Almond Industry Headline Environmental News

   Air Quality

• Swap engines, reduce rates. Utilities help farmers who switch from diesel. - - State power regulators Thursday approved a utility plan that will make electricity more affordable for farmers who want to ditch their dirty diesel engines. Beginning Aug. 1, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison will offer lower rates to farmers who replace their diesel irrigation pump motors with cleaner electric models. PG&E rates will be about 20% lower than what the utility now offers its agricultural customers, and Southern California Edison's rates will be about 12.5% lower. <more> June 17, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Gov. Schwarzenegger Appoints Cindy Tuck Chair of the Air Resources Board  - - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Cindy Tuck as chair of the Air Resources Board (ARB). "Cindy has dedicated her career to developing solutions to challenging environmental problems in order to protect and improve California's environment. She has worked so Californians for generations to come will have clean air to breathe, water to drink and beautiful landscape to enjoy," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "Her expertise is vital to ensuring California continues to lead the nation in setting air quality standards while at the same time balancing the need to keep our economy strong and thriving. I am confident she will bring diverse interests together to meet our ambitious air quality goals." <more> June 28, 2005 Gov. Schwarzenegger press release
   

Crop Protection

• California Almond Industry Embraces Reduced Risk Compounds - - No matter how you measure it, the improvements are dramatic.  On a per-acre basis or total used, the California almond industry is reducing the use of chemicals on their crops to create a healthier environment. Trends over the last ten years compiled from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) pesticide use reports confirm that the almond industry is embracing reduced risk orchard management.  <more> June 14, 2005 Almond Board of California press release
   

Water Quality

• $2 million project to analyze the diminution of delta smelt - - The number of delta smelt and other species in the San Joaquin- Sacramento River Delta has dropped sharply, officials said Monday, and state and federal authorities have set aside $2 million to determine why. The decline in the small fish -- which are at their lowest level ever - - is especially worrisome, scientists said Monday, because they were once among the most common fish in the delta and are a bellwether of the estuary's health. <more> June 21, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
   
• High Court Rules Against Farmers in Water Dispute. The justices reject a suit from Californians who sought $32 million for water they didn't get. - - Individual farmers may not sue the federal government to enforce water contracts signed by their irrigation districts, the Supreme Court said Thursday in a unanimous ruling that limited landowners' ability to seek compensation for reduced flows. Two dozen farmers from California's Central Valley wanted the federal government to pay them about $32 million as compensation for water they were supposed to get under a federal contract. <more> June 24, 2005 Los Angeles Times
   

Endangered Species

• Endangered Species Act Faces Broad New Challenges - - More than three decades after the Endangered Species Act gave the federal government tools and a mandate to protect animals, insects and plants threatened with extinction, the landmark law is facing the most intense efforts ever by the White House, Congress, landowners and industry to limit its reach. More than any time in the law's 32-year history, the obligations it imposes on government and, indirectly, on landowners are being challenged in the courts, reworked in the agencies responsible for enforcing it and re-examined in Congress. <more> June 26, 2005 New York Times
   

• Concerns on water dominate hearing -- Western lawmakers are stacking the deck as they push for changes in a perennially controversial environmental law. In a textbook illustration of how Congress builds a case, Mariposa Republican George Radanovich on Wednesday summoned witnesses to discuss the Endangered Species Act. Almost invariably, the witnesses complained about the law's impact on water supplies and their own operations . <more> June 23, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

General Industry News

• Parts of Tejon Ranch safe from development. Partners pick 100,000 acres as part of ambitious plan - - Tejon Ranch and its conservation partner, The Trust for Public Land, have figured out which 100,000 acres of the ranch's 270,000 acres will be carved out into a preserve. <more> May 24, 2005 Bakersfield Californian.

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