An official website of the United States government Latest Earthquakes Desert bighorn sheep depend on free-standing water for survival The USGS supports the US Fish and Wildlife Service at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona by providing remote sensing tools that assess how much water is stored in crucial cave-like This partnership enables the Refuge to preserve their desert bighorn sheep population Much of the Refuge is a designated wilderness area in a low elevation expanse of the Sonoran Desert and to the east are the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Tohono O’odham Nation lands further enhancing the area's remoteness and wilderness character This “green desert” has remarkable diversity of flora and fauna with plants and animals that are sustained by the desert and mountain ranges that punctuate the landscape The Refuge was originally created in 1939 as a “game range to conserve and develop wildlife and other natural resources,” in part to protect one of its most iconic species desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) This population of bighorn sheep is reliant upon water catchments called ‘tinajas’ for survival.  The term "tinaja" translates to earthen or clay jar in Spanish or retention areas that are formed in bedrock by the erosive forces of sand and water These natural features serve as critical sources of surface water storage in the desert historically used by Native peoples and early travelers and they remain an important water supply for animal desert dwellers today.  also called ‘tanks’ or ‘catchments,’ are either naturally occurring Rainfall mainly happens during two seasons: winter storms and summer monsoons there has been a noticeable decline in annual rainfall alongside rising air temperatures these tanks do not fill to their maximum water storage capacity or provide a consistent year-round water supply One of the US Fish and Wildlife Service resource management objectives at the Refuge is to sustain a population of 500 to 700 desert bighorn sheep Water availability is particularly consequential during summer months when desert bighorn sheep most commonly visit managed water resources Since declines in rainfall and increased evaporation have reduced water supplies Refuge managers haul water by trucks and trailers to fill the tinajas.  Water hauling operations can be expensive and have effects on wildlife and designated wilderness such as habitat disruption and increased erosion In alignment with wilderness stewardship and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Comprehensive Conservation Plan site visits are also intended to be kept to a minimum — only when absolutely needed Management decisions regarding how often and how much water is needed to fill the tinajas are determined by consistent monitoring and the volume of water currently in the tinajas. Refuge managers need to regularly assess water loss and recharge so that water is available for desert bighorn sheep and the Refuge can meet its stewardship objectives the tinajas’ complex cave-like geometries pose significant challenges for accurately calculating water volumes At the request and in cooperation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) employed ground-based light detection and ranging (lidar) remote sensing to help the Refuge meet two of its resource management objectives: Ground-based lidar remote sensing is an efficient and accurate survey tool to measure complex topography and geologic structures like these bedrock catchments without the need to simplify surface geometry into common three-dimensional shapes In addition to providing estimates for tinaja fill volumes the SBSC also calculated the volume of sediment that was collected by retention dams above the catchments that when full spill over into the tinaja and can reduce the amount of space for water storage These tools are useful for calculating water storage and water loss in habitats managed for desert wildlife The methods implemented in this project can be applied to other natural and developed water resources within the region and are used to support decision-making by Refuge managers to meet both wildlife and wilderness stewardship objectives a herd of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) interact near a water catchment These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics You can install and RSS reader browser extension or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added they may look strange because they are simply XML code An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site Ecosystems Mission Area News Land Management Research Program News Southwest Biological Science Center News Species Management Research Program News Water Availability and Use Science Program News Will California continue to exploit the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta to the max or will we pull back and give more to the Delta ecosystem The Sierra Club is concerned that the proposed Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) and the “Voluntary Agreements” (VA) alternative that reduces water flow requirements will irreparably harm the Delta ecosystem and Delta communities Funding for these efforts should be paid by the beneficiaries who receive the water And those beneficiaries may balk when the cost of water continues to rise to pay for these projects Bay-Delta Plan is short for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary Water Quality Control Plan the tributary rivers that ultimately flow into the estuary The Bay-Delta Plan identifies: (i) the “beneficial uses” of the Bay-Delta (ii) “water quality objectives” for the reasonable protection of those beneficial uses and (iii) a “program of implementation” for achieving the objectives The Bay-Delta Plan protects water quality in the region and includes water quality objectives to protect fish and wildlife beneficial uses through required inflows to and outflows from the Delta in addition to objectives or salinity to protect freshwater for agricultural beneficial uses in the Delta region can determine the amount and timing of water entering and moving through the Delta thus defining the framework to achieve the “coequal goals” of providing a more reliable water supply and restoring and enhancing the Delta ecosystem the coequal goals must be achieved in a manner that “protects and enhances the unique cultural The Voluntary Agreements alternative to the Bay-Delta Plan is basically a way for some Water Districts and Agribusiness interests (“VA Parties”) to continue diverting water that needs to be reallocated to the Delta to save endangered species the VA Parties offer to “mitigate the damage” by creating fish habitat along some river and Delta stretches (which they select) Multiple scientific studies have shown that additional flows are needed so habitat alone is unlikely to result in significant recovery of species according to material presented at the April 2024 Board Workshop on the proposed voluntary agreements the VAs will force the State to provide $1.4 billion (through the sale of bonds and General Funds) and allow the Public Water Agencies to “pay” an additional $588 million for the project… which again they will recover by passing the cost on to the water users And we taxpayers and water users will not have an opportunity to vote on the project Delta Conveyance Project or “Delta Tunnel” Various “peripheral canal” projects have been proposed over the years that seek to circumvent the coequal goals of the Bay-Delta Plan and the newest one the Department of Water Resources (via the State Water Project) is proposing the DCP to allow withdrawal of up to 6,000 cubic feet of water per second from the Sacramento River pass it down to a 43-mile-long tunnel under the Delta and dump it into a “holding bay” for pumping south to the Central Valley (mostly for agribusiness) and to the Los Angeles basin Removing that much fresh water upstream of the Delta will have major detrimental environmental impacts on wildlife and on the health of the Bay-Delta ecosystem in general in addition to detrimental effects on Native American tribal cultural uses of water and on agriculture within the Delta region the DCP represents an unprecedented and onerously expensive “solution” that again circumvents the voters and sticks ratepayers with the bill The stated cost of the DCP keeps rising (currently estimated at $20.1 billion But this does NOT include financing and interest on bond debt which has been estimated to drive the final costs up to $30-50 billion Governor Newsom and the legislature have not moved to make sure we get a chance to vote on this massive project even though we will ultimately pay for it the State Water Project contractors (Water Districts) who receive the water will pay for the project by passing the costs on to water consumers It Is Not Looking Good for the Delta – What You Can Do Environmentally both these plans are a debacle robbing fish and other aquatic species and the Delta and riparian habits along the tributary rivers of even more fresh water Withholding so much river water from the Delta will increase salinity in the Delta lessen the removal of pesticides and toxins provide less cold-water input and thus increase water temperatures in the Bay increase the likelihood of harmful algal blooms and provide less water in the river for salmon migration This dual debacle is an affront to the idea of “coequal goals” spelled out in the Delta Reform Act and an insult to the voters of California who have been disenfranchised and robbed of any say over the massive debt the Delta Conveyance Project and the Voluntary Agreements will force upon them your State Representatives and local Water Districts and demand they drop the DCP and Voluntary Agreement proposals or put them on the ballot to let the voters decide Specifically, Valley Water is a State Water Project customer and is participating in the Delta Tunnel project. The Valley Water Board of Directors will receive an update on the DCP at their meeting on June 25, 2024. The agenda will be posted on June 14th Join the meeting to learn more about the project and tell Valley Water that the project is too expensive and too damaging to the environment Interested in joining and working with the Water Committee? All are welcome to participate. If you would like to join our advocacy efforts contact the committee chair at water*lomaprieta.sierraclub.org or simply show up at our next meeting We can also add you to your discussion list and will perhaps become involved on issues that resonate with you Sign up for our electronic communications and keep in touch with current issues involving our local environment your support is critical to our local environment Sierra Club® and "Explore, enjoy and protect the planet"® are registered trademarks of the Sierra Club. © Sierra Club 2025.The Sierra Club Seal is a registered copyright Folks like you are the backbone of the movement to ensure wildlife and wild places are protected clean air and water are accessible to all and devastating effects of climate change are fought Thursday marks the 35th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake amid a World Series that pitted the Bay Area's two baseball teams when the Yankees and the Mets play each other this World Series was dubbed the Bay Bridge Series the A's and Giants made a point to do one Bay Bridge Series every season with the A's off to Sacramento and then Vegas.) the 1989 World Series game at Candlestick Park was likely the reason there were not more deaths on roadways when the earthquake struck at 5:04 pm — because many people had left work early that Tuesday to get home or hunker down in a bar to watch the game The A's had won two games at home at the Coliseum and the two teams had crossed the Bay for Game 3 that October night The majority of the deaths in the Loma Prieta Earthquake occurred as a result of the collapse of Cypress Freeway viaduct in West Oakland The double-decker concrete structure pancaked on itself trapping and in some cases crushing drivers on the lower deck You can see a slideshow here of the Oakland Tribune's Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs of the tragedy and the earthquake's aftermath As one of those drivers described it to KPIX in the video below and I thought I had a flat tire so I slowed down and I just happened to be in between two cross members and there was enough space for me to live." then you received a test alert this morning In the event of a major earthquake (over 4.0M) the MyShake app will be able to send alerts ahead of time to California residents near the epicenter giving them 10 to 20 seconds of lead time before the shaking begins (You may recall that the app, thanks to a technical partner and a configuration glitch, mistakenly sent the test alert last year at 3:19 am The earthquake anniversary, like the April anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire, serves as another reminder to get your Go Bag and shelter-in-place supplies together. Everyone should have three days worth of stored drinking water and non-perishable food stowed at home, and a Go Bag ready with medications, pet supplies, and cash in small bills in case you need to flee your house. See some more suggestions at Ready.gov as we traditionally have on this anniversary we share with you the footage of longtime KGO anchor Cheryl Jennings Nine-time Emmy Award winner Jennings was just a couple years into the anchor job at the time having started at KGO as a reporter in 1979 Without the aid of cellphones or social media the news media was largely flying blind in the first minutes and hours after the quake as information about what the damage looked like trickled in and the quake strikes at the 2:24 mark in the video below The feed from the ballpark goes out — the announcers were in the midst of showing replays from Game 2 so we only get broken-up audio of the announcers saying "We're having an earth-." It then goes to audio only with the sound of fans roaring and shouting in the stadium and at the 3:46 mark it flips to longtime local KGO anchor Cheryl Jennings At the 10:40 mark you the studio shake as Jennings rides out one of several aftershocks still remaining effortlessly cool as she tells people Antioch police made a gruesome discovery Wednesday afternoon when they were performing a welfare check at a home near the DeltaFair Shopping Center In what appears to be Santa Clara County’s first guilty verdict in a transgender domestic homicide case a 25-year-old Union City man was convicted of killing then-24-year-old Natalia Smüt Lopez of San Jose Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox Barmann is a fiction writer and web editor who's lived in San Francisco for 20+ years Get all the latest & greatest posts delivered straight to your inbox Reflecting on the 30th anniversary of Loma Prieta this week earthquake experts shared their perspectives on how the event impacted them the Bay Area and the research community at large destruction from the Loma Prieta earthquake killed 67 people and injured 3,757 The magnitude 6.9 quake went down in the history of California’s central coast as the most damaging seismic event since 1906 It sent seismic waves from its origin in the Santa Cruz Mountains to San Francisco The 20 seconds of shaking knocked down part of the Bay Bridge collapsed a section of freeway in Oakland and caused more than $5 billion in damages Anne Kiremidjian a professor of civil and environmental engineering remembers exactly what she was doing 30 years ago when the shaker struck She was driving in Los Altos southeast of Stanford’s campus around 5 p.m “As the aftershocks were coming it was amazing to see the cars across from me on Foothill Expressway heave up and then down and the cars on our side did the same,” said Kiremidjian who studies the intensity and duration of ground shaking during a quake and estimates the probable structural damage library collections fell over like dominoes and huge pieces of concrete were shaken from the facades of old buildings More than 200 campus structures were damaged 1,600 students were displaced from their residences there is a 72 percent likelihood of at least one earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater striking somewhere in the San Francisco Bay region before 2043 “As soon as it had stopped, I went down the hall to an old analog phone – all the others were computer phones and dead – to call Dr. Rob Wesson, PhD ’70, who was the head of the earthquake office at the USGS,” said geophysics professor William Ellsworth who was working as a research geophysicist at the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) in his Menlo Park office at the time of the quake “He was excited to hear me and wanted to talk baseball at least until I told him that we had just experienced a major earthquake and our lives would be different from now on KIREMIDJIAN: I felt a strong jolt and thought the car behind me had run into me the car behind me was stopped more than two feet behind me and as I was thinking that there was a second strong jolt the trees started swaying and so did the traffic signals My first reaction was that there was a strong wind I realized that there was no wind and we had just felt a strong earthquake and its significant aftershock The lights went out at that point and all the drivers proceeded with great caution ELLSWORTH: The earthquake had caused the electrical grid to crash and we had no power The one real-time resource we had was an old black-and-white monitor that displayed the current earthquake detections from the Real Time Processor that monitored the seismic network The detections were literally flying by on the screen but I could see just enough to identify the names of the stations that were most common which put the earthquake in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains The building was eerily quiet that night (I took the overnight shift) Charlie Petit from the San Francisco Chronicle We had a long discussion about what had happened and what we knew The quiet continued for about a day longer when the press showed up in large numbers I think that there was not a time in the next month when there wasn’t a film crew somewhere in the building A’s in the World Series and turned on the TV at about 8:30 to hear Al Michaels state that given what had just happened it’s not surprising that the World Series game was cancelled It finally occurred to me to turn on the radio (this was before the World Wide Web) where reports were coming out about the earthquake A span of the top deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed more than 100 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake.  most of the damage to the Bay Bridge resulted from a combination of soft soil and flexible piles A seismic retrofit project completed in 2004 strengthened the bridge and allows for a wider range of movement during an earthquake.  