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Documents, Articles, and other resources

Documents

  • May 26, 2011: "An Ampitheater for the Damming", a transcript of Gray Brechin's evening talk given in the Botanical Garden as a fund-raiser for Save Strawberry Canyon, describes the history of the use and misuse of the Canyon. Read a PDF copy here.

  • March 31, 2011: Save Strawberry Canyon filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court challenging the Department of Energy's approval LBNL's CRT Project and their finding that the CRT Project will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment and does not require an Environmental Impact Statement (see Feb. 25, 2011 below). The Complaint requests that the Court order the Department of Engergy to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement consistent with federal environmental regulations required by NEPA. Read a copy of the Complaint here [710K PDF].

  • March 3, 2011: The US District Court dissolved its August 17, 2009 injunction (see below) that halted construction on the CRT project. Read the court order here [49K PDF].

  • February 25, 2011: The U.S. Dept. of Energy released a "Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI) regarding LBNL's CRT project, claiming that the Lab's Environmental Assessment was sufficient and that it does not have to prepare a more thorough Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A PDF copy of the FONSI is available here and at the CRT website.

  • February 22, 2011: Save Strawberry Canyon filed a lawsuit yesterday against the UC Regents in the Alameda County Superior Court challenging their approval of the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) project and their certification of the associated Final Environmental Impact Report. See this PDF copy [900 KB].

  • February 10, 2011: Save Strawberry Canyon filed a Notice of Appeal of the U.S. District Court order of December 17 which denied our motion to overturn the approval of the Environmental Assessment of LBNL's BELLA Project. See also this list of related court documents..

  • January 21, 2011: Save Strawberry Canyon filed an opening brief in the Alameda Superior Court, seeking to overturn the UC Regents' approval of the Seismic Life Safety...Phase 2 Project and their certification of its Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

  • January 14, 2011: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to the Regents urging them to restrain from moving forward on the proposed SERC project, both because the EIR is inadequate and because plans for moving forward on SERC are premature until proper federal review is undertaken in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). See also this January 17 addendum adding a New York Times article about the possibility of "superstorms" affecting central California.

  • December 22, 2010: LBNL made available its final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on its Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) project at the SERC website. Our comments on the draft EIR were submitted October 21, 2010.

  • December 17, 2010: A Federal District court order denied our motion for summary judgment to overturn DOE's approval of the Environmental Assessment of LBNL's BELLA Project. See also this list of related court documents.

  • November 29, 2010: The Strawberry Creek Watershed Council submitted a request to the Regional Water Quality Control Board [79K PDF copy], asking for enforcement of water quality standards at LBNL's BELLA site and an examination of water discharged from the Bevatron site. This request references a March 2007 document [see below] regarding contaminant water plumes at LBNL sites. A list of previous correspondence can be found here.

  • November 3, 2011 FEMA posted a Scoping Report on their proposed Environmental Impact Statement on the Hazardous Fire Risk Reduction projects in the East Bay Hills. View a PDF copy [321 KB] on their website here and appendices [54 MB PDF] here.

  • October 29, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon filed
    • a Reply Brief (136K PDF copy)
    • and a Declaration of Counsel (745K PDF copy) in support of our motion in Federal District Court for summary judgment to overturn DOE's approval of the Environmental Assessment of LBNL's BELLA Project.
    See also Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 3, 2010 below. or see this list of court documents.

  • October 29, 2010: A letter was sent to LBNL from members of LBNL's Community Advisory Group and others — the letter lists a number of sources of mistrust of the Lab among many community members, and gives recommendations for steps the Lab can take to gain the community's trust. Read a PDF copy here.

  • October 21, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon submitted comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for LBNL's SERC (Solar Energy Research Center) Construction. Read a PDF copy here. The Draft EIR and the Lab's press releases are available this LBNL webpage.

  • October 15, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon submitted comments about the draft Environmental Assessment for LBNL's CRT (Computational Research and Theory Facility) project. Read a PDF copy here.

  • October 15, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon board member John Shively sent a letter to the San Francisco Regional Office of the Water Quality Control Board requesting that the agency order all construction on the BELLA project be immediately stopped pending a complete investigation and report on possible violations of applicable federal and state laws. Read it here.

  • October 1, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon filed in the Federal District Court an opposition to the Department of Energy's arguments regarding the sufficiency of their Environmental Assessment of LBNL's BELLA project. Read a PDF copy here. See also Sept. 3, 2010 below and Oct. 29, 2010 above.

