After spending over $1 million to prove to a judge, one who ruled over two years ago that we cannot add any new bicycle infrastructure to city streets, San Francisco's massive Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Bicycle Plan has -- at last! -- been released.

It's definitely interesting stuff: first, because it means we're one step closer to having some new bike stuff in this city; and second, because it's over a thousand fucking pages long. (Seriously, it ends at staggering 1353 pages.)

Also interesting: the report shows that bike lanes will mean some slowdown in transit. Uh oh. Of course that could be mitigated by adapting transit-priority signals that turn green when a bus needs to pass, instead of making busses stew endlessly in traffic, waiting for signals to change.

But, sadly, that would be hoping for too much. Muni is doomed to eternal, incompetent slowness. The least we can do is make life easier for bicyclists. Read more about the report at Streetsblog.

Although the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its report on the causes of last year's crash, today the pilot of the Cosco Busan, John Joseph Cota of Petaluma, was charged in federal court. The feds, it seems, found him in violation of two federal laws when he accidentally steered the container ship into the Bay Bridge on November 9 2007, which then released 53,000 gallons of oil into the bay.

According to the Gate, Cota is charged with "negligent discharge of a pollutant and with killing migratory birds including the brown pelican, marbled murrelet, and the western grebe."

Investigators from the State Board of Pilot Commissioners have also noted that Cota had made "a number of errors, including sailing in a dense fog, and that 'pilot error' was the cause of the crash."

According to court papers, CBS 5 reports, Cota was not taken into custody after being charged. The NTSB, however will hold a hearing on the oil spill in early April. They "anticipate establishing a 'probable cause'" by the end of this year.

Gavin wants your fat. According to Renewable Energy Access, yesterday our dear Mayor implemented a new program that will collect fats, oil, and grease from the city restaurants free of charge.Why? So that they can be to turn into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles. The program is called SFGreasecycle. Ew. But: awesome.

Said fat and oil, when poured down the drain, "solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the way cholesterol affects blood flow in arteries." Although we recommend finer establishments holding onto their duck and bacon fats, this is a brilliant idea. Period. And local restaurants can sign-up for free service right here. So...do it now. We said now!

Image credit: the City of Longmont / "[A] sewer manhole outside of a Longmont restaurant. The sewer line has been completely filled with grease." Have a good lunch break, folks!