ELLSWORTH: The Loma Prieta earthquake redirected my work and that of most of my USGS colleagues We had just the year before released the first 30-year earthquake forecast for California This report highlighted the southern Santa Cruz Mountains as one of the more hazardous sections of the San Andreas Fault system While the Loma Prieta earthquake didn’t perfectly fit the forecast it was close enough (having half of its length on the San Andreas Fault but most of its slip on the previously unknown Loma Prieta Fault) that an update of the 1988 forecast was needed It led to the development of much-improved forecasts for the Bay Area (in 2002) and for the entire state in the following decade Preparing these forecasts was a broad community effort involving hundreds of geophysicists SEGALL: This was in the very early stages of using GPS to measure crustal motions I was able to borrow some early generation receivers from a local company and enlist graduate students to make some surveys of the area I was concerned that post-earthquake adjustments could stress the part of the San Andreas closer to Stanford potentially triggering another quake – such sequences had occurred along the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey Arizona adopting our son Jacob. My wife would have been on the Nimitz freeway that collapsed and heavy steel bookshelves came down on my desk…There was a tongue-in-cheek sign on my door asking why I did not warn everyone before I left. I had to throw out lots of books and journals to get a place to stand on the floor to remove KIREMIDJIAN: Prior to Loma Prieta I had visited many locations that had been affected by significant earthquakes Guatemala; 1986 El Salvador; and 1988 Spitak While I had experienced some of the aftershocks from these earthquakes it was the first time in my adult life that I was experiencing a real earthquake In the next several days my colleagues, professors [Haresh] Shah, [Helmut] Krawinkler and [James] Gere, our MS and PhD students and I together with the facilities project managers  inspected and assessed the damage to buildings on campus, determining which can be opened and which should remain closed We also organized a trip for our students to look at the damage to the Cypress Viaduct across the Bay that had collapsed the areas around the Marina in San Francisco that experienced liquefaction and other locations where there was visible damage This was a real-life laboratory that provided a tremendous learning experience not only for the students but for us It was also an important lesson on how isolated the affected area can be when roads and other infrastructure are damaged It’s a lesson I’m afraid we have forgotten ELLSWORTH: Many people think of Loma Prieta as a Bay Area earthquake While it is certainly true that there was major damage in San Francisco and Oakland the earthquake was more of a Monterey Bay earthquake as the communities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville were heavily impacted by the event If a similar earthquake struck now in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains the outcome would be much better than in 1989 Major efforts have been made to improve the seismic safety of our roads and bridges Many seismically vulnerable buildings have been retrofit or taken out of service although there are many problem buildings still out there Our ability to rapidly identify where strong shaking would be expected to cause damage has also improved markedly and so I would anticipate a much-improved response particularly to communities like Santa Cruz and Watsonville DEIERLEIN: Since the Loma Prieta earthquake Stanford has accelerated its programs for seismic risk mitigation on campus including proactive retrofit of existing buildings while the Stanford campus has many more people and buildings today I think that today it is much better prepared to resist earthquakes The largest risk to Stanford may well be the surrounding communities concrete and soft-story buildings that have a greater risk of damage and could impact Stanford faculty/staff/students who live off campus and flow of goods/services to Stanford KIREMIDJIAN: On the structural response side we now have a better understanding about the nonlinear behavior of our structures and have developed sophisticated models to capture this nonlinear behavior The nonlinear behavior of the materials we use in constructing our structures is due to the large deformations imposed by the earthquake vibrations and the physical limitations of these materials new materials are being designed to meet some of these requirements of large deformation with increased strength ELLSWORTH: The seismic monitoring system has been significantly upgraded from the analog instruments in use in 1989 to modern digital instruments that provide detailed real-time information on earthquakes as they happen. The USGS will be starting statewide alerting of earthquakes (ShakeAlert) this month which is a major milestone for “early warning” in the state One major benefit of ShakeAlert that isn’t being discussed enough is the information it produces that will pinpoint the areas of strongest shaking within minutes of the event leading to much more effective and timely emergency response The geologists have not been left behind either. Many new fault investigations within the region have been made that have sharpened our understanding of the frequency of damaging earthquakes, which also feeds directly into the current 30-year forecast state and regional governments have been proactive in retrofitting transportation and water infrastructure Caltrans has spent billions of dollars seismically retrofitting bridges around the state the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has done major seismic upgrades to water supply pipelines and infrastructure which enable much more realistic simulations and much more comprehensive data analysis we can get a much clearer view of earthquake processes than before and we can learn more as a result KIREMIDJIAN: Loma Prieta exposed the vulnerability of existing structures It also pointed out how vital they are to our continued functionality and recovery It showed us that we do not have sufficient knowledge of the behavior of seismic faults and the ground motions that are generated The field is so broad and interdisciplinary that although we have made great strides in our understanding and modeling of its various components Loma Prieta reminded us that large earthquakes will continue to occur without warning on faults that we have not detected The forecast of 1988 was at best only partially fulfilled the methods of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis provide clear scientific guidance about earthquake probabilities in a framework that can be used to prioritize mitigation measures We also learned that the near-surface geologic factors that control shaking (and hence damage) can vary significantly over distances of a city block but that they can also be identified – which has led to major changes in how seismologists and engineers forecast ground motion amplification The complexity of the rupture and how it affected other faults in the San Francisco Bay region spurred research on fault interaction which continues today as a major thrust of earthquake research SEGALL: There was a significant amount of vertical motion in the earthquake so we now better understand how the Santa Cruz Mountains are built by repeated earthquake slip The damage was concentrated not just near the epicenter but also in areas of fill material that we knew were susceptible to strong shaking: South of Market and the Marina district in San Francisco and the I-880 Cypress structure in Oakland The evidence for strong amplification of shaking due to the bay muds in the I-880 Cypress structure was extremely compelling We learned a good lesson in the many landslides triggered by the earthquake Deierlein is also director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center Geophysicist Gregory Beroza discusses the culprits behind destructive aftershocks and why scientists are harnessing artificial intelligence to gain new insights into earthquake risks Stanford Earth Matters Danielle T. TuckerSchool of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciencesdttucker@stanford.edu Stanford complies with all applicable civil rights laws and does not engage in illegal preferences or discrimination Stanford's non-discrimination policy who is the Cal OES Fire and Rescue Deputy Fire Chief of the Special Operations and Hazardous Material Unit He oversees the State Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response Program which includes response Weapons of Mass Destructions related operations Hi experience is extensive and wide-ranging but we’re going to concentrate our chat on Urban Search and Rescue and what’s he’s learned on some of his more high-profile missions Chief Collins joined Cal OES Fire and Rescue Division in November after serving 36 years in all ranks at the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) He served up to the Battalion Chief position with many years assigned to some of the busiest fire/rescue companies and battalions and has 30 years of experience as a paramedic He was assigned to three active LACoFD battalions and he spent 19 years as a Captain at the department’s Central Urban Search and Rescue Unit responding by ground unit or helicopter to a wide variety of challenging technical rescues and major emergencies across Los Angeles County and surrounding counties He was a Search Team Manager and Task Force Leader on LACoFD’s California OES/FEMA USAR Task Force (CA-TF2) deploying to disasters including the 2015 Nepal Earthquake disaster; the 2011 Japan Earthquake/Tsunami catastrophe; the 2010 Haiti Earthquake Chief Collins has been an active member of the FEMA US&R Incident Support Teams (IST) having served since 1995 as a US&R Specialist and Operations Section Chief to help coordinate federal urban search and rescue operations at Hurricanes Sandy and various national security events and exercises Chief Collins left LACoFD with a record of innovative leadership and actualizing informed visions for the future of the fire/rescue services Chief Collins demonstrated his ability to initiate and successfully manage unique improvements and enhancements to public safety This included many years of invaluable inter-agency and multidisciplinary experiences and innovations that continue to have local Chief Collins’ diverse list also includes: founding of LACoFD’s Swift-water Rescue Program and the continued development of LACoFD’s US&R Program working with Cal OES and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on development of the state and national US&R systems also working with Cal OES on developing the statewide swift-water rescue team network mud and debris flow response protocols and rescue procedures aquatic helicopter swift-water workshop rescue evolutions new approaches to diverse challenges like trench and excavation collapse rescue and the use of technology to improve search and rescue His experiences even included new designs for firefighter turnouts/bunker gear to improve the speed by which downed firefighters can be rescued Chief Collins frequently served as a bridge between emergency response and the sciences and government agencies helping to innovate multidisciplinary programs like the California Shakeout Earthquake Exercise; the California Catastrophic Earthquake Plan; the L.A and the Post-Station Fire Mud and Debris Flow Response Plans Chief Collins has been able to communicate and articulate the visions and lessons learned to fire/rescue service operators and the public by authoring reports author Dete Messerve based a main character in her novels “Good Sam” and “Perfectly Good Crime” on Chief Collins and his work Chief Collins is also a recipient of the Carnegie Hero Fund Award (1983) He was named as firefighter of the year in several of LACoFD’s contract cities and he received the Lifetime Achievement and team awards from the Higgins/Langley Memorial Fund for Swift-water Rescue Cal OES Fire & Rescue Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces Sky News Report on the Rescue of Jeanette: Woman rescued after six days Haiti survivor BUCK HELM — Man Who Lived 90 Hours In Quake Rubble Is Dead Loma Prieta earthquake: Mercury News coverage, the Buck Helm rescue 4 things EMS providers must know about crush syndrome Subscribe: RSS Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); siding with FieldTurf and the city’s consultants who recommended the vendor CEH served both companies with legal notices stating that ”No one should be inadvertently exposed to toxic chemicals.” A growing number of cities are becoming embroiled in such turf fights.  Community residents and environmentalists intent upon protecting public health and the environment have launched ferocious pushback movements against artificial turf vendors and the business-as-usual mindsets of local government officials and their “consultants.”  found a 10-millimeter shell casing in her purse.  Rattled and frightened Tide is Turning:  Government Agencies States and Municipalities Take Action Against  Artificial Turf and PFAS which means there is a close to  ZERO tolerance for PFAS the Coastal Commission said that the toxic runoff from synthetic turf threatens wildlife and the coastline.  because plastic grass fields have to be replaced every 8 to 10 years and cannot be recycled Cities and States Pass Laws Restricting Artificial Turf and PFAS The increasing intensity of these grassroots anti-artificial turf movements has led a growing number of municipalities to ban or severely limit the use of synthetic turf:  Boston banned synthetic grass in 2022; Millbrae CA enacted a public and private property ban of plastic grass in October 2023; San Marino or local laws severely restricting the use of artificial turf.  Pressured by constituents and environmental groups state legislators are getting in on the act too: they are introducing and passing anti-PFAS and anti-artificial turf bills at a rapid clip.  New York State just enacted a moratorium on new installations of synthetic turf In California, a bill was recently passed that restored the right of local governments to ban synthetic turf reversing a 2015 legislation that stripped municipalities of this right A California bill banning heat trapping surfaces like artificial turf in schools almost passed last year and will most likely be re-introduced soon This is a warning to public school officials everywhere many of whom tend to favor artificial turf.  As similar bills are being considered in other states artificial turf proponents should take note--anti-artificial turf legislation is a nationwide phenomenon not just a local disturbance that can be easily quashed Local governments should definitely be aware of the changing regulatory and socio-political dynamics when considering whether to install artificial turf.  