Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Posted by George J. Janczyn on June 1, 2010
The City of San Diego and the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego have filed a notice of appeal on the longstanding dispute with San Diego State University over the university’s proposed housing project in the Adobe Falls area of Del Cerro alongside Alvarado Creek. The appeal, filed May 25, 2010 at the Vista Superior Court, is in response to the court’s March 26, 2010 judgment in favor of SDSU. The proposed housing project could create as many as 348 housing units for use by university faculty and staff.
It might be a very long time before anything significant happens with the appeal. The appellants have 10 days from the notice of appeal to submit a Designation of Record and the defendants have 15 days if they wish to submit a counter designation. The Superior Court then needs to certify the Designation and forward it to the Appeals Court which will then assign a case number. Later, the parties will file briefs, which may or may not include arguments. At some point, the court could invite the parties to participate in oral arguments. Although Del Cerro Action Council was a principal in the lawsuit, that group is unlikely to join in this appeal due to the expense.
The appeal will be handled at the 4th District Division 1 Appellate Court.
Meanwhile, CSU has submitted a Memorandum of Costs and will likely ask the Superior Court to order reimbursement for the costs CSU incurred copying and preparing the administrative record for the case. If so ordered (and that appears likely), cost of payment (total of $27,937.82) would be shared among the various parties on the losing side of the lawsuit.
Posted in Environment, Government | Tagged: Adobe Falls, Del Cerro Action Council, San Diego State University | Leave a Comment »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on May 25, 2010
Imperial County’s complaint against the U.S. government challenging the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) was heard on May 14 at an Early Neutral Evaluation Conference at the U.S. Courthouse in El Centro.
At the conference, as was probably expected, the parties were unable to reach a settlement. Judge Peter C. Lewis then ruled that the case was appropriate for review and ordered the defendants to file an administrative record by September 10 and scheduled a case management conference to be held October 8, 2010, again at the U.S. Courthouse in El Centro.
For background and details on both the federal and state QSA lawsuits, click here.
Posted in Environment, Government, Water | Tagged: Quantification Settlement Agreement | 2 Comments »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on May 11, 2010
Grit processing equipment at the Point Loma plant
The San Diego City Council adopted a resolution at today’s (Tuesday) meeting approving the plans and specifications for the construction of the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant Grit Processing Improvements Project (Project).
Quoting from the project description from the council docket:
The Grit Processing Improvements Project (GIP) is located at the existing Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (PLWTP). Presently, the PLWTP has six aerated grit basins constructed between 1962 and 1988. The south grit tanks were part of the original PLWTP construction. The central and north pair of grit tanks was added in 1983 and 1988, respectively. This project will reconstruct the south grit tanks and its adjacent pump gallery; replace the head works building with a drive through facility and new grit processing equipment. It also includes an interim grit processing facility to allow processing to continue during construction.
Adequacy of the grit removal is a major issue because of the wear and tear the material causes on the downstream equipment and the decrease in treatment capacity and efficiency. It is estimated that PLWTP spends $1,000,000 a year on grit removal from plant digesters. The material also affects the operations, maintenance and performance of the Metro Bio-solids Center.
The total estimated cost of this project is $33,453,006.75. Project cost may be reimbursed approximately 80% with current or future debt financing. The project is scheduled to be funded in four phases Fiscal Year 2011 thru Fiscal Year 2014.
Click here for full supporting materials for the project.
Posted in Environment, Water | Tagged: Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, Wastewater treatment | Leave a Comment »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on May 8, 2010
I was in high school and had moved to San Diego from Santa Barbara a few years before 1969 when this happened. I learned to surf in SB and spent many long days at the beach and from afar it was hard to imagine the reality of the mess. But it really was a mess.
This Daily Kos article is a good recap of that event. Sadly, our Gulf Coast states are probably in for even worse.
Posted in Environment, Water | Tagged: Santa Barbara Oil Spill 1969 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on May 5, 2010
Although the local news media has given some attention to the Superior Court lawsuits challenging the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), there hasn’t been any news about the separate Federal lawsuit that was filed last October 8, 2009. That could change after May 13, which is when a formal Early Neutral Evaluation conference is scheduled to bring the opposing parties together. [sure enough, this item appeared on May 9]
The QSA forms the basis for significant water transfers from Imperial Valley to San Diego.
The Superior Court case produced a decision on Feb. 11, 2010 invalidating the QSA, threatening to cut off San Diego’s supply of water coming from Imperial Valley, but a stay was granted pending outcome of an appeal, so that case is simmering for now.
