Amador County – The Big Trees Market in early May set about closing its 20 monitoring wells, and along with it the last chapter in handling a leaky underground fuel storage tank at the site.

Amador County Supervisors approved waiving permit fees for the well plugging work until the owner is reimbursed by the state for the work. Environmental Health Department Director Mike Israel said “Big Trees Market has undergone a lengthy groundwater investigation and cleanup process in connection with a release from an underground fuel tank.”

He said the consultant for the owner has requested a “no further action” letter from the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The Regional Board said “the last piece to be completed is destruction of monitoring wells installed as part of the investigation and cleanup.” The Regional Board approved the request, and asked for a verification of the wells’ abandonment by May 30.

Israel said the 20 groundwater monitoring wells typically cost about $120 per permit to destroy and plug, with the rate set by county code, and the inspection and destruction of the wells set by state water code Section 13801. He said the fee includes inspection costs by a state certified inspector, and up to a 20-foot concrete plug of each of the 20 wells.

Israel said “this office has in the past performed multiple monitoring well destruction inspections at a reduced rate,” that being one fee of $120, plus $96 per hour for time beyond the first 1-and-a-quarter hours. This assumes the work is all for the same permittee and performed on the same day.” Israel said the work would be completed “in a full day or less.” He said the inspection would be done all at once with the sealing and destruction of the wells.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said “the whole deal has been a very arduous process for the owner,” and the work on removing the tank and doing clean-up has used up most of a $1.5 million grant for the project, and “left just a little bit in the pot for the closure.” Big Trees Market owner, Aline Diamond, of Volcano, requested the fee waiver.

Supervisor Louis Boitano asked Israel the issue involved a “standard triple-walled tank.” Israel said at the time the tank was installed, “it was in compliance” with state law, making it eligible to get state underground gas tank remediation funds.

Oneto motioned and the board on a 5-0 vote approved the waiving of the fees until the owner is reimbursed by the state.

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Amador County – Sacramento’s own Jackie Greene, dubbed by the New York Times as an Americana phenom, will return to Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel this summer.

Carol Cook of the Jackson Rancheria Marketing Department said Greene will play Saturday, July 23, in the event area next to the Hotel. Jackie Greene is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboard player, acoustic solo artist, and “electrifying band leader who just doesn’t fit in any particular genre of music. His music is steeped in country, blues, jazz, rock and folk traditions, defying easy categorization.”

Greene has toured with Buddy Guy, Elvis Costello, Susan Tedeschi, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. He sometimes performs with Phil Lesh & Friends, Cook said, and “when the surviving members of the Grateful Dead reunited to play for then presidential candidate Barack Obama, Greene was playing with the band.”

His latest album, “Till the Light Comes,” is further proof of a talented young performer looking to move outward, to explore new textures and surprising chord changes.

Cook said “Greene is above all a working musician, who gives himself permission to do things musically that he hasn’t dared before.” Greene said: “Ultimately, my hope is that these songs will someday ignore their creator and tell their tales all by themselves.”

Cook said opening for Jackie Greene will be Honyock (pronounced hon-yock), “an exciting young rock, folk rock, new wave group” also from Sacramento. Members are Mason Hoffman, Spencer Hoffman, Tyler Wolter and George Rios.

The name Honyock, although a derogatory term for Polish people, was a word the Hoffman brothers’ Grandpa used to call them meaning “mischievous young one.”

The band played their first show on June 19 of last year (what would have been Grandpa Joe’s 78th birthday). Cook said their “goal is to produce well crafted, soul baring, honest music that comes from a pure place,” with “no ulterior motives.”

Tickets are only available at the Jackson Rancheria Box Office, at 12222 New York Ranch Road in Jackson, or by phone at 800-822-WINN, ext. 8731.

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Amador County – Amador County Solid Waste recognized the winners of the 2011 Recycle Ricky Award in an award ceremony Tuesday in the board of supervisors chambers, giving two prizes this year, including four boys in a Sutter Creek family, and also a club at Argonaut High School.

James W. McHargue, Solid Waste Program Manager, said the Amador County Integrated Waste Management Regional Agency formally recognized local youths “for stellar recycling efforts.” McHargue said two groups received the 2011 Recycler Ricky Award: the Smith Family boys from Sutter Creek and the Argonaut High School Science Club.

The four Smith boys, Maverick, Wyatt, Tyler and Cody, were presented with a framed certificate by the Regional Agency Chairman, Supervisor Richard Forster.

McHargue said: “These young men are learning more than just the importance of recycling and the benefits to the environment. They are learning about the economics of working to bring in extra income and how to save a buck or two in the process.”

McHargue said representatives from the Argonaut High Science Club, including staff advisor Ms. Kelsi Himmel, were on hand to receive their honors. He said the “club is actively involved in numerous recycling projects on the school campus including ink cartridge and battery recycling, school garden composting and the collection of electronic waste for recycling.”

