PEATDUSTER - Sierra Club · Health professionals and doctors around the world know that coal dust, ... community centers, libraries, jobs, medical appointments and more since transportation

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PEATDUSTER Volume 50 Number 4 P-1 Delta-Sierra Group Newsletter August September 2019

The Sierra Club - Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet

Visit us at www.sierraclub.org/mother-lode/delta-sierra

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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. The Sierra Club - Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet

Volume 50 Number 4 P-2 Peatduster Delta-Sierra Group August September 2019

MEETINGS All Delta-Sierra Group general meetings are open to everyone whether you are a Sierra Club member or not. Meetings are held in the Fireside Room at the Central United Methodist Church, 3700 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, across from the University of Pacific Tower.

Monday, August 26 at 7 pm - Lots of progress, but a long road ahead: Current issues in sustainable transportation policy and research. Colin Murphy is the Deputy Director of the University of California Davis Policy Institute where he helps guide research and outreach. He will discuss issues relating to transportation, energy, air quality, and carbon markets. The Policy Institute has several areas of focus that include energy systems, sustainable transportation, water and ecosystems, environmental justice, future cities and climate neutrality. Check out their website: https://policyinstitute.ucdavis.edu

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Monday, September 23 at 7 pm - Coal Dust Pollution

Delta-Sierra Group as part of the Mother Lode Chapter has joined the San Francisco Bay and Redwood Chapters of the Sierra Club to fight coal dust pollution in the Bay Area and Stockton. The staff person for this campaign is Terilyn Chen, our Regional Coal Organizer.

Up until 2012 shipments of coal from the port were negligible. From 2013 onward shipments have been massive. Thus far, 2014 saw the greatest amount shipped from the Port of Stockton - 2,109,932,704 metric tons. (A metric ton is 2204.62 pounds. Think of it as about 10% more than a ton.) This computes to about 2,326 million tons. In 2018 slightly more than 1,767 million metric tons were shipped.

Health professionals and doctors around the world know that coal dust, specially fine coal dust, causes a range of diseases and health problems. Examples include an increased incidence of respiratory diseases like asthma and lung cancer.

Terilyn graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy. She was co-chair of the Harvard Environmental Action Committee. Before coming to the Sierra Club, Terilyn served as Policy and Research Fellow at Asian Pacific Environmental Network where she worked on a forthcoming whitepaper on community resilience to climate hazards. Join us as to learn more about coal dust pollution and what the Sierra Club and you can do to free us from the dangers of this nasty fossil fuel.

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Saturday September 21 at 9 am - Coastal Cleanup Day

Delta-Sierra Group is participating in the 20th annual Coastal Cleanup. Please join us and meet up at the Northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and the Calaveras River (triangular lot at the corner of Brookside Drive and Pacific Avenue). Attendees should be there at 8:30 am for sign-in and instructions.

Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat or visor, and sunscreen. If you can, please bring your own garden gloves, refillable water bottle and reusable bucket, but gloves, water, and bags will be available at the site. We work in teams of two or three. A waiver form is required. Please help us save time by downloading and completing the Waiver Form which you can find here: http://vault.sierraclub.org/outings/chapter/forms/ If you would like more information, please contact Dick Abood at [email protected]

Monday October 28 at 7 pm - 50 Years of Saving Rivers

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act and a 50-year legacy of protecting free-flowing rivers and streams throughout the state. California has 747 miles of nationally protected rivers and streams, as well as thousands of miles of waterways eligible for federal protection. Steve Evans will discuss what you can do to be good stewards of rivers currently in the system and how you can protect another

6000 miles of rivers and streams. This is also our joint meeting with Audubon and Delta-Sierra Group is the host. This meeting will start at 7 pm not 7:30 pm.

Steve Evans is the Wild & Scenic Rivers Program Director for California Wilderness Coalition. Visit their website at https://www.calwild.org

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RTD/SUSD Partnership Provides Complimentary Transit for SUSD 7th - 12th Graders

Emily Oestreicher, Public Information Officer informs that San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) and Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) entered into a financial partnership that will launch a two-year pilot program to provide complimentary transit for all 7th - 12th grade SUSD students. Beginning Thursday, August 1, SUSD students will not only be able to take public transit to school, but they will also be able to use RTD to go to after-school programs, community centers, libraries, jobs, medical appointments and more since transportation will be at no cost for them 365 days a year (excluding Commuter and RTD Van Go! service). "SUSD is excited and thankful for the partnership with RTD," said Superintendent John Deasy. "The no-cost two-year pilot program is critical toward the support of our youth and the reduction of absenteeism in our schools." "A lack of adequate transportation should never be a barrier to obtaining a good education," said RTD CEO Donna DeMartino. "RTD is very fortunate to have so many advocates in our community, including SUSD Superintendent Deasy, who understand the value of mobility in unlocking many doors of opportunity. I also want to thank the RTD Board of Directors and SUSD Board of Trustees for supporting this partnership."

