Environmental and Policy Focus
Los Angeles Times - Aug 25
A former federal inspector has urged regulators to shut down California's last remaining nuclear power plant until it can be determined whether the facility can stand up to an earthquake off the Central Coast. Diablo Canyon is California’s sole remaining nuclear plant. Michael Peck, former senior resident inspector at Diablo Canyon, made his case to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a confidential July 2013 document, a copy of which was released on August 25 by the environmental group Friends of the Earth.
Fresno Bee - Aug 23
The California High-Speed Rail Authority needs to buy more than 550 pieces of property to build its first 29-mile stretch of rail line between Avenue 17 in Madera to American Avenue south of Fresno. And along the next 100 miles between Fresno and Bakersfield, as many as 1,150 more parcels of "affected" property have been identified that the agency may need to acquire in full or in part. So far, however, only 71 parcels in the Madera-Fresno segment have been purchased and are available for construction.
San Francisco Business Times - Aug 22
For the first time, many of the details of Oakland’s massive proposed $2 billion Coliseum City project became available on August 22, in the environmental impact document prepared for the project. Coliseum City, which would run between downtown Oakland and the Oakland International Airport, would include an NFL stadium, a Major League Baseball ballpark, 5,750 residential units, three hotels, and nearly 7 million square feet of industrial space.
