Another
snag for House immigration bill [Wall Street Journal]
For
years, a bipartisan group in the House has been working to introduce a
comprehensive immigration bill. As lawmakers left Washington for the August
recess, people involved in the process said the legislation was finally
complete and it was now up to the three Republican members of the group whether
to actually introduce it. It turns out that it’s not ready after all. Rep.
Mario Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.) said in an interview that he spent much of August
talking with many of his fellow Republicans, trying to persuade a majority of
the House GOP to support an immigration bill. House Speaker John Boehner (R.,
Ohio) has said he will not bring a bill to the floor that does not have support
of a majority of Republicans. Mr. Diaz-Balart said he is optimistic that he can
bring the required 117 Republicans on board his group’s bill. But first, he
said, some changes are needed.
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Appeals
court rules against Drakes Bay Oyster Company [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
A
federal appeals court Tuesday rejected Drakes Bay Oyster Company's bid to stay
in business in the Point Reyes National Seashore, backing the Interior
Department's decision to terminate the company's commercial shellfish
operation. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San
Francisco held that the oyster company was “not likely to succeed” in proving
in court that former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar erred in refusing in
November to renew the company's permit to operate in the federally protected
waters of Drakes Estero.…But it did not specify the consequences of that
decision, and Lunny said Tuesday he is still operating “in full swing”
following a busy Labor Day weekend at the farm near the west end of Sir Francis
Drake Boulevard….Tito Sasaki, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said
he hoped Lunny would appeal….The farm bureau was one of 10 parties, including
famed Berkeley chef Alice Waters, who filed a “friend of the court” brief
supporting the oyster company.
Small
farmers in New England fear new food safety rules [NPR]
Back
in January, the Food and Drug Administration issued two proposed food safety
rules to prevent tainted food from entering the food supply. According to these
, farmers who don't qualify for exemptions must monitor and document water
quality, freezer temperatures, encroaching wildlife and any other possible
sources of contamination. But some small farmers are worried their businesses
will be killed by paperwork and expensive monitoring systems required by the
law. At the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, Caroline Smith
DeWaal says small farmers are overreacting….At his farm just outside
Montpelier, Vt., Joe Buley says he's terrified….Buley says the cost of
complying with the FDA's new rules would stifle his ability to grow, and could
put younger farmers out of the business altogether.
New
USDA poultry inspection procedures are based on bad data, government report
says [Washington Post]
The
USDA has used incomplete and antiquated data in support of its plan to extend
new poultry inspection procedures to plants across the country, according to a
report by the Government Accountability Office scheduled for public release on
Wednesday. As a result, there are “questions about the validity” of the USDA’s
conclusions that the procedures, now used by a limited number of poultry plants
under a pilot program, are more effective than the traditional approach at
reducing pathogens such as salmonella, the GAO found….GAO auditors found that
the USDA, in analyzing whether the pilot inspection program improved plants’
efficiency, used data in part collected from plants more than 11 years ago and
other data from a study that was more than 20 years old. The USDA has said its
proposal aims to save money for taxpayers and consumers through greater
efficiency.
Siskiyou
supervisors support withdrawal from California [Redding Record Searchlight]
The
Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to support the
county’s split from the state of California. It’s the first in a long series of
steps to form the proposed State of Jefferson, which proponents of the effort
say would bring representation to rural North State counties that currently are
beholden to the whims of representatives of the more-populated Southern
California and free them from burdensome state regulations. “We have to have
government that’s local, understands our issues and has empathy” for those
affected, said Mark Baird, a Scott Valley rancher who’s also president for
Scott Valley Protect Our Water and vice president of the Siskiyou Water User’s
Association. Baird is leading the charge to form a new state from rural
counties in Northern California and Southern Oregon, though he certainly wasn’t
the only voice in support of the move.
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Editorial: When the well truly
runs dry [Santa Maria Times]
…Despite
the fact that vineyards require only a fraction of the water used to grow some
other crops, non-farming residents in and around Paso Robles are going to the
mat with grape growers….We bring all this up not because Paso Robles is sort of
a neighbor, but because the situation here in this part of the Central Coast is
not totally dissimilar. The same agriculture/water table dynamic exists here as
well, perhaps to a lesser extent….Whereas in life in general the only sure
things are death and taxes, in California there is a wide array of sure things,
including the reality that there will be prolonged droughts, something recent
climate science all but guarantees. You know where we're going with this -
desalination. We have an abundance of water. It just happens to be too salty
for everyday uses, including agriculture. As we've said so many times in the
last few years, desalting sea water should be a regional undertaking. Spending
a few million dollars in the next few years could save billions of dollars in
the future.
Ag
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