California environmental law faces changes [San Francisco Chronicle]
A proposal to loosen California's landmark environmental protection law is expected to be introduced at the Capitol as soon as Thursday, giving the public and lawmakers only about a week to debate and consider the controversial legislation's fate. Backers of the proposal, largely from the business community, say the California Environmental Quality Act passed in 1970 needs to be updated because it has become cumbersome, and some individuals and groups misuse the law to stop or delay development for non-environmental reasons….At a news conference last month, the governor said, "I've never seen a CEQA exemption I didn't like." And on Wednesday in San Francisco at a news conference for his ballot measure to raise taxes, Brown said of the proposal that has been circulating: "To tell you the truth, I have not read it. In fact it's not even clear we have a final draft yet. But look - CEQA reform is the Lord's work."
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/California-environmental-law-faces-changes-3808467.php
METAL THEFT: Legislature OKs bills targeting thieves [Riverside Press-Enterprise]
Lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a pair of bills meant to deter scrap-metal thieves by setting new rules for recyclers and scrap-metal dealers. The measures, which go to Gov. Jerry Brown, come more than four years after lawmakers passed legislation meant to deal with the problem. In many areas, though, metal theft has only gotten worse, darkening neighborhood streets, turning school classrooms into saunas, and disabling agricultural water pumps across the state.
California proposes forest thinning for biomass energy, but is it a good idea? [KCET, Los Angeles]
A report released today by a consortium of state agencies recommends ramping up California's forest thinning program so that the resulting biomass can be burned to produce energy, but doing so may actually make the state's carbon footprint worse instead of better. The state's 2012 Bioenergy Action Plan calls for increasing "community-scale, forest-based biomass facilities" that would take leftover biomass from forest thinning and commercial logging operations and burn it to produce electricity. The plan recommends that vegetation removed from transmission line corridors as a fire control measure also be burned to produce power. It also discusses options for using urban and agricultural biomass waste as a power source. All in all, says the plan, California creates enough biomass waste to generate at least 4,000 megawatts of power, but just 15% of that waste currently makes its way to energy production.
http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/biomass/state-proposes-forest-thinning-for-biomass-energy.html
Experts criticize Hanford meat plant practices [Fresno Bee]
The Hanford meat-processing plant accused of mistreating cattle after an animal-rights group posted an undercover video took sharp criticism Wednesday from experts in veterinary care and animal slaughter. But the Central Valley Meat Co. took an even bigger hit Wednesday when both the federal government and McDonald's said they had suspended beef purchases. In-N-Out Burger made a similar announcement Tuesday. The increasingly beleaguered Central Valley Meat hired a public relations company in Washington, D.C., and issued its first statement since the four-minute covert video was posted Tuesday on the homepage of Compassion Over Killing, an animal-rights group.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/08/22/2961149/hanford-meat-plant-says-its-working.html
Judge rules Farm Board can join bypass lawsuit [Willits News]
U.S. Judge Jeffrey White granted the California Farm Bureau Federation's petition to join the lawsuit against Caltrans et al. as a plaintiff on August 6. The first hearing date to consider Caltrans' petition to dismiss the suit is now scheduled for September 14. The Farm Board filed its petition in July to join with the four environmental groups suing Caltrans et al. for inadequate environmental reviews and approvals for the Highway 101 bypass around Willits. None of the parties to the lawsuit opposed the Farm Bureau joining the suit. The pending lawsuit asserts Caltrans et al. failed to adequately analyze and consider the impacts of substantial changes made to the project after the environmental impact statement was approved in 2006.
http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_21374394/judge-rules-farm-board-can-join-bypass-lawsuit
Why do taxpayers subsidize farmers' insurance? [NPR]
This summer's drought has hit more than half the states in the country. Crops are suffering, but farmers might not be. Most farmers have crop insurance. U.S. taxpayers spend about $7 billion a year on crop insurance. It's our largest farm subsidy. And this subsidy goes in part to farmers — who will tell you themselves they aren't so sure about the whole idea. "I have an aversion to it," says Jim Traub, a corn and bean farmer in Fairbury, Illinois. "But you're not going to turn it down."…All the Traubs will file losses this year. But all of Traubs also feel uncomfortable that taxpayers will help cover those losses. "Everyone in here is a millionaire," John Traub says. In all, farmers assembled at the Fairbury library have "hundreds of millions dollars in equity in farmland."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/23/159806895/why-do-taxpayers-subsidize-farmers-insurance
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