TRACIE CONE
Associated Press= SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — On a clear day, the view from Beetle Rock in Sequoia National Park extends west for 105 miles across the patchwork of crops in California's agricultural heartland to the Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean beyond.
The problem is there are few clear days, even at 6,200 feet.
The Sierra Nevada forest that is home to the biggest and oldest living things on earth — the giant Sequoia redwoods — also suffers a dubious distinction. It has the worst air pollution of any national park in the country.
Mountaintops that should offer awe-inspiring views of California's geologic grandeur often are muddled by a disorienting gray soup of smog.
"Ozone levels here are comparable to urban settings such as LA," said Emily Schrepf of the nonprofit advocacy group the National Park Conservation Association as she beheld the diminished view. "It's just not right."
This is not the place to take in a whiff of fresh mountain air. Smog is so bad that signs in visitors centers caution guests when it's not safe to hike. The government employment website warns job applicants that the workplace is unhealthy. And park workers are schooled every year on the lung and heart damage the pollution can cause.
Ozone also is to blame for weakening many stands of the park's Jeffrey and ponderosa pines, leaving telltale yellowing of their long needles. Instead of absorbing carbon dioxide, they soak up ozone through the stoma in their needles, which inhibits photosynthesis. Ozone also stresses young redwood seedlings, which already face challenges to survival.
Although weakened trees are more susceptible to drought and pests, the long-term impact on the pines and on the giant redwoods that have been around for 3,000 years and more is unclear.
"It's not a great story to tell, but it's an important story to tell because you can look at us as being the proverbial canary in a coalmine," said Annie Esperanza, a park scientist who has studied air quality there for 30 years. "If this is happening in a national park that isn't even close to an urban area, what do you think is happening in your backyard?"
It's a problem in a handful of the nation's 52 parks that are monitored constantly for ozone, including Joshua Tree National Park in California's Mojave Desert and North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is ringed by power plants and several major highways including Interstate 40, a major tractor-trailer shipping route. But none is in the ballpark with Sequoia and its neighbor, Kings Canyon.
Under the Clean Air Act, the region that encompasses Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks has been designated a "Class 1 air shed," which means by 2064 it must have pure air with no degradation of visibility. But that apparently didn't take into consideration its proximity to one of the worst air quality basins in the country.
"It does take visitors by surprise," Esperanza said. "On a day it's unhealthy, we ask people if you're going to do a rigorous hike, we recommend early morning. It's limiting, it's quite telling, and it's very sad."
While forest fires create some pollution, the lion's share comes from the San Joaquin Valley, the expanse of farmland that is home to the California's two busiest north-south trucking highways, diesel freight train corridors, 1.7 million dairy cows, food processing plants and tens of thousands of diesel tractors plowing dusty fields. Its trough shape traps pollutants, and high-pressure systems act like a lid on a pot.
Smog is created when the sun's rays hit pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds that are in motor vehicle exhaust, solvents, pesticides, gasoline vapors and decaying dairy manure.
"There is no simple answer to ozone pollution," said Thomas Cahill, a researcher at the University of California, Davis who studies air problem in Sequoia and across California.
Breathing ozone at high levels for even a short time can blister the lungs like UV rays blisters skin, scientists agree. The problem in quantifying exposure levels, however, is that some people suffer pulmonary damage at lower doses than others.
Dr. David Lighthall, health science adviser for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, says ozone levels at high altitudes don't drop at night like they do in the valley, which leads to "more cumulative exposure for those who live and work there."
Southerly breezes from the San Francisco Bay collect pollutants and push them to the valley's southern rim, where they bounce back north. Between Fresno and Visalia — just below the park — the warm air hits the cooler air pushing south and gets trapped in a swirling vortex called the Fresno Eddy. The warm, polluted air then rises up the canyons of three rivers that begin in the park.
The only way to improve air in the park is to improve the San Joaquin air basin, something that so far has proved elusive given the myriad sources. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to retrofit diesel engines and replace gasoline lawnmowers with electric ones, residents pay a federal fine for the region's failure to meet even minimal EPA ozone limits.