Even if a local school district or city council dismisses the environmental and health harms and manages to push through an artificial turf project there may well be lawsuits and other legal challenges looming Factors to Consider When Making Decision to Install Artificial Turf Local government officials still favoring artificial turf despite the mounting body of evidence showing the risks associated with artificial turf usage should weigh whether prioritizing convenience and practical factors can be justified.  Artificial turf may appear to be a quick and simple fix to water usage and the maintenance “problems” of natural grass (as represented by turf vendors) But it is incumbent upon decision makers who have a fiduciary duty to protect their constituents to know that there are much less toxic solutions to these “problems.”  and Lower Water Usage Arguments of Turf Vendors Nor do turf vendors talk about the critical fact that artificial turf interferes with groundwater recharging since stormwater has a harder time seeping through artificial turf.   Thus the claim that artificial turf is advantageous for water conservation is dubious  Finally, the “natural grass requires more maintenance” mantra used by turf vendors is often grossly exaggerated. According to objective cost comparisons by independent parties ongoing maintenance costs are just slightly less for artificial turf fields.  But the slightly lower maintenance cost advantage is dwarfed by the much higher LIFE CYCLE cost of artificial turf mainly because synthetic turf has to be replaced every 8 to 10 years while well-maintained grass fields can last for decades especially local government decision makers  faced with deciding between plastic or natural grass will have to ask themselves the following:  Is it worth it to allow people to be exposed to a cumulative slow poison while creating continuing demand for unrecyclable landfill-bound non-biodegradable plastic petroleum products that contaminate waterways destroy local ecosystems and accelerate climate change For politicians who are dyed-in-the-wool pragmatists wedded to efficiency and avoiding problems if the health and environmental harms of artificial turf do not resonate with them and the tightening regulatory environment should be huge red flags.  As for the transactional politicians who usually heed the siren call of entrenched interest groups they should look inward to see whether their moral compasses are strong enough for them to stand on the side of the public good on this issue.   To join our Anti-Artificial Turf Campaign, register here.  there were many great lessons learned out of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and residents have prepared.SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- This coming Friday is the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake It killed 63 people and did $10 billion in damage It was the deadliest and most destructive earthquake to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since 1906 ABC7 News will be looking back at what happened what we learned and how to get ready for the next big one We took a look at the San Francisco neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit that produced some of the most important lessons When the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake hit heroic firefighters and police responded all over the Bay Area many ordinary citizens also jumped in to help In San Francisco's Marina District 200 buildings were damaged or destroyed Volunteers manned fire hoses and searched for victims An elderly woman said there were "people we never knew and they never knew us but they carried us in their arms down the stairs." Even people whose homes were spared faced big problems Marina resident Gail Goldyne remembers the smell of gas everywhere and feeling totally helpless I didn't know you don't turn on the flashlight because just the turning of a flashlight on could make a spark and create a fire." Goldyne and other Marina residents determined they would be ready for the next big quake They went to the San Francisco Fire Department for help please train us as civilians so that we know what to do next time before help can arrive.'" That was the start of San Francisco's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team Goldyne and her husband were in the first class of what has become a model program Anne Kronenberg from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said "Those folks who go through NERT know exactly what to do but also their immediate neighborhood." NERT has now trained an incredible 24,000 people Another legacy of Loma Prieta is San Francisco's fire boat system The earthquake hit it knocked out water lines in the Marina so volunteers helped run hoses from a fire boat that pumped water out of San Francisco bay A portable hydrant system connected the hoses and kept water pressure high which nobody thought that it had any value became the most important thing to save the Marina in 1989," Goldyne said San Francisco is now building a third more modern fire boat but still needs funding for more portable hydrants Goldyne says residents need to keep pushing to make sure the Bay Area is prepared for future disasters She's been working for 10 years to get a monument built in the Marina as a reminder of what community spirit can accomplish to teach the public about earthquake preparedness and to honor the fire department and the NERT program," Goldyne said There is a lot to be proud of, but there's still a lot of work to be done. Coming up this Friday, I am hosting a half hour special on the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake I hope you'll join me to learn more about the incredible resilience of the Bay Area ABC7 Presents 15 Seconds; 25 Years Later: The Loma Prieta Earthquake RAW VIDEO: ABC7 News coverage from 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake For more information about the NERT program, click here Twitter: @SFFDNERT Facebook: San Francisco Fire Department Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) To find a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, program in your area click here San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Twitter: @SF_emergency Facebook: SFDEM A federal judge has reversed the convictions of four members of No More Deaths finding that the members of the humanitarian aid group successfully established that they were exercising "sincere religious beliefs" when they placed water and food for migrants in Arizona's protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in the summer of 2017 District Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote that Natalie Hoffman and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick had "met their burden of establishing that their activities were exercises of their sincere religious beliefs," under guidelines set by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act the government had "failed to demonstrate" that the charges filed against the four volunteers were the "the least restrictive means of accomplishing a compelling interest."  On Jan. 18, 2019, following a short bench trial, U.S. District Court Judge Bernardo Velasco found all four volunteers guilty of federal misdemeanors Fish and Wildlife Services officers during an incident in the summer of 2017.  Hoffman was found guilty of operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area and entering a national refuge without a permit while Holcomb and Orozco-McCormick were found guilty of entering without a permit and abandonment of property — each a "Class B" misdemeanor The volunteers drove a Dodge truck down a poorly maintained road in the wilderness area in August 2017 and left one-gallon bottles of water in milk crates in an attempt to stave off the deaths of people who attempt to cross Cabeza Prieta where hundreds of bodies have been found over the years across the rugged and remote terrain A FWS officer was notified that the volunteers for the humanitarian aide group were within the refuge and went to investigate he escorted them out of the area and collected the supplies they left Velasco said that he while he didn’t have “any doubt” in his mind that the women wouldn’t violate federal law again he felt it was necessary to tell No More Deaths that they should be "aware that their conduct may be against the law." Marquez wrote that the violations "were committed in the course of leaving supplies of food and water in an area of desert wilderness where people frequently die of dehydration and exposure," and that the four women were affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Church.  and left food and water for those in need to find taken with the avowed goal of mitigating death and suffering were sincere exercises of religion and that their prosecution is barred by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," Marquez wrote.  RFRA provides "very broad protection for religious liberty," by exempting religious believers from laws that substantially burden the exercise of their religious beliefs adding that the government must "provide such an exemption unless the application of the law to the believer is the “least restrictive means” of furthering a “compelling government interest."  and centrality of these beliefs caused Defendants to restructure their lives to engage in this volunteer work," and she concluded that their prosecution for their actions "substantially burdens their religious exercise.  "As Defendants successfully carried this burden it fell to the Government to demonstrate that prosecution of Defendants was the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling governmental interest," Marquez wrote the government had failed  to show a compelling interest While the government has a "compelling interest in maintaining the environmental conditions on its public lands," Marquez doubted that the defendants conduct had a "significant negative effects on the environmental conditions" in the wildlife refuge.  Marquez rejected the government's arguments that the four volunteers "furthered and encouraged illegal smuggling activity."  "The Government seems to rely on a deterrence theory reasoning that preventing clean water and food from being placed on the Refuge would increase the risk of death or extreme illness for those seeking to cross unlawfully which in turn would discourage or deter people from attempting to enter without authorization," she wrote the Government claims a compelling interest in preventing Defendants from interfering with a border enforcement strategy of deterrence by death," Marquez wrote "This gruesome logic is profoundly disturbing."  "It is also speculative and unsupported by evidence," she added "The government had produced no evidence" that the deaths of at least 37 people based on remains found in the wilderness refuge in 2017 "had any effect in deterring unlawful entry," Marquez wrote.  "Nor has the Government produced evidence that increasing the death toll would have such an effect," she wrote.  Marquez's decision is another loss for the federal government which pursued charges against nine No More Deaths volunteers during a series of incidents in 2017 and 2018.  This includes the felony prosecution of No More Deaths volunteer Dr who was charged with two counts of harboring illegal aliens and one count of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens a jury said it was unable to reach a decision on the charges The government withdrew the conspiracy charge and tried to charge Warren with two counts of harboring a second jury refused to convict him.  While Hoffman and the others faced sentencing federal prosecutors decided to drop the charges against four other volunteers — Caitlin Persis Deighan and Rebecca Katie Grossman-Richeimer — who faced their own prosecutions for entering Cabeza Prieta without a permit and for operating a motor vehicle there in June 2017.  prosecutors announced in a short three-minute hearing that the government had agreed to settle the matter and issue civil infractions carrying fines of $250 for each.  the Tucson Sentinel publishes our stories without a paywall We believe a healthy community depends on everyone having access to quality independent journalism we're committed to providing real reporting to all Southern Arizona residents A single story can cost us thousands 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Print I was not breaking any laws when I set out on foot to leave gallons of water on Bureau of Land Management lands in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona I know this not because I’m an expert on such matters and who could explain the nuances as we hiked with the sloshing If you leave water for distressed migrants who might find it after crossing the border illegally in certain places But if you come across a distressed human and offer them water or a ride Directly saving someone’s life can get you charged with a felony “we should prosecute people who don’t help a dying person.” To be human or to be safe from the law: That’s the question Expanding the criteria for asylum protection would make it easier to protect those who need it and reject those who don’t I was also grappling with white savior-dom a citizen of a nation that has destabilized and exploited the areas from which so many migrants come My one foray carting water into the desert won’t make up for that and is nothing compared to efforts of highly active locals like my guide And it’s just a drop in the proverbial bucket against what global economic and policy change could accomplish I heaved the water off my back and left it under a big plastic tub in an area that our guide thought might be useful I took in the expanse of organ pipe cactus with the sound of distant jets from the nearby bombing range echoing And I considered how both laws and social pressures can convince us to either do If someone came across a gallon of water and needed it and I was happy when we went back to the car There was an ominous feeling to the reality of walking in a place where some people are hiding It was as if the air was infused with the sorrow that underlies conflict it was just so very darn remote and I didn’t like feeling that alone The president wants to limit asylum seekers entering the U.S The U.S.