We just moved to a house near the Oaks Arm and I have heard there is concern with mercury on Clear Lake. Is it safe to go fishing and swimming? When will the mercury be cleaned up and how do I receive updates?
Thanks!
— Musing about Mercury
View looking to the Herman Impoundment, open abandoned pit mine, at the Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site. Photo: A. De Palma-Dow, 2019. Dear Musing,
Thanks for this question and for your concern. The history of Mercury and Clear Lake is complex. I could probably write several books about the Sulfur Bank Mercury mine (hereinafter referred to as “the mine”).
Today’s column is really a brief introduction to the history of mercury in California, including in lakes and reservoirs, and Clear Lake, and the current efforts for clean-up by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or U.S. EPA.
I also will not be covering in detail the complex impacts the mine has had, and continues to have, on the adjacent Elem Indian Colony, but I recognize and acknowledge that these impacts are significant and severe, and the Elem people deserve a robust remediation and compensation strategy to continue to live near and on the Superfund site.
Like much of the Golden State’s recent history, post-settlement growth, development, and economy of the state was long built on the exploitation of native peoples and the degradation of natural and cultural resources. While the mine has been credited, at one time, as one of the most profitable in the state for mercury, it can be strongly argued if the cost was worth the price.
For more information on the Elem perspective, experiences, and proposed solutions please visit the Elem Environmental Protection Website here.
What is a Superfund Site?
The basic definition of a superfund site is when a site, due to a previously occuring activity, poses a threat to public health and / or the environment and the responsible party (owner, manager) is no longer able to conduct appropriate clean up or mitigation. Usually, this occurs when a business has been polluting, such as dumping waste illegally, and then the company goes out of business, leaving behind a polluted site with no responsible party to conduct, remove, clean-up the waste, or remediate the pollution.
The waste itself, or it’s residue, can be hazardous or toxic and prevent people and wildlife from safely using the land or water, and so the site becomes a candidate for the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund. Sites that pose the greatest potential threat to public health and the environment are put on the National Priorities List, or NPL. The list can be viewed as a map here.
The NPL is the U.S. EPA's list of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites identified for possible long-term remedial response under Superfund. Sites included in the NPL are mostly based on a score the site received under the Hazard Ranking System.
The Sulfur Bank Mercury mine was listed in 1990 and has a score of 44.42. The ranks are based on a scale of 0 to 100, based on the actual or potential release of hazardous substances from a site through air, surface water or groundwater.
Money from Superfund can be used for cleanup only at sites that are on the NPL. However, while the Superfund FUND, used to be mostly supported by oil and chemical taxes, expiration of those taxes occurred in 1995, leaving the taxpayers and general fund to fully support the program.
However, the recently passed Infrastructure Bill includes about $3.5 billion in cleaning up Superfund sites, and other hazardous properties like Brownfield sites, and reinstates the Superfund taxes on oil and chemical companies, making it one of the largest recent investments to address legacy pollution.
This also is probably good news for the Sulfur Bank Mine Superfund Clean-Up site, as funding shortfalls have been referenced as barriers to remediation completion.
Much to know about mercury
Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring chemical element. It used to be known commonly as quicksilver and has historically been used in such applications as thermometers, barometers, manometers, float valves, mercury switches and relays, and fluorescent lamps. Mercury was also used in hydraulic mining, to increase gold and silver yields.
These days, many of the above applications have utilized alternative elements or materials to replace mercury, as mercury can lead to significant health concerns if someone becomes exposed. Mercury poisoning results when someone is exposed to mercury in its liquid form through ingestion, mercury vapor inhalation, or through water-soluble forms such as methyl mercury or mercuric chloride.
Mercury poisoning can lead to potential brain damage, and permanent lung and kidney damage. Chronic exposure can lead to death.
In 2014 the US EPA aimed to fully eliminate the use of mercury in dental offices throughout the Country and in 2017 the U.S. EPA approved mercury limits in California waters and fish tissues to protect human health and aquatic wildlife.
