The Air Resources Board and regional air districts have leaned heavily on aggressive state mandates to shore up their pollution control plans. Yet two of those mandates fell by the wayside this week.
CalEPA was unable to convince its federal counterpart to grant waivers for CARB to enforce a sales ban on diesel trucks and a regulation on transitioning diesel trains to clean and zero-emission models.
Both of those regulations were the cornerstone of a plan to reach strict federal air quality attainment standards for the San Joaquin Valley by 2030. Along with the climate benefits, the mandates promised to significantly drop local nitrous oxide emissions from diesel engines.
According to the Western Agricultural Processors Association, those emissions reductions will have to come from elsewhere, raising angst over what those sources could be.
Unimpaired flows would hurt housing, says CalChamber
The California Chamber of Commerce has taken a leading role in opposing an aggressive water regulation on the table.
The state water board plans to approve an update to its Bay-Delta Plan later this year. In one hand is the traditional regulatory approach known as unimpaired flows, preserving 55% of the water in the rivers for fish. In the other is the voluntary agreements approach, with a landscape-wide approach to ecosystem restoration in exchange for a less rigid flow dynamic.
The decades-long battle has pitted farms and Southern California cities against environmental and tribal interests. Yet many communities have warned of deeper impacts to rural economies, jobs and the food supply with unimpaired flows.
CalChamber is adding another twist. In a new comment letter to the board, the business group raises alarms over worsening the state’s housing crisis. Developers need reliable water supplies and the regions that still have affordable housing often rely on Delta water exports.
Unimpaired flows would make it difficult to meet the housing demand and would raise water rates for households, argues policy advocate Kristopher Anderson. Several farm groups signed on to the letter.
Keep in mind: The threat is real. Unreliable water supplies have already led to construction moratoriums in Monterey and Phoenix, Arizona, and were a central issue last year in a doomed bid to build a new city on Solano County rangeland.
A new drought deal for the Sacramento Valley
The Bureau of Reclamation is partnering with Northern California water districts on a new drought program for the Sacramento River.
In collaboration with the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, the program aims to steer off the immense drought-induced fallowing farmers faced in 2022. It would do so by reducing contract supplies by an additional 500,000 acre-feet during critically dry years and investing in infrastructure needs to mitigate the impacts. Contractors would still receive at least half of their allocation.
The 10-year program is designed to protect winter-run salmon while providing a reliable supply to farms and communities. The agreement aligns with a new pumping plan for the Central Valley Project.
FDA bans use of Red Dye No. 3 in food
The Food and Drug Administration has revoked the food use authorization of Red Dye No. 3, a dye that gives foods and drinks their bright-red color but which also is linked to cancer in animals.
The move follows a 2022 color additive petition from the Center for Science in the Public Interest and 23 other groups urging FDA to ban the dye.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Zeldin, Burgum up today in Senate hearings
More Senate confirmation hearings are on tap today. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head EPA, former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, selected to be interior secretary, will testify before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Zeldin will be questioned about biofuel policy. Kansas Republican Jerry Moran, for one, will be asking him about his approach to sustainable aviation fuel. Zeldin was a critic of biofuel policy when he was in Congress.
In addition, ag secretary nominee Brooke Rollins will have her hearing on Thursday, Jan. 23. The Senate Agriculture Committee announced the date late Wednesday.
Rollins gets backing of national, state ag groups
A wide range of national and state farm and agribusiness groups is calling on the Senate to quickly confirm Brooke Rollins as the new agriculture secretary.
“We need her leadership now at USDA to advocate for a new farm bill, stabilize an agricultural economy in decline, support the full food and agriculture and forestry value chain, and continueAmerican agriculture’s long history of providing the most secure, affordable and nutritious food supply in the world. USDA has the power to help turn things around with strong leadership,” the groups say in a letter to the Senate Ag Committee.
The groups say Rollins has “brought the perspectives of the American farmer and rancher to her work” throughout her career and that she “championed rural priorities across the federal government” while serving as acting director of the White House Domestic Policy Council during Donald Trump’s first administration.
House Democrats try to force congressional vote on tariff plans
A group of House Democrats has introduced a bill to stop the next administration from using emergency powers to enact tariffs. Trump is reportedly considering declaring a national economic emergency to impose new tariffs. The proposed legislation would eliminate tariff-enacting authorities from the president’s emergency powers and, the Democrats hope, force a vote on any new tariffs.
“Congress needs to have a voice and, most importantly, a vote in such far-reaching economic decisions,” Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., told reporters. DelBene and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., led the group of 11 lawmakers.
The legislation won’t move without GOP support. But Beyer is optimistic the proposal could eventually secure Republican backers.
“They may not be with us in the short run because everyone is cowed by the new president-elect,” Beyer said. But he added that many GOP lawmakers would agree with the bill’s intent. “I'm hoping that that fear of crossing him diminishes over time.”
Final word:
“I am pleased to see the FDA follow California’s lead.” — Asm. Jesse Gabriel of Encino, whose 2023 bill banned Red Dye No. 3 ahead of the federal government
