By Faughn New Developments 0 Comments

Lathrop Groundbreaking Ceremony Kicks Off Construction Phase for Valley Rail Program

STOCKTON, CA – June 20, 2024 – This week representatives of the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (SJRRC), the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA), and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) officially broke ground on the Lathrop Wye Box Culvert (Box Culvert) project, marking the first major step in the construction phase of the Valley Rail program. Valley Rail is a transformative program that will enhance rail connectivity and service between the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento, and the Bay Area, significantly improving regional mobility and sustainability for Valley travelers, visitors, and residents.

Transforming Regional Rail Connectivity: Lathrop Wye and Track Extension Project

Sited near the Manteca Unified School District office complex, the Box Culvert project is the first component of the two-part Lathrop Wye and Track Extension Project which will construct a concrete structural box culvert that provides a platform for the future track associated with the Lathrop Wye.  The second phase will construct the Lathrop Wye Track and will provide the necessary track infrastructure to allow direct ACE train service between Ceres/Merced and San Jose. The second phase is scheduled to begin construction in late 2025 or early 2026.

The 384-foot-long Box Culvert will function to allow the current irrigation drainage ditch to continue to provide irrigation for farms receiving water from the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) and as storm drain conveyance for approximately 10,210 acres of land in south Manteca and several regional municipalities. The culvert will consist of a double-barrel reinforced cast-in-place concrete culverts and is needed to support the new wye connection tracks, which will curve over a portion of the SSJID canal. The box culvert is expected to be completed by early 2025.

The project demonstrates how the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission is working in partnership with agencies, districts, and cities along the corridor as it moves forward with the infrastructure improvements necessary to upgrade tracks, build stations, and create new connections.

Nancy Young, Tracy Mayor and SJRRC Chair, said: 

“This project is significant as it is the first step in delivering the infrastructure necessary to connect Stanislaus and Merced counties directly to the Tri-Valley and San Jose. The Valley Rail Program will significantly enhance regional mobility and sustainability, benefiting travelers, visitors, and residents of the San Joaquin Valley and California as a whole.” Mayor Young continued, “I want to say a special Thank You to the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. Your partnership is invaluable. It is incredibly important to the Valley Rail Program as well as all the communities that we serve.”

Vito Chiesa, Stanislaus County Supervisor and SJJPA Board Member, said: 

“The exciting part of this project today, specifically, is that it supports the expansion of ACE service down to Stanislaus County with stops in Modesto, Ceres, and Turlock,” Chiesa continued. “This opens up all of Northern California for Stanislaus County residents to ride rail just about anywhere. Regarding air quality, we’re in an impacted basin in the San Joaquin Valley and programs like Valley Rail will be an important way to improve air quality for all of our residents.”

Stacey Mortensen, Executive Director (SJRRC), said:

“The Valley Rail Program is one of the most transformational things happening in the Valley for probably 100 years. Passenger service disappeared in the Valley for many years on this particular line. Valley Rail brings that passenger rail service back with a vengeance.” Regarding the Lathrop Wye Box Culvert Project, Mortensen said “Where we are right here [in Lathrop] is a connection in the Central Valley that has never existed. Trains today cannot come from the Modesto area and seamlessly travel over the Altamont Pass. They all have to either go north to Sacramento or they have to perform a long series of moves to travel toward the Tri-Valley and South Bay Area. This project, today, helps us make that connection so that trains can make a “through move” with passengers over to the Bay Area and Back.”

Forrest Killingsworth, Engineering Department Manager, South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), said:

“The significance of the project is to provide irrigation tail water and stormwater runoff capacity for the French Camp Outlet Canal, which is an SSJID tail water infrastructure canal. …What it will do is allow for the Lathrop Wye track construction to be constructed in an arched or a curved fashion over the top of the channel.”

Peter Rietkerk, General Manager (SSJID), said:

“The project is meant to serve as a foundational piece or initial piece for the larger Lathrop Wye Project, which is going to provide a huge benefit, especially in mobility, for our local residents, [and] people that visit the area and want to travel regionally.”

