Water works

Yes yes, more about the ferries.  But before that, remember the proposal that was out there to move the mothball fleet from Suisan Bay to Alameda or elsewhere to “clean-up” prior to sending off to Texas to be turned into scrap metal?  It appears that the Martime Administration has sat on its hands for so long over this issue that the Bay Area Water Control Board sent out a notice that it is violating California pollution laws and may face some hefty fines, highlights from the Contra Costa Times:

The U.S. Maritime Administration is taking too long to clean up tons of toxic paint falling from obsolete ships into Suisun Bay…

Penalties could reach $25,000 per day, according to the Notice of Violation by the Bay Area Water Quality Control Board. Tuesday’s notice marks the first time in the long-running dispute that state regulators have taken action that could result in fines.

There are 74 ships in the so-called Mothball Fleet east of the Benicia Bridge, according to the Maritime Administration’s most recent inventory, with at least 56 of them slated for disposal.

The Times reported in June that federal documents showed more than 21 tons of paint containing toxic paint had fallen from the ships exteriors and that an additional 65 tons remained on the vessels and threatened the bay.

The water board on July 6 ordered a cleanup plan be submitted by Aug. 6. The Maritime Administration’s only response was a short letter saying the matter would be studied. In the notice sent Tuesday, the board’s executive officer, Bruce Wolfe, said the response is not adequate.

“There is an ongoing discharge of hazardous waste into Suisun Bay, and we are very concerned about it,” David Ellias, an engineering geologist with the board, said Tuesday. “This is our standard response to someone who doesn’t submit a (cleanup) plan.

…

The notice sent Tuesday is a sign of the growing frustration of state regulators over the Maritime Administration’s response to environmental concerns about the fleet, including underwater hull cleaning and the need to take widespread samples from the bottom of bay to determine how far pollution from the peeling paint may have spread, an environmentalist said.

…

No ships belonging to the administration have been moved from the Suisun fleet for disposal since January. In addition to the paint peeling from the vessels, the Maritime Administration faces problems with how to clean ship hulls underwater before hauling them to Texas scrapping yards.

Cleaning done in the water has been found to cause pollution. A system designed to capture metals performed poorly in tests. The Coast Guard requires the cleaning to prevent the spread of marine organisms, such as barnacles and seaweed, to waters where they are not native.

At a water board meeting last month, Wolfe said the administration’s top lawyer said that doing that work in dry docks is being seriously considered, which state officials have said would be the best pollution-control option.

I’m not sure where the “Alameda option” currently stands, but hopefully the Martime Administration won’t be eyeing Alameda as a quick fix alternative to get it out of Suisan Bay. 

But just another tidbit in the Ferry saga, it appears that the Solano County Board of Supervisors have also weighed in on the issue, deciding to send a letter asking the Governor to veto the legislation, even though they heard pretty much the same political news our City Council heard that the Governor was more likely than not going to sign the bill.  From the Vallejo Times Herald:

Going so far as to call it a “sham,” a bill that would give control of the Vallejo and Alameda ferry systems to a new state agency was blasted Tuesday by the Solano County Board of Supervisors.

The board voted to write a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to veto SB 976 - which is on his desk - after legislative advocate Paul Yoder told them the bill likely was to be signed, having been given top priority by its authors.

…

In replacing the WTA, Intintoli said, the new state agency would run the ferry systems and the bill would allow it to seize all land associated with the ferries.  

Supervisor John Silva hinted that the bill was a trade-off for the authors to receive something down the road and said the ferry system has assisted whenever there has been an emergency in the past.

“I’m sure that in an emergency Maritime Law would take over,” Silva said. “Whatever this farce is, I don’t know.”

Supervisor Barbara Kondylis also said something was fishy about the late changes to the bill.

“There just seems to be something else,” Kondylis said. “Is there something going on we don’t know about?” …

The land seizure thing is something that hasn’t really been focused on, when City staff did an accounting of the assets of the Alameda ferry system the other night, I’m pretty sure that the actual land that the terminals and parking lots are sitting on were not taken into account, as the amount quoted, I want to say it was less than $2 million, but my memory is fuzzy and I don’t want to comb through the web feed again.

In other Ferry related news, this week is Fleet Week, and the Alameda Ferry is offering expanded operations for this Saturday and Sunday so you too can take part in Fleet Week activities without needing to schlep across the Bay Bridge with everyone else.  Looks like they are going to be making hourly runs, but please note that the last ferry back home to Alameda leaves San Francisco at 9:55 pm, so if you don’t make it on there you’re stuck.  Or you can just take the bus home.

Of course, if you want to be out of range of the Blue Angels, you could always head up to Santa Rosa on Saturday for the 2007 RockPaperScissors Tournament hosted by Roshambo Winery.  Yes, there is a tournament and yes, apparently there is a strategy to the game.  Don’t worry, this Roshambo/Roshambeau is nothing like Eric Cartman’s version of Roshambo/Roshambeau.