California drought will test Jerry Brown [Sacramento Bee]
As
California withered through a drought in 1977, Gov. Jerry Brown called for a 25
percent reduction in personal water use statewide and flew to Washington to
press the Carter administration for federal aid.…“We have only one glass of
water,” Brown said at the time, “which is an indication of our effort here.”
Today Brown is governor again, and California is entering one of the driest
winters on record. Two dry years already have depleted many reservoirs. The
snowpack is meager, and streams and rivers are running low. If it remains dry –
as long-term forecasts suggest – the drought will test the management abilities
of a governor who, with the exception of the Rim fire last year, has largely
avoided widespread natural disasters since returning to the Capitol in 2011.
Calif. drought may
send Millerton Lake water to west-side growers [Fresno Bee]
In
the third year of California's drought, federal authorities may be forced into
a dreaded first-ever, last-resort decision — taking water from east Valley
agriculture and sending it to west-side growers. Nobody knows yet how much
water could be shifted, but the stakes are high for those who would lose water
on the east side. With San Joaquin River water from Millerton Lake, the farm
economy is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The east siders got
the water decades ago through a 1939 federal deal with downstream west-side
growers who have historic rights to the San Joaquin River. The west siders made
the deal because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation provided them a steady supply
of water from Northern California rivers. But in cases of extreme drought, like
this year — when very little water is available in Northern California — the
deal calls for some Millerton Lake water going to the west siders, who own
240,000 farming acres.
Editorial: California drought? We're not there yet Too soon to use
the 'D' word [San Francisco Chronicle]
For
days now, Californians have looked skyward each morning, searching for the
merest hint of rain. So far, they've mostly been unrewarded (although San
Francisco did record 0.02 inches last week). Now the drumbeat to use the 'D'
word is getting louder. It is much too early for the governor to declare a
state drought emergency, despite what San Joaquin Valley growers and Democrats
Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Jim Costa of Fresno have called for. Yes, 2013
was the driest year in California on record. Yes, scant rain has fallen this
winter, but historically, California receives most of its rain and runoff
between January and April. We have weeks to go before the real worry should set
in.
Nevada Farm Bureau,
counties sue over wild horses [Associated Press]
Two
Nevada organizations have sued the federal government, alleging mismanagement
of wild horses led to excessive damage to rangelands and the animals
themselves. The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation and the Nevada Association of
Counties named Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, the Interior Department and the
Bureau of Land Management as defendants in their lawsuit filed Dec. 30 in U.S.
District Court in Nevada.…The groups accuse the government of failing to comply
with the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which requires the
BLM to protect the "natural ecological balance of all wildlife
species" on public lands and to remove "excess" horses and
burros from the range.
Florida citrus
growers worry that deadly bacteria will mean end of orange juice [Washington
Post]
The
sprawling citrus orchard that Victor Story toured recently sure looked like a
steal at $11,000 an acre. The investors who owned it were going to lose money,
and potential buyers such as Story might have stood to reap a handsome reward.
But as he bumped along the 40 acres of groves in a large SUV, Story was taken
aback by the sickly look of the trees. Their leaves were an inch shorter than
normal and yellowing. Full-size oranges were still apple green. Other mature
oranges that should have been the size of baseballs were no bigger than
ping-pong balls.…What Story saw in the orchard in Polk County, Fla., wasn’t an
anomaly. It’s the new norm in the Sunshine State, where about half the trees in
every citrus orchard are stricken with an incurable bacterial infection from
China that goes by many names: huanglongbing, “yellow dragon disease” and
“citrus greening.” Growers, agriculturalists and academics liken it to cancer.
Roots become deformed. Fruits drop from limbs prematurely and rot. The trees
slowly die.
Editorial: Gov. Brown undermines fiscal credibility with
high-speed rail funding scheme [Contra Costa Times]
Gov.
Jerry Brown has correctly warned lawmakers that an upturn in state revenues
should not serve as an excuse for a new state spending spree. He's right.
Unfortunately, he undermines his credibility by proposing that California use
$250 million from the state's greenhouse gas reduction program for his
high-speed rail boondoggle. Not only is this legally questionable, it's a dumb
idea that would divert funds that should go toward meaningful energy efficiency
programs. It demonstrates once again that the governor's desire to leave a
massive legacy project supersedes rational decision-making.
Ag
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