  • September 30, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asking that they not provide funding for two University of Californa projects that would completely remove certain trees from areas affecting Strawberry Canyon and its neighborhoods. Read a PDF copy here.

  • September 3, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon filed a motion for summary judgement, asking the Federal District Court to set aside the Department of Energy (DOE) approval of the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) because it fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
    • Read a PDF copy of the motion here.
    • Read a PDF copy of the DOE's cross-motion here.
    See also Oct. 1 & 29, 2010 above.

  • August 16, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon filed a complaint in the Alameda Court challenging the UC Regent's approval of their Seismic Phase 2 Project and their certification of the associated Final Environmental Impact Report. Read a PDF copy of the complaint here (932 KB file).

  • July 9, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to the UC Regents urging them not to certify the Environmental Impact Report for LBNL's proposed Seismic Phase 2 Project because it fails to consider fully the impacts to the natural environment, the risks to the health and safety of the community, and the use of resources without degradation and unintended consequences. Read a PDF copy here, and the attachments here.

  • July 2, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board requesting that the initiate a risk assessment of LBNL's proposed construction which may pose a risk to water quality. Read a PDF copy here (118 KB file).

  • June 11, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon submitted comments to LBNL about their proposed Draft Environmental Report for the Solar Energy Research Center construction project. Read it here.

  • April 28, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory expressing concern that the Regents may approve certain construction projects in the canyon before an important environmental review is completed. Read it here.

  • March 21, 2010: Read our Newsletter.

  • March 15, 2010: Dr. Garniss Curtis, Dr. Georgia Wright, and John Shively, PE, sent a letter to LBNL containing comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Seismic Life Safety, Modernization, and replacement of General Purpose Buidlings, Phase 2 Project. Read a PDF copy here.

  • March 12, 2010: The California Court of Appeals reversed a previous Alameda Superior Court judgement that would have required the Regents to recirculate part of their Environmental Impact Report on construction projects in Strawberry Canyon for possible revisions. Read a PDF copy of the Court's Opinion, or see the case information on the Court of Appeals website

  • February 9, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter expressing strong support of FEMA's decision to do a more thorough environmental review of the proposed vegetation management project in the East Bay Hills. The letter was sent to Senator Diane Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security. Read it here.

  • January 20, 2010: The UC Board of Regents approved revised plans to build a new home for the Helios Energy Research Facility in a five-story building to be constructed west of the central Berkeley campus. Read the press release.

  • January 15, 2010: Save Strawberry Canyon delivered a letter to the UC Regents asking them to consider not only the seismic situation under the Stadium in their environmental review, but also the geological conditions eastward of it. Impact analysis of the unstable caldera (volcano cavity) above the Stadium has not been included so far. Read it here.

  • December 15, 2009: Save Strawberry Canyon delivered a letter to LBNL expressing our concern about the chain-link fences that are found in many areas of Strawberry Canyon. Read it here.

  • December 1, 2009: CRT: LBNL issued a notice for the environmental review of their proposed Computational Research and Theory (CRT) Facility to be located on the wooded bluff below the Cyclotron. You can read a pdf copy of this notice at the LBNL website.

  • September 4, 2009: BELLA: The U.S. Dept. of Energy declared that the proposed development of the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator will have no significant environmental impact.
    • Read a pdf copy of the announcement here.
    • Other related documents are available at the BELLA website.
    • For Save Strawberry Canyon's comments on the project, see below.

  • August 17, 2009: CRT: Save Strawberry Canyon won a summary judgement motion in its challenge "Save Strawberry Canyon v. Department of Energy" in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California. The judgement halts LBNL's Computer Research and Theory Facility (CRT) project pending a Federal environmental review (NEPA). You can read the court order in pdf format here.

  • August 3, 2009: HELIOS: Chancellor Birgeneau announced a decision to relocate Helios out of Strawberry Canyon and to divide it into two projects:   "Helios West" for a downtown Berkeley location at the state public health building site, and a smaller "Helios East" at an unspecified LBNL hill site to be announced later.
    • You can read the University's 8/3/09 news release here.
    • A copy of a letter from Chancellor Birgeneau to Berkeley City Council is available in pdf format here.

  • July 2009: BELLA: Save Strawberry Canyon submitted two comments on the BELLA project to UC Berkeley in July 2009: You can read PDF copies of the July 14 letter and the July 24 letter.

  • July 5, 2009: Save Strawberry Canyon sent a letter to UC Berkeley questioning whether they had included sufficient analysis of greenhouse gases that would be produced by their proposed development of Strawberry Canyon. You can read a pdf copy of that letter here.