Mercury is unique from other elements in that it retains its liquid form under standard, or everyday normal conditions of temperature and pressure, which makes it extremely pliable for common use applications as listed above!
Mercury history in the Golden State
In California, mercury was historically used to improve hydraulic mining efficiency since mercury creates an amalgam with gold and silver. Basically, when miners added mercury to flowing water washed from mine site, in sluices or troughs, the mercury would readily attach to the gold or silver, making the desired elements heavier so they would sink out of the water and separate from other gravel and sands materials.
This process improved the recovery rates of gold and silver mining. After collection, to separate the gold or silver from the mercury, the amalgam was heated, the mercury vaporized leaving behind only the gold or silver. The vaporized mercury then became airborne and both more easily inhaled and released into the atmosphere.
Mercury mining was conducted to harvest enough material to provide for the booming industrial age in California, and other western states, but also to improve gold and silver mining.
In fact, during the California Gold Rush, gold miners used over 26 million pounds of mercury, and research estimates suggest that at least 13 million pounds of that mercury were released into the environment, mostly through waterways.
Mercury in lakes and reservoirs
Mercury contamination in lakes and reservoirs in California is not unique to Clear Lake. Due to the heavy and widespread mining activity across the State that transported mercury to surface sediments and waters, most, if not all of the waterways in California are considered contaminated by mercury.
Fish advisory signs are posted around Clear Lake at public access points like this one at Lakeside County Park. Photo: County of Lake Water Resources Department. Studies of sediments in river flows during flood events has led researchers to predict that for at least the next 10,000 years, mining legacies in California will continue to release mercury-laden sediments into the environment, including waterways.
Mercury deposition is also a pathway for mercury to enter waterways, through rain and snowmelt. Mercury can become mobilized into the atmosphere during coal-combustion electrical power generation activities. Majority of this deposition occurs in the eastern and mid western United States.
The history of mercury in California Lakes and Reservoirs is complex, and research is still ongoing to understand the full impact mining has had on ecological systems.
Example photo of hydraulic mining common to post-settlement California history. Water from the mining would wash sediments, including mercury and gold, forever changing the landscape and contaminating waterways for thousands of years. Sulfur Bank Mine was not a hydraulic mine, but a pit mine. The mercury harvested from Sulfur Bank Mine was moved to hydraulic mining sites to increase gold and silver extraction. Image source: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/hydraulic-mining-techniques-california-1870s. Legacies of the Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine on Clear Lake
The mine is currently located in Clear Lake Oaks and stretches about 1,300 feet of shoreline on Clear Lake. The mine site contains a 160-are abandoned open-pit mercury mine, which is spring-filled with water and called the Herman Impoundment.
Note that the mine was not a hydraulic mine, but a pit mine. Pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining, is basically surface mining in descending fashion, down into the earth, as opposed to ascending fashion of surface mining on the side of a mountain or hillside.
The mine was mined for sulfur than mercury, intermittently, between 1865 and 1957. Mercury mined from the mine was transported around the state and used in hydraulic mining processes and in industrial applications.
After removing sediment from the pit, and mercury or sulfur was extracted, piles of removed sediment was dumped around the mine, sometimes into piles, called tailings, along the surrounding hills or into the lake or along the shoreline. The mine site has about 150 acres of mine tailings, which equates to about 200 million cubic yards of mine waste.
In general, the site geology, and surrounding sediment, is rich in mercury, which is why the site was selected as a mine location in the first place. Further human activity and modification of the area has allowed the mobilization of mercury from deep in the sediment to the surface where it can pose more contamination risk to humans and wildlife, and flow into the lake easier.
To complicate the issue, the initial clean-up solution, which created a wall of rock and sediment materials between the pit mine (i.e. Herman Impoundment) and the lake was constructed of waste rock from the site. This is called the Waste Rock Dam.
The Herman Impoundment, which sits higher in elevation than Clear Lake, and is spring fed, facilitates the mercury pathway into the lake. Gravity moves water from the impoundment through the contaminated soils and sediments of the waste rock dam; mercury is still slowly leaching from the mine site into the sediments at the bottom of the lake.
