Securing Our Southern Boarder for Water By Bill Hitt from San Diego County, California
Bill Hitt from San Diego County, California writes in the San Diego County Pomona GrangeMessenger, that he is hopeful that a two decades old plan to transfer a portion of Imperial Valley’s Colorado River allotment to the San Diego County Water Authority will finally come to fruition. A Nevada Federal Judge recently rejected a petition to block a crucial part of the water transfer plan.
The issue being adjudicated concerned whether or not the San Diego County Water Authority should be allowed to line the original dirt canal carrying Colorado River water to the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, in an attempt to stop excessive water seepage. San Diego County Water Authority is willing to pay for the lining project if they receive the projected water savings, which would vary from 56,000 to 71,000 acre feet. Farmers in the Mexicali, Mexico area, across the boarder, have been quietly harvesting that seepage to irrigate their crops for years. Additionally, there has been some marginal wetlands benefit along the border as a result of the water leakage. Therefore, environmentalists and Mexican tomato growers are trying to stop the San Diego County Water Agency from fixing the problem of excessive water seepage. The State of California has, by law, legal entitlement to 4.4 million acre feet of Colorado River water, annually. Of that, 880,000 acre feet are specifically allocated to the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. The current water seepage all comes out of that 880,000 acre feet, meaning that these Valleys are losing a significant amount of their water reserves to unnecessary water seepage. Mr. Hitt concluded, “Imperial and San Diego County water agencies have fought and won this battle against LA’s Metropolitan Water District and Coachella Valley interests. Now lets start digging!”
National Animal Identification System (NAIS) From the Pennsylavia State Grange "Advocate"
“USDA’s voluntary National Animal Identification System for an animal tracking system is still in the early stages of implementing its phased-in components for premises identification, animal identification, and animal tracking. The full program boasts an ambitious timeline and completion date of 2009. NAIS’ goal is to be able to track animal disease to its source and other potentially exposed premises within 48-hours of detection. Premises registration has been implemented in all 50 states and in 2 territories. The animal identification segment is expected to be fully operational this year and the identification of new animals will begin in late 2006. The third phase, animal tracking, will integrate private and State animal tracking databases with the NAIS. It will allow state and federal health officials to record and store animal movement tracking information for livestock which can then be accessed in the event of a disease investigation, i.e. tracking “animals of interest”. Discussion of the pros and cons of such a system have sparked lively debates with detractors of the proposal likening the plan to a collective farm system that partners bureaucracy and corporate greed. Advocates of the NAIS agree that an efficient system for tracking the animal from the barnyard to the fork will add a measure of security to food safety that will serve as a preventive and control mechanism for widespread disease outbreaks that threaten food supply and, ultimately, human health.”
Ethanol Is Not To Blame From the "Ohio Granger"
Ohio State Grange Acting Legislative Director, Laddie F. Marous, recently stated that Ohio State Grange is advocating increased use of ethanol in gas and bio-fuels in the state. He stated, however, that there are groups intent on blaming the high cost of gas on ethanol and the American farmer. Farmers are being blamed for high gasoline prices because the phase-out of MTBE and increased use of ethanol are occurring simultaneously with large gasoline price increases. This misperception needs to be addressed and clarified. The use of ethanol to replace MTBE costs only a tiny fraction of the current price of gasoline. The real culprit is still the high price of crude oil. Perhaps with the new ethanol plants coming on line increasing the output of ethanol by 140 million gallons by the end of the year, gasoline prices will finally start to ease.
Rural Communites Need Rural Communications By Terry Hunt, Washington State Grange President
Terry Hunt, President of the Washington State Grange told delegates to the Washington State Grange Annual Convention in June that… “[r]ural communities are the backbone of Washington’s economy. They are the communities that produce our food, provide our energy and most of our outdoor recreation (hunting, fishing, hiking, etc.). These are all important pieces of the state’s economic well-being, and they need to be protected and treated with respect.”
“Great strides have been made in the past several years when it comes to providing communications services to rural areas. Towers are being built that will allow people living in most areas of the state to access high-speed internet services, which are critical in this day and age to a productive business. These same lines benefit schools as well. The Washington Learns Program is studying ways to balance funding for rural and urban schools so all Washington schools can access high-speed internet services, helping all students receive a quality education, regardless of where they live. Easy and affordable access to high-speed communications will also attract businesses to the more reasonably priced housing and cleaner air of rural areas.”
“It’s one thing to have access to communications. It’s another to be able to afford it. Because of a lack of competition in the cable business, cable companies are able to inflate prices. To fight this, the National Grange has tapped our own Dave Howard to be a part of Consumers for Cable Choice, which is currently featuring a petition on its Web site urging cable consumers to ask Congress to inject competition into the cable market.”
“In the few areas where there is more than one cable company to choose from, cable prices are considerably lower; sometimes more than $10 per month. But the numerous hurdles for new companies breaking into a market deter competition in most areas. That needs to change so rural residents, in fact, all residents, can enjoy reasonably priced access to high-speed communications.”
