study where implanted women were tested for platinum in their tissues, blood, hair and nails. All the women in group showed platinum in their system but my platinum levels were the highest!), Toluene, Xylene, Freon, Phenol, Benzene (a known carcinogen), acetone, etc...

 http://www.safbaby.com/is-silicone-in-baby-products-and-bakeware-really-safe

------------------------------------------------------------------

Government Cites Some Plastic Components As Carcinogenic

 

June 15, 2011

 https://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/government-cites-some-plastic-components-as-carcinogenic/


------------------------------------------------------

 

Microplastics make organic pollutants ten times more toxic - TAU study

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

The research found that adsorption of organic pollutants to the microplastics increases toxicity by a factor of 10 and may also cause severe impact on humans who are exposed to contaminated food.

https://www.jpost.com/science/article-696731

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

PLASTICS THAT MAY BE HARMFUL TO CHILDREN AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

2008 

 

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/plastics/ehhi_plastics_report_2008.pdf

 

-------------------------------------------------------

Popular Plasticizer Added to California’s List of Known Carcinogens under Proposition 65

 December 26, 2013

On December 20, 2013, Diisononyl phthalate (DINP) was added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) maintains the list pursuant to the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, also known as Proposition 65.
Under Proposition 65, no person in the course of doing business in California may knowingly and intentionally expose any individual to a listed chemical without first providing a clear and reasonable warning.

For example:

On October 28, 2011, Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate (TDCPP), a foam flame retardant, was added to the Proposition 65 list. The first notice letter was issued less than one month after the warning obligation became effective, and the first lawsuit was filed less than one month after the expiration of the notice period. To date, more than 250 notice of intent to sue letters have been issued and more than 200 lawsuits have been filed.

Titanium dioxide (airborne, unbound particles of respirable size), a chemical used in certain personal care products, was listed on September 2, 2011 and the warning obligation became effective on September 2, 2012. Since early 2013, more than 100 companies have received notice letters and been named in lawsuits.

http://www.sidley.com/popular-plasticizer-added-to-californias-list-of-known-carcinogens-under-proposition-65-12-26-2013/?nomobile=perm

--------------------------------------------------- 

The plasticizer benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) inhibits 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced rat mammary DNA adduct formation and tumorigenesis.

 

Aug, 1997

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9276647

Although the risk for cancer is multifactorial, a substantial portion of cancer incidence rates is related to environmental factors, including diet and environmental chemicals. The magnitude of the contribution to cancer of the breast from exposure to environmental chemicals remains unclear. The phthalate ester plasticizers are abundantly-produced industrial chemicals that have become widely-dispersed environmental pollutants. The present studies were conducted to determine the effect of the phthalate ester, benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) on mammary gland carcinogenesis induced in the female rat by the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA). Exposure to BBP (i.p. injection) at 100 and 500 mg/kg doses for 5 days resulted in a significant 72 and 92% inhibition, respectively, in the in vivo formation of mammary DMBA-DNA adducts, compared to controls. Treatment with BBP (i.g. intubation) for 7 days resulted in a significant (48%) inhibition in mammary DMBA-DNA adduct formation only for those animals receiving the 500 mg/kg dose, compared to controls. Administration of BBP (i.g.) at 500 mg/kg for 7 days also was associated with a significant 8.5-fold increase in the liver activity of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase. No change in liver glutathione-S-transferase activity was observed for animals treated with both BBP (i.g.) doses. Treatment with BBP (i.g.) at 250 and 500 mg/kg doses for 7 days prior to DMBA administration resulted in a significant 37% decrease in mammary tumor incidence for both doses, compared to controls. The number of mammary adenocarcinomas per rat was significantly inhibited by 60 and 70% for rats exposed to BBP at the 250 and 500 mg/kg doses, respectively, compared to controls. Therefore, the present studies indicate that BBP acts as a blocking agent toward DMBA-induced rat mammary DNA adduct formation and mammary carcinogenesis. This effect partly may be due to increased metabolism of BBP in the liver. These results underscore the need to further examine the effect of BBP and other phthalates on the various stages of mammary carcinogenesis, as well as on the metabolism of mammary carcinogens.


-----------------------------------------------

Phthalates

TEACH Chemical Summary

http://www.epa.gov/teach/chem_summ/phthalates_summary.pdf

U.S. EPA, Toxicity and Exposure Assessment for Children’s Health

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used as plasticizers, which provide flexibility and durability to plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Phthalates are dialkyl

or alkyl aryl esters of 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid. Phthalates in pure form are usually clear liquids, some with faint sweet odors and some with faint yellow color. Plastics that contain phthalates are commonly used in applications that include building materials, clothing, cosmetics, perfumes, food packaging, toys, and vinyl products (e.g., flooring, shower curtains, and raincoats); and in medical applications that include blood transfusion bags and tubing, intravenous fluid bags and tubing, and other medical devices. Phthalates are also found in lubricating oils, solvents, and detergents. 

With respect to health effects, phthalates are often classified as endocrine disruptors or hormonally-active agents (HAAs) because of their ability to interfere with the endocrine system in the body. Exposure to phthalates has been reported to result in increased incidence of developmental abnormalities such as cleft palate and skeletal malformations, and increased fetal death in experimental

animal studies. The most sensitive system is the immature

The ubiquitousness of phthalates in items used daily by children is of concern for children’s health because it increases the likelihood of exposure. Exposure media of concern for children include breast milk, retail cow’s milk, and infant formulas (8-10); foods contained in plastic packaging (6, 11-13); plastic toys and feeding items, such as cups and bowls (12-15); indoor air (16); and medical devices

such as plastic tubing used during intravenous treatments, transfusions, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatments, or dialysis. The use of phthalates in bottle nipples and pacifiers was voluntarily discontinued beginning in 1986. 

Unless stated otherwise, most studies described in this Chemical Summary focused on diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) exposure, one of the most commonly used and produced phthalates in the United States. Other phthalates of concern include: diisononyl phthalate (DINP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP), dimethyl phthalate(DMP), and dimethyl-terephthalate (DMT).

------------------

Potential Industrial Carcinogens and Mutagens

 Chapter 1 Introduction
 Chapter 2 Combination effects in chemical carcinogenesis 
 Chapter 3 Aspects of epidemiology riskassessment and threshold dose
 Chapter 4 Tabular summaries of potential industrial carcinogens and mutagens
 Chapter 5 Alkylating agentsepoxides and lactones
 Chapter 6 Aziridines aliphatic sulfuric acid esters sultones diazoalkanes and arylalkyltriazenes
 Chapter 7 Phosphoric acid esters
 Chapter 8 Aldehydes
 Chapter 9 Acylating agents
 Chapter 10 Peroxides
 Chapter 11 Halogenated unsaturated hydrocarbons
 Chapter 12 Halogenated saturated hydrocarbons
 Chapter 13 Alkane halides halogenated alkanols and halogenated ethers
 Chapter 14 Halogenated aryl derivatives
 Chapter 15 Halogenated polyaromatic derivatives
 Chapter 16 Hydrazines hydroxylamines carbamates acetamides thioacetamides and thioureas
 Chapter 17 Nitrosamines
 Chapter 18 Aromatic amines and azo dyes
 Chapter 19 Heterocyclic Amines and nitrofurans
 Chapter 20 Nitroaromatics and nitroalkanes
 Chapter 21 Unsaturated nitriles and azides
 Chapter 22 Aromatic hydrocarbons
 Chapter 23 Anthraquinones quinones and polyhydric phenols
 Chapter 24 Phthalic and adipic acid esters
 Chapter 25 Cyclic ethers
 Chapter 26 Phosphoramides and phosphonium salts
 Chapter 27 Miscellaneous potential carcinogens and mutagens

 

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Iuk93VMrExMC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=Potential+Industrial+Carcinogens+and+Mutagens&ots=gbCOlzsgUD&sig=3Gm3gyLBW6MoikqOpPBT9iqyx6Q#v=onepage&q=Potential%20Industrial%20Carcinogens%20and%20Mutagens&f=false

 
 
------------

Toxic Dreams: Crib Mattresses May Release Risky Fumes

 

 2014

 

 A recent study by the University of Texas at Austin means parents have more to worry about.

The study of foam from 20 old and new crib mattresses found that mattresses release up to 30 different types of volatile organic compounds, also known as VOCs, among them, phenol, a strong skin and respiratory irritant.  The study detected other chemicals, including linalool and limonene, known fragrance allergens that can cause skin allergies. Repeated exposure over time increases the chances of an allergic reaction.

The Texas researchers discovered that the sleeping zone of the crib gave off the most intense VOC fumes.  New crib mattresses released four times as much as old cribs. These results are especially troubling because infants’ respiratory systems are fragile, many babies spend much of their first year of life in a crib, and body heat intensifies emissions. 

http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2014/04/toxic-dreams-crib-mattresses-may-release-risky-fumes


----------------------------------------------------

Is Your Mattress Toxic? Hidden Dangers in Your Sleeping Environment

 

http://redandhoney.com/is-your-mattress-toxic-hidden-dangers-in-your-sleeping-environment/

--------------------------------------------------

Be Aware of Artificial Turf Hazards

http://www.njwec.org/PDF/Factsheets/fact-artificialterf.pdf

-----------------------------------------------------

Floors Can Make You Sick. A Look at Toxic Flooring: Tile, Carpet, and Bamboo

 

April 26, 2013

http://www.decodedscience.com/toxic-flooring-tile-carpet-and-bamboo/29139


-------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toxic Carpet: Dangerous Toxins that Live in Your Carpeting

 http://www.greenandhealthy.info/toxiccarpeting.html

• New Carpets:
  
  
  • Contain toluene, benzene, formaldehyde, ethyl benzene, styrene, acetone and a host of other chemicals that are known carcinogens and produce fetal abnormalities in test animals. These chemicals also cause hallucinations, nerve damage and respiratory illness in humans. Please refer to this article: "Toxic Emissions from New Carpets"
  
  
  • That 'new carpet smell' comes from 4-PC, associated with eye, nose and upper respiratory problems. 4-PC is used in the latex backing of 95% of US carpets.
  
  
  • Other compounds that affect your health are adhesives, flame retardants and stain protectors. In 2000 the 3M Company removed the chemical perflouro-octanyl salphonate from their product, Scotchgard, because it had been found to cause reproductive problems in rats.
  
  
  • Mothproofing chemicals contain naphthalene, which is known to produce toxic reactions, especially in newborns.
  
  
  • Fire retardants often contain PBDEs which are known to cause damage to thyroid, immune system and brain development functions in humans.
  
  
  • Other possible hazardous chemicals: sprays, artificial dyes, antimicrobial treatments and finishes

---------------------------- 

Carpet cleaners can leave residues that are toxic to cats and dogs

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/carpet-cleaners-can-leave-residues-that-are-toxic-to-cats-and-dogs/2014/02/27/b7a681a2-9904-11e3-80ac-63a8ba7f7942_story.html

 

------------------------------------------- 

Dogs And Cats Contaminated With High Levels Of Toxic Industrial Chemicals

In the first study of its kind, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that companion cats and dogs are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people.

http://www.care2.com/news/member/787093533/727657

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

How Gross Is the Water That Drips From Air Conditioners?

July 15, 2013

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/07/water-dripping-from-air-conditioners-is-it-sanitary.html

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

New study warns smartphones may ‘fuel lead poisoning epidemic’: who is at risk and what is the danger

August 18, 2021

https://www.revyuh.com/news/lifestyle/health-and-fitness/new-study-warns-smartphones-may-fuel-lead-poisoning-epidemic-who-is-at-risk-and-what-is-the-danger/

 

------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic Chemicals in Pregnant Women?

In January 2010, a study by the University of California San Francisco confirmed that pregnant women carry multiple chemicals in their bodies that can be passed onto their fetus. Published in Environmental Health Perspectives, the study evaluated data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003-2004. Overall, 43 banned as well as currently used chemicals -- including PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, PFCs, phenols, PBDE flame retardants, phthalates -- were detected in 99-100% of over 250 pregnant women.


http://www.nrdc.org/living/pregnancy/toxic-chemicals-pregnant-women.asp

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Babies' brains at risk from toxic pollution: UN

6 Dec 2017

https://www.trtworld.com/life/babies-brains-at-risk-from-toxic-pollution-un-12917

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------

Environmental Toxins Cost Billions in Childhood Disease

 

2011

 

http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/04/environmental-toxins-cost-billions-in-childhood-disease/

--------------------------------------------------------- 

Many of the carcinogens and toxins in clothing, shoes and everyday consumer items, does not even biodegrade properly in the environment. We need to phase out the harmful chemicals we find in many items. We must find a sustainable way of producing consumer goods that biodegrade properly. We must design everyday items that do not harm the environment, including living beings from harmful chemicals.



Even many of the landfills in southern California continue to leak contaminates into our environment. This is why we need to find the root cause of the problems that continue to harm our environment in California and the planet. We must take a stand as a civilization so that we ensure a better future for the next generation of living beings.

 

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------


Chapter 2: Orange County

-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

Supervisors May Take In the Trash Again : Landfills: Deal would allow county to raise cash by allowing L.A. firm to dump 2,300 tons of waste at Irvine site.

 

December 2, 1995 | SHELBY GRAD, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The final piece of Orange County's ambitious "trash for cash" plan to help lift itself out of bankruptcy will go before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday when officials propose increased dumping at an Irvine landfill. The board will decide whether to allow Los Angeles-based Calsan Inc. to dump up to 2,300 tons of garbage a day at the Bowerman landfill. The largest importation proposal yet, it would generate $8 million a year from landfill fees.

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-02/local/me-9557_1_landfill-fees

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Trash-Import Bill Meets Opposition : Environment: Lawmaker wants to relax regulations on landfills to help cash-starved county. But San Juan Capistrano residents, Irvine streets would feel impact.

 

April 05, 1995

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/25/local/me-4664

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Trash Imports Profit County--at a Cost

 

O.C. began taking other counties' refuse in 1995, raising $88.5 million to offset bankruptcy losses. But landfill neighbors complain of noisy trucks, and local haulers object to outsiders' lower fees.

December 25, 2000

Because of its proximity to Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Olinda Alpha landfill near Brea gets most of the imported waste. Last year, about 35%--2,173 tons--of the refuse trucked daily to Olinda Alpha came from the three counties.

In the same year, the Prima Deshecha landfill outside San Juan Capistrano got 32%--695 tons--of its daily trash from San Diego County. In 1998, San Diego County trash accounted for 40% of the waste at Prima Deshecha and 43% the year before, according to county figures...

At the Frank R. Bowerman landfill near Irvine, imported trash made up 8%--527 tons--of the waste dumped there every day in 1999.
In all, about 3,400 tons of rubbish is trucked into Orange County and dumped every day...

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/25/local/me-4664



------------------------------------------------------------

Irvine : Council Urges Action on Coyote Canyon Seepage

 

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-11/local/me-3949_1_coyote-canyon )

April 11, 1986

City Council members, disturbed about the presence of cancer-causing poisons in the water supply under the Coyote Canyon landfill, this week demanded that the county take steps to correct the "potential health threat" before the poisons seep into the city's drinking water.

City Councilman Larry Agran said the council urged the county to construct a dam and pump out the toxic agents in the water to prevent the waste from running into the city's drinking water supplies. The council has also requested quarterly measurements of the toxin levels and improved management of the landfill.
"Any and all protective measures must be taken to protect the public health," Agran said, noting that metal and petroleum traces found in the landfill water had moved 1,300 feet beyond the perimeter of the Coyote Canyon landfill and could travel up to 50 feet per year.

Frank Bowerman, director and chief engineer of the Orange County Waste Management Program, argued that there was no need for an "emergency-type alarm" despite the presence of the chemical trichloroethylene, commonly referred to as TCE. TCE has been measured in concentrations of eight parts per billion at the landfill, a concentration that exceeds the state's action level of five parts per billion.

-------------------------------------------------------

O.C. Seeks Emergency Funds to Halt Slide at Irvine Landfill

Waste: County moves to spend $1.5 million on temporary repairs to a 40-acre section that is fracturing. The site plays a crucial role in paying off bankruptcy debt.

 

September 06, 2002

 

A 40-acre section of the Frank R. Bowerman landfill in Irvine is buckling and fracturing, prompting officials to seek emergency funds to halt the landslide before the rainy season begins.

Officials said that if the landslide isn't stopped, it could reduce the long-term capacity of the landfill at a time when the county is using revenue from the facility to pay off bankruptcy debts.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will be asked Tuesday to declare a state of emergency at the landfill, clearing the way for the county to spend $1.5 million to make temporary repairs.

Orange County began importing trash in October 1995, after its financial collapse. Since then, nearly $100 million in dumping fees has been paid by other counties' trash haulers. Much of that windfall goes to pay off a bankruptcy bond debt of nearly $1 billion.

Because of the imported trash, the county has proposed expanding the size and life span of Bowerman and the Olinda Alpha landfill near Brea to meet future local needs.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/06/local/me-landfill6

----------------------------------------------------------------


Hazards and Hazardous Materials

  City of Orange

( http://www.cityoforange.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=2735  )

 The following is a summary of the proposed project’s potential impacts to hazards and hazardous materials, any necessary mitigation measures, and the level of significance after mitigation.

 Santiago Hills II and East Orange


 ... Within the East Orange Planned Community Area 2 study area, a number of specific sites near Irvine Lake and Catalina Pacific Concrete Sand and Gravel had characteristics of a recognized environmental condition. The Santiago Canyon Landfill, located within the remaining area, had characteristics of a recognized environmental condition. No portions of these areas were found to contain any transformers or asbestos-
containing building materials. 


Santiago Canyon Landfill

The Santiago Canyon Landfill is a Class III municipal
solid waste landfill, and is currently undergoing
closure procedures, as required by the regulations
in Title 27 of CCR. The landfill, operated between
East Orange Planned Community Area 1 and Irvine 
Lake from 1968 to 1996, covers an area of
approximately 184 acres. Procedures and requirements 
for conformance with closure regulations are
ongoing, and include groundwater, surface water, and vadose 
zone gas monitoring. Also, an active gas
collection system has been installed at the landfill,
and the gas is combusted on site in a flare.


Human Health Risk Assessment

Human Health Risk Assessment Based on the recommendations contained in the Phase I ESA, a human health risk assessment was prepared for the Santiago Canyon Landfill.

 A complete copy is contained in Appendix I-2. The assessment followed the approach in the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) Preliminary Endangerment Assessment Guidance Manual (DTSC 2004) and the DTSC-approved Johnson & Ettinger models (i.e., Soil Gas Screen Version 1.0 and Groundwater Screen Version 2.0).

The objectives of this human health risk assessment were to evaluate 
potential health risks to human receptors posed by residual concentrations 
of potential hazardous compounds detected during previous monitoring. 
Hazardous substances detected through the use of perimeter probes and groundwater wells included concentrations of the following: benzene, chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, 1,1-dichloroethane (1,1-DCA), 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE), dichloromethane, tetrachloroethene (PCE), toluene, trichloroethene (TCE), trichloromethane, vinyl chloride, and xylenes.

The assessment also analyzed VOCs detected in groundwater downgradient from the landfill and surface water emanating from a spring downgradient, at the toe of the landfill. These included: benzene, dichlorodifluoromethane, 1,1-DCA, 1,2-DCA, cis-1,2-DCE, 1,2-dichloropropane, vinyl chloride, toluene,
and xylenes.

To assess the concentrations of these materials, data were used from 14 groundwater monitoring wells and five surface water sampling stations established on site.



--------------------------------------------------------


Irvine, California Threatened by Contaminated Water From El Toro Marine Base (VIDEO REPORT)

( http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july262008/el_toro_2_7_24-08.php )


(IRVINE, Calif.) - A number of government agencies deny that the city of Irvine has big, big problems from TCE, Trichloroethylene; a toxic chemical used in the maintenance of Marine Corps jet fighters at the former at the Marine Corps Air Station. They reject the notion that the TCE has penetrated the groundwater here and as a result, is a serious health hazard for residents in Irvine, California.

But large amounts of evidence tell another story.

Reports from the U.S. Navy indicate that TCE contamination stemming from the Marine base at El Toro is in fact a huge issue in this part of Orange County.

The El Toro Marine Corps Air station was built during WWII and was closed in 1999 under BRAC; the Base Realignment and Closure process, enacted by the U.S. government as an effort to save money during the Reagan years.



-------------------------------------------------

El Toro, Hell Toro, or El Toxic ??
Irvine's Beast of Burden Can't Hide

 

Apr-21-2010

Salem-News.com's Dr. Phil Leveque is a Forensic Toxicologist and a Professor of Pharmacology. He says the only proper thing to do with El Toro, "is to build a ten foot wall around it, and not let anyone set foot on it for the next thousand years."

It has been clearly established through many sources, including the federal government itself, that the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine is a deadly, cancer causing, hazardous waste arena.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april212010/marine-death-tk.php

 

---------------------------------------------

Concrete Shoes for El Toro’s Wells

 

EL TORO’S TOXIC WELL WATER

  
http://www.veterans-for-change.org/news/57-robert-o-dowd

November 30th, 2012


El Toro kept no records of TCE usage but based on the TCE plume spreading miles into Orange County’s aquifer, a ‘huge volume’ of TCE was used at El Toro over many decades. TCE waste found its way into the soil, groundwater and the SGU and eventually off-base into the Orange County aquifer.  El Toro’s plume cut a path right through the base wells. EPA reported the TCE plume averaged 50 ug/L to 500 ug/L or 10 to 100 times the Maximum Contaminant Level of 5 ug/L above the base wells.  Ingestion of contaminated water and inhalation of contaminants during hot showers would affect just about everyone on the base.  Well screens opened in El Toro’s SGU would have allowed TCE into the drinking water.
Some things that you can’t see can kill you and the contaminants in SGU were deadly, even if you couldn’t see them. The list of contaminants is long and definitely not anything that anyone would want to be exposed to.  They include TCE, PCE, TCA, vinyl chloride, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride. This is not a ‘cocktail’ anyone would voluntarily drink.

The Navy denies El Toro’s base wells were contaminated with toxic chemicals and that municipal water was the only sources of potable water from mid-1951. However, the evidence supports contamination of several wells, a high risk that the wells were contaminated with toxic chemicals from well screens opened in the Shallow Groundwater Unit (SGU); the early purchase of softened municipal water (1951) was not enough to meet the requirements for water for both El Toro and the nearby Santa Ana Air Facility; the 30 years of missing water distribution engineering drawings (1955-1985) and missing original well construction drawings support a government cover-up of well water contamination.



--------------------------------------------- 

 

 

Here are more than 300 bases with possible toxic 'forever chemical’ contamination

Dec 11, 2019

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/12/11/here-are-more-than-300-bases-with-possible-toxic-forever-chemical-contamination/

 

 

---------------------------------------------

 

 

Veterans worry polluted base made them ill

February 25, 2022

FORT ORD NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. (AP) — For nearly 80 years, recruits reporting to central California’s Fort Ord considered themselves the lucky ones, privileged to live and work amid sparkling seas, sandy dunes and sage-covered hills.

But there was an underside, the dirty work of soldiering. Recruits tossed live grenades into the canyons of “Mortar Alley,” sprayed soapy chemicals on burn pits of scrap metal and solvents, poured toxic substances down drains and into leaky tanks they buried underground.

When it rained, poisons percolated into aquifers from which they drew drinking water.

Through the years, soldiers and civilians who lived at the U.S. Army base didn’t question whether their tap water was safe to drink.

But in 1990, four years before it began the process of closing as an active military training base, Fort Ord was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of the most polluted places in the nation. Included in that pollution were dozens of chemicals, some now known to cause cancer, found in the base’s drinking water and soil.

https://nypost.com/2022/02/25/veterans-worry-polluted-base-made-them-ill/

---------------------------------------------

California reps ask US for new water study at former base

Feb 26, 2022

https://www.kcra.com/article/california-reps-ask-us-new-water-study-former-base/39241161#

 

 

---------------------------------------------

San Onofre: Nuclear waste dump for the rest of this century?

  It is becoming clear that the decommissioning of San Onofre is now the number one problem for the future of all the cities and towns in Orange and San Diego Counties.  No wonder that hundreds showed up at the NRC meeting in Carlsbad on Sept. 26 to find out what is going to happen.  Surprise!  The NRC opened the meeting stating that public safety was its number one concern.  Then they went on for 3 hours explaining all the dangers.  .  The NRC even has a category called “high risk activities.”  Those who attended the meeting learned that decommissioning would go on for 50-60 years and cost over $4 billion, a sum Edison wants to pass on to rate-payers.

             One bombshell at the meeting was the disclosure that Edison secretly switched to High Burn nuclear fuel back in 1996.   High Burn fuel burns hotter and hence produces more steam which means more electricity which means more profit.  It is also more dangerous, more radioactive,  and more difficult to put in dry cask storage.  It must remain in cooling pools for 12-15 years, almost three times longer than conventional fuel.  This means that spent fuel rods will have to remain in cooling pools until about 2030.

           Even worse, no one knows for sure whether it is even safe to store High Burn waste dry casks.  It may be that we are stuck with pools (which are far more dangerous) for decades to come.  This is one more example of how the NRC and the nuclear industry push relentlessly for more profit and are very willing to gamble with public safety.  They have repeatedly traded public safety for short term gain, and engaged in risky adventures for which they have no solution. One can only wonder if they will do the same thing with decommissioning.

http://patch.com/california/sanclemente/san-onofre-nuclear-waste-dump-for-the-rest-of-this-century_1d2ff538#.U-V3qmOZgo9


------------------------------------------------------ 

Living Next to a War Factory 

   

2000

 

Neighbors of closed Aerojet plant worry about their health and water

 

( http://www.laweekly.com/2000-05-11/news/living-next-to-a-war-factory/ )

 

 They are the products of a clandestine 800-acre complex that operated for nearly 40 years before it was closed in 1995 by military-industrial giant Aerojet General. The site, surrounded by barbed wire and virtually inaccessible cliffs, is near the juncture of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. There, Aerojet detonated mustard- and tear-gas weapons, exploded depleted uranium-tipped projectiles, and produced a galaxy of bombs and munitions. The depleted uranium on the projectiles, which were deployed as tank-busters in the Gulf War and Kosovo, is linked to bone cancer and kidney disease and has a half-life of 4.468 billion years. The Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute noted in 1998 “possible relationships between depleted uranium and neurological, immunological, carcinogenic, genotoxic and mutagenic effects.”

Residents of Chino and Chino Hills claim that chemical and radioactive poisons oozing from the site are damaging their health, even causing cancers. And though linking specific cases of cancer to environmental causes is exceedingly difficult, 58 residents have sued Aerojet, alleging fraud, negligence and seven wrongful deaths. They seek compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, lower property values, and legal fees for, according to the complaint, “willful, wanton and despicable conduct.”

“It’s Rocketdyne East,” said Jonathan Parfrey, local director of the environmental group Physicians for Social Responsibility, referring to the better-known military-industrial complex tucked between the Simi and San Fernando valleys. Residents there blame their sicknesses on cancer-causing chemicals and radioactive pollutants. “But unlike the Rocketdyne situation, the community in Chino Hills is disorganized. Aerojet’s classified experiments haven’t been scrutinized, and the government has apparently bought Aerojet’s [contention] that decades of spraying and exploding death-dealing chemicals can be remediated simply by trucking loads of contaminated dirt off-site.”

Now, after the nearly five-year-long dismantling of Aerojet’s massive complex, activists and residents are worried that their air and soil have been contaminated by radiation and chemicals. Despite reassurances from the government that a proposed cleanup plan will repair the damage, they point to secretive Aerojet restoration activities, a lack of company openness about chemicals deemed classified and an outright dismissal by Aerojet of responsibility for some of the toxins found in the area. And their misgivings may be legitimate — there is evidence that not ã only is the site polluted, but its toxins may have seeped toward the water supplies used by millions of Southern Californians.

Aerojet produced potent and poisonous rocket fuel, including a perchlorate compound, a toxic rocket-fuel oxidizer that can lead to aplastic anemia and may cause autoimmune thyroid disease. Over the years, perchlorate and other poisonous substances were dumped into a 350,000-gallon polyethylene-lined pond and a 270,000-gallon unlined sludge pit. According to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), perchlorate slopped onto Aerojet’s soil and drained into the hills’ substrata.

-------------------------------------------------------

WATER POLLUTANT: More evidence of cancer

My colleague Sandra Stokley recently reported on  how several Inland water providers are looking for ways cooperatively clean up an industrial solvent chemical that has polluted ground water south of the Ontario International Airport. 

The pollutant is called trichloroethylene or TCE.

It is inching in a southerly direction toward the Santa Ana River.  Water officials fear it could contaminate wells operated by the Chino Basin Desalter Authority, a water source for Norco, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Ontario, Chino, Chino Hills and Western Municipal Water District.

A new study in done in Europe provide more evidence linking TCE exposure to cancer, Reuters reported on June 6. 

Danish researchers took data from three  studies in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, which included 5,553 workers (1,777 of them women) with documented exposure to TCE.  With a group that size, they would normal expect to see  20 liver cancer cases,  but actually saw 36 cases among the the TCE exposed population. Similarly, they expected to see two cases of cervical cancer, but actually saw seven.

Blame for the TCE  pollution in the Inland area is disputed, Stokley reported.

The contamination was detected in the mid-1980s and an initial investigation pointed to industrial companies based at Ontario International Airport as the source.  The companies include Aerojet, Boeing and General Electric.

http://blog.pe.com/environment/2013/06/08/water-pollutant-more-evidence-of-cancer/

 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------




 

 

 4 March 1992 Orange County CA - GE fined for violation of worker safety rules on handling PCB's-$11,000


 2 March 1993 Riverside CA - GE and others ordered to pay damages for contamination from dumping of industrial chemicals-$96 million

 3 June 1988 San Francisco- GE and others ordered to cleanup groundwater contamination-$5.3 million initial settlement

http://www.cleanupge.org/gemisdeeds.html



----------

O.C. Agencies Fined for Role in Polluting Area Estuaries

 

One department has been told to pay $125,000; another agreed to a negotiated $35,000.

 

April 29, 2000

 

Two Orange County agencies have been fined $175,000 for polluting sensitive coastal estuaries.
The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board fined the county's Integrated Waste Management Department $125,000 last week and the Public Facilities and Resources Department $50,000 on March 23.

The Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in Irvine, run by the waste department, accidentally released 100,000 gallons of refuse- and sediment-laden water into a tributary of Upper Newport Bay during rain storms in late February and also failed to report the action to officials, said Dixie Lass, chief of the landfill disposal section for the Santa Ana regional board.

Water board inspectors investigating the landfill incident also discovered that a nearby collecting basin was poorly designed and may have been contributing silt and sediment into a tributary of Newport Bay--among the county's most contaminated water bodies--since the landfill opened in 1990.

This is the third fine levied by the board in the past 1 1/2 years for violations at the landfill by the department--a significant number of infractions--Berchtold said. In April 1999, the department was fined $116,800 for discharging storm water that contained volatile organic compounds, dissolved minerals and other liquids from decomposing garbage, Lass said.

In March 1999, it was fined $10,000 for releasing 18,300 gallons of drainage water from below the landfill, water that was contaminated by volatile organic compounds, Lass said.

The Public Facilities and Resources Department also was fined $50,000 last month for releasing 11,000 gallons of water that contained sediment, bacteria and heavy metals into Anaheim Bay. The discharge occurred when workers were hosing out a stormwater pump station near the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Center, Berchtold said.

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/29/local/me-24797

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

AP: Drugs found in drinking water - USATODAY.com

9/12/2008

At the Orange County Sanitation District, a settling basin is used to filter water as part of the advanced secondary treatment, before the water is diverted into the ocean, in Fountain Valley, Calif. 

Pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. 

 A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows...

 In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Water treatment contaminants: ToxiC traSh iN DriNkiNg Water

February 2013

http://www.fairwarning.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2012_tap_water_report_8b.pdf


The EPA’s rules for water treatment contaminants
date back to 1974, when scientists discovered that
chlorine was reacting with dissolved pollution in the
water supply to create more contaminants.

Five years later, the EPA set the nation’s first standards for
trihalomethanes at 100 parts per billion, calculated as
the running annual average of total concentration of
the chemicals.

In 1998, the Clinton EPA lowered the trihalomethane cap to a running annual average of 80 parts per billion and set a new legal limit for
haloacetic acids at a running annual average of 60
parts per billion.

But the agency’s regulatory scheme succeeded in
conveying a false sense of security to the public.
as noted earlier, the EPA regulates just nine
pollutants generated by chlorine or chloramine--
four trihalomethanes and five haloacetic acids (EPA
2012a).

These nine regulated chemicals represent
less than 2 percent of the more than 600 unwanted
chemicals created by the interaction of water
treatment disinfectants and pollutants in source
water (Barlow 2004).

The legal limits for the nine regulated chemicals
are not what either the agency or many independent
scientists believe is truly safe.

Rather, the regulations represent political compromises that take into
account the costs and feasibility of treatment.
In 2010, California’s Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment proposed a “public health
goal” for trihalomethanes of 0.8 parts per billion.

A “goal” is not a binding legal limit, but setting a goal
is the first step in the process that establishes such
a limit. California regulators estimated that if the
goal of 0.8 parts per billion were attained, bladder
cancer risks would be reduced to no more than 1
in a million (oehha 2010).

The state is still in the process of publishing its final goal. Still, the 2010
proposal represents what California’s public health and environmental
experts believe should be done to protect the public from carcinogenic trihalomethanes.

It is significant that that this proposed goal is one-hundredth of the
EPA cap.



Water treatment Contaminants in 201 large Water utilities


 running annual average levels of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids for the year 2011 as reported in the 2012 Consumer Confidence Reports of 201 large U.S. water utilities.                                                                        


Water supplier                    Location          Total Trihalomethane  Haloacetic acids
                                                                         running annual           running annual
                                                                             average (in            average (in                                                                               parts per billion)    parts per billion)



metropolitan Water       Los Angeles, Orange,            43.0                     18.0
District  of Southern      San Diego, Riverside,
California                     San Bernadino and
                                       Ventura counties


                                         
San Diego Water                 San Diego                       63.8                     15.1
Department
                                                                                    
                                                                                                                  

San francisco              San francisco, Sanmateo,        42.0                    34.0
      Public                    alameda and Santa Clara
                                               counties
                                                                                            
                                                                                                                 

San Jose Water              San Jose                               32.7                  15.7
Company

ventura Water                 Ventura                               30.0                   25.0
Department


City of huntington          Huntington                           31.0                   18.0
Beach 

City of modesto             Modesto                              28.7                   18.8

City of oceanside         Oceanside                             37.0                   11.0

City of orange               Orange                                  24.0                  13.0

City of riverside           Riverside                                4.1                   not listed
Public Utilities

City of Sacramento       Sacramento                            44.0                 23.0
Department of
Utilities

City of Santa ana               Santa ana                          52.0                 23.0
Public Works

City of torrance
Water Department          torrance                               41.2                 13.9

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic Chemical Dioxane Detected In More Water Supplies

 

March 26, 2014

Transcript 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Earlier this year, a chemical spill in West Virginia forced officials to put a ban on drinking water that affected some 300,000 people. This also highlighted an unsettling truth: While officials test our drinking supply, they're only targeting a few chemicals. Many contaminants go undetected.

Here's NPR's Elizabeth Shogren.

ELIZABETH SHOGREN, BYLINE: Toxic chemicals can make it into tap water for years without experts knowing it. That's because of a basic fact about how treatment plants test their water.

MIKE WEHNER: You really only find the things you look for.
SHOGREN: Mike Wehner is a manager with the Orange County Water District in California. The troubling consequences of this truth were brought home to him when California added 1,4-dioxane to the list of chemicals it might someday regulate, and Wehner's utility decided to test for it.

WEHNER: We detected 1,4-dioxane in our treatment plant, and not really being very effectively removed by the treatment processes that were employed at the time.

SHOGREN: Wehner says it was a complete surprise. Industries use 1,4-dioxane to dissolve oily or greasy substances. The federal government says it probably causes cancer. Fortunately, Orange County's problem was caused by only one company. Officials quickly tracked it down and got it to stop releasing the chemical. Still, agency officials decided to install expensive new water treatment equipment.

http://nhpr.org/post/toxic-chemical-14-dioxane-detected-more-drinking-water-supplies



--------------------------------------------------------------

Hexavalent Chromium - City of Anaheim

Updated July 2, 2014

 Anaheim has been monitoring its water supplies for many years for Total Chromium and has rarely detected it.  When Chrome-6 first became an issue following the Erin Brokovich movie, all of Anaheim’s wells were tested.  Since monitoring first began in 2001, Chrome-6 has been found in most of our active production wells at levels ranging from the laboratory detection level of 0.2 parts per billion to a high of 3.3 ppb.  Anaheim's groundwater has average Chrome-6 levels of approximately 0.7 ppb. Data from Orange County suggests that low levels of Chrome-6 are common in this area due to the natural geology and Anaheim’s Chrome-6 levels are similar to those found throughout the County.

http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=4292



--------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic water threatens neighborhood

 

May 17, 2010

 

Nearly 100 Santa Ana households draw their water from an old well. Tests show it is dangerously contaminated.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-248743-city-well.html

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Orange County Landfills

 

http://oclandfills.com/landfill/active

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

$42.6 million later, the county still has a landfill problem

 

Oct. 15, 2014 

 http://www.ocregister.com/articles/landfill-638531-county-landslides.html

 A trash compactor pushes trash and compresses it at the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in Bee Canyon in Irvine.

 

 The county counts on this landfill to stay open until 2053. Besides being a final resting place for garbage, profit from the landfill remains a critical part of the county’s plan to dig itself out of its 1994 bankruptcy...

At Bee Canyon’s concave bottom, the landfill resembles a precision-engineered layer cake.

There are strata of compacted clay, plastic liners and “geotextile mats,” a fabric layer that sits on the the plastic liner and protects it from punctures. Above this sits a 2-foot buffer of dirt. Bulldozers roll over the trash, spreading the refuse around before covering it with more dirt.

Southern, standing on a windy ridge and overlooking the slide areas, can see the vulnerabilities as he describes the third landslide at the landfill. “That corner of the 241,” he says, pointing to a stretch of orange fence, “was a landslide.”

It might not be the last.

As Southern explains it, “The whole area, the whole region, is unstable as far as landslides go.” When water pushes up from the ground, Southern explains, the land becomes less stable and landslides more likely.

“Here we’ve been in a drought for how long? And we have water weeping out of this hill, randomly, for no reason.

“It’s not an engineering problem,” Southern adds. “It’s a natural phenomena.”

That applies even to the smoke and the holes in the ground. 

In 2009, as many as 20 holes at the landfill started to belch out a mysterious smoke. Alarmed, nearby residents called the fire department...

The fire wasn’t about trash. Southern speculates that the fires were a result of friction from underground landslides, from heat created by layers of shale rubbing together...

It’s all part of a tricky world at this landfill.

Santa Ana winds send litter flying. Sea gulls scavenge relentlessly. Coyotes prowl. Even a beekeeper’s shack, which tumbled down years ago, still attracts the occasional swarm of honey bees.


--------------------------------------------------------------

Brea Landfill's 2013 Closure Could Start Rate Nightmare

 

Options for North County trash range from other county dumps to rail export--all at a price.

 

January 29, 2001

 http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/29/local/me-18472

 

 
--------------------------------------------------------------

Map Locating Toxic Chemical Releases


 ORANGE County

2002 TRI Pollution Releases Sorted by Health Effect*
	Air Releases (Pounds from TRI sources)	Water Releases (Pounds from TRI sources)
Recognized Carcinogens	124,241	74
Suspected Carcinogens	965,492	6
Suspected Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicants	1,237,445	373
Recognized Developmental Toxicants	29,098	52
Suspected Developmental Toxicants	1,353,556	427
Suspected Endocrine Toxicants	1,103,646	11
Suspected Immunotoxicants	1,100,885	144
Suspected Kidney Toxicants	1,401,338	362
Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicants	1,451,351	343
Suspected Musculoskeletal Toxicants	6,297
Suspected Neurotoxicants	1,561,337	171
Recognized Reproductive Toxicants	5,696	49
Suspected Reproductive Toxicants	1,396,297	430
Suspected Respiratory Toxicants	1,422,544	514
Suspected Skin or Sense Organ Toxicants	1,414,375	53

http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06059#major_chemical_releases

---------------------------------------------------------

Countywide : The Dirty Half-Dozen

 

July 10, 1990

( http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-10/local/me-280_1_landfill-gas-recovery )


Following is a list of the six most severe air pollution penalties assessed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in April. Company: Laidlaw Gas Recovery Systems Inc. Newark, Calif. Penalty: $30,000 Violation: Failure to maintain the temperature of the gas-burning flare to at least 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, exceeding flow-rate limits, failure to submit a performance test and failure to keep adequate records on various days between February, 1989, and June, 1989, at the county's Coyote Canyon landfill in Irvine (landfill gas-recovery firm) Company: OHM Corp. 2191 Dupont Drive Anaheim Penalty: $19,000 Violation: Excavating contaminated soil in Long Beach without an AQMD-approved plan and without a valid permit in August, 1989 (landfill excavation management firm) -

 Company: Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Penalty: $3,000 Violation: Failure to maintain vapor-recovery systems on gasoline-dispensing equipment, allowing visible emissions from a jet-test facility and alleged modification of boilers without prior approval (military base)..

-----------------------------------------------------

Courtroom conflict: $200 million toxic plume

  May 11, 2012


 http://www.ocregister.com/news/water-353775-district-county.html


An eight-square-mile plume of toxic contamination moving slowly through northern Orange County groundwater could take decades to clean up -- with costs running as high as $200 million.

 An eight-square-mile plume of toxic contamination moving slowly through northern Orange County groundwater could take decades to clean up -- with costs running as high as $200 million.

And a trial now under way in an Orange County courtroom could decide who gets to pick up the tab.

The main courtroom combatants are the Orange County Water District, which has already begun what will likely be one of the longest, costliest cleanups in county history, and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., accused of contributing a significant amount of the contamination during 30 years of industrial operations in Anaheim.
The names of the contaminants, remnants of degreasing operations at Northrop and other sites, are an environmental alphabet soup, a few with numbers attached: TCE, PCE, TCA, 1-DCA and others.

They are called "volatile organic compounds" -- compounds that turn readily from liquid to gas -- and several are known carcinogens.
The contamination began to filter slowly into groundwater beneath Anaheim and Fullerton in the 1950s; Northrop and many other businesses named in the case, including Fender Guitar, closed down their operations in the area by the mid-1980s, water district officials said.

But, the district contends, the legacy of contamination remains.
Three drinking-water wells in Fullerton were shut down between 1999 and 2003, after samples picked up evidence of the approaching plume.
The plume is drifting slowly to the west and southwest.

"The concern is that the contaminants are going to get down into the drinking-water aquifer," said Orange County Water District chief hydrogeologist Roy Herndon.
The Water District sued Northrop and a long list of other defendants in 2004; several have since settled out of court, leaving seven still in the case when it went to trial.




--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Deal Made City Feel Powerless

 

Energy: Huntington Beach said it had less clout than the owner of two generators that will soon be restarted, but it won some concessions.

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/2001/aug/21/local/me-36610  )



August 21, 2001


AES Corp. will fire up two power-generating units in Huntington Beach next month, and though many residents are angry about that, city officials said Monday they cut the best deal they could.

"For being undermined every step of the way by the agencies and the governor and everyone, . . . it was the best we can do," Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. "I don't think there was anything that would have held up the start-up of this plant. They have a lot of friends in high places."

 Topper Horack, who lives half a mile from the plant, said the peaker should not run at all because it emits a yellow haze that blankets southeast Huntington Beach, an area with an elementary school, high school and public park.

 


 --------------------------------------------------------------

Offshore Sewage Plume Studied for Link to Coastal Pollution

 

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/21/local/me-13129 )

June 21, 2001

The ocean was calm and cobalt blue about four miles off Huntington Beach on Wednesday morning. But all around, researchers were working feverishly to find out whether the tranquil surface was masking a major coastal threat.
About 200 feet underwater, more than 2,800 gallons of Orange County's moderately treated sewage spews into the ocean every second--enough waste water in a day to fill the Rose Bowl three times.

In a 48-hour span that ends today, researchers will collect 5,000 water samples to determine whether the plume of sewage is responsible for high bacteria counts that forced health officials to close stretches of Huntington Beach's shoreline in the summer of 1999.
The final results are not expected until the summer of 2002.
"It's extremely frustrating," said Lisa Lawson, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sanitation District, the agency that releases the sewage. "We would love to go to the community and tell them that we have answers overnight. We can't do that. We have to wait for the science and analysis."

---------------------------------------------------------

Criminal Charges Still Possible for BP in Huntington Beach Spill

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-28/news/mn-1581_1_huntington-beach-oil )

February 28, 1990

Although criminal charges are not likely to stem from the Huntington Beach oil spill of Feb. 7, state and federal lawyers said Tuesday that they have not ruled out the possibility.

The state attorney general's office--which is coordinating the local legal response to the 394,000-gallon spill--and the Environmental Protection Division of the U.S. Justice Department have not decided whether to proceed with a criminal case against British Petroleum or ship owner American Trading Transportation Co.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Cleanup '50 Times Slower' Than Expected, Miller Says

 

February 16, 1990

WASHINGTON — Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) criticized the Huntington Beach oil spill clean-up Thursday as "50 times slower" than expected, based on an earlier Coast Guard estimate, but officials supervising the operation disputed the congressman's characterization...

... Only about 95,000 gallons of oil had been recovered within 72 hours of the Feb. 7 Huntington Beach spill, according to Coast Guard Lt. Jim Milbury. That is less than 2% of the estimate cited in the Coast Guard's response to Miller's panel.

That estimate, however, was based on "ideal weather and sea conditions and optimum skimming efficiencies," the Coast Guard had noted.
In addition, the Exxon Valdez dumped about 11 million gallons of oil when it ran aground. The American Trader spilled 394,000 gallons, or less than 4% of the amount involved in the Valdez disaster.

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-16/news/mn-806_1_coast-guard

 


---------------------------------------------------------------------

Oil Cleanup Firm Says Job Is Over, but Cities Disagree

 

( http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-21/local/me-1197_1_oil-cleanup )


February 21, 1990

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Under fire from some local officials for moving too quickly to abandon beach cleanup efforts after this month's 394,000-gallon oil spill, the president of the company organizing most of the crews Tuesday defended the decision to cut back on workers, saying very little is left to do.
"We have completely wound down," said Peter Leathard, president of VECO Inc., the same company that organized the cleanup of last year's 11-million-gallon Exxon spill near Valdez, Alaska.




-------------------------------------------------------- 

 

 

California beaches closed as ‘devastating’ oil spill threatens wildlife

Mon 4 Oct 2021

An estimated 126,000 gallons leaked from an underwater pipeline in one of the largest spills in recent state history

Temperatures in southern California surged on Sunday, but Huntington state beach was devoid of the umbrellas and beach blankets that would typically line its shore.

Instead, public works officials were working feverishly to stop the spread of an estimated 126,000 gallons of heavy crude oil that leaked from an underwater pipeline over the weekend in one of the largest spills in recent California history.

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/04/california-oil-spill-huntington-beach

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Major oil spill off Southern California creates miles-wide sheen in the ocean

Oct. 03, 2021

https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/2021/10/major-oil-spill-off-southern-california-creates-miles-wide-sheen-in-the-ocean.html

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Houston oil company sues over California pipeline leak

Feb. 28, 2022

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A Houston-based oil company on Monday sued two container ship operators and an organization that helps oversee marine traffic, saying they failed to prevent last fall’s underwater pipeline leak off the Southern California coast.

Amplify Energy Corp., which owns the pipeline that ruptured and faces a criminal charge for its oversight, claims that in January 2021 two ships dragged their anchors across the pipeline that ferried crude from offshore oil platforms to the coast...

 

The filing adds the exchange, which logs shipping activity in the heavily traveled region, to ongoing litigation over the spill. Amplify already faces federal lawsuits over damages incurred by local fisherman, tour operators and others stemming from the October spill of about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean...

https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Houston-oil-company-sues-over-California-pipeline-16966728.php

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Precautions Taken to Protect Wildlife : Environment: Although the spill is heading away from the wetlands, officials are taking steps to safeguard migratory birds and endangered species.

 

February 09, 1990

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-09/news/mn-299_1_endangered-species )

The oil spill that threatened Orange County beaches Thursday night appeared to be headed away from the Bolsa Chica wetlands, where thousands of birds nest and breed in one of California's largest ecological reserves.
But officials Thursday took no chances on a shift in sea and wind conditions, because if the oil was to reach the environmentally sensitive salt marshes along Pacific Coast Highway, the result would be disastrous for migratory birds, including one endangered species: the California brown pelican.
Booms designed to block oil were secured at the waterway openings to the 120 acres of tidally influenced Bolsa Chica wetlands near Pacific Coast Highway and Warner Avenue as well as three other environmentally sensitive coastal areas in Orange County: the 700-acre Upper Newport Bay, the roughly 70-acre Huntington Beach wetlands at the mouth of the Santa Ana River, and the Seal Beach National Ecological Reserve.
The oil would have to somehow get past the booms and enter the estuaries to threaten those endangered species, officials said. Only the brown pelican forages at sea for its food.

----------------------------------------------------------

Muck Is Dropped in Wrong Place Off Coast

 

 (  http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/03/local/me-4332 )

February 03, 1999

NEWPORT BEACH — Crews dredging Upper Newport Bay dropped 600,000 cubic yards of silt in the wrong spot off the coast, officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.
The misplaced muck was equivalent in volume to 60,000 dump-truck loads, EPA officials said.

"This was a lot of material," said Brian Ross, dredging projects coordinator for the EPA in San Francisco. "We're not particularly concerned about contamination, because [the silt] was found to be clean and nontoxic. But even just the physical smothering effect can be significant if it's an important area."

John Sibley, head of Orange County's public facilities department, said federal officials want to know if there was any damage to the ocean ecosystem and county officials want to know what went wrong.

Dredging crews blamed the mistake on incorrect coordinates plugged into a Global Positioning Satellite system used to locate the dump site, five miles off Newport Beach.

-----------------------------------------------------

County OKs More Homes Near Methane Gas Seepage

 

December 02, 1998

Seepage of methane from a closed landfill has raised concerns among some officials and residents at a housing development near Newport Coast Drive because high levels of the gas can explode if ignited under certain conditions.

But two county officials said Tuesday that the methane does not pose a danger to the residents who live in the luxury development...

The Irvine Co., which is building the homes, said that the methane remains about 30 feet below the surface and has not moved under the homes.


http://articles.latimes.com/1998/dec/02/local/me-49761



------------------------------------------------------

Newport Failed to Test Sewer Sludge

 

February 13, 2002|CHRISTINE HANLEY | TIMES STAFF WRITER

 

Newport Beach officials said Tuesday they are investigating why the city dumped large amounts of sewer sludge into an Irvine landfill for the last 12 years without first screening the materials for toxic metals, as required by state water regulations.

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff estimated that 140 tons of the sludge was improperly dumped since 1990. He said he doubted the dumping did much harm to the environment but said the staff is now testing the material and getting permission before disposing of it.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/13/local/me-sludge13

 


------------------------------------------------- 

Study: Expenses for people who get sick at Huntington Beach and Newport Beach cost public $3 million a year


News story from Associated Press


IRVINE, Calif. - Lost wages and medical care for people who fall ill after swimming at two Orange County beaches cost the public about $3 million a year, according to a new study.

The report by researchers at the University of California, Irvine looked at the health economic impact of a stretch of shoreline along Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. The researchers said the toll would be similar at beaches nationwide.

"There's no reason to think that Orange County people get sick more than Los Angeles people," lead study author Ryan Dwight said.

The report, which will appear in the Journal of Environmental Management, is believed to be the first to look at the economic cost of people who fall sick after swimming in ocean waters.

Of the more than 5 million people who swam at the two beaches from 1998 to 2000, there were about 36,000 cases of stomach ailment and 38,000 cases of respiratory, eye and ear infections caused by exposure to polluted waters, the study said.

Using data from a 1996 British epidemiology study and adjusting for the average wage in Orange County, researchers calculated medical care and lost wages cost taxpayers $3.3 million a year.

The researchers also noted that most people who swim at the beach do not get sick. Surfers, swimmers and divers usually get sick from pathogens from urban runoff, mostly human and animal waste.

Newport Beach officials agreed that improving water quality was important, but were skeptical of the new study.

"The message they're reinforcing is a good message, but I'm still skeptical of the science that went into this," assistant city manager Dave Kiff said.


http://www.stockteam.com/hbpress66.html



------------------------------------------------------------

Newport Bay Toxics TMDL

( http://ocwatersheds.com/programs/waterways/tmdl/npbtoxicstmdl )

In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established Total Maximum Daily Loads for Toxic Pollutants, San Diego Creek and Newport Bay, California. Referred to as the Toxics TMDLs, it covers 14 toxic pollutants for the San Diego Creek/Newport Bay watershed as listed below.

Waterbody	Trace Elements / Metal	Organic Compounds
San Diego Creek (freshwater)	Cd, Cu, Pb, Se, Zn	chlorpyrifos, diazinon, chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, PCBs, toxaphene
Upper Newport Bay (saltwater)	Cd, Cu, Pb, Se, Zn	chlorpyrifos, chlordane, DDT, PCBs, toxaphene
Lower Newport Bay (saltwater)	Cu, Pb, Se, Zn	chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, PCBs
Rhine Channel (saltwater)	Cd, Cu, Pb, Se, Zn, Cr, Hg	chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, PCBs

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board is currently dividing the Toxics TMDL into five separate TMDLs based primarily on chemical class, and developing individual implementation plans for each TMDL. These TMDLs include:

• Organophosphate pesticides [diazinon and chlorpyrifos]
• Selenium
• Organochlorine Compounds [chlordane, dieldrin, DDTs, PCBs, toxaphene]
• Metals [cadmium, copper, lead, zinc]
• Rhine Channel [copper, lead, selenium, zinc, chromium, mercury] 

-----------------------------------------------------------


Hydrology and Water Quality (Newport Beach)

http://www.newportbeachca.gov/pln/CEQA_REVIEW/Marina%20Park%20-%20DEIR%20-%20DRER%20-%20Final%20EIR/Marina_Park%20-%20DREIR%20-%20January%202010/Marina_Park_DREIR%20-%20January%202010/15-Sec05-07_Hydrology_and_Water_Quality.pdf


----------------------------------------------------------


Review of Existing Water Quality Characteristics
of Upper Newport Bay, Orange County CA and its Watershed

 http://www.gfredlee.com/unb_wq.html

 

-------------------------------------------------- 

Total Maximum Daily Loads
For Toxic Pollutants
San Diego Creek and Newport Bay, California

2002
 

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/rwqcb8/water_issues/programs/tmdl/docs/sd_crk_nb_toxics_tmdl/summary0602.pdf

 

-------------------------------------------------------

Copper in Newport Bay

 

General Information on Copper Issue

 

Copper anti-fouling boat paints are known to be a significant source of copper (Toxics TMDL for San Diego Creek/Newport Bay Ca. USEPA 2000). These paints are designed to leach copper into the water, to reduce fouling on boat bottoms with barnacles and algae.  Unfortunately, copper and other metals are known to be toxic to fish and other aquatic species.  Coastkeeper is committed to addressing the issue of copper in the Back Bay.

 

Department of Pesticide Regulation

 

The California State Department of Pesticide Regulation aims to protect human health through regulating the sale and use of all forms of pesticides. As copper-containing antifouling paints are deemed “biocides”, and are designed to kill or ward off marine life, they fall under the category of pesticides, and are therefore regulated by this department.

http://www.coastkeeper.org/copper

------------------------------------------------- 

 

Toxic algae at Southern California lakes could sink holiday plans

September 3, 2021

Officials test many lakes ahead of holidays due to increased recreation activity.

 
https://www.dailynews.com/2021/09/03/toxic-algae-at-southern-california-lakes-could-sink-holiday-plans/

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Toxic algae blooms now prime suspect in mysterious deaths of California family

Aug 24, 2021

 

MARIPOSA, Calif. (NewsNation Now) —  It’s a tragic case that has many anxious for explanations and answers. With no major clues from the autopsies, officials must now wait for toxicology results to determine how a family of three and their pet dog died in the Sierra National Forest.

https://wgntv.com/news/toxic-algae-blooms-now-prime-suspect-in-mysterious-deaths-of-california-family/

 

 

------------------------------------------------- 

 

California’s Drought Response Will Worsen Harmful Algae

June 02, 2021

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/kate-poole/dwrs-drought-response-will-worsen-dangerous-algal-outbreaks

-------------------------------------------------

Toxic algae blooms in California can be deadly, health officials warn

August 26, 2021

https://pressnewsagency.org/toxic-algae-blooms-in-california-can-be-deadly-health-officials-warn/

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Stay Away from Harmful Algal Blooms in California Waterways

June 24, 2020

https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2020/June/Algal-Blooms-California-Waterways
 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Toxic algae blooms are killing sea otters in their prime, study finds

2021

Chronic exposure is causing fatal heart disease in young adult otters

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/07/heart-disease-linked-to-toxic-algae-blooms-is-killing-sea-otters-in-their-prime-a-new-study-finds/

 

 

 -------------------------------------------------

 

 

Scientists in Newport Beach nixing invasive algae that crowds out food for sea animals

Jul 7, 2021

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/scientists-in-newport-beach-nixing-invasive-algae-that-crowds-out-food-for-sea-animals/

 

-------------------------------------------------

Invasive algae lands on California coast; authorities fear it could kill off local species

May. 29, 2021

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/orange-county/environment/2021/05/28/invasive-algae-lands-on-california-coast


-------------------------------------------------

Lethal algae blooms – an ecosystem out of balance

4 Jan 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/04/lethal-algae-blooms-an-ecosystem-out-of-balance

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

California nixing algae that crowds out food for sea animals

July 8, 2021

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-california-nixing-algae-crowds-food.html

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

Toxic algae is blooming more often in our lakes, reservoirs. Does that threaten our drinking water?

