we ultimately form the the san what keene valley power authority in 2006. -- formed the san joaquin valley power authority in 2006. we brought two counties to the table. fresno county never made the final step. we worked closely with that board of supervisors as we developed our implementation plan. we have the somewhat dubious honor of saying we were the first entity to file an implementation plan and have it certified by the public utility commission for commencement of a community choice program for our member agencies. that initial certification was achieved in april of 2007. we worked through the processes as a result of a request for proposal process. we identified a potential full- service energy supplier. we also identified a number of potential renewable projects we pursued, potential development. our long term this and is somewhat different from visions here. it was for krcd to construct and operate a large generation facility that to this day we would argue the greater fresno area needs to maintain reliability and hedge its exposure to transmission infrastructure deficiencies an

campbell, then we can invite our guests up from marin and san joaquin valley. >> good morning. it is such a pleasure to be here. thank you for the invitation. i will give you an update on where marin energy authority is in our process, and i will talk about challenges we face along the way, lessons learned. supervisor mirkarimi: could you say your name? >> don weiss, interim director of the marin energy authority. we began serving customers in may of this year after many years of study and investigation and preparation. we are now serving approximately 9500 customers. we consider that to be our phase 1 rollout, about 20% of the load in our jurisdiction. we will be rolling out phase two over the next year or so -- we are targeting january 2012. i will be our remaining 70,000 customers. since our launch, we have also been able to get some programs off the ground which were a part of our original vision. first of all, we had developed and adopted a net energy metering carrot which allowed customers to be paid for any access to energy they produced at their own place of business, r

know the state's greatest dried plum production actually happens here in the sacramento and san joaquin valleys? farmers here produce more dried plums than the rest of the world combined. >> right now, we're looking at french prunes about to be harvested. and what i look for to see if they're ripe or not is color. we test for sugar. we look at overall fruit development. and this tree is ready to be harvested. >> here they are harvesting 96 tons of fruit a day. so, to be efficient, almost all the harvesting is done by machines now. a mechanical shaker grabs a tree's main limb and, in a matter of seconds, shakes the fruit onto a fabric catching frame spread underneath. from there, it's a quick conveyor ride to bins destined for the dehydrator. and just in ca you were wondering, they're prus in the field and dried plums after they've gone to the dehydrator. the next step in the life of a prune soon to become a dried plum happens here at the nearby dehydrator. here, the fruit is thoroughly washed and then placed on large wooden trays. then the fruit is wheeled into these huge ovens where the temper

even central san joaquin valley clear and looking at gusty winds. the delta, fairfield, 33 mph.d by of a breeze in oakland and in san jose out of the northwest at 14. so from time to time those winds kicking up this morning. and we are looking at temperatures much warmer. parts of the north and east bay but we're cooler in the southern half of the bay. so temperatures here today will be about the same as yesterday but north and east bay valleys, yes, we will be warming up today as much as 5 to 10 degrees. so the clear sky, breezy winds to start. then the winds die back. a warmer afternoon, a colder night tonight. and we'll sort of see temperatures drop a little bit tomorrow. then they're gonna rebound again over the weekend. here's a look at some of the highs. upper 60s santa rosa, oakland. mid-60s you'll notice average highs, upper 50s to around 60s. from 2 to 7 degrees above the average for early february. rainfall, well, santa rosa 111% of normal. you can see down the line still doing okay but we should certainly get some more rain in february. doesn't look like it's going to

get that experience anything like the level of vacancy that you see in the far east bay and san joaquin valley. the 40% numbers baby about nationally are nothing like what we have experienced here. as relates to vacancy, it is hard to get a real number. euros experience is a guide. we're seeing the highest level of foreclosures in the southeast. the bank on the properties, i see somewhat contradictory data about how many banks owned properties there are. i can get back to you on that. anecdotally, i don't think it is anything like 20%, but on a regional level this is a bigger question, to what extent when we did this planning did we think about all of that vacancy? the problem is an enormous amount of vacancy. it gets to what brad paul talked about. yes, there is a lot of vacancies in antioch, tracy, and stockton, but it comes at a significant cost. the question is whether it is really available for households looking to live in it. i will try to get you better information, but the best i could do on short notice. commissioner moore: i appreciate that, that should factor how we look at the reg

