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WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, Congressman Mike Thompson joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues in opposition of efforts to expand domestic offshore oil and gas drilling.
As they do each year, proponents of offshore drilling attempted to lift the current congressional moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) through amendments in an appropriations bill.
Thompson and his allies criticized this proposal as dangerous and unnecessary, and they urged their colleagues to vote against them. The amendments will be voted on in the next few days.
"Lifting the moratorium on new drilling could result in disastrous economic and environmental consequences," said Thompson. "Yet it will do nothing to reduce our dependency on oil and gas."
The moratorium on OCS drilling has been a bipartisan agreement in Congress for 25 years, and it has been renewed annually since 1982.
However, the moratorium has come under regular attack, which is why Thompson recently introduced a bill to permanently protect the North Coast from drilling.
The Northern California Ocean and Coastal Protection Act (H.R. 2758) will permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.
"California's North Coast would be especially vulnerable if the moratorium was lifted," added Thompson. "Drilling off the North Coast would threaten our marine life and cause our local economy to suffer."
The North Coast is part of a unique upwelling zone, one of only four in the world. These zones support incredibly abundant and productive marine life, which local fishing communities depend on.
The North Coast also supports a large tourism industry vital to local and state economies that is dependent upon its pristine cove and beaches and spectacular views.
"Every year, there are attacks against the moratorium, and I'm afraid that one day it might be lifted," said Thompson. "An oil spill off our beautiful North Coast would be devastating. My bill will make sure that never happens."
On Thursday, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will review Thompson's bill.
Watch Rep. Mike Thompson speak on the House floor: http://recap.fednet.net/archive/Buildasx.asp?sProxy=80_hflr062607_062.wmv,80_hflr062607_063.wmv&sTime=00:02:42.0&eTime=00:00:37&duration=00:02:55.0&UserName=anne%252E&sLocation=&sExpire=1.
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LOWER LAKE – Families in Morgan Valley who draw extra water for their homes from a water standpipe owned by the Lower Lake County Water Works won a brief reprieve Monday night.
In an emergency meeting, the water district's board of directors voted 4-0 to rescind a decision from its June 12 meeting to shut off the standpipe on July 1. Board Chair Frank Haas said the board took the action due to dropping levels in the district's wells.
The board extended the shutoff notice to July 31, saying they'll reevaluate their water conditions at that time. They also urged out-of-district water users who rely on the standpipe to attend a Wednesday meeting of the Highlands Water Co. to see if that district might offer them water.
General Manager Al Tubbs explained that his first obligation, according to state water law, is to his in-district customers. The Morgan Valley residents who use the standpipe are outside of the district, he explained, and can only be sold water if the district has a surplus.
The district's eight wells are now running 16 hours a day to serve about 900 hookups. Water use in the district hasn't changed, he said, but the supply has, with wells that once produced more than 200 gallons a minute now producing just over 110 gallons a minute.
Of the roughly 20 people who crowded into the small board room Monday, most were Morgan Valley water users, who were concerned that they hadn't been notified that there was an issue and were finding out with little notice. They said they are paying customers, although they're not within the district proper.
Tubbs said there are standpipe users who are not reporting usage, to the tune of 10,000 gallons in May that can't be tracked. Community member Torrie Quintero said the amount of water all the residential users take out of the standpipe can't account for all of that missing water.
Tubbs said the district can't account for another 467,000 gallons in May throughout the rest of the district. That amounts to a loss of 28 percent of the water the district pumps from its wells.
A central issue for most of those in attendance was commercial and construction trucks being allowed to draw heavily from the standpipe, using the potable water for spraying down roads and dust control. One of the decisions that came out of the meeting was to cut off commercial access to the standpipe as of Friday, June 29.
The board agreed that there was an emergency, and that it should extend the deadline for shutting off the pipe until they've conferred with Highlands Water Co. and evaluated water supply. Morgan Valley resident Bernice Britt said she spoke with Highlands officials, who said they would need to put in a standpipe to serve the residents.
Board member Frances Ransley said she sympathized with the water users, but added “you are taking your chances” when you buy land with a well and no other water source.