  • March 18, 2009: CRT: Save Strawberry Canyon won a temporary injuction against further construction of the CRT project in its challenge "Save Strawberry Canyon v. Department of Energy" in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California. You can read the court order in pdf format here [1.8 MB].

  • August 27, 2008: Judge Frank Roesch of the Alameda County Superior Court ordered the UC Regents to recirculate their Long Range Development Plan's Climate Change Analysis. view the judgement here; other documents in the case may be seen by entering the case number (RG07341224) at the court's website.

  • May 11, 2008: Dr. Garniss Curtis, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley, sent a Letter to the UC Regents explaining the unstable geological conditions of the hills to the east of the campus and strongly recommended that "Major buildings of any kind should not be constructed in either of these canyons bordering this huge block of unstable rock."

  • May 7, 2008: The Richmond City Council passed Resolution No. 47-08 asking that the UC Regents decertify their environmental action reports for the proposed new buildings in the Strawberry Canyon area and consider the Richmond Field Station as an alternate site.

  • Feb 1, 2008: The president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association sent a letter to LBNL commenting on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for their Helios Energy Resource Facility (Helios) project.

  • January 4, 2008: The president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association sent a letter to LBNL commenting on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for their Computational Research and Theory Facility (CRT) project.

  • August, 2007: A complaint was filed with the Alameda County Superior Court case challenging the adequacy of Long Range Development Plan 2006 Environmental Impact Report (Jones et al. v. Regents of the University of California, Case No. RG07341224). Documents in the case may be seen by entering the case number (RG07341224) at the court's website.

  • March, 2007: The Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste released two reports on the danger of toxic waste from the LBNL:
    • Contaminant Plumes of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their Interrelation to Faults, Landslides, and Streams in Strawberry Canyon, Berkeley and Oakland, California. An introduction and PDF copy are available here and a web version here.
    • Environmental Monitoring of Present and Reconstruction of Past Tritium Emissions. An introduction and PDF copy are available here.

  • January 23, 2007: LBNL issues a news release about their "draft 2006 Long Range Development Plan" (LRDP), which establishes a framework of land-use principles to guide the Lab's growth and other physical development through 2025." The plan and a related draft Environmental Impact Report are available at that can be accessed at Berkeley Lab's LRDP website.

  • 1987: Strawberry Creek Management Plan, Prepared by Robert B. Charbonneau for the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, U.C. Berkeley, Dec. 1987.

  • 1976: "Strawberry Canyon, University of California, Berkeley: A Land Use and Vegetative Management Study", by Garret Eckbo & Associates for the Office of Architects & Engineers, June 1976. Available at the U.C. Berkeley Enviromental Design Library. (Not available online.)

  • 1930: Report on Proposed Park Reservations for East Bay Cities (California). Frederick Law Olmsted and Ansel F. Hall. This document was quite important in the establishment of the East Bay Regional Park District. Available are a PDF copy of the text (272K - no pictures or map included), a scanned PDF copy (15MB - may take a very long time to download), and the map that accompanied the report.

    • Other Documents:

  • LRDP: UC Berkeley's 2020 Long Range Development Plan documents, last updated in January 2005, include both the plan itself and the environmental impact reports. Another collection of LRDP documents is available from a Lawrence Berkeley Lab website.

  • CRT (part of LRDP): UC Berkeley's documents concerning the Computational Research and Theory (CRT) Facility through March 2009 are available here. The Lab's Sept. 2010 Draft Environmental Assessment, required by the court order of Aug. 17, 2009, can be found here.

  • A Study in Support of the 2020 Long Range Development Plan, Dec. 2002. (A PDF document.)

 