With regard to the Federal case, to be held at the U.S Courthouse in El Centro, it will be a closed confidential meeting where, according to the order, “both counsel and the parties who have full and unlimited authority to negotiate and enter into a binding settlement shall appear in person at the conference and shall be prepared to discuss the claims, defenses and damages.” The case is CALIFORNIA EX REL. IMPERIAL COUNTY AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT, et al., vs. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, et al.
An attempt to find grounds for a settlement will be a primary goal of this hearing. If no settlement can be agreed to, discussion will turn to establishing procedures for a discovery plan and overall case management. Due to the confidential nature of the hearing, I suspect the most we’ll know immediately afterwards is whether a settlement could be reached or not.
If you’re interested in more details, I’m following QSA matters on the Hot Topics page (it’s on the menu bar on at the top).
Posted in Environment, Government, Water | Tagged: Quantification Settlement Agreement | 2 Comments »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on May 4, 2010
I just finished a two-day Colorado River Aqueduct Facilities Inspection Tour hosted by the San Diego County Water Authority and sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (many thanks to SDCWA’s Scott Robinson for inviting me!). I went on this tour to get a closer look at the infrastructure that contributes a large amount of water that San Diego needs to import to stay alive.
San Diego imports about 90% of its water and a good deal of that comes from the Colorado River. It’s one thing to casually acknowledge our dependence on the river, but there’s nothing like getting a close look at some of the engineering that goes into maintaining this immense system.
Stops along the way included San Vicente Reservoir, Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant, Diamond Valley Lake, Copper Basin, the Whitsett Intake Pumping Plant, Parker Dam, the All-American Canal and Palo Verde Irrigation District farmlands.
On to the pictures (clickable for enlargements).
We began the tour at San Vicente Dam, where a project to raise the dam by 117 feet using a roller-compacted concrete technique is underway. When the dam raise is completed, the dam’s capacity will increase from 90,000 to 242,000 acre-feet.
 I took this shot a few months ago, when they were water blasting the dam's face to prepare the surface |
 Surface is all clean now, ready for new concrete. The scraped rock on the right side shows how much higher the dam will be. |
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Environment, Government, Technology, Water | Tagged: All American Canal, Colorado River Aqueduct, Diamond Valley Lake, Parker Dam, San Vicente Dam, Twin Oaks Water Treatment Plant | 2 Comments »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on April 25, 2010
This screenshot from John Fleck’s blog sums it up nicely:
John Fleck is a science reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. I recommend his blog…San Diego has more in common with Albuquerque than many people might suspect.
Posted in Environment, Water | Tagged: Albuquerque, Colorado River, John Fleck | Leave a Comment »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on April 24, 2010
I’m maintaining updated information on San Diego State University’s Master Plan project to construct residential housing for faculty and staff in Del Cerro’s Adobe Falls Open Space area, and the legal challenges pertaining to the plan’s Environmental Impact Report that dragged on for years.
The ongoing story is here: http://groksurf.com/ongoing-topics/adobe-falls-and-sdsu-expansion/.
Posted in Environment, Government, Land use | Tagged: Adobe Falls Open Space, Del Cerro Action Council, San Diego State University (SDSU) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by George J. Janczyn on April 23, 2010
[Reposted with title changed; originally appeared Jan. 29 with title: The drought vs. fish vs. farmers vs. SoCal urban dwellers (same URL so links won't break]
I was saving a comment about a possible Peripheral Canal to post here at an appropriate time and today I saw two interesting perspectives on it, one from On the Public Record and the article it references from the LA Daily News. They make some good points and after reading them, now seems as good a time as any for my comment:
I’m concerned how controversial and emotional issues have clouded discussion about a peripheral canal or pipeline. As far as I’m concerned, a new delivery route around the delta is probably the only way to protect the southern half of the state against a complete cutoff of water from the north due to potential delta levee failures and saltwater intrusion from rising sea levels. As long as we’re pumping water out of the delta, that danger exists. When the breaking point for the delta is reached, it will be catastrophic for SoCal — and taking the long-term view, such a delta malfunction seems inevitable. As for the argument that a bypass development would allow greedy SoCal agribusiness and cities to take more water than ever, I believe safeguards could and should be implemented to assure it would not be used to increase the amount of water sent south. For me, the most important thing is to provide a safer route for transfers of agreed-upon amounts. Reliability and security is my concern.
See also this recent comment about north-south water transfers, and from about a year ago this interesting observation, both from On the Public Record.
Posted in Environment, Politics, Water | Tagged: Peripheral Canal | 2 Comments »