-Mexico border is mostly discussed in relation to politics and which party is to blame for the many migrants seeking legal asylum here But the individuals crossing into the United States in secret are a prime example of the out-of-sight Because of the border’s numerous crossing points and the fact that so many migrants wish to be unseen This is why myriad ethical and humanitarian border issues are so easily ignored But that does not mean that mass suffering is not occurring my guide explained that this remote area is one of the deadliest groups such as No More Deaths and the various Samaritan groups The night of our water drop I gathered around a bonfire with some locals including one who had been famously arrested and then acquitted by a federal jury for offering humanitarian aid to migrants The conversation kept landing on this area’s unique unseen-ness these drops are for the vague idea of a person side can no longer visit relatives in Mexico easily I asked everyone what they wished people knew about this contested landscape they all said the same thing: So many don’t see what’s going on out here That we can resist the urge to care about only what we witness firsthand via the work people do and the stories people tell we can recognize that unseen lives are meshed with our own lives more than we think The protagonist of Laura Pritchett’s latest novel, “Three Keys,” makes a water drop and grapples with questions of invisibility on a midlife coming-of-age journey. World & Nation Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map A team of USGS and US Fish and Wildlife personnel who worked on remote sensing of water catchments called "tinajas" in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in order to assess their water storage Desert bighorn sheep rely on persistent water throughout the year and consistent accurate information about the water volume in the catchments allows the USFWS to assess whether they need to transport water for bighorn sheep survival Hidden Villa is a nonprofit educational organization that uses its organic farm and community to teach and provide opportunities to learn about the environment and social justice Hidden Villa stretches over 1600 acres of open space in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains Hidden Villa was founded by Frank and Josephine co-founders of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta chapter in 1933 who purchased the land in 1924 and offered it as a gathering place for discussion The Trust for Hidden Villa was established as a nonprofit in 1960 Every year 30,000 people participate in one of their formal programs An additional 20,000 visitors come to their preserve annually to explore the farm and gardens or to hike their eight miles of trails newer sustainable structures and pristine riparian woodland and chaparral wilderness provide opportunities to experience the beauty of the environment on a first hand basis Hidden Villa’s farm houses a variety of animals along with some trail hiker dangers such as poison oak A couple of the wildflowers that can be found on the trails include Goldenfields and California Poppies A majority of the food grown through the Community Supported Agriculture Program provides subscribing Hidden Villa members with a weekly share of fresh organic vegetables and fruits grown on their farm In 2013 the Community Supported Agriculture Program also began incorporating special add-ons to their shareholder program A limited number of CSA members are now able to purchase weekly flower bouquets as an additional component These organic flowers are produced in a sustainable and thoughtful way that complement the production of the vegetables and fruits the farm operation uses a shallow well for all agricultural water supply and this aquifer that recharges with rainwater each year requires a minimum of 10 inches of rain Well accustomed to conserving water and mitigating drought conditions Hidden Villa’s use of water is extremely small-scale and efficient Habitat along Arastradero Creek is currently being worked on and improved by raising the groundwater table through the installation of swales as well as replacing invasive plants with natives Frank and Josephine Duveneck founded the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club with 53 charter members in 1933 It was the 4th chapter founded in the club and its founding is marked by a placard at the top of the Creek Trail Frank and Josephine were also founders of Friends Outside a support group for prisoners and their families The Duvenecks sheltered Japanese-Americans returning from internment camps and provided safe harbor for César Chavez as he organized farm workers in the fifties Frank and Josephine Duveneck opened the West's first American youth hostel at Hidden Villa.The nation's first multicultural children's summer camp has operated there since 1945 Hidden Villa was incorporated as The Trust for Hidden Villa in 1960.[4] Hidden Villa’s Environmental Education Program was launched in 1970 to the people of the region upon Frank's death in 1985 It was a major concern of the Duvenecks that the headwaters of Adobe Creek would be protected so that the water would never be polluted They purchased land to protect the entire upper watershed creating one of the few virginal watersheds in the Bay Area the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District had purchased conservation easements on 1,560 of the 1,600 acres leaving only the lower 40 acres for possible development This fulfilled the wishes of the Duvenecks that a large part of the wilderness area including the creek and its pristine watershed should be dedicated at our death to public use as a permanent wild life sanctuary Hidden Villa’s mission is to inspire a just and sustainable future through their programs They teach young children the most basic concept that food is a natural resource; they ask older children to consider the impacts of their choices and actions; they encourage parents to be conscientious consumers and to share positive social and environmental values with their families Hidden Villa is open Tuesday-Sunday from 9:00 am to dusk except when the property is closed for Summer Camp) are available for $100 or Day Passes are available for $10.  The Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge consists of about 30,000 acres of crucial wetland habitat with about 3,080 acres belonging to the Alviso portion The Refuge is a vital sanctuary for migrating birds travelling along the Pacific Flyway as well as many endangered species The DENWR is a part of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project which is the largest tidal wetland restoration project on the West Coast with a goal of transforming about 15,000 acres of industrial land into wetland ecosystems the South Bay was primarily used for commercial salt production Congress designated a portion of about 22,000 acres of that commercial salt pond land to become what is now known to be Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge the refuge faces the building of a new high speed rail track the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge is threatened by the possibility of a new high speed rail track intruding on parts of the Refuge The proposed bridge that would run through the sanctuary would disrupt the abundant wildlife and delicate ecosystems that make the Refuge so imperative to its surrounding communities Along with offering land for recreational activities wetland environments provide critical ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter member and Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge board member has been a long term advocate for the protection and expansion of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge The chapter has supported Eileen’s efforts in the protection of this essential Wildlife Refuge and will continue to do so as discussion continues about the construction of the high speed rail Support the Loma Prieta Chapter activism educating the public and elected officials about the importance of protecting Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge The Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge provides many benefits for wildlife from around the world The Refuge is a stop for migratory birds along the Pacific flyway The Refuge monitors endangered and threatened species such as the Ridgway’s Rail These monitoring programs are important to maintain well balanced ecosystems as they ensure the populations of these delicate species aren’t declining The Refuge is also host to wildlife such as harbor seals The Refuge consists of 15 different habitats with the five major categories being marsh Such a variety of habitats welcomes many different types of wildlife to reap the benefits of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge and environmentally beneficial aspects of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge is its service of flood control The abundance of wetland habitat in the Refuge acts as a sponge for any incoming flows of water from the Bay The wetlands slowly release an excess water controlling the effects of heavy storm flows Wetlands can also balance the increased surface-water runoff resulting from large urban areas This is incredibly important for surrounding communities particularly as sea level rise begins to threaten the Bay Area Wetlands are valuable as carbon sinks due to their ability to intake carbon and store it in the soil Wetland plant species can hold a significant portion of carbon despite not occupying large masses of land One study by Nature Communications suggests that wetlands hold about 20-30% of the earth’s soil carbon while only occupying about 5-8% of the land surface This is crucial as wetlands can help manage the large amounts of carbon in our atmosphere brought about by human induced climate change Wetlands serve as a natural filter for water Wetlands take in pollutants such as phosphorous The wetlands of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge allow pollutants to be captured and stored before they have the chance to run off into the open waters of the Bay Without this vital filtering service wetlands provide the Bay Area would need to pay large sums of money for alternative filtering systems to maintain water quality.  Welcome! The Loma Prieta Chapter is the local face of Sierra Club The Chapter offers opportunities to become involved and actively contribute time and funds to the local environmental work of the Sierra Club Now that the Bay Area has approved region-wide guidelines for shoreline community sea level rise plans, it's up to all of us, at the grassroots, to help make sure that all of the local plans are the strongest they can be and developed as quickly as possible. Join our Bay Alive Campaign Watchdog Network! Watch our sea level rise videos to learn the threats that come with sea level rise and solutions we can use to adapt and protect the Bay Forests are often called the lungs of the earth They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.  In doing so they sequester carbon keeping it safely out of the atmosphere help regulate worldwide climate and enable the existence of other life forms including ourselves.  Forests also filter water provide habitat and promote biodiversity.  They provide raw materials for wood products and abundant recreation opportunities.  They inspire with their beauty and grandeur and have immense cultural significance to many Native American tribes Egregious forest management and logging practices are devastating intact forestlands worldwide.  These practices are contributing to climate change and an increase in frequency and severity of wildfires Our deep love for forests and an appreciation of their importance to the well-being of the planet motivates us to take action to protect them.  We strive to educate ourselves and local politicians about the environmental value of forests and the issues that threaten them Relying on the best available science to inform our views we promote healthier forest management practices.  If you love forests and are an activist or want to be, join us! The Loma Prieta Forest Protection Committee hosts educational events and takes action to help protect forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains and throughout California. The committee also promotes home hardening and community planning to help communities be safer from fire. To learn more, click here Our virtual Zoom meetings take place on the 4th Thursday of the month from 4pm to 6pmLoma Prieta Calendar Committee chairperson:  Karen Maki (Forests@lomaprieta.SierraClub.org) To preserve and protect the forests of California in order to mitigate climate change and safeguard existing recreational opportunities and they support biodiverse native habitats and species as well as soil health and stability.   Learn more about the 2025 committee strategies!   Learn more about at some of the work we've done There is no lack of misinformation and disinformation in America join our speakers Sonia Demiray and Chad Hanson for a discussion on the Keep It in the Forests campaign This campaign aims to combat forestry misinformation by providing accurate and developed arguments to empower activists in their grassroots efforts Don't miss this crucial conversation and the chance to stay engaged in the fight at this critical time Sonia Demiray is the Founding Director of the Climate Communications Coalition in Washington and writer who is back in school to ensure we have the latest science on forests and climate change Here are some of our allies and partners:  Proposed industrial developments in Coyote Valley could jeopardize the groundwater resources that provide much of the drinking water for residents of Santa Clara County Development proposals would result in changing rare valley floor open space into paved industrial centers with all the associated traffic and pollution  The result would be loss of prime agricultural land and destruction of essential wildlife corridors and habitat  But special attention must be paid to the pollution of our groundwater supply Brian Carr - Loma Prieta Chapter's Open Space Committee Coyote Valley acts essentially like a 7500-acre percolation pond and is the de facto forebay for the Santa Clara Groundwater Basin which serves some 2 million residents and businesses  in Santa Clara County the Coyote Valley received the alluvial deposits from the upstream 200 square miles of the Coyote watershed These alluvial deposits consisted primarily of larger sands and gravels of high porosity and transmissibility horizontal movement down gradient north toward San Jose through the Coyote Valley has been measured at 10 feet per day The basin is connected with and greatly influences the stream flow of the main stem of the Coyote Creek and vice versa We learned much about our groundwater basins’ physical properties through the unfortunate plume-chasing activities of the 1980’s and beyond when 10,000 monitoring wells were installed in the county to determine the extent and direction of hundreds of illegal discharges from leaking underground storage tanks Despite our county’s leadership in preventing future leaks from buried tanks land use decisions by both the City of San Jose and Santa Clara County resulted in continued threats to the water quality of the Coyote Valley The County permitted the use of lands adjacent to Andersen Lake to be used for a rocket testing site releasing thousands of pounds of perchlorate and other chemicals This site continues to be under remediation The County staff got approval from the now-defunct Intergovernmental Council to approve the Kirby Canyon Landfill the unlined dump soon began leaking organic solvents which had mostly been banned by international treaty to protect the planet’s ozone layer The relocation and expansion of the 101 freeway from the four-lane Monterey Highway into the eight-lane raceway along the foothills created a greater threat Normal polluted road runoff multiplied into catastrophic spills from tanker trucks or other collisions signs should be placed along the freeway indicating to motorists that they are entering the Coyote Watershed  Emergency provisions like absorbent should be stockpiled for any catastrophic releases and all storm drains from the freeway discharging to the Coyote Valley should employ carbon filters to remove things like coolants Managing polluted stormwater runoff in an area like Coyote Valley cannot be mitigated by installing simple grassy swales to intercept the water  Because the Coyote Valley is of such high porosity these devices would allow all the dissolved material easy entry into the basin and pollute the underground flow of the basin estimated at 10 to 50 million gallons of water per day depending on the prior recent rainfall in the watershed We learned a hard lesson during the 1980’s when companies like IBM and Fairchild Semiconductor leaked organic solvents into the groundwater basin  IBM spent around $100 million dollars pumping and treating a cocktail of multiple organic solvents leaked from their buried storage tanks So much water flowed through the Fairchild site that an underground barrier had to be built around the site to stop the continued contamination of the underground river that flows out of the Coyote into the main Santa Clara Groundwater Basin If pollutant loadings to the Coyote Valley Groundwater Basin and subsequently to the Santa Clara Groundwater Basin are allowed to increase because of unmitigated urban storm water runoff eventually the water quality of both basins may reach concentrations of certain pollutants that would require expensive wellhead treatment before use as drinking water for the two million residents and workers of Silicon Valley This cost would be hundreds of millions of dollars and the costs would most likely be borne by the tax payers and water rate payers while the developers would likely skate free of any liability incumbent on us today to remain ever vigilant in protecting our precious groundwater especially in the forebay region of the Coyote Valley Pat Ferraro lectures at San Jose State University on Water Policy is a former board member of the Santa Clara valley Water District and was Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Pollution Prevention Center  He has closely followed proposed development of Coyote Valley The efforts of the Loma Prieta Chapter and its partners and others to oppose development in Coyote Valley are paying dividends one of which was proposed as a busy warehouse center have been purchased by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and will be preserved as open space  The fact that the leading environmental groups in the area are now working together has leveraged their impact and done much to raise public awareness   But we can expect additional development proposals so much more remains to be done to achieve a complete and final victory At risk are rare valley floor wildlife habitat and corridors one of the largest remaining wetlands in the county (Laguna Seca) flood plains to protect against Coyote Creek flooding some of the best agricultural land in the county  The extension of urban sprawl into the valley would cripple San Jose’s goal of substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions and destroy a last vestige of the beautiful “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” which should be preserved for the citizens of the Bay Area for its ecological Two recent reports have documented the value of Coyote Valley  The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority issued a Coyote Valley Landscape Linkage report showing the valley’s importance as a connection between the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains  POST has announced a major effort to preserve the valley and estimates that $80 million will be required to buy land and development rights Two recent reports have documented the value of Coyote Valley.  