the body of 4-year-old juliani cardenas was recovered from the delta-mendota canal in the san joaquin valley. the boy's body was located about 30 miles downstream from where the suspect's car was found last week. juliani was grabbed from his grandmother's arms two weeks ago in the town of patter son. last night, hundreds of people went to the patterson city hall for a vigil. the cardenas family had not planned to attend but decided at the last minute to be there. >> i love you all so much. you guys don't even know. to me, you all my brothers and sisters and it's always been that way with me. >> the body of kidnapping suspect jose rodriguez is believed to be in the canal. >>> pg&e has discovered more leaks in its pipeline system according to results of its own survey. the study was prompted by last september's deadly pipeline explosion and fire in san bruno. they found 59 potentially hazardous leaks including 21 after its initial inspections last october. the utility also says it is in the process of scanning and indexing 1.25 million documents about its pipelines. >>> pg&e also says it will

through peach, plum, apple, orange, and nut orchards shows off the picturesque side of the san joaquin valley's staple industry, agriculture. the colorful tetops set against the majestic peaks of the sierrnevada are part ob a changing landscape re. already, the trail has been altered several times since its 1988 inception to accommodate the region's growing population. >> well, it's important for our area. it's important to fresno unty that we preserve agriculture. >> the trail traces the outskirts of suctiny central valley towns as reedley, selma, and sanger. and as the landscape wakes up around the area, so does business. take simonian farms, for example. just outside thfrno city limits is where you'll find this 20-acre family owned operation that has grown 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables for more than00 years, and doesn't looc to close shop atime soon. especially if the lion of fans the place has earned over the years has anything to say about it. >> oh, my god. just for people to see it. i don't think they've ever seen anything likthis. toee the beautiful blossoms, and the colors, an

search for 4-year-old juliani cardenas ended with the recovery of his body from a canal in san joaquin valley. police say the boy was snatched out of his grandmother's arms in patterson two weeks before the body was found yesterday. hundreds attended a vigil last night in patterson. authorities think the suspect is also dead and his body is in that canal. suspect jose rodriguez was juliani's mother mother's ex- boyfriend. the mother says i want everyone to pray jose's body is found so we can all know he is burning in hell and i don't have to worry about him taking my unborn." >>> tasers for police officers going to be a hot topic tonight. last year, the san francisco police commission said no to considering stun guns for police officers. but it will reconsider now after a number of officer- involved shootings recently including that of a disabled man a month ago. this is video o thanks that incident. >>> we'll check weather and traffic now. first lawrence, our second most popular weatherman behind punxsutawney phil today. >> still behind the rodent. can you believe it after all these years? h

that should take that fog south towards the san joaquin valley or burn it off much sooner.e will cool it down a little tomorrow. but much more pronounced by saturday and sunday. if you already have the sun, great. if the -- the fog makes 4 challenging. a lot of 62s including coast. >>> if you are one of those people who watched the -- who watched the super bowls for the commercials. we have a sneak peek of some of the ads you will be seeing on sunday. >> i wonder if he will lose his hair. i wonder if he wants kids. >> pepsi is back after a one- year hiatus. this is one of the four ads for pepsi max. >> honey, now blow them out and all of your wishes will come through. >> there's one of the five dorito advertisements that will air on saturday. advertisers are paying about $3 million for 30 seconds of air time. >>> there's one rather large football fan who has already picked the winner of this sunday's super bowl. jenny, the elephant, made her choice at the dallas zoo yesterday. she had her pick of watermelons painted with each team's colors. she stomped on the watermelon tha

