Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 12, 2009
4. Water Quality –
Asian clams survey on Lake Tahoe water board's agenda
The
Cosco Busan operator offers guilty plea
The San Francisco Chronicle
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Asian clams survey on Lake Tahoe water board's agenda
The North Lake Tahoe Bonanza – 5/11/09
By Annie Flanzraich
LAKE TAHOE —The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board will discuss funding a survey of the Asian clam population of Lake Tahoe and the possibility of allowing aquatic pesticides into the waters at its meeting Wednesday and Thursday.
The board meets at 4 p.m. at the Lake Tahoe Community College Board and Aspen Rooms at
A resolution requesting the State Water Resources Control Board approve $100,000 from the Cleanup and Abatement fund for a study to examine
The $100,000 would cover an autonomous underwater vehicle taking pictures of the bottom of the lake. It would also cover the staff costs of analyzing the data and images. The survey would cover down to 20 meters, said.
“What we need to do is a lake-wide survey because we’ve only surveyed the southeast area of the lake,” said Marion Wittmann, a researcher with
The autonomous underwater vehicle would come from the
The AUV takes clear picture of the lake’s bottom, allowing researchers to study more areas of the lake. After investigating the photos, Wittmann and her team will go out and take samples of specific areas to further study the clam population.
Because the AUV can take samples of chlorophyll, TERC researchers will also be able to monitor and sense any algal blooms.
Aquatic Pesticides
The board will also hear a staff report about the possibility of amending it’s policy that limits the amount of pesticides allowed in waters controlled by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.
This is not an action item, but staff will present options to the board of how the policy could be amended.
“We’re proposing an amendment that would change it and would still be very restrictive,” said Dan Sussman, an environmental scientist with Lahontan. #
http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20090511/NEWS/905119995/1061&ParentProfile=1050
Cosco Busan operator offers guilty plea
The San Francisco Chronicle – 5/12/09
By Bob Egelko
The operating company of a ship that struck the Bay Bridge 18 months ago offered to plead guilty Monday to two misdemeanor criminal charges and said it was partly to blame for the spill of 53,000 gallons of oil into
The guilty plea, if accepted, would also expose Fleet Management Ltd. to damages for the costs of the November 2007 spill and cleanup. The company did not mention the felony charges it faces for allegedly falsifying documents to obstruct the federal investigation.
The 901-foot container ship Cosco Busan hit the second tower of the bridge west of
The pilot, John Cota, pleaded guilty in March to two misdemeanor charges of operating the vessel negligently, polluting the waters and killing birds. His plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of two to 10 months and a fine between $3,000 and $30,000.
Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report saying one cause of the accident was Cota's use of prescription drugs that impaired his thinking. The board also said the ship's captain, Mao Cai Sun, had failed to prepare a navigation plan with Cota and had supervised him inadequately as the ship went off course.
In addition, the board said, Fleet Management had barely trained its brand-new crew on safety. The company's proposed guilty plea said Sun had acted negligently by failing to review Cota's intended route, which would have allowed him to recognize and overrule flawed commands.
"That negligence, even though concurrent with the negligence of others, was a (legal) cause of the discharge of a harmful quantity of fuel oil," the company's lawyers said in the federal court filing.
Fleet Management has also been charged with six felonies for allegedly concealing its navigation plans for the Cosco Busan and fabricating documents after the spill to interfere with the investigation. Its trial is scheduled for Sept. 14.
Fleet Management offered to plead no contest to all eight charges last fall, which would have subjected it to criminal fines but could not have been used as an admission of responsibility in damage suits. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston rejected the offer, saying the company was trying to blame everyone but itself.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/11/BA0O17IJM7.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
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