and help to sustain and the environment. i would also like to thank the leadership of supervisors chiu and wiener to address the issues we heard from the community over the past couple of months. as you are aware, when this legislation was continued last fall, you call upon the department of the environment to conduct more outreach for diversity in the city. we answered that col. since early december, we have conducted a robust outreach effort that is unprecedented for any pending legislation. we invested staff time and resources to make sure that the proper work was done. i wanted to take a moment to detail those activities. they have included one-on-one outreach. you can get merchant organizations. my staff reached out to be supervisor to get input on which neighborhood associations you would like to ensure were reached in your community. we also worked with the mayor's staff on his recommendations as well. on starting the outreach through the list of priority organizations, we were happy to join the supervisor for a forum

now it is to produce a positive impact on the environment for benefit corporations. the accountability element, previously the directors were charged with a mission to maximize profits and they shall consider the effects on other stakeholders which are categorized as a society and the environment. the transparency element which is the production of an annual benefit report, this is assessed against a third party standard. you choose any third party standard you want as long as it met the qualifications of the statute which is transparency, the ability for the public to comment on the works of a third party standard that is not being funded by the people that are using this standard. similarly, how we use accounting principles to produce the financial documents, there is no standardized method to produce qualitative reports. we didn't want to dictate which ones you had the use, so we require, again, as stated in the legislation what the qualifications for third-party standard are, the legislation allows the company to choose that as long as it meets those requirements

you must produce a material positive impact on society and the environment. these are hurdles and statements that are not truly going to embrace -- and they will have a hard time doing. a large company is going to be very difficult for them. they will have a hard time taking advantage of this, if some people don't agree with that, they are not going to have the x-y-z megacorporation do this. that level of entry and commitment is too high. the potential for a shareholder lawsuit for not maximizing the impact on society he is too great. they wouldn't do it to because it does increase their potential liability, they may not be meeting that standard. for companies that currently do this, they are being fearful of growing because everyone out there is telling them to make money, make money, make money. this gives them permission to do that. the reality is, you're not going to see major corporations take advantage of this because of the threshold of the 2/3 shareholder vote. the cost of getting rid of a shareholder that doesn't agree and the potential for buying th

the environment has to be safe and, as dr. harris pointed out, the person has to feel comfortable talking about something that they have a need to talk about. but, as miss cain pointed out, they were essentially told, they were blamed for the event. so the secret has to be retained, and you're now giving them permission to talk about the secret. and you're also reassuring them that there will be no negative consequences about talking about the secret, and so it's a lot easier for the person to talk in that environment. and there are strategies, various treatment-oriented strategies that are geared to functionally allowing the person to disclose, reaffirming that safety is ubiquitous at least in the environment where they're being cared for, and also making it clear that they are not to blame. so that this whole issue of self-loathing that miss cain talked about, in terms of not desiring or not believing that you're entitled to anything else, goes away so the person then can start to believe that they can recover, and this is f

i want to talk about environment. we haven't had a chance to talk about that at all, environment policies. you've asked for an increase in your budget in the office of environment -- i'll get the name right office of environment compliance, $3.5 million increase there. i've heard lots of concerns from my district about environment policies at epa. i thought i would do it in the micro today. you mentioned general duty of care a little earlier in answer to the question part of the clean air t. if you've adopted any epawide policies or guidelines with respect to definitions inside the clean air act related to the general duty of care? >> i'm not aware of any, sir, but we could certainly talk to the office of environment on that. >> there's a term in there called extremely hazardous chemicals. you have the risk mitigation plans, which require certain chemicals are stored at manufacturers or producers. but as i understand your environment policy, even if the chemical is nautilused as one of those chemicals that requires a

so. >> so did he create the environment or did he not create the environment? >> he tried his best to create the environment. he understands how you create an environment to create jobs and that's what we want in a government. i don't want anyone in the government to think the government creates jobs. i want them to create an environment that's lower taxes, less regulation so i as a job creator or you as a job creator can go out, have a great idea, start a business, raise capital and put everything on the line to be successful. and that's what made this country great, not government regulations. >> governor rendell, let me go to you because clearly chip was saying he created an environment but he didn't. let me go to you. did last night hurt the republicans, governor? >> well, sure. the best thing for the republican party would have been for governor romney to twin two of those three primaries and take a giant step toward locking this up early. the longer this goes on, the worse it's going to be. you know, chip is a good soldier, and he echos the party line, bu

