and complete the spring of 2014. we'll be opening the cruise terminal with power reinstalled by march of 2014. >> it will be two years not operational. >> there was a concern about how long that was going to take, so the march of 2014, they are trying to speed that up. the races are september of 2013. you can only speed it up so far. >> we have one speaker card. >> i am program director, a marine conservation and public health advocacy organization. i am here, first of all, to thank you for reviewing the staff of the project at the pier is 27 and 29. i follow the process very closely and there was a huge amount of support for the environmental community for the project and for the public funding. i've personally attended the unveiling of that property by 2010. as i began to review what was happening going on with america's cup, i was concerned that it would be shut down for two years or potentially three years depending on what happens. i am here to seek your support for ensuring that the air quality benefits from the project are not lost during the construction. the excess air emissions that will be generated by cruise ships will and be unable to shut down their large diesel engines. it will generate excess air pollution in the range of 30 to 97 tons of pullution per year. that is based on the grant proposals and the funding. they put in $1.8 million to the project and there was funding from the bay area management district of $5.7 million of public funding. the big concern is that the evolution volume could offset all the other medications that are being considered to make america's cup a zero pollution neutral event. i want to let you know that we submitted a letter to the court into the city of san francisco asking for these emissions to be mitigated. but there is no way to keep the power going, you need to mitigate it in another way. we have had several meetings, and there are some potential projects that could happen that would offset the emissions that we are going to be seeing as a result of the mission. we don't have anything in writing or verbal commitment and time is running out. the document on america's cup is going to be final in december. and i am told there will be a decision on what matters will be implemented. we really the puc to push things along and make sure that this pushes forward for the environment. i would like to submit my comments today a copy of the letter that has a lot more detailed information and the newsletter for my organization. >> thank you. >> commissioners, the group is very familiar with these issues and no be happy to report over the next few weeks for the next discussions. >> commissioners, there was a time at the sf puc, a gentleman called ed sellif. this was some years ago. we all sat down and we figured out that every time a cruise ship came to san francisco, it committed dangers equivalent to the hunters point power plant. so we sat down and there was a gentleman from alaska that came and gave us some information about the latest technology. i happen to go to las angeles - - los angeles to see the technology working. we did some good stuff. i'm going to speak subjectively. what i see is that when people have money, they don't really care about the good work put in by the advocates. they really don't care. america's cup, whatever it may bring the city. i know something about it. i know when they had it there, they lost a lot of money. the same thing happened in spain. but there are some here that say we will be making of billions of dollars. time will tell. as the director of environmental justice added a spokesperson on such issues representing the first people, high carefully monitors such things. and i write about them. what i am saying is, if the san francisco public utilities commission has a role to play as they did it by spending money, if we have good friends who is a very personable person, if we have other people that are involved in the planning, they must be told about the carbon footprint. it becomes a joke and the mayor and guys like gavin newsom. i don't have much respect for him. speak about greening and the carbon footprint. the buffoons don't pay attention to stuff like this. all the way from mission bay to candlestick point, every year, we have 200,000 tons of methane gas that goes into the air. one can = 22 tons of carbon dioxide. and now we have this thing happening, a curveball that impact the environment. thank you very much. >> in the afternoon again, commissioners. i just wanted to support what the last two speakers talked about, it is not good to lose this even for a couple of years. if we find that we lose the battle of keeping it plugged in, it will be important. these event organizers will make a lot of money off of this event. agencies like the puc and transit agency need to offer concrete ideas of where they can take money in directly spend it in san francisco, especially in the southeast where the emissions are going to go on projects that will counterbalance the pollution as much as possible. i know it is not your enterprise department, but it occurs to me there is a bus yard in that neighborhood and perhaps you can work out a proposal to replace more of the old diesel buses with hybrids. maybe if there are not a mission traps, we could conceivably make sure that there are. and beyond that, the staff could come up, especially power enterprise staff could come up with recommendations where organizers can take their money and spend it on actual installations and renewable in the southeast of san francisco. it might not completely solve the problem, but it would go along way for making a bad situation better. >> i have a question just to get clear on this. my understanding was that this was going to be an ongoing relationship with the port and there would not be this interruption. maybe it was because we hadn't talked about it when it came before the commission to approve. i am wondering if there isn't some sort of creative solution or entering the dialogue with the sustainability organizing committee or whatever they're called to be able to see if there is a way that we can provide the power and i don't know what the term for the contract is in regards to provision. but maybe it is not at the specific site because of the development issues, but there is some way to plug n or replace, some renewable purchasing. i dunno if that is a question for barbara or if we need to do a little more explanation. i understand the timing is fast, but i wonder if there is a way that we can look at this. these are really impressive numbers of come forward from the mayor's office. it will be a drag to be reversing that trend. i think this issue with the ship's, i think the bus is a different question and a different point that can be looked at. we should really try to do our part from an energy provision in utility perspective to do what we can. >> we have been working with america's cup folks. we knew when the cruise ship terminal was going to be rebuilt or move that there would be some disruption. >> we are actively engaged in comments and interactions with the organizing committee. assistance as mr. brooks had asked us to do on improving the energy efficiency and efficiency of the operations of the america's cup venues. we're the power provider at many of the venues, so the america's cup will have access to that clean power we have been talking about. we have some creative ideas as to how to help the program meet sustainability objectives that are articulated in that plan. >> the cruise ships are a big deal because of the missions. >> we have been in discussions with members of the team looking for other opportunities along the port to offset emissions like that. we look forward to coming back with some solid recommendations. >> thank you. >> any other comment for communication on staff reports? >> the next item is a happy occasion, we are honoring a leading member of the community and a very important community organization for providing service as well as adopting a schedule of regular meetings. if i could call mr. de los rey to the