Latest San Francisco Bay Stories
By Mike Taugher Staff Writer HAYWARD -- A backhoe clawed through a dirt berm Wednesday, creating a channel that Bay water poured through to former industrial salt ponds that had not tasted tidal waters for more than a century. With the dirt berm removed, the Mount Eden Creek will spill into the former salt ponds on high tides and returning life to one rich shoreline wetlands. Mudflats will form. Pickleweed should start growing and eventually birds, fish and mammals, including endangered...
By Mike Taugher Shell Oil Co. has agreed to pay more than $300,000 in fees and penalties for spilling about 420 gallons of oil into Carquinez Strait at its Martinez refinery in January 2006. No injuries were reported at the time and no dead wildlife were found, though the spill did foul the marina and some boats. "It's something we wish didn't happen and we have taken all steps to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Shell spokesman Steve Lesher, who also apologized to boat owners and...
By Chris Treadway The International Coastal Cleanup on Saturday is a chance to join volunteers at area shoreline sites as part of the largest volunteer event of its kind in the world. According to sponsoring organization Ocean Conservancy, 378,000 volunteers from 76 countries and 45 states took part last year, clearing 6 million pounds of garbage from oceans and waterways. Events cover most of the East Bay shoreline from Emeryville to Richmond and spots farther north; organizers say the...
By Anonymous A smoky fire burned underbrush and eucalyptus trees on the San Francisco side of Yerba Buena Island below the Bay Bridge Thursday afternoon, creating a grayish-brown haze that settled over much of downtown and West Oakland. The blaze broke out just after 2 p.m. The California Highway Patrol closed one lane of bridge traffic in each direction so fire crews could gain access to the island to fight the fire, said spokesman Shawn Chase. Fireboats quickly responded and sprayed the...
By Chris Treadway Two new benches have been added to Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, the popular dog park at the foot of Central Avenue in Richmond. The current issue of the Pido Pointer, the newsletter of the Point Isabel Dog Owners and Friends group, notes that one bench honors the memory of Sgt. Darryl Tsujimoto, who led the K9 unit of the San Francisco Police Department. Tsujimoto was 41 when he collapsed and died of a heart attack during a 2006 canine training exercise on Treasure...
By Samantha Young The Associated Press SACRAMENTO - Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday pressed California lawmakers to set aside ideological differences and put a water measure on the November ballot, saying upgrading the state's aging water system is an urgent priority. California's senior senator told Sacramento business leaders that it was critical for members of her own party to drop their long- standing opposition to new dams. A $9.3 billion water bond she negotiated with Gov....
By M.S. Enkoji, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Aug. 1--Recreational boaters who were set to pay as much as $1,500 in annual fees for a federal environmental permit were spared this week. A federal ruling filed last year on a California lawsuit said all sailing vessels should be required to participate in a permit process designed to control the influx of foreign marine life. The permit process was aimed largely at cargo ships, but the ruling said small motorboats, kayaks and other...
By Matt Weiser, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Jul. 31--The state and federal owners of massive water export pumps in the Delta have asked a judge to grant them additional time to prepare a new operating plan to protect threatened fish. The state Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation face a Sept. 15 court deadline to deliver a new biological opinion on their operations to protect the Delta smelt. The document, produced in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ Federal prosecutors charged the shipping company that employed the crew of the Cosco Busan with falsifying documents to cover up its negligence in the November spill that poured more than 50,000 gallons of heavy fuel into the Bay. The indictment says the ship's crew and its supervisors made up detailed voyage plans after the spill to make it appear those plans were onboard when the cargo ship struck the Bay Bridge. But, the indictment contends, the ship only had plans...
