1-1-09

 1-1-09 Merced Sun-StarMerced to turn to residents for help with ideas for underpassMany want construction to be aesthetically pleasing as well...SCOTT JASONhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/618234.htmlMerced leaders on Monday will hire a firm to design the G Street underpass and form a citizen committee to keep the $18 million project from derailing.Fresno-based Biggs Cardosa Associates is set to draw the final plans for the long-awaited project that will allow drivers on G Street to go underneath the BNSF Railway trains as they chug through Merced. The firm estimates the design to cost $705,000 and to be completed by December 2009.Construction is scheduled to be finished by fall 2011. The project's price tag is covered by $9 million from Proposition 1B and a matching amount from the city. Councilman Jim Sanders said that although he has limited support for the project, citizen input is critical to make sure it's a success.Calling the project a Band-Aid, he said the city isn't addressing the need for improving north-south roads, such as Parsons Avenue and Highway 59.Sanders also questions whether the funding will come through, given the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit. "I don't have confidence that we have any protected funds," he said.The city decided to form a citizen committee after a wave of unexpected criticism and unanswered questions about the project.The City Council will fill the committee during its 7 p.m. meeting at the Civic Center.Ragsdale residents fear that traffic on G Street will increase when the project finishes, causing more headaches in their neighborhood.The owners of businesses near the train tracks think the construction may lead to fewer shoppers.Other residents envision the underpass becoming a concrete eyesore in the middle of Merced. G Street's closure during the work will also burden the city's other main north-south roads, including M and R streets.The committee will hold public meetings twice a month and offer advice to the council.The group will tackle ways to make the project attractive and how to avoid traffic problems. It will also look at whether East and West 23rd, 24th and 25th streets should connect to G Street or be turned into cul-de-sacs.Because of the public's interest in the project, the design company is willing to hire public artist Vicki Scuri at a cost of $90,300, if the city asks.Scuri is nationally recognized and has done work in Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Portland. She's also working on Stockton's railroad undercrossing.The design firm may also tap a landscape architect, at a cost of $86,670, and a firm to handle decorative lighting, at a cost of $37,370.Sanders, despite his own lukewarm support for the underpass, conceded that it needs to be attractive, even if the cost is higher. "We do need to pay attention to the aesthetics and not have a concrete box with railroad tracks on top," he said. "We need to make a quality piece of work."Committee hopefulsTwenty-one residents applied to be on the G Street underpass committee. City staff is recommending that the Merced City Council appoint 15 people or as many as it deems qualified to serve.Here are the applicants:Geoffrey W. Bromfield, a Rivera Middle School teacherJohn R. Carlos, Merced County mental health workerAlan Claunch, landscape contractorGary Conte, plannerKathleen M. Crookham, retired educator, former county supervisorCarolyn Goings, retired, former City CouncilwomanTim Gudgel, structural engineerJohn Hofmann, retired urban plannerMary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School library media teacherOtis H. Hutchinson, retiredBerent Isenberg, retiredKrista P. Kamer, scientist and program manager with San Francisco State UniversityJack Lemen, designer Laura Martin, UC Merced biologist and educatorGuy Maxwell, builder/landlordPatricia A. McNamara, Khakis ownerSteve Meidinger, Merced College math instructorKay Melanson, retiredBruce A. Reisdorph, Hilmar Unified School District marriage, family and child counselorGary T. Rucker, insurance agentRoger Wyan, photographer Worker suing Merced Irrigation District put on paid leaveHe says harassment in the workplace is continuing...JONAH OWEN LAMBhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/618225.htmlAn employee of Merced Irrigation District who filed a discrimination, whistleblower and harassment lawsuit against the district has been put on paid leave after allegations of continued harassment in the workplace.An independent investigator has been hired by the district to look into the allegations received by MID on Dec. 19 from Lamonte Tumbling's attorneys."We got a letter from his attorney that suggests incidents without any facts or specifics," said Ken Robbins, MID's legal counsel. "That led us to believe that we needed to conduct an independent investigation." Tumbling, who went on full paid leave at the beginning of the week, will stay away from work as the investigation proceeds.Tumbling and his attorneys declined to return calls to the Sun-Star about their new allegations.Tumbling, who has worked for MID since 1995, filed a suit in Fresno's District Court alleging that he was demoted and discriminated against in retaliation for reporting unethical behavior by his superiors over the last couple of years.The suit notes that