More appetizing than anhydrous ammonia

​For Bay Area shoppers, staring into the eyes of Christopher Columbus' homely visage is a nostalgic experience. Columbus Salame, like Mother's Cookies or even the It's-It, is a company that deserves the title "local institution." Ice cream and cookie companies may hold a more special place in the heart, however, than processed meat facilities.

Also, the good people at Mother's and It's-It never leaked clouds of noxious chemicals into the region, sickening the locals.

Alas, Columbus Salame did just that. Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced the venerable company will fork over nearly $700,000 in penalties on top of a $6 million upgrade to the refrigeration system that twice failed in 2009, leading to around 420 pounds of gas spewing out of the South San Francisco plant.

Association of the term "anhydrous ammonia" with its products does not figure to be a branding boon for Columbus. How to recover? We asked a branding expert.

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Perhaps not the best recyclable

​The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Sims Metal Management, a company that claims to be the largest recycler of metal and electronics in the world, to stop polluting San Francisco Bay with toxic chemicals.

The EPA announced today that Sims was found during inspections last year to be illegally discharging PCBs, mercury, copper, lead, and zinc into the bay at a facility at the Port of Redwood City. The company is now "working cooperatively" to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act, according to the agency.

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Coming soon to a restaurant near you

​We reported last month that the much-heralded return of a market for fresh herring to San Francisco was off to a slow start. Last year, the California Department of Fish and Game changed its regulations to allow herring meat to be sold locally. Previously, the fish was caught commercially so its roe could be sold in Japan.

Well, it appears the waiting is over. After a month in which it was difficult to track down sufficient quantities of fish, a sizable amount of herring was landed last night, said Tom Worthington of Monterey Fish Market.

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​Sharp Park Golf Course will remain open for now -- despite legislation closing the course and handing the land on which it is built over to the federal government that passed the Board of Supervisors last week -- thanks to a veto from Mayor Ed Lee.

The veto was expected in light of the Lee's past expressions of support for maintaining the 79-year-old city municipal course, located in Pacifica. Environmental activists argue that golfing harms two sensitive species that reside at Sharp Park, the red-legged frog and California garter snake.

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There's more where that came from

​Remember that peaceful anti-North Korea protest that turned into a not-so-peaceful environmental panic earlier this year after a marketing company foolishly released 10,000 red balloons into the air near the city's Moscone Center?

The company -- TrashTalkFCM --  was intending to use the balloons as a "eye-catching" marketing ploy to draw attention to its new video game Homefront, which simulates American guerrilla fighters challenging North Korean forces. But instead of drawing attention to the game, the red balloons -- some of which drifted into the Bay -- set off residents and city officials who could not for the life of them understand why anyone would create that kind of environmental mess.

Now the company is paying for it -- literally.
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Scarce so far

​Last month we reported on a change to state regulations that will allow fresh herring to be caught and sold locally. For decades, all the herring caught by San Francisco's commercial fishermen have been stripped for their roe, which is consumed in Japan as a delicacy called kazunoko.

It's been about a month since the relatively small-scale season for fresh herring -- only 10 permits to catch the fish were issued -- opened. We checked in today with Pier 45 Seafood President Mel Wickliffe, who is partnering with fisherman Ernie Koepf to sell herring. Koepf was instrumental in pushing through the revision to California Department of Fish and Game regulations allowing for a local herring market.

Well, fishing is an unpredictable business. At present it looks like the fresh-herring business in San Francisco is lacking one necessary element: herring.

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Ross Mirkarimi's bag legislation may have just gotten the sack

​Mom. Apple pie. Patriotism. No politician who doesn't wish to receive a crash course in the joys of seeking employment with the private sector will dare find him or herself on the wrong side of these notions -- and the political goals they serve to cloak.

Add "outreach" to those three. It's "outreach" that's keeping San Francisco from adopting a plastic bag ban that actually does something about reducing bag consumption and helping the environment. It's "outreach" that may keep San Francisco from ever having a ban that's good for more than just grandstanding.

At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, Jane Kim surprised bag ban architect Ross Mirkarimi by requesting months more time to conduct the aforementioned "outreach." What's more, this was outreach to "small businesspeople of color." In other words, in order to move along this legislation, a supervisor would have to open himself to charges he doesn't give a damn about keeping industrious minorities in the dark.

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Finally, an end to comic book solutions for real problems...

​Update: See end.

This afternoon, the Board of Supervisors has a question to answer: Does this city want to actually solve problems related to single-use takeaway bags, or just continue presenting the veneer of doing so?

That depends on how much our elected representatives think We the People should be burdened in order to deal with this situation. In retrospect, it seems amazing that, in order to cut down on the hundreds of millions of throwaway bags changing hands in this city, San Franciscans were presented a "solution" that didn't ask them to lift one finger to make a change. But that's how we did it.

Today the supes will give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a Ross Mirkarimi ordinance that would extend the city's plastic bag ban from big chain stores to all retail stores. Folks not bringing their own bags would be mandated to pay a dime, and, eventually, a quarter fee -- money the store will keep.

Those raising holy hell over the possibility of being charged a dime when they can't bring their own bag to the store are advised to consider the following:

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fresh herring

​Ever wonder where the many tons of fish landed by San Francisco Bay's commercial herring fleet throughout the winter go?

There's a growing market for local and sustainable seafood, but the bay's herring -- an inexpensive fish that lends itself to a variety of preparations -- doesn't end up at the wholesalers that line the piers along Fisherman's Wharf. Instead, the fish are processed for their roe, which is consumed as a delicacy in Japan.

That's about to change. Over the summer, local herring fisherman Ernie Koepf was instrumental in getting California Department of Fish and Game regulations revised to allow for a market from November through March for fresh herring. (The prior regulations, geared to the roe fishery, allowed only a token quota: fresh herring could be landed for only two weeks early in the season, before the fish are abundant.) The department will issue up to 10 permits, each allowing a boat to land up to 1,000 pounds of herring per day for the fresh-fish market.

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​It's no secret that a lot of strange things go on in the far reaches of the Northern California coast. Like what, you ask? Well, like a lawsuit involving allegations that a man stole a massive tree from his neighbor's land.

The suit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, asserts that that Willis Otis Skaggs and his Skaggs Tree Farm somehow managed to infiltrate a nearby cattle ranch and make off with a "landmark redwood tree" measuring 12 feet thick.

That's a big tree. According to the complaint by plaintiffs James and Bonita Walker, here's what happened:
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