Obama’s immigration plan could grant papers to millions, at least for now [New York Times]
Changes
to the immigration enforcement system that President Obama is expected to
announce as early as this week could offer legal documents to as many as five
million immigrants in the country illegally, nearly double the number who
received protection from deportation under amnesty legislation in 1986. Unlike
that law, which gave permanent-resident green cards to 2.7 million immigrants,
Mr. Obama’s executive actions will not provide any formal, lasting immigration
status, much less a pathway to citizenship. The actions will, however, have a
large and, White House officials hope, swift impact on the daily lives of many
immigrant families, removing fears that relatives could be separated from one
another by deportations. Many immigrants will also receive work permits, which
will give them Social Security numbers and allow them to work legally under
their own names and travel within the United States, although not abroad.
Editorial: Obama prepares to
make correct immigration move [Sacramento Bee]
President
Barack Obama shouldn’t need to resort to executive action to take steps toward
solving the nation’s immigration mess….Instead of going to war, House and
Senate Republicans ought to show they can lead by finally approving a
comprehensive overhaul….White House officials are debating whether to include
protections for farmworkers who have entered the country illegally but have
been employed for years in the agriculture industry, a move that could affect
hundreds of thousands of people. It shouldn’t be a point of contention. The
agricultural industry needs experienced hands.
Farmers
shift to permanent crops, despite water uncertainty [Stockton Record]
LINDEN
— In the very place where the verdant Valley meets the dry, rolling foothills,
longtime farmer Kenny Watkins climbed out of his truck one morning last week to
examine an orchard of peach trees planted just last February….Unlike row crops,
orchards cannot be fallowed during times of shortage. But in some areas,
including the eastern fringes of San Joaquin County, orchards are being planted
in areas that have never been irrigated before, or at least, only sporadically
over the past 150 years. Primarily, these were rolling grasslands for dry-land
wheat farming and cow-grazing….These orchards on the edge of the county are,
Watkins says, a normal evolution of the landscape driven by simple supply and
demand….The downside: The water for these orchards has to come from someplace,
and it has to be available for the long term.
California
drought hits San Mateo County coast particularly hard [San Francisco Chronicle]
The
historic statewide drought has struck especially hard along the southern San
Mateo County coast. While other parts of the Bay Area are served by big water
agencies with steady if shrinking supplies, most of the homes and small farms
here, less than an hour’s drive from Silicon Valley, rely on creeks and wells,
many of which have stopped flowing….Even the area’s larger property owners,
with more wells and more creeks, are seeing their water supplies erode. Marchi
Central Farms, for example, a major supplier of Brussels sprouts, leeks and
fava beans in Pescadero, planted almost 30 percent less this year, the partners
say, because a stretch of the San Gregorio Creek dried up for the first time in
26 years….The local farm bureau says that the few hundred growers in the area,
who produce upward of $100 million worth of goods annually, have all taken
significant losses. Most have cut production, some up to one-third.
Electricity
rate hike mulled by Modesto Irrigation District [Modesto Bee]
…People
are accustomed to periodic rate hikes. What might be new is a growing awareness
that MID’s 115,000 power customers have subsidized the utility’s signature
service – irrigation water – by several million dollars each year. A mounting
number of critics, including former agency and utility managers, is asking if
it’s fair for families and businesses to continue carrying a burden for 3,100
farmers….Farmers’ irrigation rates historically have been kept so low that
revenue hasn’t come close to covering MID’s costs for delivering water – even
when the falling water charge is added….Previous boards acknowledged that
farmers should pay more of a fair share. Two decades ago, leaders set a goal
for yearly irrigation increases of 10 percent. But political will faltered and
farmers usually confronted more modest hikes while power rates continued
surging skyward.
“We
weren’t opposed” to yearly 10 percent bumps, said Wayne Zipser, president of
the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau.
Elkhorn
Slough water earns poor marks [Salinas Californian]
The
Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve has released it first
water-quality “report card” and the results are mixed. Researchers tested water
at 23 stations in critical locations around the Elkhorn and adjacent sloughs,
like the Moro Cojo Slough, and then issued letter grades based on nine
attributes of the water….Two of the most critical measurements are for
nutrients – nitrates and ammonia, mostly – which can foster excessive algae
growth. The other measurement is for dissolved oxygen, which needs to remain
high to support fish and other marine life. These excess nutrients, which wash
into the slough from the Salinas River and other sources, are typically
byproducts of agricultural operations. Ammonia and nitrate are components of
commercial fertilizer.
Ag
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