Nobody
is declaring a state of drought in California, but ... [Los Angeles Times]
When
snow surveyors headed into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday for the most important
measurement of the season, they found only about half the snowpack that is
normal for the date. It could have been a lot worse — considering that the last
three months in California have been the driest of any January-through-March
period on record, going back to 1895.…Storage in the state's two largest
reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, is a bit above normal for the date,
thanks to the big storms in the Northern Sierra that turned the final three
months of last year into the 10th-wettest on record for that region. But with
statewide snowpack at only 52% of the norm for this time of year — when it is
usually at its peak — state and federal water managers are expecting
below-normal runoff this spring and falling reservoir levels.
Critics
assail Delta proposal [Stockton Record]
Critics
were swift to react this week to the state's latest documents outlining more
reliable water flows to Southern California while striving to restore the Delta
ecosystem. The state Department of Water Resources released additional chapters
in its 12-chapter opus on a $23 billion water project known as the Bay Delta
Conservation Plan. Northern California lawmakers, environmentalists and
sport-fishing activists were not impressed. At the heart of their argument:
Threatened fish would get help when they needed it least and no help when they
needed it most….Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, and six other members of
congress spoke out Thursday in opposition to the latest details, describing the
plan supported by Gov. Jerry Brown as failing to address regional concerns.
Toxins
in Pajaro River draw attention from regulators [Salinas Californian]
…According
to a draft report being prepared for a July 11 meeting of the Central Coast
Regional Water Quality Control Board, one or both of the compounds diazinon and
chlorpyrifos have impaired the water quality of the Pajaro River, the Pajaro
River Estuary and Llagas Creek, a tributary to the river.…Both chemicals are
classified as organophosphates, a category of pesticides and herbicides the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists as acutely toxic to bees, wildlife
and humans. Both were banned for residential use in 2001 but are permitted as
pesticides in agricultural practices. But runoff from crops along the 90-mile
Pajaro River Watershed is introducing these toxins into the water, which flows
into the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.
Mystery
malady kills more bees, heightening worry on farms [New York Times]
A
mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years
appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers
say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate
many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. A conclusive explanation so far has
escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it
first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say there is
growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as
neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important
factor. The pesticide industry disputes that. But its representatives also say
they are open to further studies to clarify what, if anything, is happening….In
a show of concern, the Environmental Protection Agency recently sent its acting
assistant administrator for chemical safety and two top chemical experts here,
to the San Joaquin Valley of California, for discussions….The federal
Agriculture Department is to issue its own assessment in May.
California
Air Resources Board reps get earful from north-state truckers, growers in Chico
[Chico Enterprise-Record]
Truckers
and growers frustrated by California air emission laws got a chance to vent
Thursday to representatives of the California Air Resources Board. In an event
organized by Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma Rica, more than a dozen speakers
begged for changes to the state's laws, pointing out flaws with the regulations
and how the heavy-handed guidelines are making it impossible for small firms to
stay in business, especially in the north state….Speakers said it is costing
them thousands of dollars to meet emission regulations at a time when the
economy has cut their income and banks won't lend. However, big, out-of-state
truck companies could come into the state with new trucks and take their
business.
Ventura
County farmers seek new protections along bike path [Ventura County Star]
Farming
interests are calling for tough protections along a bicycle path to be built
through agricultural land in a remote area of Ventura County, citing new
demands for food safety. They fear that animals and people would relieve
themselves on the crops, bicyclists could be sickened by pesticides and farming
operations could be interrupted, according to testimony given last week to the
Ventura County Board of Supervisors….But the project was proposed years before
the federal government and the food industry strengthened rules following
food-borne illnesses and deaths in the nation. The Ventura County Agricultural
Association, the Farm Bureau of Ventura County and the Ventura County Coalition
of Labor, Agriculture and Business say protections for farming should be
re-evaluated in that context. “The project is a fact — we’re not going to argue
about that,” said John Krist, chief executive officer of the farm bureau. “We
do want to see a re-evaluation of potential food safety and public-incursion
issues.”
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
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