they understand under funding super fund costs will effect the environment. it's not too much to spend on clean air and clean water and a healthy environment and i believe it in fact may not be enough. >> mr. barton, are you ready now? >> yes. >> governor from texas. >> i want give you an "a" for attendance for appearing but not for your performance because i think you have tended to evade our more directs questions. today, chairman whitfield, and the two sub committees will conduct a hearing on the epa's 2013 budget. epa has over 17,000 employees, they have a budget of over eight billion dollars. you would think that with that much manpower and that many dollars they would be able to answer some of the questions that this congress has been asking of them for the last year. you have to comply with the presidents's order that requires that regulations promote economic growth, innovation, competitiveness and job creation that requires other agencies to employ, and i want to highlight, the least burdensome tools, taking into benefits and costs both quantity and

all coming together to protect their environment. >> great program. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman's time has expired. i thought you may grab my question when you were talking about the cooling tower issue, bobby. otherwise, we could work together on that. i'd like to recognize myself for five minutes ago. i have four i'm doing to try to rush through. it's very difficult as you know. but my colleague from georgia is in the front row and we were e-mailing over the weekend based upon the budget submission. so i represent rural america. he represents rural america. so in your spending guidance for the $212 million, it will distribute tech assistance. do you agree it does not include the prioritizing the funding that's most beneficial to small communities? >> i don't agree, sir, but i would have to -- >> yeah. it's a small amount. i know it -- if you would get back to us on that because the congressional intent was to make sure small communities would find the assistance most beneficial. we think that -- >> i actually have an answer

i really appreciate the department of the environment and their staff, to have worked with appear -- who have worked with our in mint -- our office in particular. at least they know about it and have the opportunity to give us feedback on how to make it work. not everyone is going to agree with this ordinance, but at least we have heard from them on how to make it stronger. i am super impressed by the groundwork. not just calling and e-mail in, i think it is great to see and i hope that that is really more the standard for other city- wide legislation in the future. i think that in the long term but will be a lot more buying in the process. a really want to thank all of the work that happened around this. the supervisors that work with a committee of individuals for a while, i was happy to support this. supervisor mar: thank you. i think that with the supervisor and presidents amendments, with the additional outreach from the department of the environment, and what others have mentioned, and thank you to melanie, this is a great piece of legislation. i wanted to thank robert from sup

the host creates a welcoming environment for everybody.here is no cultural barrier to entry. >> the demographic of people who come will match the demographic of the reader. it is very simple. if we want more people of color, you book more people of color. you want more women, your book more women. kind of like that. it gets mixed up a little bit. in general, we kind of have a core group of people who come every month. their ages and very. we definitely have some folks who are straight. >> the loyal audience has allowed michelle to take more chances with the monthly lineup. established authors bring in an older audience. younker authors bring in their friends from the community who might be bringing in an older author. >> raider has provided a stage for more than 400 writers. it ranges from fiction to academics stories to academic stories this service the underground of queer fell, history, or culture. >> and there are so many different literary circles in san francisco. i have been programming this reading series for nine years. and i stil

the lifestyle and environment. i think we often tend to think that lifestyle and environment are things we have a lot of influence over, and we do to some extent. we know that type 2 diabetes is cost from obesity, so we have the ability to think that through and try to figure out, is that where we are going or not going? and are certainly other things we have choices about. but then there are other things, that have come up already in the comments, such as fixed low income, frailty, isolation, which impact our environment and lifestyle in ways that provide us with fewer choices. all of this is further compound it when you add discrimination and being marginalized and having other things that go on in our society around us. all of these things are part of lifestyle and environment. older adults are really just like any other population of people. we are all different. we have things in common, things that we share, things that we hold dear to us, things that make us have a successful life, but we are all different.

i appreciate the response of the department of the environment to the concerns for my colleagues regarding outreach in the under- represented communities. the department reached out to many communities in all districts and contacted many merchant groups as well. still, this reminds us of the work that we must continue to do regarding outreach to the community's most impacted by the decisions we deliberate on here. i believe that we should consider adopting guidelines for to our most under- represented communities. our office will continue to work toward this goal. one of the questions we have heard is -- why charge 10 cents? experience around the world and here in california shows that the only effective way to change the behavior of consumers is by instituting a charge. in los angeles, stores have seen an 85% reduction in bag used from charging 10 cents. this is common practice in many european and scandinavian countries. bringing it back to the market is part of the culture. our city economists said that retailers must be the prime beneficiary of the legislation. in addition, the reducti

