December 24, 2002

SHORELINE DEAL FIRST STEP IN RESTORING WETLANDS

Source: the MERCURY NEWS In a deal that could return miles of bay shoreline to a natural state not seen since the gold rush, state and federal officials negotiated a $100 million deal with Cargill Salt to buy and restore more than 16,000 bayfront acres now used as ponds to make salt. The project, if finalized, will be one of the largest wetland restoration efforts ever in this country. But difficult steps, such as toxic cleanup, lie ahead. And the state has earned public skepticism by refusing to release appraisals...

December 16, 2002

UNITED'S CASH PROBLEMS COULD STALL RUNWAY PLAN

Source: AARON DAVIS, Mercury News United Airlines' filing for bankruptcy protection could leave San Francisco Airport's proposed runway expansion -- the largest and most controversial construction project in the bay in 50 years -- dead in the water.The bankruptcy delivers three potentially fatal blows to the estimated $2 billion to $3 billion project.

November 27, 2002

Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News State water pollution officials are considering potentially large fines against Cargill Salt company in connection with a spill of a toxic liquid into San Francisco Bay in an unpublicized incident in September.The company and state officials confirmed Tuesday that a faulty pipe at Cargill's Newark plant site in the East Bay released 30,000 gallons of bittern, a type of toxic brine with salinity levels up to 10 times as salty as the ocean, into a canal that feeds into Mowry Slough in ...

November 26, 2002

TOXICS STUDIES TO BE RELEASED

Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Under pressure from taxpayer groups, environmentalists and open-government advocates, the Davis administration said Monday that it will make public the detailed toxics studies done on thousands of acres of Cargill salt ponds along the South Bay that the state hopes to buy and return to wetlands.The decision, reversing a position announced two weeks ago on the $100 million proposed deal, came after Cargill Salt said in a letter Friday that it doesn't mind if the studies are made...

November 19, 2002

SALT PONDS OR SINKHOLE?

TO say that in purchasing the Cargill salt ponds, California is being asked to buy a pig in a poke would slight the value of what's in the sack.The marshland ringing the South Bay is no pig. The opportunity to buy it offers exciting possibilities for restoring the bay to the natural state that existed before it was altered by evaporation ponds created to harvest salt. Restoration is a decades-long dream of Bay Area environmentalists.But even if what's in the poke is a Picasso ...

November 16, 2002

CARGILL DEAL TO STAY SECRET

Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News The Davis administration on Friday said it will not release copies of contracts, toxic studies and other key documents surrounding its proposed $100 million purchase of industrial salt ponds ringing the South Bay from Cargill Salt to create wetlands.The announcement, made at a public hearing in Palo Alto, brought immediate criticism from environmentalists, taxpayer groups and open government advocates. They said the high level of secrecy threatens to erode public support for the deal,

November 15, 2002

DEAL SAID TO BE NEAR ON SOUTH BAY SALT PONDS

Source: PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News Two months behind schedule and shrouded in secrecy, a historic deal for the state and federal government to spend $100 million to buy 16,500 acres of industrial salt ponds ringing the South Bay and convert them into wetlands for wildlife remains on track, several of the key participants insisted Thursday.''We are very close,'' said Mark Kadesh, chief of staff to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. ''People are optimistic that there aren't significant ...

October 6, 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL-LAW CHANGES DECRIED

SETH BORENSTEIN, Mercury News Washington Bureau Bit by bit, the Bush administration is carving out exceptions to a law that is widely regarded as the legal cornerstone of environmental protection.The law is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. It requires the government to study systematically all environmental impacts that a federal project would have, to weigh alternatives and to take public comments into account before going forward.The act's requirement for environmental impact statements has resulted in the...

October 5, 2002

NEW RUNWAYS WOULD REDUCE NOISE PROBLEM, OFFICIALS SAY

AARON DAVIS, Mercury News Pushing aside the years-old argument at San Francisco International Airport that runway expansion into the bay is needed to squash pesky flight delays, airport officials on Friday unveiled a whole new reason why Peninsula residents might back the controversial project: noise.The most ambitious plans for pushing runways a mile into the bay would cut from 20,000 to 5,000 the number of Peninsula homes that ultimately would be subjected to the worst noise pollution from jet blasts during...

September 18, 2002

SALT POND AGREEMENT DELAYED

Source: MARILEE ENGE, Mercury News State and federal officials extended this week's deadline for signing an agreement to buy 16,500 acres of bayfront salt ponds, saying they are still hammering out complex issues in the historic $100 million deal.The shifting schedule comes amid criticism that more details of the purchase should be made public and that toxic studies of the ponds are behind schedule. But government and company officials said the negotiators are working to satisfy the concerns of state and ...

August 17, 2002

AIRLINES IN FINANCIAL BIND

BRAD FOSS, Associated Press Sinking under the weight of multibillion-dollar losses for nearly a year, major airlines are scrambling to cut enough fat out of their networks to squeeze profits from a shrunken customer base.The industry's basic problem is that a significant chunk of demand that disappeared shortly after Sept. 11 never came back. Sure, airlines chopped the size of their workforces and fleets last fall, but it is now clear they didnot go far enough. That has left a gaping hole in their income...

June 25, 2002

S.F. REINS IN AIRPORT FUNDING

San Francisco lawmakers took the unprecedented step Monday of withholding from the budget nearly half the money airport officials hoped to use this year for studying runway expansion in the bay.The move is not expected to kill the project, but it forces airport officials to account for every plane ticket, press release and public relations consultant used on the project.A combination of $275-an-hour consultants, first-class plane tickets and expensive dinners for politically connected

June 21, 2002

S.F. PANEL MAY CUT FUNDS FOR AIRPORT RUNWAY PLAN

A committee of San Francisco supervisors appeared ready Thursday to approve a $5 million cut in runway spending that San Francisco Airport leaders say would halt runway expansion into the bay before voters get a chance to weigh in on the project.Whether the spending cut would ground runway plans is up for debate, but Supervisor Aaron Peskin's proposed budget-crunching clearly has lifted the controversial project back into the political spotlight -- and galvanized runway support --

June 14, 2002

PROPOSAL TO CUT CASH FOR RUNWAY RESEARCH

Budget-crunching by San Francisco supervisors this month threatens to ground the city's controversial bid to build runways in the bay, even before the airport's billion-dollar plan completes environmental reviews or a probable vote by city residents.Supervisor Aaron Peskin, a critic of airport spending, has proposed cuttingthe airport's budget for runway studies next year from $11.2 million to $6.2 million.''It's not only shortsighted, but

June 7, 2002

SALT POND DEAL NEGOTIATORS ALSO WORKED FOR S.F. AIRPORT

A lawyer who played a key role in negotiating last week's $100 million sale of industrial South Bay salt ponds to the government for a wildlife refuge was publicly representing charitable foundations involved in the purchase -- and being paid by San Francisco International Airport at the same time.The dual work by Michael Mantell, a Sacramento attorney, and his co-worker, attorney Chris Beale, may raise new questions about the salt ponds deal, as political leaders backing the purchase

June 6, 2002

SALT POND DEAL DRAWS SCRUTINY

Concerned about the fine print in a historic $100 million sale of industrial salt ponds in the South Bay to the public for a wildlife refuge, state lawmakers in a surprise move Wednesday formed a committee to scrutinize the deal.''I'm enthusiastic about this deal happening,'' said state Sen. Byron Sher, D-San Jose, who will head the panel. ''And I don't want to second-guess its main essentials, but there are a lot of things we still want to look

June 4, 2002

AIRPORT OFFERED $10 MILLION FOR PONDS

Hoping to boost the chances of a plan to construct runways into San Francisco Bay, the director of San Francisco International Airport offered last summer to pay $10 million toward the purchase of industrial salt ponds ringing the South Bay.But Sen. Dianne Feinstein turned the money down, fearing it would politically doom the salt ponds deal. ''She did not feel that an agreement could survive if it were linked to the airport,'' said Howard Gantman, a Feinstein...

May 30, 2002

TOUGH BALANCING ACT LOOMS IN CARGILL DEAL

It may be the ultimate fixer-upper project, even in the Bay Area.The chore: Turning 16,500 acres of industrial salt ponds along the south San Francisco Bay waterfront back into tidal marshes to restore birds, fish and other wildlife after more than 100 years of human changes.The risk: How to do it without contaminating the bay, running up a huge bill for taxpayers or accidentally flooding Highway 101 or other low-lying areas.Those questions swirled around Wednesday like the gulls,...

May 29, 2002

HISTORIC DEAL ON SALT PONDS

In a historic deal that could return most of the southern shores of San Francisco Bay to natural conditions not seen since California became a state, agribusiness giant Cargill has agreed to sell 16,500 acres of industrial salt ponds to become a public wildlife refuge for birds, fish and other species.The ponds, an area the size of Manhattan where salt has been made through evaporation since the 1850s, make up about 20 miles of the South Bay's waterfront from Hayward to San Jose to...

May 21, 2002

COUNTY SEEKS EARLIER SAY IN RUNWAY PLAN

San Mateo County will make another push today to gain influence over the fate of San Francisco International Airport's controversial runway expansion plans.The county is a victim of an unusual predicament. A major airport sits within its boundaries but is owned by San Francisco to the north. That meansresidents get the traffic, noise and environmental hits but have little right to make decisions about growth, local officials charge.To change that scenario, the San Mateo County...

May 15, 2002

AIRPORT TABS ITS FOES, FRIENDS

Lawmakers and business leaders from Palo Alto to San Jose were startled Tuesday to learn San Francisco Airport officials privately paid consultants to figure out who's for and who's against plans to build multibillion-dollar runways in the bay.A consulting firm produced reports on South Bay officials outlining to airport leaders everything from ''mistrust'' of the controversial project on the part of San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales' office to...

