California water official hopes for end to zero allocation [Fresno Bee]
A state water official said Thursday that despite the
"horrifying" drought gripping the state, there's still a chance that
farmers will get San Joaquin River water this summer instead of the "zero
allocation" announced. "I'm hoping that it's not going to be
zero," Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control
Board, said at a speech to citrus growers. The determining factor will be the
freshwater needs of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, she said. State and
federal water managers are taking another look at how much water to keep in the
rivers to prevent intrusion of salt water from San Francisco Bay, she
said....But Marcus told reporters later that her support for additional storage
doesn't necessarily mean building large dams on rivers. Rather, she favors
smaller projects such as off-stream reservoirs and water banking. Also,
California must develop more local water supplies, she said.
Early hints of El Niño stir drought relief hopes [Orange
County Register]
Early indications that an El Niño weather pattern could
form as soon as this summer - and possibly bring much needed rain - prompted
the nation's climate agency to issue an "El Niño watch" Thursday. But
meteorologists urged against leaping to conclusions. The chances of an El Niño,
the periodic warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific, remain uncertain. And
even if it forms, only strong El Niños, like the one linked to pummeling storms
in 1997-98, are associated with increased rainfall for California. "It's
really too early to get excited for a wet winter next winter," said Brandt
Maxwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.
"Obviously, with the drought continuing despite the storm we had last
weekend, we're all hoping for a good, wet winter to help stabilize the back
country a little bit."
Valley farmers may need genetic engineering to fight
citrus pest [Fresno Bee]
Despite public concern about genetically engineered food,
citrus growers should not be deterred from using the technology in the fight
against a deadly disease known as Huanglongbing, several experts said
Thursday....Scientists and researchers, who spoke at California Citrus Mutual's
2014 Citrus Showcase in Visalia, said genetic engineering may not be the sole
solution to stopping the disease, but it can be a valuable option. At the U.S.
Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce, Fla., scientists found that
some citrus varieties have shown resistance to the disease. Isolating those
traits will be important....If growers push for genetically engineered
remedies, they will have to overcome the public's concerns about the
technology, said Cathleen Enright, executive vice president of the Washington,
D.C.-based Biotechnology Industry Organization....Still, Enright said citrus
growers have a few advantages over corn and soybean farmers who use genetically
engineered seed and who have been singled out by opponents. She says, consumers
easily relate to eating oranges and drinking orange juice.
Experts: Beef from cattle with eye cancer poses no safety
risk [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
Consuming meat from cattle with eye cancer involves no
known disease risk to humans and the beef sometimes passes federal inspection
and makes it to the public's dinner plate, say food safety experts. The issue
surfaced last week with allegations that the embattled Rancho Feeding Corp. of
Petaluma may have circumvented federal regulations by slaughtering
cancer-stricken cows....Rancho's plant - shuttered on Feb. 9 - is under
investigation by the USDA and the U.S. Attorney's Office and the 8.7 million
pounds of beef and veal produced there last year have been recalled. No
illnesses related to the meat have been reported, and much of it presumably has
been consumed.
States join suit to block California egg law [Wall Street
Journal]
Five states have joined a lawsuit challenging a
California law that would require producers of all eggs sold in the Golden
State to house hens in roomier cages. Officials in those states, all of which
have big agriculture sectors, argue the California law violates the principle
of interstate commerce, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. They say
out-of-state farmers would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to
change their facilities to comply with the law. Missouri's attorney general
filed the suit against the California law last month. Officials representing
Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alabama joined it
Wednesday....California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat, intends to
"vigorously defend" the law, a spokesman for her office said in a
statement Thursday. "If this lawsuit is successful, it will limit the
ability of voters in any state to enact laws they deem in their best
interest," he said.
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Calif. high-speed rail agency will appeal judge's latest
ruling [Fresno Bee]
The California High-Speed Rail Authority plans to appeal
a court ruling that would send the agency to trial on whether its planned
bullet train can live up to performance requirements required under state law.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny this week denied the rail agency's
motion to dismiss part of a lawsuit filed by Kings County and two of its
residents, farmer John Tos and homeowner Aaron Fukuda. Kenny's ruling Tuesday
set the stage for a potential trial later this spring. On Thursday, the rail
authority said it will ask the Third District Court of Appeal for a writ to
overturn Kenny's ruling....Stu Flashman, an Oakland attorney representing the
Kings County plaintiffs, expressed frustration at the state's decision.
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