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Alex Breitler
A native of Benicia, he lives in Stockton with his wife, Ann (a Record copyeditor who fixes all of his mistakes). He has been writing mostly about natural resources since 2003, first in Redding and now in Stockton. He is on the lookout for a giant ... Read FullCategories
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Monthly Archives: June 2007
river vs. river
The Hoopa Valley Tribe of northwestern California is worried that money dedicated to the restoration of the San Joaquin River will steal away dollars long promised to bring back the Trinity River, a spectacular stream in Bigfoot country.
The Hoopa lived for generations off salmon and other fish that were harvested from the Trinity. But much of the river decades ago was diverted under a mountain [...]
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Hot, hotter…
It’s 102 degrees in Stockton at this moment (4:45 p.m.), according to the National Weather Service. My car still has no AC; I figure if I can survive this week, I’m good for the entire summer.
Out of curiosity, I checked the temps for Baghdad a moment ago and was surprised to see it was a [...]
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$6.3 mill for water PR
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — known in these parts as “Those People Who Take All Of Our Water” — today announced a $6.3 million communications and advertising campaign to teach SoCal how to conserve the wet stuff.
It’s billed as the largest public outreach effort in the history of the district.
A record-dry year and [...]
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Smeltdown Pt III
The state water export pumps near Tracy began churning once more on Sunday after a 10-day hiatus to protect the Delta smelt.
Flows started out low — 90 cubic feet per second. To put that in perspective, the pumps are capable of processing up to 6,800 cfs as they send water on its way to the Bay [...]
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The beauty of Stockton
A coupla trips on consecutive weekends recently reminded me of one of the beauties of living in Stockton.
We made it from Sequoia National Park, near the southern end of the Sierra Nevada, to our home in Stockton in about 31/2 hours.
The following weekend, we made it from Lassen Volcanic National Park, at the far northern end of the [...]
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Smeltdown II
Today is Day Six of the Delta smeltdown, and the state water export pumps near Tracy remain shut down. Officials last Thursday had said the interruption would likely last seven to 10 days, but that all depends on when the smelt moves to the western Delta and out of harm’s way.
In lieu of Delta water, much of the [...]
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Dust warning
Today’s whipping winds spurred air quality officials to issue a pollution warning in the San Joaquin Valley.
The gusts are kicking up dust particles that can aggravate lung disease, cause asthma attacks and increase the risk of respiratory infections.
Here’s what the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District recommends, through Wednesday morning:
“People with heart or lung disease should [...]
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By the numbers
An alert reader from Tracy pointed out questionable numbers in the infobox that accompanied today’s story on the shutdown of the state pumps in the south Delta.
We reported that the pumps are capable of sending 5,000 cubic feet per second of water toward Southern California, enough to serve about 375 people for one day.
This is technically correct, but [...]
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Smeltdown
Environmentalists have been warning for weeks that the Delta smelt is on the edge of extinction. But state officials, who shut down their massive water export pumps on Thursday to protect the fish, do not necessarily agree.
“I would not ring the extinction bell,” said Ryan Broddrick, director of the Department of Fish and Game.
It’s tough [...]
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Arnold on air