July 18, 2016

https://www.sgvtribune.com/2016/07/18/toxic-algae-is-blooming-more-often-in-our-lakes-reservoirs-does-that-threaten-our-drinking-water/

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Fungal Contaminants in Drinking Water Regulation? A Tale of Ecology, Exposure, Purification and Clinical Relevance

2017 Jun 13

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5486322/

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Evaluation of the most promising techniques overcoming the algal problems takes place during the purification of drinking water

13 April 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-13674-3
 

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

 

Dangerous bottled water

June 3, 2016

Food safety authority's puzzling regulations

https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/dangerous-bottled-water-116053101486_1.html

 

-------------------------------------------------

Dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ contaminate US tap water: Report

3 Nov 2021

Water consumed by millions contains chemicals linked to cancer, brain damage and more, according to new report.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/3/dangerous-forever-chemicals-contaminate-us-tap-water-report

 

-------------------------------------------------

Feds crack down on toxic "forever chemicals" in drinking water

Oct 18, 2021

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/feds-crack-down-on-toxic-forever-chemicals-in-drinking-water/ar-AAPFCOI

 

 

-------------------------------------------------

ORANGE COUNTY’S BEACHES:
AN ENVIRONMENTAL SCORECARD


http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/orangecountybeaches.pdf


-----------------------------------------------------------

Water Pollution Orange County

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/water-pollution-orange-county



------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Scientists Struggle to Save Vital Seagrasses from Coastal Pollution

December 22, 2019

Seagrasses, which cover less than 0.2% of the world's oceans, store twice as much carbon in a given area as temperate and tropical forests, a study by the United Nations-affiliated Blue Carbon Initiative found.

Some seagrass declines have occurred with stunning speed. Central California's scenic Morro Bay has lost more than 90% of its eelgrass since 2007.

https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-12-22-scientists-struggle-to-save-seagrasses-from-pollution

 

 

------------------------------------------------------



Health Front: Radioactive Fish Caught Off California Coast

Health Front: Radioactive Fish Caught Off California Coast - See more at: http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2013/03/health-front-radioactive-fish-caught-off-california-coast/#sthash.pn0uYlU1.nYeNhO82.dpuf

 March 8th, 2013

March 8th, 2013

On the coast of California, there is a deep sea kelp forest at Corona del Mar that now contains concentrations of radiation that are 250 times higher than levels found in kelp prior to the Japanese nuclear accidents. A research article published in Scientific American reports that radiation accumulated in fish that ate near the kelp. “If they were feeding on it, they certainly got dosed,” said Steven Manley, a Cal State biology professor who specializes in kelp. Presently, there is no research as to what is the exact effect on fish and their offspring will be from the increased levels of radiation that are being found. -


See more at: http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2013/03/health-front-radioactive-fish-caught-off-california-coast/#sthash.pn0uYlU1.dpuf




------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Sea Lions In California Are Dying From A Toxic Algae That Ravages Their Brains

Apr. 21, 2017

Algae so toxic that it’s causing fatal brain damage in California sea lions is the latest problem plaguing ocean animal rescue operations along the Pacific coast.

Domoic acid poisoning is emerging as a key threat this year to the animals that ingest the toxin while eating fish and other sea creatures that feed on algae, rescue organizations in southern California warn.

Some birds and dolphins have also been affected by the algae, which authorities warn can be harmful to humans who eat shellfish.

The neurotoxin that the Pseudo-nitzschia algae produces can destroy the brains of sea lions until they no longer know basic survival functions, such as how to evade predators and find food. It can cause sea lions to have seizures and paralysis, while one of the key signs of this dementia is when they are seen rolling their heads repeatedly.

And a spokesman for the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute told the Ventura County Star that this is the “worst year ever” for cases of domoic acid poisoning.

Marine Animal Rescue has reported picking up 33 disoriented sea lions suffering from symptoms this month alone.

In Laguna Beach, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center has reported 14 sea lion deaths so far this month from domoic acid poisoning. Many of the effected animals were pregnant females, primarily because they’re feeding especially heavily now to support their pregnancies.

Rescue centers try to flush the toxin out of an animal’s system, but sometimes their brains are too significantly damaged to save.

No cases in humans have yet been reported this year. Commercially harvested seafood is tested before it goes to market, but the California Department of Health sent out a warning last week against eating mussels, clams or whole scallops harvested by sports shellfish collectors in Santa Barbara County.

“Dangerous levels of domoic acid have been detected in mussels from this region, making them unsafe to consume,” the statement warned.

The Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing Systems at Scripps Institution of Oceanography issued a domoic acid alert last week off Orange County.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/domoic-acid-sea-lions-algae-california_n_58f9688be4b018a9ce59d965

 

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

Toxic pond algae is killing dogs—how to protect your pooch

August 16, 2019

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-toxic-pond-algae-dogshow-pooch.html

 

 

------------------------------------------------------

How New Developments in Laguna Beach Will (and Won't) Deal With the Pollution in Aliso Creek

 

May 29 2008

Nine years ago, in a Weekly article titled "The Anus of Aliso Viejo," Matt Coker described the pollution levels in Aliso Creek, which flows from Modjeska Canyon to the ocean at Laguna Beach. It was, he said at that time, "a constant flow of urban runoff . . . pesticides, herbicides, dog shit, people shit and stuff you really don't want to know about."

Since then, not much has changed. Well, sort of. According to South Laguna Civic Association board member Mike Beanan, who gets in the ocean every week and swims underwater to see the damage for himself, "Dry-weather flow has gone from about 1.5 million gallons a day to 5 million gallons a day. . . . Hundreds of sea lions have died, and we've lost a lot of our kelp forests."

The kind of fish Hazzard is concerned about is the steelhead trout, once thought extinct and still protected under the Endangered Species Act. Hazzard is a former stream-team coordinator for Trout Unlimited, the 50-year-old cold-water-fisheries restoration organization, and a current "commander" of the Steelhead Militia, an organization based out of Saddleback College founded to protect the steelhead. He became an environmental activist following a swim in the Upper Oso reservoir to retrieve an outboard motor. "I went from four pages of medical records to [having] sores the size of a dime," he says. "I broke out in hives, later sores the size of a quarter [that] ate down to the muscle tissue, stayed open for six months, lost 70 pounds. It looked like I had full-blown AIDS." And that's when he says he called the county to report the sickness and was told "you can't get sick in the waters of Orange County."

After that, he says, he called Santa Clarita water management; the call was misrouted and went out to the sewage-treatment plant, which supplied the water for the reservoir. "And when I told the guy where I was, his response was, 'Oh my God, you're still alive?'" Hazzard recalls. "And that's when he said, 'You've got to tell your doctors what's in this water,' and that's when I started turning the corner and getting better. It took me five years to fully recover."

http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-05-29/features/how-new-developments-in-laguna-beach-will-and-won-39-t-deal-with-the-pollution-in-aliso-creek/

 


------------------------------------------------------------

Laguna Beach Fined Over Sewage

 

Water board imposes $60,000 penalty for spills that closed beaches. Panel had 'lost tolerance,' member says.

 

July 25, 2000


http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jul/25/local/me-58648


The San Diego Regional Water Quality Board has fined Laguna Beach $60,000 for eight sewage spills that closed beaches over an 18-month period.
It is the first time in the last three years that the regional board has imposed fines on an Orange County city for sewage spills, said John Robertus, the executive officer of the board who recommended the fines.
Laguna Beach has a "significant track record" for such spills, Robertus said. "We've lost our tolerance for it."

From Jan. 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000, beaches in the city were closed for 29 days due to sewage leaks, said regional board member Wayne Baglin, a Laguna Beach resident. The eight spills caused 21,400 gallons of raw sewage to flow into the ocean.



------------------------------------------------------------

 

18,000-Gallon Sewage Spill Closes Laguna's Crescent Bay

 

 (  http://articles.latimes.com/2001/mar/10/local/me-36033 )


March 10, 2001

Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach is off-limits to swimming and surfing because of an 18,000-gallon sewage spill, said Larry Honeybourne, chief of the county Heath Care Agency's water quality division. The spill is the 11th to close a beach in Orange County this year.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Water companies are 'releasing raw sewage into rivers more than 1,000 times a day'

February 2022

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/13/water-companies-releasing-raw-sewage-rivers-1000-times-day/

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------

California IN BRIEF : LAGUNA BEACH : Sewage Spill Keeps Aliso Beach Closed

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/1992-02-29/local/me-2536_1_aliso-beach )

February 29, 1992


 A half-mile stretch of popular Aliso Beach along the Laguna Beach coast will remain closed to swimmers until next week as up to 100,000 gallons of treated sewage continues to spew into the ocean from a pipeline rupture only 90 feet from the shoreline, authorities said. County officials said they will not reopen the beach until officials with the South Coast Water District repair the ruptured pipeline, which normally discharges the sewage 1 1/2 miles offshore. Water district officials said the outfall was damaged two weeks ago by floods that roared down Aliso Creek. The latest closure marked the third time that Aliso Beach has been closed this year.


---------------------------------------------------------

Viruses Found in Water Running to Aliso Creek

 

Health officials, notified of UCI test results in November, await proof before acting.

 

January 27, 2001

 

Hepatitis A and enterovirus were found last fall by a UCI researcher in Laguna Niguel gutters and storm drains that flow into Aliso Creek and eventually into the ocean at a popular surfing spot in Laguna Beach.

County health care officials who have known of the results since late November say there is no proven risk and that much of the runoff from the area already is being diverted to a sewage treatment plant. They say they are awaiting results from further testing.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/27/local/me-17779

---------------------------------------------------

California storm leaves mudslides, polluted water

12/23/2010

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California residents who endured flooding, mudslides and evacuations during a week-long onslaught of rain now have another problem: contaminated water and fouled beaches.

The rain washed trash, pesticides and bacteria into waterways, prompting health warnings. Four beaches were closed in Northern California's San Mateo County, and another 12 miles of beach from Laguna Beach to San Clemente in Southern California's Orange County were off-limits because of sewer overflows.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2010-12-23-calif-storm_N.htm

 

--------------------------------------------------

Heal The Bay 2013 Beach Report Card: Flunked Again

 

 ( http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may312013/heal-bay-scam-rb.php )

Santa Monica Non-Profit Fails Overall Water Quality Truth Test.

May-31-2013

(LAGUNA BEACH) - If you’re a parent and your kid brings home a straight A+ report card, you should first be worried about the “A+.”

Okay, C+ or B+ is one thing, but like the physical attributes of a woman or a man, there’s no such thing as a perfect “10” or in this case an “A+”. It’s a fantasy, an ideal, therefore intentionally unobtainable and mythological.

Beaches that receive and transport highly contaminated “Non-Point Source” drainages from surrounding and/or upstream, urbanized areas shouldn’t get ratings like A+ either by 501 c 3 non-profit Heal The Bay (HTB).

It’s disingenuous and outrageously misleading, as if a complex problem has been solved when it hasn’t. The more hazardous of these discharged contaminants are NOT the 3 bacteria tested for and analyzed in the HTB Report Card database. Most freshwater microbes in fact dissipate and die off in great numbers once they hit high salinity, adverse ionic (ocean) waters and sunlight (natural UV)...

No, it’s not safe to immerse yourself in most streams, lakes and oceanic tidal zones near creek and river mouth discharge points. A study 10 years ago revealed Hepatitis A markers in literally every stream in Southern California from Santa Barbara down to San Diego. Many wastewater plants have waivers in place that allow surface or near-shore discharges, always pleading that there’s no money in their budgets to do otherwise.

And believe it or not, there’s worse beasties lurking…not one water body that is either adjacent to or contiguous with dense development is unscathed, unpolluted. Like sniffing Burl Ives in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” there is an air of mendacity upon entering the water quality room here in California.

Whether the discharges drain residential, commercial/industrial demographics or a combination thereof, they’re rife with contamination. Urban runoff, sometimes hysterically termed “nuisance flow,” is a lot more than a mere inconvenience. That constant drool is filled with pollutants that HTB doesn’t factor into their Annual Beach Report Card.

A “toxic soup tour,” that is one that takes you personally to the sources and acknowledges the mind-bending gamut of teratogenic (birth defects), mutagenic (mutant, impaired organisms) and carcinogenic constituents in such surface runoff flows would be a better educator.

And no, in this case, what doesn’t kill you does NOT make you stronger. It can impair a fetus, cause physical debilitation and disfigurements, plus kill through either acute (singular) or chronic (multiple) exposures. This goes for any life form, not just humans.

These toxic substances wipe out plant habitats that otherwise could cleanse, could actually significantly reduce bacterial pollutant loading and reduce or remove some of the toxins...

Another problem you can research online are serious fresh water parasites like cryptosporidium and giardia as well as flesh-eating Strep A (necrotizing fasciitis). The two parasites will go through your intestinal tract and wreck havoc. At times, entire sections of your colon may need removal.

The latter will eat up your extremities and even internal organs (systemic shock), and eventual death isn’t off of the table. Open sores or cuts give it entry. They’re all there in detectable levels that inflict grievous harm or are even fatal. Yes, this is scary stuff but all too real.

There’s nothing cutting edge or futuristic about detection. Just political will is required. Science has progressed to the point where it could function as an early warning system: IF testing is performed. If not, you take your chances...

The public, unless they read the fine print in HTB’s Report Card as though their life depended on it (and it might), should realize that what’s tested for and results provided are tested for may (not always) cause gastrointestinal, plus eye, ear, nose and throat illnesses: Enterococcus, fecal coliform and escherichia coliform.

 This is because AB 411, passed in 1997, only mandated that public health officials test for these microbiological contaminants. True, they can, if found in certain high concentrations and ratios to each other, signal possible presence of sewage. Gross as it sounds, there are worse exposure factors than human wastewater.

Yes, if sampling and ongoing monitoring reveals levels deemed unsafe, then waters of the state must remain posted with warnings until such a time as subsequent sampling allows safe returned usage. No one stops anybody from going in though, mind you. And if communicable diseases are in the pollution, no one is held responsible for allowing recreational use hence mass contagion. Some protective law, huh? 

Here’s what HTB boasts of at their home website: “We at Heal the Bay believe the public has the right to know the water quality at their favorite beaches. We are proud to provide West Coast residents and visitors with this information in an easy-to-understand format. We hope beachgoers will use this information to make the decisions necessary to protect their health.”

---------------------------------------------------

Salt Creek (Orange County)

Pollution and treatment

 

The Salt Creek watershed is heavily developed, and as a result, it has been heavily impacted by polluted urban runoff. Prior to the construction of the Salt Creek Ozone Treatment Plant in 2004, at least 2.2 cubic feet per second (0.06 m³/s) flowed freely into the ocean, which caused a toxic plume of pollutants to drift south along the county beach and warrant its frequent closure. The $6.7 million USD facility treats the runoff with ozonation and releases it into the ocean, removing toxins, bacteria, garbage, polluted sediments, and other harmful substances. In effect the plant sterilizes the water, making it safe for contact, although not safe to drink.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Creek_(Orange_County)

------------

South Orange County Wastewater Authority

Lower Aliso Creek Erosion Assessment


Additional factors related to erosion along lower Aliso Creek that may affect the erosion risk ratings (and thus the stability of the proposed pipelines) were considered.  These factors include: 1) locations where concentrated surface runoff and tributary channels cross the proposed alignments, 2) the reliability of existing  bank  protection  measures  that  may  not  have  been  designed  because  they  were  installed  as emergency  protection,  3) the  potential  for  seepage  induced  bank  failures  associated  with  abandoned pipelines in the banks, 4) the potential for localized vertical degradation of the channel bottom, and 5) the reliability of the CTP and AWMA Bridges

http://www.water.ca.gov/irwm/grants/docs/Archives/Prop1E/Submitted_Applications/P1E_Round2_SWFM/South%20Orange%20County%20Wastewater%20Authority%20%28201243210005%29/Attachment%203%20-%20Att3_SWF_WorkPlan_3of5.pdf

--------------------------------

'Baby Beach' Still Plagued by Bacteria

 

Pollution: Officials remain puzzled by contamination at closed Dana Point recreation site.

 

 ( http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-28/local/me-33407_1_baby-beach )

 

February 28, 1997

DANA POINT — If the mystery isn't solved soon, Dana Point's popular "Baby Beach" could be renamed "Bird Beach," or "Bacteria Beach," or something even uglier.

Six months after the discovery of high bacteria counts in the shallow offshore waters forced a quarantine on the small beach, county officials remain baffled about the source of the problem. An exhaustive series of tests has not ferreted out any one culprit.

Beach Blanketed with Bacteria

A combination of storm drain outlets, pigeon droppings and poor water circulation may be causing contamination of Dana Point's Baby Beach. The beach, popular for parents with toddlers because of its sheltered location, has been closed since August because of high bacteria levels. Hoping to find a definite answer, the county will place 16 monitoring wells to probe for the source of contamination. A closer look:
1. Storm drain outlets empty out to each end of beach
2. Pigeons congregate; excrement flows into harbor
3. Wind, current and tide create eddy; swirl holds bacteria in area





-----------------------------------------------------------

SEAL BEACH : With or Without Signs, Pollution Awaits Surfers

January 28, 1995

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-01-28/local/me-25333_1_seal-beach


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Sanitation District Is Fined for Sewage Spill

 

October 13, 2000

 

 LA HABRA — Orange County's largest sanitation district was fined $107,500 for a June sewer spill that sent nearly 60,000 gallons of untreated human waste into the Pacific Ocean off Seal Beach.

 

 http://articles.latimes.com/2000/oct/13/local/me-35946

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Stormwater Pollution

Many residents are not aware that La Habra has two drainage systems - the sanitary sewers and the storm drains:

Where does La Habra’s stormwater go?

All of La Habra’s rainwater runoff drains into the Coyote Creek, which is a principal tributary of the San Gabriel River. The San Gabriel River empties into the Pacific Ocean in Seal Beach.

http://www.lahabracity.com/article.cfm?id=773


------------------------------------------------------


SAVE TRESTLES - STOP THE 241 TOLL ROAD EXTENSION

 

( http://savetrestles.surfrider.org/ )

 

TCA Caught Red-handed Hiding Secret Contracts from the Public and Board Members.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

 

At a recent TCA Board meeting, it was discovered that TCA CEO and Chairwomen Bartlett were literally ‘hiding’ contracts from the rest of TCA Board members and the public.  A handful of forward-thinking TCA Board members called Chairwomen Bartlett on the carpet—requiring her to justify such blatant misuse of power.  Here is her answer, as quoted in the Orange County Register:   

"[lobbyists] were hired to counter “environmental extremists” who she blamed for working to stop the toll road extension. “We have successfully deployed a legion of experts to counter unfounded environmental attacks on the toll road,” Bartlett said. “Now, some are undermining the will of (road supporters) by exposing our strategy.” 

Hmmmm….it seems like the TCA got caught doing something underhanded, and now they are trying to shift the blame. 

 

So, what is TCA trying to hide?

 

• TCA (Foothill Eastern) hid more than $220,000 in secret contracts to hire Sacramento lobbyists!  See the clip from TCA’s recent board meeting.  You can read in the Voice of Orange County.
•  
• Motorists will have to pay an additional $1.8 billion to bail-out TCA’s (Foothill Eastern) financial mismanagement and massive debts. See Orange County Register.
• Even with this massive public bail-out, a leading rating agency still declared TCA’s (Foothill/Eastern) bonds as junk bonds.
• TCA broke its promise to make the 241 toll-free in 2040.  Motorists will have to pay increasingly high tolls until at least 2053.
• TCA (Foothill/Eastern) has wasted more than $300 million in public funding on their failed project – and they plan to waste another $21 million on their project this year.
  

Who knows what else they are hiding from public view?

If you ask us, TCA's behavior of keeping "secret contracts" and aimlessly trying to ram a road through a state park seems pretty extreme.

 
Isn’t it time for TCA to finally quit wasting millions of public funds

 


----------------------------------------------------

 

Poisoned 50-foot tree in Laguna Beach to be removed after efforts to save it fail

December 2, 2017

https://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/02/poisoned-50-foot-tree-in-laguna-beach-to-be-removed-after-efforts-to-save-it-fail/

 

 

----------------------------------------------------



Criteria Air Pollutant Report: ORANGE County, CA


http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/cap/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06059



---------------------------------------

The 13 Grossest Things Found on a Recent Cleanup of Black Star Canyon

 

2013

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/02/canyon_guardians_orange_county.php

 

------------------------------------

East Irvine Pollution Indexes

http://www.clrsearch.com/East-Irvine-Demographics/CA/Pollution-Levels


-----------------------------------------

 

Thousands of barrels of suspected toxic DDT found dumped in California ocean

27 Apr 2021

Extent of possible toxic waste site near Catalina Island ‘staggering’, says chief scientist on sea survey

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/27/up-to-25000-barrels-found-at-suspected-ddt-dump-off-california-say-scientists

 

-----------------------------------------

FBI Investigating Orange County Supervisors

 

Jul 25th, 2013


 The FBI confirmed today that a Task Force has been assembled from the FBI, IRS, District Attorney and U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate reports of political campaign corruption in Orange County, California.  As America’s Most Republican County, it is not surprising that a Democrat Attorney General under a Democrat Administration would put powerful Republican politicians in their cross-hairs.  But with Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, a Republican and former Superior Court Judge, as part of the Task Force, my sources believe that over the next two months it is very likely the Supervisors homes will be raided and indictments will be issued for “pay to play” campaign corruption charges.

Although no details were made public about individuals or specific areas of corruption being investigated by the Task Force, Los Angeles FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said it was formally created in April.  Similar task forces have been active in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties in recent years, investigating a variety of corruption charges involving elected officials.

But my sources indicate that the investigation has been ongoing for almost a year.  A secret Grand Jury has taken testimony from dozens of county staff members and a large number of vendors to the county’s CalOptima, which manages regional Medicaid hospital and out-patient services, and the Orange County Waste and Recycling, which manages the dumps, trash and environmental services.

In April, the Orange County Grand Jury called for the creation of a county ethics commission, citing the county’s 40-year history of corruption.  Supervisors ridiculed the idea, claiming the OC Grand Jury was mistaken.  But on June 24th, the California Fair Political Practices Commission, based on the findings of the Orange County Grand Jury alleging wide spread corruption at the highest levels of county government, confirmed they were investigating a majority of Orange County Supervisors and the Board of Directors of the CalOptima Medicaid program regarding potential conflict of interest violations of the Political Reform Act.

http://www.chrissstreetandcompany.com/fbi-investigating-orange-county-supervisors.html

 

-------------------------------------

Independent Audit Proves Massive Larry Agran Corruption At The Orange County Great Park

  

Jan. 10 2014

 ( http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/01/larry_agran_great_park.php )

 Since the late 1970s and until about a decade ago, Larry Agran served as the most beloved liberal politician in the heart of California's Ronald Reagan-style conservatism, Orange County. Democratic Party activists cherished his words and followed him around as loyal disciples. Lefty academics hailed him as a refreshing political reformer dedicated to good, honest government.
But 2004 ended up being a watershed year for Agran, who'd fought Bill Clinton for the 1992 Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States. Having become the undisputed boss of a political machine that controlled the City of Irvine, his deep character flaws revealed themselves to his close political and personal allies: journalist Will Swaim, then my editor here at the Weekly, UC Irvine professor and onetime an Agran-appointed city planning commission chairman Mark Petracca and defense lawyer Chris Mears...


Late yesterday, the well-respected financial forensics team at Hagen, Streiff, Newton & Oshiro Accountants (HSNO) issued a scathing, 50-page audit report that should be Agran's political obituary.

In a just world, the HSNO audit also would be the alarm to finally awaken all the investigatory bodies that have for years oddly ignored mounting evidence of Agran's corruption: the FBI, California Attorney General's office, U.S. Department of Justice, Tony Rackauckas' Orange County District Attorney's office and the Orange County Grand Jury...

Page after page of the audit reveals how Agran, Krom and their bureaucrats shamelessly treated hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds as their own money. They repeatedly botched park planning, hid spending from other elected officials, hired cronies, doctored public records, concocted shell games, inflated sweetheart deals, lied to the public about the success of park planning and wasted tens of millions of dollars through sheer incompetence. Perhaps most troubling, they essentially used the park piggy bank as their re-election treasuries.
We previously knew Agran handed Arnold Forde--his private political adviser and, by the way, a Rackauckas pal--a $100,000 a month, no bid contract to perform public relations for a park that didn't exist.

Thanks to the audit we now also know that Agran funneled another $50,000 a month deal as well as a third lucrative contract to Forde...

----------------------------------

FBI Spearheads Task Force to Investigate OC Political Corruption

 

( http://www.voiceofoc.org/county/article_41cb64a2-f4db-11e2-9329-001a4bcf887a.html )

Jul 31, 2013

The FBI, Internal Revenue Service, district attorney and U.S. attorney’s office have formed a task force to investigate reports of political corruption in Orange County, the FBI confirmed Wednesday.

The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces campaign reporting laws and is investigating a majority of the Board of Supervisors, as well as the board of CalOptima, also is working closely with the task force, according to county sources.

No details were made public about individuals or specific areas of corruption being investigated by the task force, but Los Angeles FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said it was formally created in April.
Similar task forces have been active in San Bernardino and Riverside counties in recent years, investigating a variety of corruption charges involving elected officials.
For example, in April the task force in Riverside County served search warrants for the homes of Moreno Valley’s five City Council members as part of an investigation into relations between a corporation and the city.

Also in April, the Orange County grand jury called for creation of a county ethics commission, citing the county’s 40-year history of corruption. Supervisors rejected the idea and blasted the grand jury, claiming it was mistaken.
Eimiller noted the FBI has a permanent political corruption unit based in Orange County, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles FBI field office. On a daily basis, that and other federal and local law enforcement offices work on specific cases.



--------------------------------------

Ethics Commission Proposed for Orange County Government

( http://www.voiceofoc.org/county/article_ef18d8ba-a60c-11e2-8b39-001a4bcf887a.html )

April 16, 2013

The Orange County Grand Jury, citing the county’s 40-year history of political corruption, Monday recommended creation of an independent ethics commission to advise elected officials of ethical pitfalls and increase public confidence in government.

“Trust in government is dependent upon officials that place the public interest ahead of their own,” according to the 32-page report titled "A Call for Ethical Standards: Corruption in Orange County."

Decade after decade since the early 1970s, Orange County has been rocked by one political scandal after another that sent to prison members of the Board of Supervisors, the sheriff, a member of Congress, some of the state’s biggest political donors and dozens of others.

In addition, the county declared bankruptcy in 1994, which at the time was the largest in the nation by a government body.

“Sadly,” the grand jury reported, “it is the Grand Jury’s hypothesis that untoward behavior continues and is actively festering in today’s political environment. In point of fact, this and several other studies conducted by the 2012-2013 Grand Jury address the fact that corruption has permeated all levels of the organization, and does not apply only to elected officials positioned visibly in the public eye.”




-----------------------------------------

Newport Beach Police Sued By Ex-Cops for 'Intolerable' Corruption

  

May 19 2011

Two well-respected, former police detectives have filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court alleging rampant corruption at the Newport Beach Police Department and City Hall.

Craig Frizzell and Steve Shulman say that police bosses repeatedly rigged promotion tests, gave improper consulting deals to favored retired cops, granted secret access to sensitive police databases to unauthorized individuals outside the department, took free hotel rooms, handed special favors to businessmen who provided free meals and retaliated against honest officers who complained.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/05/newport_beach_police_sued_by_e.php

---------------------------------------

California Superior Court Corruption Reported by CNN Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Orange County Family Court reform advocates report corruption problems like those catalogued in the documentary film Divorce Corp.

 May 6, 2014


Corruption and collusion between family law court judges and lawyers are reported in this video clip from CNN Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield. Banfield and Dr. Drew Pinsky discuss the documentary film Divorce Corp, which "shines a bright light on the appalling waste, and shameless collusive practices seen daily in family courts.”

Divorce Corp catalogs egregious examples of family court corruption throughout the United States, with California courts portrayed as the most corrupt in the country. Within California, Sacramento Family Law Court emerges as the poster child and worst-of-the-worst.

( http://patch.com/california/missionviejo/california-superior-court-corruption-reported-by-cnn-legal-view-with-ashleigh-banfield_03581c7e#.U-7d6GOZgo9 )


-------------------------------------------------


The political corruption that still exists in Orange County, including Laguna Beach, this corruption will continue to harm the environment if nothing is done.

We cannot continue to allow these authorities to create problems while adding more toxic waste sites in Orange County.
 
We feel that it is the best interests for the people to call for a reformation of the government in Orange County, including in Laguna Beach. 

As a researcher it is my duty to inform the people that a grave injustice is taking place in Orange County, California.

It is our duty to educate the public about the problems harming the planet and environment.

We feel that the current administration in Orange County, including Laguna Beach, is not capable of dealing with the current environmental problems in the county.

We feel that the current government in Orange County is not representing the people.

 We must reform the current administration in the current government in Orange County California, including Laguna Beach, California. We are calling for the removal of City Manger John Pietig from political office.

For additional information about the corruption in Laguna Beach view Chapter 41: Cellphone sites.

 
--------------------------------- 

How corrupt is Orange County politics?

 

Apr 16, 2012

As a scathing audit revealed last year, the County’s Human Relations under Mauk regularly approved unjustified raises and promotions, breaking county and state rules to benefit its own employees and those of Mauk’s office, squandering over a hundred million of your money and mine.  It was a free-for-all, everyone giving each other the highest performance reviews, people approving their own raises, the Supervisors being kept in the dark over promotions and raises they were supposed to have been in charge of.  More gruesome details are here – pay raises of 33% within 6 months, a Dana Point Harbors Director with four raises in 9 months, and more.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083778/-How-corrupt-is-Orange-County-politics#

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Laguna Beach city salaries higher than norm

 

Grand Jury finds city has among highest salaries for its size. City officials say Laguna provides many services for residents and large visitor population.

 

June 22, 2011

http://articles.coastlinepilot.com/2011-06-22/news/tn-cpt-0624-grandjury-20110622_1_city-engineer-steve-salaries-laguna-beach-taxpayers-assn

---------------------------------------------------------- 

Explosive growth in CalPERS $100K pension club

No. 50, former Laguna Beach city manager Ken Frank, $229,453

http://raymondcollege.org/pipermail/common_room2_raymondcollege.org/2013-December/000055.html

----------------------------------------------------------

Selected pensions for CalPERS (2012)
Viewing “CITY OF LAGUNA BEACH” retiree pension records

 

2012

http://transparentcalifornia.com/pensions/2012/calpers/?page=1&e=CITY+OF+LAGUNA+BEACH

 


----------------------------------------------------
 

Demotions, pay cuts ordered for county executives

Orange County's assistant chief executive officer will be demoted and a deputy CEO will lose a $27,000 raise after a vote Tuesday by county supervisors responding to an audit criticizing unjustified promotions and pay raises.
The Board of Supervisors also opened a search for a new human resources director to replace Carl Crown by March. Crown announced Tuesday he is retiring and that his departure has nothing to do with the audit that concluded county policy and state rules were neglected in awarding raises and promotions.
The 3-2 board vote -- with Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen dissenting -- comes on the heels of a scathing audit of the Human Resources department exposing rampant abuse and pay raises of 33 percent in less than six months. Campbell and Nguyen argued to give CEO Tom Mauk more time to come up with an alternate plan for implementing audit recommendations.

Following the recommendations of a county committee, including supervisors Pat Bates and Shawn Nelson, the split board agreed to demote Assistant CEO Rob Richardson, taking away his 401 (a) benefit and car allowance. Richardson will still draw his salary of $191,089, which includes a 33.13 percent pay raise in six months. But he will lose 7.8 percent in perks as an administrative manager III.
County officials said county pay regulations banned them from lowering Richardson's salary.

Deputy CEO for Infrastructure Alisa Drakodaidis saw her pay rise 33.4 percent in just five months after she got the job in May 2007. Now the board ordered her salary be reduced by 13.1 percent or $27,248. Her pay will be $180,752.

Other changes ordered by the board:

-- OC public works director of administration should be reclassified back to administrative manager III. The position was last held by Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who resigned in October amid a county investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with employees.

-- Director of Public Finance Colleen Clark will keep the position of executive manager for which she was recruited. But the post will revert back to administrative manager III when she leaves. County Budget Director Frank Kim will also retain his position, but it will be downgraded when he leaves.

-- O.C. Dana Point Harbor Director Brad Gross will see his salary capped at $163,737 for three years. Gross had received four pay raises in nine months...

http://www.ocregister.com/taxdollars/strong-478453-county-pay.html


 ----------------------------------------------------

(We must stop corrupt city officials in Orange County that continue to harm the way of life of the people of Orange County. We are calling for the people to stop these politicians).

----------------------------------------------------
 

New Employee Receives Special Perk

 

Posted On 03 Jun 2016

In her dual job titles as the city’s new assistant city manager and director of public works,

Shohreh Dupuis knows she’ll encounter the unique challenges of a popular beach town. Experienced at working with regional transportation agencies, her first task will be the utility undergrounding project in Laguna Canyon and the growing traffic congestion on the city’s small streets, she said.
With at least one hurdle that confronts most residents, she will receive help. Dupuis is one of four City Hall executive administrators getting assistance from their employer to buy a home in town, said Gavin Curran, director of finance and information technology.


http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/new-employee-receives-special-perk/

 

 

----------------------------------------------------

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Chapter 3: Los Angeles County


--------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------

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CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS

DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloro ethane)

Between 1950 and 1970 hundreds of tons of DDT were released into the coastal waters of Los Angeles and Orange counties, California. Much of it came directly from the Montrose Chemical Company plant in San Pedro, and was discharged through the L.A. County sewage lines. Kelp beds off the coast disappeared, white sea bass numbers dwindled and Dover sole suffered from fin rot. It is estimated that there are 200 tons of DDT spread over a 20 square mile area of the sea bed off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and the Environmental Protection Agency has designated the area as a Superfund site. 
The DDT dump is probably the reason for high levels of DDT in present-day local fish and marine mammals. Although the levels measured in sewage outfalls, sediments, and fish have decreased since DDT was banned, the levels in blubber of local dolphins have not declined.  In April 1990, the Department of Fish and Game outlawed harvesting of white croaker, a bottom-feeding fish, off Palos Verdes Peninsula, because of high levels of DDT and PCBs found in these fish.  Commercial fishing is completely banned along the Palos Verdes coast.  In 1999 fishermen were still being warned not to eat white croaker caught in this area. Under an agreement reached in December 2000, Montrose and three other companies will pay $73 million to clean up the DDT.


http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/sustain/bio65/lec14/b65lec14.htm

------------------------------------------------------

Study says early DDT exposure may set up females for obesity, diabetes

 

July 31st, 2014


DDT is sprayed in Santa Monica in 1948 during a polio outbreak. The pesticide was outlawed in the U.S. in 1972. (Los Angeles Times Archive / UCLA)

( http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-ddt-pesticide-obesity-diabetes-20140730-story.html )




--------------------------------

Santa Catalina Island

Sewage pollution, sea otter hunting, sea urchin grazing, and elevated temperatures caused by El Niño events have reduced the lush stands of giant kelp that make this one of the West Coast's best snorkeling sites. (Luckily, marine reserves had already been set up at Lover's Cove, Casino Point, Toyon Bay, and Blue Cavern Point, where the snorkeling is still superb.) There are too many mule deer—a non-native species introduced years ago as wild game—and not enough of the native foxes. Wildfire—an inescapable part of nature's cycle in Southern California—devastated 4,750 acres (1,922 hectares) of the island in May 2007. But the worst problem is much more intractable: 25 years of DDT and PCBs being dumped across the channel that separates it from Los Angeles. Though the dumping was stopped in the early 1970s, tons of DDT and PCBs still lie on the ocean floor off the Palos Verde peninsula. Artificial reefs have been created around the island to protect its fish, and conservancy naturalists zealously protect the nesting sites of native eagles. Whether they can turn the tide is still uncertain.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/santa-catalina-island#ixzz3AnMMc3oc

 

------------------------------------------------------



TWO MILE ISLAND


July 22nd, 2004

(  http://www.enviroreporter.com/twomileisland/all/1/  )

The Rocketdyne facility is more poisoned than anyone knew. Now residents and community leaders of the northwest San Fernando Valley and Ventura County supervisors want more testing before new homes get any closer.


In 1957, Rocketdyne debuted the nation's first commercial nuclear reactior, the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE), which supplied electricity to over a thousand folks in the then-tiny town of Moorpark. The SRE experienced a partial meltdown in the summer of 1959, in which a third of the reactor core melted and lethal radioactive gases spewed from the unfortified building.

The SRE partial meltdown released 15 to 260 times more radiation to the surrounding environment than did Three Mile Island, according to the Santa Barbara-based law firm of Capello & Noel. The firm represents over 300 individuals in lawsuits against Boeing and Rockwell international, the lab's original owner. On June 8th, the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, denied Boeing's efforts to dismiss these radiation claims. The lawsuits argue that SRE melt, in part, may have poisoned its clients and that the issues deserves to go to trial.


TCE soil concentrations at the site are also alarming. At the Alfa rocket test stand, "TCE was found at 1,820,000 ppb in the dirt, 34,340 times the preliminary remediation goal (PRG) of 53 ppb for soil.



-------------------------------------------------

Toxic Tours Of Los Angeles

 

2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/28/toxic-tours-of-los-angele_n_661289.html#s118600title=Communities_for_a

 


-------------------------------------------

Toxic Waters

California


( http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/polluters/california )

Across the nation, the system that Congress created to protect the nation’s waters under the Clean Water Act of 1972 today often fails to prevent pollution. The New York Times has compiled data on more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance. Information about facilities contained in this database comes from two sources: the Environmental Protection Agency and the California State Water Resources Control Board.



3,831 facilities could not be mapped but are included in this list. 




---------------------------------------------------------------------

Probable Carcinogen Found in Tap Water of 31 U.S. Cities

December 20, 2010

In 25 of 35 U.S. cities where tap water supplies were tested for hexavalent chromium -- deemed likely to cause cancer in humans in a U.S. EPA draft review this year -- levels of the chemical exceeded the minimum set by the state of California to protect public health, according to a report released today by an environmental group.

The outcry over cancer cases in Hinkley helped push California to set a tap-water public health goal of 0.06 parts per billion (ppb) of chromium-6, an early move on the way to a binding state standard (Greenwire, Aug. 21, 2009). Of the 35 cities where EWG tested drinking supplies, 31 contained some level of chromium-6, and 25 -- including Washington, Los Angeles and Norman, Okla., where samples showed 12.9 ppb -- contained levels higher than the California goal.

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/12/20/20greenwire-probable-carcinogen-found-in-tap-water-of-31-us-4856.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Toxic tap water? 14 drugs, personal care products in NYC drinking water

August 22, 2011

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/toxic-tap-water-14-drugs-personal-care-products-in-nyc-drinking-water/

 

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CHROMIUM CONTAMINATION IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY (SFV)

 

 Chromium contamination in the soil and groundwater has occurred in the SFV and other areas in southern California. Cr+6 has been detected in production and groundwater monitoring wells in the San Fernando Valley area. Cr+6 has been consistently detected in some shallow and deep monitoring wells primarily in the North Hollywood, Glendale, Burbank and Pollock Operable Units, from depths ranging from 31feet to as deep as 580 feet below ground surface.


http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/losangeles/water_issues/programs/remediation/chromium/chromium_s1.shtml

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Chromium-6 map (California)

The effects of chromium-6 when it is ingested have been the subject of much debate.  It is a known fact that when some forms of chromium-6 are inhaled, they can cause cancer. However, experts have disagreed on its toxicity in drinking water due in part to the possible changes to chromium-6 in the stomach when it is ingested...

CDPH worked with water systems in 2001-2002 to collect occurrence data for chromium-6 in California’s drinking water.  This sampling was mandatory for most systems since CDPH placed chromium-6 on the UCMR list in January 2001.

A map is available here with the locations of active community water system wells that had two or more detections above the DLR of 1 ppb between 2002-2010. DLR refers to detection limit for the purposes of reporting.

http://www.acwa.com/sites/default/files/page/2011/02/map-ab-2222-report-detections-above-dlr.pdf

---------------------------------------------------------------


Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE)

 Last updated on 11/15/2014

http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/water.htm

A growing number of studies have detected MTBE in ground water throughout the country; in some instances these contaminated waters are sources of drinking water. Low levels of MTBE can make drinking water supplies undrinkable due to its offensive taste and odor.

Is MTBE harmful to humans?

The majority of the human health-related research conducted to date on MTBE has focused on effects associated with the inhalation of the chemical. When research animals inhaled high concentrations of MTBE, some developed cancers or experienced other non-cancerous health effects To date, independent expert review groups who have assessed MTBE inhalation health risks e.g., Interagency Assessment of Oxygenated Fuels) have not concluded that the use of MTBE-oxygenated gasoline poses an imminent threat to public health. However, researchers have limited data about what the health effects may be if a person swallows (ingests) MTBE. EPA's Office of Water has concluded that available data are not adequate to estimate potential health risks of MTBE at low exposure levels in drinking water but that the data support the conclusion that MTBE is a potential human carcinogen at high doses. Recent work by EPA and other researchers is expected to help determine more precisely the potential for health effects from MTBE in drinking water.

What is the status of the drinking water contamination in Santa Monica, CA, the city with the first significant incidence of MTBE contamination?

In 1996, the city of Santa Monica learned that two of its drinking water wellfields, Charnock and Arcadia, were contaminated with MTBE at levels as high as 610 ppb and 86 ppb respectively. In response, the two wellfields, representing 50 percent of the city's drinking water supply were shut down and the city began purchasing replacement water. This incident was the first major water contamination which brought public attention to MTBE.
EPA's Region 9 and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) are pursuing a joint enforcement action at the Charnock wellfield in Santa Monica. Site-specific clean-up is underway. At the smaller Arcadia wellfield, the RWQCB has the lead while EPA provides technical support and field oversight of the clean-up.



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POLLUTION RANKINGS|By Counties in CALIFORNIA

(  http://scorecard.goodguide.com/ranking/rank-facilities-in-county.tcl?how_many=100&drop_down_name=Total+environmental+releases&fips_state_code=06&fips_county_code=06037&sic_2=All+reporting+sectors  )


 Facilities Releasing TRI Chemicals to the Environment

Rank	Facility	Pounds
1.	EXXONMOBIL OIL CORP. TORRANCE REFY., 3700 W. 190TH ST., TORRANCE	1,664,598
2.	CHEVRON USA INC. CHEVRON PRODS. CO. DIV., 324 W. EL SEGUNDO BLVD., EL SEGUNDO	1,653,346
3.	CONOCOPHILLIPS CO. LA REFY. WILMINGTON PLANT, 1660 W. ANAHEIM ST., WILMINGTON	1,095,961
4.	BP WEST COAST PRODS. L.L.C. CARSON, 1801 E. SEPULVEDA BLVD., CARSON	522,490
5.	DOW CHEMICAL CO. TORRANCE FACILITY, 305 CRENSHAW BLVD., TORRANCE	380,177
6.	REXAM BEVERAGE CAN CO. CHATSWORTH FACILITY, 20730 PRAIRIE ST., CHATSWORTH	235,789
7.	HONEYWELL INTL. INC., 850 S. SEPULVEDA BLVD., EL SEGUNDO	175,117
8.	SHELL OIL PRODS. U.S. LOS ANGELES REFY., 2101 E. PACIFIC COAST HWY., WILMINGTON	170,606
9.	CUSTOM FIBREGLASS MFG. CO., 1711 HARBOR AVE., LONG BEACH	159,699
10.	TABC INC., 6375 PARAMOUNT BLVD., LONG BEACH	126,600
11.	GB MFG. INC., 1462 E. 9TH ST., POMONA	112,397
12.	ULTRAMAR INC. WILMINGTON REFY., 2402 E. ANAHEIM ST., WILMINGTON	95,624
13.	NATURALIFE ECO VITE LABS. INC., 20433 EARL ST., TORRANCE	77,000
14.	AIR PRODS. & CHEMICALS INC., 700 N. HENRY FORD AVE., WILMINGTON	66,747
15.	KEYSOR-CENTURY CORP., 26000 SPRINGBROOK AVE., SAUGUS	64,454
16.	CATALINA YACHTS INC., 21200 VICTORY BLVD., WOODLAND HILLS	63,594
17.	JOHNSON LAMINATING & COATING INC., 20631 ANNALEE AVE., CARSON	55,421
18.	ARMSTRONG WORLD INDS. INC., 5037 PATATA ST., SOUTH GATE	54,627
19.	BALL METAL BEVERAGE CONTAINER CORP., 500 CRENSHAW BLVD., TORRANCE	53,910
20.	EQUILON CARSON TERMINAL, 20945 S. WILMINGTON AVE., CARSON	42,605
21.	SHELL OIL PRODS. U.S. SULFUR RECOVERY PLANT, 23208 S. ALAMEDA ST., CARSON	41,590
22.	HON CO. SOUTH GATE PLANT -REPORT YEAR 1999, 2323 E. FIRESTONE BLVD., SOUTH GATE	41,578
23.	PLASTICS RESEARCH CORP., 13538 EXCELSIOR DR., SANTA FE SPRINGS	36,241
24.	IMPRESS USA INC., 936 BARRACUDA ST., TERMINAL ISLAND	36,175
25.	ARCO VINVALE TERMINAL, 8601 S. GARFIELD AVE., SOUTH GATE	34,996
26.	FABRI COTE, 724 E. 60TH ST., LOS ANGELES	34,120
27.	ANHEUSER-BUSCH INC., 15800 ROSCOE BLVD., VAN NUYS	33,501
28.	PRAXAIR INC., 2006 E. 223 RD. ST., CARSON	32,885
29.	TMT-PATHWAY L.L.C., 1021 N. MISSION RD., LOS ANGELES	32,248
30.	3M NORTHRIDGE, 19901 NORDHOFF ST., NORTHRIDGE	32,074
31.	ARMORCAST PRODS. CO., 13230 SATICOY ST., NORTH HOLLYWOOD	31,967
32.	BOC GASES, 2535 DEL AMO BLVD., TORRANCE	31,866
33.	SMURFIT NEWSPRINT CORP., 2205 W. MT. VERNON AVE., POMONA	30,355
34.	K. F. FIBERGLASS INC., 8247 PHLOX ST., DOWNEY	28,290
35.	MYERS CONTAINER CORP., 5820 BICKETT ST., HUNTINGTON PARK	28,247
36.	3M, 1601 S. SHAMROCK AVE., MONROVIA	24,500
37.	R.R. DONNELLEY, 19681 PACIFIC GATEWAY DR., TORRANCE	23,239
38.	WESTERN TUBE & CONDUIT CORP., 2001 E. DOMINGUEZ ST., CARSON	22,855
39.	METROMEDIA TECHS. INC., 1320 N. WILTON PL., LOS ANGELES	22,790
40.	AIR LIQUIDE AMERICA L.P., 1502 W. ANAHEIM ST., WILMINGTON	22,660
41.	FARMER BROS CO., 20333 S. NORMANDIE AVE., TORRANCE	21,960
42.	CONOCOPHILLIPS CO. LA REFY. CARSON PLANT, 1520 E. SEPULVEDA BLVD., CARSON	21,033
43.	J.B.I. INC., 18601 SANTA FE AVE., COMPTON	20,478
44.	ENGINEERED POLYMER SOLUTIONS INC. (DBA VALSPAR COATINGS), 901 W. UNION ST., MONTEBELLO	20,388
45.	METAL IMPROVEMENT CO. INC. E/M COATING SERVICES DIV., 6940 FARMDALE AVE., NORTH HOLLYWOOD	19,931
46.	U.S. CAN CO. PLANT #26 COMMERCE, 5650 E. GRACE PL., LOS ANGELES	19,696
47.	L.A. STEELCRAFT PRODS. INC., 1974 LINCOLN AVE., PASADENA	19,621
48.	MECHANICAL METAL FINISHING, 15220 S. BROADWAY, GARDENA	17,607
49.	CROWN CORK & SEAL CO. INC., 14501 E. ARTESIA BLVD., LA MIRADA	17,000
50.	CROWN CHROME PLATING, 14660 ARMINTA ST., VAN NUYS	16,335
51.	ENGINEERED POLYMER SOLUTIONS INC., 5501 E. SLAUSON AVE., CITY OF COMMERCE	16,025
52.	PETRO DIAMOND TERMINAL CO., 1920 LUGGER WAY, LONG BEACH	15,717
53.	HERAEUS METAL PROCESSING INC., 13429 ALONDRA BLVD., SANTA FE SPRINGS	14,081
54.	NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., 800 DOUGLAS ST., EL SEGUNDO	13,796
55.	DOW CHEMICAL CO. LONG BEACH TERMINAL, 305 HENRY FORD AVE., LONG BEACH	13,674
56.	HIGHLAND DESIGN INC., 16525 S. AVALON AVE., CARSON	12,300
57.	FALCON PRODS. INC., 400-420 S. IRWINDALE AVE., AZUSA	12,250
58.	METAL IMPROVEMENT CO. INC. E/M COATING SERVICES DIV., 20751 SUPERIOR ST., CHATSWORTH	11,332
59.	FOAM SPECIALTIES, 11110 BUSINESS CIRCLE, CERRITOS	10,534
60.	OWENS-BROCKWAY GLASS CONTAINER INC. PLANT 23, 2901 FRUITLAND AVE., VERNON	10,496
61.	M.C. GILL CORP., 4056 EASY ST., EL MONTE	10,448
62.	P. B. FIBERGLASS PRODS. INC., 12177 BRANFORD ST., SUN VALLEY	10,369
63.	EXXONMOBIL OIL CORP. VERNON TERMINAL, 2609 E. 37TH ST., VERNON	10,317
64.	MARBLE MAKERS INC., 2310 CENTRAL AVE. SUITE 1-4, DUARTE	10,197
65.	ATSC HATHAWAY TERMINAL, 2350 HATHAWAY AVE., SIGNAL HILL	10,115
66.	BAUCHET INTL. INC., 3110 E. 12TH ST., LOS ANGELES	10,100
67.	CHEMCENTRAL/LOS ANGELES, 13900 CARMENITA RD., SANTA FE SPRINGS	9,715
68.	CERTIFIED ENAMELING INC., 3342 EMERY ST., LOS ANGELES	9,347
69.	MCCANN'S ENGINEERING & MFG. CO., 4570 W. COLORADO BLVD., LOS ANGELES	9,275
70.	ATSC MARINE TERMINAL 2, 1300 W. PIER B ST., LONG BEACH	8,848
71.	EASTMAN CHEMICAL CO., 2801 LYNWOOD RD., LYNWOOD	8,776
72.	PECHINEY CAST PLATE, 3200 FRUITLAND AVE., VERNON	8,632
73.	BP WILMINGTON CALCINER, 1175 CARRACK AVE., WILMINGTON	8,600
74.	DARIGOLD-LOS ANGELES, 1474 N. INDIANA ST., LOS ANGELES	8,359
75.	EQUILON SIGNAL HILL TERMINAL, 2457 REDONDO AVE., LONG BEACH	8,200
76.	MASK-OFF CO. INC., 345 W. MAPLE AVE., MONROVIA	8,170
77.	RHODIA INC., 20720 S. WILMINGTON AVE., CARSON	7,614
78.	EQUILON WILMINGTON TERMINAL, 1926 E. PACIFIC COAST HWY., WILMINGTON	7,430
79.	NATIONAL O-RING (DBA HUTCHINSON SEAL CORP.), 11634 PATTON RD., DOWNEY	7,304
80.	IPS CORP., 17109 S. MAIN ST., GARDENA	7,212
81.	EQUILON VAN NUYS TERMINAL, 8100 N. HASKELL AVE., VAN NUYS	7,100
82.	GRUBER SYS., 25636 AVE. STANFORD, VALENCIA	6,459
83.	PLASTIC DRESS-UP CO., 11077 E. RUSH ST., SOUTH EL MONTE	6,340
84.	ASHLAND SPECIALTY CHEMICAL CO., 6608 E. 26TH ST., LOS ANGELES	5,875
85.	AMVAC CHEMICAL CORP., 4100 E. WASHINGTON BLVD., LOS ANGELES	5,601
86.	VARIAN SAMPLE PREPARATION PRODS., 24201 FRAMPTON AVE., HARBOR CITY	5,531
87.	PARAMOUNT PETROLEUM CORP., 14700 DOWNEY AVE., PARAMOUNT	5,205
88.	ONYX ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES L.L.C., 1704 W. 1ST ST., AZUSA	5,010
89.	NIKLOR CHEMICAL CO. INC., 2060 E. 220TH ST., CARSON	4,561
90.	JOHANSON DIELECTRICS INC., 15191 BLEDSOE ST., SYLMAR	4,355
91.	PRICE PFISTER INC., 13500 PAXTON ST., PACOIMA	4,212
92.	REMO INC., 28101 INDUSTRY DR., VALENCIA	4,103
93.	NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPACE TECH., 3001 AVIATION BLVD., MANHATTAN BEACH	4,024
94.	ICI PAINTS, 6100 S. GARFIELD AVE., LOS ANGELES	3,959
95.	TORRANCE LATEX PLANT UNION CARBIDE CORP., 19206 HAWTHORNE BLVD., TORRANCE	3,889
96.	PERMALITE REPROMEDIA CORP., 230 E. ALONDRA BLVD., GARDENA	3,808
97.	INTERPLASTIC CORP., 12335 S. VAN NESS AVE., HAWTHORNE	3,571
98.	CONOCOPHILLIPS LOS ANGELES TERMINAL, 13500 S. BROADWAY, LOS ANGELES	3,570
99.	ARCADIA INC., 3225 E. WASHINGTON BLVD., VERNON	3,500
100.	EDGINGTON OIL CO., 2400 E. ARTESIA BLVD., LONG BEACH	3,500

---------------------------------------- 

 

Map Locating Toxic Chemical Releases

Los Angeles county

http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06037#major_chemical_releases


----------------------------------------------------------------

Lung cancer and air pollution in southcentral Los Angeles County.

 

1975

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1155427

 


---------------------------------------------------------

Southern California Air Pollution Puts Residents At Risk Of Death

 

2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/southern-california-air-pollution_n_1273348.html

 

----------------------------------------------------- 

 

 

Report Says LA Has Most Polluted Air in United States

March 22, 2022

A report by IQAir a company that helps track global air quality found that LA has the most polluted air out of over 2,400 cities analyzed.

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/local-2/report-says-la-has-most-polluted-air-in-united-states/2853463/

-----------------------------------------------------

‘Vicious cycle’ fuels Southern California air pollution, the worst in the U.S.

October 5, 2021

New study analyzes the interlocking roles of emissions, warmer temperature and drought.

https://www.pe.com/2021/10/05/vicious-cycle-fuels-southern-california-air-pollution-the-worst-in-the-u-s/

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

STATE OF THE AIR 2012

Southern California Region


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/13/southern-california-air-pollution_n_1273348.html

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Air Pollution in Relation to U.S. Cancer Mortality Rates: An Ecological Study; Likely Role of Carbonaceous Aerosols and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

 

2009
 

 ( http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/29/9/3537.full )

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

Ambient Air Pollution and Risk of Birth Defects in Southern California

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/155/1/17.full

---------------------------------------------------------------


Effect of Air Pollution on Preterm Birth Among
Children Born in Southern California Between
1989 and 1993

2000

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10955401/

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

California's Air Pollution Causes Asthma, Allergies and Premature Births

2013

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/19-californias-air-pollution-causes-asthma-allergies-and-premature-births

 

------------------------------------------------

Our Children At Risk

 

The Five Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health

 

(  http://www.nrdc.org/health/kids/ocar/chap4.asp )

Stationary Point Sources

In Los Angeles and its environs, all fourteen operating refineries emit approximately 30 tons of nitrogen oxides per day and 10 tons of reactive organic gases per day.  Despite a long history of aggressive efforts to control emissions, power plants continue to expel large quantities of pollutants. Factories and high-tech industries -- everything from aerospace firms to label manufacturers -- also contribute. For instance, paper mills commonly release sulfates into the air, coal-burning power plants emit sulfates and acids, and municipal incinerators emit fly ash, a particulate mixture which can include heavy metals. Of particular concern are metal smelters, which sometimes emit lead, arsenic, and other metals.


Small Businesses and Consumer Products

 
It is often easier to regulate large companies than a large number and wide variety of smaller businesses. Yet these businesses may be an important source of air pollution. Dry cleaners, for instance, emit carcinogenic solvent vapors, especially perchloroethylene; plastic molding plants can emit formaldehyde and other organics into the air; scrap metal recycling plants often emit lead, cadmium, and mercury into the atmosphere; plating shops emit chromium and nickel (as suspended particulate matter); and auto body shops release a variety of solvents and other toxic organics. In fact, in the Los Angeles Basin, auto body shops emit two tons of reactive organic gases per day.

Also of concern are consumer products. Hairspray, spray-on deodorant, and room fresheners expel individually only small amounts of gases, but these minute amounts are released several million times a day. In southern California, consumer products contribute almost 8 percent of the total daily volatile organic carbon emissions.

 

-----------------------------------------------

Key studies on air pollution and health effects near high-traffic areas

(  http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0603/et0603s21.html )

Pregnant women who live near high traffic areas more likely to have premature and low birth weight babies
	Researchers observed an approximately 10-20% increase in the risk of premature birth and low birth weight for infants born to women living near high traffic areas in Los Angeles County. In particular, the researchers found that for each one part per million increase in annual average carbon monoxide concentrations where the women lived, there was a 19% and 11% increase in risk for low birth weight and premature births, respectively.     Wilhelm, Ritz. (2002). Residential Proximity to Traffic and Adverse Birth Outcomes in Los Angeles County, California, 1994-1996. Environmental Health Perspectives. doi: 10.1289/ehp.5688.
Traffic-related air pollution associated with respiratory symptoms in two year old children
	This cohort study found that two year old children who are exposed to higher levels of traffic-related air pollution are more likely to have self-reported respiratory illnesses, including wheezing, ear/nose/throat infections, and reporting of physician-diagnosed asthma, flu or serious cold.     Brauer et al. (2002). Air Pollution from Traffic and the Development of Respiratory Infections and Asthmatic and Allergic Symptoms in Children. Am J Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Vol. 166 pp 1092-1098.
People who live near freeways exposed to 25 times more particle pollution
	Studies conducted in the vicinity of Interstates 405 and 710 in Southern California found that the number of ultrafine particles in the air was approximately 25 times more concentrated near the freeways and that pollution levels gradually decrease back to normal (background) levels around 300 meters, or 990 feet, downwind from the freeway. The researchers note that motor vehicles are the most significant source of ultrafine particles, which have been linked to increases in mortality and morbidity. Recent research concludes that ultrafine particles are more toxic than larger particles with the same chemical composition. Moreover, the researchers found considerably higher concentrations of carbon monoxide pollution near the freeways.     Zhu, Hinds, Kim, Sioutas. Concentration and size distribution of ultrafine particles near a major highway. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association. September 2002. Zhu, Hinds, Kim, Shen, Sioutas. Study of ultrafine particles near a major highway with heavy-duty diesel traffic. Atmospheric Environment. 36(2002), 4323-4335.

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Dirty freeway air puts Southern California health at risk, say activists

 

2012

http://www.dailynews.com/20120116/dirty-freeway-air-puts-southern-california-health-at-risk-say-activists  

------------------------------------------------------

Plant Allowed To Reopen Following Allegedly Unsafe Arsenic Emissions

 

June 17, 2013

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/06/17/plant-allowed-to-reopen-following-allegedly-unsafe-arsenic-emissions/




------------------------------------------------------

Gas Seepage Continues at OII Landfill, Study Finds

 

June 16, 1988


MONTEREY PARK — Toxic and potentially explosive gases continue to seep from the Operating Industries Inc. hazardous waste site into surrounding neighborhoods in Montebello despite reports that odors from the closed landfill are diminishing, a federal report said.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report released last week said potentially explosive methane and lesser amounts of vinyl chloride and other toxic gases continue to migrate into neighborhoods along the dump's southern and western boundaries.

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-16/news/ga-6711_1_landfill-gas



-----------------------------------------------------

A Proposal to Keep Sewage Away From the California Coast

 

 2010

 

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/keeping-ship-sewage-from-the-california-coast/



 -----------------------------------------------------

'Toxic Tour' of Long Beach Showcases Most Polluted Areas of City

 

http://lbpost.com/place/2000003074-toxic-tour-of-long-beach-showcases-most-polluted-areas-of-city#.U-m8Y2OZgo8

 

 
-----------------------------------------------------

 

 

Soils and Sediments

 

http://www.polb.com/environment/soils_and_sediments/default.asp

 


--------------------------------------------------

Harboring Pollution: The Dirty Truth about U.S. Ports

http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/ports1/overview.asp

-----------------------------------------------------

Water Pollution News- L.A. Faces Fines For Sewer Spills

 

Sewage spills have polluted rivers, lakes, and oceans in Southern California. L.A. is a frequent violator and has discharged millions of gallons of untreated sewage into waters in the past year. For people who get water from their wells and do not treat their, well water or groundwater, these municipal sewage spills pose serious health risks. In addition, sewage spills affect birds, fish, and other wildlife who naturally don't drink from tap or bottled water.

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-news/water-pollution-la-sewer.htm

 


---------------------------------------------------------

Federal Appeals Court Finds Los Angeles County Liable for Polluted Waterways 

 

Groups Win Stormwater Pollution Case Forcing LA County to Clean up Toxic Mess

 
(  http://www.nrdc.org/media/2013/130808.asp  )

WASHINGTON (August 8, 2013) An opinion issued today by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with arguments in favor of a lawsuit that forces Los Angeles County and the County Flood Control District to take action to  clean up  two polluted waterways in Los Angeles. The lawsuit initiated by Natural Resources Defense Council and Los Angeles Waterkeeper in 2008 sought to hold the County responsible for documented violations of the Clean Water Act in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers since 2003, and act immediately to clean up the toxic mix of mercury, arsenic, cyanide, lead and fecal bacteria found in billions of gallons of stormwater runoff. Today’s ruling comes after the case was remanded to the Ninth Circuit by the Supreme Court of the United States in January.




-----------------------------------------------------

Overwhelmed sewer systems take toll on beaches

 

Heavy storms ruptured mains and disabled pumps, spilling thousands of gallons of sewage into the ocean along Southern California's coast.

 

December 28, 2010

 
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/28/local/la-me-storm-pollution-20101228

 


---------------------------------------------------------

Health Threats from Polluted Coastal Waters

http://www.beachapedia.org/Health_Threats_from_Polluted_Coastal_Waters


--------------------------------------------------------- 

3 days after rain, beach water can still make swimmers ill, study says

 

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-beach-advisories-storm-runoff-20140303,0,6939755.story


-------------------------------------------

Speak Out Against Increased Water Pollution in L.A. County!

 

https://lawaterkeeper.org/event/water-quality-permit-requirements-at-risk/


-----------------------------------------------

Cities Worry about Polluted Snow, But Routinely Let Dirty Rain Flow into Beaches

... Big events—anything from this winter’s snowstorms to the BP oil spill disaster—get our attention and make us think about the pollution going into our water. But just because storm water pollution in many communities happens in slow motion doesn’t mean it isn’t having an enormous impact.
For example, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment estimates that every year 6 million gallons of oil get dumped into California’s coastal waters after stormwater carries it off paved roads and parking lots and drops it into the ocean.  Los Angeles County generates 1.8 million gallons alone...

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dbeckman/cities_worry_about_polluted_sn.html



----------------------------------------------

Most Polluted Beaches In California 

 

 #1: Avalon Beach (Los Angeles County)

#2: Poche County Beach (Orange County)

#4: Santa Monica State Beach (Los Angeles County)

#6: Cabrillo Beach (Los Angeles)

#8: Newport Bay (Orange County)

#9: Doheny State Beach (Orange County)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/most-polluted-beaches-in_n_663007.html#s120174&title=Avalon_Beach_Los

 


------------------------------------------------

Avalon's dirty little secret: its beach is health hazard

 

Visitors to the island often ignore the warning, but some in town want to take action.

 

July 10, 2011

 

By the hundreds of thousands each year, they sail to Avalon by ferry and cruise ship for diving trips, glass-bottom boat tours and to lounge on the beach in the Catalina Island town 26 miles off the Southern California coast.
Yet the same crystal-clear water that draws tourists also harbors an embarrassing hazard. For most of the last decade, Avalon Harbor Beach has ranked among the most polluted in the state, tainted with human sewage that puts swimmers at risk.
Even though the city of 4,000 has spent $3.5 million testing and rehabilitating sewer lines, the water is no cleaner. A report last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council listed Avalon as one of the 10 most chronically polluted beaches in the nation for failing state health tests as much as 73% of the time.
Researchers years ago zeroed in on the cause: the city's rickety sewer system, made of century-old clay and metal pipes. Because half the lines are flushed with corrosive salt water, some have deteriorated so much they have simply vanished. So human waste flows unchecked into the earth, trickling into the city's groundwater and filtering through the sand into Avalon Bay.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/10/local/la-me-avalon-water-20110710

-----------------------------------------------------

Lockheed and Others Settle Cleanup Action

 

August 23, 1991

 
The Justice Department has approved a nearly $70-million settlement with Lockheed and others over pollution of Burbank ground water, paving the way for a cleanup under the federal Superfund program, federal officials announced Thursday.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-23/business/fi-1195_1_cleanup-action




-----------------------------------------------------

 

South Pasadena sues Dow Chemical, Shell Oil after cancer-causing contaminant found in water supply

September 11, 2020

Lawsuit says city deserves to be compensated because companies were aware chemical posed a danger to public health

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2020/09/11/south-pasadena-sues-dow-chemical-shell-oil-after-cancer-causing-contaminant-found-in-water-supply/

 

-----------------------------------------------------

L.A. Dumps 500 Tons of Human Excrement Onto Kern County Every Day

 

May 12, 2011

 

http://exiledonline.com/l-a-dumps-500-tons-of-human-excrement-onto-kern-county-every-day/


-----------------------------------------------------

 

 

Potentially harmful algal blooms found in Isabella Lake, Public Health says

Jul 10, 2019

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KGET) — Kern County Public Health has found active algal blooms in parts of Isabella Lake and is warning visitors to stay away from algae and scum in those areas.

Two water samples recently obtained from the lake indicated the presence of potentially harmful blue-green algae at the “cautionary” level, the lowest of three advisory levels, Public Health officials said.

https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/potentially-harmful-algal-blooms-found-in-isabella-lake-public-health-says/

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

Stop Oil Drilling In Hermosa Beach.

http://www.nobpinhb.com/p/dangers.html

 


-----------------------------------------------------

California Offshore Fracking More Widespread Than Anyone Believed

 2013

 

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The oil production technique known as fracking is more widespread and frequently used in the offshore platforms and man-made islands near some of California's most populous and famous coastal communities than state officials believed.
In waters off Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach — some of the region's most popular surfing strands and tourist attractions — oil companies have used fracking at least 203 times at six sites in the past two decades, according to interviews and drilling records obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/california-offshore-fracking_n_4136956.html

-----------------------------------------------------

ExxonMobil Shuts California Oil Pipeline in After Leak

2013

ExxonMobil Corp. shut down an oil-pipeline system at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Monday after discovering a crude leak in the area, a company spokesman confirmed.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304561004579136341591529608




  -----------------------------------------------------

Feds: Hacker Disabled Offshore Oil Platforms’ Leak-Detection System

   

2009

 

A Los Angeles federal grand jury indicted a disgruntled tech employee Tuesday on allegations of temporarily disabling a computer system detecting pipeline leaks for three oil derricks off the Southern California coast.


http://www.wired.com/2009/03/feds-hacker-dis/




 -----------------------------------------------------

California methane leak 'largest in US history'

 

26 February 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35659947

 
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State’s San Gabriel Valley polluted with sleaze

 

Nov 6, 2013

California’s San Gabriel Valley – southeastern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County – has long struggled with severe water pollution from decades of industrial chemical dumping.

One wonders, therefore, whether something in its water makes it a breeding ground for political sleaze.

Whatever the reason, the San Gabriel Valley has produced a succession of ethically challenged figures. Richard Nixon got his start in the region, for one, and when the FBI staged an elaborate undercover sting operation to root out pay-for-play corruption in the Capitol a quarter-century ago, several of those ensnared were San Gabriel Valley politicians.

One was Joseph Montoya, a state senator who was videotaped soliciting bribes from FBI agents posing as southern businessmen seeking special legislation for a fictional shrimp processing company.

“Shrimpgate,” as the case was known, sent Montoya and 13 other politicians, Capitol staffers and lobbyists to federal prison and persuaded voters to pass legislative term limits.

However, the Calderon family found a way around term limits – rotating legislative seats among three brothers and their progeny – and became a San Gabriel Valley political dynasty.

http://santamariatimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/commentary/state-s-san-gabriel-valley-polluted-with-sleaze/article_e256452a-46b3-11e3-99d6-0019bb2963f4.html

 


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Oil globs close Los Angeles-area beaches to swimming

May 28, 2015

http://nypost.com/2015/05/28/oil-globs-close-los-angeles-area-beaches-to-swimming/

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Thousands of Tiny Red Crabs Wash Up on SoCal Beaches

June 15, 2015

http://ktla.com/2015/06/15/thousands-of-tiny-red-crabs-wash-up-on-socal-beaches/

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The California Oil Spill Is Even Worse Than We Thought

 
 May 22, 2015

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/22/3661684/the-santa-barbara-oil-spill-is-awful/

 

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Documents show California officials were notified of oil sheen 12 hours before leak

Oct 5, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUeZ5lT7yZc

 

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Wasteland

 

No one talks much about toxic Superfund sites anymore. But 49 million Americans live close to one.

 

December 2014


For most of his adult life Jun Apostol has lived, willingly, in the shadow of a mountain of waste. An accountant who’s now retired, he planted his family in 1978 in a modest new house in Montebello, an industrial cum bedroom community just east of Los Angeles. Behind the house, in neighboring Monterey Park, sat an active landfill—but don’t worry, the developer said. Soon it would close and become a park or maybe even a golf course.
The greens never came. It turned out that the landfill, a former gravel pit that had welcomed so much ordinary trash it had filled to ground level and then kept on rising, had also accepted some 300 million gallons of liquid industrial waste—and it hadn’t been selective. Was your waste laced with arsenic, 1,4-dioxane, or mercury? No problem. The nodding pump jacks near-by, left from the oil boom, wouldn’t care. Some of the waste might have come from drilling those oil wells.
Los Angeles had buried the hazardous waste, but it was far from gone. A few years after Apostol’s development was built, his neighbors began complaining of nausea. Gas had intruded into six homes. Property values plummeted. In 1986 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency marched in and listed the landfill as a Superfund site, part of its new program to contain the nation’s hazardous waste crisis.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/superfund/voosen-text

 


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Cleanup Sites in California

  ( http://www.epa.gov/region9/cleanup/california.html  )

 

 

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Residents long suspected corruption in Bell

 

A Few would-be whistleblowers say they were intimidated while trying to uncover scandal

Updated 9/28/2010

BELL, Calif. — A few would-be whistleblowers suspected for years that the government in this working-class Los Angeles suburb was corrupt and that leaders were secretly paying themselves six-figure salaries...

Red Tape: Does your city manager earn $800,000?

Booking photos provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department show from top left, Luis Artiga, Victor Bello, George Cole, and Oscar Hernandez; from bottom left, Teresa Jacobo, George Mirabal, Robert Rizzo, and Peir'Angela Spaccia. The eight are charged with taking more than $5.5 million from the working-class suburb of Bell, Calif. in a scandal that triggered nationwide outrage and calls for more transparency in government...

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39404029/ns/us_news-life/t/residents-long-suspected-corruption-bell/#.VAAm6GMloo9

 

 

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 Chapter 4: San Diego 

 

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A Nuclear Power Plant Goes On The Auction Block

 

2014

The first reactor went into operation in 1968, the decommissioning process will go on for at least two decades, and the radioactive waste will be stored onsite for the foreseeable future. Southern California Edison (SCE), the co-owners of the nuclear plant along with San Diego Gas & Electric Company, organized a Community Engagement Panel to keep residents engaged in the decommissioning process beyond the activity of the auction.

SONGS closed down last year when a radioactive leak led to a shutdown shortly after a series of expensive upgrades had been made to two of the reactors. Upon further inspection, a number of repairs and safety concerns were noted, and SCE, 80 percent owners of the plant, made the decision to retire it rather than pursue the prolonged and expensive process of bringing it back online.


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/18/3425661/nuclear-power-plant-auction/

 


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History of San Diego Bay

(  http://www.environmentalhealth.org/index.php/en/where-we-work/san-diego-region/san-diego-bay )

Prior to the 1900s, San Diego Bay was a fertile, shallow bay supporting tremendous biodiversity in its open water, salt marshes and mud flats. The Bay changed dramatically. Navigation channels were dredged. Mudflats and salt marshes were filled. Commercial, recreational, industrial, and military installations now cover most of the bayfront, especially in the northern portion of the Bay. More than 90% of the mudflats and 78% of the salt marshes were eliminated and those that remain are found mostly in South San Diego Bay.
Millions of gallons of raw sewage were dumped into the Bay starting in the early 1900's, and by 1960 the Bay was in a continual state of quarantine. When the Point Loma Treatment Plant became operational in 1963 and the Bay started to recover from the effects of sewage pollution, evidence of its toxic pollution was unmasked.
While the Bay started to look good on postcards, years of neglect, inadequate enforcement, accidents, deliberate dumping and the urban development of thousands of acres upstream took their toll on the health of the Bay. In 1987, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined that the toxic pollution level in the bay was the sixth highest of 50 bays and estuaries across the nation. Later studies pinpointed the "toxic hotspots" around the industrialized bayfront adjacent to Barrio Logan.

The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health first documented human health risks from eating fish caught in San Diego Bay in a study published in 1990. Researchers found fish containing elevated levels of toxins like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and arsenic. They concluded that pregnant women and very young children could be at risk.




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Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base

  

Pacific Southwest, Region 9: Superfund


The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base site covers 125,000 acres in San Diego County, California. The base provides housing, training, logistical and administrative support for the Fleet Marine Force units. Past disposal practices have contaminated the groundwater and soil. In an initial investigation, the Marine Corps found nine areas of contamination. Waste generation operations at this site include maintenance and repair of vehicles (trucks, tanks, and aircraft); landfill operations; waste disposal areas, such as scrap yards; and fire fighting drill areas. The base contains wetlands, streams, and rivers which feed into the Pacific Ocean. This land is the only remaining undeveloped area between Los Angeles and San Diego.


 Groundwater and soils are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), spent oils, fuels, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, metals and herbicides. Though groundwater provides drinking water to the entire installation, the current drinking water supply is within drinking water standards.


http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/vwsoalphabetic/Camp+Pendleton+Marine+Corps+Base?OpenDocument



 
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Seven former North County landfills leaking contaminants

Officials said that while the former landfills are leaching chemicals known to cause cancer, reproductive harm and other health problems...

http://www.savegregorycanyon.org/news2/seven-former-north-county-landfills-leaking-contaminants




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Violations mount at Miramar Landfill

 Dec. 4, 2010

• April 7, 2009: Failure to submit complete records. Company paid $3,000 in fines.
• Oct. 2, 2009: Engine leaks methane; Company paid $4,375 in fines.
• Nov. 18, 2009: Elevated methane levels at landfill surface. Penalty pending.
• March 26: Failure to operate equipment in good operating condition; gas leaks. Company paid $7,500 in fines.
• May 4: Elevated nitrogen dioxide emissions. Company paid $6,000 fine.
• June 3: Elevated methane levels at landfill surface. Penalty pending.
• June 4: Leaks from the gas collection system. Penalty pending.

 http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/04/violations-mount-miramar-landfill/

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Mission Bay landfill passes muster after a long study

  

2006

 

Mission Bay's retired landfill poses little environmental or health threat but still should be treated with caution, according to a years-long study released yesterday.
Critics said the $725,000 report failed to fully investigate the site or adequately warn residents about potential dangers.
The study was designed to answer questions about toxic pollutants at a spot that has generated fears for years. Concerns include the potential release of noxious gases from buried chemicals and the possibility that toxins will or have leaked into the bay.

http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061021/news_7m21landfill.html

----------------------------------------------------------

Bonsall Landfill

Two wells show small amounts of  dichlorodifluoromethane (DCDFM)....


http://www.co.san-diego.ca.us/dpw/landfills/bonsalllandfill.html

 


 
----------------------------------------------------------

Prevent Expansion of Landfill in San Diego

http://forcechange.com/38074/prevent-expansion-of-landfill-in-san-diego/

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Cleaning Up Chollas Creek’s Trash

 

October 22, 2010

 

http://voiceofsandiego.org/2010/10/22/cleaning-up-chollas-creeks-trash/

 

----------------------------------------------------------
 

IN THE NEWS

 

San Marcos Landfill

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/san-marcos-landfill

----------------------------------------------------------

Study: US puts twice as much trash in landfills than thought

 

September 21, 2015 

 

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-trash-landfills-thought.html



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The World Is Studded With Artificial Mountains

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-world-is-studded-with-artificial-mountains?utm_source=pocket-newtab

They’re fake, but they can be spectacular (and hazardous).

From atop the jagged mountain, cars, people, and houses appear as tiny versions of themselves, the noise of their day to day activity muted so high in the air. Scrubby vegetation grows from cracks in the rock, soaking up the sun and rustling in the slight breeze. Birds caw as they alight at the top of a slope, observing the expanse below them.

The mountain is just another part of the topography to those that live near it, but it is not a natural part of the landscape. The mountain is completely artificial, a colossus formed not by eons of geologic change but the vigor of industrial concrete production. Artificial mountains have sprung up all over the world, the result of hellish manufacturing processes, piled construction and mining waste, or in some cases built deliberately to add a humongous new feature to the horizon.

The majority of the artificial mountains in the United States are the byproducts of cement and steel production, formed at the height of those industries between the late 1800s and mid-20th century. Cement, the binder that holds concrete aggregate together, is made by heating limestone and clay into a product called clinker, which is then ground with gypsum to make powdered cement. Though cement has been made in the U.S. as long as people have needed it, production really got underway in the 1920s, with 159 plants in 33 states operating by 1929. These mountains have long dotted industry-heavy areas of the United States and can be truly gargantuan in scope. Brown’s Dump in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, for example, was over 200 feet tall and covered the equivalent of 130 city blocks.

Despite their size, it’s almost impossible to know how many there are, as there was no concerted effort to keep track of them while they were being created, says Dr. Heather Brown, Director of Middle Tennessee State University’s School of Concrete and Construction Management. Dismantling those that do exist can be tremendously difficult and expensive, but there is potential money to be made from repurposing them.

“It’s easier to create new concrete than to crush it onsite,” she says. “But the material is still usable. It can be crushed, ground, or turned into powder.”

Other artificial mountains are formed from slag, the molten rock separated from iron ore during steel production. Slag is dumped in a waste pile, which hardens into concrete-like rock when cooled. Ron Baraff, Director of Historic Resources and Facilities with Rivers of Steel, an organization dedicated to preserving Pennsylvania’s industrial history, used to play on a former slag dump called Squirrel Hill when he was a kid, one of the numerous dump sites in the Pittsburgh area. The construction of a slag mountain could be a mesmerizing sight. From 1913 until the 1960s, residents of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, parked their cars along an embankment to watch trains pulling enormous cars with massive cauldrons full of molten rock. In some cases dozens of cauldrons were emptied at once, pouring their molten rock down the side of the hill in eerily beautiful rivers. Observers said they looked like symmetrical rivers of fire and lit the sky red.

There is a darker side to this beauty, however. Environmental studies of the so-called Bairstow Mountain, a slag pile and industrial waste heap in Hammond, Indiana, revealed that runoff was deluging the Calumet aquifer with heavy metals and other hazardous compounds. In 2018, geese living on a golf course built on the same mountain began dying mysteriously, possibly after ingesting lead after part of the pile caught on fire and released the toxins inside.

Smaller-scale artificial mountains can be problematic as well. Outsider artist Leonard Knight built Salvation Mountain in Niland, California out of concrete, sand, and accumulated junk. He used so much salvaged paint to cover it with brightly colored religious messages that the county declared the site a “toxic nightmare” due to the amount of lead in the soil and considered dismantling the mountain and hauling it to a toxic waste dump.

Salvation Mountain collapsed under its own weight in 1988, demonstrating the concerns with another type of artificial mountain—those created from piling construction debris or mining waste.

Piles of the rock extracted during mining, also called spoil tips, can rise hundreds of feet into the air. Their loose composition can make them unstable and quite dangerous. In 1966, more than 115 children were killed when a mountain made from coal mining debris slid into a school in Wales. A similar disaster occurred in late 2015 when a steep mountain made from building construction leftovers in Shenzen, China collapsed, sent a landslide of mud and concrete onto the factories and neighborhoods below, and caused more than 85 people to go missing. In 2016, an artificial mountain built to extend an airport runway in Charleston, West Virginia collapsed and destroyed a church and a home...

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------

"Military Pollution:  The Quintessential Universal Soldier" by Lucinda Marshall

 ( http://www.planetization.org/toxicmilitary.htm )


The number of health problems and environmental problems that have been reported near military installations throughout the world is truly staggering. The following are only a few of the many examples.
The U.S. Navy is the largest polluter in the San Diego, California area, having created 100 toxic sites during the last 80 years. Environmental damage caused by the Navy includes spilling over 11,000 gallons of oil into the San Diego Bay in 1988. Fish in the Bay contain high levels of mercury and radioactive compounds that are attributable to Navy pollution of the Bay. (4)
Near the Naval Air Station in Fallon, NV high rates of cancer and rare diseases have probably been linked to the dumping of jet fuel, radio and electronic emissions and the contamination of groundwater with radioactive materials. Fallon has the highest per capita rate of childhood leukemia in the nation. 

 

----------------------------------------------------------

PALUSTRINE SYSTEM

( http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/wetlands/palustri.html )



----------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Bonhomme Richard fire released toxic chemicals into San Diego air, tests say

July 28, 2020

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/07/28/Bonhomme-Richard-fire-released-toxic-chemicals-into-San-Diego-air-tests-say/5701595978520/

 

----------------------------------------------------------

San Diego's air pollution among worst in nation

April 27, 2011  An American Lung Association study of air quality across the United States says San Diego’s air is getting steadily cleaner. But the nation’s eigth largest city got a grade of F because the public is still exposed to significant amounts of pollution, especially during the summer... Most of the pollution comes from local roads and freeways, which are heavily congested with cars and trucks. The ships using the Port of San Diego also contribute to the creation of smog, as do the vehicles that serve the county’s large agricultural industry. San Diego also gets some smog and particulate that drifts here from greater Los Angeles and Mexico...

Most ozone-polluted metro areas Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside Bakersfield-Delano Visalia-Porterville Fresno-Madera Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA-NV Hanford-Corcoran, CA San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, Texas Merced Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/27/san-diegos-air-pollution-among-worst-nation

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San Diego ranks seventh among most ozone polluted cities in the US

May 16, 2021

https://ucsdguardian.org/2021/05/16/san-diego-ranks-seventh-among-most-ozone-polluted-cities-in-the-us/

 

------------------------------------------------------

Air Plan Approval; California; San Diego Air Pollution Control District

08/10/2021

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/08/10/2021-16665/air-plan-approval-california-san-diego-air-pollution-control-district 

 

------------------------------------------------------

Air Quality of San Diego County, California

 

http://air-quality.findthebest.com/l/94/San-Diego-County


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San Diego Bay: What's new in the massive cleanup?

Tuesday, 29 July 2014


http://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/blog/toxic-waters-in-san-diego.html

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San Diego Water Pollution

https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/learn/swimmable/san-diego-water-pollution.html


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Urban Ecosystem Analysis San Diego, California


Between 1985 and 2002, the city of San Diego lost 32% of its grassland, 27% of its tree cover, and 7% of its shrub land. Over that same time period, the city’s urban areas increased by 39%...

http://www.systemecology.com/4_Past_Projects/AF_SanDiego.pdf



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2014 among warmest on record

 

 Aug. 6, 2014

 The first seven months of this year were among the hottest on record in San Diego, says the National Weather Service. The mean average temperature during that period at Lindbergh Field was 66.3 degrees, the third highest reading since the 1880s. The weather service didn't give a reason for the unusual warmth, which extends back to November.


http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/06/hot-heat-sandiego/?st

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Latest San Diego environment headlines | UTSanDiego.com

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/local-topics/science-and-environment/environment/



--------------------------------

Loving Our Coasts to Death

 

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/surface-of-the-earth/loving-coasts.html

------------------------------

California's Coastline Is Eroding At Increasing, Dangerous Speeds

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/california-coastline-eroding-2011-7#ixzz3CE1Nx9ao

 Jul. 16, 2011

A recent U.S. Geological survey study shows long-term soil erosion combined with rising sea levels put the Pacific coastline at a much greater risk of flooding, cliff failures, severe storms and large-scale coastal changes in the future.
Published in The American Geophysical Union's "Geophysical Research Letters," the study compiled 13 years worthy of seasonal beach data along 148 miles of the Pacific coastline to determine the effects last year's winter storms produced.
The most serious case -- Ocean Beach, California -- resulted in a retreated 184 feet from the shoreline, an alarming 75 percent more than in a typical El Nino winter storm. Other survey sites significantly affected with serious environmental deterioration are San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura.
The coast of Willapa Bay, Washington experienced nearly 350 feet of soil erosion which destroyed a roadway.

----------------------------------------------

Lead Pollution: Records in Southern California Coastal Sediments

Science 10 August 1973: 


http://www.sciencemag.org/content/181/4099/551.short

 

 
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The politics of pollution

 

December 4, 2009

http://calcoastnews.com/2009/12/the-politics-of-pollution/

 

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Coronado Corruption: City Officials Misappropriated Bridge Toll Revenue Funds

Coronado Corruption: City Officials Misappropriated Bridge Toll Revenue Funds - See more at: http://barbaradenny.com/?p=4841#sthash.UdPl5jFs.dpuf

  
(  http://barbaradenny.com/?p=4841#sthash.UdPl5jFs.dpuf  )


February 21, 2014

The Situation


 In Coronado, CA city officials misappropriated millions of dollars from the Bridge Toll Revenue Fund that were intended for Corridor residents who live on and between Third & Fourth Streets from the Bridge Toll Booths to Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI, or North Island).


According to the city’s Balance Sheet dated June 2012, there was approximately $ 10 million left in a Special Use Fund called the Bridge Toll Revenue Fund that’s intended specifically for Corridor residents.

Who is Responsible for the Misappropriation?

The list is long:
- See more at: http://barbaradenny.com/?p=4841#sthash.UdPl5jFs.dpuf

 (1) Those who voted YES at the 19 July 2013 SANDAG Transportation Committee meeting to approve of Coronado city officials misappropriating the Bridge Toll Revenue Fund by spending it outside of the Corridor or on non-authorized projects in the Corridor:

    Mike Woiwode, primary Coronado SANDAG rep appointed by the Coronado mayor,


Al Ovrom, Coronado MTS rep and secondary Coronado SANDAG rep appointed by the Coronado mayor,


Tom Smisek, Coronado Airport Authority rep and former Coronado mayor, and

(2) Those with prior knowledge of the planned misappropriation at the SANDAG committee meeting, who shut out Coronado residents, and who green lighted the pursuit of the “RTIP amendment at SANDAG” in a back room deal:

meeting to approve of Coronado city officials misappropriating the Bridge Toll Revenue Fund by spending it outside of the Corridor or on non-authorized projects in the Corridor:

• Mike Woiwode, primary Coronado SANDAG rep appointed by the Coronado mayor,
• Al Ovrom, Coronado MTS rep and secondary Coronado SANDAG rep appointed by the Coronado mayor,
• Tom Smisek, Coronado Airport Authority rep and former Coronado mayor, and

(2) Those with prior knowledge of the planned misappropriation at the SANDAG committee meeting, who shut out Coronado residents, and who green lighted the pursuit of the “RTIP amendment at SANDAG” in a back room deal:
- See more at: http://barbaradenny.com/?p=4841#sthash.UdPl5jFs.dpuf

 Casey Tanaka, Coronado mayor and tertiary Coronado SANDAG rep by his own self-appointment,


Blair King, Coronado city manager,

Johanna Canlas, Coronado city attorney, and  


Other city officials with who helped in various ways to get the Bridget Toll Fund misappropriation item prepared and onto the SANDAG agenda.

Casey Tanaka, Coronado mayor and tertiary Coronado SANDAG rep by his own self-appointment,

Blair King, Coronado city manager,

Johanna Canlas, Coronado city attorney, and

Other city officials with who helped in various ways to get the Bridget Toll Fund misappropriation item prepared and onto the SANDAG agenda.

- See more at: http://barbaradenny.com/?p=4841#sthash.UdPl5jFs.dpuf

 ---------------------------------------------------

City Lights 

Spinrise 

 

(  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2008/jul/30/spinrise/#  )

 

July 30, 2008

 The campaign to ballyhoo the proposed Sunrise Powerlink has one beneficial effect: it is shining light on how San Diego’s overlords try to use misinformation to manipulate public opinion.

San Diego Gas & Electric and its parent, Sempra Energy, want to build the 150-mile transmission line to bring, purportedly, solar power from Imperial Valley at a projected cost of $1.5 billion, which is probably grossly understated. Critics point out that the line would slash its way through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Grapevine Canyon, Santa Ysabel Canyon, and Rancho Peñasquitos, ending in Torrey Hills.

The state says that by the end of 2010, renewable energy must be 20 percent of major utilities’ deliveries. SDG&E is at a pitiful 6 percent and admits it probably won’t make the deadline. Southern California Edison is already at 16 percent and Pacific Gas & Electric at 12. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants 33 percent renewable by 2020, and former vice president Al Gore wants the nation to hit 100 percent renewable in ten years. In theory, Sunrise Powerlink would help SDG&E meet its 2010 California bogey, although the company admits that there is no guarantee that Sunrise would bring in clean energy.

 

 

 

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Chapter 5: Fukushima & Uranium sites 

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Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain

https://www.baycitizen.org/news/environmental-health/government-under-fire-radiation-milk/

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San Francisco Rainwater: Radiation 181 Times Above US Drinking Water Standard

 

Apr. 4, 2011

http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-rainwater-radiation-181-times-above-us-drinking-water-standard-2011-4

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Officials reject concerns over 500 percent radiation increase on California beach

 

6 Jan, 2014

http://rt.com/usa/fukushima-geiger-california-radiation-238/

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Hot spots at 1,400% baseline radiation levels on San Francisco-area coast — State: It’s “naturally occurring materials not radioactivity associated with Fukushima” — Expert: Don’t let babies or kids inhale or eat the sand

http://enenews.com/hot-spots-14-times-the-baseline-radiation-level-on-san-francisco-area-coastline-state-its-naturally-occurring-materials-and-not-radioactivity-associated-with-fukushima-incident-expert

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Fukishima fall-out fears as DOUBLE the normal amount of radiation is found in Missouri snow and San Francisco beach busts safety levels prompting investigation 

• A San Francisco beach has five times the safe level fueling concerns over Fukushima's impact
  

 

January 2014

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535074/Radiation-readings-Missouri-snow-DOUBLE-normal-levels-San-Francisco-beach-FIVE-TIMES-safe-levels.html

 


-----------------------------------------------------------
 

Coverup! California, Northwest, B.C. Canada under radiation as high as Japan

http://www.examiner.com/article/coverup-california-northwest-b-c-canada-under-radiation-as-high-as-japan


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Official detects radiation spike on California beach, now at 500% normal levels — ‘Befuddled’ as to why it’s so high, claims there’s no ‘immediate’ health concern — Public’s interest in Fukushima nuclear waste rising (VIDEO)

January 4th, 2014

http://enenews.com/just-in-official-detects-radiation-at-500-normal-level-on-california-beach-befuddled-as-to-why-its-so-high-claims-its-no-immediate-public-health-concern-video

 

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Fukushima 2013: “Remaining Radioactive Mass”, “Dangerous Leaking Radioactive Water”, All Four Reactors are “Getting Worse”

 

2013

http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-2013-remaining-radioactive-mass-dangerous-leaking-radioactive-water-all-four-reactors-are-getting-worse/5342466


----------------------------------------------

Health Front: Radioactive Fish Caught Off California Coast - 

2013

 A new report released by researchers from Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station finds Bluefin tuna caught just off the California coast tested positive for radiation stemming from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Radioactive Cesium was found in 100% of the tuna caught. Cesium itself is not safe and most people would be smart to not consume tuna from the Pacific Ocean. The question unanswered is whether the cesium is going to continue to accumulate, and can it be spreading to other species of fish.

Reports on the effects on seals seem to have been delayed. The test results from the University of Alaska’s study of radiation in seals have not been released and seem long overdue. Tokyo Electric Power Company, operator of the damaged Fukushima Nuclear plant, stated that local rock trout contained 510 becquerels of cesium per kilogram. That is the most ever detected in any fish and about 5,100 times the safe limit. Tokyo Power wanted to comfort anyone concerned and decided to put up a net to guard contaminated fish from migrating out of the disaster area. The idea of an already overwhelmed company whose business is nuclear science trying to grapple with catching runaway fish with nets may be somewhat disconcerting and peculiar, rather than comforting to most people...

Health Front: Radioactive Fish Caught Off California Coast - See more at: http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2013/03/health-front-radioactive-fish-caught-off-california-coast/#sthash.0aL6bDV2.1iXYO9dW.dpufa

On the coast of California, there is a deep sea kelp forest at Corona del Mar that now contains concentrations of radiation that are 250 times higher than levels found in kelp prior to the Japanese nuclear accidents. A research article published in Scientific American reports that radiation accumulated in fish that ate near the kelp. “If they were feeding on it, they certainly got dosed,” said Steven Manley, a Cal State biology professor who specializes in kelp. Presently, there is no research as to what is the exact effect on fish and their offspring will be from the increased levels of radiation that are being found.

A new report released by researchers from Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station finds Bluefin tuna caught just off the California coast tested positive for radiation stemming from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Radioactive Cesium was found in 100% of the tuna caught. Cesium itself is not safe and most people would be smart to not consume tuna from the Pacific Ocean. The question unanswered is whether the cesium is going to continue to accumulate, and can it be spreading to other species of fish. 

See more at: http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2013/03/health-front-radioactive-fish-caught-off-california-coast/#sthash.0aL6bDV2.dpuf

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Government Under Fire as Radiation Is Found in Milk, Rain

California: Radioactive Iodine-131 In Rainwater 181 Times Above Drinking Water 

2011

http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/04/02/california-radioactive-iodine-131-in-rainwater-181-times-above-drinking-water-standards-has-also-been-detected-in-multiple-milk-samples-while-us-gov-has-still-not-published-any-official-data-on-jap/

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Radioactive Iodine from Fukushima Found in California Kelp

 

Mar 30, 2012


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/radioactive-iodine-from-from-fukushima-found-in-california-kelp/

 

---------------------------------------------------------- 

Radiation found in San Francisco, CA tap water 

http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/173052.html



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Bluefin Tuna Caught Near California Still Radioactive Years After Fukushima

 

2013

Bluefin tuna just can't catch a break. Weeks after it was reported that overfishing had reduced the Pacific population of the fish, which is popular in sushi bars, by over 96 percent, researchers have found trace levels of radiation still lingering in their flesh almost two years after the catastrophe at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. And the 50 tuna they studied were all caught off the coast of California, 6,000 miles east of Japan, where they were born.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/bluefin-tuna-radiation_n_2736221.html

 


----------------------------------------------------------



Artificial Radionuclides in the Western North Pacific: A Review


The present sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment,
consisting of stratospheric and tropospheric fallout from atmospheric nuclear
testing, accidental releases from civilian and military nuclear facilities including
satellites, radioactive waste dumping in the Pacific Ocean are reviewed. The total
activity of anthropogenic radionculides in the world’s ocean from fallout from
nuclear weapons testing has been estimated to be more than 10 PBq (1 PBq = 10
15Bq), with tritium contributing more than 99% to this inventory. The single largest contribution to radioactivity in the marine environment from accidental releases from land based nuclear installations has come from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in April 1986.

http://www.terrapub.co.jp/e-library/kawahata/pdf/147.pdf

 


 ----------------------------------------------------------

Diablo Canyon for Dummies

 

Wondering why the California nuclear power plant was built near two fault lines.

 

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California was built near two fault lines. Illustrator Steve Brodner wonders just what were they thinking in this episode of "Smashing Crayons."

http://www.slate.com/articles/video/slate_v/2011/04/diablo_canyon_for_dummies.html

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------

Diablo Canyon earthquake vulnerability

 Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCNPP/DCPP) is located proximal to the Los Osos, Hosgri, San Andreas and Shoreline faults. The discovery of these faults, late in the design process, required redesign. Construction errors compounded the delays and expense before the plant went online and began producing. Thereafter, discovery of the Shoreline fault caused a round of controversy leading Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee to introduce legislation mandating 3-D seismic studies. The Shoreline Fault is described in the November 2008 PG&E report as an "alignment of microseismicity subparallel to the coastline indicating the possible presence of a previously unidentified fault located about 1 km offshore of DCPP."


The plant is up for relicensing and, in the Fukushima aftermath, there is renewed opposition due in part to public perception that the risk of earthquake or tsunami make the plant unsafe. On the other hand, company officials contend that the plant is inherently safe from tsunami due its situation on an 85 foot coastal bluff. Re-licensing is contingent upon consistency with the Coastal Act and thus review by the California Coastal Commission, however seismic issues are more properly within the purview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_earthquake_vulnerability

 

 ----------------------------------------------------------

Desert Lands Contaminated by Toxic Spills

Environment: Radioactive waste from mine pipeline that broke last summer could threaten endangered species and visitors to Mojave National Preserve, officials say.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1997-04-24/news/mn-51903_1_mojave-desert


 April 24, 1997

A stretch of the Mojave Desert, encompassing part of California's newest national park, is contaminated with radioactive toxic waste that repeatedly spilled last summer from a ruptured pipeline at the Mountain Pass Mine, according to federal and state authorities.

About 300,000 gallons of waste from seven separate spills are contaminating protected portions of the desert deemed critical to desert tortoises, an endangered species in severe decline in the Mojave, according to federal and state officials.
National Park Service officials also fear that visitors to the new Mojave National Preserve and adjacent federal lands, as well as nearby residents, may be placed at increased risk of exposure to chemicals that may cause cancer and other health hazards...


The spillage from the pipeline contains lead in toxic concentrations as well as radioactive uranium, barium, thorium and radium above background levels, according to a report by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, an arm of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Holly Bundock, a National Park Service spokeswoman, called the spills "huge" and "horrible," particularly because they have polluted protected national lands.

 
----------------------------------------------------------

California

• Juniper uranium mine site

 ( http://www.wise-uranium.org/udusa.html )

Juniper uranium mine site

 

Completion of reclamation of abandoned Juniper uranium mine deferred until 2013

 

The Summit District Ranger, Molly Fuller, announced today that, although the Juniper Uranium reclamation is nearing completion, one more construction season will be needed to install the final cover over the waste repository. (Stanislaus National Forest Sep. 24, 2012) 

Restoration of abandoned Juniper uranium mine begins

 

On Monday (June 25) the Stanislaus National Forest begins materials staging and hauling work on a restoration project. The plan calls for the piles of waste rock materials surrounding the mine to be replaced back into the open pit this year. Last year, a rock under-drain was constructed at the bottom of the pit to capture seepage and spring water for transport under the replaced material rather than through it. A toe berm was built at the mouth of the pit just above a sentiment catch basin. The basin will be monitored for the next several years to gage progress. Additional work will include covering the site with a liner and three feet of clean soil, re-vegetation using local seeds collected over the last two years, drainage ditches and erosion controls. The total project is expected to be completed by this fall. (myMotherLode June 23, 2012)...

Forest Service closes access to abandoned Juniper uranium mine site

 

On June 10, 2003, the Forest Service announced the closure of Forest Road 5N33 and the abandoned Juniper Uranium Mine area. New data indicates piles of waste rock emit more radiation than previously detected. At some locations within the site where levels reach 11 mrems an hour [0.11 mSv/h], human exposure to gamma radiation would exceed the EPA's recommended Maximum Dose Limit (MDL) of 15 mrem per year [0.15 mSv/a] when the exposure duration exceeds an hour and a half. The Forest Service has determined that erosion may have exposed gamma-emitting material to the surface, and that water runoff has contaminated about a half mile of Red Rock creek. The Forest Service is closing the area, fencing it off and posting warning signs.

 

The Juniper Mine site is located at 8,500 feet [2590 m] elevation on the Stanislaus National Forest, south of Sardine Meadow. The mine operated from 1956 to 1966 under private ownership and produced approximately 500 tons of uranium ore for processing in Salt Lake City, Utah. (USDA Forest Service release June 10, 2003 )




 ----------------------------------------------------------

ESCAPE FROM DARKNESS A Story of Corruption. Environmental pollution and adverse effects on children's Health.


( http://books.google.com/books?id=fzrj031bJRMC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=san+diego+corruption+pollution&source=bl&ots=3ccw2bR_fu&sig=PT--xyw7rzCBucOWkKNVZ_RTNps&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fFT9U5b8KYXyigLkmoGwAg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=san%20diego%20corruption%20pollution&f=false  )

Page 146




One of the world's leading companies in this the field is General Atomics. The company was conceived in 1955 at San Diego, California for the purpose of harnessing the power of nuclear technologies...

Currently (2009), GA's largest profits come from its manufacture of the Predator unmanned aerial drone vehicle. Privately held General Atomics says its revenue from the drone business totals about $150 million annually.


Since 1986, the company has been owned by brothers Neal Blue and Linden Blue who bought it for $50m from Chevron. Condoleeza Rice was a former member of the board of directors (Chevron) and also headed Chevron's committee on public policy, until she resigned on January 15, 2001, to become National Security adviser to President George W. Bush.

Both blue brothers went to Yale university - the same educational facility as the Bush Dynasty. In 1958, Linden Blue was elected member of the same Yale secret society, the notorious Skull and Bones of which the Bush can were also members.


Yale's super-elite Skull and Bones, a 200-year-old organization whole members include some of the country's most prominent families: Bush, Harriman, Phelps, Rocekefeller, Taft and Whitney. Barack Obama's economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, was initiated into the club in 1991.


In October 1991, three years after General Atomics purchased Sequoyah Fuels Corp who operated in a uranium processing plant at Gore, 135 miles eat of Oklahoma City, the plant was ordered to be shutdown by the nuclear agency.

The shutdown was prompted by an inspection in August 1990 during which an agent from the nuclear agencies field office in Arlington, Tex., discovered unusually high concentrations of uranium in water at the bottom of a construction pit at Sequoyah Fuels. The government found uranium in the water at levels 35,000 times higher than Federal law allows.

In 1992, it was found Sequoyah Fuels Corp, a GA subsidiary left 20, 000 pounds of uranium contaminated soil beneath the main processing building. GA offered to pay $5m to clean up the contaminated area. The costs were estimated to be 100x higher, resulting in GA closing the mine down completely, stating it could not afford the clear up costs.

In may 2002, at its Beverley mine in South Australia, a section of PVC pipe broke apart, releasing 14,900 liters of water containing uranium into the Australian outback. South Australia state officials had already ordered urgent changes to the rules on reporting leaks after revelations that Heathgate had logged some two dozen spills since the mine was opened in 1998. In one of the worst spills, 62,000 liters of radioactive uranium solution spewed from a ruptured pipe.





----------------------------------------------------------

 

ESCAPE FROM DARKNESS A Story of Corruption. Environmental pollution and adverse effects on children's Health.


( http://books.google.com/books?id=fzrj031bJRMC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=san+diego+corruption+pollution&source=bl&ots=3ccw2bR_fu&sig=PT--xyw7rzCBucOWkKNVZ_RTNps&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fFT9U5b8KYXyigLkmoGwAg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=san%20diego%20corruption%20pollution&f=false )



Page 66

EWG's report, Factory Farming: Toxic Waste and fertilizer in the United States, lists for each state the pollution industries that shipped the most waste and the fertilizer companies that received the most. Companies in California received the most waste, followed by Nebraska, New Jersey, Washington and Georgia. At the same time, in Gore, Oklahoma, a uranium-processing plant got rid of low-level radioactive waste by licensing it as liquid fertilizer and spraying it over 9,000 acres of grazing land.

----------------------------------------------------------

 

The Depleted Uranium Threat

 

15 August 2008

https://dprogram.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/the-depleted-uranium-threat/

”The DoD, the nation’s biggest polluter, is now cleaning up 29,500 currently or formerly contaminated sites in every state and territory. California alone has 3,912 contaminated sites on 441 current and former DoD installations. Many of DoD’s facilities have already contaminated groundwater sources of drinking water…. The cost to clean up toxic munitions contamination and unexploded ordnance at active and former military installations around the country may reach $200 billion.” – The National Resources Defense Council, April 21, 2004.

“The Defense Department is refusing to comply with orders or sign contracts to clean up 11 hazardous waste sites, including one in Hawaii, and has asked the White House and Justice Department to intervene on its behalf.” – The Associated Press, July 1, 2008

While attempting to act as the planet’s nuclear watchdogs, the United States and Great Britain have become two of the world’s largest, cancer-causing radiated dust and rusty depleted uranium projectile polluters.

Using tanks and planes, the US and British military have fired hundreds of tons of radioactive depleted uranium munitions (DU) while fighting the first Gulf War, the Balkans War, and the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For two decades, successive US and British government leadership has done little overall to clean up the hazardous war waste. And, when repeatedly asked questions about it, spokespersons for Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President George W. Bush, as well as the two presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), didn’t respond to a large number of e-mails and telephone calls over a month’s time.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

DU munitions use at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (California)

 

U.S. EPA raises concerns over DU munitions use at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station

 

http://www.wise-uranium.org/dissti.html#CHINALAKE

 

 ------------------------------------------

 
THE PROBLEM WITH YUCCA MOUNTAIN


 May 21st, 2013



No one wants nuclear waste. We all want the energy that comes from splitting a uranium atom, but we don’t want its waste product, and we certainly don’t want it in our backyards. The uncomfortable question of where to put the waste has been plaguing American policy since we figured out how to harness nuclear power.
Congress legislated a solution in 1987, when Nevada’s Yucca Mountain was designated the nation’s repository for nuclear waste. It was to be paid for by a fee charged to the nuclear utilities (and passed through to their consumers). But controversy, delays, and political opposition have postponed it for decades. Despite the uncertainty, more than $35 billion in fees have been collected from consumers and deposited in the Nuclear Waste Fund, which has a current balance of $29 billion.

“This issue is like a pothole,” explained Rob Thormeyer, communications director for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). “That pothole is getting bigger and bigger and no one’s doing anything about it. We’re paying for it to be fixed, but the money is not going anywhere. Eventually, you can’t avoid the pothole anymore, or you’ll drive off the road.”  -

In July 2011 NARUC joined Washington and South Carolina, states with large quantities of civilian and military nuclear waste, in another lawsuit, this time against the NRC for unreasonably delaying a decision on whether Yucca Mountain is safe for the storage of spent-nuclear fuel.

All the lawsuits and political wrangling mask a bigger problem: we are running out of space for our nearly 70,000 metric tons of spent fuel. As originally conceived, Yucca Mountain was authorized to store about 77,000 metric tons of waste. In 2007 the DOE determined the facility could be expanded to hold an additional 190,000 metric tons. Without expansion, space will run out by 2014; expansion would buy us a few more decades.

http://stateenergyreport.com/2013/05/21/the-problem-with-yucca-mountain/



------------------------------------------

The rise of nuclear bombs: Amazing time-lapse map reveals 2,056 WMDs that have exploded in just 50 years

 

 24 October 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2475008/The-rise-nuclear-bombs-Amazing-time-lapse-map-reveals-2-056-WMDs-exploded-just-50-years.html#ixzz3Jm4LX1nb

 

 ------------------------------------------

Depleted Uranium Blasts to Increase At Livermore Lab - Video News Clip


  Jul 25th, 2007

A recent news clip that discusses Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's permit application to blast 8,000 lbs of contaminants including Depleted Uranium near San Francisco/San Jose area.

 Following is a news clip out of Sacramento, CA that tells us that in the Greater San Francisco Bay/San Jose, CA area, a federal weapons laboratory has applied to explode up to 8,000 (EIGHT THOUSAND) pounds of toxic and radiological contaminants into California’s air annually.

In case you’ve not yet heard? This invisible “gift” to the good folks of California (and wherever else the wind blows) includes a mighty hefty dose of "Depleted” Uranium. This component of nuclear and radiological weapons stays around in the environment for more than 4 billion years and is, in fact, the very same nasty stuff that the military uses on “the enemy” in the Middle East.

This new permit that the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has filed with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is, however, nothing all that new. The only real “news” here is that the 8,000 lbs. is an eight-fold increase of what's already been going on near San Francisco for decades. One thousand pounds (1,000 lbs.) of these contaminants have routinely been exploded at Livermore’s Site 300 each year (since at least 1961) into California's air.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/07/25/18437308.php

 


 ------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: San Francisco & Sacramento



------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------ 

 

 

THE TOXIC TWINS
Duo Behind Environmental Rollback Are Two of
California’s Biggest Sources of Deadly Chemicals

 

2011

 Tesoro and Valero are two of the biggest polluters in the state of
California, official US government data shows. From their refinery
operations in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, Tesoro
and Valero annually produce hundreds of thousands of pounds of
toxic chemicals, including ammonia, sulfuric acid, lead compounds,
asbestos, and vanadium.

Tesoro and Valero release many of these chemicals into the environ-
ment of California, both legally and illegally. According to regulatory
filings (as detailed below), refineries owned by both companies have
repeatedly been accused by environmental agencies in California of
violating pollution laws.


http://caleja.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2010_0810_toxic_twins.pdf

 


----------------------------------------------

AIR QUALITY THREAT

 ( Martinez )

Updated August 5, 2013

The company, formerly known as Conoco Phillips, filed a report with the Department of Conservation and Development on June 10, stating it proposed refinery processing equipment improvements to recover propane and butane from refinery fuel gas. The recovery would decrease sulfur dioxide emissions from fuel gas streams at the refinery,but could have potentially significant impacts in air quality, cultural resources, noise, and traffic/transportation, according to the report – all of which “can be mitigated to less than significant levels,” the report states.

http://patch.com/california/martinez/air-quality-threat#.U_2BSmMloo8

 


---------------------------------------------

Minimizing Pollution from the Shell Oil Refinery

 

Posted May 1, 2012

 

Baykeeper recently urged regulators to strengthen controls on pollution in San Francisco Bay from the Shell Oil Refinery in Martinez. We recommended that the Regional Water Quality Control Board tighten the refinery’s permit to discharge water into the Bay.The Shell refinery discharges about 5.8 million gallons of treated wastewater deep into the Carquinez Strait each day, about 500 feet from shore. The refinery also discharges storm water into Peyton Creek and Peyton Slough, two waterways that drain to Carquinez Strait.Shell has violated its pollution limits several times over the past five years, contaminating the Bay with selenium and toxic hazardous substances.
Baykeeper urged the Regional Water Board to set more stringent limits on the amount of pollution the refinery can release into the Bay.


http://baykeeper.org/blog/minimizing-pollution-shell-oil-refinery

 


------------------------------------------------

Dirty Crude Spells Dirty Air in California

 

( http://newamericamedia.org/2012/03/as-ca-refineries-process-dirty-crude-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rise.php )

 Mar 27, 2012

 SAN FRANCISCO -- California’s long-running campaign to reduce air pollution has indirectly helped create a new problem: its oil refineries now produce more greenhouse gas emissions than refineries anywhere else in the country.

On average, California refineries emit 19 to 33 percent more greenhouse gases per barrel of crude oil when stacked up against comparable gas-producing regions in the United States, according to a recent study commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report analyzed national and California-specific refinery data and combined it with data gathered by author Greg Karras, who has been studying and writing about refinery operations since 1989. 

California began mandating cleaner burning fuel in the mid 1990s, in an effort to combat some of the worst smog levels in the country and comply with federal clean air laws. That spurred oil refiners to expand their facilities and install technology to remove pollutants like sulfur, so car tailpipes would spew out less of it.

In the last decade, however, oil refineries have begun processing a heavier and dirtier typea of crude oil, including Canadian tar sands oil,  which requires more cleaning to meet California’s standard. And that extra cleaning means that refineries now use more energy and emit more CO2 than before.




 ----------------------------------------

Report: Pollution spikes despite years of cleanup

 

Superfund site to clean up toxic chemicals from a leaky tank has generally lowered contamination except for some areas

  
 ( http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2010/10/04/report-pollution-spikes-despite-years-of-cleanup )


Oct 4, 2010


Despite nearly three decades of clean-up efforts at a central Palo Alto Superfund site, groundwater contamination from a leaky underground chemical tank has dramatically concentrated in some small areas, according to a new water-quality report...

 In some areas, contaminated water in close proximity to the soil's surface has brought toxic vapors into buildings, according to the report, which was created from monitoring done by Stantec, a company hired by HP and Varian...

 The site contains contaminants in the soil including arsenic, gallium, trichloroethene (TCE), trichloroethane (TCA), 1,1 dichloroethene (DCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE) 1,2,4 trichlorobenzene and phenol. It was added to the federal Superfund site list in 1990...

 TCE concentrations increased by 20 percent from 2005 to 2009 in a monitoring well near El Camino Real and Page Mill Road. But water collected from two bore holes near the well site at 2875 and 2865 El Camino Real (the northeast corner of El Camino Real and Page Mill Road, respectively), indicated TCE levels have increased nearly 800 percent, according to the report... 