after that, they have to produce a material positive impact on the environment. commissioner riley: that there is the standard measure for that? gosh no, there is a third party standard that meets the definition of the legislation. they must measure that against using that third-party standard, so that as the transparency element. rather than simply having you write your own annual report, you're using it against a third party standard of a valuation so that the consumer and the shareholder can see what you're doing. commissioner riley: is this a pretty new concept? >> yes, january 3 was the first application of this legislation. commissioner clyde: i want to thank you for your presentation, and i also want to say that i am glad to see that this creative, forward thinking energy is not going to be codified. i can see benefits for the organic food distributors, i concede benefits for people trying to develop community theaters. i can see that it has a very creative and open ended -- it is a creative and open-ended program, i

schools, science, caring for the environment. how many wild things can you say before people think you're the wild thing? or suddenly think mitt romney might not be so bad. >>> plus shouts and whispers. republicans are saying out loud what was once unthinkable. that mitt romney might lose michigan. the whispers of drafting another candidate are getting thoughter. poll numbers are rising. the bad news, so are gas prices. could this be the issue republicans are looking for. and art imitates art. the first family as characters in the cosby show. if you missed it on "saturday night live" this weekend, we have it in the sideshow. >>> final lip, what happened 50 years ago today that got us headed to the moon. we begin with rick santorum. susan mil began joins us. let's look at this this. here's rick santorum speaking at the christian alliance luncheon on saturday. he criticized prenatal testing and the public education system in this country. let's listen. >> they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in america. why?

after that, they have to produce a material positive impact on the environment. commissioner riley: that there is the standard measure for that? gosh no, there is a third party standard that meets the definition of the legislation. they must measure that against using that third-party standard, so that as the transparency element. rather than simply having you write your own annual report, you're using it against a third party standard of a valuation so that the consumer and the shareholder can see what you're doing. commissioner riley: is this a pretty new concept? >> yes, january 3 was the first application of this legislation. commissioner clyde: i want to thank you for your presentation, and i also want to say that

who's more for the goals of ending the wars, creating infrastructure, protecting the environment? that's what i'm for. and the republicans are not going to get that done. that is his message in california. >> belva: was he also campaigning for passage of his budget? >> that was only part of the speeches that he gave. we saw him at the masonic auditorium talk about some of the goals. the budget is a tough situation. and actually, that one actually went through this week. not a lot of attention because there was a lot of back and forth in washington over the payroll tax. and of course obama was out of town fund-raising. but the fact is there's some issues in the federal budget that are concerning to many people, including many progressives who are out there in front of the nob hill masonic. obama did a lot of things in san francisco. he wasn't just there, he made some stops in chinatown and other places too. >> i just want to ask, when you talk about budget, we're going to talk about the campaign budget. i heard you say this was going to be a $1 billion, a "b," billion-dollar campai

people are not used to this unmediated environment.ng as you drink water, you are probably going to be ok. there is not a lot of criminal activity. everyone is really over provided for. to meet the survival challenge, they oversupplied. superfluous goods that people end up giving away to one another. there is really not a lot of crime. there is too much to do. [laughter] >> could you talk more about that factor, that there is an abundance of good, which is interesting, being in the desert. the economic system that is up there. we talked a long time ago for a "for a magazine" story. one of the things that you said is that commerce, in an of itself, is not the enemy. it is the backbone of civilization. >> to be against commerce is to be against your clothing. who would be against commerce? we just said we are living in a world that has been overly come modified. where everything has been turned into a commodity value. people do not have the identities. we are world full of brands and no identity. you can read your entire life -- you can

including on the environment. >> you think he crossed the line on the environment? >> if he wants to be -- >> if there are any -- certainly conservation is a policy bought by both political parties. we have to preserve our planet. people walk into the grand canyon and say man can have a trail here or there, but don't screw this up. he says that's a false theology. to worship beautiful things that even niagara falls, things part of our wonder. he thinks we should put below us in the food chain kind of idea. >> remember that his party on the hill when they took control of the house in 1995 changed the name of the energy and environment committee to energy and natural resources to send a signal this isn't something for us to protect, but something to use. and there is. i have heard that religious argument that we're all here on this earth for however long god wants us here and we're here to use the earth. i don't hear that from a lot of people. >> if he's saying that, let me give a sermonette here. you say i'm overstating this, mark. but how long would there be a centr