Tumbling is the district's only black employee.Tumbling's case, which was filed on Nov. 21, alleges that his troubles began partly in 2004 when he walked in on Mike Higgins, his superior, while he was allegedly fondling a woman employee who was an active participant.After the incident, alleges the suit, Tumbling's job was threatened by Higgins.Higgins even bragged to Tumbling that he wouldn't get in any trouble when, according to the suit, Higgins said, "Guilty as hell, but you have to prove it; I love to eat people like you up. Go ahead and try a lawsuit."According to the suit, Higgins wasn't reprimanded for either action by MID."MID ignored the supervisor's sexual misconduct and ratified this inappropriate behavior by failing to discipline Higgins," the suit states.Higgins was told by MID not to comment on the case.Besides being targeted for retaliation, Tumbling was called "boy" and finally demoted from supervisor of customer service to a ditch weed sprayer position -- all according to his lawsuit.The suit further describes MID as a place where sexual favors were the norm. "Some employees manipulated their supervisors by delivering and or promising repeated sexual favors," the suit charges.MID wouldn't comment further on the case since the agency said it relates to personnel matters. Fresno BeeJensen Ranch gets river propertyJudge approves transfer of Madera County land after much wrangling...Sanford Naxhttp://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/1102573.htmlThe last lien has been cleared, and 925 acres near the San Joaquin River in Madera County -- once the subject of a protracted bankruptcy case -- have been transferred to new owners.They now will decide the land's fate. However, it is not known what will become of the land or when it will be developed before ground is broken.The original owner, Property Development Group, filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2006. After two years of legal wrangling and thousands of pages of court filings, a judge approved the transfer of the prime land east of Highway 41 near Avenue 12 to Jensen Ranch Holding Co., which is controlled by trustees for bondholders. John Van Curen of Old West Ranch Co., a real-estate management firm and receiver in Fresno, was hired to manage the property. He will help decide whether to develop, sell or hold onto it until the real-estate market improves, said Riley Walter, who represented Property Development Group.The property is part of the proposed Jensen Ranch, a 1,271-acre project that Dennes Coombs planned to develop in the Rio Mesa community area. To help finance development, he sought the assistance of David Fitzgerald and the now-defunct Pacific Genesis Group to underwrite municipal bonds and certificates that were to be publicly issued and tax-exempt.The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Fitzgerald and Pacific Genesis, and the developer couldn't access financing, according to court files. The bankruptcy filing followed.Investors bought the bonds, but the owners are many. "You could be a direct holder [of bonds] or an investor in a muni bond fund, and that fund could have some of these in it," said Mike Buckley, attorney for Wells Fargo Bank, one of the trustees.The land, which is just north of Riverbend Golf Club, is currently used for grazing. It could be attractive to a developer with the patience to get the proper permits. Offers to buy the land came forward several times during the bankruptcy case, but the deals always fell through or the proposed buyer walked away."I don't think there is a bad piece in there," said Jeff Wolpert, land specialist at Pearson Commercial/Grubb&Ellis. "People have had their eye on it for a long time." Sacramento BeeGiant gates mulled for Delta, to the chagrin of some...Matt Weiserhttp://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1510380.htmlState and federal water officials are looking to build giant concrete gates across key channels in the west Delta to control water quality.The project has drawn little attention compared with much bigger proposals in the news – such as construction of a 40-mile canal that would channel water around the Delta. But the Franks Tract Project, as it's called, may be more pressing: Studies are under way, with construction scheduled for summer 2010.The California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are studying five locations on the west edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: four on Three-Mile Slough near Sherman Island, and one on False River near Bradford Island. A final plan is likely to propose one gate on each waterway. The gates would be raised and lowered at crucial times to reduce intrusion of salty ocean water within the Delta. When salty water is drawn into water export pumps owned by the two agencies, it reduces crop productivity and increases treatment costs for cities and farms that use Delta water.A 2007 DWR study shows that gates on the two sloughs can cut salinity at the pumping intakes from 7 percent to 21 percent, depending on conditions."We see it as a tool to help us manage conditions for fish and water quality," said Kathy Kelly, chief of DWR's Bay-Delta Office.Another potential benefit: A gate at Three-Mile Slough could prevent Sacramento River salmon from straying into the interior Delta, where poor habitat and predators