Agriculture Daily News 2/8

When all relevant factors are accounted for, biofuels produce more greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. So conclude two studies published yesterday in Science, adding to a growing body of research suggesting that crop-based fuels, once hailed as a clean answer to oil, are not a magic green bullet. Previous studies didn't always account for the energy that would be needed to grow, harvest and refine the fuels. Most importantly, they didn't consider that greenhouse gas-gobbling vegetation would need to be cleared for fuel crops -- or, if these were planted on existing pastures, that new fields would be cleared to make space for displaced food crops. Wired 2/08/08

 

State regulators took steps to add yet another Delta fish to the list of endangered species Thursday and implemented emergency regulations that could further cut into state water supplies. Meeting in San Diego on Thursday, the state Fish and Game Commission designated longfin smelt as a candidate for the list of threatened or endangered species, meaning it must decide within a year whether to add it to one of those lists. Then the commission enacted emergency measures that give Department of Fish and Game biologists new authority to cut deliveries from massive pumps near Tracy that supply water to 25 million people in the East Bay, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. CC Times 2/08/08

 

Australia's government on Thursday released graphic pictures of Japanese hunters harpooning whales and dragging their bleeding carcasses onto a ship near Antarctica, calling it evidence of the "indiscriminate" slaughter of the animals. CC Times 2/08/08

 

The California Fish and Game Commission rejected a proposal Thursday to ban fishing for two months on the lower American River. The 7,000-member Northern California branch of the Federation of Fly Fishers had sought the ban between Nimbus Dam and the Sacramento River, fearing unseasonably low river levels would endanger steelhead trout. Sacramentee Bee 2/08/08

 

Backers and foes of a plan to pump billions of gallons of water to booming Las Vegas differed Thursday over the economic prospects of the rural Nevada valleys that would have to give up the water. Proponents of the Southern Nevada Water Authority plan to draw more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys maintained that a population boom in the isolated area is unlikely no matter what. AP 2/08/08

 

Central Valley chinook salmon are in deep distress. Their rapidly disappearing numbers during their fall run upstream are alarming evidence of the misuse and declining health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's. Record Net 2/07/08

 

Construction of a plant to treat contaminated groundwater migrating from Aerojet's Rancho Cordova site near Sacramento is scheduled to begin in April. The 8,500-square-foot structure to be built on 0.8 acres at 10557 Coloma Road, west of the Church of Christ, is designed to blend in with the neighborhood, said Tim Murphy, GenCorp public affairs director. The council last year approved locating the treatment plant at the Coloma Road site, despite protests from homeowners in the adjoining Mills Ranch neighborhood, who feared the operation would lower their property values. Sacramento Bee 2/07/08