----------------------------------------------

Chevron in Richmond

As oil reserves dwindle across the planet, the oil industry is seeking to exploit energy-intensive, dirtier, ‘bottom-of-the-barrel’ crude oil, such as can be found in the Alberta Tar Sands of Canada and the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela. Rather than shifting to renewable energy and conservation, the industry is pushing to “retrofit” 33 existing refineries, construct five new ones, and build thousands of miles of new pipeline in the United States. The Chevron refinery in Richmond, California is one of the battlegrounds in this global struggle. 

The 3,000-acre refinery, visible from the hills of San Francisco, has polluted the city of Richmond and the Bay Area for decades, despite being located in one of the centers of environmental activism. Since 2006, Chevron has been in “high priority violation” of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air compliance standards, and in 2007, the EPA reported over 900,000 pounds of toxic waste from the refinery. And yet, Chevron has proposed a project to expand the Richmond refinery to process heavier, dirtier crude oil...

http://reimaginerpe.org/node/4912

 

 ----------------------------------------------

North Richmond in shadow of poverty and pollution

June 4, 2012

Chevron Richmond Refinery built by Standard Oil, a plant so huge it can process 240,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Hundreds of tanks holding millions of barrels of raw crude dot 2,900 acres of property on a hilly peninsula overlooking the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Five thousand miles of pipeline there move gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other chemical products.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/North-Richmond-in-shadow-of-poverty-and-pollution-3605994.php

 

 ----------------------------------------------

Study: Refinery pollution trapped in homes

 ( http://abc7news.com/archive/6070514/ )

April 9, 2008

RICHMOND, CA --

Results from a toxics exposure study released Saturday found that harmful pollutants from Chevron's Richmond refinery were getting trapped inside people's homes, researchers said...



---------------------------------------------- 

Calitics

 (  http://www.calitics.com/tag/Chevron )


California is a state where many powerful corporate interests are based, ranging from corporate agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley to the computer and technology industry in the Silicon Valley, but none are more influential in state politics than the oil industry.

Stop Fooling California recently released a chart revealing that the oil industry, including the Western States Petroleum Association, Chevron, BP and other oil companies, spent over $56.63 million on lobbying at the State Capitol in the five years from 2009 through 2013...

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association, led the successful campaign last year by the oil industry to defeat all but one bill to ban or regulate the environmentally destructive method of oil extraction known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." The oil industry added last minute amendments to Senator Fran Pavley's already weak legislation to regulate fracking in California, Senate Bill 4, last September, making an already terrible bill even worse.

The organization's power was also demonstrated when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 appointed Reheis-Boyd as Chair of Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California.
She and her fellow task force members oversaw the creation of "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts other than sustainable fishing and gathering - all while the oil industry was fracking for oil in the Santa Barbara Channel!

Not only did Reheis-Boyd chair this panel, but she served on the MLPA Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Forces for the North Coast, North Coast and Central Coast and on a federal marine protected areas panel. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/big-oil-lobbyist-serves-on-federal-marine-protected-areas-panel/)
But the state and federal "marine protected area" panels are not the only government body that she has "served" on. Reheis-Boyd was appointed by the Governor as a California petroleum industry representative on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.

She is also a member of the California Chamber of Commerce Natural Resources and Policy Committee. She has chaired the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce Air Quality Committee, and was past president of the Sacramento chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association. She has also served as past president of the Kern County Chapter of the American Lung Association, and is a past recipient of the Bureau of Land Management's State Director's Oil and Gas Award for "Special Achievement." (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mpa/brtf_bios_sc.asp)
While Reheis-Boyd's organization leads "The Big Oil Dirty Dozen," the Chevron Corporation placed second in the "The Big Oil Dirty Dozen" competition with $13,457,771 spent on lobbying in the five year period.

The San Ramon-based corporation spent $1,532,359 in 2009, $2,314,599 in 2010, $2,964,238 in 2011, $2,696,296 in 2012 and $3,950,280 in 2013.

Environmental justice and indigenous groups accuse Chevron of environmental racism, ranging from the adverse health impacts of the pollution caused by the operation of its refinery in Richmond, California to its dumping of toxic waste in indigenous communities in the the Amazon River Basin in Ecuador.

The other members of "The Big Oil Dirty Dozen" during the five-year period include:

3. BP Global: $3,251,060
4. AERA Energy (jointly owned by Shell and ExxonMobil): $2,513,993
5. Conoco Phillips: $2,344,510
6. Occidental: $2,256,230
7. Shell: $2,127,881
8. Exxon: $2,105,419
9. CIPA (California Independent Petroleum Association): $1,616,756
10. Phillips66: $1,275,199
11. Fueling California, a Big Oil "Astroturf" group pretending to represent fuel consumers: $646,799
12. CIOMA (California Independent Oil Manufacturers Association): $447,528.
The final two oil industry spenders were Tesoro at $313,999 and Valero at $288,459. 

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Businessman Yaroslavsky, Nathaniel Rothschild discuss Ukrainian Silicon Valley project

October 2021

https://itta.info/en/businessman-yaroslavsky-nathaniel-rothschild-discuss-ukrainian-silicon-valley-project/

 

----------------------------------------------




Richmond Health Survey Report
Communities for a Better Environment
June 2009



http://www.cbecal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Richmond-Health-Survey1.pdf



 ----------------------------------------------

Toxic tour

 

Drive through one of the West Coast’s deadliest neighborhoods

“Contra Costa is a potential Bhopal,” activist Denny Larson grimaces as his red Subaru roars west on Interstate 580. Large, easygoing, and genial, Larson warns, “We are now entering Richmond, and we may not return alive.” His tone is melodramatic, but he’s not entirely joking.
Between 1989 and 1997, 55 major industrial accidents – roughly one every two months – rocked Contra Costa County, across the bay from San Francisco. For years, residents have complained bitterly about the seemingly endless flares, flames, eruptions, and blasts that sting their eyes and shower their rooftops with chemical dust.

Particularly hard hit are the cities of Richmond and Rodeo. There are currently around 400 pollution sites in Richmond and “it goes up all the time,” Larson informs. “You’ll notice there are no big smokestacks chugging out pollution,” Larson observes. “Some companies have gotten very clever.” With a nod, Larson indicates one faceless structure on the left that sports a pleasant-looking greenhouse. “That’s Zeneca,” he reveals. “They manufacture pesticides that are known to cause cancer. And they also make cancer treatment drugs. It’s a full-service cancer-cluster.”

In 1995, attorney Ed Masry and Erin Brockovich were sickened by fumes from a Unocal refinery near the homes of some clients in Rodeo. When federal officials insisted their air samples showed no problem, an angry Masry hired an engineer to build a cheap air-testing device that anyone could use.

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/toxic_tour/




---------------------------------------

More of the Estrogen Pollution Found in Waterways Comes from Factory Farms Than from Oral Contraceptives

 

(  http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21875.cfm )

October 26, 2010

Oral contraceptives often take the blame for estrogen pollution in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, but a new meta-study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reports that oral contraceptives are not the source of most of the estrogens found in waterways Environ. (Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es1014482).

Estrogen in water has raised concerns because, in laboratory and field tests, the synthetic estrogen found in birth control pills disrupts reproduction in several fish species, such as the South European roach (Rutilus rutilus). The hormone can trigger male fish to develop female reproductive organs and to produce eggs. And researchers have connected estrogens in drinking water to human fertility problems and cancers.

Nearly 11 million American women use oral contraceptives, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches sexual and reproductive issues. Most contraceptives contain a mixture of synthetic estrogen and progestin. These chemicals flow into wastewater treatment systems via urine and feces.

But estrogen-like chemicals also enter waterways from other sources, such as large-scale animal farms, landfills, and non-birth-control pharmaceuticals. Also, people of both sexes and all ages excrete natural estrogens.

To better understand the sources of estrogens in drinking water, UC San Francisco postdoctoral fellow Amber Wise and her colleagues reviewed 82 studies. Using the data they gathered, the researchers estimated that ethinylestradiol, the most commonly used synthetic estrogen in the birth control pill, likely accounts for less than 1% of the total estrogens excreted by Americans. In addition, the researchers found evidence for other estrogen sources that could play an important role in contaminating surface waters. 

-----------------------------------



2002 Rankings: Major Chemical Releases or Waste Generation in SAN FRANCISCO County


http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06075#major_chemical_releases



----------------------------------------------------------------

Industrial Storm Water: A Major Source of Bay Pollution

 (  http://baykeeper.org/articles/industrial-storm-water-major-source-bay-pollution  )


Every rainy season, between twenty and forty inches of rain washes toxic contamination off more than 1,300 industrial facilities around San Francisco Bay. Facilities like scrap metal yards, boat and ship yards, trucking terminals, landfills, refineries, mines and semiconductor manufacturers regularly discharge toxic runoff into the Bay, and into rivers, creeks, sloughs and storm drains that flow through our communities and into the Bay.
San Francisco Baykeeper launched our Bay-Safe Industry campaign to rein in widespread illegal industrial runoff pollution.

Industrial Storm Water Pollution is Not Being Controlled

 

Baykeeper recently analyzed five years worth of records of industrial storm water pollution and determined that 95% of Bay Area industrial facilities have violated the Clean Water Act in recent years. Yet underfunded California regulatory agencies annually inspect and require improvements at fewer than 5% of all industrial facilities in the region.
In addition, the existing regulations intended to control industrial storm water pollution aren’t adequately limiting this pollution.

Industrial Storm Water Pollution Harms the Bay and its Wildlife

 

Contamination that washes off industrial facilities includes copper, zinc, lead and petrochemicals, which place a heavy burden on the health of Bay wildlife:

• Fish collected in the Bay’s industrialized areas have abnormally low levels of hormones necessary for growth and survival.
• Salmon exposed to copper pollution lose their sense of smell, causing an inability to find their spawning streams or detect predators.
• Oil and grease are toxic to the hearts of fish.
• High concentrations of nickel are lethal to shorebirds.
• Animals who eat fish contaminated with PCBs can suffer liver failure and death.
• Mercury accumulates in the tissues of animals in San Francisco Bay; people who eat fish caught in the Bay risk brain disorders and kidney failure. 

 

----------------------------------------------

EPA cracks down on Redwood City company polluting San Francisco Bay

2012

The EPA said Monday that it has issued a notice of violation to Sims Metal Management, located at the Port of Redwood City, for polluting San Francisco Bay with lead, mercury, PCBs, copper and zinc. Under the Clean Water Act, Sims could face fines up to $37,500 a day unless it cleans up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_19708312

 

----------------------------------------------

Shark deaths in Redwood City spur search for cause

April 21, 2011

 

http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Shark-deaths-in-Redwood-City-spur-search-for-cause-2374745.php

 


----------------------------------------------

Save the Bay

 

Pollution Facts

http://www.savesfbay.org/pollution-facts

 

 
----------------------------------------------

A measure of pollution in the Bay Area

 

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/A-measure-of-pollution-in-the-Bay-Area-4458359.php

 

Bay Area communities on a new map of state's most-polluted - it's a tool to distribute money from the cap-and-trade fund

 

April 2013

 SAN FRANCISCO -- Nine of California's communities most heavily burdened by pollution are in the Bay Area, according to a statewide map released Tuesday and designed to point to areas in need of cleanup.
About half of the top 10 percent of the state's most polluted communities exist in the greater Los Angeles area and San Joaquin Valley, but parts of Oakland and Richmond also made the list, as did San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, Pittsburg, Hayward and Antioch.

The map, called CalEnviroScreen, used thousands of pieces of data to identify communities that bear a disproportionate share of various toxicants, from dirty air to hazardous waste facilities. The designations make the areas candidates to receive grant and investment assistance from the state to clean them up.
"It is important for me to know, for the environment I live in, what it's like," said Amy Vanderwarker, an Oakland resident and coordinator for the California Environmental Justice Alliance, a statewide coalition of community groups. "I love Oakland and am invested in Oakland and want to see projects and development and resources come into Oakland. It needs support as a city."
The agencies analyzed public data in all of California's 1,769 ZIP codes for about 11 kinds of pollution or their sources. They took into account smog levels, traffic density, toxic emissions from factories and businesses, hazardous pesticides and the number of toxic cleanup sites.

----------------------------------------------

 

Toxic algae bloom considered in death of California family

Aug 19, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Investigators are considering whether toxic algae blooms or other hazards may have contributed to the deaths of a Northern California couple, their baby and the family dog on a remote hiking trail, authorities said.

https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/national-news/toxic-algae-bloom-considered-in-death-of-california-family/

 

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Pyramid Lake Algal Bloom Increases to Warning Level: Public Urged to Avoid Water Contact

Jul 03, 2020

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is urging the public to avoid contact with water at Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County until further notice due to blue-green algae (cyanobacteria).

Boating is allowed, but swimming and other water-contact recreation and sporting activities are not considered safe due to potential adverse health effects.

Advisories are based on the potential health risks from algae. Exposure to toxic blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can cause eye irritation, allergic skin rash, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea, and cold- and flu-like symptoms. Pets can be especially susceptible because they tend to drink while in the water and lick their fur afterwards. Keep pets away from the water.

Bloom conditions can change rapidly, and wind and waves may move or concentrate the bloom into different regions of the reservoir. The algal bloom can accumulate into mats, scum, or form foam at the surface and along the shoreline, and range in color from blue, green, white, or brown.

https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2020/July-20/Pyramid-Lake-Algal-Bloom-Increases-to-Warning-Level-7-3-20

 

----------------------------------------------

Chesbro to tour algae bloom problem on Clear Lake on Monday

23 July 2010

https://www.lakeconews.com/news/15055-chesbro-to-tour-algae-bloom-problem-on-clear-lake-on-monday

----------------------------------------------

California Tribes Call Out Degradation of Clear Lake

2021

A monitoring program tracks toxic cyanobacteria and influences change

https://www.circleofblue.org/2021/world/harmful-algal-blooms-in-clear-lake-california/

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Parched Mendocino, California, implores guests to save water

Aug. 10, 2021

https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2021/08/10/dry-california-tourist-town-to-guests-please-conserve.html

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Madera County residents and farmers face groundwater challenge of a lifetime

August 29, 2021

https://www.fresnobee.com/fresnoland/article253392983.html

----------------------------------------------

Toxic Algal Mat Discovered in Merced River

July 16, 2021

https://sierrarecmagazine.com/toxic-algae-mat-discovered-in-merced-river/

----------------------------------------------

 

Algal blooms an emerging threat to clear lakes worldwide

2021

University of Nevada, Reno part of comprehensive study

https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2021/worldwide-lakes-decline

 

 

----------------------------------------------

 

 

California: ‘Toxic algae’ bloom threatens local residents

08/23/21

https://thebl.tv/us-news/california-toxic-algae-bloom-threatens-local-residents.html

 

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California Mercury Water Contamination Will Worsen With Climate Change: Study

 ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/california-mercury-climate-change_n_4213167.html )

11/06/2013

SAN FRANCISCO -- High in the Sierra Nevada, the Yuba River winds through the northeastern mountains of California. The area, just west of Tahoe National Forest, is home to dense forests, crystal-blue lakes and hills that sparkle with the mineral deposits that gave the area its famous nickname -- Gold Country.
The region was the focus of the 1849 Gold Rush, California's great legacy, which led to San Francisco's founding and California's statehood. But the Gold Rush left the state with a darker legacy, as well.
In a study published online last week, researchers revealed that mercury from Gold Rush-era mining operations continues to seep into California’s primary water system -- and it may get worse with climate change.
"There’s a tremendous amount of sediment, and the concentrations are so high that it really is scary," said the lead author, Michael Singer, a researcher for University of St. Andrews in Scotland and University of California, Santa Barbara. "This is a problem of DDT proportions," he said, referring to the insecticide that inspired Rachel Carson's environmental book Silent Spring.
Left from unsafe gold mining practices of the 1800s, the mercury is trapped in sediment in the Sierra Nevada foothills. According to the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, floods continue to force the toxic metal downstream, adding more mercury to the water system.
If climate change predictions are correct, floods and the amount of mercury-laden sediment they force into the water system are likely to increase. 

 ----------------------------------------------

Mercury contamination in California to last 10,000 years

Toxic remnants of gold rush will seep into San Francisco area waterways for millennia

October 28, 2013


https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mercury-contamination-california-last-10000-years

 

------------------------------------------

The Legacy of Mercury Pollution in California’s Bay Area

  March 21, 2014

http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/21/mercury-pollution-california-bay-area/

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Mercury Pollution Considerations

http://www.sacriver.org/aboutwatershed/mercury/mercury-pollution-consideratio




-----------------------------------------------

Air Pollution in Relation to U.S. Cancer Mortality Rates: An Ecological Study; Likely Role of Carbonaceous Aerosols and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

 ( http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/29/9/3537.full )


 Background: There are large geographical variations of cancer mortality rates in the United States. In a series of ecological studies in the U.S., a number of risk-modifying factors including alcohol, diet, ethnic background, poverty, smoking, solar ultraviolet-B (UVB), and urban/rural residence have been linked to many types of cancer. Air pollution also plays a role in cancer risk. Materials and Methods: Cancer mortality rates averaged by state for two periods, 1950-1969 and 1970-1994, were used in multiple-linear regression analyses with respect to many of the risk-modifying factors mentioned with the addition of an air pollution index in the form of a map of acid deposition in 1985. This index is correlated with emissions from coal-fired power plants. In addition, lung cancer mortality rates for five-year periods from 1970-74 to 1990-94 were used in multiple linear regression analyses including air pollution and cigarette smoking. Results: The air pollution index correlated with respiratory, digestive tract, urogenital, female, blood and skin cancer. Air pollution was estimated to account for 5% of male cancer deaths and 3% of female cancer deaths between 1970-1994. Solar UVB was inversely correlated with all these types of cancer except the respiratory, skin and cervical cancer. Cigarette smoking was directly linked to lung cancer but not to other types of cancer in this study. Conclusion: Combustion of coal, diesel fuel and wood is the likely source of air pollution that affects cancer risk on a large scale, through production of black carbon aerosols with adsorbed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

There are large-scale variations in cancer mortality rates in the United States: For the period 1970-1994, rates for white males were higher in the eastern United States than in the western United States, whereas for white females, rates were highest in the northeast and west. In 1950-1969, rates for white males were highest in the northeast, Louisiana and California, whereas for white females, they were highest only in the northeast. Previous ecological studies first investigated the correlations with solar ultraviolet-B (UVB) doses (1-6). More recently, additional factors have also been included: alcohol consumption, ethnic background, poverty level, lung cancer (an index for smoking), and urban versus rural residence (7, 8). Although these investigations have yielded results in general agreement with the literature for many of the factors and have added several types of cancer to the list of those for which solar UVB and vitamin D appear to be protective, there is always the possibility that, as new indices become apparent, they can be added to the analysis to develop better models to explain the geographic variation of U.S. cancer mortality rates.

Another important factor for cancer is air pollution, primarily from fossil fuel combustion. Particulates were identified as the pollutant most highly correlated with mortality rates from air pollution in the U.S. (9). An article in 2002 reported that each 10 μg/m³ elevation in fine particulate air pollution was associated with approximately a 4%, 6% and 8% increased risk of all-cause, cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortality, respectively (10). A more recent study found that a 10 μg/m³ increase in the yearly average PM2.5 (air pollutants particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less) is associated with 10.9% (95% confidence interval=9.0%-12.8%) and 20.8% (95% confidence interval=14.8%-27.1%) increases in all-cause mortality for the American Cancer Society and Harvard Six Cities study counties, respectively (11). Air pollution levels are generally higher in the eastern United States than in the west (12) because of such factors as the prevailing westerly winds that bring air from over the Pacific Ocean to the west and a higher population and industrial density in the east, which thus uses more fossil fuels.

Many of the studies on the effects of air pollution and cancer identify aerosols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as benzo(a)pyrene as the components seemingly most associated with cancer risk (13). Aerosols associated with transportation, coal combustion and wood burning have higher benzo[a]pyrene concentrations (14-16). In contrast, oil combustion is not a major source of PAHs (17). PAHs are adsorbed onto many types of solid aerosols, including black carbon and road dust, and when they reach the lungs, PAHs can be activated, having cytotoxic effects (18) and possibly generating DNA adducts (19, 20)...

California. The San Francisco Bay Area has several counties with cancer mortality rates among the highest in the country between1950-1969: including all, other oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, stomach, rectum, lung, female breast, ovary cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (23). Bladder and kidney cancer and multiple myeloma mortality rates were elevated compared with the rest of California. Kidney, lung and stomach cancer were linked to residential exposure to petroleum and chemical air emissions in that region (71).

Southern California is a region infamous for its smog during the period 1950-1990 or so. However, by 1985, air pollution in Los Angeles as measured by pH was intermediate (4.8) between the northeast (4.2) and the northwest (5.3) regions, whereas within 100 miles of Los Angeles, pH was 5.1 (National Atmospheric Deposition Program, 2008). Rates were elevated in Los Angeles County for the period 1950-1969 for the following types of cancer: all, other oral cavity and pharynx, stomach, rectum, lung, female breast, ovary, bladder, brain and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. These types of cancer generally overlap those identified as correlated with the air pollution index in this study... 

 

 

  -----------------------------------------------

1/3 of Lead Air Pollution Found in San Francisco Originated in Asia

 

 December 2, 2010


http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/13-of-lead-air-pollution-found-in-san-francisco-originated-in-asia.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

 

 
Chapter 7: Sacramento area

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Worst Smog Cities in America

 

No. 6: Sacramento, Calif.

 

Major freeways are pollution hotspots, and Sacramento has four passing through its downtown. About 90% of the area's smog-forming fumes come from cars, trucks, busses, trains, tractors, and other vehicles. The area has cut ozone pollution by nearly half since 2000. But as the number of cars keeps growing, pollution will be tough to control.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities



-----------------------------------------------

 

CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Pesticides Cited in Decline of Fish

 

December 20, 1989

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-20/news/mn-748_1_sacramento-river


-----------------------------------------------

State Sues Railroad for Pesticide Spill in Sacramento River : Pollution: Southern Pacific calls multimillion-dollar suit unnecessary because it has agreed to pay all appropriate costs.

 

July 14, 1992

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-14/news/mn-3939_1_southern-pacific

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

Sacramento area is Delta's top pesticide source, study finds

http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/news/sacramento-area-is-delta%27s-top-pesticide-source,-study-finds

 


-----------------------------------------------

SACRAMENTO RIVER WATER POLLUTION SURVEY

August, 1962

http://www.water.ca.gov/waterdatalibrary/docs/historic/Bulletins/Bulletin_111/Bulletin_111__1962.pdf

-----------------------------------------

New Study Links Delta Smelt Decline to Nutrient Pollution

 

05/17/2010

A new study released today shows a strong correlation between the decline of Delta fish species and nutrient pollution, including effluent from a major wastewater treatment plant on the Sacramento River.


http://www.acwa.com/news/delta/new-study-links-delta-smelt-decline-nutrient-pollution



-----------------------------------------

America's 20 Dirtiest Cities

 

12. Sacramento, Calif.

 

On the northern end of the Central Valley, the 2.1 million residents of the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville metro don't have it as bad as their neighbors to the south, though they still rank 6th in ozone and 21st in short-term particle pollution. Sperling Air Quality Index: 9 Sperling Water Quality Index: 48

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ilmk/8-san-jose-calif/



 -----------------------------------------

 
GEOMORPHIC INVESTIGATION OF SACRAMENTO RIVER MIGRATION AND BAR SEDIMENTATION AT THE PROPOSED CITY OF CHICO POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT OUTFALL DIFFUSER

2004

http://www.ducks.org/media/conservation/mtproject/MTData/Workshop_3/Information/Final_Geomorph_Rpt.pdf


-----------------------------------------

 
Overview of Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
Water Quality Issues

 June 22, 2004

 

http://www.gfredlee.com/SJR-Delta/Delta-WQ-IssuesRpt.pdf

 

 
-----------------------------------------

 

Protecting the Delta from Pollution

 

http://baykeeper.org/our-work/protecting-delta-pollution

 


 -----------------------------------------

 

Henry Miller: Senators all wet about 'tainted' water

 

Dec. 29, 2010

California's U.S. senators have demonstrated once again how a little bad science goes a long way.

In response to a gratuitous "study" released in December by a notoriously ideological radical environmental outfit, the Environmental Working Group, the senators called on the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the public from contaminated tap water. The study had found a chemical called hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in the tap water of 31 out of 35 cities sampled nationwide; among the five cities with the highest levels were Riverside and San Jose, California.

 http://www.ocregister.com/articles/chromium-282117-water-california.html

 

----------------------------------------------------

Santa Cruz beach has West Coast's dirtiest water

 

05/23/2014

 
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25819910/santa-cruz-beach-has-west-coasts-dirtiest-water

 

 

 

 
----------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

 
Chapter 8: North San Joaquin Valley area

 

 

----------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

 

 

Study Maps Pollution Hotspots in CA's San Joaquin Valley

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/11/the-map-of-california-pollution.php

 ----------------------------------------------------

 

New Methods Detect “Hotspots” of Cumulative Exposures in California Communities

 

2013

http://coeh.berkeley.edu/bridges/Winter2013/Hotspots.html

--------------------------------------------------

Why Does California's Central Valley Have Such Bad Air Pollution?

 

The farming communities of the Central Valley breathe some of the worst air in the nation

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2011/09/behind-pollution-californias-central-valley/207/



----------------------------------------------


Criteria Air Pollutant Report: SAN JOAQUIN County, CA


http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/cap/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06077

------------------------------------------------------


Airborne particles in the San Joaquin Valley may affect human health

http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v064n01p12&fulltext=yes


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The Dirt on Dairy

( http://www.bornfreeusa.org/articles.php?p=379&more=1 )

Published 09/15/03 

Source: Animal Issues, Volume 34 Number 3, Fall 2003

------------------------------------------------------

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR RURAL STUDIES


http://www.cirsinc.org/index.php/rural-california-report/entry/fresnos-budget-and-air-and-water-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.html


------------------------------------------------------

 

Smog plumes waft in Valley's heat

Breezes carry huge doses of Fresno pollution to outlying areas.

 
July 17, 2005

 http://www.valleyair.org/recent_news/News_Clippings/2005/In%20the%20News%20--July%2018%202005.pdf

 

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Environmental hazards threaten San Joaquin Valley residents

2011

http://www.theaggie.org/2011/11/23/environmental-hazards-threaten-san-joaquin-valley-residents/

 

 

 ------------------------------------------------------

 Soil Survey of San Joaquin County, California

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/california/CA077/0/san%20joaquin.pdf

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

America's 20 Dirtiest Cities

 

9. Stockton, Calif.

 

Stockton summer heat exacerbates ozone levels that rank 23rd in the nation. Population is 650,000. The city has little means to fund environmental initiatives. It has sought to avert bankruptcy by laying off city employees, including a quarter of its police force. Sperling Air Quality Index: 15 Sperling Water Quality Index: 35

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ilmk/8-san-jose-calif/


------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Three of state’s most polluted areas in Stockton

 April 24, 2013

http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_b46cf32e-acef-11e2-af53-001a4bcf887a.html

 

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Chapter 9: Groundwater

------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

 
California enacted a groundwater law 7 years ago. But wells are still drying up — and it’s spreading

Aug 22, 2021

https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/state-and-regional/california-enacted-a-groundwater-law-7-years-ago-but-wells-are-still-drying-up-and/article_eb56cbe2-d7c4-53ee-83af-b550410f5c67.html

------------------------------------------------------

 

California is facing health concerns because of nitrate in drinking water

 August 18, 2012

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/08/18/nitrate-drinking-water-raises-health-concerns-rural-californians/

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Report: Calif. nitrate contamination spreading

 

March 13, 2012

 
http://news.yahoo.com/report-calif-nitrate-contamination-spreading-075906496.html


 March 13, 2012

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Nitrate contamination of drinking water is a pervasive problem in California's agricultural heartland and is bound to intensify in the coming years, according to a University of California, Davis study released Tuesday.

The study, ordered by the state Legislature, shows chemical fertilizers and livestock manure are the main source of nitrate contamination in groundwater for more than 1 million Californians in the Salinas Valley and parts of the Central Valley...

The study — covering the Salinas Valley and Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern counties — concluded half of the 2.6 million people in those areas live in communities where raw drinking water sources have registered nitrate levels exceeding the standard. Many of those communities blend or treat their water, drill a new well or provide another alternative source, passing on the extra costs to rate payers.

Some wells in Fresno, population 500,000, have exceeded the nitrate standard. The city put a number of out of service, expanded its use of surface water and blended water from active contaminated wells with that in other wells...

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Fertilizer Pollution Growing In California

 

March 14, 2012

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=7071

 (Beyond Pesticides, March 14, 2012) Yet another report documents hazards of chemical-intensive agriculture that could be avoided by switching to organic practices. Nitrate contamination in groundwater from fertilizer and animal manure is severe and getting worse for hundreds of thousands of residents in California’s farming communities, according to a study released by researchers at University of California Davis. The report states the problem is likely to worsen, threatening ground water wells and eventually drinking water.

Pesticide use in California rose in 2010 after declining for four consecutive years, according to data from the Department of Pesticide Regulation. More than 173 million pounds of pesticides were reported applied statewide, an increase of nearly 15 million pounds – or 9.5 percent – from 2009. Overall, most of the growth in pesticide use was in production agriculture, where applications increased by 12 million pounds. Fertilizer and pesticides use therefore contribute to the growing environmental contamination of California’s surface and ground waters, as well as other environmental components.

Nitrates are odorless, tasteless compounds that form when nitrogen from ammonia and other sources mix with water. While nitrogen and nitrates occur naturally, the advent of synthetic fertilizer has coincided with a dramatic increase in nitrates in drinking water. Rural residents are at greater risk because they depend on private wells, which are often shallower and not monitored to the same degree as public water sources. Current contamination likely came from nitrates introduced into the soil decades ago. That means even if nitrates were dramatically reduced today, groundwater would still suffer for decades to come.



-------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracking Nitrogen Through the Soil to Reduce Pollution From Agriculture

 

Scientists are uncovering how nitrogen migrates underground with the help of sensors that continuously measure nitrate concentration and water flow. 

 

Friday, June 21, 2013

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/11-how-nitrogen-can-help-food-production-but-harm-drinking-water#.Uy9Uj4Wa8mw

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Human Error Blamed in Chlorinated Water Spill

 

July 27, 2001

The release of 150,000 gallons of chlorinated water into the San Joaquin River earlier this month was caused by human error, Manteca officials reported to state water quality officials.
Chlorinated waste water began flowing from the city pipeline after a tank holding a chemical that neutralizes the chlorine before it is pumped into the river ran dry, the city's report says. An alarm used to warn when the tank was empty apparently had not been activated.
Chlorine is added to the waste water to kill bacteria but usually is removed before the treated waste is discharged into the river.

 http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/27/local/me-27236

 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Story: Agriculture poisons water for 1.3 million San Joaquin Valley residents

http://www.spot.us/pitches/383-agriculture-poisons-water-for-1-3-million-san-joaquin-valley-residents/story


 

-----------------------------------------

Study Says Tap Water in State Is Contaminated

 

July 17, 2001


The tap water of at least 7 million Californians is contaminated with a chemical from rocket fuel, according to an environmental group's study.
After collecting data from federal and local agencies, the Environmental Working Group found that perchlorate, a chemical that affects the thyroid, has tainted wells and river water that feeds California, and contends that suggested acceptable levels are far above where they should be.


http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/17/local/me-23226

----------------------------------------

California's Contaminated Groundwater
Is the State Minding the Store?

http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ccg/execsum.asp

------------------------------

California drought: Solar desalination plant shows promise

 

Solar desalination system appears to be cost-effective

 

March 18, 2014

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Solar-desalination-plant-5326024.php


------------------------------------------

{It is widely debated if Desalinating Water from the Ocean can be harmful to the environment}.


----------------------------

 

New desalination technology could answer state drought woes

 

Feb 18, 2015 

 

 Could desalination be the answer to California's drought? As parts of the state become drier, scientists are looking at ways to turn seawater into drinkable water.

Desalination has made headlines in recent months as a possible solution to the state's water shortage. But in addition to being expensive, its byproduct—salty brine—can harm marine life once it's reintroduced into the ocean.

A team of researchers from Humboldt State University and the University of Southern California is hoping to address those concerns with a new process called Reverse Osmosis-Pressure Retarded Osmosis (RO-PRO).

They recently received a $600,000 grant from the California Department of Water Resources to develop a portable, prototype RO-PRO system in Samoa, Calif.—which could lower the cost of desalination and reduce its impact on the environment.

http://phys.org/news/2015-02-desalination-technology-state-drought-woes.html



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Surfing water molecules could hold the key to fast and controllable water transport

October 19, 2015

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-10-surfing-molecules-key-fast.html#jCp


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Nanopores could take the salt out of seawater

November 11, 2015

 

Engineers have found an energy-efficient material for removing salt from seawater that could provide a rebuttal to poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's lament, 'Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.'

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151111165333.htm

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Some people think we are better off using machines that use a cold condensation process to create water, people have mentioned forward osmosis could work as well. 

 -------

Forward osmosis

 Forward osmosis (FO) is an osmotic process that uses a semi-permeable membrane to effect separation of water from dissolved solutes.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_osmosis

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Others think we could even build a pipe from Alaska to California to bring down fresh water. However, this seems like a lot of time and resources to move water at such long distances, this includes the environmental impacts of displacing large amounts of water from one ecosystem to another. We an see how the same concept has been done for oil. 


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Keystone oil pipeline leaks 383,000 gallons in North Dakota

Oct 31, 2019

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/keystone-oil-pipeline-leaks-383000-gallons-in-north-dakota

 

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We could see how valuable water is becoming, to where some companies might be willing to build a pipeline to move billions of gallons of water to giant cities. 

Many people say that atmospheric water generators could be a good idea. However, some scientists are concerned with the amount of moisture that this would take out of the air. An example would be if there were a billion atmospheric water generators all within a giant city area in a desert, that if this would have an impact on the ecosystem and wildlife on the desert community. Atmospheric water generators are a good idea, but we must be cautious of trying to over-harvest too much of one resource, without properly knowing the impacts. However, some claim that atmospheric water generators are harmless, and is equal to collecting rainwater. The  government wants to tax both rainwater collecting, including the use of atmospheric water generators. Pumping too much groundwater for drinking can also be a hazard for the environment.

 

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Raise Your Glass to Groundwater

Mar 10, 2011

Today the South Bay still relies on groundwater. San Jose pumps about 40 percent of its water from aquifers beneath it. Nearby Sunnyvale, Campbell and Santa Clara also produce significant amounts. Farther south, Morgan Hill and Gilroy rely exclusively on groundwater. And Fremont has a big stake in it too.

San Jose used to pump more aggressively than today, but problems arose when the land began to sink. Parts of Alviso, on the city's northern edge, recorded as much as 13 feet of subsidence. Seawater began to intrude into the aquifers as well. 

Today water managers have arrested the subsidence by ensuring that the aquifer is properly recharged using streamflow and special infiltration basins.
Much of Fremont's water comes from its bountiful aquifer in the Niles Cone, a large fan of gravel spreading out from the mouth of Alameda Canyon. Today the city sends Alameda Creek's water into the Cone through the Quarry Lakes, while pumping groundwater out of it in a strategy that helps push back invading Bay water.

San Francisco, of course, gets pristine Sierra water from O'Shaunnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Only one-third of Hetch Hetchy's water gets to the city, though, as more than a dozen other Bay Area cities use it.

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/03/10/raise-your-glass-to-groundwater/

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Soil erosion decreases water quality

Sediment discharge permits could fund stream monitoring

 http://ventana.sierraclub.org/conservation/sc_watershed/soil_erosion_water.shtml


 Soil erosion into local streams smothers salmon and steelhead eggs and fills the pools in which juvenile salmon grow. Sediment is regulated by law because it decreases water quality. During the winter when most water agencies like to "rest" their wells to allow for water table recharge, decreased stream quality reduces the amount of surface water available for human use.

 California Regional Water Quality Control Boards are attempting to find a way to regulate sediment discharge from logging operations and agriculture, major sources of sediment in waterways. Although mandated by law to do so, the Boards do not have sufficient staff for the job and have yet to settle on an effective and accurate method of monitoring for this type of pollution. Currently the Central Coast Board allocates less than one staff person to this task and expects the logging industry to essentially regulate itself by supplying information about erosion problems at logging sites.

More than 30 years after the passage of the Federal Clean Water Act, California is just beginning to take on the task of controlling water pollution from logging and agriculture. This is a huge and complex task. The Water Quality Boards must find a way to collect accurate information about the effects of logging at specific sites, and they must effectively enforce regulation to improve water quality in streams that have been damaged. Local Sierra Club activists are working with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to improve the condition of area streams.



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Expert: Severe soil erosion may result in loss of marine life

25 Apr 2021

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/04/25/expert-severe-soil-erosion-may-result-in-loss-of-marine-life

 

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California’s Lingering Drought and Pollution Defy Solutions

 

2014

 

( http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2014/world/north-south-californias-scarcer-water-supply-mismanaged-use-defy-solutions/ )

 

Low-Income Residents Supplied With Toxic Drinking Water

In Kettleman City, half an hour south of Dan Errotabere’s farm, Maricella Mares-Allatore, an environmental activist with the Bay Area environmental group Greenaction, considers another outcome of groundwater use and management in the Central Valley.
She sits in the local Starbucks and sips black coffee brewed with the town’s water, which comes from its aquifer. The irony is somewhat diabolical.

Kettleman’s groundwater is contaminated with arsenic at an average of 12.5 parts per billion (and as high as 16 ppb), in excess of the state limit of 10 ppb. Arsenic enters drinking water supplies from natural deposits in the earth or from agricultural and industrial practices, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And yet, a river of cleaner water from the Delta flows through the middle of town in the concrete confines of the California Aqueduct.
A warning that hangs at the Kettleman City Post Office sends a confusing message: “You don’t have to use an alternative (e.g., bottled water) supply,” the flyer reads. Yet an information sheet on arsenic from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment suggests that long-term ingestion of arsenic at levels below the legal limit have been shown to increase risk of certain kinds of cancer.
Mares-Alatorre holds a manila folder. Inside is a flyer with images of five babies of Kettleman City parents who were born between 2008 and 2009. Each of the children show the distinct scars of cleft palates.
Residents of Kettleman City have contended with an array of pollution sources for decades, including pesticide drift, diesel emissions, and oil drilling wastes. One of the nation’s largest hazardous waste dumps, operated by Waste Management, a Houston-based company, is located here. Every year it accepts tens of thousands of tons of PCBs, asbestos, oil wastes and pesticides.
The city briefly entered the national spotlight in 2010, when the California Department of Public Health identified 11 Kettleman children born between 2007 and 2008 with chromosomal birth defects – including heart defects, cleft palate and club foot. In spite of the myriad of pollution sources, the state Department of Public Health could not identify a single cause for the spike in birth defects, citing the small population and multiple causes as confounding factors.
But the disfigured babies continue to symbolize the serious anxieties in this community of 1,500 – the vast majority of whom are farm workers living at or below the federal poverty line.
The health risks also animate Mares-Alatorre’s push for clean water. Right now a controversial proposal is in the works to fix the town’s water system. Waste Management has offered to pay off the water system’s $552,000 debt, which would allow the town to secure $8 million in state funding needed to install a plant to draw and treat drinking water from the California Aqueduct.
In exchange, Waste Management wants to expand its toxic waste landfill in town.
The proposal has fostered a lively conversation about risks and benefits. “Of course we want clean water to bathe our children in and to drink,” says Mares-Alatorre. “But at what price? Should we have to allow another major source of pollution into town in order to get it?”
On the opposite side of the valley from Kettleman City, dozens of small farm communities near Visalia also are dealing with contaminated groundwater – in these cases from years of over-application of fertilizers and pesticides. The problem is particularly acute in dozens of small, unincorporated towns – many of which are home to large populations of farmworkers and are served by rudimentary water systems.
The water systems tap into aquifers contaminated with nitrates, a constituent of of synthetic fertilizer and manure, and other agricultural contaminants. A 2012 report from the University of California at Davis found that 254,000 people in the Salinas Valley and Tulare Basin, two major agricultural regions, are at risk of nitrate contamination. Of the nitrates seeping into the Central Valley’s groundwater, a full 96 percent comes from the region’s croplands, the report found.
According to Peter Weyer, associate director of the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, nitrates are often seen as an indicator of “overall” water quality – and high levels can indicate the presence of other microbial or organic contaminants. “The problems can go way beyond nitrate in places where there is inadequate filtration,” Weyer says.
Nitrates are particularly serious problems for infants. At high enough concentrations they can cause methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby syndrome,” a condition in which an infant’s red blood cells are incapable of transporting oxygen. In adults, long-term exposure to nitrates can lead to the formation of carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines, believed to contribute to elevate the likelihood of various forms of cancer.

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Carbon Capture Wetland Farms, Sacramento - San Joaquin Delta, CA


Challenge: The oxidation of drained, agricultural peat soils emit massive CO2 into the atmosphere.

Peat oxidation has caused Delta islands to subside >25 ft below land surface, causing levee vulnerability, increasing flood potential and shutting down California’s water supply system.

http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/cop15/upload/CO2_PowerPoint_-2.pdf

 


--------------------------------

 

Environment: Destroying wetlands increases methane emissions

Feb 27, 2022

https://johnmenadue.com/environment-destroying-wetlands-increases-methane-emissions/

 

--------------------------------

 

The mystery of methane gone missing

Feb 17, 2022

Humanity has an “unbalanced checkbook” of methane pollution.

https://www.vox.com/2022/2/17/22933671/climate-change-methane-emissions-satellites-permian-basin

 

 

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Global Phosphorus Loss in Agriculture Due to Soil Erosion: Study

Sep 12, 2020

https://www.udayavani.com/english-news/global-phosphorus-loss-in-agriculture-due-to-soil-erosion-study

 

--------------------------------

 

Excess levels of nitrogen, phosphorus causing deformed frogs

September 7, 2004

https://source.wustl.edu/2004/09/excess-levels-of-nitrogen-phosphorus-causing-deformed-frogs/

--------------------------------

Wetlands Provide Landscape-Scale Reduction In Nitrogen Pollution

January 30, 2018

https://www.eurasiareview.com/30012018-wetlands-provide-landscape-scale-reduction-in-nitrogen-pollution/

--------------------------------

Seaweed farms significantly reduce nitrogen, pollution

August 30, 2021

A joint study from Tel Aviv University and the University of California, Berkeley has suggested that the establishment of seaweed farms in river estuaries significantly reduces nitrogen concentrations in the estuary and prevents pollution in estuarine and marine environments.

https://evonmedia.org/seaweed-farms-significantly-reduce-nitrogen-pollution/

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Making real a biotechnology dream: nitrogen-fixing cereal crops

January 10, 2020

Voigt Lab's work could eventually replace cereal crops’ need for nitrogen from chemical fertilizers.

https://news.mit.edu/2020/making-real-biotechnology-dream-nitrogen-fixing-cereal-crops-0110

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Bioreactors Chip Away At Nitrogen Pollution

Jun 17, 2021

https://www.farms.com/news/bioreactors-chip-away-at-nitrogen-pollution-168716.aspx

 

--------------------------------

Waterways of the Largest Estuary on the West Coast

 

 Aug 31, 2012

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/08/31/waterways-of-the-largest-estuary-on-the-west-coast/

---------------------------------

The State : Tainted Wells to Be Replaced

 

February 08, 1988

 Several dozen east Fresno homes and an elementary school with polluted wells from a pesticide plant will get free hookups to the Fresno city water system under a plan advanced this week. At least 20 homeowners with wells contaminated by the defunct Thompson-Hayward pesticide plant, listed on the state and federal Superfund lists of high-priority toxic waste sites, and 34 other residents in the area will receive the water hookup, estimated to cost $985,025.


http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-08/news/mn-27740_1_tainted-wells

 

---------------------------------

Physical Geology Slides-Ground Water

Water For Human Use

California doesn't have a water shortage; it has a people overage. The rainfall in this environment is perfectly sufficient to support the savanna ecosystem seen here. It's just not sufficient to support ecosystems like Los Angeles and San Francisco. The reservoir here is part of California's water supply system, severely depleted by a succession of dry years.

Los Angeles water usage lowered the water level in Mono Lake by over 40 feet before a court order forced the city to limit withdrawals.


In the 1920's and 1930's, San Francisco dammed the Hetch Hetchy Valley, the next major canyon north of Yosemite Valley.

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/EarthSC202Slides/gh2oslid.htm




---------------------------------

Radionuclides in Mono Lake, California 


Several radioisotopes of the naturally occurring uranium and thorium decay series, in addition to fallout plutonium, have unusually high concentrations in the water column of Mono Lake, a natural alkaline, saline lake. Complexing by carbonate ions appears to be responsible for the enhanced solubility of actinide elements with oxidation states of IV to VI. In contrast, fallout strontium-90 has been largely removed from the water, probably as a result of coprecipitation with calcium carbonate. The daughter/parent activity ratios of thorium, radium, and uranium isotopes suggest that thorium is removed from the water column to the sediments on time scales substantially longer than a month and that the desorption of thorium from the sediments to the water column requires less than a few years.


http://worldwidescience.org/topicpages/l/lake+casitas+california.html 
{This link contains additional scientific information and reports}.

 

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Cuyama Valley groundwater depleted twice as fast than it naturally recharges, California

 August 16, 2014

 In California's Cuyama Valley, Santa Barbara County, groundwater is the sole source for agricultural, domestic and municipal water use. However, a new water availability report from USGS warns that groundwater there is being depleted twice as fast than it naturally recharges. Aside from the obvious, this alarming rate of depletion is degrading the overall water quality, and potentially leading to the onset of land subsidence.


http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2014/08/16/cuyama-valley-groundwater-study/

----------------------------------

Humans causing California's mountains to grow

May 14, 2014

http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/humans-causing-californias-mountains-grow

Humankind has proven time and again that it can reshape mountains, or even tear them down. Now, it appears, we can make them rise as well. Geologists studying growth rates of the Sierra Nevada and of central California’s Coast Ranges have identified an anthropogenic contribution to the mountains’ uplift that they suggest is tied to the decades-long depletion of groundwater in the state’s Central Valley. What’s more, the researchers report in a study published today in Nature, the long-term water loss may be affecting how stress builds up on faults like the San Andreas.

The scientists analyzed shifts in the vertical positions of more than 500 GPS sensors — spread across the Coast Ranges, the San Joaquin Valley (roughly the southern half of the Central Valley) and the Sierras — most of which have been recording data for at least four years (some have records extending back to the late 1990s). “We looked at two different [signals] in the GPS data: the long-term average vertical velocities and the seasonal patterns of ups and downs,” says Colin Amos, a geologist at Western Washington University and lead author of the new study.

Amos and his colleagues could see the “GPS stations rise and fall seasonally in relation to the hydrologic cycle,” recording the precise position of the ground surface below them, he says. Earth’s crust behaves elastically, so heavy snow and rainfall in winter and early spring push the mountains down, whereas during the summer and autumn dry season when the snowpack has melted, the mountains rise again. This seasonal trend is reversed in the valley: Recharge of groundwater, arriving as runoff from the mountains at the end of the wet season, swells aquifers and raises slightly the ground surface, which then sinks again as groundwater is removed and conditions become drier.

 In addition to these seasonal variations — on the order of a centimeter up and down — the team found year-over-year trends in the stations’ average vertical positions. In the mountains around the edges of San Joaquin Valley, these trends showed elevation increases of roughly 1 to 3 millimeters annually, meaning the seasonal ups have been outpacing the downs, and that the mountains there are growing.

 “Hints of that [growth] signal have been seen before,” and various tectonic explanations have been proposed, Amos notes, particularly for the Sierra Nevada. For example, the mountains could be rising in response to the mantle slowly eating away at (or delaminating) the base of the crust beneath the Sierras, or due to continuing rebound after glaciers, which eroded huge masses of rock from the mountains thousands of years ago, melted. Both of these processes remove weight from the crust, allowing it to flex upward gradually over geologic time...

... Not only that, the team noted, but the flexing of the crust may induce stress changes on surrounding faults like the San Andreas. Detailed observations of the well-studied segment of the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, Calif., have shown seasonal fluctuations in the frequency of small earthquakes that aren’t regularly felt but occur commonly. Such microseismicity is more common during the dry season when the central Coast Ranges are uplifting, suggesting the fault is “unclamping” slightly as the mountains rise both seasonally and over longer stretches, Amos says, which could impact future earthquakes on the fault.

To be clear, however, “this study does not imply that a large earthquake is imminent,” says Paul Lundgren, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who wrote a commentary, also in Nature, on the new research...

--------------------------------------

Quake-Revived Streams Could Keep Flowing for a While

 KQED Science  | September 9, 2014


Normally, Dry Creek, just west of Napa, lives up to its name this time of year. But three days after the South Napa Earthquake, it suddenly sprang to life.

“This was completely dry and right now it’s running at the rate that we’d normally see in May or so,” said Garrett Buckland, overlooking a stretch of the creek about 2.5 miles above where it empties into the Napa River. Buckland is a vineyard consultant who pays close attention to the hydrology of the Napa Valley. In September, he said, Dry Creek doesn’t usually make it as far as the river.

When he started hearing the sound of moving water shortly after the magnitude-6.0 temblor, Buckland said he wasn’t entirely surprised; he said the same thing happened after a 4.9 temblor near here in 2000. Based on that experience, Buckland was willing to make a prediction.


http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/09/09/quake-revived-streams-could-keep-flowing-for-a-while/



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The American West is drying out. Things will get ugly

June 20, 2021

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/19/politics/what-matters-climate-change-western-drought/index.html

 

 

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California drought dries up Guadalupe River in San Jose

August 11, 2015

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-drought-dries-up-guadalupe-river-in-san-jose/

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Record-breaking June 2021 heatwave impacts the U.S. West

June 23, 2021

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/record-breaking-june-2021-heatwave-impacts-us-west

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Illegals destroying border: Garbage, wild fires, trampling rare species, plants

October 17, 2016

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/illegals-destroying-border-garbage-wild-fires-trampling-rare-species-plants

 

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Incompetent California Regulators Have created water shortages

Jan 04, 2022

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-01-04/incompetent-california-regulators-have-created-water-shortages

 

 

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Santa Ynez River Basin groundwater sustainability plans approved

February 28, 2022

https://keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/2022/02/28/santa-ynez-river-basin-groundwater-sustainability-plans-approved/

 

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These Fish Evolved to Live in Extremely Toxic Water (Killifish)

2016
 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/pollution-tolerant-killifish-discovered-east-coast-waters

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Killifish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killifish

A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish (including families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae). All together, there are 1,270 species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species.

Range and habitat

Killifish in some highly polluted Eastern rivers have evolved to survive levels of toxins up to 8,000 times the lethal dose.

Killifish are found mainly in fresh or brackish waters in the Americas, as far south as Argentina and as far north as southern Ontario. There are also species in southern Europe, in much of Africa as far south as KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the Middle East and Asia (as far east as Vietnam), and on several Indian Ocean islands.

The majority of killifish are found in permanent streams, rivers, and lakes, and live between two and three years. Such killifish are common in the Americas (Cyprinodon, Fundulus and Rivulus) as well as in Africa and Asia (including Aphyosemion, Aplocheilus, Epiplatys, Fundulopanchax and Lacustricola) and southern Europe (Aphanius). Some of these habitats can be rather extreme; the only natural habitat of the Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) is Devils Hole: a cavern at least 91 metres (299 ft) deep, branching out from a small opening at the surface, approximately 1.8 metres (6 ft) by 5.5 metres (18 ft) wide.

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Ancient Caves - Exploring Devils Hole

2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QGTKKws3gM

 

 

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DIVERS REACT TO DEVIL'S HOLE DEATHS (a story by MrBallen)

2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0T7StMqQUQ

 

 

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DIVERS CAUGHT IN UNDERWATER VORTEX

Aug 2, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV_eLr7oxME

 

 

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GROUND WATER ATLAS of the UNITED STATES
California, Nevada

 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_b/B-text3.html

CENTRAL VALLEY AQUIFER SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION

The Central Valley of California (fig. 71) contains the largest basin-fill aquifer system in Segment 1. The valley is in a structural trough about 400 miles long and from 20 to 70 miles wide and extends over more than 20,000 square miles. The trough is filled to great depths by marine and continental sediments, which are the result of millions of years of inundation by the ocean and erosion of the rocks that form the surrounding mountains. Sand and gravel beds in this great thickness of basin-fill material form an important aquifer system. From north to south, the aquifer system is divided into the Sacramento Valley, the Sacramento­ San Joaquin Delta, and the San Joaquin Valley subregions, on the basis of different characteristics of surface-water basins.

The Central Valley is one of the most important agricultural areas in the world. No single region of comparable size in the United States produces more fruits, vegetables, and nuts. More than 7 million acres are currently (1995) under irrigation. During 1985, crop irrigation accounted for 96 percent of the surface water and 89 percent of the ground water withdrawn in the Central Valley.
Discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada and the subsequent proliferation of hydraulic mining operations provided the impetus for the construction of a surface-water diversion system that consisted of hundreds of miles of canals used to transport water to where it was needed for gold-washing operations. This was the beginning of the valley's modern-day aqueduct system, which has become vital to the agricultural economy.

 

 

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Drought Status Update for California-Nevada

October 15, 2021

https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/drought-status-update-california-nevada-8

 

 

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Arizona’s water supplies are drying up. How will its farmers survive?

November 12, 2019

As the mighty Colorado River dwindles and cropland dries out, farming families face a grim choice: give up or somehow adapt.

https://thefern.org/2019/11/arizonas-water-supplies-are-drying-up-how-will-its-farmers-survive/

 

 

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Arizona Harmful Algal Blooms

August 13, 2021

https://azdeq.gov/AZHAB

 

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Farms, fish on dry California-Oregon border see scant water

Apr 12, 2022

https://www.mailtribune.com/happening-now/2022/04/12/farms-fish-on-dry-california-oregon-border-see-scant-water/

 

 

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‘Trying to survive’: Wells dry up amid Oregon water woes

July 29, 2021

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/07/29/southern-oregon-wells-dry-up-drought/

 

 

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Lake Shasta is facing its worst season in 44 years. Here’s what that means for those who rely on it.

May 18, 2021

https://goldenstatesalmon.org/lake-shasta-is-facing-its-worst-season-in-44-years-heres-what-that-means-for-those-who-rely-on-it/

 

 

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Dry Wells in Northern California Bring Home the Costs and Stresses of Drought

August 11, 2021

https://www.circleofblue.org/2021/world/dry-wells-in-northern-california-bring-home-the-costs-and-stresses-of-drought/

 

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Homes lose water as wells run dry in drought-ravaged basin

July 29, 2021

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-survive-wells-oregon-woes.html

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California drought: Dozens of communities are at risk of running out of water

2021

Emergency wells, desalination plants, strict rationing are spreading, particularly in small Northern California towns

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/30/california-drought-dozens-of-communities-are-at-risk-of-running-out-of-water/

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California’s Epic Drought Is Parching Reservoirs and Worrying Farmers

June 3, 2021

https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2021/06/03/304102.htm

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California warns farmers about water cutoffs as hot, dry summer looms

June 16 , 2021

https://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2021/06/16/california-warns-farmers-about-water-cutoffs-as-hot-dry-summer-looms/

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Small Towns Grow Desperate for Water in California

2021

The drought is revealing for California that perhaps even more than rainfall it is money and infrastructure that dictate who has sufficient water during the state’s increasingly frequent dry spells

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/us/drought-california-water-shortage.html

 

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California is on the brink of drought – again. Is it ready?

6 Apr 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/06/california-is-on-the-brink-of-drought-again-is-it-ready

 

 

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Drought is stressing California’s power grid

A key source of clean energy is running dry

Jul 12, 2021

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/12/22573648/drought-california-power-grid-electricity-hydro-energy

 

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California Department of Water Resources - News Releases

https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases

 

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Water shortages and drought are California’s biggest environmental concern, new poll shows

2021

PPIC survey finds 63% say water supply is a big problem in their area, up from 38% a year ago

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/28/water-supply-and-drought-are-californias-top-environmental-concern-new-poll-shows/

 

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West megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years

February 14, 2022

The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.

A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-west-megadrought-f02449c2db4f0ebeb1557bb39504c62d

 

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Study: Most extreme drought in 1,200 years hits Southwest

03/01/22

America’s West Coast recorded the severest dry spell in more than a millennium, a new study found.

The 21st Century has brought California’s worst drought in 1,200 years so far. This is the shocking conclusion researchers reached after comparing soil moisture and water reservoir levels from the past 21 years to ancient records.

The joint study, “Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought,” confirmed that between the years 2000 and 2021, the Golden State experienced its driest period since 800 AD.

“2000–2021 was the driest 22-year period since at least 800 AD … [and] no other 22-year period since at least 1901 was as dry or as hot,” the team led by University of California geography researcher A. Park Williams said in the research report.

Williams, Columbia University Lamont adjunct associate research scientist Benjamin Cook, and fellow research professor Jason Smerdon revealed that the worst drought was recorded back in the 1500s.

“A previous reconstruction back to 800 AD indicated that the 2000–2018 soil moisture deficit in southwestern North America was exceeded during one megadrought in the late-1500s,” they said.

However, the current dry weather conditions could continue well into the year and possibly reach the same 16th Century levels.

“This drought will very likely persist through 2022, matching the duration of the late-1500s megadrought,” they said.

Last summer, the trio also found two of the nation’s largest reservoirs, Lakes Mead and Powell, recorded their lowest levels in history.

“[This was] triggering unprecedented restrictions on Colorado River usage, in part because the two-year naturalized flow out of Colorado River’s upper basin in water-years 2020–2021 was likely the lowest since at least 1906,” they said.

They also claim monsoon weather systems failed to ease “extreme or exceptional” drought affecting 68% of the western United States between the summers of 2020 and 2021.

https://thebl.tv/us-news/study-most-extreme-drought-in-1200-years-hits-southwest.html

 

 

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Chapter 10: Drought

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In the year 2016 many areas of California were flooding.

 

------------------------------------------------------

El Nino storm sets rain records in California

 

Jan 5, 2016

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-heavy-rains-chance-of-thunderstorms-across-southern-california-20160105-story.html

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California Drought Worsens After State's Warmest Winter On Record

 

2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/california-drought-warmest-winter_n_4982634.html?ref=topbar


------------------------------------------------------

California drought: What's causing it?

 

2014
 

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_24904396/california-drought-whats-causing-it

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'Severe' drought covers nearly 99.8% of California, report says

August 18th, 2014

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-severe-drought-california-20140818-story.html

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Drought Leads to Tough Tradeoffs for California Salmon

 February 12, 2014

 http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/02/12/drought-leads-to-tough-tradeoffs-for-california-salmon/


------------------------------------------------------

California Farms Going Thirsty as Drought Burns $5 Billion Hole

2014

Near the confluence of the Merced and San Joaquin rivers, the heart of the California farm belt, Bob Kelley watches the driest year ever erode water supplies and prospects for the dairy business his family began in 1910.


The amount of water available for the 2,800 acres (1,133 hectares) of corn and alfalfa Kelley grows to feed more than 6,500 cows may drop as much as two thirds, so fewer crops will be planted and some animals will be sold to avoid the expense of buying grain, he said by telephone from Newman, about 83 miles (134 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

“It would impact us for not just 2014, but all of 2015,” said Kelley, 60, who runs a local water district that will cut output by at least half. “I’m anticipating a very difficult time, and I’m probably the best off of anybody I know.” 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-29/california-farms-going-thirsty-as-drought-burns-5-billion-hole

 

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Driest year ever in Calif. sparks fire, water fears

December 26, 2013

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/12/26/california-drought-water-shortage-wildfires/4192275/

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A Prehistoric Look at California Rainfall and Floods

 

 June 29, 1996

( Extreme and Persistent Drought in California and Patagonia During Mediaeval Time )

 

http://cepsym.org/proceedings_1996.php

------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Tree rings tell a 1,100-year history of El Nino

 

May 6, 2011

 

http://phys.org/news/2011-05-tree-year-history-el-nino.html#nRlv

------------------------------------------------------

What the West's Ancient Droughts Say About Its Future

 

The American West could face centuries of parched land, as it has in the past.

 

Feb 13, 2014

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140214-drought-california-prehistory-science-climate-san-francisco-2/

 

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Satellites see double jeopardy for Southern California fire season

 

 

 Date:

May 13, 2013

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130513174502.htm

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A new report published in December 2014 claims that California needs 11 trillion gallons of water to get out of drought, some people question if this is an accurate estimate.

------------------------------------------------------

Rain helps, but California needs 11 trillion gallons to get out of drought

 

Dec. 16, 2014

The estimate – which equals roughly 1.5 fully stocked Lake Meads – is the first time scientists have quantified how much water is needed to end the state's three-year drought and return to normal dry-season conditions.

 A section of the bottom of the reservoir at Peters Canyon Regional Park is seen dried and cracked because of drought conditions in this July photo. The water level in the reservoir is estimated at about 90 percent below normal levels. It will take about 11 trillion gallons of water to recover from California's continuing drought, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-645470-storage-trillion.html

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California Cuts off State Water to 25 Million People: Update - Hopeful Forecast North of the Bay

( http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/01/1274206/-California-Cuts-off-State-Water-to-25-Million-People# )

Feb 01, 2014

California state water officials announced that no state water will be delivered to local agencies serving 25 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland unless the drought breaks. That's very unlikely.The Sierra snow pack was 12% of normal, after the first storm in 2 months, at the end of January. NOAA models predict continued low precipitation for the next 3 months. Two thirds of California's rainy season has passed. Then come the dry summer months.
The federal government also supplies water to municipalities and farmers but federal reservoirs are also depleted. Large cuts in federal water deliveries are anticipated.

January was catastrophically dry across California and the southwest. San Francisco airport received one hundredth of an inch of rain, not enough to wet the ground, in January, normally its wettest month. A vast area from California to Texas had under a tenth of an inch of precipitation in January. Snow is more effective at increasing water supplies than warm season rain because it evaporates less, so the lack of January precipitation will have devastating effects on water supplies.

------------------------------------------------------

California’s record-warmest year worsens exceptional drought; El Niño continues to develop in Pacific

June 22, 2014

http://www.weatherwest.com/archives/1569


------------------------------------------------------

Drought Myth-Busting: Why El Niño Is Never A Good Bet

 

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/drought-myth-busting-why-el-nino-wont-save-california/

September 1, 2014

If, like many Californians, you’ve been on El Niño Watch, you’re no-doubt confused by now. It’s happening. It’s not happening. But whether it is or isn’t might matter less than you think.
“Don’t count on El Niño for anything,” Jay Lund, a UC Davis hydrologist, admonished us at a July drought briefing in Washington, D.C. At the time, forecasters were already downsizing earlier projections for a strong El Niño this fall (latest update shows that it might be regrouping for a comeback). But Lund was making a larger point: He and others have plotted El Niño against actual California precipitation and found … a pretty murky relationship, overall.

 “Don’t even look at the forecasts if you care about drought,” Lund advised.

That might seem like a strong statement given the reputation that the Pacific’s warm-water phase has for being a rainmaker, but records show that only the strongest El Niños have produced winters that were real super-soakers in Northern California — “strongest” meaning the times when ocean surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific spiked the highest above normal — and those events are rare.
“El Niños come in all sizes: small, medium, large,” says Bill Patzert, a climatologist and El Niño watcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. “During puny El Niños — weak El Niños — we’ve had some of the driest winters in the 20th century.” Count among them 1976 and ’77, a drought that is still etched in the memories of many Californians.
At the opposite end of the scale was the winter of 1997-98 which brought roughly double the state’s normal precipitation, and triggered massive mudslides and flooding throughout California. That onslaught coincided with what Patzert calls the “Godzilla” El Niño. He says he thinks that year is when Californians began to form the assumption that El Niño equals rain.

---------------------------------------

Study links polar vortex, California drought to climate change

 04/24/14

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/204328-study-links-polar-vortex-california-drought-to-climate-change

 

----------------------------------------

California drought and the polar vortex: 'New normal' by 2030?

 

2014

On why it is so hot here in California in January:
"Our weather is controlled by the jet stream, which is that band of high altitude winds that blows west to east across North America. The jet stream acts as the boundary between warm air to the south and cold air to the north.
Normally when it’s over California blowing through the center of the country you get sort of average conditions. But what’s happened is the jet now has this unusually far northward penetrating bulge over the western U.S. and a compensating dip over the eastern U.S. So it’s cold over the eastern U.S. and very warm over the western U.S."

On whether or not this weather is a surprise since climate change scientists have predicted it:
"Not really. We are in the midst of a 14-year mega drought in the Southwest including California."

On if this is the worst drought ever: 
"It’s certainly a top three drought going back over 130 years. Mega droughts occur in the Southwest U.S. naturally every 400 or so years. It has happened before, it will happen again, it seems to be happening now."

On if this is the new normal:
"If we look at climate models they say this will be the new normal about in the year 2030 and it will be considered a very, very wet year by the year 2100.
"We’re talking Sahara desert levels of moisture by the end of the century and it’s going to be really hard to maintain our agriculture and cities with that kind of moisture."

http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2014/01/21/35622/linking-california-s-80-degree-temps-with-the-pola/

----------------------------------------------

There remains different reports on what is causing the drought. 

---------------------------------------------

NOAA Winter Outlook: California Drought Will ‘Intensify,’ Polar Vortex II ‘Unlikely’

October 16, 2014


http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/16/noaa-winter-outlook/


---------------------------------------------

Urban air pollution may be reducing California's rain and snow falls, study warns

November 2, 2004

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Urban air pollution may be reducing rainfall in the Central Valley and along the heavily populated southern California coast, while trimming mountain snowfall that supplies much of the state’s drinking and irrigation water and hydroelectric power, a Stanford University professor’s study released last week shows.

http://djcoregon.com/news/2004/11/02/urban-air-pollution-may-be-reducing-californias-rain-and-snow-falls-study-warns/



---------------------------------------------

California's Shrinking Glaciers

Multimedia: Journey to the Dana Glacier

 Geographer Hassan Basagic stands below the Dana Glacier in Yosemite National Park and explains how he is documenting the shrinkage of the Sierra Nevadas glaciers using historic photographs and a GPS...

http://www.kqed.org/news/science/climatewatch/specialseries/danaglacier.jsp

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Glaciers of California

 

http://glaciers.us/glaciers-california


-----------------------------------------------------

Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division
Research Highlights

( http://www.pnl.gov/science/highlights/highlight.asp?id=1574 )

February 2014

 

Distant Desert Dust Increases Snowpack in California

Local pollution's influence less impressive on Sierra Nevada Mountains' precipitation

... Results: Overseas dust influences the Sierra Nevada Mountains snowpack far more than home-produced pollution, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. By modeling two cloud conditions during a field experiment called CalWater 2011, their results showed that dust blown in possibly from Asia and Africa increases snow in winter clouds over California and increases precipitation by 10 to 20 percent. However, local pollution from California cities and the Central Valley exerts a very small impact on snowfall. Further, the local pollution's influence on rain from warm clouds heavily depends on cloud conditions and the strength of a low level jet caused by mountain blocking that blows parallel to the Sierra Nevada Mountains...



------------------------------------------------


THE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURE AND
SNOW IMPURITIES ON CLIMATE AND
AIR POLLUTION IN CALIFORNIA

2007

http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/IV/CEC-500-2007-022.pdf


-----------------------------------------------

Black Carbon Transport and Deposition to the California Mountain Snow Pack

 

2008

 

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008PhDT........73H/abstract

 


-----------------------------------------------

Forget April showers, this May was wettest in US records (Update)

 

Jun 08, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-april-showers-wettest.html?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu 

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Chapter 11: Redwoods & Sequoias


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Sequoia National Park Is Stuck in Pollution Hell

 May 30, 2012


The famed redwoods of Sequoia National Park are slowly yet surely being replaced by another kind of enduring landmark: a sky-spanning carpet of lung-blistering smog.

Wafting in on an eddy that swirls over the heavily industrialized San Joaquin Valley, the tainted air gives a diseased touch to any plant or human it encounters in the mountains. Because of the perpetual gas-shower of ozone, PCBs and aerosolized fertilizers, Sequoia has the worst air pollution of any national park in the country.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/05/sequoia-national-park-doomed-pollution-hell/2136/

 

--------------------------------------------

Sequoia National Park: California Smog Threatens Ancient Trees

05/28/12

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/28/sequoia-national-park-california-smog_n_1550870.html

----------------------------------------------



Air Pollution Impacts in the Mixed Conifer Forests of Southern California

 

2005

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr195/psw_gtr195_2_10_Temple.pdf

------------------------------------------ 

Disappearing Plants

 Video Story by David Gorn for QUEST Northern California on Jul 28, 2008

 Scientists say the state's plants are at risk of collapse unless they migrate or are moved to refuges. According to a new study, two-thirds of California's unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their current geographic ranges by the end of the century because of rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns.

http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/disappearing-plants/

 


--------------------------------------------

Reporter's Notes: Disappearing Plants

 

Jul 25, 2008

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2008/07/25/reporters-notes-disappearing-plants/


-------------------------------------------

Crater Lake, other national parks contaminated, study finds

 

2008

The snow-covered trees around Crater Lake National Park may be miles from
civilization, but they still contain industrial PCBs, the banned pesticide DDT and at least two currently used pesticides.

The fish in Golden Lake at Mount Rainier National Park carry relatively high levels of toxic flame retardants. And the DDT measured in fish at Montana's Glacier National Park is higher than levels found in fish studies from Africa, even though the United States phased out DDT production in 1972 and Africa still uses it for mosquito control.

Those findings come from a six-year study of airborne contamination in 20 Western national parks and monuments released this week. Yosemite and Kings Canyon, in California; and Rocky Mountain, in Colorado, are also cited as having surprising levels of pollution.

With the exception of mercury in some fish, the study -- conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon State University -- didn't find contaminants at levels likely to harm campers, anglers and hikers.


http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2008/02/crater_lake_other_national_par.html




 --------------------------------------------

Park Officials: Illegal Cutting of Redwoods Is Increasing

 

March 5, 2014


California’s awe-inspiring, ancient redwood trees are increasingly the target of timber thieves. The practice of burl poaching has increased so significantly that, on March 1, Redwood National and State Parks began closing the scenic road through the park every night. The park is also increasing patrols.


http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2014/03/05/redwood-poaching-increasing/

-------------------------------------------------

Eucalyptus: California Icon, Fire Hazard and Invasive Species

 

2013

 Blue oak (Quercus douglasii) — off Highway 101 in California. Though oak woodlands sustain more wildlife species than any other landscape, only 4 percent of the state’s woodland habitats are protected. The vast majority remain in private hands.

 http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2013/06/12/eucalyptus-california-icon-fire-hazard-and-invasive-species/


-------------------------------------------------- 

U.S. Department of the Interior Carbon Storage Project


  
(  http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/cop15/upload/CO2_PowerPoint_-2.pdf  )



Challenge:
The oxidation of drained, agricultural peat
soils emit massive CO2 into the atmosphere.
Peat oxidation has caused Delta islands to
subside >25 ft below land surface, causing
levee vulnerability, increasing flood potential
and shutting down California’s water
supply system.


 Redwood Forests Watershed Restoration 
and Carbon Sequestration Challenge:


Ancient redwood forests within Redwood
National and State Parks are surrounded
by over 75,000 acres of disturbed land.




 --------------------------------------------------

If we lose many trees and redwoods on the planet Earth, the amount of carbon being released in ancient soils would be a concern. This would result in more carbon in the air, and less trees to balance out the carbon and oxygen levels in the atmosphere.


--------------------------------------------------

Ancient Soils Are ‘Reservoirs’ Of Carbon And Could Contribute To Climate Change

 

May 27 2014


( http://www.ibtimes.com/ancient-soils-are-reservoirs-carbon-could-contribute-climate-change-1590478 )


There is far more carbon stored in the Earth’s soil than previously thought, a new study has shown, and scientists fear disturbing it could unleash vast amounts of it into the atmosphere.

According to new research, published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience, ancient soil that was buried thousands of years ago has been found to be rich in organic carbon. The soil is up to six-and-a-half meters, or 21 feet, below the present-day surface and could be exposed through erosion, agriculture, mining, deforestation and other human activities.

“There is a lot of carbon at depths where nobody is measuring,” Erika Marin-Spiotta, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of geography and the lead author of the new study, said in a statement. “It was assumed that there was little carbon in deeper soils. Most studies are done in only the top 30 centimeters. Our study is showing that we are potentially grossly underestimating carbon in soils.”

Scientists have long known that, like forests and oceans, Earth’s soil sequesters carbon and is another stop on the environmental carbon cycle. What is unclear is exactly how much carbon is stored in the Earth’s surface; some estimates put the amount of carbon in the upper 100 cm of soil at about 2,200 gigatons.



 --------------------------------------------------

 

Climate Changes Coincide with Cultural Shifts in Ancient American Southwest

October 5, 2001

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-changes-coincide/

 

--------------------------------------------------


It is currently debated if an increase of carbon in the atmosphere will cause trees to grow faster.

 

------------------------------------------------

Climate change may be speeding coast redwood, giant sequoia growth
 

Scientists find that since the 1970s, some California coast redwoods have grown at the fastest rate ever.


August 14, 2013


"That's a wonderful, happy surprise for us," said Emily Burns, science director at the Save the Redwoods League, which is collaborating on a long-term study with university researchers on the effect of climate change on redwoods, the world's tallest trees, and giant sequoias, the largest living things by total mass.

"The forests are not experiencing detrimental impacts of climate change," Burns said.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/14/local/la-me-redwoods-climate-20130814

 

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Save the Redwoods League Climate Change Study Finds Recent Unprecedented Growth Surge in Redwoods, Plus Other Key Findings

 August 14, 2013

( http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130814005184/en/Save-Redwoods-League-Climate-Change-Study-Finds#.VASqgWMloo8 )


 SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Save the Redwoods League, along with a team of renowned scientists, today announced initial findings from a multiyear study aimed at predicting how rapid global climate change will affect redwoods in old-growth forests over time. Following are the top three findings from the study:

• Researchers find ancient redwood forests can store up to 3 times more carbon above ground than non-redwood forests worldwide 
• Changing environmental conditions have triggered a growth surge in coast redwoods and giant sequoias 
• California summers have warmed, but precipitation has remained highly variable and not decreased over recent decades 
  

 

 

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Giant Sequoias Yield Longest Fire History from Tree Rings

 

March 17, 2010

 

http://phys.org/news/2010-03-giant-sequoias-yield-longest-history.html#nRlv

 

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 Chapter 12: Wildfires

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Triple Threat: Trees At Risk From Drought, Heat, And Fire

 Aug 15, 2013


http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/triple-threat-trees-at-risk-by-drought-heat-and-fire/

 

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California drought brings 'unprecedented' fire danger

 

January 18, 2014

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/18/local/la-me-ln-california-drought-brings-unprecedented-fire-danger-20140118



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California Fire Season: Threat of Dry Lightning Looms

 July 21, 2014


http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/07/21/california-fire-season-threat-of-dry-lightning-looms/


 --------------------------------------------------

After Record-Breaking Rim Fire, Log Trees or Leave Them?

 

2014

 

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/08/26/after-record-breaking-rim-fire-log-trees-or-leave-them/


Last year’s record-breaking Rim Fire left thousands of acres of dead trees around Yosemite National Park. What to do about those trees has sparked a fierce debate.
Later this week, the U.S. Forest Service will release plans to allow logging companies to harvest some of the dead trees. Some environmental groups say it would destroy important wildlife habitat.

Impacts On Wildlife
Some animals like dead trees. Wildlife like black-backed woodpeckers moves in to eat insects, and California spotted owls hunt in the bare forest. So the Forest Service is requiring that four to six dead trees be left on each acre.

--------------------------------------------------

Drought, fire management and land use changes have led to denser forests in California

January 20, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-01-drought-denser-forests-california.html#jCp

 

--------------------------------------------------

Can California Burn its Way Out of its Wildfire Problem?

  November 15, 2013


http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/can-california-burn-its-way-out-of-its-wildfire-problem/

--------------------------------------------------

Effects of Fire and Grass Seeding on Soil Erosion in Southern California Chaparral 

 

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/4403/EffectsofFireand.pdf

 

--------------------------------------------------

Rim Fire Aftermath: A Stark Look at a Seared Landscape

October 23, 2013 

( Video )

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/10/22/rim-fire-before-after-pictures




--------------------------------------------------

California’s Fire History Written in the Trees

   

September 13, 2013

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/californias-fire-history-written-in-the-trees/

Scientists are finding that in the not-too-distant past — we’re not talking Jurassic here — forest fires burned far more real estate than they typically do today, and more often. The difference is that the forests bounced back much more readily.
A century of forest management practices, combined with hotter and longer summers brought on by climate change, have set the stage for more catastrophic fires. But “big” didn’t always mean catastrophic.

For 25 years, Carl Skinner and his colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service have been building a kind of “pre-history” of fire in California by scrutinizing tree rings. The shelves of his lab near Redding are piled high with crosscut slabs of big sugar pines and other trees from northern California forests.
“We find 1822 fires all over the place,” Skinner told me while sorting through wooden slabs. “It was a very dry year. 1729 is another one. There’s a number of these very pronounced drought years that give us an idea of what to expect in a year like this.”

- Tracking backward in time, from the outside in, something surprising emerges. Fire was an integral part of the landscape — and there was a lot of it, caused primarily by lightning strikes. -

“Every 8-to-12 years, they were putting scars on the trees and some places even much more frequently than that,” he explained. “What this did was to clean out a lot of the understory, keep it low and have the forest, instead of being pretty dense like it is today, it’d be much more open in general, but kind of patchy.”
What that meant was that fires could roar through a forest and stay low to the ground, without “crowning,” that is climbing and burning the big trees, as we just saw with the Rim Fire. And so a couple of hundred years ago, before there were people bent on putting out fires, forest fires were both bigger and more frequent.
“Typical years would have had somewhere between 5 million acres to 12 million acres burn before we began fire suppression,” said Skinner. “Since fire suppression, it’s far below that.” The Rim Fire has already consumed more than a quarter-million acres by itself, but nowadays a million acres total is a very nasty fire season. “So that means we’re storing up a lot of vegetation, which is there to burn.”

--------------------------------------------------

Researchers question if a large Volcano or an Explosive caldera could have caused an environmental impact in the past history of this planet.


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 Chapter 13: Volcanoes & Calderas

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Caldera

 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera

Explosive caldera

 A silicic or rhyolitic caldera may erupt hundreds or even thousands of cubic kilometers of material in a single event. Even small caldera-forming eruptions, such as Krakatoa in 1883 or Mount Pinatubo in 1991, may result in significant local destruction and a noticeable drop in temperature around the world. Large calderas may have even greater effects.

When Yellowstone Caldera last erupted some 650,000 years ago, it released about 1,000 km³ of material (as measured in dense rock equivalent (DRE)), covering a substantial part of North America in up to two metres of debris. By comparison, when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, it released ~1.2 km³ (DRE) of ejecta. The ecological effects of the eruption of a large caldera can be seen in the record of the Lake Toba eruption in Indonesia.

---------------------------------------------

Volcanic Gases and Their Effects

 http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/



When a burning piece of cloth is lowered into a hole that has a high concentration of CO₂, the fire goes out. Such a condition can be lethal to people and animals.
Air with 5% CO₂ causes perceptible increased respiration; 6-10% results in shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, sweating, and general restlessness; 10-15% causes impaired coordination and abrupt muscle contractions; 20-30% causes loss of consciousness and convulsions; over 30% can cause death (Hathaway et. al., 1991).
Please see the web article, "Volcanic Gases and Climate Change Overview" for more information on Volcanic versus anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.

Historical examples of the effects of carbon dioxide gas:

Mammoth Mountain in Long Valley Caldera, California kills trees near Mammoth Mountain, California



---------------------------------------------

Gas Monitoring at Long Valley and the Surrounding Region

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/long_valley/long_valley_monitoring_59.html


 (Picture )

Between 1988 and 1989 a large amount of CO₂ was detected near the edge of Long Valley Caldera at Mammoth Mountain; the event also coincided with an earthquake swarm. The gas discharge has been responsible for a large kill-off of vegetation in the area. 

 

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Chapter 14: History

---------------------------------------------

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Extinction Smilodon, The Saber Toothed Cat Nature & Animal Documentary

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaCIkiZLKig



-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Discovery Channel Prehistoric Predators of the Past 1of3 What Killed the Mega Beasts

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bowWPt4tEeM

 

------------------------------------------ 

 

{Many species survived different ages of mass extinction, by being able to adapt to their surroundings. The giant fish called the Arapaima has been around for over 100 million years. This fish is able to survive waters that have very little oxygen, by being able to use a set of lungs to breath in oxygen from the air outside of the water, such as seen in the following video}.

 

------------------------------------------ 

Fishing with Poison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQaxNptipcY

 

------------------------------------------

Cougars’ diverse diet helped them survive the mass extinction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crUY_qSPf6w


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Why the Avocado Should Have Gone the Way of the Dodo

Its large pit and fleshy deliciousness are all a result of its status as an evolutionary anachronism

October 24, 2013

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-avocado-should-have-gone-the-way-of-the-dodo-4976527/#SH7riGFmMcY9VVjF.99

 

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The History of Climate Cycles (and the Woolly Rhino) Explained

May 30, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUdtcx-6OBE

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The Giant Bird That Got Lost in Time

Mar 12, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWP_tFJmC40

 

 
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 "Ubiquitous Catastrophic Demise" / Frozen & Flooded Fossils -Cosmography101-16.3 w/ Randall Carlson

Jul 7, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmjTtm1ttU

 

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Woolly Mammoth Fossils Raise Red Flags on the Road to Extinction

 

March 25, 2014

Aside from the days of the dinosaur, few eras capture our imagination like the last ice age. We showed up about 60 million years too late to catch a glimpse of the building-sized Brachiosaurus, but our ancestors were out in full force during the Late Pleistocene, some 10,000 years ago, when the last of the ice age giants vanished from Earth’s continents. Fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles and other parts of California suggest that saber-tooth cats, giant sloths, mammoths and the rest of their charismatic contemporaries disappeared from the state long before that. It was our first brush with mass extinction.
What caused the ice age extinctions has sparked controversy ever since Darwin and his colleagues first recognized them in the 19th century. Then as now, climate change and human hunters seemed the most likely suspects.
One school of thought holds that a warming planet caused the glaciers to melt, claiming the habitat and food sources the animals needed to survive. But, critics counter, it also cleared a path for early humans to hunt once inaccessible quarry. On this continent, the last of the Pleistocene giants vanished just 1,500 years after the arrival of the first humans, offering compelling support for this “overkill hypothesis.”
Decades of contentious debate over the primary causes of this mass extinction long hobbled efforts to understand its consequences, says Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine’s School of Biology & Ecology and the Climate Change Institute. But a new consensus seems to be emerging. It’s clear that climate change influences animals’ diet and behavior and that extinction rarely results from a single factor, Gill says. “But there’s increasing evidence that while animals might have been stressed by the changes we see at the end of the last ice age, in the absence of humans, it becomes really difficult to explain the extinction.” ...

Signs of Trouble

Neck ribs themselves don’t typically cause serious problems, but usually arise with other defects that do. When neck ribs occur in humans, 90 percent of the afflicted die before adulthood. Knowing that the neck bones retrieved from the North Sea came from one of the last local mammoth populations, Galis and her colleagues wondered if this defect hastened their demise.
“We know that changes in highly conserved anatomical traits are usually indicators of medical risks,” Galis says. “Variations of the vertebral column can tell us a lot about the vulnerability of populations.”


To see what stories those variations might tell, Galis and her colleagues looked for the developmental defect in other Late Pleistocene mammoth fossils stored at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Lieden, the Netherlands. Then they compared their fossils (just nine were suitable for analysis) to specimens of African elephants and Asian elephants, the mammoth’s closest living relatives. They found that a third of the mammoth neck vertebrae had ribs but just a tiny fraction — 1 out of 29 —of those from the elephants did.

As the local populations declined, inbreeding was more likely, Galis says. And both inbreeding and famine or other harsh conditions could disturb early pregnancy. “It seems plausible that both caused cervical ribs and vulnerability in mammoths.”

The neck ribs could be a sign of inbreeding, much like the Florida panther’s trademark kinked tail. It’s not the tail that worries biologists, but the associated traits, like undescended testicles and susceptibility to parasites, that threaten the big cat’s ability to reproduce. As mammoth populations dwindled, the appearance of these misplaced ribs may have coincided with other genetic defects that made mammoths more vulnerable to stress — shifting climates, overzealous hunters or factors yet to be uncovered.

“The preliminary evidence from these vertebrae suggests that these animals were stressed by something in their environment,” says Gill. The stress could have come from a change in their diet because of climate change, in their behavior because or hunting or even in who they were reproducing with because of hunting, she explains. Evidence from kill sites shows that early humans were targeting adult males — like trophy hunters do today — rather than the young as carnivores do, compromising females’ chances of reproductive success.

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/03/25/woolly-mammoth-fossils-raise-red-flags-on-the-road-to-extinction/




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People ate mammoth; Dogs got reindeer

November 24, 2014


 Biogeologists have shown how Gravettian people shared their food 30,000 years ago. Around 30,000 years ago Predmosti was inhabited by people of the pan-European Gravettian culture, who used the bones of more than 1000 mammoths to build their settlement and to ivory sculptures. Did prehistoric people collect this precious raw material from carcasses -- easy to spot on the big cold steppe -- or were they the direct result of hunting for food?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141124074841.htm

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The following documentary claims that ice age conditions caused the global climate to change. This also may have caused a change, in how different types of species, including why humans had to adapt to these changes.

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PREHISTORIC HUMANS IN THE NEW WORLD (AMAZING ANCIENT HISTORY DOCUMENTARY)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Ozox0FIO8

 

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California used to have lots of rain, including many trees, then much of southern California turned into a desert.

Some people think that if there could be a way to stop the desertification of places in the world, such as California, including the desertification going on in East Africa. Some people question if this is a natural cycle in the world, and that we should not interfere with the natural course of the planet. Others think that humans were meant to be able to plant trees and stop forests from turning into deserts.

 

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HOTSPOT

CALIFORNIA 
ON THE EDGE


 PLEISTOCENE

The Pleistocene – The Last Ice Age

About 1.8 million years ago, the Last Ice Age began. A period of long-term cooling of Earth’s climate resulted in the expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.
As much as 30% of all the continents were covered by glaciers and parts of the northern oceans were also frozen.
During this Ice Age, no massive ice sheets covered California. Glaciers were confined to high mountains, advancing and retreating 4 to 7 times.
The Last Ice Age ended just 10,000 years ago, but several small glaciers still persist in California at high elevations.
High concentrations of gases like methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere trap heat radiating from Earth. Decreased levels of these gases, especially carbon dioxide, could have contributed to the onset of ice ages by cooling Earth’s surface.

The Ice Age Cometh?

Variations in Earth’s orbit around the sun cause cooling of the planet. These changes in Earth’s orbit, tilt and orientation to the sun all affect the amount of solar radiation striking Earth. The Milankovitch theory of climate change suggests that these variations occur on 100,000-year cycles and drive the onset of ice ages.
Earth wobbles on its axis, like a spinning top when it starts to slow down. This affects the tilt of Earth and determines the severity of seasons in the northern or southern hemisphere. The greater the tilt, the more severe the winters and summers. Over 41,000 years, Earth’s tilt will vary between 21.50 degrees and 24.50 degrees. Today, Earth’s tilt is at 23.50 degrees.
Earth's orbit around the sun is not quite circular. At certain times of the year, it is slightly closer to the sun. The combination of tilt and nearness to the sun are thought to control the growth and retreat of ice sheets.

BEAR & CONDOR

Pleistocene Relicts

Species that lived during the Last Ice Age and still persist today are called Pleistocene relicts. Their present-day distribution is a remnant of their wider range during the Last Ice Age. The grizzly bear and California condor are both Pleistocene relicts – one is extinct in California, the other is barely clinging to existence.

California condor

Gymnogyps californianus

Hope for the California Condor?

They once ranged widely over the dry foothills and mountain ranges of central and southern California where they nested in caves and cliff overhangs.
Destruction of habitat, poaching and lead poisoning led to the California condor’s decline. By 1985 populations plummeted to less than 9 birds in the wild.
At that time, conservation biologists decided to capture the remaining birds to protect and breed them.
Captive breeding programs have released birds back into the wild, but their long-term survival is still in question. Today, 85 of the 222 birds in existence, are in the wild. 
The California condor is the largest land bird in North America.
An adult can weigh up to 25 pounds (11 kg) and have a wing span up to 9.5 feet (3 m). 
Condors can soar for hours at altitudes of 15,000 feet (4572 m), cover hundreds of miles, and reach speeds over 55 mph (89 kph). Like most other vultures, condors eat carrion.

Grizzly bear

Ursus arctos californicus

Grizzly Bears in California
 
Grizzly  bears once roamed the valleys and mountains of California, probably in greater numbers than anywhere else in the continental United States. It was the largest and most powerful mammal in the state. 
Fueled by the discovery of gold, California’s population grew rapidly and humans and grizzlies came into contact more frequently. 
Less than 75 years after the discovery of gold, every grizzly bear in California was gone. The last wild grizzly was killed in 1922.

The story of “Monarch”

Monarch was captured from the wild and died of old age in captivity in 1911. After his death, he was donated to the Academy by the de Young Museum. He remains a legacy to the once mighty California grizzlies.
The California grizzly bear was designated the official state animal in 1953 and appears on the state flag.

Cool Planet

Cool summers in the northern hemisphere, where most of earth's land mass is located, allow snow and ice to remain until the next winter. This contributes to the development of large ice sheets over hundreds to thousands of years.
More ice reflects more of the sun's energy back into space, causing additional cooling. It appears that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere falls as ice sheets grow, also adding to the cooling of the climate. 

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The Little Ice Age, Ca. 1300 - 1870

http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_lia.html

 The Little Ice Age is a period between about 1300 and 1870 during which Europe and North America were subjected to much colder winters than during the 20th century. The period can be divided in two phases, the first beginning around 1300 and continuing until the late 1400s. There was a slightly warmer period in the 1500s, after which the climate deteriorated substantially. The period between 1600 and 1800 marks the height of the Little Ice Age. The period was characterised by the expansion of European trade and the formation of European sea born Empires. This was directly linked to advances in technology harnessing more of nature's power and towards the end of the period fossil-fuelled power. These two hundred years also saw the specialisation of agricultural regions, which produced specific products for local and international markets.

 What caused the Little Ice Age?

 The cause of the Little Ice Age is unknown, but many people have pointed at the coincidence in low sunspot activity and the timing of the Little Ice. This so called Maunder Minimum coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, in particular during the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots were a rare occurrence, as noted by solar observers such as Cassini and Flamsteed. A minimum in sunspots, indicates an much less active and possibly colder sun and consequently less energy output to warm the earth.




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Weathering and river discharge surprisingly constant during Ice Age cycles

 

Jun 08, 2015 

 

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-weathering-river-discharge-surprisingly-constant.html?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu

 

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New study shows influence on climate of fresh water during last ice age

 

May 28, 2015

A new study shows how huge influxes of fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean from icebergs calving off North America during the last ice age had an unexpected effect - they increased the production of methane in the tropical wetlands.

 http://phys.org/news/2015-05-climate-fresh-ice-age.html#jCp

 

 

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Remote cave study reveals 3000 years of European climate variation

June 15, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-remote-cave-reveals-years-european.html



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Computer sims: In climatic tug of war, carbon released from thawing permafrost wins handily

Mar 18, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-sims-climatic-war-carbon-permafrost.html#jCp

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Some question if a combination of plants, including events from the ground, such as permafrost from the ground, can create a harmony of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon cycles. These events can also change the balance of our climate and atmosphere, with natural climate change and events. An example would be how algae can even change the entire climate of the Earth, if an imbalance in the atmosphere happens. Plants will often try to balance out the oxygen and carbon levels in the Earth. We must ensure that we do not damage the atmosphere of the Earth too much with pollution.

 

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Fossils explain how life coped during snowball Earth

 

June 15, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-fossils-life-coped-snowball-earth.html

Researchers have discovered what they think are fossils of a unique red algae species that lived about 650 million years ago during a brief respite between some of the most extreme ice ages the world has ever known. The fossils could speak to how life coped in the aptly named Cryogenian period, when glaciers held most of Earth in a frozen grip.

"The reason we were looking at these samples in the first place is that they come from a really interesting time period in Earth's history, right between two major global glaciations called Snowball Earth events," said Phoebe Cohen, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of geosciences at Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass. "We want to understand how these glaciations affected the evolution of life."

Learning how life on our planet changed under the extreme conditions of back-to-back Snowball Earths—separated by just 10 million years, a relatively short gap in geological time—should shed light on how extraterrestrial life deals with the vicissitudes of nature.

"We are fundamentally interested in the co-evolution between our planet and the life that inhabits it," said Cohen. "We want to know: What can this teach us about how life might evolve on other planets?"

The new study appeared in the March issue of the journal Palaios and was funded by grants from the NASA Astrobiology Institute element and the Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology element of the NASA Astrobiology Program.

An eon of red algae?

Notably, the new red algae fossils—if that is indeed what they are—fill a gap in the fossil record documenting the rise of this marine plant group. The oldest known sample of red algae goes back about a billion years. Fossils reckoned to belong to the same lineage then do not appear again until about 600 million years, well after the glaciers of the second Snowball Earth had receded.

Neither the red algae fossils from a billion years ago, nor those from shortly after the Cryogenian period's end, possess the ridge and flaplike structures of the newfound fossils. "In this case, we're seeing a new morphology show up in between these two Snowball Earth events," said Cohen...


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At one time the State of California was under the water of the ocean. 

The Western Interior Seaway once put a good portion of the North American continent underwater.



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Western Interior Seaway

The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea) was a large inland sea that existed during the mid- to late Cretaceous period as well as the very early Paleogene, splitting the continent of North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. The ancient sea stretched from the Gulf of Mexico and through the middle of the modern-day countries of the United States and Canada, meeting with the Arctic Ocean to the north. At its largest, it was 2,500 feet (760 m) deep, 600 miles (970 km) wide and over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Interior_Seaway

 

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Cretaceous Paleogeography, Southwestern US

 

Early Cretaceous Paleogeography, Southwestern US (130 Ma). The Western Interior was the site of an encroaching epicontinental seaway from the north. To the west lay uplands and a thrust belt in Nevada and western Utah. Transtensional basins in southern Arizona and california were the sites of thick marine and continental deposition...

 http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/rcb7/crepaleo.html





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The magnetic field of the Sun, including the Earth's magnetic field can change at any given time.  

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Earth's Magnetic Field Flip Could Happen Sooner Than Expected

 

Changes measured by the Swarm satellite show that our magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster than originally predicted, especially over the Western Hemisphere 

July 9, 2014

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-s-magnetic-field-flip-could-happen-sooner-than-expected/

 

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The Sun's Magnetic Field is about to Flip

December 6, 2013

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-suns-magnetic-field-is-about-to-flip/#.VHkP08mZgo8


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Magnetic complexity begins to untangle

 

2015

After a year in orbit, the three Swarm satellites have provided a first glimpse inside Earth and started to shed new light on the dynamics of the upper atmosphere – all the way from the ionosphere about 100 km above, through to the outer reaches of our protective magnetic shield.

 Swarm is tasked with measuring and untangling the different magnetic signals that stem from Earth's core, mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere – an undertaking that will take at least four years to complete.

In doing so, the mission will provide insight into many natural processes, from those occurring deep inside the planet through to weather in space caused by solar activity. In turn, this information will yield a better understanding of why the magnetic field is weakening.

"This is what will ultimately make it possible to predict the way this field will evolve over the next decades."

Very early on in the mission, when the three satellites were orbiting much closer together, first like pearls-on-a-string and later side-by-side, with one satellite progressively reaching a slightly higher orbit and separating from the lower pair, much advantage could be taken of the GPS receivers, thermal-ion imagers and Langmuir probes, which complement the magnetometers on each satellite.

Consequently, most of the early results focus on signals produced by the very dynamic electric currents near Earth.

This sheds new light onto the behaviour of the many currents flowing within the ionosphere and along the connections to the magnetosphere.


http://phys.org/news/2015-06-magnetic-complexity-untangle.html#jCp




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Swarm reveals Earth's changing magnetism

 

Jun 20, 2014

Launched in November 2013, Swarm is providing unprecedented insights into the complex workings of Earth's magnetic field, which safeguards us from the bombarding cosmic radiation and charged particles.

Measurements made over the past six months confirm the general trend of the field's weakening, with the most dramatic declines over the Western Hemisphere.

But in other areas, such as the southern Indian Ocean, the magnetic field has strengthened since January.

The latest measurements also confirm the movement of magnetic North towards Siberia...

http://phys.org/news/2014-06-swarm-reveals-earth-magnetism.html#nRlv

 

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Earth Story - Centre Of Earth

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XWMhIoBOyc

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The gravity of different planets, such as the planet Venus, plays a role in the development of the climate on Earth. 

The reflection of Sunlight from the atmosphere of other planets, such as the reflection of the Sunlight bouncing off the atmosphere of Venus, has an impact on the development of the climate on Earth. The atmosphere on Venus is constantly changing and fluctuating, this makes scientists wonder what impacts will different planets have on the Earth for many billions of years.

Radiation from the core of other planets, such as the planet Jupiter, also plays a role in the climate patterns on Earth, such as seen in the following video, 'Naked Science - Earth's Core.'

 

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Naked Science - Earth's Core

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wxI5pCRvL0


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Climate scientists find elusive tropospheric hot spot

 

May 14, 2015

http://phys.org/news/2015-05-climate-scientists-elusive-tropospheric-hot.html#jCp

 

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Geothermal cooling, trees and the ocean are responsible for balancing out the atmospheric conditions on Earth. Scientists worry if an excess of too much pollution could throw off the balance of the Earth or harm animals.

For more information on this subject view our video/book - The energy technology investigation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w97dKXzPAA&index=1&list=PL8DC7AECE5A50184E 

Many question if pollution of particles in the air could be responsible for the way the Sun reflects light through our atmosphere. 

 

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Enlightening Global Dimming and Brightening

 

January 2012

 A fundamental determinant of climate and life on our planet is the solar radiation (sunlight) incident at the Earth's surface. Any change in this precious energy source affects our habitats profoundly. Until recently, for simplicity and lack of better knowledge, the amount of solar radiation received at the Earth's surface was assumed to be stable over the years. However, there is increasing observational evidence that this quantity undergoes significant multidecadal variations, which need to be accounted for in discussions of climate change and mitigation strategies. Coherent periods and regions with prevailing declines (“dimming”) and inclines (“brightening”) in surface solar radiation have been detected in the worldwide observational networks, often in accord with anthropogenic air pollution patterns. The present synthesis provides in a nutshell the main characteristics of this phenomenon, a conceptual framework for its causes, and an overview of potential environmental implications.


 http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00074.1

 

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Most concrete produces pollution. This concrete is made of it

10-08-21

The material that builds our world is the same one destroying it. Researchers in Tokyo have an intriguing solution.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90684420/most-concrete-produces-pollution-this-concrete-is-made-of-it

 

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A surprising contributor to climate change: concrete

Oct 21, 2014

https://www.marketplace.org/2014/10/21/surprising-contributor-climate-change-concrete/

 

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11 New Trends in Concrete Technology

June 14, 2020

https://groundbreakcarolinas.com/11-new-trends-in-concrete-technology/
 

 

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It is debated if we should revive certain species of animals that have recently gone extinct. This would also leave in question if we should revive other past extinct species such as the woolly mammoth. Many species also happen to die off from millions of years of living. This is why we question if it is possible for certain species to continue to even live for billions of years with their natural mating cycles. The species would have to contend with many obstacles, this would include catastrophes, to being hunted or threatened by another species, including the chance of eventual inbreeding.


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Seven Things to Know About the Sixth Mass Extinction

 

February 21, 2014

 You gotta love an author who manages to turn complex scientific theories and millions of years of history into an easy-to-understand thesis — even if that thesis is that humans are causing mass extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” centers around two ideas: that humans are witnessing a very high rate of species extinction and that we’re causing much of it...


http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/02/21/seven-things-to-know-about-the-sixth-mass-extinction/

 

 
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De-Extinction Debate: Should Extinct Species Be Revived?

 June 5, 2013

 http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2013/06/05/deextinction-debate-should-extinct-species-be-revived/

 


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A New Move to Bring the Grizzly Bear Back to California

 June 20, 2014

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/06/20/new-move-bring-back-grizzly-bear-california

 

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'De-Extinction' Of Woolly Mammoth & Other Ancient Animals Could Become Reality, Scientists Say

 

03/16/2013

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/de-extinction-wooly-mammoth-poll_n_2888386.html

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Woolly Mammoth Resurrection, "Jurassic Park" Planned

October 28, 2010

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0408_050408_woollymammoth_2.html

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We should be cautious of reviving certain past extinct species on this planet.  

 
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Many scientists claim in theory that the levels of oxygen on Earth were different when the dinosaurs lived. Over the course of many years the levels of oxygen and carbon have changed on this planet,  this in return would cause certain species of plants or animals to adapt to different levels of oxygen in the air.


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Rise in oxygen drove evolution of animal life 550 million years ago

 

December 18, 2010

Researchers have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex multicellular animal life appears around 550 million years ago, when atmospheric oxygen levels on the planet rose sharply from 3 percent to their modern day level of 21 percent.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101217145647.htm

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Discovery Channel: Giants in History

3 of 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBVCU795mGw&index=3&list=PLE61130B0ED4332B7

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Genetic switch lets marine diatoms do less work at higher CO2

 June 15, 2015

 Diatoms in the world's oceans exhale more oxygen than all the world's rainforests. These tiny drifting algae generate about 20 percent of the oxygen produced on Earth each year and invisibly recycle gases enveloping our planet...

 -Many land plants and other photosynthetic organisms grow faster with more CO2. Surprisingly, Hennon's previous research showed that at typical nutrient levels the diatoms just kick back and relax.

"Instead of using that energy from the CO2 to grow faster, they just stopped harvesting as much energy from light through photosynthesis and carried out less respiration," Hennon said...

http://www.sciencenewsline.com/summary/2015061517240050.html



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Theory on origin of animals challenged: Some animals need extremely little oxygen

 February 17, 2014

 One of science's strongest dogmas is that complex life on Earth could only evolve when oxygen levels in the atmosphere rose to close to modern levels. But now studies of a small sea sponge fished out of a Danish fjord shows that complex life does not need high levels of oxygen in order to live and grow.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140217161110.htm

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It is often debated in the scientific community if different volcanoes, including asteroids or comets have at different points in time changed the oxygen levels in the atmosphere on Earth.

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Oxygen kept out of atmosphere until volcanoes rose above the ocean surface

 

 Oct 14 2011


http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/10/oxygen-kept-out-of-atmosphere-until-volcanoes-rose-above-the-ocean-surface/

 

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Oxygen is added to the Earth's atmosphere in many different ways, through volcanoes, soil, rocks, the ocean, plants, etc.

At one time, a theory was that a lot of iron-oxide was pushed up though the soil of the Earth, this caused the release of oxygen in our atmosphere, this also may have turned some soil into an iron or rust color. 

 

 

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New discoveries show biological formation of oxygen in soils

 

 January 21, 2014

 

In the 1930s, the ability of green plants to form oxygen through oxidation of water -- photosynthesis -- was discovered. Since then, no other large-scale biological formation of oxygen has been found, until now. New research results show that down in the dark depths of the soil, a previously unknown biochemical process is under way, in which oxygen is formed and carbon dioxide is reduced to organic material.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140121092907.htm

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Evolution of the Atmosphere: Composition, Structure and Energy

 

Oxygen in the Atmosphere

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/Perry_Samson_lectures/evolution_atm/

Life started to have a major impact on the environment once photosynthetic organisms evolved. These organisms, blue-green algae (picture of stromatolite, which is the rock formed by these algae), fed off atmospheric carbon dioxide and converted much of it into marine sediments consisting of the shells of sea creatures.
 
While photosynthetic life reduced the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere, it also started to produce oxygen. For a long time, the oxygen produced did not build up in the atmosphere, since it was taken up by rocks, as recorded in Banded Iron Formations (BIFs; picture) and continental red beds. To this day, the majority of oxygen produced over time is locked up in the ancient "banded rock" and "red bed" formations. It was not until probably only 1 billion years ago that the reservoirs of oxidizable rock became saturated and the free oxygen stayed in the air.
 
The oxidation of the the mantle rocks may have played an important role in the rise of oxygen. It has been hypothesized the the change from predominantly submarine to subaerial volcanoes may have also led to a reduction in volcanic emission of reduced gases.

Once oxygen had been produced, ultraviolet light split the molecules, producing the ozone UV shield as a by-product. Only at this point did life move out of the oceans and respiration evolved. We will discuss these issues in greater detail later on in this course. 

 

Early Oceans

 

The Early atmosphere was probably dominated at first by water vapor, which, as the temperature dropped, would rain out and form the oceans. This would have been a deluge of truly global proportions an resulted in further reduction of CO2. Then the atmosphere was dominated by nitrogen...

 

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Different volcanoes throughout the history of Earth have emitted different compositions of chemicals. Some volcanoes emit more oxygen into our atmosphere than other volcanoes, this is the same principle with many different chemicals from volcanoes, such as methane and sulfur.

Many scientists still debate what events were responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, including other species of animals in the past history of this planet.

 

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Why Plant-Eating Dinos Might Have Avoided The Equator

June 16, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/935b8632c14f4dcfe4070dd056b686a3.htm

 

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Earth's Deep Oil Reserves Are Teeming With Ancient Life

December 16, 2014

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/earths-deep-oil-reserves-are-teeming-with-ancient-life?trk_source=recommended



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Doubt cast on global firestorm generated by dino-killing asteroid


January 22, 2015


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150122084849.htm


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Asteroid's Timing Was 'Colossal Bad Luck' For The Dinosaurs

 July 28, 2014

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/7f9bc8724be55c3149c9f488a8915a42.htm



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What really killed the dinosaurs?

 

Before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, Earth experienced a short burst of intense volcanism.

 December 11, 2014

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid more than five miles wide smashed into the Earth at 70,000 miles per hour, instantly vaporizing upon impact. The strike obliterated most terrestrial life, including the dinosaurs, in a geological instant: Heavy dust blocked out the sun, setting off a cataclysmic chain of events from the bottom of the food chain to the top, killing off more than three-quarters of Earth’s species — or so the popular theory goes.

But now scientists at MIT and elsewhere have found evidence that a major volcanic eruption began just before the impact, possibly also playing a role in the extinction.

The team precisely dated rocks from the Deccan Traps — a region of west-central India that preserves remnants of one of the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth. Based on their analysis, the researchers determined that the eruption began 250,000 years before the asteroid strike and continued for 500,000 years after the giant impact, spewing a total of 1.5 million square kilometers of lava.

The immense and long-lasting volcanism may have released dangerous levels of volatile chemicals into the air, poisoning the atmosphere and oceans.

“If models of volatile release are correct, we’re talking about something similar to what’s happening today: lots of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere very rapidly,” says Michael Eddy, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “Ultimately what that can do is lead to ocean acidification, killing a significant portion of plankton — the base of the food chain. If you wipe them out, then you’d have catastrophic effects.”
Based on the new, more precise dates for the Deccan Traps, the researchers believe the massive eruptions may have played a significant role in extinguishing the dinosaurs — although the exact kill mechanism may never be known.
“I don’t think the debate will ever go away,” says Sam Bowring, the Robert R. Shrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at MIT. “The [asteroid] impact may have caused the extinction. But perhaps its effect was enhanced because things were softened up a bit by the eruption of these volcanoes.” -

Prior to 1980, the exact cause of dinosaurs’ demise was unknown; one hypothesis proposed that they were killed off by massive volcanic eruptions. (Similar episodes have subsequently been shown to have played a role in two other mass extinctions, the end-Permian and end-Triassic.) But the 1980 discovery in Italy of iridium, a rare element primarily found in extraterrestrial materials, suggested otherwise.

“They eventually found a crater in the early ’90s, so the smoking gun of the story seemed to be perfect: An asteroid caused the mass extinction,” Eddy says. “In fact, a few people have suggested that there is evidence for environmental degradation before the impact.”

It’s long been known that a major eruption occurred in India around the time of the end-Cretaceous extinction, but this event had never been precisely dated. The MIT and Princeton researchers used high-precision geochronology to determine the age of rocks in the Deccan Traps, to evaluate whether the eruptions began before the extinction — a necessity, if volcanism was indeed the cause. -


The group’s analysis indicates that the region of the Deccan Traps started erupting 250,000 years before the asteroid strike, continuing for another 500,000 years after the impact.
“We have 750,000 years as the duration for the main pulse of volcanism, but it’d be nice to know whether that time represents a constant flux of magma, or if pulses of magmatism were erupted over an even shorter period of time,” Eddy says. “Can we pick things apart at the 10,000-year level and see correlations between an individual pulse of volcanism and environmental change? That’s where we need to go with this study.”
Adds Bowring: “We’re getting better and better at dating mass-extinction events, but we’re not having a comparable improvement in our understanding of what caused them. Now that the timing is so well-resolved, I think there will be people coming back to think about the cause with new vigor.”

https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/volcanic-eruption-dinosaur-extinction-1211

 

 

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 Most scientists will tell you that a volcano or an asteroid killed the dinosaurs. 

Some will tell you that giant storms may have been responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs, as for what caused these storms is still debated. Could these powerful storms be enough to cause certain species to becomes extinct on both land and in the oceans. Scientists claim that many areas in the oceans became dead zones, to where most of the life on the planet that we know of died off. Eventually, life-forms on the planet found a way to flourish on the Earth. 

The mass extinction of the dinosaurs was much more severe than the extinction that caused many saber-toothed cats, woolly mammoths and dire wolves to die off and become extinct.

 Many scientists agree that there was a turbulence in the atmosphere and ground that caused many natural minerals and rocks to form the way that we see them today. Scientists claim that this process happened right during the time when we had the events that lead up the the extinction of the Dinosaurs.
It seems at different points in history that lava, including giant storms formed many fossilized rock formations that we see today.  

 

 
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Dinosaurs fell victim to perfect storm of events, study shows

July 28, 2014

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140728080548.htm

 

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Azolla event - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla_event

 

 
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Arctic Azolla Event

 
http://theazollafoundation.org/azolla/the-arctic-azolla-event-2/

 

 
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ARCTIC DINOSAURS - NOVA - Discovery/Animals/Nature (documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIEPaREHJVs

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DINOSAURS - Predatory monsters - Documentary

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEjpbwUGqiw

 

 
------------------------------------------------

The Story Of Earth And Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57merteLsBc

 

------------------------------------------------

Life After Dinosaurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7QSwAhMuUY

 

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{The following article is highly debated. It states the organisms breathing out carbon may have caused an imbalance in the atmosphere of the planet, along with other geothermal events. Some have said that this theory is anti life, in order to call for a type of population control agenda. We can see that organisms survived as well through the course of history. However, there may be little truth to this theory, as many different events could have compiled to create an imbalance in the atmosphere.  The Earth is even able to correct an imbalance in the atmosphere over a period of time}. 

 

 
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Evidence that Earth's first mass extinction was caused by critters not catastrophe

September 2, 2015

The earliest life on Earth consisted of microbes - various types of single-celled microorganisms. They ruled the Earth for more than 3 billion years. Then some of these microorganisms discovered how to capture the energy in sunlight. The photosynthetic process that they developed had a toxic byproduct: oxygen. Oxygen was poisonous to most microbes that had evolved in an oxygen-free environment, making it the world's first pollutant.

But for the microorganisms that developed methods for protecting themselves, oxygen served as a powerful new energy source. Among a number of other things, it gave them the added energy they needed to adopt multicellular forms. Thus, the Ediacarans arose about 600 million years ago during a warm period following a long interval of extensive glaciation.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-09-evidence-earth-mass-extinction-critters.html#jCp

 


 ------------------------------------------------

How Did Earth’s Earliest Terraformers Survive? They Hid Under Rocks 

February 5, 2015

https://www.vice.com/en/article/78xdxx/how-earths-earliest-terraformers-survived

 

------------------------------------------------

Dinosaur Videos: 12 dinosaur myths that will blow your mind

http://uofa.ualberta.ca/dinosaurs/myths#sthash.8UCqRTgC.dpuf



------------------------------------------------

Crude - The Incredible Journey Of Oil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e44ydPIQGSc

------------------------------------------------

 It is still debated if oil comes from living organisms, or if oil is abiotic (not derived from living organisms). Some people have stated that the tectonic plates need the oil in the ground in order to move properly.


------------------------------------------------

 

Asthenosphere - The Asthenosphere In Plate Tectonic Theory

http://science.jrank.org/pages/566/Asthenosphere-asthenosphere-in-plate-tectonic-theory.html

 

------------------------------------------------

Earth’s tectonic plates have doubled their speed

 

27 August 2014

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329843.000-earths-tectonic-plates-have-doubled-their-speed

 

------------------------------------------------

Abiotic Oil a Theory Worth Exploring

 

2011

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/on-energy/2011/09/14/abiotic-oil-a-theory-worth-exploring


-----------



The Ring of Fire also plays a crucial role in the development of the weather patterns on Earth.



------------------------------------------------

Earth Story - Ring Of Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vmHR0X3o_c

 

------------------------------------------------


Naked Science - Super Volcanoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1pa6afh8o4

 
------------------------------------------------

Dinosaur Videos: 12 dinosaur myths that will blow your mind - See more at: http://uofa.ualberta.ca/dinosaurs/myths#sthash.8UCqRTgC.dpua

{Through the many years and eras on this planet different natural catastrophes have caused the extinction of different species at different times.


We can see a problem with much of the added pollution in the world harming the habitats of animals in present-day times. We can also see the pollution harming the atmosphere and ozone layer.


We should be cautious as a civilization how we treat and protect the habitats of other species on this planet}.

