Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Plan slammed with lawsuits [Sacramento Bee]
A
planning document intended to resolve decades of water conflict in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was instead greeted by a flood of lawsuits on
Monday. At least seven lawsuits were filed in three counties against what is
known as the Delta Plan. The plan, which lays out a long-term strategy for
developing and managing the sensitive estuary, is required by 2009 state
legislation. That law also created the Delta Stewardship Council, a
seven-member appointed commission charged with crafting the vision. The
lawsuits came from virtually all points of the political spectrum in
California's unceasing water wars, including environmental groups, commercial
fishermen, water diverters and local governments.
Farm
Bill Foes Tangle GOP Leadership [Wall Street Journal]
Republican
leaders in the House will face a familiar foe when they bring a massive farm
bill to the floor later this week: their own rank-and-file….Top Republicans are
confident they will muster the votes necessary to pass the bill, which would
authorize $940 billion in spending over 10 years. But doing so would require
Democratic support. The challenge presents House Speaker John Boehner (R.,
Ohio) with another tactical headache in a year defined by intra-party
bickering. Conservative objections range from the money set aside for food
stamp programs, which they believe aren't taking big enough spending cuts, to
price protections for specific agricultural goods, including peanuts, rice and
milk. One group of vocal opponents has hoped to split the bill in two by
separating farm policy from the food-stamp programs.
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Fraud
Used to Frame Farm Bill Debate [New York Times]
…
When the House begins work on a farm bill this week, conservatives will target
the growing food stamp program, which they complain is rife with fraud and
waste. But critics say conservatives are overlooking problems in other farm
programs. Government audits and court records show hundreds of millions of
dollars in losses due to fraud in a variety of farm programs, including crop
insurance and subsidies that help agribusinesses promote their products abroad.
The rate of food stamp fraud, on the other hand, has declined sharply in recent
years, federal data shows, and now accounts for 1 percent of the $75 billion
program, or about $750 million a year….Congress, however, has been reluctant to
make changes in the $9 billion federal crop insurance program despite the fraud
case in North Carolina and similar cases in recent years in California,
Colorado and Ohio. Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill would
expand crop insurance and save money by eliminating $5 billion in direct
payment to farmers and landowners. The government pays 62 percent of the
premiums for farmers. The bills would create a new subsidy, called the “shallow
loss” program, that would cover farmers for modest crop yields or price
declines.
Be
involved in politics, farmers told at meeting [Marysville Appeal Democrat]
North
State farmers were told Monday night in Yuba City they need to be involved in
the politics of statewide farming issues if they want to hold off increasing
regulations and the high costs they bring. Area Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma
Rica, told a gathering of about 60 North State growers they are the
"heartbeat of the state." But he also urged them to do a better job
of educating government-types about the challenges of farming and the impacts
of new regulations….Logue referred to members of the timber industry inviting
legislators and capital leaders to tour their lands and illustrate in person
the challenges they were facing. That helped lead to a timber bill passing a
few years ago that resulted in relief to loggers, he said. "If you want to
tell people about your industry, get them up here," Logue said.
Court
agrees to drop Sierra logging case [San Francisco Chronicle]
After
fighting a government plan to increase logging in Sierra forests throughout
California all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, a conservation group
concluded it might hurt its cause more than it would help. On Monday, the court
granted its request to drop the case. The plan allows logging to more than
triple on 11.5 million acres in 11 Sierra forests. The Bush administration
adopted the plan in 2004, saying it would reduce fire dangers, and the Obama
administration has defended it in court. The Pacific Rivers Council challenged
the plan and scored a victory last year when a federal appeals court said
officials had ignored the dangers to species of fish. But the council said
Monday it was dropping the case because it feared that the Supreme Court would
adopt the Obama administration's view that it had no right to sue.
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Wineries
working to conserve water [San Luis Obispo Tribune]
Richard
Sauret never studied viticulture at a university, but after decades of working
on vineyards in his native Paso Robles, he said it doesn’t take a college
degree to understand that grapes do not need tons of water to produce quality
wine….”While dry farming is not a one-size-fits-all solution — certain
varietals need more water and grow best in a specific type of soil and climate,
and dry farming vineyards produce lower yields per acre — many in the local
agriculture community increasingly believe that steps must be taken to curb
water use. Local organizations like the nonprofit Central Coast Vineyard Team
and the statewide California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance reach out to
vineyard owners, educating them about a variety of conservation methods.
It’s
unclear just how many North County vineyards have adopted water conservation
practices. But the Vineyard Team has been instrumental in ensuring that 11,000
acres of Central Coast vineyards have become Sustainability-in-Practice
certified — meaning they conserve energy and water and use other sustainable
practices during the grape-growing process.
Ag
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