“I realize you guys are between a rock and a hard place,” she said.
Britt said she and her neighbors would like to be annexed to the district and will pay to do so. Quintero, Jo Cunningham and Rebecca Barnes-Lipman said after the meeting that they're working on an annexation application to the Local Area Formation Commission.
Tubbs suggested also issuing new keys to the current standpipe users, which the board voted to do.
Originally, the district reported that 28 families used the standpipe. Upon further research, they found they only had 12 active residential accounts and four commercial accounts, which means that 12 keys are being used but not being paid for or logging water usage. The new keys will stop that, said Tubbs.
Tubbs said he very concerned for his wells, that if they run draw he's concerned they won't recharge. He warned water users that in a month's time they still may be cut off, and that they needed to find other water sources as a backup. In-district customers also are receiving a conservation notice in their next billing.
“This is the future,” said Ransley, noting that conservation was becoming an issue for everyone.
Ellen Hardenburger asked that the district notify standpipe users quickly if an emergency situation – like the wells running dry – looks imminent. Hardenburger said water users weren't notified properly of the possible shutoff being discussed at the June 12 meeting.
Quintero said there's state law – such as Tubbs noted in serving the in-district water users first – and there's real life, which includes longtime standpipe availability. She said real life leads to new laws, and that everyone needs to communicate and work together to find solutions to issues like water availability.
Supervisor Ed Robey sat in on the meeting, and advised the board that, procedurally, they should rescind the previous shutoff order and make separate motions to extend the deadline, which they did.
Separately, the board voted to end commercial trucks' access to the standpipe as of June 29, issue new keys and evaluate standpipe water usage after another month.
Standpipe users are urged to attend the Highlands Water Co. meeting on Wednesday. For more information on time and location, call 994-2393.
Despite the sometime heated atmosphere of the meeting, residents thanked board members during and after the meeting for changing their mind. Outside the building after the meeting, Tubbs and Quintero even shared a hug.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – Fire officials are reporting that the cause of a fire that endangered a Lakeport neighborhood on Saturday was a lawnmower.
As Lake County News previously reported, the blaze broke out near a neighborhood on Alterra Drive and Crystal Lake Way shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday.
About 30 homes are located nearby, and fire personnel advised residents of numerous homes to evacuate their homes as they worked to control it.
The fire was contained later that afternoon, with mop-up operations continuing until late into the evening.
Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Ken Wells said Monday that the 4.5-acre blaze was traced to an area resident mowing grass.
Wells said because the fire was accidental, charges won't be brought against the person doing the mowing.
Lawn mowing is a serious source of potential fires, said Wells, who urged people to mow early in the morning or late in the evening, when fire danger is much less.
The blaze destroyed one barn, one playhouse, neighborhood fences and numerous junker vehicles, said Wells.
Putting out the fire relied on the efforts of agencies around the lake and beyond, said Wells.
A total of 36 firefighters from Lakeport Fire Protection District; Northshore Fire, including engines from its Upper Lake, Lucerne and Nice fire stations; Kelseyville Fire; the U.S. Forest Service; and Lake County Fire Protection in Clearlake fought the fire, said Wells. Another 30 hand crew members came from Cal Fire.
A total of 10 engines came from all of those agencies, plus a bull dozer and helicopters from Cal Fire and a Forest Service water tender, said Wells. Both Cal Fire and the Lake County Fire Protection District also sent battalion chiefs to assist Wells.
Wells added that there were no injuries, either to residents or firefighters.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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WILLITS – Former Vice President Walter Mondale and his wife Joan, celebrated throroughbred racehorse owner Harry Aleo, and descendants of the owner, trainer, and jockey of Seabiscuit on Saturday paid tribute to the legendary American racehorse as a classic, life-sized bronze sculpture of the equestrian giant was unveiled and formally dedicated at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits.
The private ceremony took place more than 55 years after a Seabiscuit statue had been removed from the ranch where the horse legend spent his final racing and retirement years, died, and was buried.