Mike Weststeyn, Board President (SSJID), said:

“It’s great to be a part of this transformational project that’s just getting started today. And, for [the] South San Joaquin Irrigation District, and as the President of the board, it’s great to be involved in a project like this that’s going to change our community.” 

Valley Rail: Enhancing Connectivity and Sustainability in Northern California

Valley Rail is a joint program that includes improvements and expansions of both ACE and Amtrak San Joaquins that is focused on improvements between Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. Valley Rail implements two new daily round-trips for the Amtrak San Joaquins service to better connect San Joaquin Valley travelers with the Sacramento Area, and extends Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) service between Sacramento and Merced. In addition, Valley Rail will convert the entire fleet including the thruway bus network to renewable diesel fuel, providing greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits across the entire existing (449 track miles) and proposed expanded (119 track miles) San Joaquins and ACE services.

The Valley Rail Program consists of several project segments that together improve rail service on ACE and the San Joaquins for the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. The project segments include: Lathrop to Ceres Extension, Sacramento Extension, Ceres-Merced Extension, Stockton Diamond Grade Separation, Madera Station Relocation, and the Oakley Station Project.

https://www.sjrrc.com/lathrop-groundbreaking-ceremony/

By Faughn Energy • Hi-Tech 0 Comments

New battery installation comes online in eastern Kern

Clearway Energy Group’s 147-megawatt Rosamond Central Battery Energy Storage System is the company’s first battery retrofit project, made up of lithium-ion batteries delivering power for four hours nightly to support the reliability of California’s power grid.

The project, located adjacent to Clearway’s 192-megawatt Rosamond Central solar array, brings the company’s battery storage portfolio to more than 850 megawatts.

Energy storage at the site is contracted to Rosemead-based utility Southern California Edison under a long-term power agreement. It and Clearway have partnered on projects accounting for more than 1.5 gigawatts of renewable power, including the Alta Wind Energy Center at the Tehachapi Pass.

Clearway reported Rosamond Central BESS is among the first battery energy storage projects financed under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’s energy community bonus incentive. The measure offers a credit of up to 2.75 cents per kilowatt-hour for renewably produced power projects built by workers, including qualified apprentices, are paid prevailing wages.

The company said more than 50 union workers led by San Jose-based electrical contractor Rosendin, built the installation over 115,000 man-hours of injury-free labor. The batteries were supplied Finnish Wärtsilä.

“Battery storage projects like Rosamond Central BESS play an essential role in deliverying on California’s Resource Adequacy program to keep the lights on for homes and businesses acros sthe state during peak hours,” Senior Vice President of Operators Valerie Wooley of Clearway said in a news release.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/new-battery-installation-comes-online-in-eastern-kern/article_2ecbdf72-4b72-11ef-b656-9fd614a7e911.html

By Faughn New Developments • Quality of Life 0 Comments

‘Let’s Get Digging:’ Madera County Food Bank breaks ground on new facility

For something that has been a long time coming, it has finally come true for Madera County Food Bank Executive Director Ryan McWherter. 

McWherter and his staff officially broke ground on its new 21,800-square-foot facility during a ceremony Friday that was attended by many Madera dignitaries.

“I look at the crowd, and for a person that talks a lot, I’m kind of speechless,” McWherter said during the ceremony. “I’ve been to groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings, I’ve never seen this many people. It speaks to the need and the amount of sacrifice and hard work this food bank has put in. It’s not just the director. It does take a village. My staff is so awesome. We’re family.”

https://www.maderatribune.com/single-post/let-s-get-digging-madera-county-food-bank-breaks-ground-on-new-facility

By Faughn Economy • Energy • New Developments 0 Comments

Hydrogen projects sprout in the Valley

Plans for using hydrogen to fight climate change are sprouting all over the San Joaquin Valley this summer. Projects are in the works in western Fresno County, in Pixley in Tulare County and in Orange Cove where SoCal Gas will blend 5% hydrogen with natural gas for retail customers reducing overall greenhouse gases.

