State’s top court declines to take up Russian River frost rules [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
A
three-year legal battle between farmers in the Russian River watershed and
state water regulators over frost protection rules has come to an apparent end.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request to consider a lower
court’s ruling that upheld the state Water Resources Control Board’s authority
to implement the controversial regulations. The decision means hundreds of
grape growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties will be required to study stream
flows and develop plans to manage diversions throughout the watershed, which
contains more than 60,000 acres of vineyards….Mendocino County Farm Bureau
Manager Devon Jones said she’s disappointed in the decision and worried about
what will happen during the next severe frost. “All of us are just hoping for
lots of water and a very mild frost season,” she said.
Judge:
Water for Klamath salmon legal — this time [Eureka Times-Standard]
A
federal judge ruled Wednesday that a federal water agency did not violate the
law when it made special reservoir releases last year to help salmon in the
Klamath River survive the drought, rather than save the water for farms. But
U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill in Fresno wrote in his ruling Wednesday
that the next time the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wants to release Trinity
Reservoir water for Klamath River salmon, it needs to cite a better legal
authority. The Westlands Water District and the San Louis & Delta-Mendota
Water Authority in the San Joaquin Valley had sued the bureau to stop the
releases, arguing the water should have been saved for farms facing the
drought. Irrigation has been shut off to farms in the region this year. The
bureau again made special releases for Klamath salmon this year as the drought
continued, which the judge also refused to stop, finding that the drought's
potential harm to salmon right now was greater than the potential harm to farms
next year.
Valley
growers take fight against water cutbacks to Supreme Court [Fresno Bee]
San
Joaquin Valley growers Wednesday filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court,
hoping to reverse an appellate court’s rejection of their claim that flawed
science was used to cut back water pumping in Northern California. The case
already has been through U.S. District Court in Fresno, which sided with
growers in a decision that would have forced federal leaders to rewrite 2008
protections for the threatened delta smelt….After losing in Fresno district
court, federal officials and environmentalists appealed in the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals, which sided with the government in March. The
Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation filed the Supreme Court appeal.
Salinas
River maintenance program gains regional water board nod [Monterey Herald]
The
Salinas River maintenance demonstration program earned a key thumbs-up from a
regional oversight body last week. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality
Control board's executive officer Ken Harris formally certified the county
Water Resources Agency's program, which is aimed at enhancing flood protection
through removal and management of vegetation and sediment in two high-flow
five-mile stretches of the river. The demonstration project, proposed by The
Nature Conservancy in collaboration with agricultural interest groups and other
stakeholders, allows private landowners along the river to remove built-up
vegetation and sediment for the first time since 2008….County water officials
and stakeholders have been working on new river maintenance rules for years
under the threat of a major flood with the capacity to destroy farmland and
crops.
Anti-union
Gerawan workers rally against state labor board [Fresno Bee]
About
200 field workers from Gerawan Farming gathered at a downtown Fresno hotel
Wednesday, urging the state to resolve a 10-month-old election to determine if
they will remain members of the United Farm Workers union. The workers are
frustrated because the ballots from the November election have been sequestered
by the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board. The board held the ballots
after numerous charges of unfair labor practices were leveled at Gerawan, one
of the largest fruit growers in Fresno County….A hearing before administrative
law judge Mark Soble is currently discussing the charges against Gerawan, a
fruit grower with thousands of workers in the central San Joaquin Valley….By no
coincidence, Wednesday’s rally in the Radisson hotel’s ballroom was held on the
same floor as the administrative hearing.
Brazil-U.S.
cotton pact will reduce export subsidy program [Wall Street Journal]
Brazil
and the U.S. ended a dispute over subsidies to U.S. cotton growers with an
agreement that includes a one-time, $300 million payment to help Brazilian
cotton farmers as well as changes to the subsidy program. The U.S. will cut the
maximum length of credits available to cotton exporters to 18 months from 36
months, and raise the interest rates exporters pay for the loans, a spokeswoman
for Brazil's foreign ministry told The Wall Street Journal. In 2004, the World
Trade Organization ruled that the U.S. farm programs included prohibited
subsidies to cotton growers and said the U.S. must change the programs or face
retaliatory measures from Brazil.
Ag
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