Business News
- Details
- Written by: Editor
"U-Haul has turned a blind eye to California's hazardous materials laws for years, even after a explosion and fire severely damaged one of its facilities," Brown said. "This agreement forces U-Haul to clean up its act and improve the way it handles hazardous materials, plans for emergencies and trains employees."
U-Haul's hazardous materials practices first came under scrutiny in November 2004, following an explosion and two-alarm fire at a Santa Rosa facility, which resulted in flash burns to an employee.
The emergency response team that arrived on the scene had difficulty assessing the situation due to the lack of information about stored hazardous materials. The facility had no site map indicating where hazardous materials were stored as required by law, and employees had failed to properly label flammable materials including gasoline. The building was damaged in the fire and ultimately closed.
Subsequently, the Attorney General's office and 8 District Attorneys launched a 2-year statewide investigation into U-Haul's handling of hazardous materials and training of employees. The investigation revealed violations at virtually all of U-Haul's 179 California regulated facilities. Despite being repeatedly notified of the violations, U-Haul did not address them.
Such violations include:
- Inadequate training regarding handling of hazardous materials and hazardous materials business plans;
- Improper storage of hazardous waste such as oil filters and pans, waste gasoline and car batteries;
- Improper transport of hazardous waste; and
- Lack of statutorily mandated hazardous material business plans and emergency response plans.
The Attorney General's office, joined by the District Attorneys of Sonoma, Alameda, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Riverside, filed suit on July 27, 2006, seeking penalties and a permanent injunction to enforce compliance with hazardous materials and hazardous waste laws.
The's agreement resolves the lawsuit and requires U-Haul to:
- Complete and maintain statutorily mandated hazardous material business plans and emergency response plans for regulated facilities;
- Train its employees how to properly handle hazardous materials;
- Retain an environmental coordinator who will oversee, monitor and submit annual reports on the company's compliance;
- Inspect hazardous waste storage areas at regulated facilities on a weekly basis;
- Properly transport hazardous waste; and
- Pay $2 million in costs and penalties.
This settlement was filed in Alameda County Superior Court.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
This event marks the first-ever wine competition exclusively showcasing Lake County wines and branded wines that specifically state a Lake County AVA on the label.
The competition commences on August 25 at Langtry Estates & Vineyard where a prestigious panel of wine experts from across the country will blind-taste and judge more than 200 wines to select the top three finalists in each category.
Finalists will be announced at the 10th Annual Lake County Wine Auction Gala, presented by the Lake County Wine Alliance, on Sept. 19. This gala charity event for nonprofit organizations and agencies benefit the arts, health and community of Lake County.
Following the judges event, a consumer tasting event will be held at Six Sigma Ranch & Winery, in Lower Lake on Oct. 3, where the ‘people’ will taste and vote for their choice among the judges’ top picks. Winners of the People’s Choice Wine Awards will be announced Oct. 7.
“We are thrilled to launch and sponsor this one-of-a-kind wine competition here in Lake County,” says, Kaj Ahlmann, Chairman of the Lake County Winery Association. “This unprecedented competition gives wineries the opportunity to expose their wine brands to a distinguished group of wine professionals, who influence millions of wine enthusiasts worldwide, as well as consumers, whose wine opinions and recommendations are vastly becoming even more powerful through the technologies of blogging and social networks. This event is the perfect way to let consumers spread the word about Lake County’s outstanding wines.”
Lake County Winery Association is honored to have such a distinguished panel of wine judges to select the finalists in each category including: Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast; Deborah Parker Wong, The Tasting Panel; Traci Dutton, Culinary Institute of America; Doug Frost, Master Sommelier and Master of Wine; Chris Sawyer, “Sommelier to the Stars”; Tom DiNardo, Sommelier and Wine Appraiser; Bob Foster, California Grape Vine; Alan Goldfarb, Appellation America; Mike Dune, Sacramento Bee and Martha Dunne, Winegigs.com. Judges will individually sample and score the wines which will then be tallied up and the top 3 scores in each category will advance to the People’s Choice consumer tasting. Select wines that do not advance to the final judging will receive an Award of Distinction. Ray Johnson, author, wine writer and wine educator will preside as Tasting Director for the judges segment of the competition.
Participating wineries submitted their entries by the August 19th deadline in a variety of categories including Best of Varietal-Type, Best of Region, Best of Show, Winery of the Year and Critics Choice. All Lake County wines made in and outside the county using Lake County grapes were encouraged to enter.
Six Sigma Ranch will host the consumer event on Oct. 3, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasting and voting is open to the general public who will have the opportunity to taste the finalists in each category side-by-side then immediately vote for their top pick. Participants will enjoy a day of tasting food, and fun and will have their voices heard by the winning votes. Tickets for this event will be available on September 7th and cost $25.
For more information please visit www.lakecountywineries.com .
- Details
- Written by: Editor
The tentative location will be the Main Street Bar & Grill, 14084 Lakeshore Dr., Clearlake. That location will be confirmed.
Topics include election of officers, formation of a responsible volunteers list for the water pump check-out (at least six needed), forming a responsible volunteers list for the spray boat check-out (at least six needed), creating a telephone tree, building an email list, forming a public relations committee, creating a newsletter committee, forming an advertising committee, building a Web site (they already have a volunteer), finding a permanent location for meetings and deciding what the dues should be.
If you have any additional topics, please email them to Dian Gibson at Sunset Fishing Resort,
- Details
- Written by: Editor
Available through the California Energy Commission, the loans will help local jurisdictions stimulate their economies and job growth while investing in energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions – all in a cost effective manner.
Cities, counties, special districts, public schools, colleges and universities, public care institutions, and public hospitals are eligible to apply.
“These ultra-low interest loans leverage recovery dollars to create a cost effective way to invest in energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – while stimulating the California economy and promoting green job growth,” said California Recovery Task Force Director Cynthia Bryant. “We are working around the clock to pump Recovery funding into California to stimulate our economy while also investing in the future of our state.”
The Energy Commission allocated $25 million in recovery funding from the State Energy Program (SEP) to implement the low-interest loan program.
The Energy Commission will provide loans with a first-time ever low interest rate of one percent to promote green workforce development, building energy efficiency retrofits and clean-energy – the areas identified as the most effective ways to stimulate the economy and create a SEP with long lasting energy benefits.
The Energy Commission estimates that retrofitting California’s aged and inefficient residential and non-residential structures could save the state’s consumers 2.7 billion Btu annually and create more than 2,100 jobs.
The recovery funding builds on California’s existing Energy Conservation Assistance Account Program. The loan program will now offer two interest rates – the new one percent loan, funded through Recovery dollars and the existent 3-percent loan program, funded from an established state-funded loan program. Interest rates, either one or three percent, will vary according to the type project and the reporting requirements associated with that project under state and federal guidelines.
For more information and criteria about low interest loan programs or other energy-related Recovery Act funding and programs go to the California Energy Commission’s Recovery page at http://energy.ca.gov/recovery/index.html .
How to resolve AdBlock issue?