A big rig is stuck in the corner at Lion’s Den. Local CHP and FHL police are there. They are trying to get a couple of tow trucks out from FHL, but there are a number of hoops that must be jumped through. Take alternate routes in the mean time.

Today’s Date: Thursday, June 19, 2014
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Jim Shivers or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3237 or 549-3189

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*CORRECTION*

PISMO BEACH CAR SHOW RESULTS IN THREE HIGHWAY 101 RAMP CLOSURES

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY – The annual Pismo Beach Car Show will take place on Saturday, June 21 and will close three southbound Hwy 101 off-ramps from 7 am to 7 pm in the following locations:
· Price Street
· Hwy. 1/Pismo Beach
· Hinds Avenue

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will maintain these southbound ramp closures.

Electronic message boards have been posted to alert motorists, who are advised to use an alternate route during this event.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through Caltrans construction zones.

For traffic updates on other state highway projects in San Luis Obispo County, motorists can call Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at 805-549-3318 or visit the District 5 website
at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/road_information.htm

I wanted to give you a short update of where we are regarding Home Stays and Special Events.

We were due to have follow up meetings within the next couple of weeks. Rather than moving into these meetings, we are following the recommendation of many of you to get a larger cross section of community opinion through a survey. We are currently working on putting a survey together which will be launched within the next couple of weeks. This will involve notifications to the public through a variety of notices to encourage public participation. Once the result of the survey are known, we will re-engage in the meetings.

We are meeting in two locations where we have previously not met as follows:

June 23, 2014 Carmel Valley St Phillips Lutheran Church 6:30 PM

June 26, 2014 Salinas Valley Greenfield City Council Chambers 6:30 PM

We continue to compile the many comments we have received and will post those on the website next week.

If you have any questions please contact me.

John

John Ford
RMA – Services Manager
Resource Management Agency — Planning
(831) 755-5158

To view your project online via Accela Citizen Access, please use the following link: https://aca.accela.com/monterey/Default.aspx

Today’s Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2014
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Jim Shivers or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3237 or (805) 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALTRANS SEEKS PUBLIC’S INPUT ON STATEWIDE FREIGHT MOBILITY PLAN

SAN LUIS OBISPO – With the economic recovery expanding, California’s highways, seaports, and railroads are again teeming with freight being transported across the state and on to the rest of the nation. Caltrans has invested billions of dollars in projects aimed at improving freight movement and reducing its environmental impacts, and this summer it will ask the public to weigh-in on the future of freight movement in California.

Caltrans will host a public workshop on Monday, June 23 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Marina Public Library at 190 Seaside Circle to solicit input on the draft California Freight Mobility Plan (CFMP), which lays out a vision for all the ways freight is moved, including seaports, air cargo, railroads, and trucking. While promoting economic competitiveness, the plan will also benefit the environment and promote public health by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.

“To maintain and improve California’s status as the eighth-largest economy in the world, we must create a multimodal freight plan that sustains freight jobs, improves transportation, protects the environment and our communities,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will rely on the CFMP and other state freight plans as it shapes a national freight plan. Projects identified in California’s plan will be eligible to apply for a higher percentage of federal funding.

This plan is especially important because California is a national and global trade leader. Of the country’s internationally traded consumer products, about 40 percent is transported through California’s seaports. With 12 seaports, California has an unparalleled geographic trade position on the Pacific Rim.

California has set aggressive goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve a sustainable environment. The freight plan’s goal is to transition the freight industry to zero or near zero emissions by 2050. California has already made progress in reducing freight’s effects through better engines, cleaner fuels, infrastructure changes, and improved operations….

Caltrans is developing the CFMP in partnership with the California State Transportation Agency, the freight industry, public agencies, Native American tribal governments, and advocacy groups. The plan will be finalized by the end of this year. To view the draft plan, informational materials, and to receive more details on the public workshops, please visit: http://www.cfmp.dot.ca.gov.

Those unable to attend a meeting in person, can comment by email (cfmp@dot.ca.gov.) or send a letter or a completed comment card to: California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning, Office of System, Freight, and Rail Planning, 1120 N Street, MS 32, Sacramento, CA 95814. Comments must be submitted by July 31, 2014.

The California Department of Conservation (DOC) has sent out public notice regarding revisions to the proposed regulations for the use of well stimulation in oil and gas production. The notice also includes information regarding documents that have been added to the official rulemaking file and the dates, times, and locations of upcoming public comment hearings. This public notice begins a 45-day public comment period which will end at 5pm on July 28, 2014. The regulations, which are to go into effect on January 1, 2015, are designed to protect health, safety and the environment, and supplement existing strong well construction standards. They address a comprehensive list of issues, including testing, monitoring, public notice, and permitting. To ensure the major requirements of SB 4 are addressed in the interim, DOC has had emergency regulations in place since January 1, 2014 and those emergency regulations are currently being readopted.

