Former barge manager convicted of conspiring to pollute S.F. Bay

A former tugboat company manager was convicted in federal court this week of violating environmental laws by dumping dredged materials in the waters north of Pittsburg.

Mark Guinn, 42, was formerly the general manager of Northern California operations of Brusco Tug & Barge Inc., which previously pled guilty to a felony Clean Water Act violation and was fined $1.5 million.

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A California oil spill like that in the Gulf of Mexico is unlikely, but would have more harmful consequences

Currently, 5,000 barrels of oil are flowing into the water off the Louisiana coast every day.

Since the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, an estimated 3.5 million gallons have leaked into the water, putting it on track to surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill by the end of this month.

While concerns over the marine life and ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico increase nationwide, in California, oil rigs operate as close as 3.7 miles from the coast.

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Livestock waste found to foul Sierra waters

…parts of the high Sierra are not nearly as pristine as they look.

Nowhere is the water dirtier, he discovered, than on U.S. Forest Service land, including wilderness areas, where beef cattle and commercial pack stock – horses and mules – graze during the summer months. There, bacterial contamination was easily high enough to sicken hikers with Giardia, E. coli and other diseases. In places, slimy, pea-green algae also blossomed in the bacteria-laden water.

Overall, the worst water quality he found was on the Stanislaus and Humboldt-Toiyabe national forests, north of Yosemite National Park. Elsewhere, particularly at high elevations in Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, Derlet found a striking difference: Most lakes and streams were clear as champagne and pollution-free.

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