Mind you, the area has a two-year old local agency -- the Bay Area Water Transit
Authority --charged with developing a ferry system for the region. But they were never consulted about the end run to run cash to Berg Holdings. In fact, they looked at the plan Congress bought -- and decided it was unworkable. It's the route from Port Sonoma in the upper left corner of the map here. Click the map and it'll take you to their site.The company's owners lobbied Rep Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Sen Barbara Boxer (D-CA) -- even contributed $5,000 and $2,000 to their campaigns respectively.
In the end, Rep Woolsey says she carried the water for Berg Holdings. But she wasn't aware the money was ever included in the bill until it came out. (SF Chronicle)
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This is the tip of the iceberg. Berg Holdings is part owner of the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA)...which owns 15% of Island Mountain Quarry near the Eel River in California. The idea is to move the gravel from the quarry on freight trains (along with anything else they can) through environmentally sensitive areas and the town of Novato so they can get it on barges at Port Sonoma to move to the Delta to shore up the levees. There are so many obsticles, but as long as they make it seem pro environment with the SMART train and supposedly getting trucks off the road...they get the tax dollars they need. It is insane...years from now and million of dollars later it will be obvious who benefited and who lost.
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