CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU’S LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Agriculture Legislation Goes To Governor

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Both the CA Assembly and Senate had their final sessions of the 2013 legislative session ending late Thursday night, September 12th, sending the following approved bills, among others, on to enrollment (the final copy of a bill that has passed both Houses in identical form) and then to the Governor for his action. The Governor will have until October 13th to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature and in his possession.

AB 1165 changes current law so that reduction of a serious, willful, or repeated violation of a Cal/OSHA standard cannot be delayed by an appeal by the employer. Farm Bureau and other employer groups are opposed.

AB 199 encourages state institutions to purchase California grown agricultural products. Originally, the bill would have required state institutions to purchase California grown agricultural products as long as the price was within five percent of out of state agricultural products. However, the bill was narrowed to only require the purchase, to the extent possible. Farm Bureau supports.

SB 726 was a last minute gut and amend that would have allowed the California Air Resources Board unfettered authority to require reductions of black carbon (soot) on all major business sectors, including agriculture. The governor’s office responded to Farm Bureau’s strong opposition and worked to remove the language that contained the new regulatory authority that would have severely impacted California growers.

Black carbon is a component of particulate matter, that is already being reduced from the extensive regulations such as the Truck Rule and the upcoming “tractor rule” that will eventually be implemented in the San Joaquin Valley. Further regulations beyond what is already in place, could go as far as banning the use of fossil fuel in certain instances. With the onerous amendments removed, Farm Bureau and the majority of state’s business community removed their opposition.

The Governor has indicated he will sign AB 10 to substantially hike the California minimum wage. September 11 amendments to AB 10 changed the bill from gradually increasing minimum wages in four increments to $10 per hour by January 1, 2018, to instead increase the minimum wage to $9 per hour on July 1, 2014 and to $10 per hour on January 1, 2016. CFBF and others representing employers oppose AB 10.

SB 749 will extend the sunset for the provision that allows accidental take for ongoing and routine farming and ranching activities under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). It makes three key clarifications that include 1) when the administrative record is closed for purposes of listing species under CESA; 2) when lease revenues generated from agricultural leases on lands owned by the Department of Fish and Wildlife are deposited, it will ensure that these revenues can be used to support the maintenance and operations of the Department’s lands; and 3) farmers transferring water can maintain non-irrigated cover crops so long as the water used by those crops does not diminish the amount being transferred. SB 749 was recently amended to also extend the sunset of the Department’s Coho recovery planning process. This bill is co-sponsoredby Farm Bureau, the California Cattlemen’s Association, and the California Waterfowl Association.

AB 1038 did not qualify for enrollment and will not go to the Governor. AB 1038 would have established a California Dairy Future Task Force at the California Department of Food and Agriculture to review and recommend changes to the State’s milk pricing system as well as the challenges the dairy industry is facing. This bill was introduced in response to both the fiscal situation dairies are facing and the value of whey under the State’s milk pricing system. AB 1038 is a vehicle that could have been used to implement any compromise agreements between dairy producers and processors about milk pricing going forward. However, ultimately no proposal was developed that both sides could embrace. Farm Bureau supportedthe legislation.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:16-07:00September 17th, 2013|

DAIRY DIGESTER PROPOSALS DUE NOV 1

Dairy Digester Project Proposals Sought

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and their partner agencies in the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group announced today a joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals. 

California is the largest dairy state in the USA, with approximately 1.7 million cows producing more than 3.6 million dry tons of manure per year that must be managed to reduce or mitigate environmental impacts. Manure can be processed by anaerobic digesters, sealed containers or tanks where the biological digestion of animal manure can occur, and biogas, a flexible renewable source of energy, is formed. 

The ultimate goals of the collaboration are to see the widespread adoption of digester systems to better manage manure and nutrients, help address air and water quality concerns, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce renewable energy, fertilizer, and other value-added products.

“California farmers and ranchers are innovators by nature,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Dairy digester technology is an idea whose time has come, and that is largely due to work done right here on California’s dairy farms. We are at a point where focused funding can help us make the transition to wider adoption and implementation of digesters in our state.”

“Dairy digesters can benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gasses and generating renewable energy”, said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “EPA is optimistic that this call for proposals will result in unique and innovative technologies that will benefit California, the nation’s number-one dairy state.”

