Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/372136
BySudhinThanawala TheAssociatedPress SAN FRANCISCO The 6.0-earthquake that dam- aged buildings and left scores of people injured in California's wine country was the largest temblor to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since the 6.9-magni- tude Loma Prieta earth- quake in 1989. Loma Prieta occurred on the extremely active San Andreas Fault. Seismolo- gists say Sunday's quake near Napa occurred on the lesser-known West Napa Fault, which has not been well-mapped. "If you had put a bunch of seismologists and geolo- gists together in a room and asked them where the next magnitude-6.0 quake would occur in the Bay Area, this would likely be the fifth fault they would name or the sixth," said Jack Boat- wright, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "The amount we don't know is overwhelming." Here are five things to know about faults in Cali- fornia: Whatarefaults? • Faults are fractures be- tween two blocks of rock that form the Earth's crust. A big earthquake can re- sult when the blocks move. But faults can be difficult to discover when there is noth- ing on the surface such as visible fissures to indicate their presence. At least part of the West Napa Fault falls into this category, ac- cording to Boatwright. An earthquake such as the tem- blor that struck Sunday can help scientists spot and study faults. The speed at which one side of the fault slides past the other deter- mines earthquake activity. The fastest moving faults have more and larger earth- quakes. How many faults are there in California? • There are several hun- dred known faults in the state and others that are not known, said Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the USGS. About 200 are considered potentially hazardous, ac- cording to the state Depart- ment of Conservation. What is an active fault? • Scientists consider an active fault to be one that has ruptured in the past 11,000 years, Jones said. The San Andreas is ex- tremely active and produces a big earthquake every 100 to 200 years. It is blamed for the 1906 quake that led to devastating fires in San Francisco and leveled much of the city. Has the West Napa Fault produced other significant quakes? • A magnitude-5.0 earth- quake that also caused damage occurred in the Napa area in 2000. Do quakes relieve pressure on faults? • Yes, but the pressure can be distributed to other parts of the fault, which can then produce other quakes. So Sunday's tem- blor does not mean the West Napa Fault, which is thought to stretch about 20 miles, won't see an- other quake of some sig- nificance. There are not enough small quakes to adequately relieve pressure and prevent big ones, Boat- wright said. SCIENCE Fivethingstoknowaboutearthquakefaults ERICRISBERG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Contractors pull loose bricks and sort fallen ones from an earthquake damaged 36,000 square foot former boat shop on Mare Island on Tuesday in Vallejo. By Fenit Nirappil The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California lawmakers passed a key hurdle Thursday in im- posing the nation's first statewide ban on single- use plastic bags. The state Assembly ap- proved SB270 on a 44-29 vote after rejecting the bill earlier in the week. It now heads to the Senate, where it must be approved by Sunday and has support from top Democrats who rejected a similar effort last year. The new version won support from grocers by al- lowing them to charge 10 cents for paper and reus- able bags, and from some manufacturers by includ- ing $2 million in loans to help shift production to re- usable bags. The bill by Sen. Alex Pa- dilla, D-Los Angeles, would prohibit single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and large pharmacies in 2015 and at convenience stores in 2016. It has sparked one of the most contentious debates in the last weeks of the legislative session, with aggressive lobbying by environmentalists and bag manufacturers. For years, a statewide plastic bag ban has been an elusive goal for law- makers trying to reduce the buildup of plastic waste in oceans and wa- terways that costs mil- lions of dollars to cleanup. About 100 local jurisdic- tions in California already have adopted similar bans, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. "We live in a throw- away society," said Assem- blyman Bill Quirk, D-Hay- ward. "What this bill does is to make an effort to do one little thing: Get people to use reusable bags." Opposition to the bill has focused on the 10- cent fee, which legislators of both parties have called unfair to consumers. "We're adding signifi- cantly to their costs," said Assemblyman Curt Hag- man, R-Chino Hills. "This is a tax on our consumers." The American Forest & Paper Association, repre- senting paper bag makers, says SB270 unfairly treats their commonly recycled products like plastic, while holding reusable plastic bags to a lower standard for recyclable content. SACRAMENTO Assembly approves ban on plastic bags in state By Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The U.S. Bureau of Land Manage- ment will resume issuing oil and gas leases next year for federal lands in Cal- ifornia after a new study found limited environmen- tal impacts from fracking and other enhanced drill- ing techniques, the agency said Thursday. The move will end a halt that has stood since a fed- eral judge ruled in 2013 that the federal agency failed to follow environ- mental law in allowing an oil extraction method known as fracking on public land in Monterey County. The study released Thursday was conducted for the BLM by the state- created California Coun- cil on Science and Technol- ogy. It concluded the cur- rent level of fracking and other so-called well-stimu- lation techniques by drillers to get more oil out of rock formations did not seem to be poisoning water supplies or increasing earthquake risks in the state. That is partly because fracking and other meth- ods used in California dif- fer from those in some other states, the research- ers concluded. Fracking involves ex- tracting oil and gas from rock by injecting high- pressure mixtures of wa- ter, sand or gravel and chemicals. California drill- ing typically uses less wa- ter and a greater concen- tration of chemicals in fracking, and drilling is shallower, researchers said. California's differ- ent geology also limits the impacts of fracking, they said. Researcher Jane Long, who led the steering com- mittee that oversaw the study, acknowledged in a phone call with report- ers that researchers had drawn their conclusions while lacking some key in- formation. The oil and gas indus- try, for example, is not re- quired to disclose all the chemicals, including toxic ones, used in fracking, al- though a new state law that goes into effect next year mandates that disclo- sure. "The conclusions we reached are based on the data available," Long said. "We recognize the data is incomplete." ENERGY Feds to resume leasing for fracking in California By Juliet Williams The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Representa- tives of two counties in far Northern California peti- tioned state officials Thurs- day for the right to form a 51st state called Jefferson, formally asking state law- makers to vote on their pro- posal. Modoc and Siskiyou counties, which share a bor- der with Oregon and have a combined population of about 53,000, submitted petitions from their county governments to the secre- taries of the state Assembly and Senate after filing a pe- tition complaining about a lack of representation to the secretary of state. Organizer Mark Baird told a crowd of about 70 supporters at a rally outside the state Capitol that resi- dents of as many as 10 coun- ties "would be free to create a small state with limited government." "We don't need govern- ment from a state telling people in a county what to do with their resources and their children's education. You are better equipped to educate your children than the state or federal govern- ment," Baird said to ap- plause. Six counties have so far approved plans to pursue secession, either through elected officials or at the ballot box, and supporters plan to submit more peti- tions in the coming months. Voters in two counties con- sidered the idea in the June primary, with Tehama vot- ers approving secession and Del Norte voters rejecting it. On Thursday, support- ers waved flags and wore T-shirts bearing the move- ment's logo: two X's and a coiled snake that said "State of Jefferson. Don't tread on me." Later, a group of about 10 of them pushed past the dozens of lobbyists lining the halls of the Capitol for the final week of legislative session to deliver their pe- titions to the clerks' offices, where staff members were slightly confused. "We fully expect to be ig- nored," Baird said. The filings were the first step in building a legal case that supporters believe will allow them to secede from California. They say the U.S. Constitution allows a region to petition the government for secession. If lawmakers ignore the petition, Jeffer- son proponents say it will give them standing to file a lawsuit. Critics question how an area with a relatively low tax base and small popu- lation could afford to pay for basic services such as schools and roads. "It would reawaken the rural economy if it were unleashed from urban con- trol," said Brandon Criss, a Siskiyou County super- visor who voted for seces- sion. "California has over 500 government agencies micromanaging the people." Residents would choose how to set up their gov- ernment, which services to provide and how to pay for them, he said. Earlier this summer, Sil- icon Valley venture capital- ist Tim Draper submitted signatures for a ballot ini- tiative seeking to split Cal- ifornia into six separate states, including a north- ern one to be called Jef- ferson. If his petition has enough valid signatures, it could appear on the state- wide ballot in 2016. Baird said Draper's heart is in the right place but that his proposal would not have the required legal standing. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Tw o co un ti es a sk in g to f or m se pa ra te s ta te By Paul Elias The Associated Press SANFRANCISCO Gov. Jerry Brown's nominee to the Cal- ifornia Supreme Court was easily confirmed Thursday after a brief hearing. The three-member Com- mission on Judicial Ap- pointments unanimously confirmed Stanford Uni- versity law professor Mari- ano-Florentino "Tino" Cuel- lar to the state's highest court. The Mexican-born legal scholar and registered Democrat will be the court's only Latino. Cuellar, 41, will fill a va- cancy created by the retire- ment in January of conser- vative Justice Marvin Bax- ter. His name will also be placed on the November ballot, so voters can decide whether to keep him on for a 12-year term. Cuellar faced no oppo- sition during the one-hour hearing in the San Fran- cisco courtroom where he will preside. After three witnesses testified in sup- port of him, the commis- sion voted on his confirma- tion with no debate. Cuellar said he was "humbled" and "grateful" for the appointment. He is Brown's second ap- pointment to the seven- member court. The gover- nor has yet to fill a third vacancy on a court under- going a dramatic political shift to the left. "I would describe the court as a middle-left one now," said appellate spe- cialist Curt Cutting, who has appeared before the high court many times. "Up until now, the court was more of a middle-right one." Cutting and other ana- lysts warned that predict- ing how a legal scholar with no judicial experience like Cuellar will rule on the bench can be difficult. "They often surprise," Cutting said. Further, the court is still divided between three Re- publican appointees and three Democratic appoin- tees. "The next Brown ap- pointment will be the big one," said Santa Clara Uni- versity Gerald Uelmen. "The court is definitely shifting to the left." Cuellar was born in Matamoros, Mexico, and walked across the border to attend school in Browns- ville, Texas. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School and a doctoral de- gree in political science from Stanford University. He has been a law profes- sor at Stanford since 2001. Cuellar served as special assistant for justice and reg- ulatory policy in the Obama White House in 2009 and 2010 and was co-chair of the Obama transition team's immigration pol- icy working group in 2008 and 2009. He also served as a congressional adviser to the U.S. education secretary on how to close the achieve- ment gap in public schools from 2011 to 2013, among other policy work. JUSTICE New California Supreme Court pick confirmed The Associated Press SACRAMENTO More plan- ning is needed on a $25 bil- lion proposal to build two massive water tunnels in Northern California, state officials said this week. Some 30,000 pages of environmental reviews and draft plans have al- ready been generated on what would be the biggest water supply project in Cal- ifornia in decades, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Wednesday, the De- partment of Water Re- sources said it will do fur- ther work with state and federal agencies on revis- ing parts of the drafts. They will be reissued next year for additional public comment. That will push a final decision on the tunnels — originally scheduled for late this year — well into 2015. Backed by major ur- ban and agricultural wa- ter districts, the project would change the way some Northern California supplies are sent south to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, the Times said. Sacramento River wa- ter would be diverted into two 30-mile-long tunnels and conveyed under the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta to existing pumping facilities. The $25 billion proj- ect also includes exten- sive restoration of fish and wildlife habitat in the delta. Supporters say the changes will improve en- vironmental conditions and ease pumping restric- tions that have cut water exports. WATER State extends review of $25 billion delta plan Kristaat602-702-9086orMarcyat1-800-888-9040(TollFree) or e-mail us at info@world-heritage.org MongolianBBQ Mongolian BBQ K K ahunas ahunas American Style It's all about the choices! 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