SARL Members and Alumni News
California and Washington state join carbon pledge in defiance of Trump
Reuters | Posted on December 18, 2017California and Washington state joined five nations on the Pacific coast of the Americas on Tuesday to agree to step up the use of a price on carbon dioxide emissions as a central economic policy to slow climate change.The U.S. states were acting in defiance of President Donald Trump who says he doubts that man-made greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are the prime cause of global warming and plans to quit the 2015 Paris climate accord.
‘Puppy Mills’ Targeted by One State, Activists Seek Others
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on December 18, 2017The number of local ordinances across the country banning the sale of pets from commercial breeders, defined as large operations that raise pets for wholesale distribution, has grown from about a hundred last year to about 250. “The momentum is there,” said Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society’s Stop Puppy Mills campaign. California this fall became the first state to outright ban sales of commercially raised animals in retail shops — a new success for activists working across the country to transform the way pets are taken in by families.Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates large-scale commercial breeders, animal welfare activists say that as shelter adoptions continue to rise, consumers are becoming more aware of the unsafe, unsanitary conditions in which commercially bred pets are sometimes raised.Activists nationwide hope California becomes a model of how to turn local ordinances into a statewide law. The idea is to approach smaller jurisdictions first, planting the seeds for statewide action, said Elizabeth Oreck, national manager of puppy mill initiatives at Best Friends Animal Society, a nationwide organization.In California, at least 36 municipalities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, approved banning the stores from selling pets before the California Legislature acted.
States sue Massachusetts over animal confinement law
Watt Ag Net | Posted on December 18, 2017Indiana and 12 other states are suing Massachusetts over its farm animal confinement law, which is set to take effect in 2022. The lawsuit, which was filed by the State of Indiana in Supreme Court of the United States, takes exception to the future law, which makes it illegal for farmers to keep sows in gestation crates, layer hens in cages, or calves in veal crates. The law will also make it illegal for products raised in other states and not in accordance with those standards to be sold in Massachusetts.The law was approved through a ballot initiative, known as Question 3, in 2016, gaining approval from about 78 percent of Massachusetts voters.Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin joined Indiana in the suit. The states allege that the Massachusetts law is an effort to regulate farming in other states, which is a violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Iowa GOP pushes for quick action on water quality bill that environmentalists call flawed
Des Moines Register | Posted on December 18, 2017Republican leaders are pushing Iowa House members to get behind a $27 million water quality bill the state Senate passed last session, calling it the Legislature's most viable option for long-term, sustainable funding. "I feel pretty strongly that it’s a good bill. Nothing is perfect, but it's a good bill," said Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee chairman."I'd be delighted if we could pass what we have in the House and move on," he said.Gov. Kim Reynolds says she wants water quality to be the first bill she signs into law next year.And getting legislation passed to clean Iowa's water could be critical to Reynolds' and other lawmakers' re-election efforts, with pressure mounting for state action, political watchers say.The House also approved a water quality bill last session, and even though it doesn't carry over to the new session, Republican members want some of its features built into the Senate legislation.
State files again to dismiss Colorado River ‘personhood’ lawsuit, threatens to sanction lawyer
Post Independent | Posted on December 13, 2017Protestors spurred on by the environmental group Deep Green Resistance gathered at dusk in front of the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse in downtown Denver Friday. High above their heads, the words "Colorado River Rights of Nature" loomed, lit by a spotlight projector placed outside the protester circle.The activists had come in support of a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in the U.S., the Colorado River Ecosystem v. the State of Colorado, which seeks to grant direct rights to nature in the United States. If successful, the case would allow anyone to file a lawsuit on behalf of the Colorado River ecosystem, including all the river's tributaries.And even as the protestors gathered on Friday, the attorney general's office filed a second motion with the federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. A Dec. 1 deadline to do so had been set by the court in response to an amended complaint filed by the plaintiffs on Nov. 6.