a child they believe is juliani cardenas was recovered from the delta-mendota canal in the san joaquin valleyther two weeks ago. the body of the kidnapping suspect is also believed to be in the canal. >>> pg&e has discovered more leaks in its pipeline system. survey results found 59 potentially hazardous leaks including 21 found after its initial inspections last october. the utility began that study after the deadly pipeline explosion in san bruno. >>> and today the san francisco police department will revisit the taser debate. last year the police commission rejected the department's proposal to arm officers with stun guns. they decided to reconsider that option following a string of officer-involved shootings. >>> traffic and weather coming right up. stay with us. ,, ,,,,,, ♪ ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, do it ♪ oh, do it ♪ ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] coffee's like life. it's better when you add your flavor. visit us on facebook to find out how you can get a free bottle of coffee-mate on february 4th. >>> good morning. let's head to marin county. first repo

in regard to climate supplies which helps secure -- clean water supply to farmers in the san joaquin valley. it impacts the settlement impacts an agreement developed by not only farmers and tribes and conserves groups, the power companies and the states of california and oregon negotiated by no less than the bush administration for voluntary removal of these privately owned dams. this will prevent fair congressional consideration of the klamath agreement. the sangab real restoration fund, the list i cited before is the last line of defense against migrating ground water contamination which has affected our basin for the past 35 years which was due to pest is idse and other contaminant. has treated groundwater and helped fund the construction of 24 treatment facilities and removed thousands of volatile organic compounds and it also threatens the health of some 40, 50 communities in the southern california area. needed to complete this clean up, the funding to fight the spread of this contamination must not be eliminated. in the bay delta, the further cuts would abolish key cuts in the restor

for instance, consider the farmers in the san joaquin valley. those were businesses. those businesses were making money. they were paying the banks and buying land and employing people, they're buying fertilizer. . but what we can't to keep alive, a judge declared we are going to regulate the water away from the people and to the minnows. those people aren't making the payments on their land and not feeding their families. instead of being productive members of their families, they have scooted to the top, when we kill jobs through taxation and regulation policies, we transfer more costs to the top of the equation and that's the reason we are in such imbalance. 9.5% unemployment means we will have more people on welfare, food stamps and public assistance. we have a moral obligation to fix the jobs and we need to find a balanced point in regulation. i don't want to see the minnow go extinct but i don't want to see our jobs go extinct. the spotted owl was a regulation that was put into effect and in new mexico alone, we lost 20,000 jobs because of the spotted owl regula

administration has supported with holding valuable water from communities in california's san what wean callie. prior -- joaquin valley. prioritizing the needs of fish over workers and their families. this government and manmade drought cost hundreds of thousands of acres to dry up and that has resulted, mr. speaker, in an unemployment rate that exceeds 40% in that area. so this is just one example of how the implementation of the endangered species act, which i might add hasn't been reviewed for almost 20 years, is being used to block or delay job creating projects. mr. speaker, the goal of the e.s.a. was to consider -- conserve key domestic species. but today unfortunately it's being used by special interest groups to file lawsuits and drain resources away from the real recovery efforts of those species. the national environmental policy act or nepa, and other environmental regulations are going far beyond their original intent and they, too, are being used to place unnecessary and costly burdens on economic development projects throughout the country. nepa has become a tool for litigation sometimes resulting in dec

valley than the rest of the state. in belmont, abc 7 news. >>> what is in the water? environmental protection agency said today it is launching an investigation into pollution level in the sacramento san joaquin delta. epa says the delta critical ecosystem on the brink of collapse now. the agency will focus on pesticide from farms and homes in the area. urban waste water and invasive species. >>> normally when we report on big waves near half moon bay it is news about the maverick surf contest or perhaps surf safety as we did earlier in the hour. but tonight there is a development proposal that is making big waves. plan is to build affordable housing for the developmental disable and big office complex to help cover the cost. and it is dividing a normally peaceful community. >> on sunny weekends the little town of princeton by the sea is crowded with tourists. they come for the seafood and the scenery and just to be near the spot where giant waves draw surfers from all over the worl world. in many ways life on the central coast of san mateo county is ideal. but not if you are a young adult with a developmental disability. >> lack of jobs. lack of affordable housing. lack of care. when the par