Category: News

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CGF-Sierra Club comments on Santa Clara County HCP Planning Agreement

Sierra Club asked CGF if we would join them in sending a letter commenting on the Draft Planning Agreement that local agencies are submitting to state and federal wildlife agencies. The agreement would help plan out how the local agencies will develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for Santa Clara County, which will greatly influence future...

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Good news updates

A “three-per” here: 1. San Jose City Council will require an informational memo from staff on alternatives to Coyote Valley. It wasn’t clear to me they would do that, partly because I couldn’t hear what a City Council member was saying, but it looks good now. An actual hearing to oversee staff would be better,...

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Lost a Coyote Valley skirmish, but watch this space

A half-hour ago, San Jose City Council failed to require City staff to present a list of alternatives for Coyote Valley development prior to beginning the EIR for Coyote, despite the fact that staff had promised that list at a previous meeting. The vote couldn’t have been closer – it was a tie 5-5 vote,...

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Thinking of an elephant to avoid the death of environmentalism

Two documents have created a great deal of ruckus in the liberal political community and in the environmental community: Don’t Think of An Elephant, by George Lakoff, and The Death of Environmentalism, by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Lakoff argues in Don’t Think of an Elephant that liberal/progressives have failed to articulate a compelling overall...

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More quarry issues

We’ve been dealing with problems at the Hanson Quarry, but it’s only one of several active quarries in Santa Clara County. Below is our comment letter on an EIR that would expand the Lexington Quarry. Some of the same issues involving a massive industrial project in a pristine area arise at Lexington as well as...

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Impervious surface document -draft for review

This posting is a little different from our others – CGF received a generous grant from the Santa Clara Valley Water District to write a report on the missing analysis of impacts from increased impervious surfaces in Santa Clara County. We have a draft available for review – when the final version comes out it...

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Earth’s health in trouble

From the SF Chronicle website: “U.N. Study: Earth’s Health Deteriorating“ Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests, fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks over the next 50 years, it said. Something we should keep in...

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Morgan Hill looking for good people on its Planning Commission

The City of Morgan Hill wants volunteers to serve on its Planning Commission, which I can guarantee would be a great place for some good environmentalists. You have to be a City resident or in the City’s Sphere of Influence, which extends a bit beyond the City’s boundary. City describes the Planning Commission below: 7-member...

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San Jose illegally polluting the Bay

The Merc reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered San Jose to clean up pollutants it dumps into San Francisco Bay. EPA produced a 28-page list of violations of the Clean Water Act. Disturbing quote from the article: Significantly, the city wastewater plant empties into South Bay marshes, where water is less than five...

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Global warming and open space protection

(Below is another “thought piece” on issues relevant to CGF’s work) Stop global warming – save the Bay Area’s farms and natural areas! Many Bay Area residents want to stop the global warming that will dry up our water supplies and flood our coastal and Bayside lands, but taking action means more than buying hybrid...

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