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Other cities throughout the country such as Minneapolis and Seattle have launched subsidized transit programs for students. These efforts have proven to not only improve air quality and decrease the need for additional parking structures but have also been instrumental in increasing student attendance and bolstering grade point averages (GPA) in some circumstances. With SUSD's increased financial commitment to transportation, RTD will track statistics related to ridership, attendance and GPA during this two-year pilot program. Encouraged by this initial partnership with SUSD, RTD is reaching out to additional community leaders and organizations who may be interested in seeing this program expand to other schools within San Joaquin County. SUSD 7th - 12th grade students can show their student photo ID to ride RTD vehicles at no cost to themselves. Coming soon, students with cellular phones will be able to download the Token Transit app for their complimentary transit trips. Parents and

students can learn more at http://www.sjrtd.com/SUSD

Delta Photo by Pete Sanders

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A $6 Billion Plan to Upgrade the Altamont Corridor

By Michael D. Setty Editor, California Rail News May 2019 – August 2019. Reprinted with permission from California Rail News.

A $6 billion plan to dramatically upgrade the Altamont Corridor between San Joaquin County and the San Francisco Bay Area was presented in May 2019 to the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) and the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA) Boards of Directors. The “Altamont Corridor Vision” proposed by joint ACE/SJJPA staff for the 65-70 mile rail corridor between Lathrop and Newark focuses on several key objectives, including: ► Connecting the Central Valley and East Bay. ► Allowing connecting services to operate over the Altamont Corridor on shared facilities at 125+ mph (improved alignments would allow higher speeds later). ► Providing one-seat rides from the Central Valley, including Sacramento, to San Jose, the San Francisco Peninsula, and San Francisco. ► Dramatically improve travel times and service frequencies. ►Extending electrification beyond the Caltrain corridor and separating freight traffic from passenger service, ensuring more reliable service for both passengers and freight. Several key projects would implement this vision between Lathrop and Newark. These are: ► An Altamont Pass tunnel to bypass the current winding, slow alignment. ► A Niles Canyon tunnel bypassing the current winding, environmental-sensitive alignment, plus alignment improvements in Fremont. ► Alignment improvements in Tracy (most likely through downtown), Livermore and Pleasanton. The vision for the Altamont Corridor assumes build-out of the 170-mile, $20 billion high-speed rail project proposed between Bakersfield and Merced, as shown in the “Mega regional Network Integration” graphic.

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However, the Altamont Vision would provide great value whether it connects to that high-speed rail project or to other options described below. The Altamont Corridor would offer connections to Redwood City, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and San Francisco via a rebuilt Dumbarton Bridge and Caltrain.

The Vision would make it possible to operate through-trains from the Sacramento region, San Joaquin County, Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield and other points directly to SFO, the San Francisco Peninsula and San Francisco as well as San Jose. For the San Joaquin’s using an upgraded Altamont Corridor would generate substantially higher patronage than the current roundabout route via Stockton, Antioch and Martinez, thanks to a shorter route, a bigger job market and much faster travel times.

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How the Altamont Vision Ties into TRAC’s Vision

Private sector investors have long been interested in an upgraded Altamont Corridor, which they see as a profitable proposition, due to its potentially very high patronage. This makes this Vision achievable. ACE is currently funded to extend its trains over the Union Pacific (UP) Fresno Subdivision to serve downtown Manteca, Modesto, Ceres, and eventually Turlock, Atwater and Merced. TRAC has proposed rerouting San Joaquin trains to this line, to enable them to also serve downtowns. In order to provide sufficient capacity for passenger trains without delaying UP freights, TRAC has proposed an accompanying major upgrade to the West Side Subdivision between Tracy, Los Banos and Fresno for through-freight trains. This upgrade would require restoring some abandoned tracks between Los Banos and Firebaugh. By providing a frictionless route for through-freights, this route would eliminate most of the conflicts between freight and passenger trains between Lathrop and Merced. This is important since Union Pacific is moving towards “Precision Scheduled Railroading, ” which means more efficient, but longer and slower trains, and inevitably, growing conflicts on lines that mix passengers and freight. While the following package would clearly cost at least a few billion dollars, it would result in higher-speed Central Valley service that can be accomplished with available funds. This would be an order of magnitude cheaper than CHSRA’s current plan for “completing” high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced by rerouting UP through-freights via the West Side line. ► Fully double-tracking UP’s 140-mile Fresno Subdivision between Lathrop and Fresno, with additional sidings where needed. ► Improving track, to support passenger train speeds of 110 and 125 mph. ► Fully double-tracking the BNSF line between Fresno and Bakersfield with additional sidings where needed.

