The long-awaited and controversial 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics officially begin today, August 8th, with the traditional torch lighting ceremony. International press coverage is at an unprecedented high. NBC is calling it the “most ambitious single media project in history.” The network's coverage of the upcoming event will encompass an unprecedented 3,600 hours over seven television networks. But along with the fanfare comes plenty of controversy. Activists have become more vocal in recent weeks, protesting China’s approach to human right’s and its attitude and treatment of Tibet. Concurrently, China has stepped up law enforcement. Insiders behind the red curtain say Chinese officials are going to exorbitant lengths to make sure the games stay incident and controversy free. But while officials try to avoid political friction, the air quality is undeniably poor. American athletes caused a controversy Tuesday when they arrived in Beijing wearing masks. The athletes subsequently issued an apology explaining that the masks were for health reasons and were not intended to offend the Chinese.

And finally, Climax Road will be closed on August 19th and 20th due to construction purposes. The Board of Supervisors authorized the closure on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. PG&E will be reconductoring the power lines along the road during those days, a project that has been delayed several times. PG&E requested the road closure, because they feel it will save on time and money.

The California Oak Foundation has submitted commentary that challenges the validity of the Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort’s DEIR analysis of carbon dioxide emissions that will result from the partial deforestation of the site. The Draft Environmental Impact Report describes its blue/interior live oak resources as covering 700 acres, or 70% of the property. The population of trees measuring six inches in diameter and larger is 31,600, and 13,375 trees, or 42%, will be removed during development, including 1,950 trees that have a diameter of greater than 16 inches. According to the COA, “deforestation accounts for about 20% of the carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere each year.” Further, “the more that oak woodlands are converted to non-forest use, the greater the rise in California temperatures and the greater the temperature increases, the faster oaks are extrapolated from the California landscape.”

The commentary goes on to state that the Gold Rush DEIR assertion that “the net sequestration (of Carbon Dioxide) is expected to be low” due to the relative maturity of the site’s oak woodlands, is “unsupported by scientific data, contrary to the California Forest Protocol and inconsistent with the functional oak woodlands described in the wildlife habitat assessment.” The commentary also says that the DEIR’s findings relative to the analysis of mitigation measures for CO2 emissions as required by the California Environmental Quality Act are insufficient, “In the parlance of climate change, it is infeasible for Gold Rush Ranch to plant enough mitigation oaks to be anywhere near carbon neutral over a 100 year period.” In the document’s conclusion, the COF makes the suggestion that City of Sutter Creek adopt the following single oak woodlands mitigation measure: “Upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the project, the applicant shall preserve off-site by acquisition or funding, in perpetuity…350 acres of contiguous oak woodlands and 50 acres of contiguous oak savanna located within Amador County…” The document finishes with the sentence, “Until these CEQA requirements are met, the California Oak Foundation objects to approval of the project and adoption of the DEIR.”

The Sutter Creek City Council this week made some headway on the Sutter Hill East Storm Drain and Sewer Project. Sutter Creek Administrators last visited this project about a year ago, when the east annexation of Sutter Hill into the City of Sutter Creek was postponed due to the lack of a traffic study.At Monday evening’s City Council meeting, council members heard a presentation from Tim Chamberlain, a development and city planning consultant, regarding the installation of storm drains in Sutter Hill, as well as plans to connect five Sutter Hill Residences to Sutter Creek’s Sewer System. Chamberlain noted that three potential developments outside Sutter Creek are what initiated this extension of water infrastructure, which will occur in the area between Old Ridge Road, Sutter Hill Road, and Highway 49.

The developers will pay for the extension, and the five landowners will be compensated for the right-of-ways through their property with hook ups to the sewer system. Sutter Creek officials were delighted to have the project moving again, but heeded Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley’s warning to proceed with annexation simultaneously with the sewer line project. “If the property owners get the connections and build before you annex it, you have the potential to loose revenue,” he warned. In the end, the Council voted to approve a resolution for a mitigated negative declaration for the storm drain and sewer project, and also instructed staff to proceed with the necessary steps for the annexation. City officials expect to find out this week whether the scope of the Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort’s DEIR Traffic Study will cover Sutter Hill East. If it does not, an independent traffic study will have to be conducted for the area, an item that is imperative to the annexation process.

The Amador County Board of Supervisors this week approved a request from the Jackson Valley Irrigation District for a loan from the Water Development Fund in the amount of $150,000 for a Proposition 50 domestic water project. Jackson Valley currently gets its water from Lake Amador, which is sufficient for irrigation and fire suppression, but is an unreliable source of potable water for home use. In 2001, JVID entered into a compliance order with the State Department of Health Services which requires that potable water be provided to Jackson Valley residences. JVID submitted an application to the California Proposition 50 program to develop such a system, and were subsequently awarded $2 million dollars state grant money in November of 2007.

