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Colorado asks General Atomics to clean up uranium mess
The following is from the CERCLA National Priorities List for the site listed as Lincoln Park (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/nar860.htm), and does not contain information from later than 1984: Conditions at listing (September 1983): Ground water supplies in the Lincoln Park section of Canon City, Colorado, have been affected by the waste disposal activities of a nearby uranium mill operated by Cotter Corp. since 1958. Liquid waste containing both radionuclides and heavy metals from the mill was discharged for years into unlined tailings ponds. Cotter is in the process of transferring this material into lined impoundments. The company's monitoring data indicate a plume of contaminants, including molybdenum, uranium, and selenium, extending from the mill along Sand Creek and affecting private wells serving about 200 people in Lincoln Park. Sand Creek is an intermittent tributary of the Arkansas River. Status (June 1984): Cotter reports that it has completed transferring the tailings. Cotter has taken several actions challenging the proposed listing on the NPL of Lincoln Park. In August 1983, Cotter filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent listing in the September proposal. The Court denied the preliminary injunction request. Cotter appealed the denial to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A hearing on EPA's motion to dismiss Cotter's request for permanent injunction and declaratory relief from the U.S. District Court was held on March 6, 1984. EPA's motion was granted in April 1984. On Dec. 7, 1983, Cotter filed a formal petition in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to review the September proposed listing of Lincoln Park. No dates for argument have been scheduled. Cotter's Radioactive Materials License, issued by Colorado under delegation from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is subject to renewal in the summer of 1984. For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737. --- I'm saving my comments on Cotter's legal actions RE CERCLA for later. There is a rather large boatload of them. See the following for more information on CERCLA AKA Superfund: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm— June 20, 2010 12:55 p.m.
U-T Axes 34 to 40
There is a full-pager in today's paper describing the top-down view of changes to the U-T... see "TO OUR READERS: We are building the newsroom of the future" (which I can't seem to find on a search of signonsandiego.com)— June 20, 2010 12:10 p.m.
Army sergeant comes back to San Diego from Afghanistan
Yeah, the rumor was that 2d of 3d bought it against a regiment of North Vietnamese regulars. The story we were given was that by the time the second air evac wave made it in, there was nobody but the dead left to lift out. From the above rumor, it makes sense that the numbered battalions of the 3d on active duty now do not include 2d Battalion. When I was in DC, the only way to get the 1st of 3d into a war was to nuke the inside of the beltway. When I enlisted in '76, 4 years of JROTC going into the infantry (MOS 11B) was good enough for E-4 under what I faintly remember as either AR 145-2 or something similar about cadet enlistments. In fact, a number of us cadets had to take and pass the lowest level 11B skill exams before enlistment (all five of us in the same company were wearing sergeant stripes on black armbands by the third week of basic training). It was the best deal I could get for sending money home to Ma and Pa (Happy Fathers Day) fresh out of high school, as Pres. Ford was still trying to get us all to wear our "Whip Inflation Now" buttons. The funny story was that a 4-year cadet was such a rarity, I came in as a PFC E-3 like any old 3rd-year cadet and was later promoted with backdating on verbal orders of CG, Military District of Washington, so I was at least on paper an E-4 at 17 with time in grade to match. When I was later offered acting sergeant stripes on E-4 pay, backdated to the day I became E-4 once the hard E-5 orders came through, I kind of laughed in my platoon sergeant's face as I thought it highly unlikely that DoA would make me the youngest peacetime sergeant in the Army (and it wasn't easy getting stripes in the all-volunteer RIF Army after Vietnam); I'm pretty sure I already had the record for youngest Specialist 4 when I was only 17, as I never had guard or CQ duty again after the backdated E-4 orders, not long after I turned 18. The only way I got E-4 credit under Army regs at 17 was to become a cadet at 13, before the minimum age of 14 pursuant to the then-current ARs for the reserve officer training corps. Maybe that makes me an illegal American.— June 20, 2010 11:33 a.m.