The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority issued a Coyote Valley Landscape Linkage report showing the valley’s importance as a connection between the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains and adapt to climate change.  POST has announced a major effort to preserve the valley and estimates that $80 million will be required to buy land and development rights The efforts of POST and others may be limited by land use decisions of the San Jose City Council which may ultimately determine the valley’s fate.  The council members are very aware of public sentiment so if we can muster thousands of supporters As the largest environmental organization in the area our Chapter members can have a big impact in influencing the council go to the web page and sign on as a Coyote Valley supporter  This includes residents of San Mateo and San Benito counties as preservation of the valley is definitely a regional issue TUCSON — The trial of four of nine humanitarian aid volunteers facing criminal charges for dropping off food and water intended for migrants trekking the deadly Arizona desert is now underway in Tucson federal court.  The four women, all volunteers with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths face misdemeanor charges for operating a vehicle in a restricted area not having a permit and for abandoning personal property inside the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona.  The citations stemmed from an encounter on Aug.13 Fish and Wildlife Service officer as the volunteers planned to drop off one-gallon plastic water jugs and canned beans in a protected wilderness area west of Ajo The location is near the site where three migrants who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border a few weeks earlier had gotten lost defense attorneys for the volunteers said in court Tuesday.  Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco in Tucson is significant because in the past, charges against humanitarian aid volunteers mostly had been dismissed.  It's also the first such trial during President Donald Trump's administration which has pursued stricter enforcement measures at the border.  The trial against No More Deaths volunteers Natalia Hoffman Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick is expected to move quickly Attorney's Office in Arizona called their two witnesses to the stand Fish and Wildlife officers stationed at Cabeza Prieta They sought to establish that the volunteers had violated several regulations governing the refuge including driving in restricted sensitive areas where only law enforcement is allowed One of the officers also testified that none of the four women on trial had filed the necessary permits required to access the area.  defense attorneys for the four women called two of their witnesses a retired pastor who led the sanctuary movement in Tucson in the 1980s and a founder of No More Deaths.  defense attorneys focused on the religious and humanitarian mission of the organization to deliver humanitarian aid to prevent more migrant deaths.  Attorneys claimed their clients were being charged even though the U.S Attorney's Office had allegedly said weeks before the incident that they were not interested in prosecuting these types of cases Under cross-examination, Brian Krukoski said he had received guidance about how to treat No More Deaths volunteers after the August incident He testified that he was told to direct any volunteer who inquired about a permit to his supervisor Krukoski also talked about a possible "do not issue" list for some No More Deaths volunteers he clarified that those instructions from the U.S Attorney's Office were part of the pretrial release conditions that pertained only to the individuals on trial.  dozens of No More Death volunteers and humanitarian aid advocates rallied in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Tucson said the group wanted to show support The group is hopeful that the right to provide humanitarian aid is affirmed in court "We are out there because there's a need and the need is not going to change dependent on .. the legality of our right to provide aid," Orlovsky-Schnitzler added.  Nine volunteers — dubbed the "Cabeza 9" by the group — received citations in the mail for their role in dropping off water and food for migrants in Cabeza Prieta which is why they will appear before the court on separate dates.  Among the nine volunteers cited is Scott Warren who also is facing a separate felony trial on charges of harboring undocumented immigrants following his arrest in Ajo in February 2018.  "(Cabeza Prieta) is still one of the deadliest corridors for migrant movement," Orlovsky-Schnitzler said. "Everyone has a right to safe passage and we hope that that's held up in court."  volunteers with No More Deaths put up campaign-style signs around Tucson reading "Humanitarian aid is never a crime The barren desert land where migrants have suffered and died often alone under “excruciating” circumstances is “sacred” and leaving water there is an act of faith a volunteer for No More Deaths testified as his trial began Monday is the last of nine volunteers with the Tucson-based humanitarian aid organization facing misdemeanor charges for leaving water and medicine in the desert in the 860,000-acre Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge Warren faces two misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident in June 2017 when he and a dozen other people entered the refuge to leave humanitarian supplies Warren was charged with operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area because he drove a white Dodge Ram pickup along an administrative road closed to the public and for abandonment of property because he and the other members of his group left one-gallon plastic water bottles a remote water station established by ranchers that is now resupplied periodically for animals Warren also faces felony charges for harboring after he was arrested on Jan at the "Barn," a privately owned building in Ajo regularly used as a staging point for volunteers A month later four other volunteers pleaded guilty to a civil infraction of entering the wildlife refuge without a permit The group argued that they entered the refuge in search of three people reporting missing that week Warren testified that his actions that day were part of a sincerely-held religious belief that all life is sacred and that he was “compelled” to provide aid to migrants as a volunteer with several aid organizations which operates as a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson Warren said his “motivation to act” comes from “a deep sense and relationship” to the desert that surrounds Ajo and that because dozens of people have suffered and died in that desert their spirts “continue to dwell in that place.” the remains of 48 people were discovered in the Cabeza Prieta wilderness corridor This includes the skeletal remains of Dennis Martinez Nunes found a day earlier just under four miles northwest of the administrative road that slips along Charlie Bell Pass Road from the edges of Ajo the remains of 271 people have been found from 2001 to 2019 in the corridor that runs roughly from Lukeville Warren testified that since he moved to Ajo in 2013 he has helped recover human remains at least 18 times and by “bearing witness” by finding remains Warren said that he makes a “connection,” and this makes a person’s soul live on in the place.” “When someone dies in the desert—in Cabeza Prieta the place that I know—it’s as if they remain in an in-between status until they can be witnessed,” he said Warren tesitfied that when he finds human remains He faces the remains and offers a “silent acknowledgement,” and then turns away “I kneel down and pick up two handfuls of dirt of whatever kind of soil it is,” he said “I’ll hold it in my hands and mash it together that’s the act of holding that ground “Then letting go of it is an act of holding that person Warren’s ability to articulate his beliefs are central to the defense’s argument that Warren’s sincerely-held religious beliefs are burdened by federal regulations that keep him and other volunteers from using the administrative roads that crisscross the Cabeza Prieta wilderness Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which states that the government “shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion,” unless two burdens are met the first is that such a burden is necessary for “furtherance of a compelling government interest,” and that the rule or law is the “least restrictive way” to do that regularly gives out “special use permits” to people specifically to use the administrative roads but the agency’s office in Ajo has refused to give No More Deaths this kind of permit to enter the refuge The prosecution wasted little time in making their case presenting only a few minutes of argument before Nathaniel Walters called Fish and Wildlife Service Officer Jose Luis Valenzuela to the stand to testify and that the only “logical and reasonable conclusion was that Warren was guilty.” Valenzuela said that Warren passed by three different signs marking the road as restricted and said that after passing Charlie Bell Well he continued west and found Warren and his truck more than nine miles inside the wilderness Valenzuela testified that at Charlie Bell Pass there is a rescue beacon established by Border Patrol and that he saw cans of beans and water jugs on the beacon’s concrete base he also spotted a Ford F-150 and a Nissan Pathfinder and found that only the Ford had the permit necessary to enter the refuge to that point displayed on the dash and found what he said was “freshly” placed jugs of water blankets and “medical supplies” at Charlie Bell Well and they told him they were “performing humanitarian efforts,” he testified federal prosecutors announced that they would rest their case prompting one of Warren’s defense lawyers to say that he had immediately submitted a filing arguing that prosecutors had failed to show that Warren had abandoned property Knight said that prosecutors had failed to show that Warren intended to abandon the property and that prosecutors had failed to show a connection between Warren and the items spotted to Valenzuela She also challenged the idea of abandonment arguing that the regulation was ambiguous noting that someone who leaves a tent at a campsite or who left food in a cache on a long hike could be charged with abandonment if the statute was read too broadly District Judge Raner Collins denied this motion saying that there was “more than enough circumstantial evidence” with the supplies that officers could make a “reasonable inference” they were linked to Warren Gregory Kuykendall argued that the Growler Valley was a “graveyard filled up with people who have suffered horrific deaths” in the desert More than 3,000 people have died in Arizona’s deserts since 2001 and “logic and science dictate” that more have died Kuykendall argued that Warren had a “spiritual obligation” to act and provide humanitarian aid then made the usual move of arguing that his client should be able to testify as part of the claim that his religious beliefs were challenged but that he would also take the Fifth Amendment when it came to answering about his specific actions that day arguing that prosecutors should be able to ask Warren about the specific events and if Warren refused to answer his questions it seems to me that,” that to use RFRA as an “excuse from punishment he has to admit he did that action.” “I’m just telling you how I see things.” “It’s a fundamental error,” Kuykendall said to force Warren to “claim one right over another,” and that Warren’s religious freedom under RFRA was in doubt because of a series of court decisions made by two other judges at the Tucson Court Kuykendall argued that he’d been put in a box “Why am I in this box?” Collins shrugged and then asked to remove Warren from the room for a few minutes the two men returned and Warren began to answer questions Warren noted that from the administrative road parts of the Growler Valley are beyond his ability to hike out and carry water he could go out 5 to 6 miles “on a good day.” “It’s not just that people have died there,” Warren said “But that their bodies have not been discovered.” Warren published a collection of photographs of more than a dozen objects left in the desert by migrants as they crossed the desert near Ajo “After the Crossing: Afterlives of Found Objects in the Sonoran Desert Borderlands,” Warren wrote about objects left by border crossers “The desert is neither the beginning nor the end of the struggle and those that make it find themselves on the margins of society as undocumented persons throughout the United States.” “We invite the reader to participate for a time in the unsettled afterlives of these objects found in the Sonoran Desert Borderlands.” “My beliefs in that sense compels me to go further,” he said and beyond areas that not protected wilderness Warren argued that his beliefs require him to act and that it’s simply not enough to leave water on public access roads meaningless performance,” he said.  the “sacred act,” is putting water “where it is most needed,” he said “Can you exercise your faith by not putting supplies out for migrants in need?” Kuykendall asked and the prosecution’s cross-examination Collins asked several pointed questions about his beliefs when he began to see the area around Ajo as sacred he entered the Cabeza Prieta wilderness because his beliefs “compels” him Kuykendall objected that one was “irrelevant,” but Collins responded that he wasn’t likely to accept an objection to his own question charged with federal misdemeanors after they left water and food for migrants crossing Southern Arizona's protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge District Court Judge Bernardo Velasco ruled late Friday In a court decision released late Friday Velasco said that the four women — Natalie Hoffman and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick — violated federal laws because "they did not get an access permit erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature," Velasco said They each face up to six months in prison and a fine of $500 and will be sentenced sometime after February 18 The case has major implications for the future of humanitarian aid for people crossing through Arizona's deserts especially in the remote stretch of landscape known as the Growler Valley which sets inside 800,000 acres of protected wilderness in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge No More Deaths is among the local humanitarian groups that provides aid — including water stations in rugged areas far from populated areas — for border crossers who might otherwise be numbered among the dead in the desert The last time that federal officials tried to prosecute a No More Deaths volunteer was in 2008 when Dan Millis was convicted for littering after he left gallon-sized water bottles on trails in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction "This verdict challenges not only No More Deaths volunteers but people of conscience throughout the country If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal what humanity is left in the law of this country?" said Catherine Gaffney Five other volunteers are also facing their own misdemeanor charges in 2016 federal officials increasingly began to interfere with No More Deaths security guards banned volunteers from the Barry M Goldwater bombing range and the adjacent Cabeza Prieta refuge Border Patrol agents raided the permanent No More Deaths camp near Arivaca after setting up a temporary checkpoint nearby and conducting surveillance on the camp the four women were ejected from Cabeza Prieta This was followed by the January 2018 arrest of Scott Warren an Arizona State University professor and NMD volunteer Warren has been charged with a felony after Border Patrol agents raided "the Barn" a privately-owned building in Ajo regularly used as a staging point for volunteers who want to offer humanitarian aid in the harsh deserts surrounding the small Arizona town Prosecutors argued in court this week that the four women violated federal law when they drove a Dodge Ram pickup