May 13, 2002

RUNWAY RESOURCE

AIR traffic, despite a recent decline, is expected to increase in the region. Yet the Bay Area has run out of space for more airports. Neighbors of existing ones would be happy to push them out.So how do we accommodate more planes? Build airport runways 50 miles long? Fill the bay, as San Francisco would like?The answer isn't obvious, but certainly, it is not to pave over existing runways.Moffett Federal Airfield, although not heavily used these days, is a rare regional...

April 3, 2002

AVIATION-AGENCY OFFICIAL REFLECTS ON SEPT. 11

The nation's top aviation official said Tuesday that airline passengers should get used to one thing about flying after Sept. 11: Security procedures will constantly be changing.''Passengers have been extremely patient,'' said Jane Garvey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, in an interview with the Mercury News. ''But I believe there will be more,'' she said. ''Biometrics and new technology, maybe even some redesigning of...

April 2, 2002

'POWERFUL' ANTI-COLLISION RADAR ADDS SET OF EYES FOR S.F. AIRPORT

The nation's top aviation official will be at San Francisco International Airport today unveiling a high-tech ground radar program quietly credited with preventing a collision of two Bay Area flights last fall.Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey will be on hand to demonstrate software that aviation officials say recorded a ''save'' by alerting controllers that a departing business jet and an arriving commuter turboprop plane had been cleared to use the...

March 27, 2002

SENATOR SAYS DEAL NEAR ON RESTORING PONDS TO WETLANDS

After two years of negotiations, a landmark deal to restore more than 15,000 acres of salt ponds along the South Bay shoreline to tidal marshes for birds, fish and other wildlife could be announced as soon as next week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday.''I'm very excited about it,'' said Feinstein, speaking to a conference on water issues at San Jose State University. ''We hope to be able to announce this within the next week or...

March 17, 2002

IF A HIGH-SPEED TRAIN GETS BUILT (AND I HOPE IT DOES), I'M ON IT

RIGHT up front I'm going to confess a soft spot for trains.Take the high-speed trains in Europe and Japan, as I have. They whisk you from city center to city center three times faster than a car. The seats are comfortable, there's room to stretch, you can walk around. You won't confuse it with flying coach. And the food in a French dining car. . .Imagine this as you travel from San Jose to LA in two hours and two minutes. San Jose to Sacramento in 1:12.

March 7, 2002

PARKS BOND WILL BENEFIT SALT POND DEAL

After two years of struggles to find funding, a historic proposal to restore thousands of acres of San Francisco Bay salt ponds to natural conditions not seen since the gold rush hit the jackpot on Election Day, and now could be weeks from approval.Voter approval of Proposition 40, the $2.6 billion parks bond, clears the way for the biggest land deal in Northern California since the 1999 Headwaters Forest purchase. Supporters expect at least $70 million from the new parks funds to cover...

March 6, 2002

AIRPORT APPROVES STUDY OF EXPANSION'S IMPACT ON BAY

The San Francisco Airport Commission on Tuesday approved spending $2.8 million on Phase 2 of an environmental study of its runway expansion plans.Under study will be the effects of filling 390 to 900 acres of the bay to separate runways and ways of reducing delays without changing the runway configuration, said airport spokeswoman Kandace Bender.Currently, the airport must close one runway for arriving planes when theweather is bad because they are too close together for two planes to...

February 12, 2002

S.F. AIRPORT CITED AGAIN FOR RELEASING WASTE TO BAY

San Francisco International Airport dumped wastewater with elevated levels of cyanide into San Francisco Bay in December, the 82nd time since 1996 it has violated water pollution rules, state officials said Monday.State water regulators say the latest incident didn't cause much harm to the bay but showed once again that the airport hasn't come up with a plan to fix its troubled wastewater system. That plan is due in three weeks, but airport spokesman Ron Wilson said that with a...

January 23, 2002

QUEST FOR MARSHES
GALE NORTON'S ENDORSEMENT IS A BOOST FOR THE BAY INTERIOR Secretary Gale Norton was hardly wading into a controversy this week when she endorsed the restoration of the salt ponds around the southern part of San Francisco Bay. Converting the ponds back to the marshes that existed before the Gold Rush is a cherished goal of environmental supporters, who have the backing of local elected officials and even the owner of the property, Cargill Salt. Removing the artificially salty ponds, in which salt is produced by evaporation, would revitalize

January 22, 2002

RESTORATION OF SALT PONDS GETS BIG PUSH INTERIOR SECRETARY BACKS PROPOSAL TO EXPAND BAY SHORELINE REFUGE

U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced Monday her support for a historic deal that would have the federal government purchase and restore thousands of acres of industrial salt ponds ringing south San Francisco Bay and convert them back to tidal wetlands. Norton's endorsement of the proposal -- a landmark effort which, if funded, could restore the South Bay's shoreline to natural conditions not seen in more than 100 years -- marks the first time that a top Bush administration