All winners were presented with a special summer gift bag filled with items made from recycled materials.

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Amador County – Pardee Lake Incorporated this week announced its Annual Kids Fishing Derby has been scheduled for June 18th at Pardee Lake, at 4900 Stony Creek Road in Ione.

The Pardee Lake Annual Kids Fishing Derby returns with the contest open to participation for kids age 5-12. There will be prizes given in a variety of categories. Organizers said that no fishing permit or state license is required to participate in the derby, and no fishing equipment is needed. Everything for the contest will be provided. However, parents will not be allowed to assist their children in the contest.

The Grand Prizes for the contest for both boys and girls winners were donated by Bo Marks, Tribal Chaiman of the Jackson Rancheria. The Grand Prizes include $250 in cash prizes to be distributed among first and second place finishers of the “Whopper Fish” contest. There will also be bike and helmet prizes for third, fourth and fifth place finishers.

Organizers said after the derby, stay for lunch, of hotdogs, potato chips and a beverage for sale for $3. There is no charge to participate in the derby, however there is an $8 day-use pass to get into the park.

The Annual Kids Derby 2011 sponsors include the Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel, American Legion Post 108, Merzlak Signs, Seps Pro Fishing Incorporated, Calaveras Trout Farm, Weidaw Bait & Wholesale, Kmart, Sons In Retirement Branch 96 of Amador, and the American Legion Ambulance Service.

The Annual Kids Derby 2011 contest is 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Pardee Lake parking lot. The Lake is at 4900 Stony Creek Road in Ione.

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American Legion Ambulance Service

2011 Pardee Lake Kids Fishing Derby 

Sonora – The Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority was honored recently by the state and federal development agencies for creating a model for rural economic development in California.

TCEDA Board Chair Hank Russell said a partnership was formed to create a model for economic development, under the leadership of Tuolumne CAO Craig Pedro and former Sonora City Manager Greg Applegate, with support from the Supervisors and the City Council.

“Unified with the same vision, the model of choice was a joint effort that established one entity under a Joint Powers Agreement,” Russell said. TCEDA is funded by both the County and the City, and current Sonora City Manager Timothy Miller has now joined the leadership team.

TCEDA is governed by its own board of seven members, including two Tuolumne Supervisors, Chairman John Gray and Vice Chairman Richard Pland; two City Council members are Mayor Bill Canning, and former Mayor Hank Russell; and three private sector members are attorney Jim Gianelli, broker Dennis Dahlin, and consultant Patricia Jones.

The first order of business for the new board was to select Executive Director Larry Cope, hired in March 2009 as Economic Development Director. Cope presented a 30-90-180-day plan to get the new agency up and running.

Russell said “Larry came in with a plan, and we told him to run with it.” Now “almost two years later, and with an extensive Work Plan as a guide,” Cope continues to accomplish the goals set for him by his Board.

Russell said Cope and staffer Beth Hartline were instrumental in forming the Business Alliance of Tuolumne County which provides free counseling and business classes, and a regional Central Sierra Economic Partnership, which includes Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador and Mariposa counties.

TCEDA’s Strategic Work Plan 2009 was chosen to be highlighted in a new 100-page guide created by USDA Rural Development and the California Association of Local Economic Development. The publication, “Growing Thriving Rural Economic Development Corporations,” in part, said “Cope has created a five-year work plan that includes priorities for the first, third and fifth years. The priorities are categorized in the areas of business retention, expansion and attraction, infrastructure, administration and partnerships.”

“Each first year priority includes an action item, TCEDA role and measurable outcome. To encourage participation, (Cope) uses a retreat format to bring key stakeholders together for strategic work plan sessions. The planning session is used to create the action items and identify measurable outcomes…with accountability built into the corresponding actions. All priorities are subject to an annual review.”

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency earlier this month dedicated a new backwash filtration plant in Buckhorn that was purchased second-hand for an estimated savings of up to $380,000.

The used backwash system, installed at its Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant, was valued at about $450,000, and it will help the plant stop runoff from its storage ponds on Mace Meadow Golf Course by reducing the amount of water sent to the ponds. The AWA Board of Directors held a special meeting May 9 at the Buckhorn Plant in Pioneer to take visitors on a tour of the plant, to dedicate the new backwash recycling system, and to laud employees for their work on the project.

The system recycles backwash, which is “water used to clean treatment plant filters,” said Agency General Manager Gene Mancebo, and it “has dramatically reduced the amount of water sent to a storage pond at the Mace Meadow Golf Course and solved a perennial wastewater storage problem on the upcountry water system.”

The “used backwash water from the Buckhorn plant is piped from Buckhorn to Mace Meadow Golf Course where it is stored in a pond and then used for irrigation,” Mancebo said. “Reduced irrigation on the golf course during many past winters caused the Mace Meadow storage pond to fill to emergency levels” recently, and caused “a situation that risked regulatory fines and occasionally required water conservation by Upcountry water customers.”

