March 14, 2011 from the Orange County Register in California. “The southern San Andreas fault could perhaps produce a quake in the 7.8 magnitude range in the area between the Salton Sea and San Bernardino, said Bob Dollar, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. There is also a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate is diving beneath another, running from northern California to British Columbia.”
There was no words on when this might occur.
I remember the Tehachapi Earthquake when I was a boy. We lived in Inglewood, California (near LAX). It was a magnitude 7.5 (Richter scale) earthquake (USGS, SCEC) on the little known White Wolf Fault. Cracks in the living room wall were filled with newspaper before my father plastered over the filling and repainted.
Then I got married and there was another earthquake. As I recall I was shaking in 1969. It was 1971 and my wife and I lived in Hollywood in a second floor apartment. The deadly Sylmar earthquake was 6.6-magnitude temblor according to the USGS, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1971_02_09.php.
The magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake started on January 17, 1994 at 5 seconds before 4:31 a.m. My family was a mere five miles away from this event. No one was hurt. Dishes were broken.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) states that the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 was between 7.7 and 8.3 magnitude. Equipment was not as sophisticated as today’s technology and that accounts for the range. Different seismologists have developed different conclusions.
The start of the third game of the World Series between the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants and the city was rocked and rattled by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Buildings and bridges collapsed, fires broke out, and 59 people were killed.
On June 28, 1992, the most powerful quake to hit the U.S. in 40 years struck Landers, California. It measured 7.4 on the Richter scale.
A study completed by Yuri Fialko[9] has demonstrated that the San Andreas fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for the next “big one,” as it is commonly called; that is, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater. The study also concluded that the risk of a large earthquake may be increasing more rapidly than researchers had previously believed. Fialko also emphasized in his study that, while the San Andreas Fault had experienced massive earthquakes in 1857 at its central section and in 1906 at its northern segment (the 1906 San Francisco earthquake), the southern section of the fault has not seen a similar rupture in at least 300 years.
How big will the “big one” be in California? No one seems prepared to give an estimate.
From the U.S. Geological Survey: Volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin form the so-called Ring of Fire, a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The trenches are shown in blue-green. The volcanic island arcs, although not labelled, are parallel to, and always landward of, the trenches. For example, the island arc associated with the Aleutian Trench is represented by the long chain of volcanoes that make up the Aleutian Islands.
While there is no trench along the Pacific coast of the lower 48 and most of North America there have been some significant earthquakes. The most famous being the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.9. Los Angeles’ most recent significant earthquake was called the “Northridge Earthquake” that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:31 a.m. hitting the San Fernando Valley and resulting in widespread devastation that impacted the freeway system throughout the city.
Today I saw a spokesperson for the USGS on CNN who said we would not have an earthquake greater than 8.0 magnitude. However, there is some contradicting opinion. The Los Angeles Times had an article on October 10, 2010 about a study “of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake that could run 340 miles from Monterey County to the Salton Sea.”
My home is in the San Fernando Valley and I do have two cabinets in my back yard holding emergency supplies. In addition I have a propane barbeque that could act as a stove. I will be reviewing those supplies this weekend.
“I think it’s a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation would be subjected to what I would characterize as a ‘shakedown,’ – in this case, a $20 billion shakedown.” – Joe Barton, R-Texas. What a great way to obtain national media exposure!
His apology for those words was weak at best. After all it was taking back the words he really believed. I have not heard about any subsequent interviews with him. The conundrum is that the Gulf coast relies on oil drilling and extraction as much as fishing and tourism for its economic well being.
I am far removed from the Gulf coast but I do appreciate the ecological impact of the continuing oil spill. After all if both James Carville and Mary Matalin are upset about the impact of the spill, this situation really does rise above politics. (Digression: How did those two ever get married?)
NPR reports that Joe Barton has received $100,470 in campaign donations from oil and gas interests since the beginning of 2009, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The same group reported that since 1990, political action committees of the oil and gas industry and people who worked for it have given more than $1.4 million to Barton’s campaigns, the most of any House member during that period.
This cam will stay on top of all new entries until the oil leak is capped in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/spill_cam/
July 15, 2010 photo from nola.com
The tragic Gulf oil disaster of the past five weeks finally focused Congress’ attention on the serious safety problems with offshore drilling. But why does it take a national disaster to get their attention?
A bill to make our food safer has been sitting in Congress, near final passage, for a year. It would increase inspections and help food companies catch contaminants before the food gets to our local supermarkets.
Both the U.S. House and Senate passed Wall Street reform bills, but now a final bill must be worked out between them – and the lobbyists will be pressing for loopholes!
The Obama administration says the federal government payroll will grow to 2.15 million workers this year. This number includes the military. There will be 1.43 million civilian workers on the payroll in fiscal year 2010. More surprising is that this number does not include postal workers. My source for this data is a Washington Times article dated February 2, 2010.
Despite this enormous staff our government has failed to provide the health and safety, protection for our wild life, or the security we desire.
