Farmers, spared from mandatory cuts, defend water use [Riverside Press-Enterprise]
Nothing
raises Brad Scott’s ire like accusations that farmers waste water. The Moreno
Valley dairyman has been defending himself for years, but even more so since
Gov. Jerry Brown last week ordered cities – but not farms – to cut water
consumption by 25 percent from 2013 levels….“Consumers are feeling the pain now
and they have no idea what we’ve been dealing with for generations,” said
Scott, co-owner of Scott Bros. Dairy Farms along Gilman Springs Road….At the
6-acre Kallisto Greenhouses in Fontana, owner Kathye Rietkerk said she spent about
$300,000 during a dry spell in the 1990s to improve efficiency at her wholesale
indoor plant business….Rietkerk said she is angry that half of the state’s
available water goes to the environment at a time when residents and businesses
have grown desperate with drought.
Camps
divided by governor’s water cut proposals [Imperial Valley Press]
Linsey
Dale objects to the notion of black-hatted farmers reaping the rewards of a
biased water system in California, a system central to some of the criticism
that while farming makes up only 2 percent of the state’s economy, the industry
receives up to 80 percent of the water supply. It's a gross misrepresentation,
the Imperial County Farm Bureau executive director said….“I’m not saying that
the environment doesn’t need some type of allocation but I think it’s gotten a
little out of hand,” Dale said. “We’re putting the environment ahead of certain
necessities that what we need to survive. The delta smelt has only about a
one-year lifespan, so it’s very concerning for us that the state is putting
that in front of farmers, who grow the citrus and grains and other food sources
we need to survive.”
OID
could sue over water supply [Modesto Bee]
A
drought-fueled battle pitting people against fish over the Stanislaus River
could wind up in court. Oakdale Irrigation District leaders described the
struggle Tuesday to a boardroom full of worried farmers who began irrigating
three weeks ago with no idea how much water they’re entitled to this year –and
they won’t find out for two more weeks. The small amount of water stored behind
New Melones Dam, which they were counting on, was expected to begin diminishing
at midnight Tuesday as officials release more water, swelling the Stanislaus to
benefit fish. The latest surge, called a pulse flow, was not envisioned in a
compromise recently hammered out between local leaders and federal officials.
But state water officials have stalled approving the deal, leaving federal
officials feeling they had no choice but to maintain the status quo.
Project
irrigators to get reduced water deliveries [Klamath Falls Herald and News]
Klamath
Project irrigators are facing another tight water year. At the annual Klamath
Water Users Association water meeting Tuesday, Brian Person, acting manager for
the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Basin Area Office, announced that the Klamath
Project is slated to receive 254,500 acre-feet of water for the 2015 irrigation
season. “It’s disappointing, but not unexpected,” said Greg Addington,
executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association. According to the BOR
2015 Operations Plan, historical full Project demand is 390,000 acre-feet. “I
think we could see it coming. You know it’s a number that if we weren’t
stringing droughts back-to-back, it’s manageable,” Addington said. “I’m afraid
people are going to get hurt this year.”
Supervisors
order agriculture commissioner to improve pesticide scrutiny [Ventura County
Star]
A
county board Tuesday directed Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales to
upgrade scrutiny of pesticides in a meeting tinged with questions about whether
Gonzales and state regulators were meeting their obligations to protect public
health. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors gave the direction to Gonzales
two weeks after he reported that air-quality targets for the presence of the
pesticide 1,3-Dichloropropene had been exceeded from 2011 through 2013 in
fields near Rio Mesa High School. Gonzales and state regulators have downplayed
the risk because the targets are tied to exposure over a lifetime and not just
one year….Gonzales and state officials disavowed suggestions that they had
placed the interests of the agricultural industry above public health.
Feds
to consider endangered species listing for spotted owl [Associated Press]
Federal
biologists have agreed to consider changing Endangered Species Act protections
for the northern spotted owl from threatened to endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will announce
Wednesday there is enough new scientific information in a conservation group's
petition to warrant a hard look, which will take about two years. A notice will
be published Friday in the Federal Register….Paul Henson, supervisor for Fish
and Wildlife in Oregon, says a lot has changed since the original listing. Back
in 1990, the biggest threat to the owl was cutting down the old growth forests
where the owls live. Now it is the barred owl, an aggressive cousin from the
East Coast that migrated across the Great Plains and invaded spotted owl
territory. Those two areas will be the focus of the review, he said.
Ag
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