For the most part, mercury will stay adhered to sediments, and won’t be an exposure risk in the water itself. Swimming and boating are not at all hazardous in the Oaks arm area around the mine. Recreating in the sediments or soils at the site, or directly adjacent, should be avoided. Please refer to this 2022 US EPA factsheet “The Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Site: Arsenic and Mercury Risks."
Mercury exposure in water can occur when the mercury becomes methylated, under low oxygen concentrations in the water column, and moves into the water column where it can be consumed by fish. Fish and shellfish that live in, feed in, or habitat the sediments, are also more likely to ingest and become part of the mercury pathway.
The process of mercury moving from the sediments into fish, or living tissues, is called biomagnification. Biomagnification is the transfer of mercury in the fatty tissue of organisms up through the food web.
Basically, mercury transports through the tissue of one fish and is absorbed into the tissue of another fish, or human, when that fish is consumed. The larger the organism, the larger the amount of mercury potentially can be consumed.
Due to the contamination sourced from the mine, and the impact on the local tribal and Lake County communities, the site was added to the Superfund cleanup program in 1990. Since this time, the EPA has completed eight clean-ups to protect human health and the environment.
However, mercury is still present in fish in Clear Lake and in sediments near the mine, and continues to seep into the lake from the Herman Impoundment through the waste rock pile dam.
Looking north to Rattlesnake Island from the top of the Waste Rock Dam on the Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine Site. Photo taken with permission from U.S. EPA by A. De Palma-Dow, 2019. Future clean-up efforts
According to the Sulfur Bank Mine US EPA Superfund Site Team, there is a comprehensive plan to conduct the remaining clean-up on the Sulfur Bank Mine site. This team wants the community around Clear Lake to be involved and participate in this planning, so local concerns and perspectives are considered and included.
The general timeline for the Clean-up is as follows:
• Fall/Winter 2022: Final cleanup plan for the on-land mine part of the site presented to the community. • 2025-2028 (estimated): Start cleanup of on-land, mine part of the site. • Ongoing: Continue studying lake and sediment to see how best to control the mercury.
The proposed schedule and approach to the remaining clean-up will include a proposed cleanup plan, released sometime this month (November 2022, called a “Proposed Plan”) for the on-land mine part of the site.
The U.S. EPA communication and outreach team will conduct several open house, town-hall and virtual events where they will explain how the plan will protect human health and the environment.
After the U.S. EPA releases the plan, they will notify the community via newspaper, fliers, radio, website, postcards. They will also post a youtube presentation and open a 90-day public comment period. It’s the intention of the U.S. EPA to host several public engagement opportunities, with events dates, time, locations, and accessibility information being posted on their website and sent out to local media partners.
You can reach out to the U.S. EPA Sulfur Bank Mine team directly by contacting their Community Involvement Coordinator, Gavin Pauley, Region 9, at (415) 535-3725 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To learn more about the U.S. EPA Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine site clean-up and progress and to be added to the Superfund Site’s mailing list, visit this page.
This year there have been two presentations to the Lake County Board of Supervisors by the Sulfur Bank Mine Sueprfund U.S. EPA team, you can find them here and and the County of Lake You Tube Channel.
Angela De Palma-Dow is a limnologist (limnology = study of fresh inland waters) who lives and works in Lake County. Born in Northern California, she has a Master of Science from Michigan State University. She is a Certified Lake Manager from the North American Lake Management Society, or NALMS, and she is the current president/chair of the California chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
As the end of daylight saving time arrives, the California Highway Patrol and its traffic safety partners are reminding motorists about the impact the time change and a lack of adequate sleep can have on their ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.
The CHP has partnered with the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Sleep Foundation in recognizing Nov. 6 to 12 as Drowsy Driving Prevention Week to raise awareness about the importance of a good night’s rest before driving.
Although we “fall back” and gain an extra hour of sleep, it does not necessarily equate to added rest, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
In the fall, people tend to wake up earlier, which results in less sleep throughout the week. The time change can also impair sleep quality. This disruption in sleep/wake patterns can have dangerous consequences, such as an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes.
