Sacramento-Calling it a responsible short-term response to the state’s water crisis, California farmers and ranchers are urging support of a proposed amendment to federal legislation that could immediately increase water supplies for farms and cities during the next two years. They’re hoping for passage of a plan produced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would ease Endangered Species Act restrictions to allow more water to be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for growers in the state’s Central Valley. If adopted by Congress, supporters said the emergency temporary measure would help the state gain needed time to hammer out more permanent solutions to the state’s dire water supply problems. But opponents claim the Feinstein amendment could ultimately lead to the extinction of Sacramento River salmon and eliminate up to 23,000 jobs in the Pacific coast fishing industry. In a letter to key members of Congress, California Farm Bureau Federation President Paul Wenger called on senators to support the proposed Emergency Temporary Water Supply Amendment being developed by Feinstein. The amendment would be attached to the jobs bill currently under Senate consideration. In the letter to members of the finance and the environment and public works committees, Wenger said the proposed temporary solution would increase the amount of water that can be transferred to storage during periods of high river flows, while also protecting delta smelt and migrating salmon. “We must be able to effectively move water where it’s needed, when it’s needed,” Wenger insisted. “Right now, California is missing a vital opportunity to capture and store water that has been generated from rain and snow the past few months. Now is the time to move this available water into storage, for future use by our cities and farms.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain