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California Water

/in , /by /AG Infoby Maura Bennett

October kicks off a new water year for California and the state has a considerably more water storage than last year.

Statewide reservoir water storage is 128% of average. That amounts to about 29.7 million acre-feet of water for California, according to the Department of Water Resources.

It’s due to that marathon wet winter in 2017 that pounded the state with rain and snow. The 2018 water year was about average, which actually built up the surplus.

Of course that’s good news for California agriculture producers.

 

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Carlsbad Plans Aggressive Treatment Of Invasive Weed

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Carlsbad is preparing to launch an “aggressive” effort, including the widespread application of a chemical herbicide, to eradicate the invasive plant Ward’s weed from about 200 acres where it has taken root in several of the city’s habitat preserves.

A native of the Mediterranean region, the species’ first North American appearance was in Carlsbad’s Rancho La Costa Preserve in 2008. Since then, the plant has spread to the undeveloped habitat management areas east of El Camino Real between Palomar Airport Road and Alga Road.

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Report: San Diego Has Unique Edge To Tackle Climate Change

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

The Earth’s coastal and polar areas are on thin ice, a new climate report warns, but San Diego may be in a better place than others to weather those changes if it acts swiftly, several authors said.

“The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate,” released last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, explored the effects of warming on the world’s oceans and frozen places.

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Fire Weather Watch Remains In Place Wednesday To Friday For Most Of Southwestern California

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Gabrielle Paluch

The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for most of extreme southwestern California starting late Wednesday evening and lasting through 8 p.m. Friday evening.

This prompted Southern California Edison to expand the area that could have power cut as a fire-safety measure — affecting as many as 106,000 customers.

Low humidity of 5% to 10% and strong, gusty Santa Ana winds are to blame for the elevated fire risk along coastal mountain slopes and inland valleys. East to northeast winds will reach speeds of 20 to 30 mph, with gusts of 35 to 50 mph, and isolated gusts of up to 60 mph.

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California is Feuding With This SoCal City Over ‘Planned Retreat’ From Sea Level Rise

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Phil Diehl

Del Mar is gearing up for a tussle with the California Coastal Commission over the best way to adapt to rising sea levels, an issue with statewide implications.

The city north of San Diego has taken the position that one of the Coastal Commission’s basic strategies, called “managed retreat” or sometimes “planned retreat,” will not work in Del Mar.

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County Agriculture Executive Exits

/in , , /by /The Alpine Sunby Joe Naiman

Sept. 27 was the final day of work for San Diego County Farm Bureau executive director Eric Larson, who retired after 22 years in that position and 48 years working in agriculture. A Sept. 24 proclamation of the San Diego Board of Supervisors recognized Larson for his contributions to local agriculture and his copperation with county government.

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California Wineries, Fearing Recession, Cut Grape Output. Farmers Are Worried

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Esther Mobley

Paul Johnson farms 450 acres of wine grapes in Monterey County for his family’s Johnson Vineyard Co. Normally, a range of local wineries, under multiyear contracts, buy his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. But after last year’s harvest, Johnson began to worry when no winery clients renewed their contracts.

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Trump Administration Opens California to New Oil Drilling; Possibly Bay Area, Too

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

The Trump administration’s latest effort to dramatically boost oil and gas production is landing in California, with the Interior Department on Friday opening up 720,000 acres between the Bay Area and Fresno to potential drilling.

The move gives an immediate go-ahead to 14 drilling leases in San Benito, Monterey and Fresno counties, mostly projects near existing drill sites, projects that have been pursued for years by fossil fuel companies looking to expand.

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California Must Defend Its Environmental Protection Laws

/in , /by /Capitol Weeklyby Garry Brown

The governor of California delivered a blow to the environmental community recently by vetoing a bill that would have ensured that laws protecting water, as well as air, climate, worker safety and endangered species, could not be weakened by future federal government rollbacks.

At Orange County Coastkeeper, we are disappointed that Gov. Gavin Newsom chose to veto SB 1 because of pressure from water interests, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley.

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Protecting California’s Clean Waters

/in , /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribuneby Grace Napolitano

Water is life. It is essential to the survival of all living things and has been at the center of my work for over three decades as a public servant. I did not select this cause arbitrarily, but because our communities were suffering, and no one was speaking out about safe, clean water supplies for residents of the San Gabriel Valley and greater east Los Angeles County.

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