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While this proposal might use some structures and portions of alignments originally meant for high-speed rail, the TRAC plan is not intended to whitewash the reality that the current HSR project was a bad idea. Moreover, replacing the current plan for Merced-Bakersfield high-speed rail with 100-125 mph San Joaquin service would free up billions of dollars for statewide passenger rail improvements, such as badly needed improvements to the Capitol Corridor, Surfliners, and possibly new intercity services between Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and Palm Springs/Coachella Valley. Since a statewide HSR system has been declared out-of-reach by the Governor, the private sector might be interested in building a new 125-155 mph line connecting Los Angeles to the current San Joaquin line in Bakersfield via Santa Clarita, the Grapevine and 1-5. This shorter, lower-speed line would be dramatically less expensive to build than the proposed HSR route between Bakersfield, Palmdale and Los Angeles, which would require much more expensive longer tunnels. With an Altamont line on the north and Grapevine line on the south, the private sector may also be interested in building a new 200+ mph line paralleling 1-5. Such a line-which was never seriously studied by CHSRA-could meet the original objective of Los Angeles - San Francisco high-speed rail service with an under-3-hour travel time at a fraction of the $100+ billion CHSRA approach.

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FROM THE EDITOR

ON THE COVER In 1983, the flamboyant Andy Warhol created a series of ten color screen prints that portray endangered animals from around the world: Siberian Tiger, San Francisco Silverspot, Orangutan, Grevy’s Zebra, Black Rhinoceros, Bighorn Ram, African Elephant, Pine Barrens Tree Frog, Giant Panda and Bald Eagle. The rhinoceros on the cover could be the Eastern Black Rhinoceros or the Southern-central Black Rhinoceros which the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List shows as critically endangered. However, it is definitely not the Western Black Rhinoceros. It was declared extinct in 2011! CAMPAIGN AGAINST COAL DUST POLLUTION Here are some things you might like to know. Coal is a fossil fuel and is defined as a readily combustible rock containing more than 50% of carbon by weight. Coal is Utah’s state rock and some of the coal shipped from the Port of Stockton comes from Utah. Coal was formed millions of years ago when the earth was covered with huge swampy forests. As some of the plants grew like giant ferns, reeds and mosses, some died and fell into the swampy waters. New plants grew up to take their places and when they died still more grew. In time, there was thick layer of dead plants rotting in the swamp. Eventually after millions of years many layers had formed, one on top of the other. The weight of the top layers and the water and dirt packed down the lower layers of plant matter.

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Heat and pressure produced chemical and physical changes in the plant layers which forced out oxygen and left rich carbon deposits. In time, material that had been plants became coal. The product of this process, coal, can be burned for fuel, but it releases many substances hazardous to human health.

The Kentucky Coal Education program defines coal as three types: lignite coal, bituminous coal and anthracite coal. Lignite coal is a soft brown coal made from peat. When bituminous coal is formed, it is black and brittle and very polluting when burned. Anthracite coal has the highest amount of carbon and is considered clean burning by the industry, but not by the Sierra Club.

Coal dust is not isolated just to the port when most coal is transferred to ships. Considerable amounts of dust are lost from the hopper rail cars that carry it from Utah to the Port of Stockton.

The group, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, cited a figure for the amount of coal dust lost in transport to be 3 percent of the load. The doctors also said coal trains can lose as much as 500 pounds of coal dust per car for every 500 miles traveled. They said that coal dust, together with diesel emissions from the trains themselves, raises health concerns for people who live along those railroad tracks.

Why Are We Concerned About Coal Dust Pollution? Anthracite coal differs from ordinary bituminous coal by its greater hardness. It ranges from 2.75–3 on the Mohs

scale. However, let’s compare it to something you know such as granite. Granite has a hardness value of between 6 and 6.5. So hard coal is really very soft and easily turns to dust.

