Presidential Campaign

Generally I have avoided any comments or messages reflecting my political position. This message is simply to state that I am rooting for Obama to be the Democrat nominee.

Powerful quake inevitable in next 30 years, odds show - ContraCostaTimes.com

One of Crockett's advantages is that the Hayward-Rogers Creek fault does not bisect the town. But it runs just west of us by a couple miles. Oh well, ......................

Two faults that we are particularly concerned about with respect to high
probabilities are the southern San Andreas and the Hayward-Rogers Creek," Field said. "Both have elevated probabilities relative to their long-term
averages."

FOXNews.com - Huge Oil Reservoir May Lie Under Northern Plains - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Well, its a lot less than the 200 billion barrels some folks have forcast but as technology advances, so grows the resource. I stll beats ethanol.

"The government estimates up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and Montana, using current technology. The U.S. Geological Survey calls it the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.
An assessment by USGS in 1999 found the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge had 10.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, said Brenda Pierce, a geologist for the agency The Bakken Formation encompasses some
25,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan and Manitoba."

SALMON SEASON GONE

For any of you expecting fresh, newly caught northwestern salmon, it will be a long wait. Might be the time to buy an ocean going skiff....

Salmon Fishing Banned in U.S. Northwest
Donna Gordon Blankinship in Seatac,
WashingtonAssociated Press
April 11, 2008

West Coast fisheries
managers voted Thursday to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to allow limited recreational fishing of coho salmon on holiday weekends off the Oregon coast, but no recreational fishing off California after several members of the
panel argued that every salmon counts.Scientists and government officials are expecting this year's West Coast salmon season to be poor because of the collapse of Sacramento River chinook, one of the West Coast's biggest wild salmon runs.Although commercial salmon fishing off the Washington coast is scheduled to begin May 1, fisheries managers do not predict a good season off either the north or south Pacific coasts."For the entire West Coast, this is the worst in history," said Don McIsaac, executive director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.The council's decision still must be
confirmed by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of salmon management.Relief for FishersEven before the vote, however, officials were on to the next step: disaster relief for fishers, said Mariam McCall, an attorney with the marine fisheries service.The governors of Washington, Oregon, and California have already signed letters seeking a disaster declaration. Congress will be asked to make a fast decision on money to alleviate the suffering of fishers and any other negative effects the cutback might have, said Brian Gorman, a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson.Scientists are studying the causes of the Sacramento River chinook collapse, with possible
factors ranging from ocean conditions and habitat destruction to dam operations and agricultural pollution. But a proposal to allow limited fishing for scientific purposes was struck down by the panel.Last year average quotas for the southern coast were allowed, while fishing was restricted north of Cape Falcon to the Canadian border.