await.The concrete gates would span the width of each channel and probably would be hinged at the bottom, allowing the channel to be opened or closed according to tides and water quality. Each includes a lock system so boats can pass if the gate is closed.But when the gates would be closed, and for how long, remains uncertain.Bradford Island residents fear a gate across False River will boost water currents around the island, causing more levee erosion. They also worry about more vessel traffic on Fisherman's Cut if boaters detour around the island to avoid the gate.DWR studies confirm some of these concerns: A closed gate on False River could boost water velocities fivefold in Fisherman's Cut, from 2,000 cubic feet per second to 10,000.Cate Kuhne, a Bradford Island property owner, said such flows could scour away tule berms on the east and north sides of the island. The berms are important habitat and create calm water near the island for swimming and boating, she said."This project is going to impact our entire way of life out there," Kuhne said.Three-Mile Slough is a vital boat shortcut between the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. If it's blocked by a gate, the alternatives are a rough and windy haul around Sherman Island to the west, or a long detour east via Georgiana Slough or the Mokelumne River.False River sees heavy traffic because it is near Bethel Island, the Delta's largest community and home to its largest concentration of marinas."I don't like the idea," said Bob Olsen, a Bethel Island boater and resident. "We live here and it's a beautiful place. I picture it getting worse if we start doing all this stuff."A key question is how the gates fit into larger plans for the Delta. If a canal is built to divert a portion of the Sacramento River's flow around the Delta, the gates may become irrelevant.But Kelly said the gates could play a vital role for decades, especially if plumbing options include a through-Delta canal. This involves moving water diversions between strengthened levees on the Mokelumne River and Middle River. The gates could protect this waterway from salinity.Gates may also help in a disaster, she said, such as if levee failures draw salty water into the Delta from the ocean.Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, said the project could have unexpected effects on fish, including salmon, sturgeon, bass and Delta smelt. "It's just another frantic project to create the impression that there are solutions other than reducing (water) exports," he said. "We do not understand the intricacies of this incredibly complex estuary enough to keep proposing massive hydraulic modifications."DWR estimates costs at $75 million for a False River gate and $55 million for a gate on Three-Mile Slough.Those costs include gates tall enough to handle 18 inches of sea level rise. Gate foundations, however, would be built to support a structure 57 inches higher than today's water levels, in case the gates need to be raised later. This fits the sea-level forecast for 2100 now used in Delta planning. Proposed Delta Gates...Maphttp://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1510380-a1510344-t46.htmlStockton RecordRiver enthusiast launches group to put face on waterway...Alex Breitlerhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090101/A_NEWS/901010318/-1/A_NEWSJeremy Terhune knows how most people look at the Calaveras River.They don't.He was once the same way."(The Calaveras) was entirely inconsequential to me," said the 30-year-old Terhune, who grew up in Stockton. "I didn't see it. I didn't live directly near the river, but I drove over it all the time."People don't see it as the Calaveras River. They see it as an irrigation ditch."Terhune heads a new citizens group that dreams of putting a public face on the stream and nourishing the fish and wildlife that call the Calaveras home.Other cities have celebrated their rivers, Terhune says; why not Stockton?The group, Friends of the Lower Calaveras River, is funded by a two-year grant from Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental advocacy group. But Terhune isn't aiming for "greenies.""I really want this to be an everyday person's group," he said.Members of the Army Corps of Engineers have attended meetings. So has the Stockton East Water District, which diverts water from the Calaveras River for farms and cities.The goal, before funding runs out, is to have a self-sustaining group, Terhune said.That might be the toughest part. Citizen groups on other Stockton waterways have sometimes fizzled.The lower Calaveras has always had its secret admirers, but never can photographer Michael Randolph recall them being so organized."We've always known about the river and been concerned about it," said Randolph, who grew up in Linden in the 1960s. He remembers rafting down the Calaveras "like Huckleberry Finn."Raising the river's profile is one thing, but actions are also under way to physically improve conditions for fish.Stockton East is working with federal agencies to remove barriers preventing salmon or steelhead from spawning upstream.Also, the district may be close to releasing for public comment a long-awaited habitat plan that would call for steady flows from New Hogan Dam to Bellota Weir and pulse flows below the weir to help fish on their journeys.Currently, no