"We don't create a disproportionate amount of pollution; it's just that we have these natural challenges so that the pollution we do create can take literally weeks or months to clean out. It just builds up over time," said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the valley air district.
Already this year, the level of ozone in Sequoia park has exceeded federal health standards, even though it's early in the summer ozone season. During the June-to-September summer season last year, the park violated the National Ambient Air Quality standard at least 87 times, compared with 56 at Joshua Tree and 12 at Great Smoky Mountains.
"It's tragic that the National Park Service is known for clean air, and then you see a sign saying it's unhealthy to breathe," Esperanza said. "It's so contrary to the national parks idea."
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Follow Tracie Cone on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TConeAP
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
California smog threatens world's oldest trees - WSLS.com
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, California (AP) The California forest that is home to the biggest and oldest living things on earth, the giant Sequoia redwoods, also suffers a dubious distinction. It has the worst air pollution of any national park in the U.S.
"Ozone levels here are comparable to urban settings such as LA," said Emily Schrepf of the nonprofit advocacy group the National Park Conservation Association. "It's just not right."
Signs in visitor centers warn guests when it's not safe to hike. The government employment website warns job applicants that the workplace is unhealthy. And park workers are briefed every year on the lung and heart damage the pollution can cause.
Although weakened trees are more susceptible to drought and pests, the long-term impact on the pines and on the giant redwoods that have been around for 3,000 years and more is unclear.
"If this is happening in a national park that isn't even close to an urban area, what do you think is happening in your backyard?" said Annie Esperanza, a park scientist who has studied air quality there for 30 years.
It's a problem in a handful of the nation's 52 parks that are monitored constantly for ozone, including Joshua Tree National Park in California's Mojave Desert and North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But none is as severe as Sequoia and its neighbor, Kings Canyon.
While forest fires create some pollution, most comes from the San Joaquin Valley, the expanse of farmland that is home to California's two busiest north-south trucking highways, diesel freight train corridors, food processing plants and tens of thousands of diesel tractors.
Smog is created when the sun's rays hit pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds that are in motor vehicle exhaust, solvents, pesticides, gasoline vapors and decaying dairy manure.
"There is no simple answer to ozone pollution," said Thomas Cahill, a researcher at the University of California, Davis who studies air problem in Sequoia and across California.
Breathing ozone at high levels for even a short time can blister the lungs like UV rays blisters skin, scientists agree. The problem in quantifying exposure levels, however, is that some people suffer pulmonary damage at lower doses than others.
The only way to improve air in the park is to improve the San Joaquin air basin, something that so far has proved elusive given the myriad sources of pollution. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to retrofit diesel engines and replace gasoline lawnmowers with electric ones, residents pay a federal fine for the region's failure to meet even minimal EPA ozone limits.
"We don't create a disproportionate amount of pollution; it's just that we have these natural challenges so that the pollution we do create can take literally weeks or months to clean out. It just builds up over time," said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the valley air district.
Already this year, the level of ozone in Sequoia park has exceeded federal health standards, even though it's early in the summer ozone season. During the June-to-September summer season last year, the park violated the National Ambient Air Quality standard at least 87 times, compared with 56 at Joshua Tree and 12 at Great Smoky Mountains.
"It's tragic that the National Park Service is known for clean air, and then you see a sign saying it's unhealthy to breathe," Esperanza said. "It's so contrary to the national parks idea."
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Follow Tracie Cone on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TConeAP
Source: www2.wsls.com
California Democrats bid for two-thirds control of state Senate - Sacramento Bee
Bill Berryhill's pitch to voters at a recent candidates forum came down to more than just his positions on issues affecting San Joaquin County's 5th Senate District.
It was about the balance of power in the Capitol.
"Do you realize if one party gets sole power, you think you're taxed to the max now? Guess what? You better grab your wallet, because they only have one way to go and that's to tax and spend, tax and spend," the Republican assemblyman told the crowd at Tracy's Kimball High.
