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rdifalco

Row on the creek - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

BEC Chico Glenn County Butte County water Stony Creek creeks waste recycling landfill toxics

shared by rdifalco on 28 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • rdifalco on 28 Jan 16
     
    Critics blast environmental review of proposed waste conversion facility along Glenn County waterway The watchdogs at Butte Environmental Council usually keep guard close to home, but occasionally they'll look beyond Chico's backyard. "Environmental issues don't stop at the county line," said Executive Director Robyn DiFalco. "We tend to look beyond our borders at least a little bit to see if our community will be affected." She believes that's the case with the proposed Glenn County Solid Waste Conversion Facility about 3 miles west of Hamilton City, which would sort and recycle up to 200 tons of material a day and convert biodegradable substances into biogas. According to the project's Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the goal is to divert and recycle up to 70 percent of the county's municipal solid waste from the landfill. And that's been a problem; the county's landfill near Artois has been pushing capacity for years and is set to close in December. What's caught BEC's attention? It's mostly a matter of location. The facility would be constructed along the northern bank of Stony Creek, which feeds into the Sacramento River and the Tuscan Aquifer, the vast underground reservoir that provides drinking water for residents in Glenn County and nearby communities-including Chico.
rdifalco

Crowd rallies against new wells planned for Glenn County ag land - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...anned-for-glenn-county-ag-land

BEC water wells Glenn County GCID drought

shared by rdifalco on 29 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • he crowd at the Ord Community Hall Wednesday night was decidedly against the idea of five new wells for Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District. The agency provides water to about 1,000 farmers in four counties, and plans the new wells for use when surface water supplies are tight.
  • Ord Bend >> The consistent and clear message Wednesday night was that people do not like Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District’s plans to drill five new wells. Members of the crowd were also not fans of five existing wells the district drilled previously and is including in the current environmental review.Speakers at a public comment meeting called the plans greedy, unnecessary and potentially harmful to groundwater levels in the area.
  • Some citizens in Glenn County have started a petition calling for a moratorium on new production wells. Sharron Ellis, who passed a clipboard through the crowds, said a moratorium could stop new wells including those being discussed Wednesday night. So many wells are currently being drilled in the county that a moratorium would only slow down drilling, she said.
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  • One of the predictions in the environmental review is that once the drought is over, groundwater levels will recover. However, Robyn DiFalco, director of the Butte Environmental Council said this is not likely.
  • Groundwater has not recovered in recent years, and is in a decline, she said.
beckyholden

Glenn County residents opposed to KVB Waste Conversion facility - 0 views

www.appeal-democrat.com/...9f-11e5-a293-c7299bb8dbbf.html

BEC Glenn KVB

shared by beckyholden on 10 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • Last week, the Concerned Citizens of Glenn County and a number of other individuals, largely from the Hamilton City area, made known their opposition to the Glenn County Solid Waste Conversion Facility project, overseen by KVB Inc. and at a proposed site along Stony Creek.
  • Becky Holden and Lindsey Wood, both employees of the Butte Environmental Council and Glenn County residents, both expressed their displeasure with the project in its proposed location and cited the Stony Creek waterway and the groundwater table as reasons for concern. "We're following this issue," Holden, a resident of Ord Bend, said. "We believe this project has submitted an inadequate EIR, and I realize that is still being worked on. The KVB project is the wrong project for Glenn County, and it is especially at the wrong site."
rdifalco

Water group vows to file lawsuit to stop well drilling - Appeal-Democrat: Glenn County ... - 0 views