water flows from the upstream reservoir are required to help the environment, district General Manager Kevin Kauffman said.Finally, University of the Pacific continues to restore the portion of the river that runs through the Stockton campus, in part by tearing out non-native plants. And citizens such as Randolph participate in trash cleanups.Now, if people will only take notice.Terhune said he has about 90 people on his Friends of the Lower Calaveras roster. Given other problems in the community - the economy, foreclosures, violence - he said he's "ecstatic" to see so much interest in the environment."I really think there is a great opportunity to just get the darned river on the map," Terhune said. "If we can get a conservation started, then we've already been successful."Manteca BulletinWal-Mart in limbo for Ripon...Jason Campbell http://mantecabulletin.com/news/article/379/RIPON — It looks like it’ll be at least another year before Ripon ever sees a Wal-Mart constructed in town.Despite buying property just a stone’s throw away from where they originally wanted to locate, the retail giant has not moved forward with any official construction plans or submitted anything to the city’s building department for consideration.The company withdrew its original plan to construct a massive SuperCenter after fierce community support – which included a town hall meeting where an organized residents group faced off against a Wal-Mart spokesman – eventually led to the passing of an ordinance that restricted the placement of the massive sites to only designated areas that fit tight criteria laid out by city officials.The move to pass the retail ordinance came after City Attorney Tom Terpstra recommended against the approval of an “exclusionary” ordinance that would have flatly refused mega-sites like Wal-Mart to build within the city. It was something that has opened the door for lawsuits in communities like Turlock after they took the standoffish approach.By laying out ground rules that the business has to follow if they plan to come to town, he said, the city can still maintain the standards they want to uphold and limit the location of such a large building that many argued would increase traffic and affect the overall quality of life in the quaint community.And while construction of commercial properties has increased over the last several years, the parcel that Wal-Mart purchased after the initial site became ineligible after the passing of the ordinance because of its close proximity to neighboring houses, the company still hasn’t moved forward with any plans to make Ripon one of the many communities home to a Wal-Mart SuperCenter.According to Ripon Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart, there has been no discussion about moving forward with constructing the original complex on the parcel or any redesigned projects that would fit within the parameters outlined under the ordinance.Just recently the community welcomed in the Tractor Supply Company – the large agricultural dealer that hopes to break in to the South County market and cater to local farmers and ranchers within the ag-heavy area.The business was built not far from the original Wal-Mart site.Santa Cruz SentinelPajaro Valley water mystery could solve statewide question...Donna Joneshttp://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_11341213Every winter millions of gallons of water are pumped from Harkins Slough to a pond off San Andreas Road. There, by design, the water percolates into a natural clay-lined storage basin so it can be tapped later for irrigation.But so far only a fraction has been recovered. Where the rest of the water from the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency's Harkins Slough Recharge Project goes is a mystery, one researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Stanford and the University of Alaska are trying to solve.The answer could lead to a desperately needed increase in local water supplies, but it has implications far beyond the Pajaro Valley. That's why researchers have been able to tap into more than $1 million in grants to study the system.Tuesday, researchers deployed a new tool, an osmotic sampler, in an effort to trace the flow of underground water. "This pond is not going to solve Pajaro Valley's groundwater problem, but it's a piece of the puzzle," said UC Santa Cruz earth sciences professor Andy Fisher.The Pajaro Valley pumps more groundwater than can be replenished by winter rains. As the groundwater drops, salt water has moved inland, contaminating coastal wells.Brian Lockwood, the water agency's hydrologist, said the recharge project could play a significant role in meeting coastal irrigation needs if researchers figure out how to make the project work more efficiently.Fisher said similar ponds could provide small-scale local solutions to a statewide water shortage, especially if, as predicted, global warming results in a smaller snow pack and more severe winter storms. California will need more places to store water, he said, and natural underground basins provide more capacity than reservoirs. But questions abound. At the Harkins Slough project, for instance, close to 4,500 acre feet of water has been pumped from slough to pond since December 2001, but only 1,000 acre feet has been recovered through nearby wells. An acre foot of water is 325,000 gallons.The osmotic sampler, dropped more than 200 feet into a monitoring well, will continuously sample water during the next six months to provide clues as to how the water moves from the clay-lined recharge basin to the deeper aquifer below.Water quality is another question, and researchers are looking for a way to reduce nitrates, which can be hazardous to human health, in groundwater. They dug two trenches in the bottom of the pond, filling one with gravel and the other with untreated redwood mulch. Lockwood said researchers want to see if microbes in the mulch will "eat" nitrates.Lockwood recently wrote his first grant to aid the research, a $227,000 request for state aid that would allow the agency to drill three more monitoring wells. The Department of Water Resources has approved his application, and the money could start flowing in March.Los Angeles TimesBattle over Little Lake heats up...Louis Sahagunhttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/12/battle-over-lit.htmlThe latest round in the battle between a private hunting club and a geothermal plant for control of an Owens Valley aquifer got underway today with the release of a 900-page final environmental impact report.The report predicts that the Coso Geothermal Plant’s plan to extract 4,800 acre feet of water per year from the aquifer and construct a nine-mile pipeline could have a significant impact on  Little Lake Ranch, a 1,200-acre retreat on spring-fed wetlands adjacent to U.S. Highway 395 and east of the Sierra’s tallest peaks.The project could also lead to the spread of invasive species and harm threatened and endangered animals, including the desert tortoise.The report also points out, however, that Coso plans to implement an array of mitigation measures and to stop pumping if regional water levels fall too low.That’s not good enough for opponents led by the 50-year-old hunting club, made up mostly of Southern California doctors, lawyers and business owners. Little Lake Ranch  argues the project would suck Little Lake dry, wiping out foraging grounds for migrating waterfowl in a place held sacred by Native Americans and surrounded by lava cliffs festooned with vivid petroglyphs.The club’s concerns are based, in part, on a hydrology model included in the report, which shows that the Coso project could siphon off as much as 10% of Little Lake’s water in less than a year and half.“It could easily mean the end of a lake that has been around 10,000 years,” said Little Lake Ranch attorney Gary Arnold. “It would take more than a century for the aquifer on which Little Lake relies to recover from just 14 months of groundwater pumping at a rate of 4,800 acre feet per year.”Coso officials were unavailable for comment, and Inyo County authorities declined comment pending public hearings on the matter.In the meantime, opponents have recommended alternatives to groundwater pumping, including technological enhancements at the power plant, where steam-driven turbines already provide electricity to more than 250,000 homes.The Inyo County Planning Commission is expected to act in January on Coso’s request for a 30-year permit to extract aquifer water it says is needed to supplement its own diminishing geothermal reservoirs. The Inyo County Board of Supervisors will make a final determination later.Water has long been a sensitive subject in this region, about 160 miles north of Los Angeles.After the Lower Owens River’s water was diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, the river’s massive catch basin, Owens Lake, evaporated into vast salt flats prone to sending up choking dust storms.Later, after groundwater pumping by Los Angeles between 1970 and 1990 destroyed additional habitat in the Owens Valley, L.A. agreed to restore the Lower Owens River to compensate for the damage.That restoration project, however, continues to be disputed in Inyo County Superior Court.Bush may be giving Obama breathing room to fight global warmingRecent moves by lame-duck officials, though frustrating to environmentalists, offer the president-elect time and political cover to deliberately craft rules on emissions, energy lobbyists say...Jim Tankersleyhttp://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-co2-1-2009jan01,0,5310898,print.storyReporting from Washington — President Bush could be forcing President-elect Barack Obama to act almost immediately to curb global warming, after years of the Bush administration fighting attempts to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions.Or, depending on which interpretation prevails, Bush could be giving his successor much-needed breathing room on a volatile issue. In its final weeks, his administration has moved to close what it calls "back doors" to regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It barred the Environmental Protection Agency from considering the effects of global warming on protected species. And, more broadly, it excluded carbon dioxide from a list of pollutants that the EPA regulates under the Clean Air Act.Environmentalists view the moves as a last-minute attempt to block speedy, executive action by the president-elect on climate change, an issue that Obama repeatedly has called a top concern. And they say those moves could backfire -- by prompting lawsuits and fueling fights over coal-fired power plants that the new administration would need to resolve quickly.Obama "now has to clean up a mess," said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club, which has challenged the EPA over the Clean Air Act decision and plans to sue to block it. "They're forcing him to act sooner than he otherwise might have."Yet energy lobbyists predict the challenges will fail. They say the Bush administration's actions give Obama time and political cover to take a more deliberative approach to emissions regulation and avoid overly broad, overly swift rules that could slow construction projects for schools and businesses, not just power plants."I'm quite confident that the Obama administration will have no interest in coming in and immediately reversing" the decisions, said Jeffrey Holmstead, a former EPA clean air administrator who now represents energy industry clients at the lobbying firm Bracewell & Giuliani in Washington.Underlying the debate is the issue of how the federal government should reduce emissions of the gases that scientists blame for global warming, including carbon dioxide. Congress has long debated, but never approved, a so-called cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions. Frustrated, environmental groups have looked for other ways to fight global warming. They have pressed to list the polar bear, which has seen its habitat dwindle as arctic ice caps melt, as a threatened species. The Interior Department consented this summer but later declared that any protection for the bears under the Endangered Species Act didn't extend to regulating greenhouse gases.Environmental groups also sued to force the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court ruled the EPA had the power, but Bush officials have declined to exercise it. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson issued a memo in late December -- as part of a review for a proposed coal-fired power plant expansion in Utah -- that excludes carbon dioxide from the list of pollutants the government must regulate under the Clean Air Act when approving construction projects.Environmentalists call the memo a gift to the coal industry and utilities."This is a desperate attempt to interfere with the Obama administration's ability to deal with greenhouse gases from power plants," said John Walke, a former EPA attorney who is now clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.Industry lobbyists say the memo leaves the door open for Obama to regulate carbon dioxide eventually through the EPA -- and that it gives him time to solve a broader problem. A broad rule, they say, risks lumping school expansions, office construction and even some home building into the same regulatory process that a power plant would face.The memo gives Obama's team time to solve those issues, Holmstead maintains, so "they don't sweep in hundreds of thousands of small building projects around the country."Obama vows to push aggressively for a cap-and-trade bill as president. Under this method of trading, overall air quality goals are set by the government, and individual polluters such as power plants are given allowances for what they can emit. Facilities that pollute less than they are permitted can trade a share of their allowance to others that pollute more.And the president-elect's top energy advisor, Jason Grumet, promised during the presidential campaign that Obama would move to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act within 18 months of taking office.Now, environmentalists say, Bush has put pressure on Obama to act sooner -- or risk watching states approve new power plants without regard to carbon emissions. Energy companies have taken quick notice of the EPA memo: Duke Energy Corp., headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., recently cited the document in a court filing supporting its bid to build a new coal-fired plant in Indiana. After Tennessee ash spill, cleanup and worryResidents are concerned about the long-term health effects of last week's coal ash spill, one of the worst in U.S. history. Relations with a Depression-era federal utility are damaged, too...Richard Faussethttp://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-tennessee-ash-spill1-2009jan01,0,2404136,print.storyReporting from Roane County, Tenn. — The gunk on the water had thinned to a gray scrim in front of Mike Thomas' riverfront home -- a small sign of progress one week after one of the worst coal ash spills in American history.But as Thomas drove along the bluff over the Emory River, he pointed to big piles of sludgy, dark gray ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, that had been accidentally disgorged by the nearby electricity plant. The heaps jutted from the water's surface like ugly volcanic islands. By the shore, many neighbors' docks sat in ruins, destroyed by mammoth waves when the ash was released.This wasn't what Thomas had in mind when he bought his retirement home nine years ago."It's like something you'd see in Cleveland or damned Newark, New Jersey," said Thomas, a 62-year-old Georgia native. "Not east Tennessee."This week, hundreds of workers continued a massive cleanup around the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority facility that has been a mundane and welcome fixture here for the last half a century, until -- late at night and three days