When hydrogen is injected into a fuel cell, hydrogen generates electricity but emits only heat and harmless water vapor and has great potential to cut global carbon emissions and keep toxic pollutants out. Experts say hydrogen could make the biggest difference in sectors now mostly powered by fossil fuels — trucking, shipping and aviation.

In the westside of the Valley, the Darden Clean Energy Project would cover 9,500 acres owned by Westland Water District and include a trifecta of green technologies including a 3.1 million solar panel farm, a 1,150MW green hydrogen plant and a 4600MWE hour battery storage plant.

An electrolyzer water treatment plant would be powered by solar power capable of producing 220 tons of gaseous hydrogen per day that could be used as zero carbon transportation fuel. To bring electricity to the grid the sprawling energy farm would be connected to a 15 mile transmission line to a PG&E substation near Highway 5.

Instead of seeking approval through Fresno County, the massive project is going direct to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for final permitting under a new provision approved by the legislature in 2022 called opt-in, the first in the state to do so.

Largest in the world

The Darden Clean Energy Project, which more than rivals the largest solar battery storage combination in the world, is located in Kern County at Edwards Air Force Base and is said to be about 4,000 acres. It houses 1.9 million solar panels and generates 3287MWh for the battery storage facility. The Kern County project also does not include a hydrogen manufacturing component.

In terms of the hydrogen plant at the Darden site, the capacity at 220 tons of hydrogen a day compares to just three tons a day at the largest existing hydrogen production plant on 324 acres also in Fresno County that started up last year led by a Spanish firm.

The CEC must find that Darden has submitted a complete application and then has 270 days to approve the project, which is considered a fast-track process in order to get more battery storage in California online sooner.

Hydrogen’s flexibility as a fuel source including for transportation, industrial, and power generation sectors and its ability to be stored is helped by new tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. Producing only water as a byproduct hydrogen can be injected into the natural gas distribution system managed by utilities like SoCal Gas and PG&E. Add the synergy of combining solar power generation and hydrogen manufacturing – the process is given a big boost by the power from the sun typically on-site.

Lawsuit in Tulare County

In Pixley in Tulare County, another company is proposing to build a 1.2 million square-foot 28-acre hydrogen plant that will manufacture, store and distribute pressurized liquid hydrogen fuel for trucks and include 114 acres of solar power generation. The location of the $120 million plant is at the southwest corner of Avenue 120 and Road 120 near Highway 99.

Last summer the County of Tulare determined their project was allowed by right under the CEQA common sense exemption since the property was already located in a manufacturing zone. In March 2024 a citizen group with members from Pixley filed a lawsuit objecting that the county had not properly followed CEQA rules and should require a full impact report.

Oil company wants in

Also this spring, Chevron New Energies, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., announced it is developing a 5-megawatt hydrogen production project in Lost Hills.

The project aims to create lower carbon energy by utilizing solar power, land, and non-potable produced water from Chevron’s existing assets at the Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County. This low carbon intensity electrolytic hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis, which is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

“Hydrogen can play a vital role in our journey toward a lower carbon future,” said Austin Knight, vice president for hydrogen at Chevron New Energies.

Blending hydrogen

Use of hydrogen will hit the retail market in Orange Cove says SoCalGas.

At the direction of the California Public Utilities Commission, SoCalGas is proposing a local demonstration project that could safely blend up to 5% clean, renewable hydrogen into the natural gas system serving approximately 10,000 residents, along with commercial customers in the City of Orange Cove, in Fresno County.

SoCalGas is proposing an 18-month demonstration project that will blend clean, renewable hydrogen serving residents and businesses. This project would offer a real-world environment to better understand how clean hydrogen and natural gas can be safely delivered to customers in the future. This is part of a broader effort by California and utilities to develop a standard for safe hydrogen blending, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, says the company.

