CATCH THE BUZZ – Why Years Of Waiting May Be Over On Delta Tunnels

By Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, the Sacramento Bee

Love it or hate it, the Delta tunnels project is reaching a decision point.

The state’s most powerful water agencies have set a September goal to decide whether they’re going pay for the biggest and most controversial water project California has undertaken since the 1960s: overhauling the plumbing system that pumps billions of gallons of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Bay Area, Southern California and one of the nation’s most productive farm belts.

After more than a decade and nearly a quarter billion dollars of study and planning, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and other agencies will vote in September on whether to pay for Gov. Jerry Brown’s $15.5 billion plan for re-engineering the fragile estuary on Sacramento’s doorstep.

“Now we’re within 90 days of actually making a decision on whether the project is going to go forward or not,” said ​Roger Patterson, assistant general manager at Metropolitan, the influential water wholesaler serving half of the state’s population from its headquarters in Los Angeles.

For the rest of this article click on this link….    http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article155966534.html

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Secretary
Washington, D.C. 20250

NATIONAL POLLINATOR WEEK

June 19 – 25, 2017

By the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America
 
A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS pollinator species such as honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, and butterflies are essential partners of farmers and ranchers in producing food and are vital to keeping items such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables in our diets; and
 
WHEREAS healthy pollinator populations critical to the continued economic well-being of agricultural producers, of rural America, and of the U.S. economy; and
 
WHEREAS pollinator losses over the past few decades require immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural sector, and protect environmental health; and

WHEREAS it is critically important to encourage the protection of pollinators; increase the quality and amount of pollinator habitat and forage; reverse pollinator losses; and help restore pollinator populations to healthy levels;

NOW, THEREFORE, in recognition of the vital significance of protecting pollinator health, I, Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, do hereby proclaim June 19 – 25, 2017, as National Pollinator Week. I call upon the people of the United States to join me in celebrating the significance of pollinators with appropriate observances and activities
.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of May 2017, the two-hundred forty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America.

SONNY PERDUE
Secretary