Merry Christmas! - We know its been a tough year. Not a lot got done to help farmers with their critical water situation. We were told that the House and Senate needed to pass their respective drought bills and they would get together in a joint committee and come to a compromise, but nothing came of it. No compromise on the San Joaquin River Settlement. No compromise on the ESA and the Delta Smelt. And although the House and Senate are the only governmental bodies that can fix these things, the State of California and the Governor didnt help by telling them to stay out of it. It wont be fixed if the only ones who can fix it are told to leave us alone. The voters of California passed a water bond that has $2.7-billion for storage, but there are no guarantees that any dams will be built. If they are built, it will be years down the road. There will be many court battles to stop them. The State of California has passed a new groundwater sustainability law that will force land out of production if we dont find a way to get a stable surface water supply. There has been no attempt to modernize forest policy to clear the underbrush that soaks up millions of acre feet of water that would flow to rivers and reservoirs. Desalination along the coast is being considered by a few cities, but is moving way too slow. If we could wean the coast off the Sierra runoff, it would go a long way to help. In short, there is no comprehensive water policy being discussed. We could go on, but will stop here. We will continue our efforts in the new year to tell people our story, how farming is facing its most serious challenge. There are many publications who still dont get it. There are many environmental publications that dont want to get it. We appreciate the support of our newsletter readers and will go on to fight the good fight in 2015. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and heres to a better 2015.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 22:40:43 +0000
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