Wolf Administration Officials Tour New Agricultural, Environmental Learning Center at Philadelphia’s Largest Head Start Center
Pennsylvania State Government | Posted on December 13, 2017Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, and Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell participated in the grand opening of the first Head Start center in Philadelphia to use agriculture and environmental lessons for teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts to young children. The School District of Philadelphia welcomed Wolf Administration officials, local leaders and families to celebrate the opening of the Agricultural and Environmental Learning Center with Outdoor Engagement Learning Gardens. The Pratt Head Start Center facility, which serves 150 pre-school children, will become a model for the district’s other 100 Head Start facilities.
Florida agriculture desperate for post-Irma aid
Ocala Star Banner | Posted on December 13, 2017While Florida oranges have long occupied iconic status in American life, if Congress does not act promptly, Florida’s agricultural industry, including its treasured citrus growers and the communities that depend on it, could mark the end of Florida orange production and the state’s vital agricultural sector. Hurricane Irma caused enormous damage to Florida’s citrus growers. Of the $2.5 billion in damages inflicted by Hurricane Irma on Florida’s agricultural industry, Florida’s orange crop suffered the most — at $760 million, according to Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Compounding the struggles of Florida’s citrus growers, the storm struck just a few weeks before harvest, wiping out the crop in hardest hit areas. Irma’s impact not only decimated more than half of this year’s orange crop, it also affects future harvests. The latest crop of oranges from Florida’s growers was the lowest in 75 years.It will take years for Florida agriculture and citrus growers to recover from Hurricane Irma’s catastrophic impact.
Twelve states want the Supreme Court to axe California’s anti-confinement egg laws
The New Food Economy | Posted on December 13, 2017Better make that back to the court we go—and this time with a bigger posse: Last week, 12 states banded together to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the “egg sales law,” alleging that it cost consumers upwards of $350 million in higher egg prices and is unconstitutional because it violates the interstate commerce clause—meaning that it’s preempted by federal law.This suit cites a study from a University of Missouri economist, which, the L.A. Times reported in a December 4 article, had found that “the national price of a dozen eggs has increased between 1.8% and 5.1% since January 2015 because of the California cage requirements.”Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (who is seeking the Republican nomination in Missouri’s 2018 senate election), called the regulations discriminatory against farmers, announcing in a December 4 press release that they are “a clear attempt by big-government proponents to impose job-killing regulations on Missouri.”In addition to Missouri—which was part of the 2014 complaint—Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin have joined the challenge.
Minnesota joins U.S. states limiting Dicamba
Reuters | Posted on December 13, 2017Minnesota became the latest U.S. state on Tuesday to restrict controversial weed killers made by Monsanto Co and BASF SE that were linked to widespread crop damage, while Arkansas took a step back from imposing new limits.The United States has faced an agricultural crisis this year caused by new versions of the herbicides, which are based on a chemical known as dicamba. Farmers and weed experts say the products harm crops that cannot resist dicamba because the herbicides evaporate and drift away from where they are applied, a process known as volatilization.Monsanto and BASF say the products are safe when used properly.Monsanto is banking on its dicamba-based herbicide and soybean seeds engineered to resist it, called Xtend, to dominate soybean production in the United States, the world’s second-largest exporter.However, Minnesota will prohibit summertime sprayings of dicamba-based herbicides after June 20 in a bid to prevent a repeat of damage seen across the U.S. farm belt this year, according to the state’s agriculture department.
To Fend Off Hackers, Local Governments Get Help From States
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on December 12, 2017The city of Mill Creek, Washington, has only 55 full-time employees and just one of them — James Busch — is responsible for handling information technology and cybersecurity. He worries about the growing sophistication of hackers and cybercriminals and the city computer network’s vulnerabilities. So when the Washington State Auditor’s Office started offering local governments a free, in-depth evaluation of their cybersecurity systems, Mill Creek, a city of about 20,000 near Seattle, jumped at the chance in 2015.