truck into the wilderness on an administrative road to Charlie Bell Well on Aug and left milk crates containing one-gallon jugs of water A remote camera captured images of the Dodge truck as U.S Federal and Wildlife Service officer Michael West intercepted the women after they returned from a water drop West ordered the volunteers to head back out of the wilderness Hoffman was charged with operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area and entering a national refuge without a permit and Orozco-McCormick were charged with entering without a permit and abandonment of property While prosecutors often have the burden to prove that the defendants committed the crimes the defendants argued that federal officials are selectively prosecuting the volunteers that they were unaware that the could be charged with a crime by entering the refuge and that their prosecution violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act a 1993 law that tries to balance the burden of a federal law against a person's exercise of religion writing that while the defendants may have believed that they were "acting in accordance with higher law... the Defendants have failed to establish the facts necessary to support their asserted affirmative defenses," he said.  saying said the case was about a "choice" the women had made and they thought that their feelings override federal law." Walters said that the four women intentionally ignored signs at Charlie Bell Pass that they could not drive on the administrative road and that they had avoided getting a permit and there was clear evidence that they had "abandoned discarded or otherwise left items" in the refuge saying that they had failed to show that prosecutors had selectively prosecuted the defendants and that they did not prove that they had a sincerely religiously-held belief that would be burdened by following federal law on the refuge Walters called their beliefs "political and philosophical" and essentially "Helping people in the desert does not require drive a truck into the wilderness or forgoing the legal requirement to get a permit," Walters said later calling the water drops a way to help people "evade apprehension and skirt around deportations" and that they "encourage illegal activity" through the refuge which are the "preferred way" to save people He also attacked their defense that such work was necessary adding simply that testimony that they were in the refuge after one man went missing He also tore into the idea that during a July 6 conference call that federal prosecutors were "uninterested" in pursuing No More Deaths "The defense has not proven that someone with authority made this statement to bind the federal government." "This was not a clear and unambiguous statement that they have permission to break the law," he said and he said that this defense "comes perilously close to the ignorance defense." Louis Fidel closed for the defense on Thursday arguing that in Cabeza Prieta there was a "trail of death" that flowed along the west face of the Growler Mountains each marking where human remains were found in Cabeza Prieta Fidel said that the women were "compelled to act." "What do you do when people are dying in droves from an agonizing death," he asked He said that the beacons were hard to get to He also argued that the beacons didn't work showing that according to No More Deaths' data This happened even as the number of deaths in the Tucson Sector dropped from 165 to 128 where the group dropped of much of their supplies was known as a place to get water but that the water was established for animals and was likely dangerous for people to drink "We know how devastating it is for people to drink tainted water," he said Fidel said that government's actions were burdensome to the volunteers under RFRA that that they were acting out of "a spiritual calling informed by their beliefs," he said "This act of helping strangers is a fundamentally religious act." Fidel also argued that this was selective prosecution No More Deaths told the FWS that they were doing water drops in Cabeza Prieta that said that the Justice Department was part of the meeting and during this a federal prosecutor said that "Tickets are dismissed/not prosecuted if the person shows up to court" Aitken wrote "DOJ does not appear to want to prosecute violations regarding this group," Aitken wrote This combined with the language of the permit which only states that people may face criminal charges if they fly a drone on the refuge shows that the four women could not assume that they were subject to criminal charges "Does this speak for the court?" Fidel responded by saying that no the prosecutor did not speak for the court He added that the notion of harm to the refuge was limited because FWS officials use trucks including cisterns that can hold 11,000 gallons and in what may be the most pointed critique of No More Deaths he said that the water drops give border crossers "the false hope that if they drink water or eat some beans they will survive." The beacons allow people to surrender Prosecutors brought only three witnesses to testify against the women the refuge supervisor for Arizona and New Mexico Fernandez said Thursday that the mission of FWS is to "preserve and enhance" the refuge by keeping almost 93 percent of it closed to the public Along with protecting the area as it was when Arizona agreed to make it a refuge in 1990 FWS is responsible for protecting around 200 individual pronghorn antelope Fernandez said that the agency had tried to implement life saving measures on the refuge allowing Humane Borders to set up a permanent water station along the Camino Del Diablo and by setting up 10 rescue beacons that are managed by the U.S "are the greatest opportunity for life saving." During cross-examination Fernandez said she was unaware of how many people had died attempting to cross Cabeza Prieta saying at one point that such information was "not within my job responsibility." Overall the agency maintains 85 rescue beacons across the desert southwest there remains questions about the effectiveness of the beacons due to the agency's willingness to respond.   While the Tucson Sector said that 222 people were rescued in the fiscal year of 2015 data from the Yuma Sector showed that out of 1,161 activations Tucson Sector did not report how many times their beacons were activated Tucson Sector reported that 1,409 people were rescued but the agency did not report the number of beacon activations The agency has not published a report on searches and rescues for the next two years Dear Reader,Unfortunately our comment platform isn\'t available at the moment due to issues with our paywall and authentication vendor The veteran Press Democrat photographer climbed railings and ladders and dressed as a sailor to get one of the 1989 earthquake’s most indelible images Thirty-five years have passed since the Loma Prieta earthquake This story from 2019 revisits Press Democrat visual journalist Kent Porter’s harrowing day .. and the efforts he undertook to produce an image seen around the world For Press Democrat photographer Kent Porter started out as another day at the ballpark had shot scores of Giants games at Candlestick Park and was set up that fateful day for the third game of the World Series against the Oakland A’s at great personal risk and with abundant perspiration nailed a photograph of two cars trapped in the collapse of the upper span on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge 7 miles from the ballpark that was demolished in 2015 the photo was published around the world and was the first of four Porter photos to make the front page of the New York Times which owned The Press Democrat from 1985 to 2012 “a ho-hum photo of a car stuck on a bridge,” lacking a clear human figure photographers typically rely on to establish scale “I was in the right place at the right time to make the right picture.” When the magnitude 6.9 temblor struck at 5:04 p.m. shot some images of broken glass on the streets of the Financial District then drove to the Ferry Building intent on getting to the ruptured span so Porter set out on foot and wound up running most of the way east to Treasure Island three lenses in a fanny pack and 30 rolls of film in a pouch on his belt Porter three times resorted to climbing over the bridge railing and scaling the exposed ladders between the two decks with nothing between him and the bay water far below The ladders have since been enclosed by locked steel brackets They gave him a white cap and peacoat to blend in and delivered him to the broken edge of the upper deck which had dropped like a trapdoor amid the shaking that did $6 billion in damage “I walked right up to the split,” he recalled bracing his camera against the bridge to keep it steady while doubting his safety in the event of an aftershock He had no way of knowing what was on the film as he made his way back to the AP photo trailer parked at the stadium All eyes in the crowded trailer fixed on him and Porter’s first thought was the photos were poorly exposed and he had blown it completely but Porter has many in a career of covering wildfires And the story of how he got that shot on the Bay Bridge is “one I’ll tell until the day I die,” he said Guy Kovner is a former Press Democrat journalist The magnitude 6.9 temblor killed 63 people and did $6 billion in damage but only rattled the North Bay Bill Cordell could see for miles across the flat mostly empty baylands near the south end of Sonoma Valley and he had driven with two friends to a remote spot called Wingo reached only by a long partly dirt road off Highway 121 at Schellville Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was about to start at Candlestick Park before a crowd of 62,000 fans It had been more than 80 years since the 800-mile San Andreas Fault wreaked havoc in the San Francisco Bay Area a period one government scientist described as “decades of tranquility.” “We watched as the ground rolled away from us like waves on the ocean and we were lifted up and down like on a trampoline where we stood,” he recalled likening the scene to “giant snakes underground writhing to get out.” as shock waves fanned out from an epicenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose in the deadly and devastating Loma Prieta earthquake of Oct The magnitude 6.9 temblor - the first of such strength on the San Andreas system since the 1906 quake that devastated San Francisco and Santa Rosa - killed 63 people injured 3,757 and did about $6 billion in damage A 1.25-mile section of Interstate 880 in Oakland A 50-foot section of the Bay Bridge collapsed like a trap door resulting in one death and a news photograph that traveled around the world October has since become a month of Bay Area tragedies with the 1,500-acre Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991 the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma in 1993 and the North Bay wildfires of 2017 that took 40 lives and destroyed nearly 6,200 homes the Bay Area was rattled by a pair of earthquakes less than 24 hours apart on Monday and Tuesday with some Sonoma County residents feeling the first temblor considered light and resulting in only minor damage Loma Prieta’s seismic thunderclap remains fresh in the minds of almost everyone who experienced it An 8-year-old Santa Rosa boy sought comfort in his mother’s lap a 24-year-old woman froze in a San Rafael shopping center and a 26-year-old woman on a business trip in Hong Kong got a frantic account of the shaker when she called her Petaluma office chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors was working as an architect on the second floor of a century-old building on Sausalito’s waterfront “I was ready to jump out the back into the bay,” he said in a 2014 interview Loma Prieta dealt severe damage to San Francisco and Oakland and from the South Bay down to Monterey County which leveled much of Santa Rosa and killed about 100 people then Sonoma County’s emergency services coordinator told The Press Democrat the day of the quake that struck at 5:04 p.m Power was knocked out to about 1,500 PG&E customers but service was expected to be quickly restored uneasy and fearful they were having a heart attack Huge indoor trees inside the Santa Rosa Plaza shook with the force of a hurricane spewing leaves to the ground floor as if fall had come and gone Office workers on the sixth floor of the Eureka building on Old Courthouse Square fell into silence as the building began to shake “All you could hear were people’s hearts,” said Charlie Cochran an attorney and Rohnert Park mayor who said the top of the building swayed 5 feet from east to west with the temblor Two elderly women residents at Santa Rosa’s tallest building went to nearby Memorial Hospital with heart problems attributed to the quake but no windows were broken in the seniors apartment complex and the 18-year-old building sustained no structural damage a 1987 graduate from Santa Rosa High School who now operates seven local restaurants headed to the baylands 30 years ago for a safe open place dotted with willows and criss-crossed by creeks that turned truly unforgettable when solid ground seemed to become liquid The front tires of a pickup truck that had pulled up next to them started to bounce up and down off the ground “The sound of the earthquake was everywhere like a booming echo through the valley,” Cordell said Earthquakes create acoustic waves in the air but are most often below the range of human hearing The rumbling people perceive is usually from buildings and their contents moving Without cellular phones and still happily in what Cordell called “the analog world,” the three young men had to rush home to make sure their homes and families were OK Carolyn Masini of Petaluma was 24 when Loma Prieta caught her ordering food at a McDonald’s in the food court at Northgate Mall in San Rafael who was about to hand her the bag when the floor started shaking Masini froze rather than follow the man and was considering where to take cover when the motion stopped Retrieving her car from the ground floor of the parking garage also seemed risky But she made it to her parents’ home at Hamilton Field in Novato where they had planned to eat and watch the baseball game had left his job at Coast Guard Island in Alameda early driving over the Cypress Structure hours before it fell he could have been on it” when it collapsed She was on the phone with her future husband in Petaluma as an aftershock rumbled through Novato and seconds later he felt it about 11 miles to the north said she still carries two instincts implanted by Loma Prieta: Not stopping her car beneath an underpass - “even when I am back East” - and always parking on the top level of a garage Loma Prieta triggered a costly statewide effort to fortify older buildings especially those made from unreinforced masonry that are considered potentially lethal hazards during earthquakes Sonoma County said it had whittled an initial list of 315 old buildings down to 170 and officials said this week 131 remained in areas outside city limits Santa Rosa has issued 11 permits for seismic retrofitting since 2014 and work has been completed on two buildings The city has also determined that 51 residences need work primarily anchoring woodframe homes to their foundations Shirryl Bayless of Sonoma can attest to the global fixation on California earthquakes she called her Petaluma office at 5:15 p.m said she was able to get the story straight and later learned Loma Prieta’s energy had taken 14 minutes to reach Hong Kong And the next day’s front page of the South China Morning Post carried a banner headline that read “US quake toll mounts,” with a large photo of the collapsed Oakland freeway structure was playing with Legos in the bedroom of his family’s Larkfield home when the shaking started He ran to the safety of his mother’s lap as “the whole house started going up and down.” who works as an auto mechanic and lives in a second-floor apartment near Coddingtown Loma Prieta was tops for trauma in his life for the next 28 years when the Tubbs fire consumed Coffey Park about 3 miles from his apartment “You could see the big orange glow of the fire” and hear explosions Green’s neighborhood wasn’t ordered to evacuate but he grabbed a few essentials and headed for his father’s home in Rohnert Park and if there’s a big one while he’s still living one story above the ground owing to its location on the boundary between two tectonic plates with the outer plate moving northwest 1 to 2 inches a year inexorably building pressure in the rocks along the San Andreas Fault which is actually a fault zone of many segments including one that runs through Sonoma County Seismologists have estimated the probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake along the Rodgers Creek Fault The Bay Area as a whole has a 72% probability