the bar staff is very professional about maintaining a clean, safe environment. e taff usually holds about two people, i see what joe, thear mager, he's always there and maintaining the peace, the quiet -- peace quiet, but -- i feel like him right now. i've never worked with a staff as wonderful, as family oriented ands neighborhood friendly in my entire career as a k.j. and that's alli need to say. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. the hour is getting late. let's go, folks. >> hello, commissioners, my name is henry granato, try to keep it as short as possible. >> we appreciate that. >>o iused to work in a club promotions, i've seen good to d to absolutely worse. and i rarely go out. i used to work in clubs with my friend and whatnot and elp promote their events and whatnot, so i one time getting off of work, a very stressful day and am actually going to be late now but what is it, i decided to come to the blackthorn one time and i met the staff over there, particularly bartender in the back over there, his name is tommy, and very friendly environment

she is formally department of environment. do you get points in leed for being in a historic building? >> well the historic building in san francisco, it's to make sure the different strategies to achieve green credits actually meet all the codes, >> you may not get specific leed credit, however, you get other benefits, you get priority permitting under our building and planning processes. what other advantages? you get to use the historical building code. it does not talk about designation. there was a lot of talk how to incorporate historically features into sustainability programs. because as we were saying before, the biggest problem is, beverly said the codes are already there. okay question 2. was about the windows. you did not replace the windows. how does that work into your energy consumption. we did not retrofit. how we tried to combat that was on window shades. on the reverse side that faces towards the exterior of the building is a reflective surface that keeps the solar gain out of the space. leed does award you p

new at 7:00 a major bay pet company is fined by the environment protection agency. and alex tells the manufacture is accused of mismanaging hazardous material. >> well, the company is western digital. they're one of the largest hard drive manufacturers in the world but they also produce a large amount of laczar douse waste. according to epa those chemicals weren't always properly handled. accused of violating safety standards, western corporation is now facing $62,000 fine. epa inspectors say the hard drive manufacturing facility was not properly storing and labeling saltants and acids. >> they do not -- environmental regulations, which help protect health and environment. >> he's the epa inspector who visited this facility in 2010 for a routine environmental and safety check. along with hazardous waste violation, he says he found the tech company failed to control take emissions and was unaware of federal standards. >> he did not know about the requirement to comply with the hazards admission requirement. when they were trying to verify the requirement, it was diff

in san francisco, like other cities, they have a department of the environment. they do not have this in every city. san francisco is a forward- thinking city. with that, i want to bring up the director of the department, melanie nutter. >> good morning. i am so pleased to be here today to celebrate this environmental milestone. as you have heard, we would not be here today without the broad coalition of support and the ongoing collaboration that came together around ensuring we could reduce carbon emissions from our taxi fleet coming here in san francisco. the san francisco department of the environment is proud to have been a partner in insuring san francisco's taxi fleet is the greenest in the nation. first, on the policy front, in 2007, 2008, our department staff work with the taxi commission and cab companies to create the green tax ordinance. this collaboration resulted in a performance standard, requiring taxi companies achieve over all the emission reductions each year without mandating specific models. as long as each company's fleet met the required per

in fact, all told there were more than 200 votes on the environment and public health this the housein 2011. in many cases only final passage votes were included even though lawmakers voted on countless amendments with enormous environmental implications. in contrast there are just 11 senate votes in the 2011 scorecard. so how did members do? last year 31 senators and 24 representatives earned a perfect score of 100%. on the other extreme, 13 senators and four house members earned an appalling score of zero. this is actually a smaller number than in recent years, so i think it's a pretty clear indication that those members who voted against the environment at literally every opportunity really worked hard and went out of their way to do so. and the average house score in 2011 was 45% which is lower than the 2010 average score of 57 president. 57%. but i think an even bigger indicator of the huge change in landscape from the 111th to the 112th congress is the dramatic drop in average lifetime scores. more specifically, the average lifetime score of members who were defeated in 2010 wa

he notes that will help relieve problems on inflation, energy, natural resources and the environment. china's president in waiting said the chinese economy will not see a significant slow down this year. he called on the international community and investors not to overreact to china's decision. the accident at fukushima daiichi has triggered debate about the country's energy future. as the government considers the mix of energy resources, citizens are actively campaigning to influence energy policy. they're also looking seriously at their own energy consumption. >> reporter: japanese are more conscious of their energy consumption since the fukushima daiichi meltdown. on the outskirts of tokyo, this man has started measuring how much electricity each of his home appliances use. >> translator: this chandelier used to consume 300 watts. now it's only 24 watts. >> reporter: he has done everything he can think of to save as much electricity as possible hoping to wean himself off depends on nuclear generated power. >> translator: the nuclear accident displaced a lot of people from their ho

