Conservative groups sue over stem cell bill
SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; Conservative public interest groups with
ties to Christian organizations filed lawsuits seeking to
invalidate the $3 billion stem cell research institution approved
by California voters in November.
One lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine violates state law because it’s not
governed exclusively by the state government, and the committee
that controls the research money it will dole out isn’t
publicly elected.
The institute was created by California voters when they
approved a $3 billion bond to fund stem cell research over the next
decade. Proposition 71 was passed by 59 percent of voters.
The suit was filed by the People’s Advocate and the
National Tax Limitation Foundation. A separate suit was filed by a
newly created nonprofit called Californians for Public
Accountability and Ethical Science.
David Llewellyn, who is representing the plaintiffs in the
second suit, would identify only two of the people behind the new
nonprofit: Dr. Vincent Fortanasce, who was president of the No on
71 campaign, and Joni Eareckson Tada, a paraplegic who founded Joni
and Friends Ministries.
Their lawsuit alleges it is illegal to exempt members of the
institute from some government conflict-of-interest laws, as
Proposition 71 allows.
State wants natural gas facility cleaned up
NEEDLES “”mdash; California state environmental officials want
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to step up cleanup work near a
Mojave Desert natural gas facility to prevent a plume of tainted
groundwater from seeping into the Colorado River.
No chemicals have been detected so far in the river, a major
source of drinking water for Southern California’s 18 million
residents.
High levels of hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6, were found
Feb. 14 in a 70-foot well about 60 feet from the river at
PG&E’s Topock natural gas compressor station some 11
miles south of Needles, the California Department of Toxic
Substances Control said.
“We do not have any indication that the contaminant has
reached the river,” department director B.B. Blevins said in
a statement. “We have required PG&E to enact the
contingency plan as a preventive measure.”
A year ago, traces of chromium 6 ranging up to 100 parts per
billion were found in wells 125 feet from the river. The state
ordered PG&E to pump 20,000 gallons per day of contaminated
groundwater to a wastewater treatment plant and to test water
quality monthly.
PG&E now must test the groundwater at selected wells
weekly.
The Topock facility, a stop along a natural gas pipeline
stretching from Texas to Los Angeles, used chromium 6 to control
corrosion and mold in the plant’s cooling towers. PG&E
disposed of the untreated wastewater in nearby percolation beds
from 1951 to 1969.
Hunter to pay restitution for forest fire
REDDING “”mdash; A lost hunter who sparked a forest fire while
trying to keep warm was ordered Wednesday to pay $18.2 million in
restitution.
The fire in the Mendocino National Forest burned 6,058 acres and
cost $33 million to suppress, authorities said. The restitution
covers the U.S. Forest Service’s cost of fighting the fire
and restoring the burned area, prosecutors said.
Jason Hoskey, 26, of Willows lit a campfire when he got lost
hunting on Sept. 27, 2003, in the Spanish Creek area of Glenn
County. The fire spread after he fell asleep.
Flames had been banned in the area because of extreme fire
danger. Prosecutors said Hoskey also violated the ban by smoking
several cigarettes.
Hoskey pleaded no contest in September to a federal misdemeanor
of leaving a fire burning or unattended.
In addition to the restitution ordered at his sentencing
Wednesday, Hoskey was banned from the Mendocino National Forest for
five years.
Compiled from Bruin wire services.