Berryhill is running in one of a handful of newly drawn swing seats that will determine whether Democrats capture a supermajority in the upper house for the first time since 1965.
Senate Democrats need just two seats to hit the 27-vote threshold, and they have a good shot under the state's new political maps. The pick-up potential for Democrats this year is high enough that Republicans sought to have the districts thrown out via the courts and backed a referendum, which has qualified for the November ballot.
A sweep of the swing seats up for grabs this year could give Democrats a supermajority in the Senate through the better part of the decade.
Democrats also are two seats away from two-thirds in the Assembly, but experts doubt they can pick up those districts this year. With fewer opportunities based on the maps, observers say it's tough to handicap future races until the first run of the state's new primary system is complete.
For Democrats, supermajority control could put an end to years of often unsuccessful negotiations with the minority party over taxes, constitutional amendments and other issues that require a two-thirds vote.
"I'm going to lead the Senate and do everything we can without asking one Republican to give us one vote," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told Democrats gathered at the state party convention in San Diego earlier this year. "And when they come in with their list of demands, we're going to tell them no such luck."
That prospect has Republicans, already marginalized in the budget process due to changes approved by voters in 2010, on high alert.
"It's a game changer because already the Democrats have majority of both houses, they've got the Governor's Office, they've got all the constitutional offices," Senate Republican leader Bob Huff said. "They clearly define the politics, they clearly define the agenda."
Though Republicans are at a registration disadvantage in every swing Senate district and generally trail Democrats in fundraising, Huff said he believes their message that a supermajority will lead to more taxes and get rid of checks and balances in Sacramento will keep his caucus above the one-third mark this year.
"If people are still voting their pocketbook, Republicans are going to win," he said.
While taxes will likely be in the spotlight in the targeted races, a supermajority wouldn't make an aye vote for new revenues a sure thing.
Democratic legislative leaders would also need to convince a growing bloc of business-friendly moderate Democrats and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who pledged during his campaign not to raise taxes without a vote of the people.
The Assembly would still need GOP votes for taxes. But experts say a supermajority in the Senate would put the pressure on the Assembly to reach an accord, if not on new taxes then on agreements to eliminate tax breaks.
"If all you need is one or two members in the Assembly it becomes easier for Brown and the legislative Democrats to find something for (Republicans) to go along with the vote," said Wesley Hussey, an assistant professor of government at California State University, Sacramento.
The issue is already shaping the debate in the 5th Senate District, as Berryhill and San Joaquin County Supervisor Leroy Ornellas fight for a spot in the November runoff.
Ornellas, a Tracy Republican, recently signed the Americans for Tax Reform no-tax pledge, criticizing both Berryhill and Democrat Cathleen Galgiani, an assemblywoman from Stockton, for not doing the same.
Ornellas has also targeted Berryhill's support for legislation to require Amazon.com and other online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Californians, a vote Berryhill defends as a move to protect brick-and-mortar stores and bring jobs to the state.
Galgiani, who should easily make it into the runoff as the sole Democrat on the ballot, is keeping quiet on the issue. She skipped the recent forum where the two Republicans tangled on taxes and other issues, citing a scheduling conflict.
One mailer a committee funded by Realtors sent in support of her campaign doesn't even identify her as a Democrat. Instead it praises her as an "independent voice" who worked to protect homeowners affected by the mortgage meltdown and financial assistance for low-income college students.
Experts say Democrats will likely downplay the tax implications of the elections as they communicate with voters in districts across the state.
Jaime Regalado, former director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, said the Democrats' campaigns will be "talking more about a balanced approach," highlighting budget cuts they have had to make without new revenues.
"They won't be talking about taxes, or if they do, they won't be talking about taxes in a vacuum," he said.
Anti-tax activists say they'll work to make sure voters get the message loud and clear, focusing resources in the few swing districts.
"Those heavily Republican seats, we're not going to be looking at those," said Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association President Jon Coupal, whose organization has not endorsed in the 5th Senate District race. "We'll be looking at those that are marginal."
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Call Torey Van Oot, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544.