podium, the manager might like to make a couple of brief remarks. >> the advisory committee was established to bring in our efforts to provide opportunities for small locally based construction companies. it was our staff that served for the past four years, the distinguished career highlighted by the contract and labor compliance program for many years. shaping up to the committee, with our recent project. he is retiring from the committee, wanted to extend my best wishes to them. >> can you come up here, please? >> either end. then we'll take pictures. [applause] >> i sincerely appreciate the tremendous support, most of all the special opportunity to serve on the small business advisory committee. on behalf of the local businesses in alameda county, i would like to express to you the many comments i have received, especially from some of them that were about to go out of business until the project came along. it is tremendous, the type of help and dramatic leadership the general manager and his leadership has provided. the staff has been very tremendous. the sun is shining out there and we really appreciate the tremendous help and support. thank you for the opportunity in creating business and a workforce development in alameda county and in the region. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much. we have a second item. did you read it? >> the next item is honoring the ohlone humane society refuge center for its work related to its work at the water treatment plant. >> when we are disturbing so much around this part of the world, we sometimes run into difficult situation. we have had one particular group help us tremendously. what happened here is that last summer, we found some active swallows' nests which made us stop all of the work. not knowing exactly what to do, we contacted these fine people and a tucked the nestlings in a very appropriate way and raised them and took care of them and we now have 15 swallows that have been hatched and raised and we're very grateful. this includes feeding the birds until they were old enough to leave their nest. it allowed us to save the birds and do different construction projects. [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] >> commissioners, the last item on a matter of administration businesses the formal adoption of for the year 2012. this room has already been reserved for our use for the rest of the year. if the president might entertain a motion to approve the schedule of regular meetings, you will notice i did not schedule on december 25th of next year. >> i noticed you put the date as october 252. did i miss that? >> that is what it says. >> can i have a motion, please? >> so moved. all those in favor? opposed? the motion carries. the next item is the report of the general manager. >> there is one item there -- just to respond to the question on the contracts, we are still working on those signs by october 31st. >> it good afternoon, commissioners. the report covering july, august and september will not be ready until next week. because of scheduling comment -- conflicts, want to share a highlight the would be in a report today. some of the data i will be presenting is still being verified, but i don't expect any major changes between now and the time the report is published. this chart confirms the great progress being made on the local program. we have completed the construction of 35 local projects. construction is currently ongoing. we are at 64 million and the seismic upgrade is the only local project that has yet to move into construction. it will do so in early 2012. the local program is 77% complete as of october 31st. progress on the regional program is also going well, with the greatest value of our project currently under construction. during the reporting time, we just drove surpass the $2.5 billion value in projects and construction. we only have six regional projects yet to move into construction. as of october 1st, we have completed the construction of 21 regional projects. that is getting close to half of our regional project. based on expenditures, the regional program is 44% complete. if we look at the overall variances, a reminder that that is a difference between what is being forecasted by our team verses what was approved by the commission. keep in mind the approved budget figures by which we compare our forecasted figures includes the additional construction contingency that has been approved in recent months. the numbers are the cost overrun, the ones in black are underruns or savings. if we look at the regional project, one can see we are forecasting regional program costs to be $1.3 million more than the approved budget, a decrease of 900,000 on the cost overrun projected last quarter we're still forecasted to deliver the regional program on schedule, july 2016. the last 2 columns report the variances on the local programs there. we are predicting an underrun of 1.1 million over what was approved. the completion date is the same as what was approved by the commission. this is a chart comparing the total forecasted program in blue to the total program approved budget in red. the approved budget, the red line includes the program management reserve for the forecast does not. he essentially, the delta between those two lines are the program management reserves. we are tracking well below the budget approved by the commission still. the overall program costs since the last quarter went up $14 million, due to the initial construction contingency approved by the commission for the datavision pipeline approved at the last commission meeting. for the first time, i wanted to show you a report on the transaction in and out of the program reserves. the numbers on the last column in red are the monies moved out of the reserve since the program was approved in july. on the left side are the savings moved into the reserve. since the program was adopted, the commission approved an increase in construction contingency. these were partially offset by savings on one of our contracts for the pipeline system. the delta here is $15.8 million reduction in reduction over the last quarter. we're still left with $146 million reserve at this point. during the reporting quarter, we achieved a number of noteworthy milestones. we advertised construction contracts and initiated construction on four different projects. the eastern section as well as the dam replacement. we also achieved final completion on five construction contracts. there has been an increase in overall system reliability as a result of the contract being completed, when you think about the bike tunnel, the balancing reservoir and the pump station upgrades have all been completed and these facilities are back in service. some of the greatest challenges we are tackling are summarized here. the first project is the only project that remains in 3 construction. the scope of that project was modified to include additional soil disposal sites for that project. that resulted in a slight delay in the draft eir, but that should go out for review in early january. the ground water condition is something i've talked about, but it has become a greater challenge now. not only are we seeing more ground water than was anticipated, but we've discovered the water has been contaminated by fertilizers. we're working right now what they're contractor to find a solution to dispose of the water directly on our right away, which will allow us to do so without treatment. we are assessing the cost and schedule impact as well as the solution as we speak. to build the replacement project, we will have to excavates 8 million cubic yards. half of that will be reused for building the dam. we have recently discovered soft ground condition at the largest disposal site and that will require we do more work on site to be able to build a rock dike around the reservoir. we're looking at cost and schedule impacts from that on the very beginning of construction, which is unfortunate, but it is a situation we must deal with. we have struggled with it difficult ground condition on the new tunnel whic