The Food and Drug Administration has not protected society for a laundry list of errors caused by both food processors and drug manufacturers. A recent good example is Yaz and Yasmin. There are issues about its safety but the product is still being sold. Remember the Peanut Corporation of America? That company was selling contaminated product and was shutdown only after the spot light of the news media was focused on the issue. Just today there is concern about children’s over the counter Tylenol and other child medications.
The Securities and Exchange Commission had data warning about Bernie Madoff but did nothing to stop his Ponzi scheme. More recently the news reports that members of the SEC staff have been spending their days looking at internet porn sites. There has been no effort to ensure the accuracy of bond rating agencies.
The President fired his chief coordinator for terrorist tracking as the result of the stumbles that have occurred. The Christmas Day bomber failed as the result of his incompetence. The Fort Hood massacre plan went undetected. The Times Square bomber failed as the result of his incompetence.
Now we have the Minerals Management Services Department of the Department of the Interior that clearly has not carried out its responsibilities in the Gulf Of Mexico.
Are Americans supposed to have confidence in their government? Of course, but we do not. Is it likely that another president could do a better job? It’s not likely because the bureaucracy is too big. If the government can’t do the job then why are we paying those high taxes?
Hybrid care.com has gone overboard in their listings because they include diesel and high mileage internal combustion vehicles. The owner of that web site needs the advertising revenue. That makes the reliability of the data and opinions questionable. Motor Trend magazine, Popular Photography and other magazines that rely on manufacturers for survival cannot provide unbiased information.
News that UPS has expanded its fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles adds to the growing hybrid vehicle trend. The number of auto manufacturers offering hybrid technology has grown substantially in the past few years.
I own a 2001 Nissan Maxima. It has a V6 internal combustion engine. On freeway and highway driving from Los Angeles to San Jose the mileage was 30 MPG.
Consumer Reports was a good resource for automobile reliability. However, the error in not detecting Toyota acceleration problems has put the magazine’s reliabilty into question.
Combined
MPG
Toyota Prius 50 MPG
Honda Civic Hybrid 42 MPG
Honda Insight 41 MPG
Ford Fusion Hybrid 39 MPG
Mercury Milan Hybrid 39 MPG
Nissan Altima Hybrid 34 MPG
Lexus HS 250h 34 MPG
Toyota Camry Hybrid 33 MPG
Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid 29 MPG
Lexus GS 450h 23 MPG
Mercedes S400 BlueHybrid 22 MPG
Lexus LS 600h L 21 MPG
Hyundai Sonata Hybrid 38 MPG
Hyundai Accent Hybrid n/a
Honda Fit Hybrid n/a
BMW ActiveHybrid 7 n/a
The Los Angeles Times printed the following pictures
The Matterhorn
Photographs of the Swiss mountain — taken in 1960, left, and in 2005 — show the shrinkage of its glacial ice. Both photos were taken after major snowstorms.
Left photo copyright: Bradford Washburn / Courtesy Panopticon Gallery
Right photo copyright: David Arnold
ABC news showed a glaciated mountain in Bolivia on its December 12 evening news. The glacier has mostly melted and that is an issue for the country’s water supply.
Deniers must confront reality. The question are: 1)What is the cause? 2)Can anything humanity does stop global warning?
I have ridden on the subways in D.C., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto. All of them provide a marvelous means of transportation. Here in Los Angeles we really only have one subway line. It stretches from Downtown to North Hollywood for 17.4 miles. The usage proves that the city needs a subway system. Seats are difficult to find at mid-day.
Angelenoes love their cars. I have grown up in this city and have driven through some of the worst traffic nightmares. They were on the 101, 405, and 5 freeways. Some traffic has made a 30 minute drive into a 3 hour nightmare. A trip from my home to LAX (using the 101 and the 405) is 30 miles but you should allow 1½ hours and that is the time without serious accidents.
For two years I worked on Wilshire Boulevard. It always amazed me that conventional buses would travel down that street in group of three to accommodate the extraordinary need for public transportation. That was happening at lunch time not at rush hour times. If you missed a group of three there will be another group in 5 minutes. In spite of the obvious need for a subway under that boulevard it has been resisted by many people. The NIMBYs have succeeded and in the process have hurt the city’s poorest people and caused major traffic congestion. Who cares about the poorest among us? The have no political voice and so they are ignored.
In the mid 1980s NIMBYs successfully had a federal law passed prohibiting the construction of a subway under Wilshire Boulevard. Now that the congestion has become overwhelming, that law has been reversed. The mayor wants to see this project completed in less than ten years. Building that $6.1 billion subway would employ many thousands people and the resulting mass transit would be eco-friendly. This would be a worthwhile project for stimulus money.
On March 1, 2009 I wrote about Solving the California Drought through the use of water desalination. Today’s Los Angeles Times reported that the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has unanimously approved the project. Astonishingly there are environmentalists who oppose the project because they believe it will harm the coast. The Times report does not explain the reasoning behind the opposition.
It is interesting to note that there was little or no opposition to the over building of homes throughout California. The urbanization of Southern California was the real issue and there is still little opposition to the continuing construction of homes and businesses throught the state.
Coast Contact 
