Officials cry drought; state says it's too soon [Bakersfield Californian]
Officials
from four San Joaquin Valley water agencies joined state and federal lawmakers
Tuesday in applying pressure to the president and governor to declare a drought
emergency and relax endangered species standards as a dry winter
looms.…"We're looking for the governor to declare a drought emergency,
because we believe that will ultimately provide additional flexibility with how
we can solve our (water) crisis. Specifically, we need some relaxation of the
Delta standards," said Jim Beck, general manager of the Kern County Water
Agency, site of the press conference….But Nancy Vogel, spokeswoman for the
state Department of Water Resources, said it's too soon to do that. "We'll
take January's and February's precipitation into account, and then consider
whether we feel a proclamation or a declaration is in order," Vogel said.
Fate
still unclear for nine species in Delta water tunnel plan [Sacramento Bee]
The
state’s ambitious plan to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has two main
goals: improve water supplies and remove dozens of native animals from the
endangered species list. Yet for nine key species – including salmon, Delta
smelt and greater sandhill cranes – it remains unclear whether the plan will
ultimately help or hurt.…Although it took seven years of study and encompasses
more than 34,000 pages, the project’s effect on nine imperiled species is
officially “not determined,” according to federal wildlife agencies.…Critics
said they are surprised that a project intended to restore wildlife cannot
clearly demonstrate whether these critical species will benefit or not.
Cities,
farming and urban groups all calling for spots on Stanislaus County groundwater
committee [Modesto Bee]
As
Stanislaus County leaders made sure farming interests had seats on a new Water
Advisory Committee, certain urban interests made a pitch for places on the
advisory panel, too. Riverbank Mayor Richard O’Brien told supervisors he would
like to see the county’s nine cities included in the makeup of the committee.
Also seeking a guaranteed seat was the top executive of the Building Industry
Association of the Greater Valley. In a letter Tuesday to the Board of
Supervisors, John Beckman, CEO of the Stockton-based group, suggested the
county give him equal status as the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau executive
director, who was guaranteed a committee seat.
IID
water apportionment plan under fire [Imperial Valley Press]
El
Centro farmer and former Imperial Irrigation District director Mike Abatti is
again challenging the IID’s water apportionment plan. In a lawsuit filed Nov.
27, he accuses the district of placing Imperial Valley’s municipal and
industrial water needs above the area’s agricultural needs.…Furthermore, he
alleges that measures put in place by the 2014 Equitable Distribution Plan,
such as the use of a “straight-line” method to divide water among farmers, and
the water clearinghouse that allows farmers to trade unused water credits among
each other causes, irreparable harm to water users.
Editorial: FDA again botches
rules on antibiotics [San Jose Mercury News]
Presidents
come and go, but the Food and Drug Administration just keeps botching basic
safety issues no matter who's in the White House. That should have Americans up
in arms. Scientists warned President Reagan nearly 40 years about the danger of
pumping large amounts of antibiotics into farm animals. At about the same time,
they begged the president and the FDA to remove the chemical triclosan from
hand soaps designed to prevent the spread of germs. But here we are in 2013,
and the FDA still can't deal with either issue. This time at least it's taking
steps in the right direction, but the recommendations don't go nearly far
enough, fast enough.
Commentary: King amendment is
vital to Iowa agriculture [Des Moines Register]
…Contrary
to the misinformation from those who want to eliminate animal agriculture, the
King amendment is simply designed to prevent California or any state from
dictating production methods to farmers in Iowa or any other
state….California’s legislation threatens to start an internal U.S. trade war.
If it starts with eggs, you can be sure it won’t end with eggs. What would stop
Iowa’s growing wine industry from pushing legislation requiring wines sold in
Iowa come from grape plants that experience a hard freeze in the winter like
those grown in Iowa? Wineries in Napa Valley would be concerned and rightly so.
There has been a lot of heated rhetoric and red-herring arguments that the
amendment would impact state laws dealing with the health and safety of
agricultural products. However, the amendment is clearly limited to
agricultural production methods. And, if there are legitimate concerns, the
interested parties should be working to further clarify the language of the
amendment as part of the ongoing conference committee, not demanding its
removal from the bill.
Ag
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