“The CHP’s mission is to eliminate roadway deaths through education and enforcement of traffic safety laws designed to keep motorists safe,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray. “Fatigue can impair driving skills similar to being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Plan ahead before you get on the road to ensure you are well rested.’’
“Being so tired that you’re ‘running on fumes’ and driving are a dangerous combination,” Office of Traffic Safety Director Barbara Rooney said. “Driving safely requires your full and undivided attention — something we are not able to do when tired and sleepy. It is important you get the sleep you need so that when you drive, you are alert and refreshed.”
In California in 2019 and 2020, drowsy drivers caused more than 11,000 crashes, resulting in 6,411 injuries and 73 deaths.
Drivers ages 16 to 25 are at the greatest risk of falling asleep at the wheel, however drowsiness impacts anyone’s ability to drive safely by slowing reaction times and making it harder to pay attention to the road.
“Caltrans is committed to eliminating fatalities and serious injuries on all California roadways by 2050,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “To achieve this ambitious goal, Caltrans is working to make our transportation system safer and more forgiving. However, safety is a shared responsibility. Every motorist can do their part by ensuring that, when they get behind the wheel, they are well rested and alert.”
Whenever motorists begin to feel tired, the CHP reminds motorists to pull safely off the road and use one of Caltrans’ statewide roadside rest areas for a quick mind-clearing break.
To find a rest area or to check for the latest travel information on state highways, visit the Caltrans QuickMap at http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/.
Motorists are advised against stopping on the side of the road where they risk getting hit by another car.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has more new dogs from the working breeds available to new homes.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of American blue heeler, basset hound, Cardigan Welsh corgi, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd, hound, Labrador retriever and pit bull.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
This 3-year-old female German shepherd is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-4168. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female German shepherd
This 3-year-old female German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-4168.
This 3-year-old female pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-4210. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull
This 3-year-old female pit bull terrier has a fawn-colored coat.
She is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-4210.
This 2-year-old female Cardigan Welsh corgi is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-4139. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female Cardigan Welsh corgi
This 2-year-old female Cardigan Welsh corgi has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-4139.
“Arlo” is a 3-year-old male basset hound-Labrador retriever mix in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-4164. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Arlo’
“Arlo” is a 3-year-old male basset hound-Labrador retriever mix with a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-4164.
This 1-year-old male American blue heeler is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4128. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male American blue heeler
This 1-year-old male American blue heeler has a short coat.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4128.
This 3-month-old female Labrador retriever is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4162. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female Labrador retriever
This 3-month-old female Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4162.
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-4112. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Labrador retriever
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-4112.
This 3-month-old male Labrador retriever is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-4163. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Labrador retriever
This 3-month-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-4163.
This 3-month-old female Cardigan Welsh corgi is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-4138. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female corgi
This 3-month-old female Cardigan Welsh corgi has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-4138.
This 2-year-old male hound mix is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-4176. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male hound mix
This 2-year-old male hound mix has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-4176.
This 2-month-old male pit bull terrier mix puppy is in kennel No. 23a, ID No. LCAC-A-4116. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit mix puppy
This 2-month-old male pit bull terrier mix puppy has a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23a, ID No. LCAC-A-4116.
This 2-month-old male pit bull terrier mix puppy is in kennel No. 23e, ID No. LCAC-A-4120. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit mix puppy
This 2-month-old male pit bull terrier mix puppy has a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23e, ID No. LCAC-A-4120.
This 2-month-old female pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 24b, ID No. LCAC-A-4121. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull puppy
This 2-month-old female pit bull puppy has a short white and red coat.
She is in kennel No. 24b, ID No. LCAC-A-4121.
This 2-month-old female pit bull terrier mix puppy is in kennel No. 24c, ID No. LCAC-A-4122. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit mix puppy
This 2-month-old female pit bull terrier mix puppy has a short white coat.
He is in kennel No. 24c, ID No. LCAC-A-4122.
“Ruby” is a 6-month-old female hound mix in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-3753. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Ruby’
“Ruby” is a 6-month-old female hound mix with a brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-3753.
This 1-year-old male German shepherd is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-4204. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-4204.
This 6-month-old male Doberman pinscher is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-4207. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Doberman pinscher
This 6-month-old male Doberman pinscher has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-4207.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will survey the same areas of the sky every few days following its launch in May 2027. Researchers will mine these data to identify kilonovae — explosions that happen when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide and merge. When these collisions happen, a fraction of the resulting debris is ejected as jets, which move near the speed of light. The remaining debris produces hot, glowing, neutron-rich clouds that forge heavy elements, like gold and platinum. Roman’s extensive data will help astronomers better identify how often these events occur, how much energy they give off, and how near or far they are. Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI). What happens when the densest, most massive stars — that are also super small — collide?
They send out brilliant explosions known as kilonovae. Think of these events as the universe’s natural fireworks.
Theorists suspect they periodically occur all across the cosmos — both near and far. Scientists will soon have an additional observatory to help follow up on and even scout these remarkable events: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is set to launch by May 2027.
The key actors in kilonovae are neutron stars, the central cores of stars that collapsed under gravity during supernova explosions. They each have a mass similar to the Sun, but are only about 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter. And when they collide, they send out debris moving near the speed of light.
These explosions are also thought to forge heavy elements, like gold, platinum, and strontium (which gives actual fireworks their stunning reds). Kilonovae shoot those elements across space, potentially allowing them to end up in rocks forming the crust of terrestrial planets like Earth.
The astronomical community captured one of these remarkable kilonova events in 2017. Scientists at the National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, detected the collision of two neutron stars first with gravitational waves – ripples in space-time.
Almost simultaneously, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected high-energy light. NASA quickly pivoted to observe the event with a broader fleet of telescopes, and captured the fading glow of the blast’s expanding debris in a series of images.
But the players in this example collided practically in our “backyard,” at least in astronomical terms. They lie only 130 million light-years away. There must be more kilonovae — and many that are farther flung — dotting our ever-active universe.
“We don’t yet know the rate of these events,” said Daniel M. Scolnic, an assistant professor of physics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Scolnic led a study that estimates the number of kilonovae that could be discovered by past, present, and future observatories including Roman. “Is the single kilonova we identified typical? How bright are these explosions? What types of galaxies do they occur in?”
Existing telescopes can’t cover wide enough areas or observe deeply enough to find more distant examples, but that will change with Roman.
Spotting more, and more distant, kilonovae
At this stage, LIGO leads the pack in identifying neutron star mergers. It can detect gravitational waves in all areas of the sky, but some of the most distant collisions may be too weak to be identified. Roman is set to join LIGO’s search, offering complementary qualities that help “fill out” the team.
Roman is a survey telescope that will repeatedly scan the same areas of the sky. Plus, Roman's field of view is 200 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s infrared view — not as vast as LIGO’s, but huge for a telescope that takes images. Its cadence will allow researchers to spot when objects on the sky brighten or dim, whether nearby or very far away.
Roman will provide researchers a powerful tool for observing extremely distant kilonovae. This is due to the expansion of space. Light that left stars billions of years ago is stretched into longer, redder wavelengths, known as infrared light, over time.
Since Roman specializes in capturing near-infrared light, it will detect light from very distant objects. How distant? “Roman will be able to see some kilonovae whose light has traveled about 7 billion years to reach Earth,” explained Eve Chase, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Chase led a more recent study that simulated how differences in kilonovae ejecta can vary what we expect to observe from observatories including Roman.
There’s a second benefit to near-infrared light: It provides more time to observe these short-lived bursts. Shorter wavelengths of light, like ultraviolet and visible, disappear from view in a day or two. Near-infrared light can be gathered for a week or more. Researchers have been simulating the data to see how this will work.
“For a subset of simulated kilonovae, Roman would be able to observe some more than two weeks after the neutron star merger occurred,” Chase added. “It will be an excellent tool for looking at kilonovae that are very far away.”
Soon, researchers will know far more about where kilonovae occur, and how often these explosions occur in the history of the universe. Were those that occurred earlier different in some way? “Roman will allow the astronomy community to begin conducting population studies along with a slew of new analyses on the physics of these explosions,” Scolnic said.
A survey telescope offers enormous possibility – and also a ton of data that will require precise machine learning. Astronomers are meeting this challenge by writing code to automate these searches.
Ultimately, Roman’s massive data sets will help researchers unravel perhaps the greatest mysteries about kilonovae to date: What happens after two neutron stars collide? Does it produce a single neutron star, a black hole, or something else entirely? With Roman, we will gather the statistics researchers need to make substantial breakthroughs.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions.
The primary industrial partners are Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
Claire Blome works for the Space Telescope Science Institute.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is poised to give its members one of the largest raises in its history after voting to take the next steps to increase its pay during its meeting on Tuesday.
With Supervisor Moke Simon absent, the board voted 4-0 to direct staff to come back with a draft ordinance no later than Jan. 23, after property taxes have been determined for the coming year, to put the 38.8% raise into effect.
Staff proposed, and the board accepted, tying the board’s pay rate to those of Superior Court judges.
Under the planned action, the board would get 38.6% of the salaries of Superior Court judges, which as of July 1 totaled $229,125 annually.
That action would increase annual pay for a supervisor from a base pay of $63,714 — with an additional $2,400 for the chair — to $88,483.20 annually, a 38.8%-percent increase from the current salary level, with the chair to receive an additional 5%, or $4,472.
The 2020 American Community Survey showed that Lake County’s median income is $49,254 and mean income is $72,862, with median family income of $65,410.
The raise means board members would rise from a pay level into which 16.6% of residents fall to one that covers 11% of county residents.
Newest Supervisor Michael Green, sworn in last week after being appointed to fill the District 4 seat by Gov. Gavin Newsom, encouraged approval.
“I’m going to support this and we’re going to find the money to pay for it and we have a big ol’ budget and I acknowledge there may be some challenges in finding the sustainability but I have every confidence the staff will get us there,” Green said.
While tying the salaries to Superior Court judges is meant to “mitigate the appearance of a conflict of your Board approving raises for themselves,” according to County Administrative Officer Susan Parker’s written report, supervisors acknowledged that the fact remains that they are approving the mechanism and so are still responsible for setting their own pay.
If approved early in 2023, this will be the latest batch of raises the supervisors have given out during the pandemic. So far, the board has given out $21 million in raises since the fall of 2021, justifying them with the 2019 classification and compensation study.
Parker’s report to the board said the raises will increase payroll expenses by $125,918 a year, increasing total supervisorial salary costs from $323,832 to $449,750 annually.
However, that number did not include benefits. It was not until Tuesday’s meeting that Assistant County Administrative Officer Stephen Carter reported that the total cost for the increase, with benefits, would be $165,000 annually.
Carter said the increase would be covered by ongoing county revenue streams with overages, citing among them property tax. Savings from the county’s continued high number of vacancies is another funding source.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska said it was “obviously” an uncomfortable conversation, but giving the raise is, in her view, important to the health of the county and the board itself.
She said it will encourage qualified people to step up and take the jobs, pointing to the uncontested reelections this year of board members EJ Crandell and Bruno Sabatier.
Pyska also said it was difficult to fill the District 4 seat that Green now occupies.
Green echoed Pyska’s comments, acknowledging it did look awkward but again pointing to the concerns about the current pay rate, explaining that he had to consider the pay when deciding to pursue the appointment. “I’m all in on this.”
During public comment, several speakers weighed in, some saying the raise was necessary, others also asking for additional transparency about what board members do and how much time they spend doing it. One speaker said the board has executive-level positions, and executives don’t make less than $100,000 annually.
Staff did not answer a question posed by Lake County News about when was the last time the board received such a large raise.
Instead, Human Resources Director Pam Samac said the supervisors last received a raise in 2015, when all staff received a 3% cost of living adjustment.