To read the proposed regulations and other material, to see a schedule of upcoming public meetings, or to learn how to make a comment on the proposed regulations that will go into the official rulemaking record, please visit
http://www.conservation.ca.gov/Index/Pages/Index.aspx or http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dog/Pages/Index.aspx. click here for link

Tim Shular
Regulations Manager
Office of Governmental & Environmental Relations
Department of Conservation
Phone: 916-323-5432
**********************
Okay, off to the muster to play today! Photos later, or tomorrow! (thanks Otter Bob of PMC for the use of your internet!)

I got 2 things in my inbox this afternoon about Fracking …

The first came via Dick Whittington from CREDO:

“The California Senate just caved to the fracking industry.
Dear Dick,

Yesterday, our fracking moratorium bill died on the floor of the California Senate because eight cowardly Democrats voted against it or chose not to cast a vote.

Democratic Senators Lou Correa, Cathleen Galgiani, Ed Hernandez, and Norma Torres joined Republicans in voting against the bill. And Democratic Senators Marty Block, Ben Hueso, Ricardo Lara and Richard Roth abstained from the final vote.

By caving to pressure from the oil industry, these senators made it clear that they care less about their constituents’ health, safety and prosperity than Big Oil’s money and political clout.

We always knew the fight in the Legislature would be difficult. The oil industry spent a jaw-dropping $15 million on lobbying during the 2013-2014 legislative session buying influence in Sacramento. But it’s still appalling, disappointing and deeply frustrating to see Democrats vote with Big Oil.

Still, this is just a temporary setback, not the end of the fight to ban fracking in California. An overwhelming majority of Californians oppose fracking, and they will not stop fighting to protect their communities from the public health risks, earthquakes, and climate change caused by this toxic method of oil extraction.

We want to hear from you about what CREDO should do next to fight fracking. Please click here and take a 30-second survey to help us decide what big fights to take on next.

CREDO activists played a key role in the fight to pass SB 1132. We submitted nearly 22,000 letters of support for the bill, reported making more than 2,300 calls in support of the bill, packed every committee hearing to speak out for the bill, and led a dozen meetings with our legislators to urge their support.

And, although the bill failed, most Democrats listened. Of the 16 Democrats who voted for Senator Holly Mitchell’s and Mark Leno’s bill, six — Senators Ellen Corbett, Mark DeSaulnier, Loni Hancock, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Ted Lieu and Lois Wolk — signed on as co-authors. Eight more — Senators Jim Beall, Kevin de León, Noreen Evans, Carol Liu, William Monning, Alex Padilla, Fran Pavley and Darrell Steinberg — voted for the bill yesterday. Senator Jerry Hill voted for the bill earlier in the week, but, according to his office, missed the vote yesterday because he wasn’t in the room.

We can’t afford to dwell on this defeat. The oil industry has a lot of power to get its way in Sacramento and a lot of money, but from the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline to local campaigns to ban fracking in cities across the country, we’ve seen the power of grassroots activism to overcome Big Oil — so we have to double down and keep organizing to protect California from fracking.”

The second came to me from the State of California:

“The California Department of Conservation (DOC) today is giving public notice regarding the re-adoption of interim regulations to govern oil and gas well stimulation treatment until DOC’s proposed permanent regulations are completed and become effective. The interim well stimulation regulations were initially established on January 1, 2014. The proposed permanent regulations were publicly noticed on
November 15, and DOC anticipates that the permanent regulations will be effective on January 1, 2015.

These interim regulations were established under an emergency rulemaking process to ensure that they were in place when Senate Bill 4 became effective on January 1, 2014. These interim rules ensure that there is a regulatory structure consistent with Senate Bill 4 in place for well stimulation activities between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015. However, state law states that emergency rulemaking such as these interim regulations only have a 6-month lifespan before they must be extended. This readoption of the Interim Regulations serves to extend those rules. The Notice of Proposed Emergency Rulemaking Action and the text of the SB 4 Interim Well Stimulation Treatment Regulations are attached. The emergency rulemaking process includes a limited opportunity to submit comments on the proposed regulations. Information about the process for submitting comments is included in the attached notice. (I have not included them here in this post.)

For more information about well stimulation treatment and DOC’s proposed regulations please visit http://www.conservation.ca.gov.”

Sending happy birthday wishes to our beloved Big Sur Kate today.  She and Rose are off on their Safari adventure.  Be afraid Africa, we are sending in our own wildlife.  Much love from all of us here in Big Sur and beyond.  Happy trails and happy birthday our friend ~ d.