www.appeal-democrat.com/...94-11e5-b43a-7311e4ea2f59.html

BEC water GCID groundwater

shared by rdifalco on 13 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • AquAlliance, a water advocacy group in Butte County, has vowed to file a lawsuit to try and stop Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District's plan to drill five new wells in eastern Glenn County. Speakers at a public forum last week in Ord Bend called GCID's plans to pump more groundwater in times of drought "excessively greedy" and potentially harmful to area groundwater levels already taxed to the point that residential wells are running dry.
  • "Glenn County needs to enact an emergency ordinance just as Colusa County did," said Orland farmer Sharron Ellis, of Save our Water Resources. "Oversight of our resources is the responsibility of our county to protect the public trust."
  • The project calls for five additional deep-water wells to be drilled along the Glenn-Colusa canal on sites east of Orland and Artois, which would yield 28,500 acre-feet of water taken over approximately eight months during critically dry years, GCID officials said.
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  • "In a drought like this, do we really need 10 production wells to pull down more water?" asked Robyn DiFalco, director of the Butte Environmental Council. "I don't think so."
  • DiFalco said the biggest concern with the project's environmental impact report is that it assumes the area's groundwater levels would largely recover during the next wet period.
  • "Based on what?" she said. "Data shows that the groundwater has not recovered in recent years. It's has recovered a little bit, but it is, overall, declining steadily."
  • Water advocates said it is hard to trust GCID given its long history of promoting and endorsing conjunctive use of water, which means groundwater substitution, and that there is no reason to doubt that intent has changed. DiFalco said since GCID had enough "surplus" water this year to sell 70,000 acre-feet of commingled water, of which 45,000 acre-feet flowed south this year to the Delta, she doubts that an emergency exists.
  • "If you have surplus water, where is the emergency for you to pump this water during a drought?" she said. "How do you claim to have surplus and also claim to have a deficit at the same time?"
rdifalco

Butte Environmental Council and Other Groups Raise Concerns Over Proposed California Fr... - 1 views

www.gridleyherald.com/...sports

BEC California fracking water

shared by rdifalco on 05 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • The Butte Environmental Council has submitted comments on the California Department of Conservation’s proposed regulations for statewide hydraulic fracturing. BEC’s letter cites 10 points of concern with the presented regulations.More commonly referred to as “fracking,” hydraulic fracturing is an oil recovery process in which large amounts of water treated with chemicals are blasted deep into the ground, shattering shale rock and releasing oil and gas trapped underneath.
  • Fracking, used for decades around the country, has come under scrutiny from numerous environmental groups, including BEC, concerned with water supply and contamination.
  • BEC Executive Director Robyn DiFalco urges the public to get informed about fracking.“Many people don’t realize that fracking is taking place across California and even as close to home as the Sutter Buttes and Glenn County,” she said. “Those fracking wells are tapping oil below the Tuscan Aquifer, which could contaminate our primary source of drinking water.” 
rdifalco

Delta tunnel plan expected today; opposition already mounted - Chico Enterprise Record - 1 views

www.chicoer.com/...day-opposition-already-mounted

delta tunnel peripheral canal

shared by rdifalco on 25 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • the cost-to-benefit ratio of the proposed tunnels makes no sense.
  • AquAlliance
  • The Butte Environmental Council of Chico has joined other groups to call for more science-based "policy before plumbing," explained Carol Perkins, BEC water policy advocate. More water conservation should take place, and better policies to put "beneficial use for people, farmers, fish and aquatic habitat before the economic benefits of the 1 percent," Perkins said.
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  • Too much is unknown at this point, said Thad Bettner, manager of Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District.
  • The Bay Delta Plan is only one of five very important, and different, plans being worked on for state water, including the Delta Stewardship Council's Delta Plan, an upcoming biological opinion, state water flow decisions, etc.
  • "If they are going to build some conveyance," said Ted Trimble, manager of Western Canal Water District, "upstream storage should be part of the concept," preferably Sites Reservoir. That would decrease pressure on north-state water.
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Burning questions - News - Local Stories - September 12, 2013 - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

BEC Oroville dioxin POPI

shared by rdifalco on 12 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • The controversial cogeneration plant in south Oroville that burned biofuel to produce electricity for 30 years before shutting down last October may have some suitors looking to fire up operations again. The Pacific Oroville Power Inc. plant (POPI) is owned by New Jersey-based Covanta Energy and for years was under scrutiny by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office for possible environmental violations. The DA is currently in negotiations with Covanta on the payment for final cleanup of the plant and removal of contaminated ash that was deposited in Butte and Glenn counties. In the meantime, Covanta has maintained its operating permits to keep the plant financially attractive to potential buyers.
  • One inquiry Ramsey was not aware of is from a local group that contacted the Butte Environmental Council, which has been tracking dioxin levels in chicken eggs and other sources located near the plant.
  • Robyn DiFalco, executive director of BEC, said the organization had first heard about this proposal a couple of weeks ago.
rdifalco

Fewer floaters equals less trash from Sacramento River revelry - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...ss-trash-from-sacramento-river