 

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Chapter 15: Endangered Animals 

 

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 ------------------------------------------------

South Coast Missing Linkages: A Wildland Network for the South Coast Ecoregion


( http://www.scwildlands.org/reports/SCMLRegionalReport.pdf )


 ------------------------------------------------

Threatened and Endangered Species (California)

  

https://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/

 

 

• How Species Are Listed as Threatened or Endangered
• Recovery of Threatened and Endangered Species
• Federal Recovery Plans

• Endangered, Threatened and Rare Plant List
• Endangered and Threatened Animal List
• California Natural Diversity Database
• Fully Protected Animals
• Threatened and Endangered Species Report, 2005
• US Fish and Wildlife Service Species Profiles for Federally Threatened and Endangered Species in California.

 Amphibian Species List
 Bird Species List
 Fish Species List
 Invertebrate Species List

 Assessment of Lead Contamination Sources Exposing California Condors

 


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Mountain lions' genetic diversity hindered by Southland freeways, homes

 

August 14th, 2014

( http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-mountain-lions-20140814-story.html )

Hemmed in by freeways and other development, the few mountain lions living in the Santa Monica Mountains are predictably -- and dangerously -- losing genetic diversity.

Researchers suspected as much, but a new analysis of the big cats finds that, in their isolation, the mountain lions are inbreeding and exhibiting bizarre behavior, with instances of related lions killing one another, according to an article in Thursday’s edition of the journal Current Biology.




------------------------------------------------

White Nose Syndrome and California's Bats

White Nose Syndrome and California's Bats

Full episode for April 8-10 2011

Full episode for Apr 8-10, 2011

In the northeastern United States, more than a million bats have died because of a disease called "white-nose syndrome." Slowly but surely, that disease is making its way out west. Scientists in California are watching and waiting for it.


http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201104081630/b

 

------------------------------------------------

Spotted Owls Face New Threat

Apr 29, 2011

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/04/29/spotted-owls-face-new-threat/

 

------------------------------------------------

Water Snakes Invading California Threaten Native Species

June 30, 2014


Water snakes from the eastern United States are being found in increasing numbers throughout California’s waterways, and biologists at the University of California at Davis are growing concerned.

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/06/30/an-unwelcome-visitor-threatens-a-california-species/

 

------------------------------------------------

Combating Bay Invaders

 Apr 15, 2011

 Francisco Bay is home to hundreds of invasive species. Many arrived in the ballast water of large ships.
 
Hundreds of invasive species have been found in San Francisco Bay, according to biologists. That makes the bay one of the most invaded estuaries in the world.

Hoping to restore native fish and wildlife, California has passed the strictest rules in the country to prevent ocean freighters from introducing more foreign species to the bay. But the standards are so tough, officials may not be able to enforce them.


http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/04/15/combating-bay-invaders/

 

 
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Meet the mosquitofish: California scientists debate whether it’s menace or messiah

January 4, 2022

A key weapon in the war on disease-carrying mosquitoes, the invasive species also threatens biodiversity

https://www.redbluffdailynews.com/2022/01/04/meet-the-mosquitofish-california-scientists-debate-whether-its-menace-or-messiah/

 

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Invasive insects could kill 1.4M urban trees over the next 30 years, study says

March 14, 2022

https://www.yahoo.com/news/invasive-insects-could-kill-1-143903156.html

 

 

------------------------------------------------

Some have claimed that the California blue whales are making a comeback. 
 Many whales have been threatened with very low numbers. Some question that when a species gets very low in numbers, that there is eventually a chance over the course of many years for potential inbreeding of that species. Many scientists claim that a natural disaster, including an ecological collapse, the dwindling numbers of certain species, including eventual inbreeding may have caused the demise of certain past species on this planet.

 

------------------------------------------------
 

California Blue Whales Making a Comeback

 Sep 05, 2014


California blue whales are making a comeback, and have recovered to near historic numbers, according to scientists.

Despite concerns about the number of ship strikes off the California coast, blue whales in this region are now estimated at 2,200, up from a low of 951 in 1913, according to University of Washington researchers.

This is the only population of blue whales known to have recovered from whaling, which almost drove the species to extinction.


http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/8890/20140905/california-blue-whales-making-a-comeback.htm


 
------------------------------------------------

Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles

 

Approved August 13, 2013 (received for review June 27, 2013)


 Cerumen samples were analyzed for 42 POPs, including 20 historic-use pesticides and metabolites, 15 PCBs, and seven PBDEs. Sixteen of the 42 POPs were measured at trace levels in blue whale cerumen. The sum of pesticides [cis- and transnonachlor, o,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), p,p′-DDE, and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)], measured in earplug laminae, ranged in concentrations of 120–830 ng⋅g⁻¹. p,p′-DDE, a metabolite of p,p′-DDT, had the highest concentration at 660 ng⋅g⁻¹. Eight of the 15 PCBs (∼53%) were also measured in whale cerumen, including PCB 105, 118, 138, 153, 156, 157, 167, and 187. ∑PCB concentrations ranged from 5.9 to 30 ng⋅g⁻¹. In addition, three PBDEs (47, 99, and 100) were also measured in blue whale laminae. ∑PBDE concentrations ranged from 0.19 to 5.9 ng⋅g⁻¹. The total organic chemical burden in the laminae ranged from 160 to 860 ng⋅g⁻¹. Ninety-six percent of the total organic burden was composed of four historic-use pesticides and their metabolites and 1 PCB: p,p′-DDE (80% burden) > o,p′-DDE (9.5%), > p,p′-DDT (3.9%) > transnonachlor (1.5%) > PCB 153 (1.4%). The mean ratio of p,p′-DDE to p,p′-DDT was 24 ± 10 and increased over the animal’s lifetime to reach a maximum ratio of 54 in the last lamina (slope of 0.93 and a R² of 0.44).

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/42/16922.full

 

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Many people question if a virus, chemical pollution, ocean acidification or if radiation causes problems with many species of animals living in the ocean. This would also include different reports about the mass die-off of ocean life and sea stars in the oceans recently.


-------------------------------------------------------

Virus linked to mass die-off of sea stars

 November 19, 2014

Scientists now believe a virus may be responsible for killing millions of sea stars from California to Alaska. But is it part of a natural cycle, or are humans to blame?

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2025043554_seastarvirusxml.html

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'Sea Star Wasting Syndrome': Starfish Dying at Alarming Rates

 

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/12804/20140211/sea-star-wasting-syndrome-starfish-dying-at-alarming-rates.htm?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_138747

 

Feb 11, 2014

 

Scientists are currently investigating the cause of the starfish wasting disease that's hit a great number of the creatures both in the wild and in captivity. For those afflicted with the problem, they seem to develop lesions all over their skin and arms, resulting in an unnatural twist of the body.

The Anchorage Daily News notes that the sea star wasting syndrome also causes the creatures to lose their arms due to excessive tissue softening. Unfortunately, researchers believe that the disease has resulted in the death of eight sea stars, which unfortunately had to be euthanized during the fall, according to the Anchorage Museum.

Greg Danner, the museum's curator, notes that the disease seemed to be under control as of last November. Danner also believes that his and other official's decision to adjust the water tank's temperature helped to stop further the spread of the disease.

However, many feel that sea stars as far as the San Diego area are being affected by the issue. According to Pete Raimondi, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California in Santa Cruz, he estimated that there could be millions of sea stars suffering from the wasting disease, according to the Star Tribune.


------------------------------------------------

Mass Scallop Die Off a 'Red Flag' for the World's Oceans

Rise of carbon in the atmosphere raising acidity in oceans and causing 'cascading effect' at all levels of the food chain

 March 17, 2014

 An increase of acidity in the Pacific Ocean is quickly killing off one of the world's most beloved shellfish, the scallop, according to a report by the British Columbia Shellfish Grower’s Association.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/03/17/mass-scallop-die-red-flag-worlds-oceans

 

------------------------------------------------

Why are Millions of Sea Creatures Dying off the Pacific Coast 

 

July 30, 2014

 

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/07/millions-sea-creatures-dying-pacific-coast/#Bj28PdeILybDxbUV.99

------------------------------------------------

Jumbo Squid Mass "Suicide" Stumps California Scientists

February 23, 2005

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0223_050223_giantsquid.html


------------------------------------------------

Google Maps Confirms Mass Animal Die-Offs Worse In USA And UK

 

January 3, 2014

Mass Animal Die-Offs -2013

http://www.extinctiontheory.com/google-maps-confirms-mass-animal-die-offs-worse-in-usa-and-uk/

------------------------------------------------



Wit's End

Research Links about Dying Trees


http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/p/basic-premise.html


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------------------------------------------------

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Chapter 16: Plastic Pollution

 

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The Problem of Marine Plastic Pollution

In the ocean, plastic debris injures and kills fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Marine plastic pollution has impacted at least 267 species worldwide...

The impacts include fatalities as a result of ingestion, starvation, suffocation, infection, drowning, and entanglement.

In 2010, a California grey whale washed up dead on the shores of the Puget Sound. Autopsies indicated that its stomach contained a pair of pants and a golf ball, more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, duct tape and surgical gloves.

Seabirds that feed on the ocean surface are especially prone to ingesting plastic debris that floats. Adults feed these items to their chicks resulting in detrimental effects on chick growth and survival. One study found that approximately 98% of chicks sampled contained plastic and the quantity of plastic being ingested was increasing over time.

http://www.cleanwater.org/feature/problem-of-marine-plastic-pollution

------------------------------------------------

EVIDENCE FROM SEABIRDS OF PLASTIC PARTICLE POLLUTION OFF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wb/v07n03/p0111-p0112.pdf

------------------------------------------------


Plastic Debris in the California Marine Ecosystem

http://calost.org/pdf/science-initiatives/marine%20debris/Plastic%20Report_10-4-11.pdf

 

------------------------------------------------


Microplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: A review

                  ©2011

6.1. Microplastic ingestion

6.2. Microplastics and plasticiser leachates

6.3. Microplastics and adhered pollutants

http://www.adventurescience.org/uploads/7/3/9/8/7398741/_cole_et_al_2011_mar_poll_bull..pdf

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Density of Plastic Particles found in zooplankton trawls from Coastal Waters of California to the North Pacific Central Gyre

  

2014

 

http://www.algalita.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Density-of-Particles-spellchkd11-05.pdf

 

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Increased oceanic microplastic debris enhances oviposition in an endemic pelagic insect

 

May 9, 2012


Plastic pollution in the form of small particles (diameter less than 5 mm)—termed ‘microplastic’—has been observed in many parts of the world ocean. They are known to interact with biota on the individual level, e.g. through ingestion, but their population-level impacts are largely unknown. One potential mechanism for microplastic-induced alteration of pelagic ecosystems is through the introduction of hard-substrate habitat to ecosystems where it is naturally rare. Here, we show that microplastic concentrations in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) have increased by two orders of magnitude in the past four decades, and that this increase has released the pelagic insect Halobates sericeus from substrate limitation for oviposition. High concentrations of microplastic in the NPSG resulted in a positive correlation between H. sericeus and microplastic, and an overall increase in H. sericeus egg densities. Predation on H. sericeus eggs and recent hatchlings may facilitate the transfer of energy between pelagic- and substrate-associated assemblages. The dynamics of hard-substrate-associated organisms may be important to understanding the ecological impacts of oceanic microplastic pollution.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440973/

 

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Fleeced again: How microplastic causes macro problems for the ocean

 

7 Dec 2011

On Black Friday, outdoor retailer Patagonia took out a full-page ad in The New York Times asking readers to “buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime.” Beside a photo of their iconic fleece jacket, the headline read: “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” And, while their message about retail consumption undoubtedly made a splash, there may be yet another reason to take a pass on that cozy, modern outerware. Besides Patagonia’s confession that the process of creating the R2® Jacket leaves behind “two-thirds of its weight in waste” on its way to their Reno warehouse — it turns out that tossing the jacket in the washer causes it to leave behind something else entirely — thousands of tiny plastic threads. According to a study published in November’s Environmental Science and Technology, nearly 2,000 polyester fibers can shake loose from a single piece of clothing in the wash and, unfortunately, those tiny plastic bits are making their way into the ocean.

http://grist.org/living/2011-12-07-how-microplastics-cause-macro-problems-for-the-ocean/

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California Takes Decisive Action to Reduce Microplastics Pollution: State Adopts a First-in-Nation Approach to Protecting Ocean and Human Health

2022

https://www.opc.ca.gov/2022/02/california-takes-decisive-action-to-reduce-microplastics-pollution-state-adopts-a-first-in-nation-approach-to-protecting-ocean-and-human-health/

 

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California Center for Ethics and Policy drafts in problems with pollution

April 12, 2022

https://thepolypost.com/news/2022/04/12/california-center-for-ethics-and-policy-drafts-in-problems-with-pollution/

 

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California Plastic Waste Reduction Regulations Initiative 2022

April 11, 2022

https://wasteadvantagemag.com/california-plastic-waste-reduction-regulations-initiative-2022/
 

 

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New York And California Ban Polluting Microplastics In Cosmetic Products

2014

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2014/02/18/complete-ban-use-microplastics-cosmetic-products-new-york-california/#.VG10vMma_OI

 

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Chapter  17: Pesticides: Monsanto, DuPont & Syngenta

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Bad News About Pesticides

 

April 29, 2014

 

The CHAMACOS Study: Even Tiny Amounts of Pesticides May Harm Kids' Brains

 

The recently published CHAMACOS Study followed hundreds of pregnant women living in Salinas Valley, California, an agricultural mecca that has had up to a half-million pounds of organophosphates sprayed in the region per year.

The children were followed through age 12 to assess what impact the pesticides had on their development.² It turns out the impact was quite dramatic, and mothers' exposure to organophosphates during pregnancy was associated with:

 

• Shorter duration of pregnancy
• Poorer neonatal reflexes
• Lower IQ and poorer cognitive functioning in children
• Increased risk of attention problems in children

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/29/pesticide-exposure.aspx



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Company pays government to challenge pesticide research showing link to Parkinson's

 

February 11th, 2011

This story is being co-published with Politics Daily.
In an unusual scenario that raises questions of conflict of interest, a company that conducts research on behalf of the pesticide industry has paid a U.S. government agency to help prove some controversial chemicals are safe.

The company, Exponent Inc., based in Menlo Park, Calif., is known for its scientific research on behalf of corporate clients facing product liability concerns. In this case, Exponent is trying to refute research showing that even a small amount of combined exposure to two agricultural chemicals, maneb, a fungicide, and paraquat, an herbicide, can raise the risk of Parkinson's disease, a progressive disorder of the central nervous system.

Exponent is listed as a member of CropLife America, the trade group that represents pesticide manufacturers, and also has worked regularly for Syngenta, which makes paraquat.

http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/toxic-influence/story/exponent-inc-herbicide-paraquat-parkinsons-disease/

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Atrazine

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine )

Class action lawsuit

In 2012 Syngenta corporation, manufacturer of atrazine, was the defendant in a class action lawsuit concerning the levels of atrazine in human water supplies. Syngenta agreed to pay $105 million to reimburse more than a thousand water systems for "the cost of filtering atrazine from drinking water", although the company denied all wrongdoing.


 Personal attacks on scientists



 In 2014, New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv reported that Syngenta might have been orchestrating an attack on the "scientific credibility" of not just Tyrone Hayes, the lead critic of atrazine use, but other scientists as well whose studies have shown atrazine to have negative effects on the environment and/or human and animal health.



Paul Winchester, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, wrote a paper that was published in Acta Paediatrica reviewing national records for thirty million births, found that children conceived between April and July, when the concentration of atrazine, mixed with other pesticides, in water is highest, were more likely to have genital birth defects. Professor Winchester subsequently received a subpoena requesting that he turn over to Syngenta every e-mail he had written about atrazine in the past decade.


Deborah Cory-Slechta, a professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a former member of the EPA’s science advisory board, said that she, too, had felt that Syngenta was trying to "undermine" her work, after she published a study showing that the herbicide paraquat may contribute to diseases of the nervous system. "The folks from Syngenta used to follow me to my talks and tell me I wasn’t using ‘human-relevant doses'," Cory-Slechta said. "They would go up to my students and try to intimidate them. There was this sustained campaign to make it look like my science wasn’t legitimate.”


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Silencing the Scientist: Tyrone Hayes on Being Targeted By Herbicide Firm Syngenta

 

February-21-2014


http://article.wn.com/view/2014/02/21/Silencing_the_Scientist_Tyrone_Hayes_on_Being_Targeted_By_He/

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Atrazine: Syngenta's herbicide doesn't just poison frogs - it could give you cancer

 

 2nd June 2014

Tyrone Hayes has fought a 15-year battle with Syngenta following his discovery that its herbicide Atrazine scrambles sex in frogs, writes F William Engdahl. Now he wants to know - is Atrazine the cause of the US's 2-fold reproductive cancer excess among Blacks and Hispanics?

 

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2416349/atrazine_syngentas_herbicide_doesnt_just_poison_frogs_it_could_give_you_cancer.html

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Does the EPA Favor Industry When Assessing Chemical Dangers?

 

 “Plastic can leach estrogenic compounds, which is potentially of concern. But you still have controls. If you have control animals raised in plastic that don’t show these estrogenic effects, and then the ones who are exposed to Atrazine do [show affects],” that’s a valid cause-and-effect observation that can be pinned to Atrazine, Boone says, and it should be taken into account...

The EPA’s final conclusion on what levels of Atrazine can be considered “safe” are not due until 2016. In the meantime, Boone hopes that the agency will take a “weight-of-evidence” approach to Atrazine, and include the warnings embedded in many of the other studies they initially rejected... 

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Atrazine in the Water

 

How pesticide regulation fails to protect our rivers and oceans

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2006/03/atrazine-water


  March/April 2006 Issue


Between 60 and 70 million pounds of atrazine are applied annually to crops (mainly corn), golf courses and lawns. The EPA sets the limit for atrazine in drinking water at 3 parts per billion (ppb), but a 2002 study from the University of California, Berkeley showed that even amounts as low as 0.1 ppb can induce hermaphroditism in frogs. Says Tyrone Hayes, the lead professor on the study, "Some [frogs] had three ovaries and three testes, some had ovaries on one side and testes on the other, one animal even had six testes."

Salmon are also affected. Studies on Atlantic salmon presented at recent scientific conferences showed that nine percent of fish exposed to atrazine in concentrations of 100 ppb died, and others experienced significant weight loss. Larval metabolism and growth were impacted and smolts commonly grew kidney lesions.




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State Accused of Not Acting on Pesticides in Ground Water

February 13, 1989

At issue is the department's decision to restrict pesticides only near polluted wells--rather than around other wells that could be tainted in the future. Critics contend that the law--known as the Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act of 1985--requires that pesticides found to be "leakers" either be banned or regulated everywhere that ground water supplies may be threatened. For example, use of these pesticides might be restricted to certain types of soil or to lower rates of application.

But Food and Agriculture officials have decided to impose controls only around specific wells in which pesticides have been detected. Restrictions will be limited to these "pesticide management zones"--typically mile-square areas around the tainted wells.

The first expression of this policy came last month when the department established 63 pesticide management zones for atrazine--a weed-killer used to clear roadsides, for landscaping and on corn crops. About half the atrazine management zones are in the Los Angeles area.

Management zones for four other pesticides will be proposed this month, with zones for more pesticides to follow.

But critics contend the law was meant to protect clean wells, not merely to keep tainted wells from getting dirtier.

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-02-13/news/mn-1531_1_pesticide-regulation

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Atrazine in California

---

 http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/2050/CA/California/Atrazine/

Atrazine is an endocrine-disrupting herbicide used on corn, sugarcane and sorghum; it is associated with adverse reproductive effects and toxicity to the immune system.

The Most Polluted Communities in California

3 water utilities reported detecting Atrazine in tap water since 2004, according to EWG's analysis of water quality data supplied by state water agencies

Ranked by highest average Atrazine level

Rank	System	Population Served	Positive test results of total reported tests	Average Level (Range)
1	Lost Hills Utility District Lost Hills, CA	2,772	1 of 2	0.12 ppb (0 to 0.23 ppb)
2	Redlands City Mud-Water Div Redlands, CA	69,300	1 of 52	0.04 ppb (0 to 2.2 ppb)
3	Rancho California Water District Temecula, CA	103,414	1 of 56	0.01 ppb (0 to 0.57 ppb)

Violation Summary for Atrazine in California

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency includes the following violations of federal standards in California since 2004

Violation Type	Number of Violations
Failure to monitor regularly	15

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Glyphosate in California

( http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/2034/CA/California/Glyphosate/ )



Glyphosate is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S., and is applied in agriculture, forestry and on lawns and roadsides.

The Most Polluted Communities in California

2 water utilities reported detecting Glyphosate in tap water since 2004, according to EWG's analysis of water quality data supplied by state water agencies

Ranked by highest average Glyphosate level

Rank	System	Population Served	Positive test results of total reported tests	Average Level (Range)
1	Imperial Irrigation District Imperial, CA	3,303	1 of 2	8.25 ppb (0 to 16.5 ppb)
2	City of Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA	105,600	1 of 8	4 ppb (0 to 32 ppb)

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Limits sought on weed killer glyphosate to help monarch butterflies

 With monarch butterfly populations rapidly dwindling, a conservation organization on Monday asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement tougher rules for the weed killer glyphosate — first marketed under the brand name Roundup — to save America’s most beloved insect from further decline.

 California's monarch population has fallen an estimated 80% over the last 15 years due to urbanization, drought, weed abatement programs and pesticides, according to the nonprofit Xerces Society, a Portland, Ore.-based organization dedicated to conservation of invertebrates.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-monarch-butterfly-roundup-20140224-story.html

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Did Monsanto Write This Anti-GMO Labeling Op-Ed Signed by a UC Davis Professor?

http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/did-monsanto-write-anti-gmo-labeling-op-ed-signed-uc-davis-professor.html

 October 4, 2012

As I recently explained, University of California at Davis agriculture researchers are heavily influenced by the funding they receive from Monsanto and other big biotech players. This conflict of interest explains in part why we are seeing several UC Davis professors author reports and op-eds opposing California’s Proposition 37, which would require labeling of foods containing GMOs.
The latest example was published last week in at least two small California newspapers, including the Daily Democrat in Woodland. The article is authored by UC Davis professor Kent Bradford but the paper fails to mention the professor’s deep ties to Monsanto. This seems like an odd omission considering those ties include a facility located in Woodland, California.
According to this Sacramento Bee article from just last month, Monsanto is vastly expanding its current Woodland-area facility: 

Monsanto is embarking on a $31 million expansion of its Woodland vegetable seed research and development headquarters…[t]he 90,000-square-foot expansion will add laboratory and office space, nearly doubling the size of the Monsanto campus on Woodland’s outskirts to 200,000 square feet.

 

And trumpeting the expansion was none other than Professor Bradford:

It’s an important signal that this is a great place to be,” said Kent Bradford, director of the Seed Biotechnology Center at the University of California, Davis, and a leader of Seed Central, a university-led initiative to attract seed industry to the Davis area. “It capitalizes on UC Davis and the research capacity of the companies."

 

Even more troubling than not mentioning this conflict of interest, Bradford’s op-ed sounds an awful lot like the talking points from the No on 37 campaign. For example, Bradford says (identical words are in bold):

Prop. 37 would ban of (sic) tens of thousands of perfectly safe, common grocery items made with genetically engineered ingredients unless they are specially repackaged, relabeled, or remade with higher-cost, non-GE ingredients.

 

And the No on 37 campaign says: 

Proposition 37 would ban the sale of tens of thousands of perfectly-safe, common grocery products only in California unless they are specially repackaged, relabeled or made with higher cost ingredients.

 

And by the way, the statement is hyperbole. The purpose of Prop 37 is simply to provide labeling, not ban products. Of course food companies will have to comply with the law, but that’s true now of numerous labeling requirements. The Sacramento Bee recently called out the No campaign for using this misleading argument in a radio ad...




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Genetically Modified Democracy: Monsanto and Congress Move to Stomp on States' Rights

 May 16, 2013 


 Reliable sources in Washington D.C. have informed the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) that Monsanto has begun secretly lobbying its Congressional allies to attach one or more “Monsanto Riders” or amendments to the 2013 Farm Bill that would preempt or prohibit states from requiring labels on genetically engineered (GE) foods...


http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27540.cfm

 

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Why PepsiCo is Fighting GMO Labeling in California

August 8, 2012

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/why-pepsico-fighting-gmo-labeling-california.html


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Fighting GMO Labeling in California is Food Lobby's "Highest Priority"

http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/fighting-gmo-labeling-california-food-lobbys-highest-priority.html

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Caution: Monsanto Frakenseeds on the loose!

Is Monsanto determined to own all the seed in the world?

Monsanto began aggressively moving into the vegetable seed arena with the $1.4 billion purchase in 2005 of California-based Seminis, which gave Monsanto control over more than 30 percent of the North American vegetable seed market, as well as more than 20 percent of the world’s tomato seed market and more than 30 percent of the global hot pepper seed market.

Last year, Monsanto formed the International Seed Group Inc (ISG) as a holding company for the company’s growing investments in regional vegetable and fruit seed businesses.

Unlike the Seminis business, which is primarily directed at the open-field vegetable market, the bulk of Monsanto owned De Ruiter’s business is for greenhouse growers, known as the “protected culture market,” which Monsanto said is the fastest-growing area of the vegetable seed industry today.

http://sierrapermaculture.com/?p=129

 

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Movement attempts shutdown of Monsanto office in Davis

 

Published on May 30, 2013


As early as 6 a.m. on May 24, around 100 protesters had already gathered at the Davis office of Monsanto Company at 1910 Fifth St. — known to most as just Monsanto — to express their discontent with the actions and legacy of the multinational agribusiness corporation.

“We’re just trying to spread awareness about their history and eventually bring them down,” said Kim Sloan, lead activist with the Anti-Monsanto Project (AMP) who was present at the protest.

The protest was initiated by the Anti-Monsanto Project, a movement composed of over 30 Northern California groups and organizations, as part of the worldwide March Against Monsanto movement. The movement aims to “bring awareness to health, agricultural, environmental and political issues associated with Monsanto,” according to the demand letter issued by the AMP.

http://www.theaggie.org/2013/05/30/movement-attempts-shutdown-of-monsanto-office-in-davis/

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Monsanto Completes $31 Million Expansion of Vegetable Research Site

 

8/15/2013

State of the art lab and site now world’s largest location for molecular breeding of vegetable seeds 

Monsanto Company today announced the completion of a $31 million expansion at its vegetable seed research headquarters in Woodland, Calif. The expansion, which included the building of a 90,000 square-foot state-of-the-art laboratory and office building, makes the location Monsanto’s primary site for molecular breeding of vegetable seeds. The expansion, unveiled today during a special open house, also makes Woodland’s lab the largest of its kind in the world for vegetable seed health testing.

http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/vegetable-seed-research-headquarters-expansion.aspx

 

 

-----------------------------------------------


Dupont: A Different Shade of Green

 An August, 2005, report from the California Dept. of Toxic Substances Control notes that a former DuPont plant in Antioch, California shows disconcerting levels of arsenic, lead, and tetrachloroethene (PCE).

http://www.thepanelist.net/company-profiles-culture-10078/767-dupont-a-different-shade-of-green

------------------------------------------------

E I DUPONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY INC

(  http://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/hwmp_profile_report.asp?global_id=CAD009151671 )

6000 BRIDGEHEAD RD

OAKLEY, CA  945612940

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

FACILITY TYPE: HIST PERMITTED

PROGRAM TYPE: HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY

SITE/FACILITY TYPE
POST CLOSURE PERMIT



SITE HISTORY: 

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) operated a chemical manufacturing facility at 6000 Bridgehead Road, Antioch, California that was referred to as the Antioch Plant. Operations at the Antioch Plant began in 1956. Production of fuel-additive anti-knock compounds (AKCs) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) began in 1956, while titanium dioxide (TiO 2) production was added in 1963. Production of all three product lines has been eliminated, beginning with AKC manufacturing in 1981, CFC manufacturing in 1996, and TiO2 manufacturing in July 1998, followed by a general shutdown of all TiO 2 and CFC blending operations on March 31, 1999.


... RCRA Facility Investigations (RFI) have included the collection of more than 1,200 soil samples and the monitoring of nearly 200 groundwater wells at the site. Constituents of concern (COCs) in soils include primarily: arsenic, lead, organolead, and Tetrachloroethene (PCE). COCs detected in groundwater at concentrations exceeding applicable state or federal water quality objectives include primarily: arsenic; lead; organolead; carbon tetrachloride (CT) and daughter products; Tetrachloroethene (TCE) and daughter products; 1,2 dichloroethane (1,2-DCA); 1,2-dibromoethane (1,2-DBA); trichlorofluoromethane (Freon 11); and 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoroethane (Freon 113). Regular groundwater monitoring and performance monitoring of a subsurface permeable reactive barrier, installed in 2005, continue at the site. Groundwater constituents have been detected at locations on the neighboring Lauritzen Yacht Harbor property. DuPont continues to collect wet and dry season surface water samples from the San Joaquin River, Lauritzen Yacht Harbor, and Little Break. DuPont has also collected sediment samples from the San Joaquin River and the Central Slough and Channel...

 

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 For additional information about DuPont & Monsanto, visit my site, Youtube.com/investigations2012. The theme of this site, deals with voter fraud in the 2012 elections. This includes the ongoing political corrption, that continues to harm the planet. The 2012 also stands for the ongoing discussion of the polar events of 2012.  ( https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=2012+polar )


The DuPont investigation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5Pjh00vEI  ( http://dupontinvestigation.blogspot.com/ )

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The Monsanto investigation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXr1z6fMOj4 ( http://monsantoinvestigation.blogspot.com/ )

 

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Why Beehives Are Being Stolen in California Right Now

Feb 27, 2022

People are turning to technology to protect their hives

https://www.newser.com/story/317237/why-beehives-are-being-stolen-in-california-right-now.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_login

 

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Rise in beehive thefts: beekeepers getting creative to protect their beehives during the almond bloom

Feb 25, 2022

https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/rise-in-beehive-thefts-beekeepers-getting-creative-to-protect-their-beehives-during-the-almond-bloom/article_95de4454-9673-11ec-9799-a3636e2bad9f.html

 

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Bee Thieves Pose a Big Threat to California's Almond Industry

February 18, 2020

Many beekeepers lease their hives to California almond growers for pollination services, but an increasing number of bees have gone missing in recent years.

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/bee-heists-threaten-california-almonds

 

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5 million bees shipped to Alaska die due to mishandling by airlines

3rd May 2022

ATLANTA, Georgia: Five million honeybees, valued at $48,000, died last week while being flown to Alaska.

The bees had been ordered by Alaska beekeeper Sarah McElrea from a distributor in California...

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/272536588/5-million-bees-shipped-to-alaska-die-due-to-mishandling-by-airlines

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Chapter 18: Rotenone

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Rotenone

 Rotenone is an odourless, colourless, crystalline ketonic chemical compound used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine plant; and the roots of several members of Fabaceae.

Rotenone is used as a pesticide, insecticide, and as a nonselective piscicide (fish killer).

 Rotenone has historically been used by indigenous peoples to catch fish. Typically, rotenone-containing plants in the Fabaceae family of legumes are crushed and introduced into a body of water, and as rotenone interferes with cellular respiration, the affected fish rise to the surface in an attempt to gulp air, where they are more easily caught.

 Rotenone is classified by the World Health Organization as moderately hazardous. It is mildly toxic to humans and other mammals, but extremely toxic to insects and aquatic life, including fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotenone

 

 -----------------------------------------------

Dead Wrong

 

(Killing Rivers in the name of Restoration)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu6NYXtGPJE

-----------------------------------------------

In California, Fish and Drinking Water Poisoned with Rotenone

October 1st, 2007

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=197

 

-----------------------------------------------

Risks of Rotenone Use to Federally Threatened
California Red-legged Frog

October 16, 2008

http://www.epa.gov/espp/litstatus/effects/redleg-frog/rotenone/determination.pdf

 

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Rotenone Toxicity to Rainbow Trout and Several Mountain Stream Insects

 

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/254311289_Rotenone_Toxicity_to_Rainbow_Trout_and_Several_Mountain_Stream_Insects

 

-----------------------------------------------

Differential Effects of Rotenone and Amytal on Mitochondrial Electron and Energy Transfer

http://www.jbc.org/content/238/3/1124.full.pdf

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

Review of the effects of rotenone on Aquatic Invertebrates

http://wildlife.utah.gov/fes/pdf/rotenone_aquatic_invertebrates.pdf

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

Toxicity of rotenone to some species of coarse fish and invertebrates

January 2006

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230066025_Toxicity_of_rotenone_to_some_species_of_coarse_fish_and_invertebrates

 

-----------------------------------------------
 

The Poisoning of Lake Davis

http://www.zumbrunlaw.com/viewpoints/2000/January%2010,%202000.pdf

 January, 2010

 On October 15, 1997, the California State Department of Fish and Game
began poisoning Lake Davis, a beautiful High Sierra reservoir in Plumas County,
California. While this event has received substantial media coverage, the full story has not been told.

The purpose of poisoning the lake was to eradicate northern pike, a category of fish promoted in many states as a tremendous game fish. It also is a good food fish. The $2 million poisoning project also was expected to eradicate all other fish, including trout, shiners, pumpkin seed, black bass and catfish. Lake Davis is the primary domestic water supply for the surrounding area and recharges the area's groundwater and over 150 wells. The State proceeded with poisoning the lake despite the objections of area residents, Plumas County supervisors, the Portola City Council, the National Resources Defense Council and many other groups and concerned citizens.

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Appendix H. Lake Davis, CA, Rotenone Application

 http://www.epa.gov/espp/litstatus/effects/redleg-frog/rotenone/appendix-h.pdf



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Many chemicals can amplify or change the effects of chemical pesticides, insecticides and piscicides such a Rotenone.

Piperonyl butoxide (PBO), including Anthranilic diamide, are considered synergists of Rotenone. This means that if you combine either of these chemicals with Rotenone, that these chemicals can increase or enhance the effects of Rotenone. 

 

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 Chapter 19: Piperonyl butoxide (PBO)

 
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Piperonyl butoxide

 

Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is an organic compound used as a component of pesticide formulations. It is a waxy white solid. It is a synergist. That is, despite having no pesticidal activity of its own, it enhances the potency of certain pesticides such as carbamates, pyrethrins, pyrethroids, and rotenone. It is a semisynthetic derivative of safrole.

Hazard Assessment

Endocrine Disruption

 

The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 required the U.S. EPA to address the issue of endocrine disruption. Since the passage of the FQPA, U.S. EPA has developed a two-tiered Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) designed to examine potential effects of substances on the Estrogenic, Androgenic and Thyroid (EAT) hormone systems in both humans and wildlife.

Reproduction and Fertility Study

 

This study examines the potential of the pesticide to alter the reproductive performance and function of the male and female rats over two generations including a comprehensive assessment of effects on gonadal function, estrus cycles, mating behavior, conception, birth, lactation, and weaning. This study is important to assess the potential of increased sensitivity to younger animals.

Developmental Toxicity Studies

 

Once referred to as “teratogenicity” studies, these studies assess the potential for a pesticide to affect the developing embryo and fetus in the pregnant female (rabbit and rat) during organogenesis, the time in which the body’s organs are forming and developing. As with the Reproduction and Fertility Study, these studies are conducted to assess the potential of increased sensitivity to younger animals. These studies have shown that PBO does not harm the developing fetus.

Genotoxicity

 

These studies test for the ability of a chemical to cause mutations and chromosomal changes as well as the competency of DNA repair mechanisms. Genotoxicity studies where the chemical shows a genotoxic effect are also seen as indicators that a chemical may have a high probability of causing cancer in chronic animal studies. These studies have shown that PBO is not genotoxic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piperonyl_butoxide



-----------------------------------------------

EFFECT OF PIPERONYL BUTOXIDE ON PERMETHRIN TOXICITY IN THE AMPHIPOD HYALELLA AZTECA


(Received 25 July 2005; Accepted 12 December 2005)


 Abstract—Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is a synergist of pyrethroid pesticides found in many products for structural pest control, mosquito control, and home and garden uses....

-  Urban creek sediments from California and Tennessee,
USA, had PBO concentrations in the low m g/kg range; only one water sample was above the detection limit of 0.05 m g/L. Wetlands in northern California also were sampled after application of pyrethrins and PBO for mosquito abatement. 

http://training.fws.gov/resources/course-resources/pesticides/Aquatic%20Effects/amweg%20etc%20pbo.pdf

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Chemical WATCH Fact Sheet Piperonyl Butoxide (PBO)

Piperonyl Butoxide (PBO), a highly toxic substance that
causes a range of short- and long-term effects, including
cancer and adverse impacts on liver function and the
nervous system, is one of the most commonly used synergists in
pesticide products. Synergists are chemicals added to pesticide
formulations to enhance the toxicity of the active ingredients. PBO
is frequently used, especially in aerosol products and mosquito
sprays, to increase the potency of pyrethrin and synthetic pyrethroids,
as well as other types of insecticides. Products generally
contain between five to ten times as much PBO as pesticide.

Acute Toxicity

Studies suggest that by interfering with the metabolism of hormones,
PBO may damage humeral organs such as the thyroid,
adrenal, and pituitary glands. PBO has a low to moderate
toxicity based on short-term laboratory animal studies. The
acute oral LD50, or dose that kills half the test population, was
determined to be 6.15 g/kg for rats. The LD 50 for inhalation
of PBO by rats is greater than 5.9 g/kg. It is predicted that the
oral lethal dose for a human is 5.15 g/kg, or between 1 pint
and 1 quart for a 150 lb person.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Piperonyl%20Butoxide.pdf

 -----------------------------------------------

Pyrethroids/ Pyrethrins
 

Beyond Pesticides Rating: Toxic

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidefactsheets/toxic/pyrethroid.php

 -----------------------------------------------

Pyrethrin / Pyrethrum (as an organic insecticidal) fyi

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=14328

 

 -----------------------------------------------

Environmental Fate of Pyrethrins


Environmental Monitoring Branch
Department of Pesticide Regulation



 http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/pubs/fatememo/pyrethrin_efate2.pdf

 

-----------------------------------------------
 

Review of Pyrethroid, Fipronil and Toxicity

Monitoring Data from California Urban Watersheds


 July 10, 2013

 Key Findings – Pyrethroids

Bifenthrin, considered to be the leading cause of pyrethroid-related toxicity in urban areas (c.f.,Weston et al., 2005; Amweg et al., 2006; Holmes et al., 2008, TDC Environmental, 2006), was detected most frequently of all the pesticides evaluated, in both water and sediment. Bifenthrin was detected in 69% in sediment samples and 64% in water samples.

Detection rates were generally higher for pyrethroids in sediment than in water. Permethrin wasthe most extreme case of this difference, detected in 50% of sediment samples but only 16% of water samples. Overall, pyrethroids were detected at a rate of 31% in sediments and 24% in water samples...

 To address recent pyrethroid-related additions to the 303(d) List
within the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) is developing a Basin Plan
amendment to establish water quality objectives and Total Maximum
Daily Loads (TMDLs) for waterbodies that are listed for pyrethroids on the 303(d) list, and a program of implementation for the control of pyrethroid pesticide discharges.

https://www.casqa.org/sites/default/files/library/technical-reports/casqa_review_of_pyrethroid_fipronil_and_toxicity_monitoring_data_-_july_2013.pdf

 

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Chapter 20: Anthranilic diamide

 
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Anthranilic diamide and cyclodextrin compositions for propagule coating

http://www.google.co.in/patents/US8563470


 Original Assignee:  E I Du Pont De Nemours And Company

Publication number	US8563470 B2
Publication type	Grant

 FIELD OF THE INVENTION

" This invention relates to compositions comprising anthranilic diamide insecticides and cyclodextrins. This invention also relates to geotropic propagules coated with these compositions and to protecting propagules and derived plants from phytophagous insect pests by contacting the propagules with these compositions. "

" Compositions comprising different biologically active agents can have a broader spectrum of activity than a single agent alone. Furthermore, such mixtures can exhibit a synergistic effect. "

"Examples of component (c) (i.e., the one or more biologically active agents other than anthranilic diamide insecticides) are: rotenone "

" One embodiment of biological agents for mixing with compounds of this invention include entomopathogenic bacteria such as Bacillus thuringiensis, and the encapsulated delta-endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis such as MVP® and MVPII® bioinsecticides prepared by the CellCap® process (CellCap®, MVP® and MVPII® are trademarks of Mycogen Corporation. "

 

---------------------------------------- 

Mycogen Seeds

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycogen_Seeds
 
Parent: Dow AgroSciences

 Founded San Diego, California (1982)

 

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Chapter 21: Antimycin A

 

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The chemical Antimycin A also can change the effects of pesticides on certain species.

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Antimycin A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimycin_A


Antimycins are a group of secondary metabolites produced by Streptomyces bacteria.

Uses

 

It is the active ingredient in Fintrol, a chemical piscicide (fish poison) used in fisheries management and in the catfish industry
Antimycin A binds to the Qi site of cytochrome c reductase, thereby inhibiting the oxidation of ubiquinol in the electron transport chain of oxidative phosphorylation. The inhibition of this reaction disrupts the formation of the proton gradient across the inner membrane. The production of ATP is subsequently inhibited, as protons are unable to flow through the ATP synthase complex in the absence of a proton gradient. This inhibition also results in the formation of quantities of the toxic free radical superoxide



-----------------------------------------------

 

Piscicides and invertebrates: after 70 years, does anyone really know?

The piscicides rotenone and antimycin have been used for more than 70 years to manage fish populations by eliminating undesirable fish species. The effects of piscicides on aquatic invertebrate assemblages are considered negligible by some and significant by others. This difference of opinion has created contentious situations and delayed native fish restoration projects. We review the scientific evidence and report that short-term ( 1 year) impacts are largely unknown. Recovery of invertebrate assemblages following treatments ranged from a few months for abundances of common taxa to several years for rarer taxa. Variation in reported effects was primarily due to natural variation among species and habitats and a lack of adequate pre- and post-treatment sampling which prevents determining the true impacts to invertebrate assemblages.

http://www.glsc.usgs.gov/publications/2010/1588

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 Risk Assessment for Piscicidal Formulations of Antimycin


 June 29, 2007

Table 6.4 Toxicity of technical grade antimycin A to aquatic invertebrates from USEPA (2006a)

Species: Waterflea, Scud, Aquatic Isopod

Table 6.5 Acute toxicity to aquatic invertebrates from the ECOTOX data base:

Scud, Midge, Grass shrimp, Crayfish, Asiatic clam, Fat mucket (lampmussel), Spike (mussel), Snail, Flatworm

6.3.6 (Amphibians)

There are limited data available on the effects of antimycin A on amphibians. Grisak et al. (2006) found that two adult frog species were not significantly affected at concentrations below 10 μg/L. Tailed frogs did exhibit 15% mortality at 7.5 μg/L after 96 hours. But the authors noted that at concentration renewals of antimycin concentrations to cause even 5% mortality.

There are very limited additional data on amphibians (Table 6.7). Walker et al. (1964) determined 100% effect and 0% effect levels for antimycin A on adult tiger salamanders and tadpole bullfrogs. Concentrations causing 100% mortality were 600 μg/L for the salamander and 40 μg/L for the bullfrog tadpoles; corresponding concentrations causing no mortality were 80 μg/L for the salamander and 20 μg/L for the bullfrog.


 6.3.8
Toxicity to Birds


The only avian toxicity data available for antimycin A are acute oral LD
50 data on a formulated product with no percentage of active ingredient stated for the test formulation. Based upon the results presented in Table 6.8, antimycin A is
categorized as very highly toxic to waterfowl mallard duck and highly toxic to upland game birds (bobwhite quail). No sub-acute dietary toxicity data of antimycin A have been found for birds. 

 

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Oxidation of NADH by a rotenone and antimycin-sensitive pathway in the mitochondrion of procyclic Trypanosoma brucei brucei.

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8078526

 

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Chapter 22: EDTA

 

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PAN Pesticides Database - California Pesticide Use

EDTA, iron chelate - Pesticide use statistics for 2012

1. PAN Bad Actors are chemicals that are one or more of the following: highly acutely toxic, cholinesterase inhibitor, known/probable carcinogen, known groundwater pollutant or known reproductive or developmental toxicant. NOTE! Because there are no authoritative lists of Endocrine Disrupting (ED) chemicals, EDs are not yet considered PAN Bad Actor chemicals.

Top 50 Crops and Sites for for EDTA, iron chelate use in California in 2012

                                                 


Crop or Site                        Gross Pounds 

All Sites                                      6,090

Lemons                                        2,951

Artichokes                                   2,576

Oranges                                       187.3


http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_ChemUse.jsp?Rec_Id=PC36146

 


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EDTA Side Effects & Safety

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1032-edta.aspx?activeingredientid=1032&activeingredientname=edta


EDTA is safe when used as a prescription medicine, as eye drops, and in small amounts as a preservative in foods. EDTA can cause abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, low blood pressure, skin problems, and fever.

It is UNSAFE to use more than 3 grams of EDTA per day, or to take it longer than 5 to 7 days. Too much can cause kidney damage, dangerously low calcium levels, and death.

Special Precautions & Warnings:

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: EDTA seems to be safe when used in food amounts. The safety of larger amounts is unknown.

Asthma: Nebulizer solutions containing disodium EDTA as a preservative can cause the breathing tubes to narrow in some people with asthma. The size of the dose determines the amount of the narrowing.

Heart rhythm problems: EDTA might make heart rhythm problems worse.

Diabetes: EDTA might interfere with blood sugar control because it can interact with insulin.
 Liver problems and hepatitis: EDTA might make liver disease worse. Avoid using EDTA if you have a liver condition.

Kidney problems: EDTA can harm the kidney and might make kidney disease worse. EDTA doses should be reduced in patients with kidney disease. Avoid using EDTA if you have severe kidney disease or kidney failure.

Seizures (epilepsy): There is some concern that EDTA might increase the risk of seizure in people with epilepsy or in people who tend to have seizures. EDTA can cause severe decreases in blood levels of calcium, and this can cause a seizure.

Tuberculosis (TB): Tuberculosis is a lung infection that is caused by particular bacteria. Sometimes the body is able to “wall off” pockets of infection, making the infection inactive. The bacteria remain alive behind the wall of scar tissue, but they can’t get out to cause illness or infect other people. This scar tissue frequently contains calcium. There is some concern that EDTA might be able to bind the calcium in the scar tissue, causing the “walls” to give way and release bacteria. Don’t use EDTA if you have active TB or had TB in the past.

 

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Many researchers question why we use so much EDTA in consumer products.

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Preliminary Report on Iron HEDTA


  Table 1. California Registered Herbicides containing FeHEDTA.

FORMULATION

COMPANY

NAME

% OF ACTIVE INGREDIENT

concentrate

Bayer

Bayer Advanced Natria Lawn Weed Control Concentrate

26.5%

ready to use

Scotts

Ortho Elementals Lawn Weed Killer

1.5%

ready to use

Scotts

Whitney Farms Lawn Weed Killer

1.5%

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7046

 

 

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Chapter 23:  Propylene oxide (PPO)

 
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Propylene oxide (PPO)

  

http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/prop-oxi.html

 

Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000

 

 Propylene oxide is used in the production of polyethers (the primary component of polyurethane foams) and propylene glycol.  Acute (short-term) exposure of humans and animals to propylene oxide has caused eye and respiratory tract irritation. Dermal contact, even with dilute solutions, has caused skin irritation and necrosis in humans. Propylene oxide is also a mild central nervous system (CNS) depressant in humans.  Inflammatory lesions of the nasal cavity, trachea, and lungs and neurological effects have been observed in animals chronically (long-term) exposed to propylene oxide by inhalation.  Propylene oxide has been observed to cause tumors at or near the site of administration in rodents, causing forestomach tumors following ingestion via gavage (experimentally placing the chemical in the stomach) and nasal tumors after inhalation exposure.  EPA has classified propylene oxide as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.

 

Health Hazard Information

 

Acute Effects:

 

• Acute exposure of humans and animals to propylene oxide has caused eye and respiratory tract irritation.  As a respiratory irritant, coughing, dyspnea (difficulty in breathing), and pulmonary edema may result from inhalation exposure and possibly lead to pneumonia.  Dermal contact, even with dilute solutions, has caused skin irritation and necrosis.
• Propylene oxide is a mild CNS depressant.  Acute exposure to high concentrations may cause headache, motor weakness, incoordination, ataxia, and coma in humans.
• Tests involving acute exposure of rats, mice, guinea pigs, and rabbits have demonstrated propylene oxide to have moderate acute toxicity from inhalation, high acute toxicity from dermal exposure, and moderate to high acute toxicity from ingestion.
  

 

 Cancer Risk:

 

• Human carcinogenicity data for propylene oxide are inadequate.
• Propylene oxide has been observed to cause tumors at or near the site of administration in rodents, causing forestomach tumors following exposure via gavage and nasal tumors after inhalation exposure.
• EPA has classified propylene oxide as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.  

 

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Trying to avoid almonds that are ‘gassed’? Here’s a little guide - See more at: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dpuf

Trying to avoid almonds that are ‘gassed’? Here’s a little guide


August 7, 2012

August 7, 2012

Although you certainly can't tell by looking at them, these Diamond of California brand almonds were fumigated with PPO gas. - See more at: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dpuf

Although you certainly can't tell by looking at them, these Diamond of California brand almonds were fumigated with PPO gas. - See more at: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dp

 Since my blog at the end of July about the forced “pasteurization” of most domestic almonds with either a steam treatment or fumigation with toxic propylene oxide (PPO) gas, Food Identity Theft readers have been asking about specific almond brands – if they are gassed or steamed.  And as I topped my organic oatmeal and cranberry cookies with Diamond brand sliced almonds, I had the same question. After all, who wants to go to all the trouble of whipping up something with carefully thought-out ingredients, only to realize the almond part of the recipe has been soaking up a chemical used in the production of antifreeze and hydraulic fluid?

Since 2007, the “almond rule” has mandated that most almonds grown in California’s 400-mile-long Central Valley region (where just about all domestic almonds come from) receive one of these pasteurization treatments. Organic almonds are always steam treated, and truly raw almonds can still be purchased either at farmers markets or farm stands in California (in quantities of 100 pounds or less) and also can be imported from abroad. - See more at: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dpuf

Since my blog at the end of July about the forced “pasteurization” of most domestic almonds with either a steam treatment or fumigation with toxic propylene oxide (PPO) gas, Food Identity Theft readers have been asking about specific almond brands – if they are gassed or steamed.  And as I topped my organic oatmeal and cranberry cookies with Diamond brand sliced almonds, I had the same question. After all, who wants to go to all the trouble of whipping up something with carefully thought-out ingredients, only to realize the almond part of the recipe has been soaking up a chemical used in the production of antifreeze and hydraulic fluid? - See more at: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dpu

http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/#sthash.mE0BlIt2.dpuf

 

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Carcinogenic Effects of Exposure to Propylene Oxide

July 1989

 

Niosh estimates that more than 200,000 workers in the United States are potentially exposed to propylene oxide. Most workers are exposed to propylene oxide during its use as an intermediate in the manufacture of (1) polyols for urethane applications, (2) propylene glycol for polyester resins, and (3) propylene glycol ethers for solvents, coatings, and cleaning compounds. Propylene oxide is also increasingly considered as a substitute for ethylene oxide as a sterilant for medical equipment and a fumigant for foodstuffs.

 http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/89-111/

 

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Chapter 24: Pesticides & foods 

 

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What's on my food Grapes 

 http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=GR

 56 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program

Human Health Effects:
8    —    Known or Probable Carcinogens
17    —    Suspected Hormone Disruptors
10    —    Neurotoxins
4    —     Developmental or Reproductive Toxins
Environmental Effects:
19    —     Honeybee Toxins

Pesticide Residues Found in Grapes:

Imidacloprid                
Boscalid                
Pyraclostrobin                
Myclobutanil                
Trifloxystrobin                
Tebuconazole                
Fenhexamid                
Cyprodinil                
Quinoxyfen                
Methoxyfenozide                
Pyrimethanil                
Iprodione                
Fludioxonil                
Buprofezin                
Fenpropathrin                
Azoxystrobin                
Kresoxim-methyl                
Spinosad A                
Difenoconazole                
Triflumizole                
Methamidophos                
Triadimenol                
Carbendazim (MBC)                
Clothianidin                
Methomyl                
Spirodiclofen                
Triadimefon                
Indoxacarb                
Bifenazate                
Acetamiprid                
Bifenthrin                
Spinosad D                
Thiamethoxam                
Chlorpyrifos                
Imidacloprid urea                
Captan                
Dicloran                
Hexythiazox                
Tebufenozide                
Pyridaben                
Omethoate                
Phosmet                
Carbaryl                
Azinphos methyl                
Emamectin benzoate                
Procymidone                
Thiacloprid                
Fenamiphos sulfoxide                
Cyhalothrin, Lambda                
Dinotefuran                
Famoxadone                
Cyfluthrin                
Metalaxyl/Mefenoxam                
Fenarimol                
Aldicarb sulfoxide                
Aldicarb sulfone  

              

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 What's on my food Apples

http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=AP


 47 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program

Human Health Effects:

 

6	—	Known or Probable Carcinogens
16	—	Suspected Hormone Disruptors
5	—	Neurotoxins
6	—	Developmental or Reproductive Toxins

 

Environmental Effects:

 

11

—

Honeybee Toxins

 

Pesticide Residues Found in Apples:

Diphenylamine (DPA)
Thiabendazole
Pyrimethanil
Chlorantraniliprole
Acetamiprid
Imidacloprid
Carbendazim (MBC)
Tetrahydrophthalimide (THPI)
Methoxyfenozide
Fludioxonil
Thiacloprid
Boscalid
Pyraclostrobin
Phosmet
Azinphos methyl
Fenpyroximate
Endosulfan II
Myclobutanil
Diazinon
Trifloxystrobin
Spinetoram
Endosulfan I
Etoxazole
Pendimethalin
Fenpropathrin
Fenbuconazole
Carbaryl
Endosulfan sulfate
Flonicamid
Chlorpyrifos
Cyhalothrin, Total (Cyhalothrin-L + R157836 epimer)
Spinosad
o-Phenylphenol
Imazalil
Chlorpropham
Difenoconazole
Permethrin cis
Esfenvalerate+Fenvalerate Total
Buprofezin
Thiamethoxam
Pyriproxyfen
Tebuconazole
Pronamide
Methoxychlor olefin
Dicofol p,p'
Permethrin trans
DCPA

 

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What's on my food Potatoes

 http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=PO


 35 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program


Chlorpropham               
Imidacloprid               
Flutolanil               
Azoxystrobin               
Thiabendazole               
Boscalid               
Thiamethoxam               
Metalaxyl/Mefenoxam               
Endosulfan sulfate               
Pentachloroaniline (PCA)               
Pentachlorobenzene (PCB)               
Aldicarb sulfoxide               
Pentachlorophenyl methyl sulfide               
Clothianidin               
Aldicarb sulfone               
Phorate sulfoxide               
Dieldrin               
Quintozene (PCNB)               
DDE p,p'               
Phorate sulfone               
Metribuzin               
DDT p,p'               
Tetrahydrophthalimide (THPI)               
Trifluralin               
Fluridone               
Heptachlor epoxide               
Oxamyl oxime               
Endosulfan II               
Oxamyl               
Buprofezin               
Bifenthrin               
Metolachlor               
Chlordane cis               
Methamidophos               
Carbaryl     

 

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What's on my food TOMATOES 

 35 Pesticide Residues Found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program

Human Health Effects:

3	—	Known or Probable Carcinogens
12	—	Suspected Hormone Disruptors
6	—	Neurotoxins
3	—	Developmental or Reproductive Toxins

Environmental Effects:

10

—

Honeybee Toxins

Pesticide Residues Found in Tomatoes:

 Endosulfan II
 Azoxystrobin

Endosulfan sulfate
Chlorothalonil
Endosulfan I
Methamidophos
Permethrin trans
Permethrin cis
Fenpropathrin
Trifloxystrobin
o-Phenylphenol
Piperonyl butoxide
Acetamiprid
Pyrimethanil
Boscalid
Bifenthrin
Dicofol p,p'
Thiamethoxam
Chlorpyrifos
Dicloran
Flonicamid
Pyriproxyfen
Omethoate
Pyraclostrobin
Famoxadone
Clothianidin
Cypermethrin
Fenhexamid
Oxamyl
Diazinon
Buprofezin
Cyazofamid
Deltamethrin (includes parent Tralomethrin)
Acephate
Folpet

http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=TO

----------------------------------------

For a full list of harmful pesticides found on different fruits and vegetables, visit:

Http://www.whatsonmyfood.org


--------------------------------------------- 

Articles about Paraquat - Los Angeles Times

 http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/paraquat

 

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High risk of Parkinson's disease for people exposed to pesticides near workplace

  

  May 26, 2011

In April 2009, researchers at UCLA announced they had discovered a link between Parkinson's disease and two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to fight pests.

That epidemiological study didn't examine farmers who constantly work with pesticides but people who simply lived near where farm fields were sprayed with the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat. It found that the risk for Parkinson's disease for these people increased by 75 percent.

