James Corless Named Next CEO of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments

September 21, 2016

Sacramento, CA–The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) has unanimously selected James Corless to serve as its next chief executive officer. He will start April 3, 2017. The decision comes after SACOG’s current chief executive officer, Mike McKeever announced he will retire on December 31, 2016. Upon the announcement of McKeever’s retirement, the SACOG Board of Directors undertook a rigorous six-month national search that included input from SACOG’s member cities and counties, SACOG’s staff, and public and private stakeholders. To support the transition, Kirk Trost, SACOG’s chief operating officer/general counsel will serve as interim chief executive officer effective January 1, 2017.

Benicia nixes Valero plan to run crude oil trains through Sacramento, Davis, Roseville

September 20, 2016

By Tony Bizjak

The Sacramento Bee

The 5-0 vote, taken after four years of bitter debate, represents a victory for environmentalists and offers relief to Sacramento-area leaders who said the oil trains would put local residents and habitat at risk of a catastrophic oil spill and fire.

Lower American River conservancy granted by Jerry Brown

September 16, 2016

By David Siders

The Sacramento Bee

In a measure to make the American River Parkway eligible for more state money, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation creating a conservancy program for the area.

Developers play big role in Sacramento County supervisor elections

September 3, 2016

By Brad Banan

The Sacramento Bee

Rob Burness, a local environmentalist [and ECOS board member] who worked in the county planning office for about three decades, said the contributions pay off for developers.

“When push comes to shove, the votes follow the money,” said Burness, a member of the Environmental Council of Sacramento. “If you were to look at the significant votes, and the campaign contributions made to supervisors, you would find that they very rarely vote against a contributor.”

EPA 5-Year Review of the Aerojet Superfund Site

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began its first Five-Year Review (FYR) of the cleanup actions within the Aerojet Superfund Site (Site) in Rancho Cordova, California. The purpose of a FYR is to evaluate whether the cleanup actions for the Site are protective of human health and the environment.

THE REVIEW PROCESS
Superfund law requires EPA to evaluate the protectiveness of remedial systems every five years until the Site has been cleaned up sufficiently to allow unrestricted access to the property. Upon completion of the review, which is due by September 30, 2016, a copy of the final report will be placed in the information repositories listed below and online at EPA’s web page. The Site will continue to be cleaned up and monitored during the review, and the next FYR will be in 2021.

CLEANUP
The Site covers 5,900 acres near Rancho Cordova. Since 1953, Aerojet and its subsidiaries have manufactured liquid and solid propellant rocket engines for military and commercial applications, and, have in the process, formulated a number of chemicals. In addition, the Cordova Chemical Company operated chemical manufacturing facilities on the Aerojet complex from 1974 to 1979. Both companies disposed of unknown quantities of hazardous waste, including trichloroethene (TCE) and other chemicals associated with rocket propellants and various chemical processing wastes. Wastes were disposed of in man-made ponds, landfills, injected into very deep wells, rainfall and other sources mixed with waste in soil and move down to groundwater, and by open burning. In 1979, volatile organic compounds were found off-site in private wells, and, in 1983 the American River. In January 1997, perchlorate was found in drinking water wells off-site. The most prevalent contaminants in groundwater are TCE, perchlorate, and N-Nitrosodimethylamine. The Site was divided into eight sections, or operable units, to assist prioritizing the cleanup plan schedule for this Site. The Western Ground Water Operable Unit (OU-3), Perimeter Goundwater OU (OU-5) and Boundary OU (OU-6) have Record of Decisions in place. The remaining OUs where cleanup decisions will be made are OU-1, OU-4, OU-7, OU-8, and OU-9. This review will primarily cover any interim and present cleanup actions on the Site for Western Ground Water OU (OU-3) and Perimeter Goundwater OU (OU-5), which are the only two OUs with remedies in place.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
If you would like to participate in the FYR process, please contact Jackie Lane, Community Involvement Coordinator at 1(415) 972-3236 or by email at lane[dot]jackie[at]epa[dot]gov no later than July 15, 2016.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For more Site information, please visit EPA’s website at web site above. For specific questions about the Site cleanup, please contact Lynn Keller, Remedial Project Manager at 1(415) 947-4162, email: keller[dot]lynn[at]epa[dot]gov.

Information repositories that house the Administrative Record are located at: Sacramento Central Library, 828 I St., Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 264-2700; California State University, Sacramento, University Library, 2000 State University Drive, Sacramento, CA 95819, (916) 278-5679 and Superfund Records Center, 75 Hawthorne St. 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 947-8717.

Watch County Board Meetings on Your Phone

Sacramento County, in coordination with Sacramento Metro Cable 14 (the local government TV station that airs public meetings on Channel 14) has added a new LiveStream feature — public meetings. Now you can watch those government meetings on the go from your mobile device including those of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

Providing greater access to the Board of Supervisors public meetings via mobile devices is part of an ongoing effort to engage citizens and demonstrate transparency of the public meeting process that is the vehicle to carry out County governance, operations and policy.

Over the last year, Sacramento County has also been working to make it easier and more efficient for residents to participate in local government decisions. Recently, the Public Comment link was made available to submit comments electronically on specific Board of Supervisors meeting agenda topics when reviewing the agenda online.

For those attending a Board of Supervisors meeting, members of the public can sign up electronically to speak via the kiosk stations located in the Board Chambers. Additionally, in April, an improved advanced search feature on public meeting agendas was implemented to make documents and information easier to find.

To view Board agendas, please visit the Sacramento County Clerk of the Board website, here: http://www.sccob.saccounty.net/Pages/BOSPublicMeetings.aspx