Environmental Information for the
California Almond Industry

Almond Industry Headline Environmental News

Edited by Mark Looker

   Air Quality

  • More than 6,000 SJV dust management plans filed - — More than 6,000 Conservation Management Practices (CMP) plans to control fugitive dust on 3.1 million acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland have been submitted to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, according to Roger Isom, California Cotton Growers Association (CCGA) vice president and director of technical services. <more> March 18, 2005 Western Farm Press
     

  • Grants aimed at addressing air quality. Nonprofit groups will use funds for advocacy effort and rural monitoring. - - Two environmental grants awarded to nonprofit agencies in the central San Joaquin Valley will help people become clean-air advocates and allow rural residents to know how dirty the air is in their communities. <more> March 16, 2005 Fresno Bee
     

  • Almond Growers Showcase Environmental Efforts - - - Almond orchards in full bloom, bees furiously pollinating trees, the sun peaking through the rainy skies-this was the setting for the Environmental Stewardship Tour presented by the Almond Board of California (ABC). The industry used this opportunity to demonstrate it continues to be forward thinking by working with academia, equipment manufacturers, growers and handlers to be better stewards of the land.  <more> March 4, 2005 Almond Board of California press release.

 

Crop Protection

  • House Ag Subcommittee reviews methyl bromide critical use exemption process - -  Congressman Frank Lucas, R-OK, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development, and Research, chaired a hearing today to review the methyl bromide (MeBr) Critical Use Exemption (CUE) process under the Montreal Protocol.  The Subcommittee heard testimony from two panels of witnesses including Claudia McMurray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State. <more> March 10, 2005 House Ag Committee press release.
     

  • DPR issues notice on testing for VOC content—The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has issued a notice on nearly 800 pesticide products requiring tests for VOCs, volatile organic compounds (153 kb). To see the entire list, please click here (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) March 7, 2005
     

  • Pesticide-related legislation introduced in Legislature- - A total of 12 pesticide-related bills have been introduced into the 2005-06 California State Legislative Session. As introduced, these bills have the potential to impact the regulatory programs administered by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. March 7, 2005 To see the list of bills, click here.

 

Water Quality
 

  • Water drain plan revives Kesterson pollution fears. Proposal would remove selenium blamed for 1980s wildlife disaster. - - Jim Ganulin remembers the collective gasp at the Los Banos fairground on that March night 20 years ago.Federal authorities announced that shocking bird deformities and wildlife carnage would force them to shut off the flow of toxic irrigation drainage to Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. But there was a bigger surprise: They also intended to cut off irrigation supplies to 42,000 farming acres, the source of the bad drainage, in the Westlands Water District. Ganulin was Westlands' legal counsel at the time. <more> March 20, 2005 Fresno Bee
     

  • Dispute boils down to water deliveries. Group claims government has pledged more water to valley farmers than it has to give - - A national environmental research group and water districts in Kern County are at loggerheads about who is telling the truth on future water deliveries for the Central Valley Project. The Environmental Working Group alleged in a news statement issued Thursday that the federal government has promised Central Valley farmers more water than it has the capacity to supply. Water districts and the Friant Water Authority, which manages the Kern County share of the Central Valley Project, say no such promises exist. <more> March 18, 2005 Bakersfield Californian.
     

  • Water checking divides farmers - - Farmers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley are of two minds regarding the state's new requirements for monitoring irrigation water runoff. On one hand, there are growers like Kurt Neu, who farms almonds, grapes, peaches and feed crops in Livingston and Delhi." They need to control urban areas rather than regulate us more," Neu said. "They (city residents) can buy chemicals we can't, and we are qualified (to use them) and they aren't. They overregulate us, and they need to watch the cities." On the other hand, there are growers like Parry Klassen, a tree fruit and melon farmer in Selma. Klassen is the chairman of the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition, a group formed to help farmers comply with the monitoring requirements. Klassen has experience in trying to resolve farm-related environmental issues. <more> March 12, 2005 Modesto Bee
     
  • Legislation proposed to protect state's water -- A group of state senators that includes Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, unveiled a sweeping package of proposals Wednesday intended to make water cleaner and more available to millions of Californians. But it also imposes new rules on agriculture the industry may fight. <more> March 10, 2005 Stockton Record
     
  • Kern's water to go uphill in deals. Farmers, officials laud sales to Southland; activists concerned - - In California, water flows uphill -- toward money. In fact, rising torrents of Kern County water are flowing uphill these days to satisfy the seemingly insatiable thirst of California's housing boom. <more> March 7, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
     

General Industry News
 

  • Gov.  Schwarzenegger appoints environmentalists to key Cabinet, water posts - -  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the following appointments to key posts in his Cabinet and the State Water Resources Control Board: <more> March 8, 2005  Gov. Schwarzenegger press release.

 

 

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