Now a follow-up study adds two new twists. Once again the researchers returned to California's fertile Central Valley, and for the first time have implicated a third pesticide, ziram, in the pathology of Parkinson's disease. Second, instead of looking just at whether people lived near fields that were sprayed, they looked at where everyone worked, including non-farmworkers like teachers, firefighters and clerks who worked near, but not in, the fields.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/high-risk-of-parkinson-s-disease-204133

 

 
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Pesticides used on fruit and vegetables 'may be putting young children at risk of cancer'

 

14 November 2012

 

 Pesticides and other poisonous chemicals used in growing fruit and veg could be putting young children at risk of developing cancer in later life, say scientists.
Pre-school children are in particular danger of exposure to the dangerous compounds, a U.S. study found. -

A study of 364 children - 207 of whom were under-five - found safety consumption benchmarks were exceeded for arsenic, dieldrin, DDE and dioxins.
In addition more than 95 per cent of pre-school children exceeded non-cancer risk levels for acrylamide - a cooking byproduct often found in processed foods like potato and tortilla chips. Non-cancer effects include the death of cells.
Pesticide exposure was particularly high in tomatoes, peaches, apples, peppers, grapes, lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, dairy, pears, green beans and celery.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2232925/Pesticides-used-fruit-vegetables-putting-young-children-risk-cancer.html#ixzz3NRblQarp

 

 

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Organic pesticides not always 'greener' choice, study finds

June 23, 2010

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100622175510.htm

 

 

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Chapter 25: Jerry Brown 

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Jerry Brown

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Brown )

 In 1981, California Governor Jerry Brown, who had established a reputation as a strong environmentalist, was confronted with a serious medfly infestation in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was advised by the state's agricultural industry, and the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection service (APHIS), to authorize airborne spraying of the region. Initially, in accordance with his environmental protection stance, he chose to authorize ground-level spraying only. Unfortunately, the infestation spread as the medfly reproductive cycle out-paced the spraying. After more than a month, millions of dollars of crops had been destroyed and billions of dollars more were threatened. Governor Brown then authorized a massive response to the infestation. Fleets of helicopters sprayed malathion at night, and the California National Guard set up highway checkpoints and collected many tons of local fruit; in the final stage of the campaign, entomologists released millions of sterile male medflies in an attempt to disrupt the insects' reproductive cycle....


 As mayor, he invited the U.S. Marine Corps to use Oakland harbor lands for mock military exercises as part of Operation Urban Warrior....

 

 
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Jerry Brown: The Big Oil Governor

 

May 03, 2012


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/03/1088624/-Jerry-Brown-The-Big-Oil-Governor#

Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association, is back in the news in today's Sacramento Bee article about the increase in steam injection oil drilling permits since Governor Jerry Brown in November fired two regulators who were actually doing their job.


Under pressure from the oil industry, Brown fired Derek Chernow, then acting director of the state Department of Conservation, and oil and gas supervisor Elena Miller in order to expedite the granting of permits for risky injection projects after the permitting had slowed in 2010 and 2011 after the tragic death of Chevron oil worker Robert David Taylor.
Brown appointed the more oil industry-friendly Mark Nechodom, the husband of Secretary of State Debra Bowen, to replace Chernow ( http://yubanet.com/california/Dan-Bacher-Brown-appoints-Bowen-39-s-husband-to-replace-fired-Conservation-chair.php#.VAINvGMloo8 ) ...
It is no surprise that oil drilling permits have increased by 18 percent since Brown fired Chernow and Miller and appointed Nechodom. It is also no surprise that Reheis-Boyd – a strange type of “marine guardian” – was pleased with the successful effort by the oil companies that she represents to get the two fired.


“Oil companies are ‘extremely happy’ about the governors decision, Catherine H. Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, a Sacramento-based trade group, said in a telephone interview,” reported Bloomberg News. ‘They have been extremely frustrated dealing with an agency that in the past had a wonderful working relationship with industry.’”( http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-05/california-oil-producers-cheer-firing-of-top-state-regulators )

It is again no surprise that the corrupt MLPA Initiative process that Reheis-Boyd oversaw created so-called “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, pollution, military testing, wind and wave energy projects, corporate aquaculture and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

According to the Bee, “Brown has been attentive to business interests since taking office last year, considering their support critical to his effort to raise taxes. He volunteers his firing of Chernow and Miller as evidence he is committed to reducing regulations.”

“‘They were blocking oil exploration in Kern County,’ Brown said at an event last week in San Jose. ‘I fired them, and oil permits for drilling went up 18 percent,’” the Bee said.

It appears that Brown is even more cozy with the oil industry than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Brown’s firing of two dedicated public servants, resulting in increased oil drilling, and his embrace of questionable “marine protected areas” created under the leadership of a big oil lobbyist demonstrate that Brown has become “Big Oil’s Governor.”

It doesn’t take a whole lot of research to discover why Brown is so friendly to big oil, since oil companies are among his biggest campaign donors. For example, Occidental Petroleum contributed $250,000.00 to the campaign to pass Brown’s tax initiative this November, according to the California Secretary of State’s website. ( http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1343257&session=2011&view=late1 )

The oil industry has plenty of cash to spend on political campaigns, since the biggest five oil companies – Chevron, BP, Conoco, Shell and Exxon Mobil – made $135 billion in profit last year. “Why are we giving them at least $10 billion in subsidies while we are closing public schools?” asks the environmental group Oil Change International ( Http://www.priceofoil.org ).

Brown’s subservience to the oil industry isn’t the only area where Brown is pursuing an anti-environmental, pro-corporate agenda. Brown is also fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral canal, a government boondoggle that is likely to result in the extinction of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, green sturgeon, Sacramento splittail and other species in order to deliver more Delta water to corporate agribusiness and Southern California water agencies.

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VIDEO: Anti-fracking protesters dog Jerry Brown

November 5, 2013

 Gov. Jerry Brown endures the occasional protest at the California Capitol, but he has largely avoided the inconvenience of any heckling-from-the-sidewalk, traveling demonstrations for nearly three years.

In recent weeks, however, the Democratic governor has been met at his events by a smattering of environmentalists protesting his support for hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/video-anti-hydraulic-fracturing-fracking-protesters-dog-jerry-brown.html#storylink=cpy

 http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/video-anti-hydraulic-fracturing-fracking-protesters-dog-jerry-brown.html

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Report says California owes $340.7 billion, some being ignored

 May 7, 2014

 The state of California is $340.7 billion in debt and while it is on track to repay much of the sum, it's not doing anything about unfunded liabilities for teacher pensions and state retiree health care, the Legislature's budget analyst said Wednesday.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/05/report-says-california-owes-3407-billion-some-being-ignored.html#storylink=cpy

 Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor issued a comprehensive report on all state debts, including the "Wall of Debt" that Gov. Jerry Brown has cited.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/gov-jerry-brown/#storylink=cpy

The Wall of Debt, which was more than $30 billion when Brown resumed the governorship in 2011, is borrowing that predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature approved to cover operating deficits. It is, however, only about 10 percent of what the state owes.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/05/report-says-california-owes-3407-billion-some-being-ignored.html

 

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/gov-jerry-brown/#storylink=cpy

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Jerry Brown: Worse Than Schwarzenegger on Environment?

 

June 12, 2013

 

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/12/jerry-brown-worse-than-schwarzenegger-on-environment/ 

 

Governor Jerry Brown on Friday, June 7 issued a proclamation declaring June as “Great Outdoors Month” in California. Ironically, the same Governor is fast-tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a $54.1 billion dollar project that would divert massive quantities of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, leading to the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other species...

A front page article written by Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday, June 9 confirms what anglers, commercial fishermen, Indian Tribe leaders, family farmers, environmentalists and Delta residents have been saying all along – the construction of the tunnels would likely result in saltier conditions on the Delta, threatening imperiled fish populations and Delta farms...

The Brown administration authorized the export of record water amounts of water from the Delta in 2011 – 6,520,000 acre-feet, 217,000 acre feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre feet set in 2005 under the Schwarzenegger administration.

Brown also presided over the “salvage” of a record 9 million Sacramento splittail and over 2 million other fish including Central Valley salmon, steelhead, striped bass, largemouth bass, threadfin shad, white catfish and sturgeon in the state and federal Delta export pumping facilities in 2011. Since the actual number of fish lost in the pumps is at least 5 to 10 times those reported as “salvaged,” the actual total number of fish killed that year could have been 55 million to 110 million.
In addition, Brown and Natural Resources Secretary John Laird continued the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative started by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2004. The conflicts of interest, failure to comprehensively protect the ocean, shadowy private funding, incomplete and terminally flawed science and violation of the Yurok Tribe’s traditional harvesting rights have made the MLPA Initiative to create so-called “marine protected areas into one of the worst examples of corporate greenwashing in California history.
In a huge conflict of interest, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called “marine protected areas” in Southern California. Reheis-Boyd, the oil industry’s lead lobbyist for fracking, offshore oil drilling, the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and the evisceration of environmental laws, also served on the MLPA task forces for the North Coast, North Central Coast and Central Coast.

These so-called “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, fracking, pollution, wind and wave energy projects, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering. (intercontinentalcry.org/the-five-inconvenient-truths-about-the-mlpa-initiative)
More recently, John Laird, Brown’s Natural Resources Secretary, has launched a privately funded effort to “reform” the State Parks. According to a Sacramento Bee article, “Parks Forward will be funded by grants from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and others, under the auspices of the Resources Legacy Fund...



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Environmentalists protest Gov. Jerry Brown at California Democratic Party convention

 Mar. 8, 2014



LOS ANGELES -- Gov. Jerry Brown, rallying Democrats ahead of this year’s elections, called on his state party Saturday to join him in a “crusade” against climate change, even as environmentalists amplified their growing frustration with the governor.

Activists protesting Brown’s permissiveness of hydraulic fracturing, a controversial form of oil extraction, held signs and chanted feet from the podium where Brown addressed the California Democratic Party’s annual convention. The demonstration provoked Brown to defend his environmental record and to accuse environmentalists, like other Californians, of driving too much.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/08/6221247/environmentalists-protest-gov.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/08/6221247/environmentalists-protest-gov.html

 


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Governor Jerry Brown’s 10 Worst Environmental Policies

Oct 23rd, 2013

Brown's ten worst environmental policies were outlined in an alternative program that protesters handed out to attendees of the dinner. These policies include the following:

• Twin Tunnel Plan: Brown is fast-tracking the $54.1 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that would divert massive quantities of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness, developers and oil companies. The construction of the peripheral tunnels will hasten the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and green sturgeon, as well as imperil salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

• Senate Bill 4: Not only did Brown sign SB4— Senator Fran Pavley’s “greenlight to fracking” bill—he gutted it at the 11th hour, adding poison pill amendments, which make CEQA review of fracking permits optional, and prevent imposing a moratorium on fracking for 15 months. He signed the bill after receiving at least $2.49 million over several years from oil and natural gas interests. Mark Nechodom, head of the state Conservation Department, recently said definitively, “Gov. Brown supports hydraulic fracturing.”

• REDD: The REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+) allows Northern Hemisphere polluters to buy forest carbon offset credits from the global South. Brown is trying to link an agreement among Chiapas, Mexico; Acre, Brazil; and California, to AB32 (which commits to a 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, and an 80% reduction for 2050).

• Record Water Exports: The Brown administration authorized the export of record water amounts of water from the Delta in 2011 – 6,520,000 acre-feet, 217,000 acre feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre feet set in 2005 under Schwarzenegger. Most of this went to corporate agribusiness, including mega-farmers irrigating unsustainable, selenium-laced land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

• Record Delta Fish Kills: The Brown administration “salvaged” a record 9 million Sacramento splittail and 2 million salmon, steelhead, striped bass, largemouth bass, threadfin shad, white catfish and sturgeon in the Delta export pumping facilities in 2011. Since the actual number of fish killed in the pumps is at least 5 to 10 times those reported, the actual number of fish killed is probably 55 million to 110 million.

• Central Valley Project Improvement Act: The act mandated the doubling of Central Valley anadromous fish populations, including Chinook salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, striped bass, and American shad, by 2002. Under Brown in recent years, rather than doubling, these fish populations have continued to decline. The Chinook salmon runs on the Sacramento River last year were only 20% of the level mandated by federal law and the endangered Sacramento River winter run Chinook population is threatened with extinction, due to massive water exports out of the Delta.

• California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): Brown is trying to weaken or even eliminate CEQA, one of California's greatest environmental laws, to fast-track big developments for giant corporations like Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, Valero and Chevron.

• Department of Conservation Appointments: After Brown fired Acting Director Chernow and Oil and Gas Supervisor Miller and appointed oil industry-friendly Mark Nechodom, risky injection oil drilling permits increased by 18 percent.

• Clear cutting in the Sierra Nevada: Brown is doing nothing to stop Sierra Pacific Industries from clear cutting forests, destroying wildlife habitat, and contributing to climate change.

• “Theme Park” Wetlands: The Department of Fish and Wildlife under the Jerry Brown administration is letting the Annenberg Foundation bulldoze a section of the Ballona Wetlands to build an interpretive center and help with the “restoration” of the land around the center.


https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/23/18745290.php

 

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California Drought Loosens Some Environmental Rules

  January 20, 2014

Governor Jerry Brown is calling for water conservation as the primary strategy against California’s record drought, but his emergency declaration on Friday also opened the door for weakening some environmental rules.

State regulators can now relax water quality standards, allowing rivers and estuaries to be saltier and warmer, as they try to manage the state’s limited supplies...

The change focuses on water quality control plans, like the one for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of the state’s water supply. The plan assures that a minimum amount of water is released from dams, so freshwater is provided for downstream water users and wildlife, including salmon.

“They’re minimum standards for protection of the estuary and they really are minimums,” said Obegi...

 http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/01/20/california-drought-loosens-some-environmental-rules/

 

 

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 Jerry Brown reports receiving $11,721 in gifts and travel

March 3, 2014

 

Gov. Jerry Brown received $11,721 in gifts and travel payments last year, mostly to pay for his trip to China, according to his latest financial disclosure statement.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/jerry-brown-reports-receiving-11721-in-gifts-and-travel.html#storylink=cpy

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/jerry-brown-reports-receiving-11721-in-gifts-and-travel.html




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Capitol Alert: Jerry Brown

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/gov-jerry-brown/

 

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California primary elections: the wildest vote fraud in history

 June, 22nd 1982

- The night of June 8 witnessed perhaps the wildest attempt at election fraud in U.S. history. Rather than permit counting of an unexpectedly high vote cast for an NDPC-backed candidate, strategically placed state Democratic officials ordered the election-tallying com­puters shut down in county after county...


- Experts in both computer technology and voting procedure agree that the California breakdowns were a statistical impossibility. All of them contend that some central agency must have ordered the California vote shut down. Such an order could have come only from Governor Brown-who slipped 13 percent in the last poll of the race, with insiders predicting a 40 percent vote for him-or from the State Committee of the Democratic Party, if fixing the Democratic vote were the goal.


The early edition of the L.A. Times reported June 9 that with 18 percent of the precincts' results in, Wertz had 6 percent of the vote, or 28,805 votes. The later edition reported that 65 percent of precincts had submit­ted results, and Wertz's vote was I percent,or 15,665!

 Judge calls Secretary of State to account

On June 10, Judge Lloyd Phillips of the California Superior Court in Sacramento, in response to a petition filed by Wertz, directed Wertz's attorney to submit a letter to the Secretary of State detailing the charges of computer breakdown and asking for a full explanation on the record...

http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1982/eirv09n24-19820622/eirv09n24-19820622_058-california_primary_elections_the.pdf



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Poll shows support for Jerry Brown's re-election below one-third

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/rough-re-election-numbers-for-jerry-brown-in-new-poll.html#storylink=cpy

November 11, 2013

 

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/11/rough-re-election-numbers-for-jerry-brown-in-new-poll.html

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Gov. Jerry Brown wins historic fourth term

 

November/04/2014


http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/article3568891.html



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 Even when a poll shows that one-third of people would not want Jerry Brown to win a fourth term, Jerry Brown still wins the re-election for Governor of California. Different publications even accuse Governor Jerry Brown of voter fraud in 1982.


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Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Leland Yee, Senator Ron Calderon and Senator Rod Wright are all guilty of corruption.

We must remove the corrupt politicians and judges from our political system of government. We need to reform the government, including our legal system in California. We cannot allow the politicians in charge, to continue to destroy the ecosystem in California.

 

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VIDEO: Jerry Brown calls Leland Yee case 'tragedy' for democratic process

( http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/video-jerry-brown-calls-leland-yee-case-tragedy-for-democratic-process.html )

March 31, 2014

SAUSALITO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday called the Leland Yee corruption case a "tragedy" for the state Senate and "our democratic process," and he reiterated his call for Yee and two other senators accused of crimes to resign.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/video-jerry-brown-calls-leland-yee-case-tragedy-for-democratic-process.html#storylink=cpy

Brown's remarks came after California lawmakers on Friday suspended three state senators accused in separate cases of crimes including corruption, perjury and conspiracy to traffic weapons. Brown issued a prepared statement Friday calling for the resignation of the Yee and two others senators, Ron Calderon of Montebello and Rod Wright of Baldwin Hills.

Calderon was indicted last month on 24 counts of corruption for allegedly taking bribes, while Wright was found guilty of eight felonies in January for lying about living in the district he ran for in 2008.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/03/video-jerry-brown-calls-leland-yee-case-tragedy-for-democratic-process.html#storylink=cpy

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California state senator faces corruption, bribery charges

 02/22/2014

In this June 10, 2013, file photo, State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, left, holds a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Calderon and his brother, Tom Calderon were indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple political corruption charges, including mail and wire fraud, bribery and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday Feb. 21, 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

Federal prosecutors announced corruption charges against members of the politically powerful Calderon family, Friday. Prosecutors allege two brothers from the Calderon family, including one state senator, laundered money and accepted bribes from a Newport Beach, Calif. businessman as part of a “massive” Medicare fraud scheme.

State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, and his brother, Tom Calderon, are accused of laundering thousands of dollars in bribes from former hospital owner Michael Drobot to keep alive a law that enabled the scheme, prosecutors said at a news conference Friday.

Drobot's Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, Calif. specialized in spinal fusion surgeries and benefited from a loophole in state law that allowed him to overcharge insurance companies, said André Birotte Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

“Drobot bribed Ron Calerdon so that he would use his public office to preserve this law” that provide “rich profits” to his company, Birotte said.
Calderson is also accused of taking about $100,000 in bribes from undercover agents posing as film studio executives, in exchange for pushing for beneficial state tax credit changes.

A federal grand jury approved a 24-count indictment against Ron Calderon for mail fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering and tax fraud, according to Birotte.
If convicted on all counts, the lawmaker could face up to 400 years in federal prison, Birotte said.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_25209289/california-state-senator-faces-corruption-bribery-charges

 


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List of United States federal officials convicted of corruption offenses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_officials_convicted_of_corruption_offenses

Ernest K. Bramblett

House of Representatives

California

1954

Payroll fraud to cover kickbacks

 

Duke Cunningham

House of Representatives

California

2006

Mail fraud and federal official bribery

Richard T. Hanna

House of Representatives

California

1978

Conspiracy to defraud the United States

Andrew J. Hinshaw

House of Representatives

California

2008

Bribery

John H. Hoeppel

House of Representatives

California

1935

Sale of appointive office (18 U.S.C. § 150) (currently codified at 18 U.S.C. § 211)

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List of state and local political scandals in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_local_political_scandals_in_the_United_States


• California Senator Alan Robbins (D) resigned on November 21, 1991, in advance of pleading guilty to federal racketeering charges in connection with insurance-industry bribes.

• California Senator Joseph B. Montoya (D) was convicted in April 1990 of rackeetering, extortion and money laundering and was sentenced to 61⁄2 years in prison.

• California Senator Frank Hill (R) and his aid were found guilty of corruption and money laundering and sentenced to 46 months in prison. {1994}

• California Board of Equalization member Paul B. Carpenter (D) was found guilty of 11 counts of obstruction of justice and money laundering. (1993)

• California State Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R) served 29 months for bribery.

• California Assembly Member Mary Hayashi (D) was convicted of shoplifting. (2011)
• California State Senator Roy Ashburn (R) of Bakersfield was noted leaving a gay bar and arrested on two counts of DUI. The divorced father of four confirmed he was gay on a local radio station, even though he had voted against several gay rights initiatives. (2010)
• California Southern California Treasurer Kinde Durkee was arrested for mail fraud.
• California State Senator Ron Calderon (D) charged with wire fraud, bribery, money laundering and falsification of tax returns. The California Senate gave the senator until March 3, 2014 to either resign or take a leave of absence, failing which a vote would be taken to suspend him from office.(2014)

• California State Senator Roderick Wright (D) charged with two counts of perjury, one count of filing a false declaration of candidacy and five counts of voting fraud. A grand jury accused him of lying about his address when he filed to run for office in 2008. (2008)
• California State Representative Michael Duvall (R-CA) The conservative, family values married politician and father of two resigned abruptly after talking with another legislator over a microphone that was live, during which he described two of his current affairs.
• 
  
• California State Senator Carole Migden (D-CA) – The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) found 89 violations in campaign finance reporting. The FPPC settled the dispute with Migden for a record $350,000 fine. Migden went on to lose her reelection bid to fellow Democrat Assemblyman Mark Leno(2008)
• California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley (D-CA) was accused of laundering campaign funds and sexual abuse, though he was never charged. He later resigned (2005).
• California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush (R-CA) resigned on June 28, 2000, rather than face impeachment for campaign-finance violations arising out of insurance-industry settlements after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. However, prosecutors later found no wrongdoings and dismissed all charges in 2002.

• California State Representative Brian Setencich (R) Speaker of the House, was convicted of tax evasion connected to his 1996 re-election campaign. (2000)
• 
  
• California an FBI investigation called Shrimpscam or BRISPEC targeted corruption in the California legislature. Five convictions were obtained.

• California Lt. Governor Edwin Reinecke (R) was indicted and convicted on one count of perjury and sentenced to 18 months in prison as part of the Watergate investigation. The sentence was later overturned. (1975)

• California Superior Court Judge Lloyd Davis Republican. On October 26, 1969, he stabbed his wife, with a 9-inch butcher knife. He was charged with felony assault to commit murder, tried in 1970 and found not guilty by reason of insanity.
• California Board of Equalization William G. Bonelli (R) On Feb. 25, 1955, Bonelli was arrested for receiving $250,000 in bribes from the liquor industry. Rather than return to California, Bonelli slipped across the border into Mexico, where he was promptly arrested at the request of the U.S. In May 1959, after he'd spent almost four years in a Mexico City prison, authorities refused to extradite him, and set him free. For the last 15 years of his life, he stayed in Mexico, a fugitive.

 • California State Senator Thomas D. Harp (D) was indicted for malfeasance.(1891)

 

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California Sen. Wright Gets 90 Days in Jail for Perjury, Voter Fraud

 

September 12, 2014

http://ktla.com/2014/09/12/california-sen-wright-gets-90-days-in-jail-for-perjury-voter-fraud/

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Officers reassigned over Bay Area police sex scandal

 

July 3, 2016

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/03/us/oakland-police-sex-scandal/

 

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Texas ranks sixth in nation for corruption convictions

 January 23, 2015

 

http://www.mrt.com/blogs/news_blogs/article_8aba40f6-a34a-11e4-a8f9-576e1e63eaee.html#ixzz3PutiqZFr

 

  Texas was ranked sixth in the U.S. for public officials convicted on corruption charges between 1976 and 2010. Texas had more than 1,500 convictions, according to an online data blog FiveThirtyEight. New York topped the list with more than 2,500, followed by California with 2,345, according to the blog...

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The Dianne Feinstein investigation 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r6qsQNURow

 

 

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Chapter 26: Santa Barbara

 

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Deposition of DDE and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Dated Sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin

Science 14 June 1974: 


http://www.sciencemag.org/content/184/4142/1197.abstract

 

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Santa Barbara 

 
CHANNELKEEPER


Current Issues:

Polluted Runoff
Agriculture
Sewage
Toxic Waste
Oil and Gas
Ventura River
Marine Conservation
Cruise Ships
Water Quality Monitoring
Environmental Education
Plastic Bags
King Tides
Radiation Monitoring
Environmental Education
Plastic Bags
Kings Tides
Radiation Monitoring
Ocean Acidification
Desalination


http://www.sbck.org/current-issues/

 


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Venoco Carpinteria DDT

http://www.sbck.org/current-issues/toxic-waste/venoco-carpinteria-ddt/


Toxic compounds present in the soil included DDT and other chlorinated pesticides (from historic agricultural use of the property) as well as heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and zinc (from sandblasting activities associated with oil production at the site). 

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Halaco Superfund Site

http://www.sbck.org/current-issues/toxic-waste/halaco-superfund-site/

Since 1965, Halaco Engineering Company operated a scrap metal salvage facility located adjacent to the Ormond Beach Wetland in Oxnard. The facility melted millions of pounds of magnesium and aluminum into ingots for use in manufacturing and die-casting, and discharged over one million gallons of contaminated wastewater from its smelting operations into unlined settling ponds every month. The wastewater was contaminated with copper, lead and other heavy metals, ammonia, and several radioactive isotopes. Solids that settled out of the wastewater were piled onto a slag heap that grew to cover 26 acres and tower 40 feet above the wetland.

According to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the slag heap emitted ammonia and radioactive elements such as thorium and uranium-238. The unlined ponds leaked contaminated wastewater into the wetland, the ocean, and groundwater. The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District found significant cancer and chronic health risks from Halaco’s air emissions, which were violating the Clean Air Act. The District received hundreds of complaints from community members who suffered headaches, sore throats and other ailments from the fumes emitted by Halaco.

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1969 Santa Barbara oil spill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Santa_Barbara_oil_spill


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Summerland Beach’s Oil Seepage Mystery

 

2011

http://coastalcare.org/2011/04/summerland-beachs-oil-seepage-mystery/

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In Santa Barbara County, Oil Firms and environmentalists square off

http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-santa-barbara-fracking-20140818-story.html#page=1

 

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Santa Barbara County rejects ExxonMobil plan to truck oil

March 9, 2022

https://abc7.com/santa-barbara-county-oil-drilling-exxonmobil/11635687/

 

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California county rejects ExxonMobil plan to truck oil

March 9, 2022

Santa Barbara County supervisors have rejected a bid by ExxonMobil to restart offshore oil wells shut down in 2015 after a pipeline leak caused the worst coastal spill in 25 years

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/california-county-rejects-exxonmobil-plan-truck-oil-83333751

 

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California pipeline at issue after ExxonMobil's plan fails

March 9, 2022

A dispute over building an oil pipeline across California has intensified with the defeat of ExxonMobil's proposal to truck oil from now-idled offshore platforms

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/california-county-rejects-exxonmobil-plan-truck-oil-83333749

 

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Exxon Mobil Rejects California AG's Accusation of Role in Plastic Waste Crisis

2022

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/exxon-mobil-rejects-california-ags-accusation-of-role-in-plastic-waste-crisis/ar-AAWJWtv

 

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Chapter 27: Oakland 

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Clean Air for West Oakland

On Feb. 27 we helped persuade the Port of Oakland to reject a proposal to build a dirty, dangerous coal and petroleum-coke export facility. For details see "Port of Oakland rejects coal export terminal--Bay Chapter launches coal campaign with victory".


http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/environment/port-of-oakland.htm

 

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Air pollution in urban areas linked to higher risk of sight loss, study finds

Jan 31, 2021

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/air-pollution-in-urban-areas-linked-to-higher-risk-of-sight-loss-study-finds-1.4472461

 

 

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West Oakland air pollution disproportionately affects Black, Latino residents, report finds

September 29, 2021

https://abc7news.com/west-oakland-air-pollution-black-and-latino-residents-abc-equity-report-bay-area-quality/11058102/

 

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Lead contamination in Oakland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_contamination_in_Oakland

 

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West Oakland Residents Choking on Toxic Diesel Exhaust

 

_{Published: November 2003
Authors: Meena Palaniappan, Diana Wu, Jacki Kohleriter}

 

Indoor Air in Some Homes 5x More Toxic Than Other Parts of Oakland

http://pacinst.org/publication/clearing-the-air/

 


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Air Pollution Controversy Swirls Around Oakland Army Base Development

May 6, 2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/air-pollution-dispute-west-oakland-army-base


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Uneasy Breathing — Air Pollution in Oakland

 

Posted on Tuesday, September 23

 
http://blog.sfgate.com/chrongreen/2008/09/23/uneasy-breathing-air-pollution-in-oakland/


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Berkeley/Oakland port and highway air pollution map

 

2013

 
http://itsacoop.blogspot.com/2013/09/berkeleyoakland-port-and-highway-air.html

 

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Polluting Abandoned Boats Being Removed from Oakland Estuary

 

Posted November 6, 2013

http://baykeeper.org/blog/polluting-abandoned-boats-being-removed-oakland-estuary

 

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Lawsuit Alleges East Oakland Air Too Polluted To Allow Crematorium

 

December 12, 2013

 
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/12/12/lawsuit-alleges-east-oakland-air-too-polluted-to-allow-crematorium/

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OAKLAND / EPA says city must halt 'unacceptable' sewer spills

May 4, 2004

The city of Oakland has reported more than 1,000 sewage spills in less than five years -- one of the highest spill rates in the state -- and will have six months to submit a plan to fix its aging sewer system, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/OAKLAND-EPA-says-city-must-halt-unacceptable-2783762.php

 

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Surveillance cameras set up around Oakland to catch illegal trash dumpers in the act

February 25, 2022

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02/25/with-new-surveillance-cameras-oakland-vows-to-crack-down-on-illegal-dumping-on-city-streets/

 

 

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How Safe Is Your Soil? 

 

Aug, 2011

 

Urban farming has become hugely popular in the East Bay, but lead and other heavy metals in the soil pose potential health risks. Meanwhile, there's little consensus on what to do about it.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/how-safe-is-your-soil/Content?oid=2947105

 

 
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To Nullify Lead, Add a Bunch of Fish Bones

 

July 20, 2011

 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/science/earth/21fishbones.html?pagewanted=all

 

 OAKLAND, Calif. — Alaskan pollock is usually the faux stand-in for crab meat or the main ingredient in fast-food fish sandwiches. But now the flaky fish is moving into a new realm — as part of the solution to one of the nation’s longest-running toxic waste problems.


Today, there is more lead contamination in America’s cities than any federal or state agency could ever afford to clean up and haul away. So scientists and regulators are trying a new strategy, transforming the dangerous metal into a form the human body cannot absorb, thus vastly reducing the risk of lead poisoning.
The principle is straightforward, said Victor R. Johnson, an engineer with Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. “The fish bones are full of calcium phosphate,” he said. “As they degrade, the phosphates migrate into the soil.” The lead in the soil, deposited by car exhaust from the decades when gasoline contained lead or from lead-based paint residue, binds with the phosphate and transforms into pyromorphite, a crystalline mineral that will not harm anyone even if consumed. 

 

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The human cost of pollution

 

Voices from the Toxic Triangle

 

October 26, 2010

 

http://richmondconfidential.org/2010/10/26/the-human-cost-of-pollution/

 

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Chapter 28: Southern California

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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

No. 10: El Centro, Calif.

 

This hot, dry city sits on the U.S.-Mexico border and has to deal with ozone from both sides. Pollution blows north from Mexicali, a nearby Mexican city. And burning farm waste and traffic from clogged border crossings worsen the problem. Why is smog often worse in hot climates like El Centro? Ozone smog forms when pollutants -- from factories and cars -- interact with heat and sunlight.


http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

 

No. 5: Hanford, Calif.

 

Despite California's tough clean-air standards, four of the top six smog cities in the U.S. are in the San Joaquin Valley, like Hanford. Hot and dry and surrounded by mountains, the bowl-shaped valley traps pollutants. Hanford sits along the valley super-highway. Exhaust and dust and gasses from massive cattle feedlots nearby add to its pollution problems.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

 

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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

The Fresno area had its fewest unhealthy ozone days since 2000. Rich farmland surrounds the city. That helps make it the commercial hub of the San Joaquin Valley, where the population and highway use are growing faster than anywhere else in the state. High traffic and heavy farming make ozone a big challenge in this city. Nearly 1 in 3 children in Fresno has asthma.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

 

No. 2: Visalia, Calif.

 

This small farm town, a gateway to Sequoia National Park, is plagued by pollution trapped against the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains. Lots of sunshine plays a role.So does dirty exhaust from diesel trucks, busses, and other vehicles, which causes 80% of the valley's smog.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

 

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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

No. 1: Los Angeles, Calif.

 

Enclosed by mountains on three sides and home to about half of California's residents -- and their many cars -- sunny Los Angeles has had a long, tough battle with smog. It’s still the nation's smoggiest city. But L.A. has made progress. It has reduced car emissions even as the city has grown. And it has cut harmful ozone days by more than one-third since 2000.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

 

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U.S. National Parks' Air Pollution Levels Ranked

 

 05/29/2012

 

1. Sequoia National Park, CA

2. Joshua Tree National Park, CA

4. Yosemite National Park, CA

7. Mojave National Preserve, CA

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/national-parks-air-pollution-ranked_n_1553359.html

 

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California Cities Ranking in U.S. Polluted Cities

 

http://www.seecalifornia.com/california/california-polluted-cities.html



By Ozone 
1.    Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
2.    Bakersfield-Delano, CA
3.    Visalia-Porterville, CA
4.    Fresno-Madera, CA
5.    Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Yuba City, CA
6.    Hanford-Corcoran, CA
7.    San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
8.    Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX
9.    Merced, CA
10.   Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC
11.   San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
12.   Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
13.   El Centro, CA
14.   Modesto, CA
14.   Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV
16.   Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN
17.   New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA
18.   Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN
19.   Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ
20.   Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD
21.   Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL
22.   Chico, CA
23.   Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL
24.   Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA
25.   Las Vegas-Paradise-Pahrump, NV

By Year Round Particle Pollution
1.    Bakersfield-Delano, CA
2.    Visalia-Porterville, CA
2.    Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ
2.    Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
5.    Hanford-Corcoran, CA
6.    Fresno-Madera, CA
7.    Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA
8.    Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL
9.    Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN
10.   Modesto, CA
10.   Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN
12.   Charleston, WV
12.   Steubenville-Weirton, OH-WV
12.   Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH
15.   Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
15.   Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN
17.   St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL
17.   Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI
17.   Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX
20.   Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV
21.   New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA
22.   Lancaster, PA
22.   Dayton-Springfield-Greenville, OH
24.   Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN
24.   Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD
24.   York-Hanover-Gettysburg, PA
24.   Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH

By Short-Term Particle Pollution
1.    Bakersfield-Delano, CA
2.    Fresno-Madera, CA
3.    Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA
4.    Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
5.    Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield, UT
6.    Provo-Orem, UT
7.    Visalia-Porterville, CA
8.    Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL
9.    Logan, UT-ID
9.    Hanford-Corcoran, CA
9.    Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Yuba City, CA
12.   Modesto, CA
13.   Merced, CA
14.   Eugene-Springfield, OR
15.   San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
16.   Stockton, CA
17.   Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI
18.   Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA
19.   Fairbanks, AK
20.   Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD
21.   Macon-Warner Robins-Fort Valley, GA
22.   Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN
23.   Green Bay, WI
24.   Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ
24.   Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
24.   San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
24.   Madison-Baraboo, WI
24.   Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL
24.   Wheeling, WV-OH

10 Cities Most Polluted by Short-term Particle Pollution

1. Bakersfield-Delano, Calif.
2. Fresno-Madera, Calif.
3. Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
5. Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield, Utah
6. Provo-Orem, Utah
7. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
8. Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, Ala.
9. Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
9. Logan, Utah-Idaho
9. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, Calif.-Nev.



10 Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution

1. Bakersfield-Delano, Calif.
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
2. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz.
2. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
5. Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
6. Fresno-Madera, Calif.
7. Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.
8. Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, Ala.
9. Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.
10.Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, Ky.-Ind.

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• America's 20 Dirtiest Cities

 

5. Modesto, Calif.

 

Modesto is another polluted city in California's Central Valley. It's 500,000 people have a 15.5% unemployment rate, rank 5th in short-term particle pollution and 11th in ozone. Sperling Air Quality Index: 6 Sperling Water Quality Index 34

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ilmk/5-modesto-calif/

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America's 20 Dirtiest Cities

 

6. Riverside, Calif.

 

The 4.2 million residents of the Riverside-San Bernardino metro area suffer from high levels of ozone. In 2009 the EPA placed on the Superfund list a site the for decades manufactured explosives, rocket motors and fireworks, and which leaked perchlorate and trichloroethylene, destroying drinking water supplies. Sperling Air Quality Index: 1 Sperling Water Quality Index: 49

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45ilmk/5-modesto-calif/

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10 U.S. cities with the worst drinking water


2. Riverside, Calif. (City of Riverside Public Utilities)

Riverside, with a population slightly greater than 300,000, gets most of its drinking supply from groundwater. Regulators in the city of Riverside, which has a different water-treatment facility than the rest of Riverside County, detected 15 chemicals that exceeded health guidelines and one that exceeded legal standards. In total, 30 chemicals were found. Since 2004, the water has almost consistently been riddled with alpha particle activity, traces of bromoform (a form of trihalomethane) and uranium, causing an unusually unhealthy water supply.


http://www.nbcnews.com/id/41354370/ns/business-going_green/t/us-cities-worst-drinking-water/#.Uy8HqIWa8mw

 

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California Wildfire Study: Spend on Prevention to Save on Disasters

 

2014

http://blogs.kqed.org/science/2014/04/11/california-wildfire-study-spend-on-prevention-to-save-on-disasters/

 

 
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Why 4 California National Parks Made the 'Worst Ozone Pollution' List

( http://www.kcet.org/news/the_back_forty/parks/california-national-parks-make-worst-ozone-pollution-list.html )

May 30, 2012

Joshua Tree National Park had the second-worst ozone levels on the list, with 56 days above 75 ppb and a high concentration reaching 91 ppb. Sequoia and Joshua Tree have the worst ozone pollution by far of any parks listed. Number three on the list, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, exceeded 75 ppb on just 12 days in 2011: certainly bad enough, but only a fifth of the days Joshua Tree spent above the limit, and one seventh that of Sequoia's.

The remaining four parks on the list each violated standards for a total of about a week in 2011, with peak concentrations at 80 ppb or lower. California's Yosemite National Park and Mojave National Preserve are among the four, as are Big Bend National Park in Texas and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

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Missing Sloths, Modern Pollution, and the Fate of the Joshua Tree

 

April 13, 2013


http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/13/missing-sloths-modern-pollution-and-the-fate-of-the-joshua-tree/

 

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Joshua Tree NP Uneasy About Solar Plant's Effect on Dark Skies, Birds, and Pollution

 

November 21, 2013

http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/solar/concentrating-solar/joshua-tree-national-park-uneasy-about-solar-plants-effect-on-dark-skies-birds-and-pollution.html

 

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Reports detail threats to Mojave Desert

http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9911/01/mojave.enn/index.html

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Carcinogen in Mojave groundwater could require costly treatment

 

High levels of hexavalent chromium, a toxic heavy metal, add to the hurdles Cadiz Inc. faces in its plan to ship water to the Southland.

 

 July 21, 2012

The Mojave Desert groundwater that Cadiz Inc.wants to sell to Southland suburbs contains hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, in amounts that are hundreds of times greater than the state's public health goal for drinking water.

The presence of the toxic heavy metal, which occurs naturally in the aquifer Cadiz proposes to tap, could force the company to undertake expensive treatment, driving up the cost of the project and ultimately the price of its water.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/21/local/la-me-cadiz-chromium-20120721

 


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Marines Disposed of Waste Illegally, Officials Charge

 

November 28, 1989

 

RIVERSIDE — Officials at the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base near Barstow illegally dumped barrels of hazardous waste at two landfills not licensed or equipped to accept such material, state and county environmental authorities charged Monday.

At least 33 drums of allegedly toxic sandblasting waste were dumped at San Bernardino County's landfill in Yermo in previous years, investigators alleged. Those who took part in the dumping could face felony criminal charges.

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-28/news/mn-222_1_hazardous-waste

 

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In Hinkley, Toxic Legacy Sets the Stage for a Ghost Town

In Hinkley, Toxic Legacy Sets the Stage for a Ghost Town - See more at: http://audio.californiareport.org/archive/R201304020850/b#sthash.idGzYPGB.dpuf

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201304020850/b



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Hinkley groundwater contamination

The town of Hinkley, California, located in the Mojave Desert, had its groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium starting in 1952, resulting in a legal case against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and a multi-million-dollar settlement in 1996.

The legal case was dramatized in the film Erin Brockovich, released in 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_groundwater_contamination

 

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Occurrence of natural and anthropogenic hexavalent chromium (Cr VI) in groundwater near a mapped plume, Hinkley, CA

http://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/hinkley/setting.html




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10 Worst Smog Cities in America

 

No. 3: Bakersfield, Calif.

 

This Southern California city of about 350,000 is No. 1 for both year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution (soot). These tiny bits of solids and liquids can lodge deep in your lungs and raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, and asthma attacks.

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/ss/slideshow-worst-smog-cities

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Bakersfield ranked worst city in the nation for particle pollution

http://www.kerngoldenempire.com/mostpopular/story/Bakersfield-ranked-worst-city-in-the-nation-for/d/story/aKMcelRZhUi3ZJGjJpczBg

 

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Air Quality in Bakersfield, California

http://air-quality-by-city.findthebest.com/l/91/Bakersfield-CA

 

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Lake Elsinore Pollution Indexes

 

http://www.clrsearch.com/Lake-Elsinore-Demographics/CA/Pollution-Levels

 

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Look, don't touch

 

September 30, 2003

 
( http://articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/30/news/os-bassbara30 )

Diamond Valley Lake's big, cool waters beckon the Inland Empire's withering masses. But those antsy to take a plunge can forget it. A big keep-out sign awaits swimmers and bathers.
Don't bother with a beach towel, fins and snorkel. Not even a toe-dip is allowed. Approved power boats, sailboats and kayaks: OK. Water skiers and personal watercraft: No.
Why? Part of the answer lies in a nearby reservoir, Lake Perris, a popular plunge plagued by chronic pollution. The source of the contamination is not industrial dumping or sewage spills, but the kidneys and bowels of thousands of swimmers and bathers who have made Lake Perris something of a cesspool. Conditions were once so bad that the lake closed its beaches for more than 100 consecutive days. The Metropolitan Water District, which provides drinking water to 18 million people, avoids using it.
The MWD is determined to keep its new reservoir drinkable. After nearly five years of study, the district's governing board concluded the risk of pollution at the 4,500-acre Diamond Valley reservoir was too great to allow people in the water. To assuage the sweaty, there is discussion of opening two small lakes adjacent to Diamond Valley for swimmers and bathers...


Human waste contains millions of disease-causing microbes, including those that can cause dysentery-like symptoms, including abdominal cramps, nausea, severe diarrhea and dehydration. Bacteria and viruses concentrate along shallow shores and multiply as water warms. In Southern California, restrictions on body contact are in force at Lake Casitas, Lake Skinner, Lake Hemet and Lake Matthews to avoid water treatment costs.

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Pollution Levels Unhealthful at 2 Lakes Near Thousand Oaks : Environment: Study says Sherwood and Westlake Lake were 'impaired' by runoff of pesticides, fertilizer and heavy metals.

 August 06, 1995

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-08-06/local/me-32132_1_lake-sherwood

 

 

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Mc Grath Lake PCBs, Organochlorine Pesticides, and Sediment Toxicity


 http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/CA-MCGRATHLAKE-TMDL-STAFFRPT.pdf

 

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Concerns rising over Canyon Lake pollution

 

Feb. 13, 2005

CANYON LAKE —— Amid growing apprehension over bacterial contamination in Canyon Lake, which has been closed for most of the past four months due to health concerns, officials with several local agencies will be meeting soon to discuss ways of solving the lake's pollution woes.

Property owners in the gated community of about 4,300 homes are very troubled by the lake closure, said Ben Wicke, who represents the community as a member of Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District's board of directors.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2005/feb/13/concerns-rising-over-canyon-lake-pollution/




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New Species from Ancient Caves

 

Biologists exploring the underworld of California’s southern Sierra Nevada are discovering a host of new species as well as threats to cave habitat

http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/animals/archives/2010/new-species-from-ancient-caves.aspx

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Imperial County: Toxic Capital of the California Desert

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/east-ca/imperial-county-toxic-capital-of-the-california-desert.html

 

April 29, 2013



The Imperial County town of Brawley is one of the most polluted places in California, according to a new environmental justice mapping tool released last week by the State of California. In fact, ZIP Code 92227 surrounding Brawley ranks in the dirtiest five percent in the state, earning especially bad marks when it comes to pesticide pollution, hazardous waste, and impaired bodies of water.


ZIP Code 92236 in nearby Coachella and Thermal in Riverside County is less polluted, but not by much. Its ranked score on its residents' exposure to pollutants ranging from ozone and diesel exhaust to hazardous waste and particulate matter are high enough to put it in the top 10 percent of polluted California ZIP Codes.


Cleanup Sites  (Map)

Pesticide Use (Map)




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Salton Sea: Countdown to Collapse

California's biggest lake is headed for ecological collapse but no one seems to care. Created accidentally 90 years ago, it is a haven for recreationalists and wildlife. But pollution, neglect and rising salinity are pushing the sea to the brink. This reprint of a seven-part special report which appeared in the Press-Enterprise Jan. 3 through Jan. 10, 1993, explores the sea, its richness, its decline and its possible salvation.

Toxic pollution: It is killing wildlife at the Salton sea. Without swift cleanup of the poisons, especially DDT and selenium, the sea could become a "super Kesterson," the San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuge destroyed by pollution a decade ago.

http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/SaltonCountdownToCollapse.html

 


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As salinity grows and toxic dust spreads, patience wears thin at Salton Sea

May 17, 2018

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-salton-sea-20180517-story.html

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

 

‘The air is toxic’: how an idyllic California lake became a nightmare

24 Jul 2021

The shrinking Salton Sea was once a tourist destination. Now it’s home to dangerous algal blooms, endless dust and noxious air

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/23/salton-sea-california-lake-dust-drought-climate

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

Salton Sea confirmed as source of L.A. Basin smell

 September 12, 2012

Regional air quality managers said Tuesday that inspectors had cracked the mystery of the epic stink that had descended over much of Southern California.

They confirmed that the rotten egg odor traveled about 150 miles from the Salton Sea to Los Angeles.

"We now have solid evidence that clearly points to the Salton Sea as the source of a very large and unusual odor event," said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/12/local/la-me-smell-20120912

 

 

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Lithium under a California lake could help U.S. gain energy autonomy

January 19, 2022

NILAND, Calif. — Deep in the Southern California desert, a massive drill rig taps into what could be the energy of the future.

Temperatures in the region can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and residents live under the threat of toxic dust caused by decades of agricultural runoff depositing chemicals into the Salton Sea, a saltwater lake.

But in the brine of an aquifer under the lake lies lithium, a key ingredient for electric vehicle batteries, and the billion-dollar drilling project promises to not only transform an impoverished region, but also help the United States gain energy independence...

“It will be the largest lithium production in the U.S., and it may end up being the largest lithium production facility globally,” Turner said.

Currently, 10 geothermal plants and two other lithium extraction projects are operating at the Salton Sea, according to the Imperial Irrigation District.

The lake formed in 1905 when the Colorado River overflowed and flooded a hot basin, known as the Salton Sink, over a two-year period. In the 1950s, it thrived as a tourist destination, drawing celebrity visitors, including Frank Sinatra. Today, the resorts and marinas are long gone, and desert winds carry toxic dust from agricultural chemicals into the lake, about 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles...

https://news.yahoo.com/lithium-california-lake-could-help-182832530.html

 

 

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Chapter 29: Farming: Hydroponics, Aquaponics, Aeroponics

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Some debate if we should switch over to an all organic type of farming for the planet.

Others question if we should use synthetic biology to grow food.

Some people and many governments have talked about using a system of aquaponics in order to grow food. Many people think that aquaponics farming, or a form of organic soil and a hybrid type of aquaponics could be the way of the future.

Click the links for information on the difference between these different types of farming methods.



Hydroponics   -   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics

Aquaponics   -   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Aeroponics   -   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics

Organic farming   -   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming

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Many are concerned that the governments of the world have talked about banning certain types of fertilizers and chemicals for farming. This would include a ban on many synthetic and organic chemicals used in hydroponics and for soil farming.


We must be cautious of how we could be terraforming the land of the Earth while overfarming. Many farmers even use synthetic chemicals and pesticides for dozens of years, some farmers even eventually contaminate their own farming soil.



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How 1 MILLION Pounds Of Organic Food Can Be Produced On 3 Acres

2011

http://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/14/how-1-million-pounds-of-organic-food-can-be-produced-on-3-acres/

 

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Up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by local agriculture

 

Jun 02, 2015

 

 New farmland-mapping research published today (June 1) shows that up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by food grown or raised within 100 miles of their homes.

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-percent-americans-fed-local-agriculture.html#jCp

 

 

 



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Chapter 30: Northern California

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Upper Feather River Watershed

 

http://www.sacriver.org/aboutwatershed/roadmap/watersheds/feather/upper-feather-river-watershed

 

Water Quality

 

Overall, water quality is considered good, but there are several water bodies currently on the Clean Water Act’s 303(d) list of impaired waters (listed constituents include mercury, copper, temperature, and toxicity). Water quality constituents of general concern include temperature, dissolved oxygen, sediment, and bacteria, and the impacts are related to common land and water use practices in this watershed, (i.e., ranching, mining, timber harvest, road construction/maintenance, and rural residential development). Reducing peak streamflows and accelerated erosion is a principal management goal, as an estimated 1.1 million tons of sediment are transported annually out of the North Fork Feather River watershed.

303(d) Listings for the Upper Feather River Watershed

 

WATERBODY	POLLUTANT
Lake Almanor	Mercury
Concow Creek (trib. to West Branch Feather River)	Unknown Toxicity
Middle Fork Feather River (Sierra Valley to Lake Oroville)	Unknown Toxicity
North Fork Feather River	Mercury, PCBs, temperature
South Fork Feather River (Little Grass Valley Reservoir to Lake Oroville)	PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls)
Little Grizzly Creek	Copper (Walker Mine)

Historically, water quality monitoring in this watershed has been by DWR as part of their responsibility for delivering State Water Project water. Over the last 12 years (since 1998), a monitoring program has been established and implemented by the Feather River CRM program. This program is continuing to track water quality, flow, and channel condition parameters at a number of sites throughout the watershed.



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Mercury in fish at area lakes raises alarm; new regulations sought for Shasta, Whiskeytown

 

Mar 8, 2012

State officials say they are worried about high levels of mercury found in fish caught at Shasta, Whiskeytown and 72 other California lakes and the thousands of anglers who eat their catch from those reservoirs and lakes.

http://www.redding.com/news/mercury-in-fish-at-area-lakes-raises-alarm


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Pilot Study Results Summer 2010

Water Quality on US Forest Service Grazing Allotments

http://rangelandwatersheds.ucdavis.edu/main/public_grazing_water_pilot_study.html


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DTSC discloses mill site test results

02/16/2012

About 20 people attended a state Department of Toxic Substances Control meeting to summarize a feasibility study for two segments of Fort Bragg's former Georgia-Pacific mill site and a remedial investigation for another. -

 "About two thirds of the original 415-acre property is now remediated and ready for appropriate new uses," the DTSC document states. "The latest environmental studies help define the next steps needed to complete cleanup of petroleum hydrocarbons, dioxins/furans, metals and other contaminants detected in remaining areas of the former mill site."

http://www.advocate-news.com/tablehome/ci_19978413?source=rss




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METHYL MERCURY IN NORTHERN COASTAL MOUNTAIN LAKES:
GUIDELINES FOR SPORT FISH CONSUMPTION FOR

CLEAR LAKE (LAKE COUNTY)
LAKE BERRYESSA (NAPA COUNTY), AND
LAKE HERMAN (SOLANO COUNTY)

http://oehha.ca.gov/fish/pdf/CLEARLAKEREPORT.pdf

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From the Isn't It Ironic Dept: Clear Lake is World's Most Mercury Polluted Lake

 

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/from-the-isnt-it-ironic-dept-clear-lake-is-worlds-most-mercury-polluted-lake.html


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CONTAMINANTS IN FISH FROM CALIFORNIA LAKES AND RESERVOIRS: TECHNICAL REPORT ON YEAR ONE OF A TWO-YEAR SCREENING STUDY

 ( http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/docs/lakes_study/lakes_report_y1.pdf  )( http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/swamp )

 PCBS

 PCBs were second to methylmercury in reaching concentrations posing potential health risks to consumers of fish caught from California lakes. Approximately 37% of the lakes had a fish species with an average PCB concentration above the lowest OEHHA threshold (3.6 ppb). In contrast to methylmercury, only 1% of
the lakes sampled had a species with an average concentration high enough that OEHHA would consider recommending no consumption of the contaminated species (120 ppb).

Southern California was the region with the highest PCB concentrations, with 60% of lakes above 3.6 ppb. In northern California, low concentrations were commonly observed in high elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada and Trinity Alps (only 7% of lakes were above 3.6 ppb), and concentrations were generally greater in lower elevation lakes (41% of lakes above 3.6 ppb).


OVERALL CONDITION ASSESSMENT


 OTHER POLLUTANTS



-----------------------------------------------

The Berryessa Snow Mountain Region
The Undiscovered Landscape

http://berryessasnowmountain.org/pdf/BSM_NCA_Proposal_11_24_2008_sm.pdf

 

 
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Human Influences to Clear Lake, California
A 20th Century History

 

March 2009

 

http://celake.ucanr.edu/files/164054.pdf

 

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Napa River Pollution

Main problem- polluted runoff (containing salts, selenium, and boron) from roads and agricultural waste is flowing into the Napa River. This runoff comes from the roads and agricultural land. The runoff flows down hillsides that have been deforested in order to grow more grape vineyards, even though the grapes are found in abundance on the valley floor.

 http://filipchaparral.weebly.com/napa-river-pollution.html



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100,000 gallons of sewage spills into Russian River

 

February 13, 2014

 

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/1856079-181/100000-gallons-of-sewage-spills

 

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Townsfolk Along Russian River See Red Over Sewage Dumping

 

March 01, 1987

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-01/news/mn-7058_1_russian-river



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Russian River TMDLs

Pathogen Problems in the Russian River Watershed


 http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/northcoast/water_issues/programs/tmdls/russian_river/
 ( http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/northcoast/water_issues/programs/tmdls/303d/pdf/101115/Calwater_RussianRiver_June_2011.pdf )


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Chapter 31: Bohemian Grove 

 

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The Bohemian Grove is located in Sonoma County, California. The Russian River flows through Bohemian Grove.

Even the members of the Bohemian Grove are not immune from the pollution in the state of California.

 


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1981 News report about Bohemian grove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCDs9Vs2iYM

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For more information on Bohemian Grove, view my video - Secret societies & royal orders investigated ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRfVhY40xpI&index=1&list=PL404C1C8EFF486987 ).

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Jerry Brown is the current Governor of California.

Jerry Brown's father, Edmund Gerald “Pat” Brown, was a member of The Bohemian Grove.
Edmund Gerald “Pat” Brown, Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Earl Warren were all Governors of California, and were all members of the Bohemian Grove.

Many governors, presidents and other high ranking political authorities are members of the Bohemian Grove Club. 

What have many of the  leaders in charge done about the carcinogens and toxins in childhood food & clothing.

We can see what the special interests of politics has done to the environment in California.

We need to stop the special interests in California politics from continuing to harm our great state.

 

 

 
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Governor Jerry Brown attended Yale Law School. Many other politicians such as George W. Bush, including John Kerry, were members of the fraternity called Skull and Bones at Yale University. We could not verify that Jerry Brown attended any meetings of any fraternities while at Yale University.

 

 

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Jerry Brown Biography

 Edmund G. Brown Jr., known as Jerry, was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He attended both public and parochial schools, graduating from St. Ignatius High School in 1955. He completed freshman year at the University of Santa Clara before entering Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Jesuit seminary in August 1956. In 1960, he left the Society of Jesus and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his B.A. degree in Classics the next year and then entered Yale Law School, where he graduated in 1964.



 http://gov.ca.gov/m_about.php

 

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Chapter 32: Humboldt County area

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 -----------------------------------------------

An Inventory of Brownfields in Humboldt County, California 

http://humboldt-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/2148/627/Andrew_Whitney.pdf?sequence=1

 

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Humboldt County, CA Environmental Hazards Report

http://www.homefacts.com/environmentalhazards/California/Humboldt-County.html

 

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Report states parasite blinded salmon; virus found in brains

 

03/23/16

A Chinook salmon with clouded eyes showed signs of blindness during an Oct. 20, 2015 survey on the lower Eel River. A preliminary report from UC Davis found that the cause of the blindness was from a parasite commonly known as a fluke. 

http://www.times-standard.com/article/NJ/20160323/NEWS/160329960 

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Eel River blues, Part I

 

August 7, 2008

https://humboldtherald.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/eel-river-blues-part-i/

 

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Volunteers Watching for Eel River Toxic Algae

According to a Press Release from the Eel River Recovery Project, dated August 10, 2012:


http://www.kmud.org/news-humboldt-california/water/item/2700-volunteers-watching-for-eel-river-toxic-algae.html

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 Many of the farmers in Humboldt are being blamed for a water shortage that they did not create. A good portion of the Eel River is diverted to Big Agra farms to Central and Southern California, this has lowered the river during the Summertime season. This has been a concern for the environment, for the amount of algae levels that exist during the summer season. Other people claim that the high levels of fecal matter during summertime was because of increased tourism near different rivers.

