California drought: Pols pressure state to stall water cuts [San Francisco Chronicle]
Four
California Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, sent
an urgent appeal Wednesday to the state Water Resources Control Board pleading
for two-week delay in a decision that was expected Friday to slash water
deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers. The letter
was also signed by Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and John Garamendi of Walnut Grove
(Sacramento County).…The Democrats described the water cuts as “catastrophic,”
saying the state proposal could “cut back all delta water pumping for
agriculture and (wildlife) refuges” for the purpose of saving enough water by
September to “protect public health and safety” should the drought continue
next year. They said recent rains are expected to provide “significant outflows
at the delta” for the next two weeks, providing time for the state to reassess
its decision.
Judge: California
didn't weigh water bank's impact [Associated Press]
A
state judge ruled Wednesday that California water managers failed to consider
the environmental impacts of running one of the nation's largest water banks.
The Department of Water Resources never looked at the ecological effects of
running the Kern Water Bank when the state transferred the bank to private
hands in 1997, Judge Timothy Frawley ruled. A nearby water district sued in
2010, saying that the state did not study the bank's potential effects on its
neighbors, including causing wells to run dry or groundwater levels to drop in
drought years. California is currently experiencing a withering drought, with
many reservoirs far below their normal levels.
More money for
storage projects added to Calif. water bond proposal [Capital Public Radio,
Sacramento]
The
Assembly Democratic leadership has now added an extra $1 billion for storage
projects like dams and reservoirs to its bond proposal in hopes of winning
support of Republicans and Central Valley Democrats. “These will all be open
and competitive grants,” says Asm. Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), the proposal's
author. “The whole point of this water
bond package, from the outset, has been to stay away from specific earmarks.”
Asm. Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) says that’s a good start - “I’m interested in
creating wet water, and that means we have to do ground water storage, surface
water storage, investment in the watersheds” - but he’s still concerned there’s
no guarantee that future Democratic-controlled legislatures won’t spend the
storage money elsewhere.
Ranchers, tribes
reach deal on Klamath water; agreement provides relief to ranchers, farmers
during drought [Associated Press]
A
deal to share scarce water between ranchers and the Klamath Tribes has cleared
another hurdle on its way toward becoming part of a bill in Congress to
overcome a century of fighting over water in the Klamath Basin. Parties
announced Wednesday they have finished negotiations to overcome last summer's
irrigation shut-off to cattle ranches in the upper Klamath Basin after the
Klamath Tribes exercised newly awarded senior water rights to protect fish.…The
deal still must be voted on by the tribes and ranchers. If approved, it becomes
part of Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden's effort to pass legislation authorizing
removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling
salmon, and another that gives farmers on a federal irrigation project greater
assurances of water during drought.
Politics, regulations
and water could send growers out of state, panelists warn [Ventura County Star]
Politics
has exacerbate the Ventura County agriculture industry’s most critical and
urgent issues, driving frustrated growers to automate more of their operations
and expand operations out of the state. Growers and a water official united on
those issues Wednesday morning as panelists discussed the state of the county’s
$2 billion agriculture industry at an event hosted by the local Association for
Corporate Growth chapter. The group meets monthly in Westlake Village, but held
the event at the Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo to be closer to the
county’s agricultural base. Water supplies that may hang on the outcome of
state water projects, labor shortages that appear to have no end in sight as
politicians argue over immigration reform, and permits that lead to lengthy and
costly confrontations between growers and politicians were the topics
highlighted by the panelists.
Ag-backed letter
pushes immigration reform [Hanford Sentinel]
Unwilling
to pronounce immigration reform dead in the House, a group of more than 600
business and farming groups has fired off a letter to House Speaker John
Boehner calling on him to get the ball rolling. “Immigration reform is an
essential element of a jobs agenda and economic growth,” stated the letter,
mailed last week and signed by 696 organizations and firms. “It will add
talent, innovation, investment, products, businesses, jobs and dynamism to our
economy.”…The letter is the latest attempt by reform supporters to get
fractious House Republicans to take up the issue months after a bipartisan bill
cleared the Senate….Western United Dairyman, which counts nearly 1,000
California dairies as members, signed onto the letter, as did Paramount Farms,
an agribusiness giant that employs hundreds of Kings County workers at nut
processing facilities in Kern County. Other signatories include the
Agricultural Council of California, the California Walnut Commission, the
California Farm Bureau Federation and the Milk Producers Council.
Ag
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