Lake County News also asked why Pyska said the District 4 seat was hard to fill when, at that point, this reporter knew of three individuals — including Green — who had applied. However, only Green was acknowledged and interviewed by the Governor’s Office.
Pyska said she hadn’t known about the other two and that there had been a “significant amount of time” when only one person had applied for the seat.
Later in the meeting, Pyska’s campaign manager, Gillian Parrillo, weighed in via Zoom to double down on the claim that the seat was hard to fill, saying one of the applicants had not been in the district. She also raised the issue with whether 38% of a Superior Court judge’s pay was a high enough pay range for the supervisors.
Since the Tuesday meeting, Lake County News has confirmed there was a fourth individual who had wanted to pursue the District 4 seat, but was outside of the district boundaries.
Board members agreed to Pyska’s suggestion that county staff add language to the proposed ordinance to raise pay supervisorial to state that supervisors’ jobs are full-time, meaning, they are trading “part-time” pay of $63,714 to go to full time at $88,483.20.
Sabatier, who wanted to wait until the midyear budget review early next year to make a final decision on the pay increases, said he also wanted to have a future conversation about expectations for supervisors performance.
He pointed out that state law covers the job descriptions, however, a review of state Government Code shows that such job descriptions give few qualifications for supervisors beyond being a registered voter and living in their specific district.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the board has existing policies, procedures and conduct requirements for its members that can be augmented if the supervisors wish.
After several minutes of trying to come up with a motion, Green, with Grant’s help, moved to have staff bring back an ordinance with the new pay amounts no later than Jan. 23, which should give staff time to look at the final property tax roll for the next year. Sabatier seconded and the motion passed 4-0.
At Grant’s suggestion, the board also directed staff to come back with “a vehicle” for the supervisors to develop more fully the obligations, functions and duties of board members.
Grant said the proposed ordinance will require two readings and won’t go into effect until 60 days after the approval of the second reading.
Comparisons with neighboring counties
To put Lake’s current and proposed supervisorial salaries in context, the following is a list of the pay ranges for the boards of supervisors of Lake and neighboring counties, as well as those counties’ current populations, as reported to the State Controller’s Office through its Government Compensation in California website:
• Colusa County, population 21,807: $74,746 to $83,060. • Glenn County, population 28,750: $40,526 to $41,887. • Lake County, population 67,407: $65,738 to $69,796. • Mendocino County, population 89,999: $92,996 to $102,107. • Napa County, population 136,179: $107,456 to $111,255. • Sonoma County, population 482,404: $174,472 to $185,069. • Yolo County, population 221,165: $104,556 to $108,834.
The state’s lowest pay rate for supervisors is in Modoc County, population 8,690, where the range is from $19,705 to $23,905.
The highest pay rate in the state is for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, with a pay range of $259,794 to $272,832. Los Angeles County’s population is 9,861,224.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — County officials are alerting pet owners in Lakeport regarding the outbreak of an infectious disease that affects cats.
Lake County Animal Care and Control has become aware of multiple documented cases of feline panleukopenia in the 5300 block of Lakeshore Boulevard.
Feline panleukopenia is a highly infectious disease that can infect wild and domestic cats.
The last feline panleukopenia outbreak reported in Lake County occurred in Nice in October 2020.
Animals with feline panleukopenia can shed large amounts of the virus in secretions including feces, vomit, urine, saliva and mucus.
Primary signs of infection include anorexia, lethargy, profuse watery to bloody diarrhea, and vomiting.
Feline panleukopenia must be immediately and aggressively treated, as infection can be fatal in less than 24 hours.
Animal Care and Control said prevention is vital to protect cats.
Cat owners in the area where these infections were documented are advised to contact their veterinarian for specific vaccination recommendations and treatment options if their cat is showing symptoms.
Although risk of infection in other areas of Lake County is lower, it is recommended that cat and dog owners regularly vaccinate their animals to prevent infection of diseases like feline panleukopenia, canine parvovirus and others.
Lake County Animal Care and Control can be reached Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 707-263-0278.
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