History

Back in 2011, a partnership of state, federal and local agencies, academia, industry, non-profits and utilities came together to identify and remove barriers to the development and permitting of dairy digester systems in California. The work has culminated in specific recommendations that make digester systems more feasible in the nation’s number-one dairy producing state. The current joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals is another important result of the working group.

Proposals

Proposals should include development, installation and operation of dairy manure digester and co-digester projects and may include processes for the treatment and disposal of waste streams from the digester operations to address environmental impacts. Dairy digester and co-digester development is expected to take place on individual dairies or at centralized facilities located within California.

Funding

Funding may be provided by various participating agencies of the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group for proposals that are deemed most viable with the greatest measurable outcomes. Individual digester projects will qualify for funding on a case-by-case basis, and projects can potentially receive financial support from multiple participants. 

To assist in identifying potential funding sources, the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group has created a Funding Matrix document that identifies potential funding sources along with general criteria for the types of projects that would qualify for the funding. A copy of solicitation and the funding matrix can be found at:

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/dairy_digester_proposal/dd_solicitation_guidance_v4.pdf

For more information on diary digesters, contact Steve Lyle, Director of Public Affairs, California Department of Food and Agriculture, at 916-654-0462, or go to:

http://www.calepa.ca.gov/digester/Dairies/default.htm http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/Dairy_DigesterS.html

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:16-07:00September 17th, 2013|

NET BENEFITS: $5 BILLION; MORE THAN 1 MILLION JOBS TIED TO RELIABILITY OF DELTA WATER SUPPLIES

Brown Administration Drafts Cost/Benefit Report On Bay Delta Conservation Plan

California Natural Resources Board recently announced a new economic analysis of the costs and benefits of Gov. Brown’s plan to revitalize the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem and stabilize water deliveries shows a net benefit to California residents of $4.8 billion to $5.4 billion statewide.

The plan seeks the conservation of 57 different Delta wildlife and plant species. It is an application to federal and state wildlife agencies to permit the continued operation of the Delta-based Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the California Natural Community Conservation Planning Act. Those water projects supply two-thirds of California’s population with at least some of their water supply and provide water to irrigate 3 million acres of farmland in the Central Valley.

No regulation requires such a statewide economic analysis, but it is part of the extensive economic research undertaken by the state to design the plan, weigh its economic impacts, inform the public, and help guide policymakers. The report released Monday is draft and may be revised based upon public comments.

The conservation plan includes 145,000 acres of habitat restoration and protection in the Delta and construction of three new intakes and two tunnels to divert water supplies in ways less harmful to native fish species than possible with the current water project infrastructure. The plan seeks to achieve the dual goals defined by the California Legislature in the Delta Reform Act of 2009: provide a more reliable water supply for California and protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem.

The economic study concludes that implementation of the $25 billion conservation plan is a worthy investment for the water districts in the Santa Clara Valley, Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California that would pay 68 percent of the costs. It finds both positive and negative impacts in the Delta, but far larger statewide benefits from implementing the plan.

“This report compares California’s economic outcomes under the BDCP to the conditions we can expect without BDCP,” said California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird. “The result is clear: Achieving the water supply reliability goal of the BDCP is crucial to California’s economic future. But what cannot be quantified in an economic analysis like this is equally important. By safeguarding and enhancing the fish and wildlife of the largest estuary on the West Coast, we act in the interest of all Californians to come.”

Impacts to the largely agricultural Delta region are significant in terms of temporary, construction-related air pollution and traffic delays and the loss of farm jobs as land is converted to tidal wetlands and other habitat. An estimated 37,000 farm jobs could be lost as habitat restoration is implemented, according to the economic analysis. The economic cost of traffic disruption is estimated at $53 million to $79 million over a nine-year construction period. The study also predicts that the total costs of changes in regional air quality will range up to $16 million.

Overall changes in salinity in Delta waterways due to implementation of the BDCP is expected to cost $1.86 million per year in farm revenues – a decline of less than one-half of one percent of total annual farm revenues in the Delta.

The biggest economic stimulus of the conservation plan would be centered in the Delta. The Delta would be home to an estimated 110,600 construction jobs (over 7.5 years), 11,300 operations and maintenance jobs (over 40 years), and 55,800 jobs related to restoration (over 50 years). (A job is defined in the economic analysis as a position equivalent to one full-time worker for an entire year.)