including many in Fremont Union High School District We and the 90 residents listed below are united by a common commitment to ensure a healthy environment today and a livable climate tomorrow for all children we ask you to protect students from the health and safety harms of artificial turf and to protect our shared environment from the toxins it releases into the air and water we urge you to reject Amendment #1 to the Lease-Leaseback Agreement with Robert A Bothman Construction for the District Wide Athletic Field Replacements Project we ask you to install natural grass at all FUHSD athletic fields in order to protect students' health and safety as well as the natural environment we all depend on Artificial turf is a petroleum-based product that contains toxic chemicals and is linked to injury Artificial turf also releases greenhouse gasses artificial turf cannot be recycled and ends up in landfills Some may believe that artificial turf saves water because artificial turf heats up in sunlight (when the air temperature is 78°F often several times during a game or practice whereas natural grasses can be watered with “purple pipe” (recycled) water artificial turf needs to be watered with potable (drinking) water because recycled water’s minerals and salts can degrade the turf It’s important to take into account installation all of which make artificial turf more costly in the long run Please heed the warnings of the Santa Clara County Medical Association about how dangerous artificial turf is for students and more cost-effective choice as it is non-toxic and helps stabilize the climate by removing carbon pollution from the atmosphere artificial turf is harmful and has no place in our schools Rather than relying on the claims of artificial turf salespeople We need you to prioritize kids' safety and health and a stable climate: just say NO to toxic expensive artificial turf and say YES to healthy a longtime producer of Silicon Valley building materials was charged a $7.5 million fine to settle water pollution violations The agreement with the EPA accounted for the dumping of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater into the creek in Cupertino a naturally occurring element toxic to various birds The selenium levels surpassed the safety level by several folds causing harm to several species of fish and frogs living in the water The element affects the food hierarchy by killing several species of animals Following several sample tests of the chemicals in the water by specialists and members of the Sierra Club Lehigh Hanson Cement Plant’s actions not only go against the Clean Water Act but also put the San Francisco Bay in peril The same company that has helped the Bay Area in so many ways through the construction of the Shasta Dam ironically destroying the very environment that its fortune was built on attorney for Sierra club explains that the lawsuit was split into two claims The first issue to address was the fact that Lehigh was pumping its pittwater from the quarry mines into the creek thus releasing into the water tons of selenium Lehigh Cement has been regularly dumping its byproducts into the creek It exceeds the regulated amount and amount set by the EPA as mentioned in the Federal Water Act They have been dumping the mineral overburden from mining pits into the water They haul it over edge over quarry and dumped it into the creek thousands of cubic yards of material over many years “You can't pollute the creek with dissolved material or pollutant whether it be mercury or salt just like how you can’t dump your couch into a creek Citizens living near the creek play active roles in advocating for change voiced discontent in regards to the air pollution that results from the Lehigh Cement plant When acting on behalf of his civil citizens group Latshaw says that he no longer introduces himself as a Sierra Club member but a normal private citizen and resident concerned with the environment large amounts of mercury have been monitored and taken out Latshaw hopes to see a greater reduction of mercury and other chemical levels in the coming future In reaction to the Lehigh Cement water pollution case Sierra Club filled a lawsuit to make Lehigh clean up their act a standing witness who lives near the Stevenson Creek mentioned that the creek runs through the edge of his property it kills even more wildlife because of its toxic nature Bailey and Sierra Club had to prove that this situation was detrimental to the members of Sierra Club After getting specialists and members to take samples and test the water Sierra Club filled a lawsuit under violation of the EPA’s Clean Water Act under the citizens suit Lehigh had to build treatment facilities that treat selenium and other chemicals before dumping substances into the creek selenium levels have been reverted back under the standard level That is a huge success for the health of the creek Lehigh has to restore the creek back to its original condition by removing the overburden and chemicals dumped into it Sierra Club expresses discontent as this part of the settlement as it has yet to be fulfilled due to the need for environmental impact statements and various other paperworks that will hold back the progress The restoration is projected to happen within the next year or two I’m a senior now in high school and it’s crazy to think that this court case opened up when I was in 6th grade of elementary school And even by the time I graduate high school the health of the creek will not have even been fully restored There were definitely obstacles when battling Lehigh One in particular was Lehigh’s claim that Sierra Club had no standing in the issue and that the matter did not concern the members Thanks to the immense support from Sierra Club members and amazing witnesses who understood and had intimate connections to the creek they were able to gathered samples of water and pictures of the creek that demonstrated how Lehigh had a toll Once a common place for picnics and family outings this once beautiful creek became polluted and toxic to wildlife Civilization is already starting to see the detrimental effects of industrial pollution Though this generation might not witness the full effects of these toxic chemicals the slowly decreasing biodiversity goes to show that our time is limited Future generations will be left to clean up this discarded planet with less time than previous generations ever had The closest some will ever get to witnessing the giant pandas or steelhead trouts are through videos and photos But thanks to the Sierra Club and various other environmental organizations society is becoming more aware of the environmental neglect present Hope is not lost as long as people do their parts Humanitarian aid volunteers found the remains of up to four people in the Southern Arizona desert this weekend while another set of remains reported in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument remained untouched by authorities for more than a year No More Deaths volunteers found the latest remains during searches this weekend They include the body of a man who died close to a paved road near Arivaca and the scattered remains that may be as many as three other people in the remote desert south of Ajo volunteers with Armadillos Búsqueda y Rescate discovered a set of human remains in a cave just south of Bates Well on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument a 330,000-acre wilderness preserve about 110 miles west of Tucson.  No More Deaths has expanded their rescue operations from areas south of Arivaca to the Growler Valley, a remote stretch of desert west of Ajo that's inside the protected 860,000-acre Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge one of several such federal areas along the Arizona-Mexico border.  No More Deaths has been joined by groups like the Armadillos who also search in California's deserts for people.  Volunteers with the Armadillos contacted the Border Patrol's Border Search Rescue Trauma and Rescue unit members of the Armadillos went to place on a cross at the site and discovered the remains were still there Armadillos volunteers contacted No More Deaths to see if the skeletal remains had been recovered and then "re-reported" the remains to officials.  No More Deaths also said that volunteers sent a picture of the remains to an orthopedic surgeon who "confirmed that they were likely human and may have belonged to a child between 5 and 8 years old."  said Thursday that a recovery was underway and that officials would work on attempting to identify the remains but did not know if the remains were from a child "We just don't know that until we can lay eyes on the remains," Hess said.  It remains unclear why the remains were not recovered by officials over the last 16 months.  a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department said that he could not "locate that particular case" after reviewing all calls related to human remains.  "Any calls made to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in regards to human remains are taken very seriously," Jelino said "We will use all resources available to locate the remains in the desert." they are turned over to the county's medical examiner No More Deaths wrote that the cave was just a few hundred feet from a wash that's often patrolled by Border Patrol agents on ATVs, and the wash was "covered in fresh tire tracks."  "This level of negligence and disrespect is shameful "We re-reported the remains (now the third time) and will follow up with the sheriff to ensure they do a proper recovery."  Border Patrol officials annually highlight the agency's humanitarian efforts including the deployment of rescue beacons—solar-powered towers that can include a beacon that can be activated by pressing a button—and special operations teams like BORSTAR, however No More Deaths volunteers have argued that agency's efforts are not enough.  and are often not in the Growler Valley itself and volunteers have complained that the agency is often not responsive to requests for search-and-rescues.  the remains of at least 8,000 people have been recovered along the U.S.-Mexico border This is in part a consequence of "Prevention Through Deterrence," a Clinton-era policy that believed that by funneling people into the border's most remote and deadly corridors This has continued into the Trump administration has begun siphoning billions from other parts of the federal budget including military construction funding and disaster relief taller 30-foot walls along the Cabeza Prieta and Organ Pipe Cactus refuges.  the Tucson Sector has deployed 34 rescue beacons or near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Tucson Sector agents have rescued 708 people including 118 people who were encountered after activating a rescue beacon Arizona volunteers with No More Deaths and the group Border Angels went out to do a more "thorough search" of an area where two other groups—Armadillos Búsqueda y Rescate and Ni Un Migrante Menos Armadillos Armadillos—found human remains in previous months.  There they found human bones scattered in two general areas "belonging to at least three separate individuals," said No More Deaths.  "If several sets of human remains were discovered in one area and in one day under any other circumstances that did not suggest they were refugees of color this would generate public reaction and governmental action," said Jacqueline Arellano As NMD volunteers have shifted toward Arizona's western desert friction between volunteers and federal officials has increased dramatically nine No More Deaths volunteers were cited with federal misdemeanors for entering Cabeza Prieta without permits driving vehicles along administrative roads who was not only prosecuted for leaving supplies in Cabeza Prieta in 2017 but faced federal charges after he was arrested by Border Patrol agents in January 2018 in Ajo at the "Barn," a remote building used by No More Deaths and other organizations used as a staging ground for humanitarian operations deeper in the desert.  Warren faced one count of criminal conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, and two counts of harboring, but in June a jury declared it was deadlocked Nonetheless, federal prosecutors announced on July 2 that they would pursue the harboring charges and Warren will again face trial in November.  The Loma Prieta earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9 It killed 63 people and caused more than $7 billion in damage One of the tools that proved so vital to saving lives and homes had almost been eliminated prior to that quake PHOTOS: The Loma Prieta earthquake the fireboat was looked at as a useless appendage to the fire department and there was a lot of pressure on me to zero it out," explained Senator Dianne Feinstein But Feinstein refused and wound up on the right side of history A fire tore through San Francisco's Marina District after the deadly Loma Prieta earthquake Feinstein had just finished her last term as mayor WATCH VIDEO: ABC7 News Coverage from 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake "I went down to the Marina and I saw the fireboat come in I saw the portable hydrant being rolled out I was told all the water mains were out," she said firefighters saved countless homes that day using the boat to pump water straight form the Bay the city used federal grant money to build a brand new one "This new fireboat is more than just a piece of equipment It's about our city's resilience," explained Mayor Ed Lee RELATED: Prepare NorCal emergency resources who was one of over 300 students who submitted names for the new boat "It felt like I was like being mayor for five seconds," joked Rivera Click here for full coverage on the latest earthquake news Federal judge finds activists guilty of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit to give aid to migrants A federal judge has found four women guilty of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit as they sought to place food and water in the Arizona desert for migrants. US magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco’s ruling on Friday marked the first conviction against humanitarian aid volunteers in a decade. Read moreThe four found guilty of misdemeanours in the recent case were volunteers for No More Deaths which said in a statement the group had been providing life-saving aid to migrants Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick Hoffman was found guilty of operating a vehicle inside Cabeza Prieta national wildlife refuge entering the federally protected area without a permit and leaving water jugs and cans of beans there in August 2017 The others were found guilty of entering without a permit and leaving behind personal property TUCSON — A federal judge found four humanitarian aid volunteers guilty on some of the charges against them for dropping off water and food for migrants at a protected wilderness area along the Arizona-Mexico border notorious for the number of human remains recovered each year Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco found Natalie Hoffman a volunteer with humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, guilty on all three charges against her He also found three other volunteers — Oona Holcomb Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick — guilty of the two charges they each faced all passengers in the truck Hoffman was driving inside the refuge guilty of entering the area without a permit and abandoning personal property "The Defendants did not get an access permit they did not remain on the designated roads erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature," Velasco wrote in his three-page order posted online Friday afternoon READ:  Remains of 127 dead migrants were recovered in southern Arizona in 2018 Velasco chastised No More Deaths for failing to warn the four volunteers about the full consequences of violating the refuge's regulations He said all four had acted "in the mistaken belief" that a worst-case scenario for them would have been to get a citation or barred from the refuge "No one in charge of No More Deaths ever informed them that their conduct could be prosecuted as a criminal offense nor did any of the Defendants make any independent inquiry into the legality or consequences of their activities," he wrote in his decision.  "The Court can only speculate as to what the Defendants’ decisions would have been had they known the actual risk of their undertaking," he added MONTINI:  Arizona: Where leaving water for the thirsty is a crime “This verdict challenges not only No More Deaths volunteers but people of conscience throughout the country,” she said “If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal what humanity is left in the law of this country?” each of the four women face up to six months in federal prison and a $500 fine No date for sentencing has been set yet.  