The federal permit meant to protect the most imperiled salmon runs in California rivers where other salmon populations are collapsing is illegal, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. It was the second time in a year that U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger struck down a permit meant to shield fish from the effects of California's water delivery systems. The permit struck down was issued in 2004 under questionable circumstances: Although scientists in the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that the conditions it laid out would allow water operations to threaten two salmon runs and steelhead with extinction, that conclusion was overturned by James Lecky, now the Bush administration's top official overseeing marine endangered species. Inside Bay Area 4/17/08
A federal judge Wednesday invalidated a plan that justified boosted water exports from Northern California, ruling that it failed to account for the effects on endangered salmon and steelhead. U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of Fresno found that a 2004 study by the National Marine Fisheries Service didn't adequately address global warming, the loss of habitat and other factors that could hurt the fish. LA Times 4/17/08
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that water regulators failed to consider the effects of global warming and other environmental issues related to the decline of California salmon populations when they approved increased pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. SF Chronicle 4/17/08
DWR Statement in Response to Federal Salmon Decision DWR Press Release 4/17/08
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The state plans to spray a pheromone over almost the entire county this summer in an attempt to eradicate the light brown apple moth. But some communities have been slower to condemn the action than the city and county of Santa Cruz, which ended up suing the state in an attempt to stop the spraying until an environmental review is done. That lawsuit will be heard April 24. Instead, community leaders in the San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley and Watsonville are reaching out to residents and pondering what position -- if any -- to take on the state's enlarged spray zone. SJ Mercury 4/17/08
The Assembly Agriculture Committee passed two pieces of legislation today authored by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and related to the Light Brown Apple Moth controversy. ACR 117, an Assembly Concurrent Resolution, calls on the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and other relevant state departments to address unresolved health, scientific and efficacy issues surrounding the CDFA’s Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM )eradication plans. AB 2763, the Invasive Pest Planning Act of 2008 – would require the CDFA to create a list of invasive animals, plants, and insects that have a reasonable likelihood of entering California for which an eradication program might be appropriate. SF Bay Guardian 4/17/08
An Assembly committee approved a pair of bills Wednesday that were written in response to public outcry over the state's plans for aerial spraying of a pesticide in the Bay Area to eradicate an invasive moth. SF Chronicle 4/17/08
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Los Angeles' city attorney has sued the state's largest health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, accusing the company of unlawfully canceling the coverage of thousands of Californians after they filed medical claims. SF Chronicle 4/17/08
Rocky Delgadillo said Anthem Blue Cross, its parent company, WellPoint Inc., and another subsidiary illegally revoked the policies of as many as 6,000 members and duped all 500,000 individual policyholders into thinking their coverage would help them if they got sick. SF Chronicle 4/17/08
The city attorney is seeking up to $1 billion in fines and restitution from the state's largest health care insurer. International Herald Tribune 4/17/08
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The Bush administration is backing restaurant owners in their challenge to San Francisco's groundbreaking health coverage program before a federal appeals court that will hear the case today. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is challenging the employer payments at a hearing today before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena. The restaurants will be joined by the U.S. Labor Department in arguing that a local requirement that employers pay for health care violates federal law. SF Chronicle 4/17/08
An undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States earlier this year already captured workers at Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. dragging crippled cattle with chains, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their faces. But the report by the House Oversight and Government Reform domestic policy subcommittee includes the incidents which were not on the publicly released video. The subcommittee will discuss the report, and how to achieve greater transparency in the meat industry, at a hearing Thursday. AP 4/17/08
The Farm Service Agency in California has released an analysis of their 2007 agricultural loan portfolio showing more than $87.3 million was loaned to California farm and ranch operators last year. California Farmer 4/17/08
A reaction is building against policies in the United States and Europe to promote ethanol and similar fuels, with political leaders from poor countries contending that these fuels are driving up food prices and starving poor people. In some countries, the higher prices are leading to riots, political instability and growing worries about feeding the poorest people. Work by the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington suggests that biofuel production accounts for a quarter to a third of the recent increase in global commodity prices. A fifth of the nation’s corn crop is now used to brew ethanol for motor fuel, and as farmers have planted more corn, they have cut acreage of other crops, particularly soybeans. NY Times 4/15/08
An increase in foreclosures has Contra Costa County Mosquito and Vector Control District worried about a recent rise in abandoned pools, which they see as a gateway to West Nile Virus risks. SJ Mercury 4/17/08
California's new director of the Department of Fish and Game is likely to come to the job out of a retirement that lasted only a few months. If confirmed by the state Senate, Donald Koch would lead the agency he served for 30 years. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced Koch's appointment to the $143,000 a year position. Environmental News Wire 4/16/08
“King Corn” a recent documentary that looks at the trail corn follows through the US from the field to a number of products, was shown on PBS this week. Slashfood 4/15/08
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