Discussion on 100-year-old water rights delayed until July [Modesto Bee]
The
State Water Resources Control Board will push back its discussion of curtailing
100-year-old water rights to July 1. The board planned to bring up the
controversial issue at its meeting next week, but apparently its staff needs
more time to prepare.…Several Northern San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts
have water rights dating back before 1914, which is when the state began
regulating such things. The water board has indicated it will consider a
“resolution regarding drought-related emergency regulations for curtailment of
diversions to protect senior water rights.”…The exact wording of what the state
water board will consider has not been made public.
Environmental lawsuit
filed to stop water transfer package [Chico Enterprise-Record]
A
lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal District Court for the Eastern District
of California against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, stating a proposed
package of San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority transfers require a full
environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Sending water from Northern California to other parts of the state has to stop,
at least long enough for an environmental review of the long-term impacts, said
Barbara Vlamis of Chico's AquAlliance…. Exporting water when outflow to the
delta is very low will exposes Delta smelt to "lethal temperatures"
and pulls them into delta pumps, where the fish die, said Bill Jennings,
director of the Sportfishing Alliance.…The water transfers targeted in the
lawsuit are not specific as to buyers and sellers. This is because the transfer
package is "programmatic," and individual water transfers will be
submitted to the bureau soon, the lawsuit states. The plaintiffs said they
believe transfers may begin in early July.
Cantor’s lesson:
Hedging on immigration is perilous [New York Times]
The
lesson that immigration advocates say they gleaned from Tuesday’s election
results is, simply put, that hedging on such an intensely charged issue can be
politically fatal. Two very different primaries — one statewide in South Carolina,
and one in a gerrymandered Virginia House district that includes parts of
Richmond — made that clear. In South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham — one of
the Republican architects of the bipartisan Senate immigration bill, who openly
discussed his support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants on the
campaign trail — easily fended off six primary challengers to win his party’s
nomination. But in Virginia, Representative Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House
Republican, lost in a stunning primary upset to a little-known Tea Party
challenger after showing some lukewarm support for several more narrow
immigration compromises before frantically backpedaling from the issue.
Editorial: Don’t let Cantor’s defeat stop immigration reform
[Sacramento Bee]
…Progress
on immigration reform was going to be extremely difficult even before Cantor’s
loss. Now, reform foes are trying to send the message that crossing them is
political suicide. Some Republicans had started to become more open on the
immigration issue, realizing that our country is becoming more diverse and
their party’s long-term future hangs in the balance. They should not falter
now…. Republicans need to recognize that Cantor’s district in the Richmond suburbs
is by no means representative of the entire country. Immigration reform
advocates point out that Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was also attacked for
supporting some changes, easily won his primary Tuesday in South Carolina, a
very conservative state.
Opinion: How Imperial County farmers are making air quality
better [Imperial Valley Press]
Flying
home from a brief trip to Sacramento a couple weeks ago, I was joined on the
plane by a man who was new to Imperial Valley. While talking with him, he made
the comment about how dirty the air was here in our area and, in his opinion,
how farmers contributed to our unhealthy air quality….And then it dawned on me;
does he, or the general public, even realize what farmers are doing in their
fields to reduce dust and particulate matter (PM10)? As required by the
Imperial County Air Pollution Control District Rule 806, agricultural
operations are required to reduce the amount of PM10 as a result of emissions
generated through implementation of Conservation Management Practices, also
known as CMPs, even though farmers contribute a fraction of the overall dust
generated.
Editorial: Progress, perhaps [Ventura County Star]
Researchers
are reporting some potentially encouraging news for Ventura County’s valuable
citrus crops, which face a serious threat from a deadly disease. Scientists at
the University of Florida — a state whose multibillion-dollar orange industry
has been hard-hit by the same disease — say they’ve found a possible treatment
for it….Unfortunately, officials say it will take years to prove the chemical’s
effectiveness before it can be put to use in Ventura County, where citrus crops
generate more than $500 million a year in economic activity. Yet, even if this
discovery is only one step forward, it’s a step in the right direction.
Ag
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