It's nearly official - Peninsula waterways to be considered "impaired" for trash

We've been concerned about trash issues in our local creeks for a long time, and it's come to pass:

More than 20 Bay Area creeks have joined a statewide list of polluted waterways due to major trash problems, but the distinction is unlikely to speed up the cleanup process, according to environmental groups.

The list, adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board last week in Sacramento, makes trash a factor for the first time in determining whether a creek or other water body is considered "impaired" under the federal Clean Water Act.....

In the Bay Area, 24 urban creeks and two portions of San Francisco Bay are officially labeled as trashed. Of those, three are in San Mateo County and seven are in Santa Clara County. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency still needs to approve the listings, which could take several months.

Trash is difficult to regulate. Stormwater moves litter into creeks from sidewalks, parking lots and open trash bins. The listing has no regulatory power and doesn't impose a limit on how much trash can be allowed to enter the Bay, according to Bruce Wolfe, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

....

In every case, however, the fact that a pollutant is carried by stormwater makes it difficult to pin the problem on a specific source.

....

Many polluters are subject to limits on what they can release into the Bay, but experts say stormwater is the last frontier.

....

The State Water Resources Control Board has identified seven Santa Clara County creeks as "impaired" under the Clean Water Act because of chronic trash problems:

Matadero Creek

Permanente Creek

Stevens Creek

Saratoga Creek

San Tomas Aquinas Creek

Guadalupe River

Coyote Creek

SAN MATEO COUNTY

Colma Creek

San Mateo Creek

San Francisquito Creek

The relation to trash, stormwater, and inappropriate development is significant, and something we've followed for years.  We'll continue to follow this development as something that will bring attention to a problem that we'd like to see addressed.

-Brian Schmidt

Action Alert - Support San Jose's plastic bag ban

(The Action Alert below went out to our San Jose members. -Brian)

Dear Friend,

This Tuesday, September 22, San Jose's City Council will decide whether to have the best control of plastic bag litter and paper bag pollution of any major city. Seven of eleven voting City Council members have already supported a ban on plastic take-out bags and a requirement that paper bags be at least partially-recycled content. Please contact the City Council to help get us to the finish line on this groundbreaking proposal, and make it even better!

What's Happening

A County Commission proposed a fee on both plastic and paper take-out bags to reduce pollution and fund cleanup of bag pollution. While fees have the advantage of giving customers a choice, they are controversial in some circles, so many local cities are considering bans on plastic bags with some limited exceptions. Because paper bags also have environmental liabilities, San Jose has proposed requiring they have at least 40%-50% recycled content. Other Santa Clara County cities will soon be making their own decisions on these issues.

Why this is Important

Litter from plastic bags defaces our streets, lines our streams, and smothers both the San Francisco Bay and a significant part of the Pacific Ocean. Many local streams, including Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek, have so much trash that they have been listed or are considered for listing under the Clean Water Act as "impaired" waters due to trash. Paper bags are little better with even greater energy costs and the economic support they support for destructive logging projects like the recent San Jose Water Company proposal to log the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The proposal will increase education about reusable bags, the real solution to the bag problem.

While over a dozen local cities will make their own decisions about bags, San Jose has half of the County population and can solve half of the problem at one stroke. Its proposal is even better than San Francisco's because of the recycled paper requirement and could be a model for the country.

What you can do

Tell the City Council you support the plastic bag ban and recycled content for paper bags. Please also tell them you want them to consider either a fee on paper bags or higher recycled content now, or by reviewing the issue two years in the future.

Please email your support to the Mayor and City Council (just copy and paste the emails below):

mayoremail@sanjoseca.gov; district1@sanjoseca.gov; district2@sanjoseca.gov;

district3@sanjoseca.gov; district4@sanjoseca.gov; district5@sanjoseca.gov;

District6@sanjoseca.gov; district7@sanjoseca.gov; district8@sanjoseca.gov;

district9@sanjoseca.gov; district10@sanjoseca.gov

by this Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00 a.m. Attending the meeting to voice your support is even better, if you can go.