Articles

  • January 15, 2011. "If Quakes Weren’t Enough, Enter the ‘Superstorm’." Felicity Barringer for The New York Times. (Regarding the possibility of "superstorms" affecting central California.)
  • January 3, 2011."Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Launches Information Gathering Process for a Possible Second Campus." LBNL News Center.
  • September 16, 2010 . "Berkeley Lab Looks to Expand to a Second Site". LBNL News Center.
  • September 3, 2010 "City Woos Lawrence Berkeley Labs." Dennis Evanosky for the Alamedia Sun. (Alameda "rolled out the red carpet" for representatives from LBNL.)
  • September 3, 2010 "New Facility May Be Ahead for Lab." Cristian Macavei for The Daily Californian.
  • February 16, 2010 . "Laboratory Takes Strategic Approach to Resolving Space Crunch". Julie Chao for Today at Berkeley Lab.
  • January 2010. Naturalist Phila Rogers has several stories on the Lawrence Hall of Science website:
  • January 22, 2010 . "Will Berkeley Be the Next Haiti?" Steven Newton, a project director for the National Center for Science Education, for the Huffington Post.
  • October 5, 2009. "Helios Builder Sought, Public Meetings Set." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • September 10, 2009."Agrofuel Lab Appears Twice on Regents’ Slate." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet and a clarification printed on Sept. 17, 2009.
  • August 20, 2009 . "Environmentalists Force New Review of LBNL's Proposed Computer Lab." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • August 13, 2009. "Lab Facility Plans Shaped by Challenges." by Javier Panzar for The Daily Californian. (Regarding the Helios project.)
  • July 31, 2009. "BP’s Biofuel Lab Heads to Downtown Berkeley." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet. (regarding the Helios project.)
  • July 9, 2009. "Laser-Powered Accelerator Plan Gets Boost from Recovery Act." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet. (regarding BELLA.)
  • July 9, 2009 . "Battle Over LBNL Computer Center Heads for Key Court Hearing." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • April 2, 2009 . "Chu Boosts Berkeley Lab Projects; Foes Fear Strawberry Canyon Impacts." (Covers the site of the proposed General Purpose Laboratory and the controversy surrounding it.) Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • March 20, 2009 . "Judge Halts Construction, Site Work at LBNL Lab Site." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet
  • March 20, 2009 . "Judge Delays UC's Computer Research Center." Bob Egelko for the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • February 04, 2009 . "East Bay Then and Now: Berkeleyan Torrey Owned Duchamp's Most Famous Painting." [This article contains photos of some early homes in Strawberry Canyon.] Daniella Thompson for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • January 21, 2009 "LBNL: Move West Berkeley Biolabs to New Building on Hill." (Covers a public meeting about the General Purpose Laboratory.) Richard Brenneman for the Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • January 13, 2009 . "Reshaped HELIOS Building Sparks Further Criticism." Richard Brenneman for the Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • December 10, 2008. "LBNL Begins Environmental Review Of Scaled-down Helios Lab Building." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • December 3, 2008 . "Biofuels Lab Threatens Strawberry Canyon." Robert Gammon for the East Bay Express.
  • September 18, 2008 . "Both Sides Claim Victory in Lab Long Range Plan Lawsuit." Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • September 8, 2008. "Battle for Strawberry Canyon Ever More Urgent." A reader commentary by Ariel Parkinson in The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • August 21, 2008 . "Strawberry Canyon: Nature Right Next Door." by Phila Rogers for the Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • July 8, 2008. "Lawsuits Challenge BP Project Lab, Computing Center at LBNL Campus." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • Four Articles by Naturalist Joe Eaton in his "Wild Neighbors" Column for The Berkeley Daily Planet
  • Dec, 2007 . "Strawberry Canyon- A Cultural Landscape at a Crossroads." by Janice Thomas for the Sierra Club Yodeler.
  • August 10, 2007. "Few Defend UC Lab in Heated Meeting on EIR." by Richard Brenneman for the The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • January 26, 2007 . "Berkeley LRDP Released." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • January 23, 2007 . "East Bay Then and Now: Sierra Club Pioneers lived near Pre-Stadium Strawberry Canyon." by Daniella Thompson for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • September, 2005. "Strawberry Canyon, a 'mountain gorge': Framing Memorial Stadium is Berkeley's natural landscape." by Janice Thomas for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.
  • May 31, 2005. "LBNL Plans For Cleanup Challenged At Hearing." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • January 21, 2005 . "Regents Approve UC Berkeley LRDP." by Matthew Artz for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • 2005. "Memorial Stadium—controversial from the start." by Susan Cerny for The Berkeley Daily Planet and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.
  • August 6, 2004. "State Toxics Experts Analyzing Report on LBNL Contamination." by Richard Brenneman for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • November 21, 2003 . "Lab Growth Threatens Strawberry Canyon Site." by Janice Thomas for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • November 18, 2003 "Neighbors Slam LBNL Expansion." by By Matthew Artz for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • August 8, 2003. "LBNL Agrees to Spare Creek." by By Paul Kilduff, special to The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • May 27, 2003. "A Brief History of LBNL and Berkeley." By Gene Bernardi for The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  • Strawberry Canyon and the UC Botanical Garden." by Phila Rogers
  • "Strawberry Canyon Over the Years." by Phila Rogers.
  • Older Articles:

Links

 

Save Strawberry Canyon - P.O. Box 1234 - Berkeley, CA 94701
savestrawberrycanyon@gmail.com

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