 
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Potter Valley Project

The Potter Valley Project is an interbasin water transfer project in Northern California in the United States, delivering water from the Eel River basin to the headwaters of the Russian River. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The main facilities are two dams on the Eel River, a diversion tunnel and hydroelectric plant. Average annual throughput is 159,000 acre·ft (196,000,000 m³), although this figure varies significantly with both the amount of precipitation in the Eel River basin and the demand on the Russian River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Valley_Project

 

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Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant

In 2004 Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced that three nuclear fuel rods were unaccounted for due to conflicting records of their location. The fuel rods were never accounted for, though PG&E investigators believe that they are still onsite in a storage pool. The investigation is believed to have cost one million dollars

In December 2008, PG&E finished moving the spent nuclear fuel into dry cask storage on site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Bay_Nuclear_Power_Plant

 

 
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Multiple individuals have accused Humboldt Bay Nuclear Plant of having leaking storage containers on site.

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Aquatic Pollution: An Introductory Text

By Edward A. Laws

Page 505

In June 1965, unusually high discharges of radioactivity began to occur from the stacks of the Pacific Gas and Electric's (PGE's) Humboldt Bay power plant at Eureka, California.

The level of radioactivity in the stack gases continued to increase in the following months, and in August 1965, the mean discharge rate radioactivity from the stacks was 3 billion Bq.

  https://books.google.com/books?id=11LI7XyEIsAC&pg=PA505&lpg=PA505&dq=Humboldt+Bay+Nuclear+Power+Plant+problems+leaking&source=bl&ots=e-P50EKIum&sig=Si_kNqrrnamY4rboqCyRyeW4rqI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PxWHVeyvNZCsyASFq4-YDg&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Humboldt%20Bay%20Nuclear%20Power%20Plant%20problems%20leaking&f=false

 

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Wild and harnessed, Eel River a vital, troubled North Coast watershed 

 

April 10, 2016

 

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5477680-181/wild-and-harnessed-eel-river?artslide=0

 

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Updates on Biotoxins in Shellfish Along California's Coast

 

http://redmed.com/updates-biotoxins-shellfish-along-californias-coast

 

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Chapter 33: Lake Tahoe

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Scientists Disagree on Source of Lake Tahoe Pollution

 

August 19, 1999

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/aug/19/news/mn-1639



-----------------------------------------------

Local air pollutants threaten Lake Tahoe's clarity

 ( http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v060n02p53&fulltext=yes )


Since 1967, Lake Tahoe's water quality has declined at an unexpectedly rapid rate, in part due to anthropogenic nutrient and sediment loading (Goldman 1988; Jassby et al. 1999; Murphy and Knopp 2000). The Lake Tahoe Watershed Assessment provided a comprehensive summary of scientific knowledge regarding the factors contributing to the observed water-quality decline and the steps that can be taken to restore the Lake Tahoe Basin ecosystem (Murphy and Knopp 2000). Contributing factors include nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment flow into Lake Tahoe. Murphy and Knopp (2000) reported that atmospheric deposition (gases and particles that enter the lake from the air) accounts for approximately 55% of the nitrogen and 27% of the phosphorus load into the lake. No estimate of atmospheric fine-soil particulate input was presented.

 In addition to decreasing water clarity, atmospheric pollutants can affect forest health. It is well established that ambient ozone has pronounced adverse effects on forest health in California's mountain regions (Arbaugh et al. 1998). According to large-scale distribution maps of the Sierra Nevada bioregion, the Lake Tahoe Basin's summer-season, 24-hour ozone levels are 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 60 ppb (Fraczek et al. 2003). Such ozone levels may be phytotoxic (toxic to vegetation) (Krupa et al. 1998) and can adversely affect tree health (Arbaugh et al. 1998). Ozone causes foliar injury (an indicator of tree health) to ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa) and Jeffrey pines in the central Sierra Nevada (Miller et al. 1996), including in the Lake Tahoe Basin (Pedersen 1989)...

Measuring phosphorus

 

Phosphorus, which comes into the lake from both sediment in stream runoff and airborne particles, is presently the limiting nutrient for algal growth, a major factor in the lake's clarity decline; while all pollutants entering Lake Tahoe must be reduced, nitrogen pollution is currently so high that the most effective strategy for the time being is to reduce phosphorus. About one-fourth of all phosphorus comes from the air, as shown by the phosphorus data from deposition buckets on and near the lake, but phosphorus is rarely seen in the existing ambient air samples. One possibility is that phosphorus occurs in particles larger than those collected by current in-basin, filter-based air samplers, which only measure fine particles below 2.5 microns (?m) in diameter.



---------------------------------------------

Aircraft measurements of nitrogen and phosphorus in and around the  

 

Lake Tahoe Basin: implications for possible sources of atmospheric pollutants to Lake Tahoe.

Dec, 2002

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12523410

 

-----------------------------------------------

Keep Tahoe Blue

http://www.keeptahoeblue.org/

 

-----------------------------------------------
 

Study Offers Hope for Lake Tahoe

 

Reducing about 35% of the pollution now entering the water could help restore its historic clarity, the UC Davis report says.

 

July 25, 2006


http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/25/local/me-tahoe25





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CA Governor Signs Bill to Weaken Water Quality Protections for Lake Tahoe

 

October 14, 2013

Signature on SB630 signs away 40 years of environmental protections

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2013/ca-governor-signs-bill-to-weaken-water-quality-protections-for-lake-tahoe



-----------------------------------------------

Evidence for organochlorine contamination in tissues of salmonids in Lake Tahoe. 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9931244

-----------------------------------------------



Pesticides and PCB Contaminants in Fish and Tadpoles from the Kaweah River Basin, California

http://online.sfsu.edu/carlosd/contaminant/datta%20kaweah%20Bul%20Env%20Cont%20Tox%2098.pdf



-----------------------------------------------


Local air pollutants threaten Lake Tahoe's clarity

http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.edu/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v060n02p53&fulltext=yes

 

-----------------------------------------------

Air Pollution Concerns May End Ordnance Disposal at Army Base

 

Military: Foes say blowing up bombs, rockets and munitions releases toxins. Officials say 50 jobs are at stake.

HERLONG, Calif. — Each workday for the past couple of generations, the sound of war would briefly shatter the lonely afternoon peace of Honey Lake Valley, out on the backside of the northeast Sierra.

Like clockwork, the military blew up unwanted bombs, rockets and munitions in open pits at Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, Calif. Plumes of smoke billowed into the sky. Windows rattled. Locals mostly shrugged. It was life's routine.
Now the practice, dating to Cold War days when military need trumped environmental nicety, seems destined to be scrubbed.

Lassen County air pollution control officials recently refused to exempt the Army base from federal clean air laws, effectively putting the depot's ordnance disposal operations out of business.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/10/local/me-44168

 


-----------------------------------------------

 

 

Settlement: Old Toxic Cables to Be Removed From Lake Tahoe

November 24, 2021

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-news/settlement-old-toxic-cables-to-be-removed-from-lake-tahoe/2767438/ 

 

-----------------------------------------------

Poisoned fish: An old mercury mine taints California waters

 

March 11, 2011

https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/03/mercury-california-fish-san-francisco-bay.html

-----------------------------------------------

Gold Rush leaves state toxic legacy

 

IN SIERRA NEVADA: Mercury made miners' work easier; now it poisons water, fish

 

2001

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2001/may/12/gold-rush-leaves-state-toxic-legacy/?print=1


-----------------------------------------------

 

ABANDONED MINES AND MERCURY IN CALIFORNIA

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg53883/html/CHRG-111hhrg53883.htm

 

-----------------------------------------------

Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in California

 

2005

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3014/


-----------------------------------------------

HYDROLOGY AND WATER QUALITY


Nevada County


https://secure.mynevadacounty.com/nc/cda/planning/rincon/Environmental%
20Documents/Draft%20EIR%20Volume%20I/3.09_Hydrology_and_Water_Quality.pdf


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GROUND-WATER CONDITIONS AND WELL YIELDS IN FRACTURED ROCKS, SOUTHWESTERN NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/1983/4262/report.pdf



-----------------------------------------------


Criteria Air Pollutant Report: NEVADA County, CA

http://scorecard.goodguide.com/env-releases/cap/county.tcl?fips_county_code=06057

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Chapter 34: California Superfund sites, toxic sites & pollution summary

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-----------------------------------------------

Map of the Day: Pollution in California

 

2013

 

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/04/map-day-pollution-california/5415/



-----------------------------------------------

California Superfund site more contaminated than EPA originally believed

A Superfund environmental cleanup site in California is larger in area and higher in pollutants than the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, initially believed.
The Middlefield, Ellis, Whisman Superfund site, named for the surrounding streets, includes the area around Moffett Federal Airfield. Middlefield, Ellis, Whisman, or M-E-W, is one of many Superfund sites near active or former military bases. M-E-W also contains factories that produced semi-conductors in the 1980s.

The M-E-W Superfund site has air and water contamination from PCE, TCE, and vinyl chloride; chemicals shown to cause cancer. TCE, or trichloroethylene, was used to clean military airplanes and metal fittings during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

http://www.examiner.com/article/california-superfund-site-more-contaminated-than-epa-originally-believed

 

-----------------------------------------------
 

List of Superfund sites in California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites_in_California

 


-----------------------------------------------

Cleanup Sites in California

http://www.epa.gov/region9/cleanup/california.html



-----------------------------------------------

The Problem

 California currently has 139 contaminated sites awaiting cleanup. Some sites have as much as 300 tons of contaminated soil.

http://imgur.com/QW1xGq1

 

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Wasteland

A Nationwide Cleanup


Many hazardous waste sites in the U.S. have been cleaned up, but hundreds more are works in progress. Use this map to see how close you are to the nearest Superfund site.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/superfund/voosen-text

 

-----------------------------------------------



US Military Bases Known To Be Contaminated


http://www.gmasw.com/ao_bases.htm


The following 59 U.S. military bases were suffering from significant water or soil contamination a year ago, according to the Department of Defense's interpretation of its latest hazardous waste survey. DoD officials say not every base suffering such contamination is on the list, because information was not available for all bases. The list is based on the latest status report for DoD's Installation Restoration Program.

Moffett Field NAS, CA

The major contaminants in the ground water are volatile organic compounds.


Castle AFB, CA
On-base drinking water supply has been contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). Work is under way to install a new well drawing from a deeper, uncontaminated aquifer.


 Mather AFB, CA
Water in 36 homes was affected by trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination of a well on base. A new permanent water supply is to be provided to these homes.


McClellan AFB, CA
An estimated 160 sites have been identified. Contaminants include organic compounds, such as trichloroethylene (TCE), methylene chloride, and 1-1 dichloreythlene. Wells both on and off base that had contaminants exceeding government standards have been shut down. McClellan is considered a leader in cleanup efforts. Completed projects include alternate water supply for off base residents and a ground water containment system and treatment plant.


Norton AFB, CA
Trichloroethylene (TCE) was detected in concentrations exceeding state drinking water standards. All base wells were contaminated to various degrees with silver and tetrachlorethylene (PCE). Closure of a lagoon and sludge removal was begun several years ago.

-----------------------------------------------




CALIFORNIA WATER INSTITUTE

 

Report TP 02-06

Organochlorine Pesticide, PCB and Dioxin/Furan
Excessive Bioaccumulation Management Guidance

http://www.gfredlee.com/SurfaceWQ/OClTMDLRpt12-11-02.pdf



-----------------------------------------------

 

Los Angeles sues 3 companies over toxic PCBs in waterways

March 7, 2022

https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-lawsuits-los-angeles-monsanto-co-424d4006ca66d9c37a41fffef53ec68f

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

Toxic Waters

May 16, 2012

Examine whether contaminants in your water supply met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.

 (Browse by state or county.)

 http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/contaminants/ca

 

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3.4 ThE IMpACT OF pCB BIOACCuMuLATION ON FIShING
AND AquATIC LIFE IN CALIFORNIA

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/docs/bop/cw117_ch3_3_4.pdf

-----------------------------------------------

 
Pesticidal Copper (I) Oxide: Environmental Fate
and Aquatic Toxicity
 

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/pubs/ehapref/pesticidal_copper_%20oxide.pdf

-----------------------------------------------

Environmental Protection Indicators for California (EPIC)

http://oehha.ca.gov/multimedia/epic/index.html



-----------------------------------------------

Risk Assessment: Soil and Soil Gas

http://oehha.ca.gov/risk/soil.html


-----------------------------------------------

Air Toxicology and Epidemiology

 

View a table of all TAC documents

• Meeting of the Scientific Review Panel for Toxic Air Contaminants on May 12, 2009.
  [04/29/09]

http://oehha.ca.gov/air/toxic_contaminants/index.html

 


-----------------------------------------------

 

Air Toxicology and Epidemiology

 

Hot Spots Guidelines

http://oehha.ca.gov/air/hot_spots/index.html

 

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California caves to big oil, kills fracking moratorium

 

The power of the oil industry in California was demonstrated on Thursday, May 30 when the State Assembly voted 35-24 to kill a bill originally designed to halt fracking throughout the state.

http://redgreenandblue.org/2013/06/02/california-caves-to-big-oil-kills-fracking-moratorium/




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Clean Water Report Card for California: Table 1. Half of the water pollution permits for major California industries are expired

 

March 1, 2000

 

http://www.ewg.org/research/clean-water-report-card-california/table-1-half-water-pollution-permits-major-california

 

 

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Nestle Permit to Bottle Water in California Expired in 1988

  

2015

 

http://www.newser.com/story/205410/nestle-permit-to-bottle-water-in-california-expired-in-1988.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=inbox&utm_campaign=newser

 

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The Privatization of Water: Nestlé Denies that Water is a Fundamental Human Right

 

 27 June 2013

The current Chairman and former CEO of Nestlé, the largest producer of food products in the world, believes that the answer to global water issues is privatization.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nestle-denies-that-water-is-a-fundamental-human-right/5332238

 

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Nestle chairman: Time to turn off the water taps

 

24 Mar 2015

 

...Within the company, Nestle has created a "shadow price" for water for its operations locally, to ensure it's given a value to make it psychologically more difficult to waste, said Brabeck-Letmathe...  

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/nestle-chairman-time-to-turn-off-the-water-taps.html

 

 

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Kraft, Pepsi, and Nestle Using Aborted Babies For Flavor Additives

  

July 19, 2015

http://drrichswier.com/2015/07/19/kraft-pepsi-and-nestle-the-using-aborted-babies-for-flavor-additives/

 

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Chapter 35: Illegal dumping

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Judge Orders Carnival Cruise Line to Stop Illegal Dumping
 

Lawsuit Settlement Halts Illegal Ballast Water Dumping by Cruise Ships in California Ports
 

 2003

 

 http://www.baycrossings.com/Archives/2003/04_May/judge_orders_carnival_cruise_line_to_stop_illegal_dumping.htm

 

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Wal-Mart Pleads Guilty to Dumping Hazardous Waste in Calif.

 

Illegal dumping occurred in 16 California counties from Del Norte to Orange between 2003 and 2005, documents show.

 

May 28, 2013

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/NATL-Wal-Mart-Pleads-Guilty-to-Dumping-Hazardous-Waste-in-Calif-209217601.html

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Target Stores Illegally Dumping Toxic Waste In California

September 28, 2010


 San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, together with 19 other California District Attorneys, the state Attorney General and the City Attorneys in San Diego and Los Angeles announced today that a judge in Northern California has ordered the Minnesota-based Target Corporation to stop routinely and systematically dumping hazardous wastes into the environment.

http://www.greenecoservices.com/target-stores-illegally-dumping-toxic-waste-in-california/



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Albertsons to pay $3.4 million to settle illegal disposal case

 

The Albertsons company was ordered Tuesday to pay more than $3 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the grocery chain of illegal disposal, transportation, storage and mismanagement of hazardous waste at its 188 California locations.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-albertsons-settlement-20140624-story.html

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PALO ALTO / Jiffy Lube to pay fine for illegal dumping

 

August 30, 2006

 

Jiffy Lube has agreed to pay $35,000 in fines and fees after workers at its Palo Alto store were found to have dumped spilled oil and antifreeze down a restroom drain, the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office announced.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/PALO-ALTO-Jiffy-Lube-to-pay-fine-for-illegal-2553882.php



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Environmental crime and pollution: wasteful reflections

 

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Environmental+crime+and+pollution%3A+wasteful+reflections+%281%29.-a093211948

 

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Chapter 36: Red Tides

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For more information on red tides view the second book of this series titled Pollution Science 101 California - PollutionScience101California.Blogspot.com

 

 

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Chapter 37: Mexico

 

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For more information on Mexico view the second book of this series titled Pollution Science 101 California - PollutionScience101California.Blogspot.com

Here is a link to another following book we have on the pollution in Mexico PollutionScience101Mexico.Blogspot.com

 

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Chapter 38: Transboundary pollution China

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Asian air pollution strengthens Pacific storms


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27027876


 14 April 2014

Air pollution in China and other Asian countries is having far-reaching impacts on weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere, a study suggests.

Researchers have found that pollutants are strengthening storms above the Pacific Ocean, which feeds into weather systems in other parts of the world.

The effect was most pronounced during the winter.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)...

 "There have also been suggestions that aerosols over the North Atlantic effect storms over the North Atlantic, and that aerosols in the monsoon region over South Asia can affect circulation around the whole of the world."

-----------------------------------------------



Watching the Atmospheric Rivers Flow

 

Nov 01, 2012

Atmospheric rivers are a 21st-century weather threat that first got their name in 1998, after satellites capable of measuring water vapor in the air began producing images like this one. It shows the chronically humid tropical ocean at the bottom, and long, thin streamers of water vapor threading away from the tropics. It was soon estimated that these streamers—atmospheric rivers or ARs—are responsible for essentially all of the moisture transported out of the tropics.

The basic connection between ARs and major precipitation events was obvious. In California, our 20th-century name for these is the Pineapple Express: a huge influx of warm, water-heavy air from the tropical Pacific that overfills the rivers and piles snow on the mountains. Smaller ARs may not cause major floods, but they can bump up river flows by 10 times in a day or two. They deliver to California about one-third of its total water. Clearly ARs are important research topics for both scientific and practical reasons. How do they interact with El Niño/La Niña cycles? How will climate change affect them? How can we better protect ourselves from them?

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/11/01/watching-the-atmospheric-rivers-flow/



-----------------------------------------------

 

Pollution from China alters weather in U.S. West

December 12, 2011

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pollution-from-china-alters-weather-in-us-west/




-----------------------------------------------



Made in China: Up to a quarter of California smog

January 2014

What goes around comes around – quite literally in the case of smog. The US has outsourced many of its production lines to China and, in return, global winds are exporting the Chinese factories' pollution right back to the US.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24909-made-in-china-up-to-a-quarter-of-california-smog.html#.U-yYiGOZgo8


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Air pollution from China = stronger storms in the Pacific?

April 21, 2014

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/air-pollution-china-stronger-storms-pacific.html



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Corals Engineer Their Own Currents

 September 5, 2014

 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inkfish/2014/09/05/corals-engineer-currents/#.VFbIhskloo8

 

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Determination of butyltin and phenyltin analogues in sea products by Grignard derivatization and gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry
 

2014

 

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/ay/c4ay00939h#!divAbstract

 

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Chapter 39: Additional information

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 -----------------------------------------------

 

 
12 Biggest Environmental Problems Of 2022

Feb 7th 2022

https://earth.org/the-biggest-environmental-problems-of-our-lifetime/

 


-----------------------------------------------

10 Ocean Issues You’ll Be Hearing About in 2022

Jan 6 2022

From deep-sea mining to clashes over migrants, it’s shaping up to be a year of blue issues

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/10-ocean-issues-you-ll-be-hearing-about-2022

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

Severely Polluted Waters

( http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/news/category/severely-polluted-waters )

    Researcher compares garbage patch in Pacific Ocean to floating ‘landfill’
       
    
    We all might want to be a little more freaked out about toledo's water crisis
    7 cities marking their urban rivers swimmable again
    Environmentalists warn fire retardant may have toxic consequences
    Post-mortem underway after California fish die-off
    New map could refocus state's pollution battles
    California to set chromium limit for drinking water supplies
    Skin-cleansing microbeads harm marine life, targeted for bans
    California drought creating toxic clams in San Francisco Bay
    Water in America: is it safe to drink?
    Human resource needs putting deepwater ecosystems in peril
    Sonoma County wine growers set goal of 100% sustainability
    Coast getting little radiation from Fukushima disaster
    State Water Board Faces Suit
    Nitrate pollution continues for decades after fertilizer use
    Nutrient pollution threatens national park ecosystems, study says
    New Dispute Threatens San Diego Bay Cleanup
    1 in 10 Watersheds in the Continental US Stressed with Number Likely to Grow
    Blue-green algae a health hazard in Klamath River
    Local Agency Files for 'Relief' Against New TMDLs for Malibu Creek, Lagoon
    EPA Proposes Water Quality Standards For Preventing Degradation of Water Bodies
    EPA Proposing to Formally Review Methods Used to Protect Waters From Degradation
    Most California water utilities fail to submit ag water management plans
    Deep Cleaning Set for San Diego Bay
    Women, kids urged to avoid mercury-tainted fish from California lakes
    Marijuana Crops in California Threaten Forests and Wildlife
    California may delay treatment rules for invasive species
    New Surface Water Treatment Rules Take Effect July 1
    State proposes regulation tightening of county's most-used fumigant
    State orders county grower to clean up water
    Tribes and environmentalists petition to close dredge mining 'loophole'
    Supreme Court rejects dredge petition
    EPA Survey Finds More Than Half of the Nation's River and Stream Miles in Poor Condition
    Another setback for state's Russian River frost protection rules
    State Water Board Report Addresses Nitrates in Groundwater
    Water quality still a concern for dairies
    Clean Water Coalition Sues State Over Farm Rules
    Sea Otters Sue State Water Board
    State Water Board sued over ag order delays
    Sea Otters Sue State Water Resources Control Board
    EPA strengthens water quality guidelines for beaches
    Environmental groups call for tougher pesticide regulations
    Six Central Coast farms fined for not complying with new ag runoff rules
    San Diego Watershed in "Fair" Condition
    State water board issues partial stay of new regulation
    Fish and Game Information Officer responds to deformed fish concern
    Water Board to consider stay for ag order rules
    State Water Board may delay new ag rules
    County screening boaters to ward off invasive species
    Department of Pesticide Regulation Announces New Restrictions to Protect Water Quality in Urban Areas
    After VOSD Story, Marina Gets a Cleanup
    A Rising Tide of Acid Off California
    Governor seeks to cut toxic chemicals in furniture
    Ninth Circuit Court Reverses Federal Decision on Suction Dredge
    Rapid test strips detect swimming water contamination
    Alliance Claims Magic Mountain Pollutes River With Cleaning Practices
    Six Flags Magic Mountain polluting river, coalition alleges
    Environmentalists, farmers take water quality fight to state
    California fracking bill would protect industry 'trade secrets'
    Water issues, struggling dairies cloud California agriculture
    Herbicide regulations tighten over salmon protection
    Port appeals bay cleanup order
    Fracking bill moves forward in California Legislature
    Feds say 3 pesticides harmful to salmon
    Scarce water spreads disease on waterfowl refuge
    Challenge Filed to End Destructive Suction Dredge Mining in California's Rivers
    S.B. Channelkeeper Settles Lawsuit with Santa Barbara
    Judge gives feds 6 months to clean up border plant
    Maker of methyl iodide scraps controversial pesticide
    Regulators want Avalon to clean up its deceptively clear water
    Spotlight on nitrate in Salinas drinking water
    EPA mystified by stingy DDT pollution in SF Bay
    Water quality board approves new ag rules: Contentious issue likely to face a higher court
    Oil extraction method widely used in California with little oversight
    Regulators ready to force bay cleanup
    New rules aim to reduce ag pollution
    Describe your local beach
    Mercury in fish at area lakes raises alarm; new regulations sought for Shasta, Whiskeytown
    State, Salinas-area strawberry growers grapple with pesticide reduction
    Ocean water quality testing may be limited this fall
    Ag industry and environmentalists wrestle over new runoff rules
    Scientists Establish Links Between Agricultural Use and Transport to Streams
    Limits planned for suction dredging; gold miners upset
    Water Board sets hearing to adopt agricultural order
    Russian River science panel created
    State water-quality board approves plan for restoring ocean waters near ports
    New beach water rules: Enough to make you sick
    Ag runoff center of water quality debate
    EPA Proposal Allows 1 in 28 People to get Sick at U.S. Beaches
    Public Health improves oyster quality control
    Judge Puts Onus on State to Prove It Considered Methyl Iodide Alternatives
    EPA cracks down on Redwood City company polluting San Francisco
    Toxic releases rose 16 percent in 2010, EPA says
    Another appeal attempts to block America's Cup
    Water quality boards seek to manage nitrate contamination
    USDA Revises National Nutrient Management Standard to Achieve Maximum Agricultural, Environmental Benefits
    Colfax hurt by regulation or irresponsible stewards?
    Urban 'cesspool' turns to showpiece over decades
    Algae blooms' sudden spread stumps scientists
    Congressional panel eyes fracking wastewater rules
    Elkhorn Slough teeters on 'algal mess'
    California pioneers plan for trimming toxins
    Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors may enter methyl iodide debate
    Stalled Malibu Lagoon restoration gets go-ahead
    Methyl Iodide Approved under Industry Pressure
    California waters show widespread pollution
    Upgrading water systems can reduce pollution - and put nearly 1.9 million people to work
    State uses more muscle against mussels
    Red tide killing abalone off California
    Environmental toxins in San Francisco Bay could increase with Delta water plan
    Abalone die-off plagues the coast
    Banned Pesticide Use Remains High in CA Strawberry Fields
    Memos show staff questioned rationale for pesticide approval
    A fracking mess
    Ventura Water and Public Interest Groups Protect Santa Clara River Estuary with Settlement
    'Frack' oil wells draw California into debate
    Toxins troubling in fish caught in local waters
    Federal panel urges greater tabs on 'fracking'
    Launching a new vision of the L.A. River
    Invader invited to defend Delta
    Local Eyesores Leaching Toxics Into Bay
    Agricultural water discharge approval is challenged
    E. Coli Can Survive in Stream Sediments for Months
    EPA sued over state toxic waste dump sites
    Senate Hold Placed on Aquatic Pesticides Bill
    California's new pesticide plan sparks protest
    Water Wars
    Petaluma River cleanup kicks off
    Coalition to sue U.S. over toxic farmland runoff
    Sport fish contaminated along California's urban coastline
    Water quality worsens at L.A. County beaches, annual report card finds
    Most Bay Area beaches rated high for water quality
    Delta salt removal order on hold
    Neighbors, farmworkers ask EPA to ban use of fumigant in California strawberry fields
    Crews to clean up dumping ground along Petaluma River
    Ag industry decries over-regulation
    State may approve farm water runoff cleanup
    Despite regulations, irrigators are still polluting ground surface water
    House repudiates NPDES permitting
    Good News, Bad News About Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Major California Rivers
    EPA Updates Web Tool Providing Clean Water Violation Trends and State Enforcement Response
    EPA opens public comment period on strawberry pesticide
    Victorville compost company to monitor toxin in dead sardines
    Chevron, San Juan settle water contamination dispute
    Poisoned fish: An old mercury mine taints California waters
    Delta waterway nearly clear of junk, toxic debris
    EPA diving into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
    Korbel continues trash cleanup along river
    Volunteers begin river cleanup of Korbel dump debris
    San Diego Makes ‘Worst Drinking Water’ List
    Farmers fight new water quality regulations: Proposed regulatory program comes before regional water officials in March
    Oregon poised to adopt the strictest standard for toxic water pollution in the U.S.
    Methyl iodide's use in state challenged by suit
    Julia 'Judy' Bonds, 58, dies; outspoken foe of mountaintop strip mining
    Farmworkers challenge approval of methyl iodide on strawberry fields
    Owner of Metal Recycling Facility Plant to Pay for Study of Santa Clara River Estuary Pollution
    Can methyl iodide be used as a pesticide?
    EPA Analysis Shines New Light on Toxic Pollution
    California water quality officials consider regulations to control agricultural runoff
    States Pursue Radon Limits in Drinking Water as EPA Action Lags
    Group sues Monterey County Water Resources Agency over polluted runoff
    INLAND: Water districts betting on bacteria for cleanup
    Monterey Coastkeeper Sues Monterey County Water Resources Agency To Protect Water Quality
    Smartphones used to gather data about San Jose's urban streams
    Throwing Good Money at Bad Land
    BREAKING: Mass Arrests in DC: We Shall No Longer Be Crucified Upon the Cross of Coal (PHOTOS)
    Security National, Baykeeper settle Balloon Track suit; agreement has SN paying Baykeeper $1.8 million, allowing input on cleanup
    Calif. Sea Otter Deaths Pinned to Freshwater Toxin
    Fighting Dirty Water Is World's New Ecological Battle
    Arsenic in Field Runoff Linked to Poultry Litter
    List of California's polluted waterways getting longer
    State Water Board Takes Action on 1,700 Severely Polluted Waterways
    Pigments may be a new source of PCBs
    Restoring the L.A. River
    EPA declares L.A. River 'traditional navigable waters'
    Mercury found in fish from S.F. water supply
    California State University Channel Island (“CSUCI”) and Wishtoyo Foundation’s Ventura Coastkeeper (“VCK”) Collaborate
    CSUCI, Coastkeeper pool resources to study water
    State Water Board to Take Action on 1,700 Severely Polluted Waterways
    Report finds delta among most vulnerable rivers
    Supreme Court refuses to hear L.A.'s appeal to let it dump sludge
    Valley farmers likely to get nine more years for selenium runoff cleanup
    EPA will limit pesticides near salmon streams
    Central Coast farmers push back on new runoff rules
    Fishable, Swimmable, Drinkable?
    Soapbox: Growers can change our water from polluted to pure
    Rescue the Clean Water Act
    State firms praised for purging toxic chemicals
    Valley landfill violated disposal rules, EPA says
    Suisun Bay's ghost fleet may finally R.I.P.
    Ag Water Target of EDC
    Feds, state reach deal to clear out mothballed ships
    Environmental regulators will measure levels of plastic chemical in water supply
    North Coast water board sets action plan for Klamath River pollution
    Topical Drugs May Pollute Waterways
    Klamath River fish diseases spreading
    Coal's Toxic Sludge
    Is the Clean Water Act Losing Ground?
    Lawsuit claims PCBs found in 10 fish oil supplements; product labeling sought
    New study on pesticide's possible role in worldwide frog decline
    Maritime Administration knew of Mothball Fleet paint pollution in 1997
    In a California Town, Birth Defects, Deaths and Questions
    Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water
    EPA official visits Kettleman City, meets mothers whose babies had birth defects
    Pesticides in California Rivers
    EPA probes its actions in town with toxic-waste dump
    Klamath TMDL revisions presented to public
    Mothball Fleet maintenance unlawful, judge rules
    Something fishy about state agency lawyer's removal, lawmaker says
    Bay mussels to be studied for contaminants
    Even at Sublethal Levels, Pesticides May Slow the Recovery of Wild Salmon Populations
    Ship cleaned in S.F. before heading to Texas wasteland
    Ethanol, biodiesel linked to water pollution
    Toxins found in wetlands threaten to quash land swap
    Press Release: County Judge Overturns Syar Phase VI Project EIR Approval
    Clearing the air
    Suspected Morro Bay pollutant looks more prevalent than previously believed
    Poison water cleanup efforts bring Erin Brockovich to Oakland
    Funding to test bacteria in ocean suspended in Seal Beach
    Health warning at local beaches
    Bay Area cities must cut trash in storm drains
    Elkhorn Slough's Troubled Waters
    S.D. Bay cleanup proposal drags on
    EPA to brief Boxer on toxic drinking water in schools
    AP IMPACT: Drinking water at thousands of schools contains unsafe lead, other toxins
    Strawberry pesticide leaves sour taste
    AP IMPACT: Review shows gov't rarely intervenes as Calif. mercury mines pollute water, fish
    EPA to place limits on power plant water pollution
    Our Plastic Legacy Afloat
    Health concerns grow over major weed killer
    California moves toward stringent chromium 6 standard for drinking water
    Mercury-tainted fish found widely in U.S. streams
    Central Valley continues marathon fight for clean drinking water
    PRESS RELEASE: Toxic Algae Blooms Return to Klamath River
    Fish kill strikes Lake Elsinore once again
    Ports to look at water pollution guidelines
    Study: Pollution Causing Cancer in Animals
    An Underwater Fight Is Waged for the Health of San Francisco Bay
    Congress considers legislation for quicker testing of water pollution
    California beaches face a rising tide of pollution, study finds
    Calleguas Creek among most polluted
    Parkinson's linked to high levels of pesticide in the body
    Sacramento area is Delta's top pesticide source, study finds
    Quality of Bottled Water Questioned in Congress
    Are fireworks bad for the environment?
    State expands area toxic fish warning
    Water quality disclosure not government's job
    Return of blue-green algae nothing new at Clear Lake
    EPA plan targets vast DDT deposit off Calif. coast
    Is the fish you're eating contaminated?
    New data suggest PBDE byproducts are ubiquitous in U.S. waters
    Santa Monica, Malibu beaches among state's 10 most polluted
    Bay Area beaches score high on water quality
    Report card: S.D. beaches not so great in wet weather
    Pinto Lake contaminated
    Wildlife found to be unlikely E. coli culprits
    Delta rivers top U.S. most-troubled list
    Ocean mercury on the increase
    Poll: Drinking water pollution top concern
    Overrun by waste: Large agriculture operations add billions to our economy but what price are we paying?
    EPA chief reconsidering ship ballast permit
    Water board moves to clean up Bay, waterways
    ENDANGERED SPECIES: Lawsuit aims to protect N. Calif. salmon habitat
    To save salmon, stop subsidizing toxic farming
    Metal Levels Found High in Tributary After Spill
    Local marine-life contaminant levels 'terrifyingly high'
    Drinking water contamination mapped
    UC Davis researcher finds contamination in bass
    L.A. County beaches rank high in contamination


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 Additional reading information can be found on cacoastkeeper.org


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Headlines

http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/news/section/headlines


    Hundreds of Californians have no tap water due to drought, receiving bottled water rations
    Large dams just aren’t worth the cost
    Over-Allocation of California water rights, lack of use data complicate enforcement
    63 trillion gallons of groundwater lost in drought, study finds
    California is ‘woefully unprepared’ for sea level rise, says a new report
    Environmentalists debate the good and bad of California’s water bond
    California drought has wild salmon competing with almonds for water
    California’s record drought is making Earth's surface rise
    Water bond deal is done. But will it actually improve California’s water system?
    'Remarkable' warming reported in Central California coastal waters
    West’s historic drought stokes fears of water crisis
    Researcher compares garbage patch in Pacific Ocean to floating ‘landfill’
    Klamath River Tribes Confront Feds for Water Releases To Prevent Fish Kill
    Klamath River advocates set to rally in Sacramento Tuesday
    Strange sea creatures invade beaches from California to Washington
    California's invisible reservoirs
    California’s lax policing of the fracking industry has put the drought-stricken state in a terrible situation .......

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More Klamath Basin wells go dry as groundwater decline persists

Aug 9, 2021

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/more-klamath-basin-wells-go-dry-as-groundwater-decline-persists/ar-AAN7JwS

 

 

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California Cap-and-Trade Runs Afoul of Arkansas Pollution Ills

 July 02, 2014

(  http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/california-and-the-nation/california-cap-and-trade-runs-afoul-of-arkansas-pollution-ills-140702?news=853568 )

 

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California Looking To Restrict Out-Of-State Diesel Motorhomes

2021

https://camperreport.com/california-looking-to-restrict-out-of-state-diesel-motorhomes/


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California wants air pollution rules suspended to burn more natural gas

9/10/2021

https://www.worldoil.com/news/2021/9/10/california-wants-air-pollution-rules-suspended-to-burn-more-natural-gas

 

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Saved pollution credits may hinder California climate goals

February 16, 2022

https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2022/02/16/saved-pollution-credits-may-hinder-california-climate-goals 

 

 

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California won't immediately change pollution credit program

23 Feb 2022

https://www.breitbart.com/news/california-wont-immediately-change-pollution-credit-program/

 

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Toxic Air Pollution from Copper Smelters Challenged

October 10, 2003

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is failing to protect communities and the environment from toxic air pollution emitted by copper smelters, environmental groups argued today.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments in a case (Docket # 02-1253) challenging EPA's inadequate regulations for controlling toxic air emissions from primary copper smelters. Earthjustice is representing the Sierra Club in the case.

"Lead, arsenic, selenium and particulate matter from copper smelters contaminate the bodies of people living downwind and downstream," said Jim Pew, attorney for Earthjustice, who argued the case today on behalf of the Sierra Club. "No one should have to face a higher risk of cancer or other health problems, just because they happen to live in the shadow of a copper smelter."

Copper smelters operating in the United States emit staggering amounts of toxic pollution: more than 50 tons of lead, 30 tons of arsenic and 20 tons of selenium each year. In the towns of Hayden and Winkelman, Arizona, where two of the smelters currently operating are located, ambient arsenic levels are more than 150 times higher than Arizona's health guidelines. EPA has estimated that the lifetime cancer risk for people living in Hayden and Winkelman may be as high as one in 100.

Copper smelters also have environmental impacts. Lead, arsenic, and the other metals that they emit are deposited onto water, where they persist in the environment. The Hayden Smelter, in particular, spews toxic pollution into habitat for endangered and threatened species.

"The toxic emissions from copper smelters threaten biodiversity in America's Southwest, and the health of residents for miles around," said Marti Sinclair of Sierra Club. "Sacrificing human health and environmental quality is not acceptable to us, and it is not permissible under federal law."

Although the Clean Air Act required EPA to set emission standards for each of the hazardous air pollutants that smelters emit, the agency set only a particulate matter standard. Even this lone standard does not reflect the actual performance of the best smelters, and thus does not satisfy the Clean Air Acts' minimum requirements for air toxics regulations.

The environmental groups also argue that EPA's failure to consider the health environmental effects of copper smelter emissions was unlawful. Although the Clean Air Act required EPA to consider the "non-air quality health and environmental impacts" in setting its standards, the agency failed to consider the impacts on people and wildlife caused by the deposition of persistent pollutants (such as arsenic and lead) on water bodies. In addition, EPA never consulted with the Department of Interior to ensure that smelter emissions would not jeopardize endangered species, as required by the Endangered Species Act.

Sierra Club and Earthjustice hope the court will force EPA to set strong emissions standards for all the toxic pollutants produced by copper smelters, as the law requires – a step that should lead to significantly improved environmental quality and quality of life around these facilities.

https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2003/toxic-air-pollution-from-copper-smelters-challenged

 

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Chapter 40: California Prisons

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As U.S. cuts ties with private prisons, California to keep using them

Aug. 29, 2016

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/prisons-727282-private-state.html



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New Evidence Deputies Committed Perjury in Orange County Snitch Scandal

December 8 2016

In the latest blow to the law enforcement regime in Orange County, California, where the district attorney and sheriff’s department have been embroiled in a jailhouse informant scandal for more than three years, a superior court judge on Monday released hundreds of entries culled from a previously secret database that provide additional evidence that deputies committed perjury in at least one high-profile death penalty case, and potentially destroyed evidence related to an unknown number of other cases.

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/08/new-evidence-deputies-committed-perjury-in-orange-county-snitch-scandal/

 

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California: #1 In Prison Spending

http://www.politicalgraphics.org/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=34prison_nation%2F170_PG_24898.jpg

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Prison Spending Affecting Higher Education in California: Report

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Prison-Spending-Affecting-Higher-Education-in-California-Report-168756096.html

 

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California Turns to Private Prison to Address Overcrowding and Medical Care

http://truth-out.org/news/item/24173-california-turns-to-private-prison-to-address-overcrowding-and-medical-care#


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The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?

March 31, 2014

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289


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California Mom Shocked After Her Prisoner Son Was Secretly Transferred 800 Miles Away To Another State

2014

 http://www.businessinsider.com/danielle-rigneys-son-shipped-to-private-prison-2014-2#ixzz3JxE6DcK4


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Inmates Forced to Drink Poison Water - No Place to Go for Help

1/5/2009

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Inmates-forced-to-drink-po-by-Dr-B-Cayenne-Bir-090105-566.html



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Poison Water in California´s prisons – and no place to go for help

Dr. B. Cayenne Bird published January 04, 2009

 

( http://www.1union1.com/advice81.html )

 

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Prison Drinking Water and Wastewater Pollution Threaten Environmental Safety Nationwide

 Nov. 15, 2007

 

 ( https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2007/nov/15/prison-drinking-water-and-wastewater-pollution-threaten-environmental-safety-nationwide/ )

 

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Chapter 41: Cellphone sites

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Many people in Santa Cruz California, including Laguna Beach California, have been concerned about the environmental damage many telecommunications companies have been causing local communities.

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Full Signal -  documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdZSczgtK9o


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Proposed Cell Sites Threaten Santa Cruz Wildlife Area; Demonstration at Verizon Wireless

Jul 22nd, 2012

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/07/22/18718032.php?show_comments=1


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Your Wireless Router Might Be as Dangerous as This Toxin!

Nov 4, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWMZ4wb7wbg

 

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Chapter 42: Corruption in Laguna Beach

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17% of people live near toxic release facilities—here's how it breaks down by state

December 7, 2021

https://stacker.com/stories/24514/17-people-live-near-toxic-release-facilities-heres-how-it-breaks-down-state

 

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Climate change expected to cause 400 toxic California sites to flood by 2100

December 6, 2021

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/06/climate-change-expected-to-cause-400-california-sites-to-flood-by-2100_partner/

 

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There is an old telecommunications building owned by Verizon Wireless, located at 295 Broadway St, in Laguna Beach, California. On the door of this building there is a warning sign that warns of toxic chemicals such as asbestos inside of the building.

This old telecommunications building was used to store old telecommunications equipment. Some of these components used for telecommunications equipment in the past have been known to contain toxic chemicals such as PCBs.

In 2010 the downtown area of Laguna Beach flooded. Many people were concerned because this building that contains asbestos and other toxic chemicals. This toxic building is next to a river that was overflowing in a flood zone.

 
Part of this building was hit by the flood in 2010 and flooded the inside of the building. The water that flooded the building was diverted back out of the building and into the river, this river leads out to the ocean. Asbestos and other chemicals being stored from telecommunications equipment washed out into the river and into the ocean.

On the side of the Verizon building there is a warning sign, this sign states that underground storage tanks are inside of the building. Many people question the amount of damage these tanks received.

Now Laguna Beach city manager John Pietig and the Planning commission want to add a cellphone tower on the top of the Verizon building at 295 Broadway in Laguna Beach, California. The building is already an existing toxic asbestos site that was flooded in 2010.

The city manager and city attorney are not elected by the people of Laguna Beach, California. They are appointed to office by other city officials from the city council.

When politicians start harming the environment, it is then the right of the people to put a stop to the harm being done to the environment

We need to reform our government in Laguna Beach, where the people get to vote in elected city officials.

I have personally seen the way the government is in Laguna Beach. I see the problems and harm that happens to the environment when you let officials in office that are unelected by the people.  Many people feel the current administration will continue to cause many of the environmental problems that we see. This is why we are confident in our decision to reform the government in Orange County, including all of California, America & the world.

We are asking for help from the public, to end the corruption in California politics, including the corruption in Orange County politics. We are calling for the removal of the following government officials in Orange County from our political system. ( It is now 2022 and many of these corrupt officials have still not been removed from office). 

 
We are personally calling for the peaceful and legal immediate removal of,

John  Pietig (City manager)

We need to peacefully remove all current City Council and Planning Commissioner members in 2015. We need to reform the City Council of Laguna Beach. I stated this in 2015. it is now 2022 and nothing is done. Now the city of Laguna Beach continues to harass me as a journalist. I am asking the American people to help stop this corruption in Laguna Beach.

John Pietig is unelected by the people. John Pietig is stealing from the Laguna Beach treasury, this corrupt official is reelected by a corrupt private council.

The City Council appointed Commission appoints the Laguna Beach planning commissioners.

Both the Laguna Beach city manager, including the planning commissioners, are not elected by the people. Both of these groups are responsible for the existing problems at 295 Broadway St.

 We are also calling for the removal of the private law firm of Rutan & Tucker, from being the city attorney of Laguna Beach.  Now years after writing this article, Rutan & Tucker filed a false arrest on me. Look at how the City officials will get me or my dad Robert Ross in trouble at any expense.  I want the politicians in Laguna to stop threatening my cancer and science research. I am going to ask the people to stop the police and politicians, from trying to harm my research. I stress by peaceful and legal means necessary. It is now 2022 and the American people still have allowed these governmnet officials to continue to be in power, this is unacceptable.

There are many good people that work in the government. Not everyone on the city council or the planning commission is bad. Some officials even even disagree with the city manager. The problem is a few corrupt politicians can ruin it for the rest of the people, manyothers try to put an effort to make the correct decisions however. We still need to reform our current political system, in Laguna Beach, including California. This would call for a reformation of the current government, this is to deal with the environmental concerns facing the city of Laguna Beach.

Many people love the town of Laguna Beach, and do not want the political corruption to continue to harm the town of Laguna Beach.

Even when many people object to putting cellphone sites in certain residential areas, including inside areas where children learn, such as the Saint Catherine of Siena Parish. The following link will show how the government of Laguna Beach wants to put up cellphones sites directly on Schools and Churches. 

 
(  http://lagunabeachcity.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=417  )


5. Conditional Use Permit 14-1817 to establish a wireless communications facility at 1042 (aka 990) Temple Terrace (Saint Catherine of Sienna Parish) consisting of 9 radio transmission antennas, 27 remote radio units and associated ancillary equipment mounted on an existing roof tower with 2 GPS antennas and condensing units mounted behind an existing parapet wall.  This proposal is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Article 19 (Categorical Exemptions), Section 15301(b) (Existing Facilities - Existing facilities of both investor and publicly owned utilities).  

The Laguna Beach planning commission still approved this communications site at Saint Catherine of Siena Parish, even when most of the community did not want it allowed in our community. The planning commission of Laguna Beach now wants to add an existing cellphone site on top of the building that contains asbestos at 295 Broadway St.

I attended the council meeting on December 10th, 2014, & February 27th, 2015  ( http://www.lagunabeachcity.net/cityhall/meetings_agendas_and_minutes.asp ), to try and stop the city of Laguna Beach from adding additional telecommunications equipment on a building that was flooded with dangerous chemicals and asbestos. About a month later the police were at my door asking questions. This building should be condemned, they should not be given the right to add all of this telecommunications equipment to this building that is a threat to our oceans. I had to release this blog in an emergency because the police were at my door, asking to to step outside. I wanted to make a video about this in the near future to explain.


We are currently trying to stop the Laguna Beach Planning Commissioners from putting a wireless telecommunications facility at 295 Broadway St. Here is the conditional use permit they want to approve.


(  Conditional Use Permit 14-1839 to establish a wireless telecommunications facility consisting of 16 panel antennas, 1 parabolic antenna, 8 raycaps, 2 GPS antennas and 16 remote radio units mounted on an existing building with three ancillary equipment cabinets proposed on the interior of the building at 295 Broadway Street (Verizon Building).  This proposal is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Article 19 (Categorical Exemptions), Section 15301(b) (Existing Facilities - Existing facilities of both investor and publicly owned utilities).

Staff Recommendation: Table Conditional Use Permit 14-1839, which will be re-noticed when a hearing date is set. )



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We are currently in the process of making a video about this building at 295 Broadway St.

We are tired of the political corruption threatening the environment in the State of California. We are tired of the political corruption that also continues to threaten the journalists trying to stop the corruption.


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Update: February 10th, 2015:


The city is now going to rescind (repeal) the wireless communications facility at 1042 (aka 990) Temple Terrace (Saint Catherine of Siena Parish).


We thank everyone for their help in working together in order to stop these two telecommunications facilities in the city of Laguna Beach.

Now someone has mentioned that John Pietig wants a pay raise. This is after John Pietig did not get the money he was going to get from these two telecommunications sites.




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Feeling flush, council approves city manager raise

February 5, 2015

Laguna Beach City Manager John Pietig should receive a 5% pay raise, the City Council decided Tuesday night in voting to amend Pietig's employment contract.

A second council vote will be needed to finalize the agreement.

 Mayor Bob Whalen and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow were part of a subcommittee that evaluated Pietig's performance and recommended the salary increase, in part to bring his pay in line with that of other city managers in Orange County.

http://www.coastlinepilot.com/news/tn-cpt-me-0206-city-manager-pay-20150205,0,6806497.story

 

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 Even different city officials, including some police officers, have said that they do not want John Pietig to have a pay raise. They say that the city simply cannot afford to give the city manager of Laguna Beach, more additional money. This is all happening, when other city officials do not even earn a quarter of the amount of money, that John Pietig earns. We are for people having a good quality of life, and to have a fair and balanced salary among city employees. We should design a better civilization, so the average individual can have a better quality of life. Some people only earn around 1,000 dollars a year for their pension, while Ken Frank's Pension is 229,000 $!


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Laguna Beach city salaries higher than norm

Grand Jury finds city has among highest salaries for its size. City officials say Laguna provides many services for residents and large visitor population.

June 22, 2011

http://articles.coastlinepilot.com/2011-06-22/news/tn-cpt-0624-grandjury-20110622_1_city-engineer-steve-salaries-laguna-beach-taxpayers-assn


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Explosive growth in CalPERS $100K pension club

No. 50, former Laguna Beach city manager Ken Frank, $229,453

http://raymondcollege.org/pipermail/common_room2_raymondcollege.org/2013-December/000055.html


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We also want to stop paying ex-city manager Ken Frank's retirement pension. We also want the name of Ken Frank Park removed from the town of Laguna Beach, this is an insult to the people of Laguna Beach. This is starting to become a problem with many of these corrupt officials are even trying to rename a city park after themselves.


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Selected pensions for CalPERS (2012)

Viewing “CITY OF LAGUNA BEACH” retiree pension records

http://transparentcalifornia.com/pensions/2012/calpers/?page=1&e=CITY+OF+LAGUNA+BEACH

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Demotions, pay cuts ordered for county executives

Orange County's assistant chief executive officer will be demoted and a deputy CEO will lose a $27,000 raise after a vote Tuesday by county supervisors responding to an audit criticizing unjustified promotions and pay raises.

The Board of Supervisors also opened a search for a new human resources director to replace Carl Crown by March. Crown announced Tuesday he is retiring and that his departure has nothing to do with the audit that concluded county policy and state rules were neglected in awarding raises and promotions.

The 3-2 board vote -- with Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen dissenting -- comes on the heels of a scathing audit of the Human Resources department exposing rampant abuse and pay raises of 33 percent in less than six months. Campbell and Nguyen argued to give CEO Tom Mauk more time to come up with an alternate plan for implementing audit recommendations.

Following the recommendations of a county committee, including supervisors Pat Bates and Shawn Nelson, the split board agreed to demote Assistant CEO Rob Richardson, taking away his 401 (a) benefit and car allowance. Richardson will still draw his salary of $191,089, which includes a 33.13 percent pay raise in six months. But he will lose 7.8 percent in perks as an administrative manager III.

County officials said county pay regulations banned them from lowering Richardson's salary.

Deputy CEO for Infrastructure Alisa Drakodaidis saw her pay rise 33.4 percent in just five months after she got the job in May 2007. Now the board ordered her salary be reduced by 13.1 percent or $27,248. Her pay will be $180,752.

Other changes ordered by the board:

-- OC public works director of administration should be reclassified back to administrative manager III. The position was last held by Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, who resigned in October amid a county investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with employees.

-- Director of Public Finance Colleen Clark will keep the position of executive manager for which she was recruited. But the post will revert back to administrative manager III when she leaves. County Budget Director Frank Kim will also retain his position, but it will be downgraded when he leaves.

-- O.C. Dana Point Harbor Director Brad Gross will see his salary capped at $163,737 for three years. Gross had received four pay raises in nine months...


http://www.ocregister.com/taxdollars/strong-478453-county-pay.html



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We must stop corrupt city officials in Orange County that continue to harm the way of life of the people of Orange County. We are calling for the people to stop or arrest the following politicians. We are calling for the arrest of John Pietig, Toni Iseman, including all city mayors and city council members of Laguna Beach, California from 2009-2023. This still has not been achieved and it is now the year 2022.


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Laguna Beach: Perk City for Government Employees

June 24, 2016

http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/laguna-beach-perk-city-for-government-employees/

Working for government is good for your economic condition and success.  No need to be productive, just take some meetings, phone calls and be highly political—and you can be very rich.  The city of Laguna Beach, in Ornage County, is a great example of why government costs so much—and those in charge are paid extremely well—till death do us part.

“Guaranteed retirement pensions, unmatched in the private sector. The former Laguna Beach city manager pulls in over $238,000 a year in guaranteed pension benefits, an additional six retirees pull in over $140,000 a year, and 21 other retirees pull in over $100,000 year in 2014, the latest figures available at TransparentCalifornia.com, a data base of government salaries and pensions..

Managers are also eligible to receive a 2 percent of base salary contribution to a deferred compensation plan, a $350 a month car allowance, and free shopper parking permits.

Fully paid Cadillac style health, dental, vision insurance plans costing for some over $19,000 per employee per year. The city pays 100% of employee coverage and 90% of dependents, says the benefit statement for management employees.”

This is an example of just pone city—the city manager of Madera, a town of 63,000—one of the most poverty stricken in the State, gets paid $212,000.  The city manager of Fresno, a town of over 500,000, get paid $234,000.  Love Madera, government is rich in the midst of poverty.

Perk City

By Jennifer Welsh Zeiter, Laguna Beach independent,  6/23/16

If Huntington Beach is Surf City, then Laguna Beach is Perk City.

Kudos to Rita Robinson of the Indy for the news article exposing the home purchase program offered by the city to our new assistant city manager/director of public works. Under this program the city just helped our new assistant city manager buy a $1.6 million home in Laguna as a “signing bonus”, on the premise that “essential” city employees need to live in Laguna in times of serious emergencies (and when exactly was the last time that occurred in Laguna?)

One wonders what would happen if the emergency occurred while the city employee were on vacation or attending a soccer game in Anaheim? Never mind that almost no OC cities offer this perk; of the very few that do, it is only for the city manager. But Laguna is ahead of the perk curve because the city has perked it to about half a dozen employees.

Not only do these city employees receive below market interest rate (around 2% for Dupuis) loans from the city, they don’t have to worry about qualifying with those pesky lenders the rest of us have to deal with.  Plus they get to seriously upgrade. The new assistant city manager’s old house in Anaheim is on the market for just under $600,000. That’s a $1 million upgrade. Plus under the city housing assistance agreement, these perk employees get to keep the house for up to two years after termination of employment, and up to 10 years after retirement or death.

How is this a justifiable use of taxpayer funds when the city is looking to raise taxes and float bonds for things the city apparently can’t afford to pay for within its current budget?



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New Employee Receives Special Perk

Posted On 03 Jun 2016

 In her dual job titles as the city’s new assistant city manager and director of public works,


Shohreh Dupuis knows she’ll encounter the unique challenges of a popular beach town. Experienced at working with regional transportation agencies, her first task will be the utility undergrounding project in Laguna Canyon and the growing traffic congestion on the city’s small streets, she said.

With at least one hurdle that confronts most residents, she will receive help. Dupuis is one of four City Hall executive administrators getting assistance from their employer to buy a home in town, said Gavin Curran, director of finance and information technology.

http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/new-employee-receives-special-perk/




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What about Let Laguna Vote.com. This is how the government of Laguna Beach wanted to build a multi million dollar business structure and parking garage. This parking garage costs several million dollars more than it should have, this is so the city council and city manager could pocket the money, everyone in the city got wise to this. This is why we ask that you let Laguna Vote, not the some unelected crook city manager that tries to pocket as much money as he can get.  Our sewers are also eroding in Laguna Beach while while the City Manager pockets they money. This happens while we hear about the ocean-life being threatened by pollution runoff.

 

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Chapter 43: Final chapter

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It is going to take a lot of effort in the community, including working with different officials, in order to solve the problems of the world. We would much rather have the officials on our side. However, we know the history of past governments, where scientists and researchers have been persecuted by governments throughout history. There have been many rebellions and revolts against tyrannical and oppressive regimes in the history of different civilizations.


It takes many months of research to bring quality information to be presented in videos and blogs.

We feel that even with as much work in our research over many months, that many of the videos and books being produced are not being produced fast enough.

We would like to be able to bring quality research of different environmental hazards and concerns in each state and country in the world, this includes many other new topics for videos and blogs.

It took over seven months of research trying to write this blog. However, California is one of the most difficult areas to research environmental hazards.

It would help to have many researchers working day and night on this information. We would like to start an on-line research group open to the public, where the public could be able to help assist, gather and decipher information about many similar topics. It would also help for individual researchers to archive many of these climate websites that are linked on our different books. 

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Click here for part 2 of this book.


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Pollution Science 101 - California 

PollutionScience101California.Blogspot.com


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For more information contact me at 

 

                                            TheInvestigations@email.com 

 

                                         PollutionScience@Protonmail.com