it's an environment within the environment. the facility itself has constant environmental controls. this is an environment within the environment. i see 1 that said presidential box. the funeral train. you don't necessarily have to open it, but i wondered. these are from that collection. >> right. >> we store the material in acid-free boxes. these are ph-balanced paper performed from a company in virginia. you take off the lid and inside the box you see an inventory of objects in the box. you see that the artifacts have been individually wrapped. very stable material. the white is a tissue paper with a bubble wrap to preserve and protect the object. this is the acronym for the florida theater. if they were looking for a particular object, you can search through the number or the object name in the dita base. these are all -- these sets are associated with fort theater. at the fort ahead ator, we also have a number of loans that are out right now. we have a loan in st. petersburg in russia. they are associated with a czar with

in the fall, i will give a message on the environment. we need to be more strategic by focusing on job creation, affordability, science and sustainability. we need to continue michigan's leadership in protecting the great lakes. one of the world's greatest natural assets. [ applause ] third, i would like to work with the legislature on improving lobbying and campaign finance and ethics in state and local government. for example, we should have disclosure of campaign contributions and government of rules of people who negotiate state contracts will in government service. [ applause ] on the implementation of good government, we'll have efforts on two levels. one track will be focused on state government itself and how it operates. the second track will be a supportive partner to the local jurisdictions. now the principles of good government will be how we operate in this way. let's share the four principles. first, we need to deliver outstanding customer service to our citizens. we need to do this by creating an environment for job creatio

that's a difficult challenge in this current environment. but as the chairman said, and i'll end on this note of agreement, we couldn't ask for two better people to help meet this challenge. we look forward to your testimony and the answers to our questions. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. secretary? >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, i'm humbled by your kind comments, and i'll try to work as hard as i possibly can to measure up to even half of them. but i'm deeply appreciative. and it's great to be back in this room. although those chairs are far more comfortable than these chairs are i found. but nevertheless, this is always an honor for me. and i'm honored to be here. i want to add my words to yours, mr. chairman, of appreciation and welcome to our 38th chief of staff of the army. i hope i can keep this one longer than i kept the last one. but even in the relatively short time that general odierno has been with us, he's shown that he's more than up to the task. it's a pleasure to work with him each and every day. and i t

so keep it short, i just want to say that environment reminds me ofcheers. that's my cheers. we want to try and keep the environment hopefully with live music and with respect totheir neighborswhich we've personally seen multiple times and their attempts to do whatever they can. ve that type o capability, m to have live music with, of course constraints that are put under them. >> thank you. all right. i want to ask how many more people want to speak for blackthorn, please raise your hand. promise not to repeat what anyone said before you? all right. come on up. next speaker. >> hello, my name is brenna and am a patron of the bar and i live one block away. i want to say that i haveseen people pee in front of my house. it happens. it is not solely the blackthorn. it is a combination of bars in the neighborhood. that's what happens when you live in a popular neighborhood. we're not here to talk about people urinating in public. we're not here to talk about broken glass. we're here to talk about the sound. i went to the bckthorn once prior before the new ownership and it was lou

the environment is huge. it is stronger than willpower.ding yourself with artists, being in a culture where artists are driving, and where a huge amount of them is a healthy environment. >> you are making it safer. push, push. that is better. when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not

a love everybody to go out and consume and have a regulatory environment that focuses on reasonable environment of compliance, -- environmental compliance, driven by actual science. and we have safety policies that are compliance-oriented, not intended to punish and make it too expensive to operate. we have an opportunity in this country to have a read- energizing of america and create an enormous amount of opportunity, whether it is building the keystone pipeline, which would be day one. whether it is the creation of a new epa that will go about the process of appealing regulation on clean air. a whole host of regulations, repealing them or repealing and replacing them with regulations that are cost effective. these are the rational approaches we need to take to make sure we have affordable energy and we bring down the price of oil in this country, not just for our economy, but for our national security. the name of my economic plan is the maid in the usa planned. the reason it is called that is because i take an emphasis on creating manufacturing jobs in america. we have a country that is unc