Measures to protect, restore, and enhance wildlife habitat are expected to provide a net increase to boating, picnicking, wildlife viewing, waterfowl hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities, with net economic benefits estimated at $222 million to $370 million over a 50-year period.

One of 22 conservation measures described in the BDCP involves building three new intakes along the Sacramento River near Hood and twin 35-mile-long tunnels to carry water to the existing SWP and CVP pumping plants in the south Delta near Tracy. The new northern intakes would be screened to protect juvenile salmon and other passing fish species. Use of the new intakes would allow water project operators to reduce pumping in the south Delta, where reverse flows in nearby channels can directly entrain and disorient fish.

The new water delivery system proposed by the conservation plan would also help safeguard water deliveries in the event Delta levees were breached by flood, earthquake, or other forces.

“Because the ultimate economic benefits of the BDCP depend on factors that cannot be known with certainty (e.g., demand growth, future hydrology, future regulations, climate change), an exact quantification of the direct benefits of the BDCP is elusive,” states the economic analysis. “Nonetheless, given the available evidence, two conclusions seem certain. First, the BDCP will result in substantial net benefits to the water contractors that rely on the Delta for at least a portion of their water supplies. Second, implementing the BDCP will reduce a range of risks that are of great consequence to the public. These risks include the vulnerability to floods or earthquakes in the Delta region that may disrupt water exports for an unknown period of time; gradual, long-term sea level rise that could progressively restrict Delta water exports unless mitigating action is taken; and an increasingly strict regulatory environment under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts that could further restrict exports from the Delta.”

Among the key assumptions made in the economic analysis is that operational components that may be implemented as part of the conservation plan to help native fish species recover – including higher seasonal flows to the ocean – may be imposed by federal and state wildlife agencies even if the conservation plan is not implemented. The imposition of such regulations on the current delivery system would significantly reduce the water supplies that could be provided south of the Delta.

For more information about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, please visit www.baydeltaconservationplan.com

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:16-07:00September 16th, 2013|

JOSE RAMIREZ IS FIGHTING FOR WATER NOV. 9 IN LEMOORE

Fight for Water Extending to Boxing Ring

Jose Ramirez, who has won 11 national championships, won six consecutive, U.S. National titles and gold metals and represented the U.S. in the 2012 Olympics in London,  will make his valley pro debut Nov. 9 in Lemoore at the Golden Eagle Arena on the West Hills Community College Campus. His opponent has not yet been announced

The fight is called Fight for Water, as Ramirez is a member of the California Latino Water Coalition and knows very well how reduced water allocations can cause major unemployment for farm workers. “I know about the water crises for Central California farmers and it means the loss of jobs for farmworkers, many of them my friends,” he said.

Born to farm workers, Ramirez grew up in the town of Avenal on the West Side where he  started boxing at eight-years old. He not only excelled in the ring, but also out of it, as he was the first in his family to attend a major university.

“I remember growing up and seeing my dad go to work in the fields,” Ramirez said. His dad has since moved up and now works for a custom spray company.

“When there is no water, farmworkers do not have jobs, and that impact their families and communities on the West Side. “The lack of water has been devastating to the West Side, and the possibility of zero water next year will have long-term economic effects on many communities.

“The people who make the decisions on deducing water to farmers have caused a great of damage to many, many families and it must be corrected,” he said

“I’m very much focused on the fight and that’s why I am doing this in my back yard,” said Ramirez. “It is a fight for the most important thing we need to farm the crops that feed our nation.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 16th, 2013|

DINUBA ACP AREA BEING TREATED NOW

ACP Quarantine Will Extend

Into Fresno County

Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner, Les Wright, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces that an extensive survey and treatment program has begun in response to the detections of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) near the city of Dinuba in Tulare County.

The recent find in Dinuba is of great concern since 100s of live adults and nymphs were found on nearby trees in the neighborhood. This is the first time live ACPs have been observed on host plants in the San Joaquin Valley. There is now real evidence that there has been a breeding population of the ACP in the valley.

All host plants will be treated within 800 meters of the find; residents within the treatment area will be notified in advance. CDFA will soon establish a quarantine for all citrus plants and fruits within five miles of the find to prevent the movement of host material that may be affected. The prohibition of movement of host plants and fruits will apply to both the homeowner and the commercial citrus grower.

