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<H1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Regional
water board vacancies filled; Governor appoints 4 to key <?xml:namespace prefix
= st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> panel that sets policy on rivers,
logging</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></H1>
<H2 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Santa
Rosa</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
Press Democrat – 2/19/05<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">By
Mike Geniella, staff writer <o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">For
the first time in years, the powerful North Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board will be functioning with all nine members.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger filled four vacancies this week, ending a long period in
which the Santa Rosa-based water board struggled at times to maintain a quorum
for meetings.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>"It's
been too long," said Jean Lockett, a chief administrative aide for the water
board.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>The
new water board members are Heidi Harris, a Humboldt State University
instructor; Dennis Leonardi, a Ferndale dairy owner; Clifford Marshall, tribal
chairman of the Hoopa Valley tribe; and Sari Sommastrom, a natural resources
consultant who lives in Siskiyou County.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>They
join William Massey, a <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Santa Rosa</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Junior College</st1:PlaceType> instructor; Beverly
Wasson, a grape grower in the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Alexander</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceName>; John Corbett, a <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> attorney; Gerald Cochran, Del Norte County
assessor; and Richard Grundy, a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> engineering
consultant.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>Water
board decisions play a major role in shaping the environmental, political and
economic fates of a region running from <st1:City w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:City> to
the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>
border. The board frequently finds itself at the center of controversies over
water quality, river flows, logging practices, and regulatory moves to protect
the region's fisheries.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>Currently,
the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> board is engaged in a
bitter struggle with Pacific Lumber Co. The regional agency has delayed 12
timber harvest plans sought by Pacific Lumber, citing concerns about landslides
and flooding in the Elk River and Freshwaters watersheds in southern <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Pacific Lumber has taken its fight
to the state Water Resources Board, which oversees the state's nine regional
boards, warning that it may have to lay off hundreds of workers and file
bankruptcy if the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> agency doesn't
bend.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>While
contentious timber harvest practices loom large on the water board's monthly
agendas, the agency's scope is far-reaching.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>In
December, the board imposed a $250,000 fine on a Willits couple who allegedly
clogged two salmon-bearing creeks with sediment while bulldozing their property
for a vineyard.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><BR>Earlier
in 2004, the Sonoma County Water Agency came under fire from the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">North</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> board for the amount of herbicide
that was being used along creeks to kill grasses and small trees. The agency
ended up replanting some of the creek banks to satisfy the board's
concerns.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><BR>In
another area, the state board is working with <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Sonoma</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>'s Environmental Health Division to develop safe
water standards for swimming in freshwater rivers and streams, a move that could
expand to rivers and streams throughout <st1:place w:st="on">Northern
California</st1:place> and the state.<SPAN class=823110417-23022005>#</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1"><A
href="http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050219/NEWS/502190331/1033/NEWS01">http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050219/NEWS/502190331/1033/NEWS01</A></P>
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