 

https://hanfordsentinel.com/business/hydrogen-projects-sprout-in-the-valley-john-lindt/article_2bb4ee2f-d177-5e65-ae81-3c037848c76b.amp.html

By Faughn New Developments • New Location • Tourism 0 Comments

Another truck stop pulling into Tipton

A new truck stop will be pulling into Tipton soon.

Mike Washam, head of economic development for Tulare County, said plans for a TA Truck Stop have been filed to locate at Avenue 120 and Road 124 on the eastside of Highway 99 near Tipton. Avenue 120 is at the north end of Tipton, just a few miles south of Tulare. It is also the location of the California Dairies plant where the company manufactures milk powder, bulk butter, nutritional powders and processed fluids.

“They are doing civil works now” to locate the multi pump station with a convenience store, showers and a restaurant, Washam said. The site was formerly an old cotton gin.

The TA chain is owned by TravelCenters of America LLC, the largest publicly traded full-service truck stop and travel center company in the United States. The company operates full-service centers, convenience stores, and restaurants under the TravelCenters of America, TA, Petro Stopping Centers, TA Express, and GOASIS brands. TA has Highway 99 locations near Bakersfield and in Madera.

TravelCenters of America is headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, operates in 44 U.S. states, and employs nearly 20,000 people, as of 2021. Stations are typically large at 10,000 square feet. In terms of the number of pumps, there will be 20 pumps for gasoline and 20 pumps for diesel if it is anything like TA’s truck stop in Buttonwillow, Calif.

In May 2023, British owned oil company BP Products North America Inc., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of BP plc acquired the TravelCenters of America. TA plans to open 20 new locations this year, as well as add 1,600 new truck parking spaces, add Pulse EV charging stations at select sites, enhance store layouts, and upgrade mobile maintenance and emergency roadside assistance vehicles to better serve its fleet customers and professional drivers. TA opened is 300th location in Walton, Kentucky in February.

The new Highway 99 truck stop will compete directly with two major players including Loves and Flying J, both in Tulare as well as the new Mavericks station under construction on Cartmill Avenue, a Valero gas station on Caldwell Avenue as well as several others in Goshen. There’s also a new truck stop south of this site as well near Earlimart called Akal Travel Center.
By Faughn Health/Medical 0 Comments

Valley Children’s First in US To Use Genetic Testing to Prevent Hearing Loss

Valley Children’s Precision Medicine Program has been named the first U.S. hospital to use an advanced form of genetic testing to help save the hearing of babies born with certain variants of a gene linked to hearing loss.

Through a gentle cheek swab, doctors at the hospital are now able to diagnose a variant of the MT-RNR1 gene that is less equipped to resist potential hearing loss as a side effect of the usage of antibiotics to treat infants in neonatal intensive care units.

While aminoglycosides — the antibiotics in question — are efficient in treating infections in infants, they also run the risk of attacking human proteins vital to the development of hearing. Despite being safe for most infants, at least 1% of hearing loss found in these children can be attributed to the side effect of the antibiotic.

The new, non-invasive test allows doctors to check the compatibility of an infant’s MT-RNR1 gene to see whether or not hearing loss may develop with the use of aminoglycosides.

“Genes are like the individual instructions in a book that tell the body how to build and work, so understanding them is important in creating a treatment plan for each patient,” said Dr. Jeremy Woods, Valley Children’s geneticist and director of the Precision Medicine Program.

Woods went on to explain that the new test replaces older techniques that could not be analyzed in a time-efficient manner, forcing doctors to accept the potential risk of hearing loss when using aminoglycoside antibiotics.

“Previously, we would have to wait weeks for the results of MT-RNR1 genetic testing. Now, we can have results back in under an hour,” Woods said. “That gives us plenty of time to choose a safer antibiotic to treat a seriously ill baby.”