Army sergeant comes back to San Diego from Afghanistan
I gambled and avoided combat duty by enlisting in the Regular Army as an E-4 infantryman, right out of high school at 17 and not long after Saigon fell. Sometimes, life is a matter of timing. Interestingly enough, D/1/3rd US Infantry (where I spent three years in the 70s) did a tour of the Horn of Africa after 9-11, which was real damn unusual as I am pretty sure none of the 1st Battalion of the Old Guard never went to Vietnam as a unit. Back in the 70s, it was not so unusual to have some civilian spit on me in uniform on the erroneous assumption that I had been spearing babies with bayonets overseas. From the following, things have improved somewhat since then. "See you can't be a true christian and follower of Jesus and the Bible and be in the military at the same time. Jesus says don't kill the military says kill." Compare above comment with Luke: "Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Those with discernment can figure it out...— June 19, 2010 11:40 a.m.
Boosted by Census Hiring, County Adds Jobs in May
"...trade, transportation and utilities were the biggest losers, down 4,400." I wonder how many are former SDG&E meter readers. Let's hope that Sempra Energy Foundation is better equipped to handle them than BP has proven in the Gulf of Mexico.— June 19, 2010 11:01 a.m.
Down the drain
At least he and EdVoice didn't flush $30+ million of PG&E shareholder equity down the Proposition 16 drain... "Go long, or go home!"— June 16, 2010 2:43 p.m.
Senate Panel Wants Investigation of SEC "Revolving Door"
"Lawrence West had been the SEC official in charge of the Peregrine Systems fraud. John Moores, who had dumped $487 million of Peregrine stock during the fraud period, hired Chuck La Bella to quarterback a whitewash of the Peregrine board, including Moores. The law firm doing the study was Latham & Watkins. West blessed the Latham & Watkins study. In 2005, he went to work for Latham & Watkins." Latham & Watkins figured prominently in the local dismissal of criminal charges last year against SDG&E before retrial, after initial guilty verdicts in 2007. The amusing aspect of the Latham & Watkins clever lawyering was that it apparently was enough to get the District Court to ignore part of the Clean Air Act that mandated the use of "more stringent" state standards against defendants in an environmental asbestos release matter. There's an interesting law review article by Latham & Watkins attorneys on how to get around the Clean Air Act's National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants ("The EPA's Prosecution of Clean Air Act Asbestos NESHAP Cases Based Upon Nonbinding Bulk Material Test Methods," 44 San Diego Law Review 173). Doesn't the Constitution have something to say about judges being bound by the laws passed by Congress?— June 16, 2010 2:26 p.m.
Critical Posteriors
Are people allowed to write "nipples" and get paid for it?!?— June 16, 2010 1:45 p.m.
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, against Gay and Lesbian Times
"District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis... has put investigators on the tail of Portantino.... Dumanis already has a reputation for only pursuing possible wrongdoers who do not belong to the establishment — particularly those who do not donate to her campaigns." The number of questionable issues involving large reliable campaign donors in this hamlet that never evolved into formal DA investigations may be legion. It is a wonderful thing to have a local prosecutor's discretion on whether to file charges or not. For disclosure: I have already been involved as a crime victim in a matter resulting in a federal criminal conviction of a local public utility that will remain nameless, where the same matter was not pursued by the DA's office but did result in a civil action by County Counsel. The defendant's campaign contributions were not at issue during the federal criminal trial testimony.— June 16, 2010 1:19 p.m.
Bicyclist spits on windshield of car near Miracosta College
In case anyone's interested: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/RIC/Publications/… Personally, I've never been identified as a gang member or as an associate. I always figured that if I got shafted into a jail sentence, then I could spend the rest of my days teaching fellow inmates how to do post-trial motions for effect. On the other hand, I'm having a good time attempting to get some of the ones hanging out in the 'hood here to get FEMA-certified in comprehensive emergency management. For those who've asked me about it, I figure it helps when they appear in front of a judge. If one is getting bugged out about COPS neighbors, FEMA EMI CEM certification tossed back at 'em might act as a balance. Also had some success recruiting locals as Proposition 65 private enforcers in the public interest, complete with state AG enforcer numbers. Attorneys for SDG&E & Sempra Energy took notice. The funny thing was that although the local DA sat on her hands and did nothing (not the first time anyone at the Reader site has written 'bout that), US DOJ got guilty verdicts against defendants in the first USA V. SDG&E trial back in 2007. The 7-13-07 press release still shows up when I google "SDG&E guilty"...— June 15, 2010 5:19 p.m.