The forthcoming quarantine boundary will extend into Fresno County as far as the city of Reedley. The Fresno County Department of Agriculture is cooperating with the project to ensure that host trees and fruits are not removed from the area under the proposed quarantine.

ACP is a dangerous pest of citrus. The Fresno County Department of Agriculture is in the process of determining the full extent of this incident to protect the state’s vital citrus industry, as well as backyard citrus trees. It must be emphasized that citrus fruit is safe to eat and the disease is not harmful to human health.

Homeowners should be aware that they will also be under the forthcoming quarantine order. If someone needs to move host fruit or trees, including pruning and trimmings, they should contact the project to find out how to properly handle them.

This pest is of grave concern because it can carry the disease huanglongbing (HLB). All citrus and closely related species are susceptible hosts for both the insect and the disease.

There is no cure once a tree becomes infected. The diseased tree will decline in health and produce bitter, mis-shaped fruit until it dies. To date- HLB has only been detected in one backyard tree and one psyllid in the Hacienda Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles County.

Residents in the area who think they may have seen the pest are urged to call the Pest Hotline at 800-491-1899. For more information on the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing disease visit: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/acp/.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 14th, 2013|

VALLEY FARM AT FRESNO CHAFFEE ZOO

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 14th, 2013|

AG STUDENTS HAVE WEST HILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR GOOD JOB TRAINING

West Hills Community College

 Is Applied-Based for Ag Students

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Students looking for an applied type of education in the robust $45 billion agricultural world of California have a good option– classes and degree at West Hills Community College in Coalinga, with their strategic Farm of the Future program.

Here are the high demand vocational agricultural and industrial science areas that can lead to good job prospects.

·      Agricultural Science and Technology

·      Agricultural Pest Control Advisor

·      Welding Technology

·      Heavy Equipment Operation

·      Industrial Maintenance Technology

·      Tractor GPS Technology

Among the most popular curriculums for West Hills agricultural students is the pest control advisor program. While PCAs specialize in insect and disease management and prevention, their job also entails other production concerns related to plant health. PCAs not only work for farming operations, but also for municipalities in maintaining roadway vegetation, assisting golf courses to be pest free as well as greenhouses and landscapes.

The PCA industry is considered high growth over the next 10 years as many long-time PCAs are starting to retire.

In 24 months, with applicable work experience, the college prepares student for the California Department of Pesticide Regulations Agricultural PCA exam. The course work is geared for working students who can study online at home and travel to Coalinga on weekends for classroom and field experience.

The curriculum is part of the Farm of the Future, which is located on 230 acres in Coalinga and was donated in 2001 by the Allen Family (with special thanks to Dorothy Allen). To date, West Hills Community College District has invested more than $24 million on the site’s infrastructure, which includes a shop, rodeo grounds and stable areas for horses.

David Castillo

David Castillo is the Interim Director of the Farm of the Future. Castillo will oversee the farm’s almonds, pistachios, garlic, and alfalfa operations. “Student’s can learn hands on here and understand the nuances of agriculture, which gives them a boost in the work force,” he said.

“We are an education institution first, so we can take a risk on what we are farming and try new things,” said Frances Squire, Executive Director of the West Hills Community College Foundation, which helps raise money and secure grants for the college.

A lot of what we are offering at West Hills is what the farming and other industries have told us what they need, noted Squire. “Farmers have told us that they need PCAs, and PG&E has told us they need welders so that’s why we are offering the course work. You can count on our students with certificates in hand to find jobs once they finish here, or if they want or need to further their education they are well equipped to attend a university,” Squire said.

West Hills Community College is part of the West Hills Community College District, which began in 1932. Today the district encompasses a 3,464 square mile region that includes portions of five surrounding counties including Fresno, Kings, Madera, Monterey and San Benito. The district also has a North District Center campus in Firebaugh and well as two campuses in Lemoore, one in the town of Lemoore with an additional site at the Naval Air Station in Lemoore.

