Weekly Update template Jan. 15, 2010

Welcome to Weekly Update, a publication of Western United Environmental Services (WUES). Our goal is to provide you with the latest information about the WDR’s from the Water Board and how our organization can help you with your environmental challenges. All previous publications of the Weekly Update can be found in the News section on our website at www.wuenvironmental.com.

Trucks used on agricultural operations, including dairies, have received some exemptions from a new rule regulating all diesel trucks that were originally designed for on-road use. Pickups are exempt from the rule. The exemptions were granted due to the types of uses and the economic impact the rule would have on agriculture. However, dairy producers must file for the exemptions by March 31, 2010. In order to qualify for these exemptions, producers were required to record the odometer reading of all of their trucks as of January 1. That information, plus information about the truck and its owner, must be reported to the California Air Resources Board by March 31, 2010. WUD’s environmental specialist, Paul Sousa says, “Agriculture got some valuable exemptions from this rule; however, dairy producers must register for those exemptions through this process. If a producer fails to register they will have to comply with the rule, which means turning over your truck fleet on an accelerated basis.”

The deadline has been extended to Feb. 15 to fill out a questionnaire regarding self-propelled off-road agricultural equipment that is 25 hp or greater. Western United Dairymen, along with other agricultural organizations, is asking its members to fill out this survey. There are three to four questions in this survey dealing with region, commodities and equipment. It will take approximately 20 minutes to fill out depending on how much equipment you own. Please complete and return the survey even if you don't own any equipment. To complete the on-line form, go to www.cfbf.com/agoffroadsurvey/

Sessions on how to use GPS in precision farming, smart phone demonstrations, web-based VOC calculators and web soil surveys will be offered Jan. 20 at the Agriculture Technology Summit in Modesto. The session is free but seating is limited. Reservations can be made by calling Corrin Amaral at (209) 522-7278. The summit is hosted by Connecting Stanislaus, a community-based technology access initiative. Co-sponsors include the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, Stanislaus County Ag Commissioner, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the UC Cooperative Extension. The summit runs from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Stanislaus County Ag Center, Harvest Hall, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto.

Assembly bill to delay greenhouse gas bill struck down by Assembly committee

An attempt to delay California's mandate to reduce greenhouse gases was rejected Monday by an Assembly committee. Assembly Bill 118 - by Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Marysville, and co-authored by several others, including Assemblyman Bill Berryhill, R-Ceres - would have suspended climate change law AB32 until the state's unemployment rate is 5.5 percent for a full year. The Assembly Natural Resources Committee voted 5-3 against advancing Logue's bill. AB32 requires reducing greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. Some in the business community fear it will cost the state dearly."We need to step away from the issue and allow our economy to heal" before proceeding with AB32, Logue said. "We are being led to the slaughter by overregulation.” Dozens of witnesses publicly added their support for the delay, warning that job losses would mount under AB32. One employer said he'd already been forced to lay off his own son. Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, said he'd gotten phone calls from many of his Central Valley constituents urging his support for a postponement. The audience heckled a Sierra Club representative as he described the effects of climate change, such as a reduced Sierra snowpack, and the need to act quickly to reduce carbon emissions.

North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat, has introduced a bill in Congress that would prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. There is talk on the Senate side that a similar bill could emerge in that chamber. Pomeroy’s bill, H.R. 4396, the Save Our Energy Jobs Act introduced on Jan. 8, 2010, comes as the EPA has announced it would move forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. “This action, if not prevented, could dramatically increase energy rates as well as end up costing North Dakota jobs,” Pomeroy said in a press statement. He noted that on April 2, 2007, the United States Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency found that the EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions should they find these emissions to be harmful to public health and welfare. On Dec. 7, 2009, the EPA released a final endangerment finding that greenhouse gas emissions do endanger both public health and welfare. Making this determination was necessary to finalizing the EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-duty vehicles, which have been proposed by EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration. Once this EPA rule becomes final, greenhouse gases will officially be regulated pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This action would then subject stationary sources which emit greenhouse gas emissions, such as power plants and factories.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and the same goes for waste water. The Modesto City Council on Tuesday night advanced a plan to sell its treated waste water to drought-stricken West Side farmers. The council voted 7-0 to pay for part of a feasibility study that will look at how the city could pipe treated waste water from its Jennings Road sewer plant to the Del Puerto Water District. The district is a narrow, 45,000-acre strip that hugs Interstate 5. It's home to almond, walnut and apricot growers who've seen their livelihoods threatened by a prolonged drought and restrictions on water pumping. The district's water deliveries have dropped to 10 percent of normal allotments. Modesto city officials say selling the city's treated waste water would provide a reliable supply of water to the farmers. It also would pour extra revenue into city coffers, which have suffered their own drought in recent years. Cities usually see waste water as a burden that's expensive to treat. Now Modesto has a chance to transform that burden into a resource that people are willing to pay for, Councilman Brad Hawn said. "This is a real commodity now; it's not just something you dump in the river," Hawn said. <more> Jan. 13, 2010 Modesto Bee

1^st of the month	Photograph Free Board in Ponds
Weekly	Visual inspection (production and waste storage areas; ponds)
Manure Exports	Measure volume/density OR weight/moisture (require lab analysis)
Harvest	Yield, lab analysis

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