Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 18, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Deficit led to revival of offshore oil plan
The Associated Press
Study Halves Prediction of
The New York Times
Land donation paves way for riverfront park
The
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Deficit led to revival of offshore oil plan
The Associated Press – 5/18/09
By Noaki Schwartz
LOS ANGELES – With California facing a huge budget deficit, officials at the state Department of Finance saw an opportunity to resurrect a contentious proposal for oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara as a way to boost revenue and potentially bring $1.8 billion into state coffers over time.
Tom Sheehy, the department's chief deputy director, said he started working on a plan in March to ask the Legislature to give his department head authority to reconsider a project that had just died before the three-member State Lands Commission. At that meeting, Sheehy represented the governor's appointee on the panel and was the lone vote for the project.
On Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the surprise plan that could lead to the first new offshore drilling project in more than 40 years, putting back into play one of California's most contentious environmental issues. The governor does not see his support as a lapse in his promise to oppose offshore drilling because the project falls within an exception in the state's moratorium, spokeswoman Lisa Pagesaid.
Others see it differently.
“Schwarzenegger has been at best disingenuous on his protection of the coast,” said Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who chairs the State Lands Commission and is opposed to the drilling proposal. “Here we are with an end run around State Lands that for years has been responsible for protecting the public's land.”
Some wonder if the drilling proposal has a realistic chance or if its renewal is a political ploy to get voters out for tomorrow's special election on state budget-balancing initiatives, which aren't doing well in polls.
Last year, Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. unveiled an unprecedented deal with longtime anti-oil conservationists in
While these groups continue to support the project, conservationists outside the county worry that it could open the rest of the state's coastline to drilling.
Officials with the Department of Finance, however, said the legislation only would apply to the Plains proposal.
Sheehy estimates the state would immediately receive $100 million and a combined $1.8 billion over the lifetime of the renewed drilling proposal. A competing oil company has estimated the reserve could be as large as 250 million barrels, worth billions of dollars in today's prices.
Linda Krop, the attorney who represented the
Plains spokesman Scott Winters said in an e-mail that the company also was pleased. The terms of the deal between Plains and the environmental groups would still apply if it goes before the state Finance Department, he said. #
Study Halves Prediction of
The New York Times – 5/14/09
By Andrew C. Revkin
The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet, according to the analysis, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Science.
The scientists also predicted that seas would rise unevenly, with an additional 1.5-foot increase in levels along the east and west coasts of
Several Antarctic specialists familiar with the new study had mixed reactions to the projections. But they and the study’s lead author, Jonathan L. Bamber of the
They also uniformly called for renewed investment in satellites measuring ice and field missions that could within a few years substantially clarify the risk.
There is strong consensus that warming waters around Antarctica, and Greenland in the
The new study combined computer modeling with measurements of the ice and the underlying bedrock, both direct and by satellite.
It did not assess the pace or the likelihood of a rise in seas. The goal was to examine as precisely as possible how much ice could flow into the sea if warming seawater penetrated between the West Antarctic ice sheet and the bedrock beneath.
For decades West Antarctic ice has been identified as particularly vulnerable to melting because, although piled more than one mile above sea level in many places, it also rests on bedrock a half mile to a mile beneath sea level in others. That topography means that warm water could progressively melt spots where ice is stuck to the rock, allowing it to flow more freely.
Erik I. Ivins, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, described the new paper as “good solid science,” but added that the sea-level estimates could not be verified without renewed investment in satellite missions and other initiatives that were currently lagging.
A particularly valuable satellite program called Grace, which measures subtle variations in gravity related to the mass of ice and rock, “has perhaps a couple of years remaining before its orbit deteriorates,” Dr. Ivins said. “The sad truth is that we in NASA are watching our Earth-observing systems fall by the wayside as they age — without the sufficient resources to see them adequately replaced.”
Robert Bindschadler, a specialist in polar ice at NASA’s
The prime question, he said, remains what will happen in the next 100 years or so, and other recent work implies that a lot of ice can be shed within that time.
“Even in Bamber’s world,” he said, referring to the study’s lead author, “there is more than enough ice to cause serious harm to the world’s coastlines.” #
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/science/earth/15antarctica.html?_r=1&ref=science
Land donation paves way for riverfront park
The
By David Hasemyer
“It was such a sense of being free,” said Grant, 59, a part-time
Now Grant and her five cousins want to make sure others have the chance to chase dragonflies, throw mud clods and wade at the river's edge.
The Grant family deeded 17 acres of riverfront property valued at $10 million to the San Diego River Park Foundation yesterday to be developed into
The family is behind a 230-acre development of homes, offices and retail space west of Interstate 805 and north of
Foundation Executive Director Rob Hutsel said the organization envisions a place where visitors can find solitude to watch butterflies or listen to the gentle murmur of the river. It also will be a place where people can learn about the river and its role in the county's ecology, Hutsel said.
“The idea is that when people are there, they will feel a connection to the river,” Hutsel said. “Whether it's just sitting along the river's edge or getting dirty chasing bugs or doing hands-on science, this will be a place for people to get to know the river.”
Grant Park, on land smack in the middle of
The park also will be home to the
The estimated $3.5 million needed for the park and center will be raised though grants and private donations. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2012.
“This is a place where the pristine part of nature can be preserved,” said Alan Grant, one of Pat Grant's cousins and a grandson of family patriarch Franklin Grant.
The Grant family settled in
The City Council approved the
Alan Grant, 57, a musician who occasionally plays French horn for the San Diego Symphony, said he doesn't know when the family obtained the property that will become Grant Park but recalls the idyllic days of fishing and riding horses with his cousins along the river.
“It was wonderful to experience the river in its more pristine environment,” he said. #
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