More information can be found at http://www.westhillscollege.com

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 13th, 2013|

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES NOW AVAILABLE IN DATABASE

New Data On Farmland’s Multiple Benefits

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is pleased to announce what is believed to be the first-ever Ecosystem Services Database, which is now available at http://apps.cdfa.ca.gov/EcosystemServices



Ecosystem Services are defined as the multiple benefits we gain from farming and ranching, including crop and livestock production. Many of these benefits extend into environmental stewardship and conservation. For example, the maintenance of wildlife habitats, biodiversity enhancements on working lands, renewable energy use and production, increased nutrient cycling and storage, soil enrichment, water conservation, and support for pollinating insects are some of the benefits. A more comprehensive list of ecosystem service benefits in agriculture can be found at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/EcosystemServices.html

“California’s working farms and ranches are an important part of our natural landscape,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “The commitment to ecosystem services demonstrates clearly that beyond the productivity of fields and pastures, resource management decisions by farmers and ranchers provide us with wildlife and pollinator habitat, contribute to clean water and air, provide recreational and tourism connections, and much more.”

The database contains nearly 400 farms and ranches. It is intended to easily communicate to a broad audience the multiple benefits provided by agriculture in California. The database can be queried by key word, county, crop type, and type of ecosystem service. An interactive map allows users to view where the services are taking place.

The purpose of the database is twofold. It helps the department discuss the multiple benefits provided by California agriculture, and it assists growers, ranchers, and stakeholders who want to learn more about ecosystem services.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 13th, 2013|

Ron Harben, Ralph Cesena, and Danny Ramos Honored

Three Recognized For Work  

In Conservation Tillage

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

Ron Harben

The Conservation Agricultural Systems Innovation (CASI) Center’s honored three pioneers in conservation tillage (CT) Thursday during the dinner portion of the  popular Twilight Field Day at the UC Westside Research and Education Center in Five Points.

Ron Harbenwas recognized for outstanding service to CASI for his truly exceptional contributions that he has made to conservational agriculture in California, noted Jeff Mitchell, a UC Davis cropping systems specialist and field day coordinator.

Harben is the Project Director at California Association of Resource Conservation Districts.

“Ron is responsible for our strategic planning initiative, and very pivotal to the work we are doing in conservation farming,” said Mitchell.

Ralph Cesena Sr. received the CASI Industry Innovator Award. “This award is a means of providing great visibility to conservation pioneers in California,” said Mitchell.

Ralph Cesena

Cesena is president of Cesena Distributing in Stockton. His contributions to the development and expansion of conservation tillage go way back to the 1980s. “He painstakingly worked to demonstrate and encourage farmers from  Yolo County to San Joaquin County to implement CT practices, including no-till and ridge till planting, and high residue cultivation,” said Mitchell.

“During this very early era of the introduction of CT approaches in California, Ralph literally stood by himself as a true loan voice for a better way. He was unquestionably way ahead of his time,” said Mitchell.

Danny Ramoswas recognized for the CT Farmer Innovator Award.

Ramos is the manager of the Morning Star company’s Lucero Farms with operations in the central San Joaquin Valley. “Ramos is responsible for the company’s farming operation and he is the developer of efficient production paradigms for crop productivity and quality for the largest processed tomato company in the world,” said Mitchell

 

Danny Ramos

Ramos has implemented a whole host of conservation tillage practices on the farm over the past few years on tomatoes, corn and cover crops. “His work is nothing short of phenomenal,” said Mitchell.

Ramos began a very ambitious conservation tillage work at Morning Star in 2010, when he initiated a series of demonstration evaluations involving the use of off-season cover crops, coupled with minimum and strip-tilled management for tomato production.

“He also organized farm field evaluations of different cover crops, different cover crop management, followed by strip-tilled and minimum tillage in both Hollister and Madera, and invited CASI workgroup members to see the work and evaluate the performance of these approaches,” said Mitchell. “And he continued to improve the conservation tillage work.”

In 2012 Ramos did something that has never been done before in California. “He effectively doubled cropped tomatoes and strip-tilled corn in the same field,” said Mitchell.

In 2013 Ramos made a positive out of near failed wheat crop due to reduced water allocations. In that no-till wheat residue he planted and irrigated up  cotton on 60-inch beds that he rotates tomatoes and wheat on in a field south of Dos Palos. “Currently he has a good stand of cotton and has graciously hosted a no-till field event,” said Mitchell. He is deserving of this high honor.”