BEC water sacramento river trash recycling

shared by rdifalco on 19 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • With an alcohol ban on both the water and adjacent shores, thousands fewer people floated on a popular stretch of the Sacramento River and the resulting trash that accumulates for miles also dramatically declined.
  • "It was a night-and-day difference on the river, from tubes to full beers floating down to empty cans," said Lucas Merz, program manager for the Sacramento River Preservation Trust. "Just the overall respect for the river was really nice to see."
  • Maggi Barry, office coordinator with Butte Environmental Council, voiced appreciation to the Glenn and Butte county boards of supervisors for the ban. She said their proactive approach makes the river a better environment in several ways. "We would like to say 'Yay! Thank you for the double-duty of addressing young lives and helping clean up the environment,'" she said.
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  • BEC will host the annual Bidwell Park & Chico Creeks Cleanup on Sept. 21 to prevent trash from entering the Sacramento River and its tributaries.
rdifalco

Code Blue water series hosted by BEC kicks off tonight - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...ter-series-hosted-by-bec-kicks

water BEC code blue

shared by rdifalco on 19 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • CHICO — The next round of the Code Blue water series, hosted by the Butte Environmental Council, begins tonight with a one-hour "action" meeting about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. The Code Blue series kicked off in February, and six events remain after its summer break. Several additional events are planned through November, including a rain barrel workshop and delta tour.
  • Better alternatives exist, DiFalco said, than the concept to use tunnels to transfer water from the Sacramento River to the Southern Central Valley. "Let's not let Gov. Brown's tunnels be the only things being considered," she said.
  • The Oct. 17 discussion will feature fracking, which is fracturing of rock to extract gas and oil. "We are gathering details about fracking in Butte County, and citizens are getting ready for a (statewide ballot provision) for 2014," DiFalco said. Sutter and Glenn counties have the largest amount of fracking activity in the area, primarily natural gas, she said.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • People who are "inspired and want to learn more can keep coming to workshops. Those people can grow in their level of experience and understanding," she said. Other events include an eye-level tour of the delta, a gray water demonstration by homeowner Tim Elliott showcasing a washing-machine-to-garden system, and Nani Teves explaining a rain barrel water catchment system. To watch for these events, bookmark: http://www.becnet.org/code-blue-2013-water-outreach-campaign.
  • Music to help BEC To fundraise for its advocacy efforts, BEC is hosting a Land Air Water benefit concert series. The series starts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the GRUB Cooperative, 1525 Dayton Road. The show starts with John Craigie, Pat Hull and Scott Itamura. Wiskerman and Low Flying Birds will play at the Chico Women's Club on Oct. 24, and Bumpet also will play at the club Nov. 14. Cost is $15 per show at Chico Natural Foods, Empire Coffee, the BEC office and www.becnet.org, and $17 at the door.
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - The future of the f-word - Feature Story - Local Stories - Septem... - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

BEC Butte County fracking

shared by rdifalco on 19 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • On a recent summer morning, Dave Garcia, the political chair of the Sierra Club’s Northern California Yahi chapter, occasionally interrupted a tour of gas wells in the Sutter Buttes to point out signs of wildlife: a scampering cottontail rabbit, a vigilant red-tailed hawk or whizzing western kingbirds. Garcia had brought a pair of journalists here to witness fracking in the Northern Sacramento Valley, something that most Northern Californians probably have no idea is underway in this area. The well sites appear almost deserted—there are no gas flares, no trucks moving huge tanks of water, no towering pump jacks. In fact, rarely were people even seen at these electronically monitored stations.
  • Property owners who lease land don’t always fare well with the oil giants, either. A Glenn County landowner contacted the Butte Environmental Council (BEC) earlier this year after an exchange with a company that drills for gas on her property. She was worried about fracking and had become reluctant to sign over mineral rights. The company told her it wasn’t fracking, but if she didn’t renew the contract, it could access gas on her land from a neighboring parcel, according to BEC.
  • Though FracFocus doesn’t show fracked wells in Butte County, Garcia says he’s identified 10 active gas wells in the county. Once natural-gas prices start climbing back up, the wells could be subject to fracking, he said. “These companies are going to be going to the old gas wells they have in Butte County and reworking them,” Garcia said. “That’s why it’s critical to get a moratorium.” California’s fracking story has really just begun.
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