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At the Port of Stockton, coal is kept in large open-air piles less than a mile from where people live, work, and attend school. Coal, when handled, readily breaks down into dust that can easily be carried by the wind. This may mean that coal dust is polluting Stockton neighborhoods. Health professionals and doctors around the world know that coal dust, especially fine coal dust, can cause a wide range of diseases and health problems. Coal dust also includes toxic heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. Inhalation of this dust has been linked to serious health consequences, including asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular problems, as well as various cancers. There are plenty of reasons why any campaign to eliminate coal and coal dust from our area will be an uphill challenge. We can expect a lot of questions from the public and Port of Stockton management. Here are a few questions we need answered. ►How is airborne coal dust sampled and measured? ►How far does the dust travel when the wind velocity is less than 10 miles per hour, 11-20 mph, 21-30 mph and over 30 mph? ►What impact does rain have on all loading activities at the port and coal dust concentrations and does the runoff create any new environmental impacts? ►What economic impact will occur if all operations are stopped and how many jobs could be lost?

Terilyn Chen will take on some of these concerns at our September meeting.

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THANK YOU We received a donation on behalf of Patricia Kenney, age 84, who died peacefully on April 25, 2019 after a brief illness. Patricia was a lifelong supporter of the Sierra Club but lead a full life as a mother to four children, and a traveler to Europe and China. She was the person who arranged family camping trips to Yosemite and California State beaches for many years. Perhaps one of her greatest contributions was becoming California State Director for the Foster Grandparent/Senior Companion Project. The donation was made by Ken and Nancy Nieland who live in Sutter Creek, California. HIKING WAS NEVER LIKE THIS! Yep, it’s time for a little natural scandal and Californians’ are certainly not “under aware” of trends that defy moral turpitude. Oops! Once a year, on June 21, hikers crowd the trails of Pacific Crest Trail in California in their birthday suits to celebrate Hike Naked Day. This unofficial holiday has been around for some time. Noted outdoor author Colin Flecher (The Complete Walker), who was an active member in the Sierra Club, enjoyed hiking naked through the Grand Canyon and along the Pacific Crest Trail on hot days. Needless to say you can find information on the internet that discusses laws and danger of hiking naked, such as this site shown below. Please read this information carefully before venturing outdoors without your knickers on. https://www.verywellfit.com/caution-naked-hiking-day-june-21-3436274

Internet Photo

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NOISE CAUSES CANCER “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer.” There is no need to refute, fact check or dignify this comment because it is just another one from Donald Trump. However, some of us are curious about how loud wind turbines (alias windmills) can be.

The closest that a wind turbine is typically placed to a home is 300 meters (three football fields) or more. At that distance, a turbine will have a sound pressure level of 43 decibels. To put that in context, the average air conditioner can reach 50 decibels of noise, and most refrigerators run at around 40 decibels. According to National Fire Protection Association Standard 72, it takes 85 decibels to wake someone from his or her sleep.

But be warned - if you happen to visit a large wind farm like the one in the photo above, be sure to watch out for rattle snakes, wear sun screen and bring plenty of water. Don’t worry about the noise.

Photo by Pete Sanders

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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

Stockton, Modesto and Sonora Sierra Club Find us at this active link:

https://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-SierraClub/members/28813452/

We have been in operation for 8 years and we have 1836 members. You can find many of our local Sierra Club activities posted here.

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Executive Committee with Email Addresses You must copy and paste an email address into your email program. Chair: Margo Praus [email protected] Vice Chair & Membership Chair: Paul Plathe [email protected] Treasurer & Chapter Delegate: Richard Abood [email protected] Secretary & Alternate Chapter Delegate: Steve Harvath [email protected] Conservation Chair & Web Master: Mary Elizabeth [email protected] Program Chair: Margo Praus [email protected]

Executive Member: Knute Momberg [email protected] Newsletter: Robert Evans [email protected] Delta-Sierra Group is not just a hiking club, but we still enjoy outings. Find us on MEETUP at https://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-SierraClub/members/28813452/



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DELTA-SIERRA GROUP P.O. BOX 9258 STOCKTON, CA 95208

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

David Attenborough confesses that he has trouble staying optimistic about climate change.

“The question is, are we going to be in time, and are we going to do enough? And the answer to both of those is no,” he says. “We won’t be able to

do enough to mend everything. But we can make it a darn sight better than it would be if we didn’t do anything at all.”

Please recycle the Peatduster by send-ing an email copy to your friends.

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PEATDUSTER - Sierra Club · Health professionals and doctors around the world know that coal dust, ... community centers, libraries, jobs, medical appointments and more since transportation