Howls
of protest at Sacramento wolf hearing [Sacramento Bee]
Wolves
tend to stir up strong emotions from those who regard them as vicious predators
and others who see them as magnificent wildlife. Those feelings were on full
display at a hearing Friday night in Sacramento meant to generate public input
for a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take the gray wolf off
its list of endangered species throughout the lower 48 states.…In California, a
state with no wolves, hundreds packed the hearing room at the Marriott
Courtyard Sacramento Cal Expo, some wearing cowboy hats and others sporting
caps with wolf ears. Ranchers, spooked by the yearlong foray of a gray wolf
known as OR7 into Northern California from Oregon, told two Fish and Wildlife
officials seated on the dais that wolves did not belong near their livestock.
Food
safety act sows anger with small farmers [San Francisco Chronicle]
In
the seven years since an E. coli outbreak caused by contaminated bagged spinach
from Central California left five dead and 103 hospitalized, retailers and
other large buyers have forced Salinas Valley farmers to rip out wildlife
habitat, fence fields, poison rodents and scrape away native vegetation - all
in the name of food safety. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration closed
public comment on 1,200 pages of proposed rules for farms and processors that
would implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, which Congress passed three
years after the 2007 outbreak. Critics say the rules would lead farms across
the country to adopt tactics that they maintain have ravaged the Salinas
Valley, erased billions of dollars of taxpayer investments in farm conservation,
overridden organic farming protocols and damaged local food systems.…The
proposal has ignited fury in the local and organic farm movement, and a stout
defense from food poisoning victims groups. Almost 20,000 comments were filed
in response to the proposed rules, which are scheduled to take effect in 2015.
Veteran
union activist fasts to support rights for illegal immigrants [New York Times]
As
a teenage grape picker, Eliseo Medina learned political action at the feet of
Cesar Chavez.…So there Mr. Medina was on Friday, now 67 years old, in a white
tent just below the Capitol on the National Mall in the 11th day of a
water-only fast he hopes will “touch the heart” of the House speaker, John A.
Boehner of Ohio, and make him act on immigration….But inside the Capitol, where
Republican leaders in the House say an immigration overhaul is not on the
agenda this year, the surly partisan mood contrasts sharply with the idealism
from another era in Mr. Medina’s tent….The Senate passed a broad immigration
bill in June, but the issue has fallen to the wayside in the House as lawmakers
feud over health care and the budget. While Mr. Boehner insisted Thursday that
immigration is “absolutely not” dead in the House, he gave no indication that
he planned votes anytime soon.
Editorial: Imagine a Thanksgiving
feast on $1.67 budget [Sacramento Bee]
…Any
hopes of getting a farm bill done by Thanksgiving Day are gone; hopes for
getting it done by Dec. 13 are dim. Same as last year, the big hangup is
majority House Republicans seeking deep cuts to the food stamp program….The
Senate and House bills would eliminate most direct payments to farmers –
traditional farm subsidies – in favor of crop insurance, a good thing….The
Senate bill, which passed on a bipartisan 64-35 vote, would cut $3.9 billion
from food stamps over 10 years. As we recover from the Great Recession, fewer
families will need food stamps. Senate cuts reflect this. House cuts go way too
far. With political will and a little compassion at this time of year when we celebrate
food and heed the needs of the unfortunate, the House and Senate should pass a
farm bill by the time of Boehner’s Dec. 13 House adjournment.
Editorial: Celebrate almonds,
while recognizing water issues [Sacramento Bee]
Almonds
are a great California success story…. But the party, alas, may not last,
despite world demand. Water is a limiting factor….Groundwater problems already
are happening….California is one of the last states in the nation not to
regulate groundwater. That has to change. The 2009 legislation to monitor
groundwater needs to go further, giving authority to limit pumping.
Editorial: Why California
water debate is going nowhere fast [San Jose Mercury News]
California
is having the wrong debate about the future of one of its most valuable assets,
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which produces water for much of the
state and about half of Silicon Valley. The battle for the better part of the
last two years has been about how big a new conveyance system -- probably
tunnels -- should be, how much it should cost, and who should foot the
bill.…The focus instead should be the operating conditions for the Delta,
particularly the amount of water that needs to flow through it annually to
maintain the health of the estuary. Once that standard has been established,
then everything else will fall into place for the two coequal goals of
providing a more reliable water supply and protecting, restoring and improving
the Delta ecosystem.…Why has the debate focused on the conveyance system
instead of this basic question? Follow the money.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_24574798/mercury-news-editorial-why-california-water-debate-is
Ag
Today is distributed by the CFBF Communications/News Division to county Farm
Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for information purposes; stories may
not be republished without permission. Some story links may require site
registration. To be removed from this mailing list, reply to this
message and please provide your name and e-mail address. For more
information about Ag Today, contact 916-561-5550 or news@cfbf.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment