Agriculture:
*U.S. farmers benefit from price of rice and high demand -- With the price of rice surging internationally, much of the medium-grain rice being planted between the Sutter Butte mountains and California's Coastal Range has already been sold, even though harvest still is months away. The greater demand and new foreign customers driving the global price increase have been a boon to American farmers, who are welcoming the reprieve after years of shouldering high fuel and fertilizer costs and weak prices for their grain. SJ Mercury 5/12/08
Water:
*Sacramento prepares for the worst -- massive flooding – After New Orleans, Sacramento is America's most flood-threatened city. A recent state report predicts that the right combination of unlucky weather conditions could put some parts of the city under more than 20 feet of water, causing a $25-billion disaster that would cripple state government and ripple through the California economy. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the federal Bureau of Reclamation have all stepped up prevention efforts since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. The aim, with the help of nearly $5 billion in state bond money approved in 2006, is to double Sacramento's flood protection over the next decade. LA Times 5/11/08
Coastal Waters Getting Cleaner -- Some good news from the government scientists who study pollution in U.S. coastal waters: A newly released 20-year study shows that overall levels of pesticides and industrial chemicals are generally decreasing. The pesticide DDT shows significant decreasing trends around the country, even in Southern California, which had the heaviest concentrations. Courant 5/12/08
SF: $8 MILLION GRANT AWARDED FOR DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION ALERT SYSTEM -- An $8 million federal grant has been awarded for water security and drinking water contamination early detection systems for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission water system. San Francisco was selected for the grant through a process evaluated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water quality and homeland security staff. The grant will allow the utilities commission to pilot monitoring, sampling, detection and early warning systems that could serve as a model for other water systems across the nation. CBS 5 5/12/08
Bio-fuels:
Rise in food prices fuels opponents' anti-ethanol case -- The global rise in food prices is giving political ammunition to opponents of the country's ethanol policy and creating some uncertainty for the burgeoning and heavily subsidized biofuels industry. An informal coalition of oil refiners, environmentalists and food processors is trying to convince lawmakers that increased output of the alternative fuel is inflating food costs by siphoning off corn otherwise fed to livestock and discouraging U.S. farmers from planting wheat, soybeans and other crops. San Diego Union Tribune 5/12/08
Regional biofuel proposals scruitinized -- The debate over biofuel production and its impact on world food prices may be raging elsewhere but apparently isn't chilling enthusiasm for it regionally. Two separate projects aimed at developing biofuels and exploring the markets for their use are grabbing attention from Vallejo to Woodland. Vacaville Reporter 5/11/08
Labor:
*Illegal Farm Workers Get Health Care in Shadows -- For many illegal, central-valley immigrants, particularly indigenous Mexican groups like the Mixtecs, much of their health care is provided by a parallel system of spiritual healers, home remedies and self-medication. Immigrants interviewed said they had faced numerous obstacles to pursuing conventional medical care. Above all, they said, was cost, but other factors included fear of deportation, long waits for treatment in medically underserved areas, and barriers of culture and language. NY Times 5/10/08
*Farm labor bill sets up another battle -- Legislative Democrats are again trying to change the way farmworkers organize, setting up another showdown with the agricultural industry. Outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said this week he is working on a bill to make it easier for farmworkers to vote to join a union. The legislation would allow farmworkers "to vote for collective bargaining rights in a way that their employer does not influence how they vote," said the Los Angeles Democrat. Sacramento Bee 5/10/08
Food:
Higher costs of flour, ingredients hit bakeries hard -- Just as consumers are reeling from food sticker shock, countless U.S. businesses that make and distribute the food that ends up in grocery stores and restaurants have been hit hard by soaring ingredient and fuel costs. Some commodities experts predict that wheat production will rebound this year, and the price of wheat futures has receded. Still, the prices for wheat and other foods are expected to remain high. San Diego Union Tribune 5/10/08
Salmon:
*State panel imposes strict limits on Valley salmon fishing -- Anglers in the Central Valley this year will face the tightest salmon fishing regulations in history after state officials Friday limited the catch to just one stretch of the Sacramento River.The action follows a winter of grim news about Central Valley fall-run chinook, mainstay of the Pacific Coast salmon industry. Biologists expect only about 59,000 chinook to return from the ocean to spawn in Valley rivers, a record low that triggers regulatory action. Meeting in Monterey on Friday, the California Fish and Game Commission added to the protections by sharply limiting recreational fishing on inland rivers. Sacramento Bee 5/10/08
Infrastructure:
Calif. ballot measures address property-right concerns – Poposition 98 and its rival on the June 3 ballot, Proposition 99, address the rights of property owners when governments want to seize their land for projects designed to benefit the public. Both initiatives would require governments to pay property owners fair market value if their land is taken. But Proposition 98 is much more restrictive. In addition to its provisions affecting renters, it would greatly limit governments' ability to seize property, even when the intention is to improve blighted downtown business districts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has criticized Proposition 98, saying its restrictions on the use of eminent domain would undermine the ability of government to build freeways, dams and other public works projects. SJ Mercury 5/9/08
No comments:
Post a Comment