• Read more articles by Torey Van Oot
Source: www.sacbee.com
Lenore Anderson: Time for serious reform of California's criminal justice system - San Jose Mercury News
In many ways, California leads the nation in innovation, from new technology to environmental protection to entertainment. We take pride in being trendsetters, paving new pathways to a brighter future.
But when it comes to one of our most cherished values -- public safety -- California's approach has been anything but innovative. While other states have begun to tackle unchecked prison spending, California has lagged behind.
A year ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in. In Brown v. Plata, the court ruled that California's behemoth prison system was a disaster.
The justices said the deplorable overcrowded conditions violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and that the state had to reduce the population by more than 30,000 within two years.
Not only has this landmark ruling finally brought about long-overdue prison reforms, but it also has the potential to finally break California's budget-busting trade-off between a broken prison system and keeping books in our classrooms, our hospitals and clinics open and, well, just about everything that gives the next generation a chance.
Here's how we got to this breaking point.
For decades, a blanket "lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key" mindset packed our 33 state prisons to the brim, growing corrections spending by nearly 1,500 percent from the early 1980s to today.
Meanwhile, nearly three out of every four people released
from prison end up right back there. The one-size-fits-all hammer has not worked to rehabilitate people or stop the cycle of crime.Other states facing similar crises began implementing common-sense reforms -- such as diverting people convicted of low-level offenses from prisons -- that cost less and work better to stop people from getting in trouble again.
New York reduced its prison population by nearly 20 percent and, at the same time, reduced violent and property-related crime by as much as a third.
Now Gov. Jerry Brown and Corrections Department Secretary Matthew Cate are taking meaningful steps to put California on a new path.
New laws passed over the past year are addressing overcrowding. People convicted of nonviolent, nonserious and nonsex offenses will be placed in county jails or on probation instead of state prisons.
We now stand at a crossroads between continuing to move forward or staying trapped in the past. Every Californian has a stake in the choice. Our state's $16 billion budget deficit means moving from packed state prisons to packed county jails won't be enough. We must implement new cost-effective approaches to protect public safety and our future at the same time.
Important reforms are already on the table. Sen. Mark Leno's Senate Bill 1506 would make drug possession a misdemeanor, saving the state $65 million a year, and Sen. Loni Hancock's Senate Bill 1180 would reduce the number of unsentenced people in jail through pretrial programs, saving millions in jail costs.
Last year's Supreme Court decision serves as a wake-up call for more than just the people running our prisons. Law enforcement, nurses, teachers, faith leaders, business owners and everyone concerned about California's fiscal crises can join together to abandon obsolete corrections policies and invest in our future.
Lenore Anderson, an attorney who worked in the San Francisco district attorney's office, is the director of a new multiyear criminal justice reform campaign to reduce California's over-reliance on incarceration. She wrote this for this newspaper.
Source: www.mercurynews.com
California Condor Population Rebounds to 405 After Near Extinction - Tree Hugger
Thanks to Conservationists' Efforts
30 years ago, efforts began to save the California condor, an iconic species on the brink of extinction. Since then, a lot of progress has been made, and the last count revealed 405 known California condors. The population is split between 179 individuals living in zoos, and 226 living in the wild. But while the progress that has been made so far is encouraging, it's too early to say that the California condor has been saved:When wildlife officials, conservationists and others drafted a recovery plan for the species in 1996, they determined that until there were at least 450 condors, they couldn't be considered for delisting under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Plus, that magic number comes with strings. According to the plan, condors need to be dispersed among three 150-bird populations -- two wild and one captive, with 15 breeding pairs in each group. And they have to be self-sustaining, reproducing and expanding on their own.
"We're not there yet," says John McCamman, who took over in March as California condor coordinator for USFWS.
Key among issues are lead poisoning caused by condors eating animals, or gut piles from animals, shot with lead ammunition.
Via Oregonlive
See also: U.S. Navy's Sonars and Explosives Could Hurt more Dolphins and Whales Than Previously Thought
Source: www.treehugger.com
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