A Cupertino limestone quarry’s plan for how they would end mining operations could pollute San Francisco Bay with mercury and other metals, Baykeeper recently warned Santa Clara County planners. Lehigh Southwest Cement Company is required by law to have a plan for eventually filling its quarry and making the land suitable for future open space—but the company’s plan isn’t specific enough, and it does not include adequate protections against toxic contamination of the Bay and local creeks.
Cruise ships and other large vessels will no longer be allowed to dump their sewage into the water within three miles of California’s coast, including anywhere in San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The prohibition is contained in a new rule announced last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The riskiest part of the cleanup of oil spilled from a tugboat in the Richmond harbor has succeeded. The World War II-era Tiger tugboat sank in on December 11, and oil from leaky fuel tanks began seeping out. Baykeeper has been closely monitoring the process of cleaning up this potential oil spill threat to the Bay and nearby Brooks Island's bird habitat.
The Tiger has now been raised back up and righted. On February 4, a mixture of water and oil was removed from its interior. The tug no longer leaks oil, and spilled oil has been cleaned up.
Large ships should be required to clean hitchhiking invasive species off their underwater surfaces before arriving in San Francisco Bay, and not while sitting in California waters, Baykeeper recently told regulators.
Baykeeper urged stronger protections for the Bay and all California waters during the State Lands Commission’s process of developing regulations to implement the state Marine Invasive Species Act.
Last week Baykeeper and California Waste Solutions, Inc. (CWS) reached an agreement to reduce storm water pollution from the company’s recycling facility in San Jose. CWS picks up curbside recycling in San Jose and Oakland and has several facilities in the Bay Area where materials are collected, sorted and shipped out to be processed and reused. The San Jose facility is located only a block away from Coyote Creek, which drains to San Francisco Bay.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors certified the America’s Cup environmental impact report last week, and in a victory for Bay swimmers, a giant floating JumboTron TV screen won’t be placed in San Francisco’s Aquatic Park swimming area during the sailing races.
A Cupertino cement plant, the largest source of mercury pollution in the Bay Area, should face tougher requirements to reduce toxic pollution, Baykeeper recently told regulators.
Fewer sewage spills will be draining into San Francisco Bay from Menlo Park-based West Bay Sanitary District. Baykeeper has successfully settled our long-running lawsuit against West Bay for illegal sewage spills, reaching an agreement that details the agency’s efforts to curb its sewage pollution as a result of Baykeeper’s suit. The Sanitary District’s board of directors approved the settlement January 11.
A local nonprofit boat-building organization will receive a grant to create a new education program on non-polluting boat maintenance and repair, thanks to a recent Baykeeper legal victory.
Baykeeper received a briefing from the Coast Guard on the current status of the oil spill caused by a sunken tug boat in Richmond's Inner Harbor last month. We're pleased to report that oil is no longer actively seeping from the tug, and efforts are underway to remove the remaining fuel oil from the boat. However, the salvage process will be risky, and the threat of a larger spill will remain until all the oil has been removed from the vessel.