The money will be used to develop infrastructure that will bring water from the Mokelumne River at Pardee Reservoir to a treatment plant at Lake Amador. From Lake Amador, the potable water will be disbursed throughout Jackson Valley. JVID will use the Water Development Loan money to fund costs associated with Engineering, Design, surveying, Right of Ways, and Environmental Review in the early phase of development. The Prop 50 money will reimburse these activities when the work is completed, and the agreement is signed. JVID expects to be able to pay back the loan within 4-6 months. Tim Hoover, who presented the project to the Board on behalf of JVID, also noted that “This project is not designed for growth. A lot of people would like to join the district, but JVID does not feel it has enough water to expand its service area.” With the acquisition of the funding, JVID will go ahead with Phase One of the project. They will have to reapply for Prop 50 funding before they begin Phase Two, which involves installing pipelines for the domestic hook-ups.

The County of Amador is set to wrap up a code enforcement issue that has been going on for several years in Pine Grove. The property in question is located at 19698 Highway 88, and belongs to William and Theresa Mulderry. The Board of Supervisors heard the item on Tuesday, in order to postpone a years-old abatement order that was set to go into affect this Wednesday. The abatement order was placed on the retail space years ago due to issues over unpermitted outdoor storage at the site, as well as additions that were made to the property by a previous owner without the correct permits. Since then, the Mulderrys have made multiple improvements to the property in order to comply with County codes. The latest and last of these items was the installation of manhole covers that were installed by the Amador Water Agency. At the meeting, the Board voted to place an additional two week stay order on the item to insure the completion of any follow-up paperwork. The Mulderry’s are expected to get their final, up-to-date permits at the end of the two week period.

Amador Fire Battalion 10 and CDF responded to a call of a wildfire last Friday off of Defender Grade Road via Highway 26 in Pioneer. TSPN’s contributing photographer Bill Lavallie was on scene to photograph the battle. The fire started around 1 pm, and quick action by the responding agencies kept the blaze from spreading towards the Mokelumne River area, where several homes and barns lay in the fire’s path. One Calfire aircraft also responded to help fight the blaze.

Monday morning, a car caught fire in Ione off of Martin Lane and Highway 88. Bill Lavallie was again on scene to document the response. The fire started at approximately 11 AM. Ione firefighters responded quickly, fearing that the fire would spread to proximate structures and grassland. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the flames. The driver was unhurt but the car was a total loss. It was not clear at the time exactly what caused the fire.

The sale of the controlling shares of Sutter Gold Mining Company is set to close this week. Sutter Gold Mine, located between Sutter Creek and Amador City, was constructed in 1989 after the price of gold topped 600 dollars per ounce in the mid-80s. The mine was in operation for two years, but then closed in 1991 when the price of gold plummeted. It has not been in operation since. The mine has seen over 500,000 visitors to their popular mine tour over the last 8 years. Talk of reopening the mine has been ongoing since the mine closed, but has become more serious with increasing gold prices. In December, the price of gold skyrocketed to 1,000 dollars an ounce.

Last year, Sutter Gold Mining Company completed an extensive exploratory core-drilling program in order to assess an accurate estimate of reserves. Last month, US Energy Corporation, of Riverton Wyoming, announced the sale of the controlling shares of Sutter Gold Mining Company to the company Rand Merchant Bank Resources. RMB Resources is an international corporation, and is rated as one of South Africa’s top investment banks. RMB’s United States office is based in Denver, Colorado. Last week, officials of RMB and US Energy Corporation met in Vancouver to discuss appointments to the new Sutter Gold Board. The parties also discussed candidates to replace Hal Herron as Sutter Gold’s CEO. Details have not yet been released, but RMB’s executives will visit Sutter Creek this week to continue talks. Keep watching TSPN this week to hear the outcome of the deal.

A lawsuit against the State was filed on Friday by the Service Employees International Union over Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to sign an order that cuts 20,000 State Government jobs and temporarily slashes the pay of 200,000 other State Employees to Federal Minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. In addition, the governor froze hiring and restricted over-time. In Amador County, potentially 190 jobs are expected to be affected by the order. Public Safety services, such as Cal-Fire, will be exempted from the lay-offs and pay cuts. Schwarzenegger said that the action was necessary to save California from “a full blown cash crisis,” due to the legislature’s failure to enact a budget for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1st.

The State currently faces a $15.2 billion budget deficit and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on a spending plan. The State’s Financial Analysts say that if a State Budget is not approved within the next few weeks, State bills will have to be paid with expensive loans acquired on Wall Street. “I have a responsibility to make sure that our state has enough money to pay its bills…This is not an action that I take lightly, as I know it will affect people at a time when they are already struggling,” Schwarzenegger said after the signing. State Controller John Chiang, however, has told the governor he does not intend to implement the pay cuts. Over the weekend, union workers protested in front of the state Capitol with a huge mock-up of a pink slip addressed to Schwarzenegger. In its lawsuit, SEIU argues that the governor illegally ignored the procedure for State layoffs, mandated by the Legislature and the State Department of Personnel Administration.