The advancement is one of several tools used within Valley Children’s Precision Medicine Program; earlier this year, genetic testing modules were integrated as part of patient electronic information systems, allowing providers to order comprehensive genetic tests to provide care recommendations based on the specific genetic makeup of the patient.

The hospital is also one of just five other institutions to participate in Project Baby Bear— a Medi-Cal pilot program using rapid whole genome sequencing to improve care for infants suffering from undiagnosed illnesses.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/valley-childrens-first-in-us-to-use-genetic-testing-to-prevent-hearing-loss/

By Faughn New Developments • Tourism 0 Comments

Ethan Conrad Properties acquires the Merced Mall

Hey Merced, let’s warmly welcome Ethan Conrad Properties!

Ethan Conrad Properties acquires the Merced Mall. The mall, strategically positioned at the best retail location in Merced, will be renamed Marketplace at Merced. ECP has already received significant interest from over 300,000 SF of anchor tenants. The renovation project calls for 2 additional pads along W. Olive Avenue. More good things are ahead for Merced.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=845800827584142&set=a.216633650500866

By Faughn Manufacturing • New Developments 0 Comments

Refresco acquires VBC Bottling Company, beverage manufacturer in Modesto, California.

On April 2, Refresco completed the acquisition of the VBC Bottling Company, a family-owned contract manufacturer of premium beverages, strategically located in Modesto, California. This acquisition is a step forward towards Refresco’ s vision of ‘our drinks on every table.’ A key component of our strategy is to identify the right opportunities for acquisitions. This acquisition aligns well with our strategy as it provides strategic growth, key manufacturing capacity and enables Refresco to expand geographically. In addition, this investment provides us with capacity for strategic categories so we can support their fast growth.

CEO Refresco, Hans Roelofs, commented:
“Acquiring VBC is another step in executing our proven Buy & Build strategy. The company’s strong customer base strategically located facility, and warehousing capacity further strengthens our footprint in North America. Additional canning capacity along the West Coast improves our ability to service all our contract manufacturing customers.”

Brad Goist, Chief Operating Officer at Refresco North America, said:
“This acquisition is a step forward towards Refresco’s vision of ‘Our drinks on every table.’ We will integrate VBC Bottling Company into our operations to better serve our customers and support their growth goals in the various categories where capacity is needed. I look forward to welcoming the more than 180 employees to the Refresco team and seeing what successes we accomplish together as a team and in the years to come.”

We are all excited about this great addition to our operations and give our new colleagues a warm welcome to the team!

https://www.refresco-na.com/na/stories/refresco-north-america-acquires-new-facility-modesto-california/

By Faughn Manufacturing 0 Comments

EVAPCO West

June 14th, 2024 marked a significant celebration of various milestones for a prominent employer in Madera, CA EVAPCO, Inc:

    • The Madera facility of EVAPCO opened its doors 45 years ago.
    • The latest addition, the Sierra Building, commenced manufacturing the new “Evo-Air” units.

About EVAPCO, Inc.

EVAPCO, Inc. is an industry-leading manufacturing company with global resources and solutions for worldwide heat transfer applications. We are dedicated to designing and manufacturing the highest quality products for the evaporative cooling and industrial refrigeration markets around the globe.

Founded in 1976, EVAPCO’s mission is to provide first-class service and quality products in the following markets:

    • Commercial HVAC
    • Industrial Process
    • Power
    • Industrial Refrigeration

The powerful combination of financial strength and technical expertise has established the company as a recognized manufacturer of market-leading products on a worldwide basis. We have earned a reputation for technological innovation and superior product quality by featuring products that are designed to offer operating advantages including:

    • Higher system efficiency
    • Environmentally friendly
    • Lower annual operating costs
    • Reliable, simple operation and maintenance
    • Sound reduction
    • Water management

Committed to providing the most advanced products in the industry – Technology for the Future, Available Today!

https://maderacounty-edc.com/evapco-west-celebrates-45-years-in-madera-ca/