California groundwater: Court case could speed up regulation [KQED Radio/San Francisco]
California’s
Supreme Court is being pressed to take up a case that could dramatically alter
oversight for groundwater, building on a landmark water rights ruling the court
made a generation ago. Earlier this summer, a Sacramento Superior Court judge
ruled that rural Siskiyou County in Northern California must consider people
downstream who depend on the Scott River before issuing permits to drill wells
and pump groundwater nearby. If the high court accepts the case and upholds
that ruling, the result could be new controls on groundwater pumping — in
addition to those contained in legislation just signed by Gov. Jerry Brown….At
the heart of the case is the Scott River, which runs through Siskiyou County
and feeds into the Klamath not far from the Oregon border.
Farmers
unhappy with new groundwater regulations [KBAK/KBFX/Bakersfield]
Gov.
Jerry Brown has signed his groundwater regulation bill, a bill that one local
farmer says will not only hurt his business, but also the county’s economy. “I
have to look at buying less pickups, employing less people, buying less
tractors. You name it, from top to bottom,” said Pete Belluomini, the VP of
Farming for Lehr Brothers Inc. “We are tied to the groundwater 100
percent," he said, "so ultimately it will have an effect on consumer
prices. There’s just no getting around that.” Beatris Sanders, the executive
director of the Kern County Farm Bureau, agreed….“To put a cap on that blood
line of water, I think it’s dangerous,” said Sanders. “Everything about farming
is already unpredictable, harvest to harvest.”
Fish-killing
parasite spreads further up Klamath River [Eureka Times-Standard]
Karuk
biologists have found the fish-killing PARASITE that devastated salmon
populations on the lower Klamath river in 2002 is now also on the mid-Klamath
River, which has no large reservoir for emergency water releases. All 20 salmon
SAMPLED on the middle Klamath Wednesday tested positive for the PARASITE, and
17 of them were severe cases, said Craig Tucker, Klamath coordinator with the
Karuk tribe….The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released emergency flows to the
Trinity and lower Klamath rivers on Tuesday after ich was found on the lower
Klamath to prevent further spread of the disease and the possibility of a
fish-kill….The only other way to increase the amount of water reaching the fish
is to encourage water users in the Klamath Basin to divert less water, Tucker
said.
Drought
leads to rising food prices [KTVU/Oakland]
Local
restaurants and farmers alike say they're feeling the impact of the California
drought. At the Heart of the City Farmer's Market in San Francisco, evidence of
the drought's impact can be seen at the fruit and vegetable stands.
"There's some produce we usually grow other years but we're not growing
this year because there's not enough water," said Mario Diaz, who works
for James Paoletti Farms in Linden….LOCAL RESTAURANTS are also feeling the
impact. The Golden Gate restaurant association says the drought is
pushing prices up. At Kuleto's in Union Square, executive chef Robert Helstrom
says he's seen a dramatic impact on price and availability.
Harvest
hits the halfway point in Sonoma County [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
Thanks
to CONTINUED mild weather, the North Coast grape harvest remains ahead of
schedule and some winemakers may even finish picking their fruit by the
beginning of October, according to growers and analysts. About half of Sonoma
County’s crop has already been harvested, said Karissa Kruse, president of
Sonoma County Winegrowers, an industry trade group….Some vineyards are
experiencing stressed-out vines as a result of a lack of water, which could
produce a lower yield and affect grape quality. The issue is problematic for
vineyards along the upper Russian River, where surface supplies have been
stretched during the drought. It’s signs also can be seen on vineyard leaves,
which are already turning color.
Altered
to withstand herbicide, corn and soybeans gain approval [New York Times]
The
Agriculture Department has approved the COMMERCIAL planting of corn and
soybeans genetically engineered to survive being sprayed by the herbicide known
as 2,4-D, according to documents it posted on a federal regulatory website on
Wednesday. Some corn and soybean growers have been pushing for approval, saying
the new crops would give them a SORELY needed new tool to fight rapidly
spreading weeds that can no longer be killed by Roundup, known generically as
glyphosate, the usual herbicide of choice. But critics say that cultivation of
the crops, which were developed by Dow AgroSciences, will mean a sharp increase
in the spraying of 2,4-D, a chemical they say would be more damaging to the
environment, nearby non-engineered crops and possibly human health, than
Roundup.
Ag
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