'I was there to leave water'The trial at the U.S District Court in Tucson began Tuesday and concluded after three days.  Attorney’s Office in Arizona presented a factual approach arguing the four women on trial admitted in court to having willingly violated the refuge’s regulations for which they were charged.  The four volunteers testified in their defense that their activities that day were part of sincerely held beliefs to help people in need.  Orozco McCormick said she considered the work almost “sacred,” and described being on the refuge as “like being a graveyard,” because of the number of migrant deaths that had taken place there All four also explained that one reason none of them had obtained permits to enter Cabeza Prieta centered around language added to an agreement anyone seeking a permit is required to sign beforehand.  Fish and Wildlife added the paragraph in July 2017 a month before the incident for which they were cited medical supplies and other aid in the refuge was not permitted.  “I was there to leave water,” Hoffman said when asked why she didn’t sign the document  Defense attorneys also claimed that the federal government had singled out No More Deaths arguing that the volunteers for the organization faced many hurdles that other members of the public didn’t.  That included special instructions for all wildlife officers to refer any member of the organization seeking a permit to the refuge manager and a “do not issue” list which contained the names of certain volunteers who were not allowed to get a permit.  Lawyers for the four women also cited a July 2017 meeting among members of No More Deaths at which the attorney had allegedly said that they were not interested in prosecuting volunteers for dropping off water and food.  Prosecutors dismissed those arguments countering that no written or oral agreement between the U.S Attorney’s Office to not prosecute these cases existed.  but the agency's activities along Cabeza Prieta played a significant role in the trial.  Testimony from both sides highlighted the rising tensions between humanitarian aid groups like No More Deaths and the Border Patrol Although several areas of Cabeza Prieta are restricted to the public and aid volunteers defense attorneys pointed out that Border Patrol agents regularly drive through the areas of the refuge.  Prosecutors argued that the 10 rescue beacons that the Border Patrol installed inside the refuge was the “preferred way to save lives,” rather than dropping off water jugs with gave “false hope” to migrants Defense attorneys responded that access to the beacons was key and that migrants who were dehydrated might not be able to get to them.  What was not discussed during the trial were the accusations from No More Deaths that Border Patrol agents “systematically” destroy or empty water bottles they leave behind for migrants in the desert.  Setting a new precedent?The guilty verdict is the first of its kind under the administration of President Donald Trump who has advocated for stricter immigration and border enforcement Five other volunteers with No More Deaths face unrelated charges for similar activities on Cabeza Prieta Their trials are scheduled to begin in the next two months in Tucson who also faces a separate trial in connection to his felony arrest in February 2018 on charges of harboring undocumented immigrants Friday’s verdict is the first conviction against humanitarian aid volunteers along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2009 when a federal judge found another No More Deaths volunteer guilty of littering for dropping off water jugs at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge Dan Millis was found guilty of littering on the Buenos Aires refuge the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction.  Other charges brought against humanitarian aid groups and volunteers mostly had been dismissed Water supplies and bay bridge reconstruction PHOENIX – A federal judge in Tucson overturned the convictions of four humanitarian aid volunteers found guilty last year of leaving food and water for migrants trekking through protected Arizona wilderness saying their work was part of their "sincere religious beliefs." Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco found Natalie Hoffman a volunteer with humanitarian aid group No More Deaths He also found three other volunteers – Oona Holcomb Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick – guilty of the two charges each Their convictions came from citations they received on Aug for entering Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge without a permit and leaving behind 1-gallon water jugs and cans of beans at drop stations in the refuge that No More Deaths has used for years District Judge Rosemary Márquez issued a 22-page decision reversing Velasco's guilty verdicts for all four volunteers Border aid: Volunteers who left food and water for migrants sentenced to probation "Defendants met their burden of establishing that their activities were exercises of their sincere religious beliefs and the Government failed to demonstrate that application of the regulations against Defendants is the least restrictive means of accomplishing a compelling interest," Márquez concluded Monday's reversal of the four convictions is the latest blow to government prosecutors who sought to take a tougher stance and prosecute humanitarian-aid workers in the past two years a Tucson jury acquitted No More Deaths volunteer Scott Warren on felony harboring charges for helping two undocumented migrants who showed up to the "Barn," a building in Ajo used by humanitarian-aid volunteers to launch water drop-offs and rescues along Cabeza Prieta and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument the judge presiding over the case acquitted Warren of a misdemeanor for leaving behind water at Cabeza Prieta on another occasion But the judge found Warren guilty of operating a motor vehicle on a restricted road inside the refuge He set a sentencing hearing for that misdemeanor for Feb No More Deaths said Monday's ruling reaffirmed their belief that "humanitarian aid is never a crime." In a written statement Tuesday they also vowed to continue doing their work in the Arizona desert "The reversal of convictions is a victory for all people of conscience and righteousness who seek to end the death and suffering in the borderlands," volunteer Alicia Dinsmore said "People continue to die every day on Cabeza Prieta and we will continue to act on our moral imperative to do this vital work." said they were very disappointed and disagreed with Márquez's opinion Attorney Heather Sechrist told The Arizona Republic that the office is weighing all options but that they haven't decided whether they will seek an appeal "Our border enforcement agency partners work hard every single day and they're gonna keep working to protect the borders and aggressively enforce federal law and we do intend to do so as well," Sechrist said Follow Rafael Carranza on Twitter: @RafaelCarranza We would like to hear first-hand accounts from those who experienced the quake that interrupted the World Series and was responsible for 63 deaths and more than 3,700 injuries What happened to you during the Loma Prieta earthquake 30 years ago on Oct Call Press Democrat Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or email guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com Scott Warren was arrested after he helped migrants – but he’s a humanitarian aid worker trying to save lives in a place where so many find death Cabeza Prieta national wildlife refuge which includes 56 miles of Sonoran Desert along the US-Mexico border It is also where in the past year alone, humanitarian workers have discovered the bodies of 32 people. These remains were found by volunteers from No More Deaths and other humanitarian aid organizations that work to reduce deaths and suffering along the US-Mexico border. Read moreIf you go to Cabeza Prieta and walk along its arroyos and a skull resting beneath a mesquite tree 10 shades whiter than anything else around it On 17 January, No More Deaths released a report documenting the systematic destruction by border patrol of water and food supplies left in the desert for migrants The report linked to video showing border patrol kicking over gallons and pouring them out onto the ground Hours after the report was released, Scott Warren, a volunteer with No More Deaths, was arrested and charged with a felony for harboring migrants after Border Patrol allegedly witnessed him giving food and water to two migrants in the west desert near Cabeza Prieta and he spends the rest of his time here in the borderlands when I came out to the desert to volunteer on our trips on rutted jeep roads to put out water for border crossers things would go wrong; trucks would break down how sketchy a situation had really been – how close we’d come to disaster I learned to appreciate Scott’s inexplicably calm goodwill as the sort of eye in a hurricane- when it felt as though everything was spiraling into chaos I only had to look at Scott to be reminded that somehow Scott talked to me after I found my first set of human remains and was so upset that I couldn’t stop crying He told me that once he’d walked out into the desert at night He’d been overcome with the loneliness of that great emptiness and he’d looked up at the stars and thought about how these same stars were the last thing that many people saw before they died hundreds or thousands of miles away from the people that they loved He’d looked up at the stars and thought how they were the last thing that many people sawCabeza Prieta is possibly the most remote and inaccessible area in which No More Deaths provides humanitarian aid Its inaccessibility is also one of the reasons why the area is so deadly – if one walks north through the Growler valley in which the bulk of the human remains have been found it is 20 miles as the crow flies from a rough dirt road in the south a rutted four-wheel drive road at Charlie Bell Pass where summer temperatures soar above 115F (46.1C) and winter nights are cold enough to give a person hypothermia Running north-south alongside the Growler valley are the Growler mountains whose impassible ridgeline prevents escape to the Childs valley to the east and no way to be rescued should you need help One’s journey through this area can be interrupted for all sorts of reasons: a sprained ankle from falling into an arroyo while hiking at night border patrol scattering your entire group via helicopter and leaving you lost and alone And if you stop walking in the Growler valley No More Deaths has been slowly increasing their efforts to get water into Cabeza Prieta You can walk five miles from the nearest public road carrying six gallons of water in the heat and still be barely within the perimeters of this vast desert wilderness Volunteers for No More Deaths carry gallons of water out in the desert. Photograph: Carrot QuinnIt was on these forays that Scott, as well as other No More Deaths volunteers, began to find the human remains. What seemed an anomaly at first soon showed itself to be a crisis of epic proportions: the volunteers were routinely stumbling on human remains. As No More Deaths stepped up their efforts, so too did Border Patrol and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Not to prevent death or to recover human remains, but to criminalize humanitarian aid. In the summer of 2017, eight volunteers were charged with federal misdemeanors related to No More Deaths providing humanitarian aid in this area. Many more volunteers had their permits to Cabeza Prieta revoked indefinitely. Around the same time, a new clause appeared on the permit application for access to Cabeza Prieta. Clause 13 states that the holder of the permit will not leave food or water in the desert, effectively preventing humanitarian aid in Cabeza Prieta entirely. Read moreBorder Patrol policy has turned the desert into a weapon. This specific policy is called “prevention through deterrence” a person could cross the US/Mexico border relatively safely forcing border crossers into the harshest and most remote parts of the desert Checkpoints were placed on roads as far as 100 miles north of the US/Mexico border so that once in the waterless desert wilderness those crossing were made to walk for weeks in order to get around these checkpoints When I last talked to Scott he was in good spirits in spite of his felony charge and pending trial Scott puts water and food in the desert where people might die without it otherwise and he knows that this is the right thing to do Welcome Mickeymickey@disney.comManage MyDisney AccountLog OutOver 30 cisterns to be built in SF to prepare for earthquakeByCarolyn Tyler Tuesday 2014KGOSAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An upgrade is being made to the emergency fire-fighting system in San Francisco Over 30 cisterns are being built to prepare for a major earthquake Crews have been working very hard over the last few weeks on what San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White calls a critical tool to fire fighting You may have seen brick circles at intersections around San Francisco and assumed they were just decorations But they indicate a critical piece of San Francisco's firefighting strategy a storage tank that holds 75,000 gallons of water One of 30 new cisterns are being built to compliment 150 already in the system "The use of a cistern would be under really emergency conditions like a big conflagration where we are going need an immediate source of water in the event of a failure," Hayes-White said A system of storing water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is thought to be unique to San Francisco and was devised after the 1906 earthquake "We've had the experience of the city going up in flames and trying to develop a system that could keep that from happening again," San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Steve Ritchie said the Mission Bay inferno was fought using high pressure water hoses "Some people say well you don't really use it on a regular basis but I can tell you that when the big one hits these will be invaluable," Hayes-White said The 30 news ones are part of a $412 million emergency bond voters passed back in 2010 That includes upgrades to pump stations and pipelines The outer Sunset will see the first cisterns with the rest being completed throughout the city by 2017 A little over a year ago – maybe longer – we misplaced our national conscience United States District Judge Rosemary Márquez found it In federal court in Tucson, the judge reversed the convictions of four No More Deaths volunteers The women had been convicted of misdemeanor charges that included operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area and entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit and abandoning property there What they had done – their “crime” – was venturing into the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and leaving containers of water in a remote desert area where officials have recovered nearly 150 bodies (who knows how many more were never found.) It’s an unforgiving place through which migrants attempt to cross They don’t do so because they believe they might stumble upon a gallon carton of water They do so because they’re desperate And the women were leaving the water not to aid in some illegal act but simply to keep people from dying a volunteer with the humanitarian aid group and three other volunteers — Oona Holcomb Hoffman had been charged with operating a vehicle inside the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona, entering without a permit and leaving behind 1-gallon water jugs and cans of beans The group was busted after running into U.S Fish and Wildlife officers at Cabeza Prieta on Aug As No More Deaths spokeswoman Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler said last year "We are out there because there's a need and the need is not going to change dependent on .. the legality of our right to provide aid." The judge wasn’t buying the government’s argument that the women were interfering with border enforcement, writing in part, “... the Government claims a compelling interest in preventing Defendants from interfering with a border enforcement strategy of deterrence by death. This gruesome logic is profoundly disturbing It is also speculative and unsupported by evidence.” It's a good phrase – “gruesome logic.” And it should not be used as government policy Arresting and prosecuting volunteers from groups like No More Deaths won’t stop desperate people from trying to cross the desert. And it won’t stop others from trying to prevent their deaths We seem as a nation to occasionally put our conscience on trial if only to find out that we’ve misplaced it Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.