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 13th, 2013|

JIM PATTERSON ON CALIF0RNIA WATER NEEDS

Assembly Member Jim Patterson on Water

Storage is Critically Needed

State Assembly member Jim Patterson represents the 23^rd district, which encompasses   eastern Fresno County and part of eastern Tulare County.  His comments on what needs to be done regarding California water for agriculture and urban use were made at the recent Water Summit in Fresno.

Jim Patterson, 23rd Assemblyman

I am new to the Assembly, in “sponge-mode”/listening mode and attempting to understand what we can and cannot achieve in the short-term and long-term. So what I have been trying to do is to set a framework in which I can be engaged and supportive of the water bond in 2014. And my hope is that the Senate democratic leadership will be as clear as possible with respect to the principles that the 2014 bond is going to put forward.

So there are a few principles that I will be looking for:

Principle number one is, if we are going to pass the statewide water bond, it has to create net new water. It’s not good enough, merely, to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

We continue to fight over a stagnant water supply. I think we must pay attention to the wet-year runoffs, and that means storage. That means we capture it, store it, and save it, and we use it during the dry years.

When I was mayor for eight years, two of every four years were wet years. I took a look from a helicopter ride over Millerton Lake in 1997, and I saw hundreds of thousands of acre-feet flow out the Bay. I think we need to have a net, new water bond that actually gets us more of a water supply.

Secondly, the water bond absolutely has to contain storage. We live in Central California where we can look up to our mountains and we can see the benefits of hydrology that comes from the Kings River Watershed and the San Joaquin River Watershed.

We need to modernize our historic hydrology. I think there are too many people in Sacramento who want to essentially ignore the fact that we have good dams, we have hydrological systems, and they have served us exceedingly well. Not only do we get water, we get flood control, potable water, agricultural water, recreation and inexpensive energy.

Those are all strong cases to be made for storage. There are quite a number of dams that are up to capacity and others in the supply chain.

For the water policy in the long term, I think Central California has to ensure that we retain the water rights along our watersheds—the San Joaquin and Kings Rivers. I don’t think it does us any good to have a water policy that starts to begin to move our water supply to other places and to other people, because of the highest bidder. We can’t be exporting water out of our watersheds.

Whatever policy, long-term, has to incorporate net new water storage and conveyance, particularly during the wet years for use in dry ones. We have to protect our water rights; we can’t give those away in negotiations.

Finally, in the short-term, I am a little frustrated. I’ve been here for a while, and it seems we have lot of other folks are looking at our watch and telling us what time it is. And the watch is broken, and we ask them, “Can you please fix the watch?” And they tell us that they can’t.

So, in the short term, with all due respect for those who seem they cannot do anything, folks, I don’t know what the answer is on the federal level. We have to continue to encourage those people we send to Washington, D.C. and get those pumps turned on now.

There has to be a databased, fact-based, information-based approach to this that can convince those in Washington to act now. You send 800-000 acre-feet out the Bay, as it happened just last year, and for what? Because there were a little more than 300 smelt discovered in the pumps? To me, that is insanity, and the effects of it are huge.

You talk about being in a crisis; those 800,000 acre-feet of water would serve 100,000 people, irrigate 200,000 acres and employ thousands. And yet, we have the Endangered Species Act, biological findings and activity by our federal government that I can only conclude is dictatorial. And we have got to be consistently pressing those who beat us that it is not good enough for them to just say, “We are working on it; we are trying to fix it.”

I know it is easy for me as a member of the Assembly and a freshman, to say to the federal water officials, ‘”Please, you’ve got to do something.” But I want to commend those on the Panel today and those in Congress, that we have a Senate we have got to deal with, and we need to be encouraging Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer and others because good things are developed in Congress, only to have them shot down in the Senate.

And while all that goes on, 800,000 acre-feet get sent out—over some smelt.

I think the major stressor is how The Endangered Species Act has been excessively and absolutely improperly used to penalize us downstream for what is going on upstream.

We have predation issues, predators are eating the smelt, and we get blamed for it.

State Assembly member Henry Perea said to revisit the stressors. Absolutely, and the fact is that Sacramento and Stockton are putting sewage into the river, and the ammonium levels are rising, and yet we are the ones at the end of the water flow who have to give up 800,000 acre-feet.

Patrick Cavanaugh2016-05-31T19:45:17-07:00September 12th, 2013|