before Christmas -- it became a force of ruination. Earthen walls surrounding one of the plant's retention areas failed, sending more than a billion gallons of the ash -- enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools -- coursing into surrounding waterways and a handful of private properties.No one was harmed, but residents are worried about the long-term health effects from the ash, which contains potentially harmful contaminants such as arsenic. They are also worried about the threats to their economy and culture, long defined by the picturesque waterways that snake through the lush Appalachian hill country."We're worried about the arsenic and whatever other contaminants are in the water, and we're worried about anything getting airborne," Thomas said. "On a lower level, we're worried about recreation -- hunting, boating, fishing."And property values," he added, gesturing to a home that serves as an appendage to an expansive deck overlooking the quiet river. "This is my legacy to my children."State and federal officials Wednesday were awaiting results of soil testing. Preliminary air tests show no problems, although windy weather could change that. Meanwhile, some water samples taken close to the ash piles have found levels of arsenic and other pollutants that exceed drinking water standards. Officials are monitoring private wells, and say drinking water in municipal systems is safe -- for now.Company officials have not determined the cause of the wall failure. Nor can they say how long the cleanup will take, or how much it will cost.With so many unanswered questions, life in this county of 54,000 people has entered an unpleasant state of limbo. Health officials have advised residents to stay away from the ash, and to wash their hands thoroughly if they do get around it. The county school system altered its bus routes to keep a safe distance from the spill. Recreational boating has been suspended on the Emory River, parts of which have been rendered impassable.Residents like Jeff Spurgeon who built waterfront dream homes now find themselves steps away from a man-made ecological nightmare."It's devastating, it really is," said Spurgeon, 43. The phone company worker and his wife saved for years to build the 4,400-square foot brick home along a cove that has become, literally, a giant ashtray.The disaster carries a hint of irony for longtime residents: If there was a concern about ecological threats, it came from a few miles south, where the TVA operates a nuclear plant; or a few miles northeast around the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, where a cleanup of nuclear arms production sites has dragged on for years.The spill also promises to test the store of goodwill built up over the decades by the TVA, the mammoth federally owned utility created during the Depression to provide energy, flood control and economic development to a large swath of the rural South.TVA measures brought stability to the three rivers that meet here -- the Emory, the Clinch and the Tennessee -- which were subject to deadly flooding. A dam to the south broadened the rivers' contours, helping popularize the area as a fishing and boating spot. More recently, waterfront real estate attracted retirees from around the country. The local economic development agency distributes brochures of lake scenes, with a now unfortunate slogan: "Overflowing with possibilities."The utility completed the coal-powered electricity plant near the confluence of the three rivers in the mid-1950s. It was welcomed as a major employer, and it earned a reputation for safety. But residents like Spurgeon watched with some trepidation as the pile of ash next to the plant grew year after year, finally towering higher than 50 feet."I kind of wondered, 'How high can it go?' " he said. "Accidents happen, but I think this could have been prevented."Others complained that the TVA was conducting much of the early testing, and raised questions about the trustworthiness of its data.John Moulton, a TVA spokesman, said the ash pile was stored according to state regulations and monitored regularly. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the local water utilities have gotten more involved in testing for contaminants.The company, meanwhile, has been busy cleaning up the mess -- and placating worried locals.An army of roughly 200 workers has been called in on cleanup duty. The ash is being hauled away with earth-moving equipment, including amphibious trackhoes -- huge scooping machines outfitted with tank-like treads. On the river, a rock weir -- an underwater wall -- is being built to keep the sunken ash from floating downstream, and a system of floating booms is corralling harmless but unattractive silica particles called cenospheres that float on the surface."At the end of the day," plant manager Ronald Hale said, "we want everyone to know it's clean."TVA employees and retirees have canvassed the area asking after residents. Thomas, the retiree, said he had already been visited twice by TVA representatives, and his property was not damaged.The effort has failed thus far to stem what could be a tide of litigation. This week, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, an environmental nonprofit, filed notice of its intent to sue TVA under the federal Clean Water and Resource Conservation and Recovery acts. Four property owners have also reportedly sued the TVA in state court,seeking $165 million in damages.Realtor Ron Hillman of Sail Away Homes and Land, a specialist in riverside property, said the question for his business and the county was whether the water proves clean enough to swim in and drink."If [the results] are negative, this time next year we could be doing something different for a living -- it could put us out of business," he said. "Right now we're keeping a positive attitude."Washington PostBush Interior Dept. Is Giving Itself A Pat on the BackEnvironmentalists Take Issue With List of Achievements...Juliet Eilperinhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/31/AR2008123102833_pf.htmlAs President Bush's tenure comes to a close, independent experts and administration insiders are delivering their assessments of his government's performance over the past eight years. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has posted his own verdict on his department's Web site, and the upshot is that he did great.Under the heading "Bush Administration Accomplishments at the Department of the Interior," the agency lists 26 achievements it has made since 2001. Some of the policies and programs named have received bipartisan accolades, such as the National Park Centennial Initiative, which will add at least $1 billion to the park system's budget over the next decade, along with another $1 billion in federal matching money that must be paired with an equal amount in private donations.But Interior also lists some of its most controversial policies, including its decision to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act while circumscribing the move's broader implications.The fact sheet states: "After months of careful study and the development of new, cutting edge scientific techniques to properly identify, track and predict the effect of declining sea ice on polar bear populations worldwide, the Department proposed and then listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Department further developed a Polar Bear action plan to help protect the bear."But Kempthorne has emphasized repeatedly that this decision cannot lead to federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions, even though such emissions are fueling the warming that is shrinking the sea ice on which polar bears depend for survival.In a news conference with reporters last month, Kempthorne said it is impossible to prove that greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as coal-fired power plants in the continental United States threaten the polar bear's survival."We do not believe the science is there to make the causal link between activities in the Lower 48 to the take of a polar bear," he said.David Moulton, who directs climate policy and conservation funding for the Wilderness Society, an advocacy group, wrote in an e-mail that Kempthorne should not praise the department for its actions when it has not taken sufficient measures."The bear is threatened because its habitat is melting as a result of global warming. The secretary apparently has studied why he CAN'T help fight global warming on behalf of the polar bear, but he hasn't any suggestions about how he CAN," Moulton wrote, using capital letters for emphasis. "His 'Polar Bear action plan to help protect the bear' is a furry flight of fancy. He threw the bear a lifeline that was too short, and is now patting himself on the back for trying."The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment on the list.One of the accomplishments the list cites -- the creation of 15 national wildlife refuges -- did not sit well with Evan Hirsche, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. Hirsche noted that the refuge system has had to cut 300 jobs because of budget constraints, since the $434 million that refuges receive each year from the federal government falls at least $330 million short of what they need to operate."This has been eight years of lost opportunity in terms of acquiring sensitive habitat and creating new national wildlife refuges. The need has never been greater, yet land acquisition coffers have been starved and willing sellers turned away because of bureaucratic red tape," Hirsche said. "New refuges conserve wildlife, bolster property values and result in economic gains for communities. It's hard to understand why this administration has neglected such a winning proposition."A few other achievements on Interior's list are likely to cheer environmentalists, such as the fact that since 2001 the department has issued more than 180 wind leases and 380 geothermal leases, which translates into more than 1,600 megawatts of renewable electricity capacity on public lands.But this is likely to be outweighed by other items, such as the agency's authorization of six research, development and demonstration oil-shale projects. Several leading environmental groups -- along with President-elect Barack Obama's interior secretary designee, Ken Salazar, and the majority of Colorado's congressional delegation -- have decried the administration's push for commercial oil-shale development on the grounds that it could deplete scarce water resources and harm nearby habitat.Of course, Salazar may have his own shot at publishing an Interior Department accomplishments list several years from now.