On Tuesday night, Jan. 24, after a four-hour public hearing, the San Francisco board of supervisors affirmed the certification of the America’s Cup and cruise terminal final Environmental Impact Report and denied the appeal by Sierra Club and others. Read TIRN/SeaTurtles.org comments below.

The AC EIR was certified with amendments by the supervisors that are designed to ensure that full environmental review is given to long term developments associated with the America's Cup "host and venue agreement" that are promised for the future.

It appears that on the air quality issue, everyone is trusting the port and city that the Pier 70  shoreside power project to offset shutdown of shorepower at Pier 27 for cruise ships over two years will occur. It does look close but it is far from certain. Several  supervisors who sit on the Air District Board asked questions about the pier projects and air quality piece, but in the end voted without any add-on language to make the air quality offset projects a sure thing.

The next go rounds will involve the financial and development parts of the AC project that will be considered by the supervisors at a finance committee meeting on Feb. 8 and then before the full board on Feb. 14, as I understood it. The zero waste policy will be taken up by the port on Feb. 14.