"Seabiscuit was a most unlikely champion – a down-on-his-luck horse whose looks didn't inspire confidence in anyone – except for the people who mattered most – his owner Charles Howard, his jockey Red Pollard, and his trainer Tom Smith," said Mrs. Mondale, official representative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "They were an amazing team, this horse and these three men. They worked miracles and in the depths of the Depression that seemed to go on and on, they gave people something to feel good about."
Retired Marine Col. Michael Howard, great grandson of Charles Howard, read a statement from Laura Hillenbrand whose best-selling book rekindled national interest and led to an Academy Award-nominated film about the great horse and the remarkable team who owned, trained, and raced him.
"I can say with perfect certainty that nothing could have thrilled (Charles Howard) more than to see people gather here at his beloved ranch to dedicate a statue crafted to celebrate Seabiscuit and to carry the horse's legend forward to new generations," said Hillenbrand. "May the world never forget the magnificent Seabiscuit."
Besides Mrs. Mondale and Col. Howard, other speakers at Saturday's event were Aleo, owner of Lost in the Fog, the most popular San Francisco Bay Area horse since Seabiscuit; John Pollard Sr., nephew of Seabiscuit jockey Red Pollard; Anthea Hartig, Western Director, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Jani Buron, former ranch resident and author of "The Spirit of Seabiscuit"; and Bill Nichols, former ranch hand and author of "Seabiscuit-The Rest of the Story". Dashing Lil'Biscuit, a Seabiscuit descendant, made a brief appearance.
Representing the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation were the emcee, Jacqueline Cooper, owner and breeder of the American Legend Horse Farm which is raising Seabiscuit's descendants at Ridgewood, and Foundation President Tracy Livingston.
The foundation is a nonprofit group formed to protect and preserve the historic buildings and natural resources of the remaining 5,000 acres of the Howard Ranch. "The return of the statue marks the start of a new era at the ranch, one which ultimately will see the completion and execution of a full-blown restoration and preservation plan," commented Livingston.
Famed Western artist and sculptor Hughlette "Tex" Wheeler cast two statues from Seabiscuit in 1940-41 while the horseracing legend was still alive.
About a decade ago, the Howard family donated one of the sculptures to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York. In February 1941, Seabiscuit himself helped unveil the second statue at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California where it remains in the garden paddock area.
Custom design statue makers, Icon Bronze of Anchorage, Alaska and its affiliate, Atlas Bronze Casting of Salt Lake City, crafted the replica unveiled today from a new rubber and fiberglass mold of the original in Saratoga Springs. V. Fontana, a family-owned fine granite and marble products manufacturer near San Francisco that made the original five-ton dark diamond gray granite pedestal, used the same polishing equipment to produce the new base. The inscription is the same: "Biscuit's courage, honesty, and physical prowess definitely place him among the thoroughbred immortals of turf history. He had intelligence and understanding almost spiritual in quality."
Chris and Anita Lowe of Bishopstone, Wiltshire U.K., foundation benefactors and collectors of Seabiscuit memorabilia, generously provided funding for the monument. The Lowes were made honorary citizens and given a key to the city of Willits by Mayor Tami Jorgensen. "There have been countless famous racehorses throughout the ages from all over the world," said Chris Lowe. "But few if any have captured the imagination and inspired an entire nation as Seabiscuit."
Nestled in the oak and redwood-studded ranchlands and mountains of northern California, Ridgewood Ranch was where Seabiscuit was nursed back to health after a serious injury. Seabiscuit's recuperation set the stage for an electrifying blaze-of-glory career finish at Santa Anita Park that captivated Depression-era America.
Still a working ranch, Ridgewood has been designated one of America's most threatened historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The current owner, Christ's Church of the Golden Rule, has endeavored to be a model steward of the ranch by keeping developers at bay and by permanently protecting the historic structures that constitute Seabiscuit's legacy. The church has worked toward restoring several historic buildings and has joined the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation, the National Trust, and others to develop an overall preservation and resource management plan and identify necessary funding sources for the effort.
For more information, contact the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation, Ridgewood Ranch, 16200 Highway 101, Willits, CA 95460, or
For a full gallery of picture from the Seabiscuit statue unveiling, go to http://lakeconews.com/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,37/.
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