On a typical winter day, Mancebo said the Buckhorn Plant uses about 40,000 gallons of water to backwash or clean out treatment plant filters. That backwash water must be handled as wastewater, according to state law. “Recycling the backwash water back through the treatment plant is now reducing the water sent to the storage pond by about 90 percent,” he said.

In January, AWA Operations Manager Chris McKeage purchased a second-hand filter system from an apple juice company for $5,000. Another $65,000 of AWA staff time and materials went into installation of the used filtration plant, which was up and running by late-February. McKeage estimated that a new plant of similar design would have cost as much as $450,000 before installation.

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Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) on Tuesday voted against raising the national debt limit by $2.4 trillion dollars, saying he was against the increase without reforms to spending.

“The country’s debt burden is currently $14.2 trillion dollars and 42 cents of every dollar spent by the government is borrowed money,” Lungren said by e-mail after the vote. House Resolution 1954 was meant to “implement the President’s request to increase the statutory limit on the public debt.” The bill failed on a 318-97 vote, with 236 Republicans and 82 Democrats voting no, and another 97 Democrats voting yes.

Lungren said: “It is essential for those of us in the Congress to approach the vote on the debt ceiling with a full awareness that we have a solemn obligation not only to meet our existing debt obligations but also to take serious action to avoid a future debt crisis which could plunge our nation into another serious economic crisis.”

The Congressional Budget Office has projected “that if we continue on the current spending trajectory, our public debt will grow to 87 percent of the U.S. economy within 10 years,” Lungren said, and that is “simply not sustainable and could lead to what Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard, and Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland have characterized as a tipping point for economic decline when a nation’s debt to (Gross Domestic Product) ratio reaches 90 percent.”

Lungren pointed out the April 18 credit-rating change by Standard and Poor’s (S&P), which changed the United States outlook from stable to negative. According to S&P, this was a result of “very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness” and the lack of a “path to addressing these” problems. The rating was changed because the S&P believes “there is at least a 1-in-3 likelihood that we could lower our long-term rating on the U.S. within two years.”

Lungren said “any agreement to raise the debt limit should include meaningful measures to reduce spending. The writing is on the wall. The shift by Standard & Poor’s outlook on U.S. Treasuries from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ should be a wake-up call.”

S&P said the “outlook reflects our view of the increased risk that the political negotiations over when and how to address both the medium- and long-term fiscal challenges will persist until at least after national elections in 2012.”

 Lungren said “now is the time for meaningful spending reforms to reduce our debt…. The debate over the debt ceiling should be used to achieve real spending cuts,” and “the time to act is now.”

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Amador County – Amador County Supervisors last week heard that a recent court ruling on greenhouse gas law could have an effect on the county’s General Plan update.

County Counsel Martha J. Shaver said a ruling May 20 against the California Air Resources Board found fault with the ARB’s creation of the Greenhouse Gas law, and procedures known as Cap & Trade, which establish a bank of emissions credits to trade among entities. Shaver said the ruling in San Francisco Superior Court could have the effect of “invalidating the entire document.” She said the state will either fix that issue, or have to redo its Environmental Impact Report for the Cap & Trade, at further cost to taxpayers.

In the ruling, Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith wrote that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) “committed a prejudicial abuse of discretion when it failed to proceed in a manner required by law by inadequately describing and analyzing project alternatives sufficient for informed decision making and public participation.”

The ruling also said “ARB committed a prejudicial abuse of discretion when it failed to proceed in a manner required by law by violating the informational requirements of (the California Environmental Quality Act) and its own certified regulatory program when it adopted Resolution 08-47 and began implementing the Scoping Plan without first responding to comments, completing the environmental review process and approving the Project.”

The court granted a writ of mandate “regarding the sufficiency of the Functional Equivalent Document’s impacts analysis under CEQA” and also its “alternatives analysis and the timing of its approval under CEQA.”

The ruling said “ARB shall set aside” the Board Resolution and Executive Order “adopting and approving the Climate Change Scoping Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gasses in California as it relates to Cap & Trade.” The ruling also said ARB shall take no action to the Scoping Plan and FED “as it relates to Cap & Trade, until ARB has come into complete compliance with its obligations under its certified regulatory program and CEQA, consistent with the court’s order.”

The ruling was issued May 20, and the California Air Resources Board filed a notice of appeal May 23. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse during the county joint panel on its General Plan update last week said the San Francisco ruling does address emissions and CEQA studies. He said some people have said they “wish to remove all reference to greenhouse gas” emission from the General Plan, due to the ruling.

He said county counsel advised that the SB32 established CEQA, but SB97 amended it to add requirements to monitor greenhouse gas. The appeal by California Air Resources Board stays the ruling on Cap & Trade.

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