Judge looks for a remedy to California’s defective high-speed rail funding plan [Sacramento Bee]
Now
that he’s found the state’s high-speed rail 2011 funding plan to be out of
compliance with the voter initiative that got the project out of the roundhouse,
a Sacramento Superior Court judge asked Friday what would happen if he just
throws out the financing arrangement altogether. The lawyer for the California
High-Speed Rail Authority said the practical effect would basically be nothing.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs who successfully challenged the funding plan
generally agreed, though he said its rescission wouldn’t nearly go far enough
for his clients, which include Kings County, a homeowner in the train’s path
and a big Central Valley grower who wants to kill the project.
Immigration
vote unlikely this year, lawmaker says [New York Times]
A
top Republican lawmaker told protesters he met with in his home district in
California this week that the House of Representatives would not have time this
year to vote on any immigration measure. Representative Kevin McCarthy, the
majority whip, told demonstrators in his office in Bakersfield on Wednesday
night that the 16 days remaining on the House calendar in 2013 were too short a
window for the House to take up the complex issue. But he said he was committed
to moving on immigration votes in the House next year.…Another House Republican
who is active on immigration said that despite the delay, he was not
discouraged. That congressman, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, said he was working
with other Republicans on a bill to strengthen border security and allow 11.7
million illegal immigrants in the country to “get right with the law.” He said
the measure could be ready early next year.
Lawmakers
fail to act on fire prevention [Salinas Californian]
Year
after year Congress promises to beef up wildfire-prevention programs but
doesn’t follow through with enough money, frustrated lawmakers and advocates
say. Many Democratic and Republican lawmakers, especially from out West, agree
that Congress should spend more on preventive steps like thinning forests,
clearing excess brush and performing controlled burns before the wildfire
season heats up.…But come budget time, fire-prevention programs run by the U.S.
Forest Service and the Interior Department invariably get underfunded,
advocates say, though wildfires are getting bigger, more destructive and
costlier to control….Bennet said he and some other members negotiating a new
farm bill are looking for ways to boost funding for fire prevention in that
legislation.
Groundwater
levels falling at alarming rate while lawmakers decide what to do [Modesto Bee]
San
Joaquin Valley’s groundwater is being depleted at an alarming rate and
something needs to be done before it’s too late, state officials were warned
last week….Famiglietti has been tracking groundwater levels since 2002 using
satellite technology. He shared his dire findings during a daylong groundwater
workshop with the State Board of Food and Agriculture.…He is part of a growing
cadre of hydrologists and scientists calling for more government control over
how much water gets pumped out of the ground. State lawmakers not only are
listening to their pleas, but also have started drafting plans for how the
government can protect California’s water basins….California doesn’t have a
statewide groundwater management system, but something like that may be coming
soon. “We think local and regional management is the most effective way to
protect groundwater,” said Oppenheimer. He said state officials are considering
“surgical, focused” oversight of water use in regions “where ongoing management
and control efforts are not protecting groundwater.”
Officials
concerned restrictions may apply to Water Action Plan [Marysville
Appeal-Democrat]
Potential
water conservation requirements on agriculture would be a
"non-starter" to implement the draft California Water Action Plan,
one Sutter County official said on Friday. The plan, which outlines goals to
curb California water woes, may call for reductions in water use in
agricultural areas to slake the thirst of Southern California and provide
stability for environmental concerns in the Delta, said Sutter County
Supervisor James Gallagher. "That's not going to work for us,"
Gallagher said. "We've been good stewards of our water and have conserved
our water well. Anything that would ask us to further conserve our water would
be harmful to our agriculture."
Cloud
seeding, no longer magical thinking, is poised for use this winter [Sacramento
Bee]
…Once
viewed by some as a fringe science, cloud seeding has entered the mainstream as
a tool to pad the state’s crucial mountain snowpack. New technology to manage
the practice, and research that points to reliable results, have cemented cloud
seeding as a dependable and affordable water-supply practice….Cloud seeding is
often misunderstood as a kind of magic that conjures rain from thin air. In
reality, it is simple chemistry combined with careful weather monitoring….California
has been seeding clouds for at least six decades. The first couple of decades
were experimental, but since then it has been routine practice for a number of
water agencies and hydroelectric utilities. In any given winter, there are
cloud-seeding projects underway in 15 California watersheds, from Lake Almanor
in the north to the San Gabriel River in the south. Most were up and running
for the season as of last week, ready to take advantage of the first cold
storms.
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