Please let us know that you have written or fax us a copy (650) 968-843

For more information, see the Committee for Green Foothills letter, Coyote Creek as the #2 Litter Hot Spot according to Save the Bay, and San Jose City Council Agenda Item 7.2.

Thanks!

- The Folks at Green Foothills

________________________________________________

Committee for Green Foothills

Our mission is to protect the open space, farmlands, and natural resources of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties through advocacy, education, and grassroots action.

Shopping online? Visit the portal www.Maatiam.com, click on the link to CGF, and then to one of over 80 online retailers. At no additional cost to you, these retailers make a 2 – 5% donation to CGF, an easy way to support our work!

You have received this action alert because you are subscribed to Committee for Green Foothills' email alert list. To be removed from this list, please reply to this message with REMOVE in the subject line. To be added to this list and receive alerts about local open space issues, just send your name, address, and email address to info@GreenFoothills.org.

Palo Alto keeps partial ban on plastic bags

Palo Alto settled a lawsuit over its plastic bag ban. From the PA Weekly:

Under the settlement, the city will be able to maintain its ban. But any expansion of its scope would have to be accompanied by a complete environmental review.

The city's current ban applies to seven supermarkets, three of which had voluntarily stopped using plastic bags before the ban was adopted. Only Safeway, JJ&F Food Store, Andronico's and Mollie Stone's were required to stop using plastic check-out bags.

Stephen Joseph, the attorney representing SaveThePlasticBag.com, said the group is pleased with the settlement because it ensures that the city's ban on bags will not expand without a full review.

The City Council and staff have consistently indicated that they would like to ban plastic check-out bags from local pharmacies and other stores. The settlement essentially guarantees that the city's quest to expand its bag ban will take longer than officials had hoped.

Save the Plastic Bag is a paper-thin disguise for plastic manufacturers. This is an example of using environmental laws for the purpose of delaying environmental reforms. While this problem is exaggerated, it does happen.

CGF hasn't taken a position on plastic bag bans, but we do support a fee on both paper and plastic bags, both of which harm the environment. Local streams are littered with plastic, and we don't want to see forests cut for unnecessary paper bags either.

-Brian

Good news - County commission proposes fee on paper bags, and a ban on plastic

From the Mercury News:

In a surprising reversal of a decision made less than two months ago, a
Santa Clara County commission is recommending an all-out ban on plastic shopping
bags and a fee on paper bags.

The Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission, made up of elected leaders
from around the county, plans to ask county supervisors and all 15 cities to
adopt the proposal for grocers and other retailers, with an exemption for
nonprofit "reuse" stores such as Goodwill.

I attended the previous meeting and was disappointed at the slow pace, so this is an excellent step. The Committee has supported a fee on both paper and plastic bags - we haven't called for a ban on plastic, but we don't oppose one either.

As the article says, this is just advisory, but let's hope the cities move forward. As always, San Jose is the 800-pound gorilla in terms of impact, so we'll be watching carefully.

-Brian

Of mice and men (men's and women's trash, that is)

Two news items of note:

A significant piece of disinformation from the DrudgeReport, Washington Times, and various anti-environment website claim that $30 million from the stimulus package will be spent on the salt marsh harvest mouse in Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco Congressional District. It's not true, as laid out by Paul Rogers in the Mercury News. A portion of the $30 million that the California Coastal Commission has in "shovel-ready" projects involve wetland restoration, and some of that includes the South Bay Salt Ponds restoration. That land has already been purchased by the government and just needs funding to begin the restoration process for the benefits of hunters, fishermen, wildlife viewers, game species, and endangered species including, yes, the harvest mouse. It's unfortunate that anti-environmental groups would misuse false statements.

Second, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board has listed many streams in the South Bay as "impaired" due to trash (news article here, more information at the Water Board website here). This means we need to do a lot more to get trash out of streams, and supports the carry-out bag fee now being considered by Morgan Hill and other local cities.

-Brian