Trump rolls back landmark environmental law NEPA [The Hill]
… On Wednesday, the White House finalized its rollback of the environmental law, which President Trump called the “single biggest obstacle” to major construction projects. During his announcement on Wednesday, President Trump cited the “mountains and mountains of red tape” that had been holding up infrastructure projects across the country. … His revision of the 50-year-old law is one of the most consequential deregulatory actions by the Trump administration to date.
UFW calls on state to investigate Wasco nut processor experiencing COVID-19 outbreak [Bakersfield Californian]
United Farm Workers announced Friday it’s calling on the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate Primex Farms’ handling of a coronavirus outbreak among workers at its Wasco nut processing plant. The labor union said in a news release a 57-year-old Primex employee who tested positive for COVID-19 died after being taken off life support. It also alleged a worker who spoke out critically about conditions at the plant was moved to a night shift in retaliation for his public comments.
Opinion: Essential and ignored: Working in a pandemic [San Francisco Chronicle]
… Their work, which doesn’t get noticed much, was suddenly essential. … Not only do essential workers make the least, they’re also asked to risk the most. … So, forget the money and the cheering. What might be enough? … For the farmworkers tending the fields at Del Bosque Farm — a farm about two hours southeast of San Francisco in Firebaugh (Fresno County) that specializes in melons — enough might include a path toward legal status. “If they’re essential, they should have legal status in this country,” Joe Del Bosque, the farm’s owner, told me one warm morning.
How PG&E is racing to improve safety as fire season approaches [New York Times]
… Across Northern and Central California, where PG&E serves 16 million people, thousands of utility workers and contractors are scrambling up poles, trimming trees, installing video cameras, setting up weather stations and making other improvements to a grid that, in some areas, is more than a century old and has been poorly maintained. … Among the vulnerable areas are the fabled vineyards of Napa and Sonoma, some of which have burned in wildfires as recently as last year. PG&E’s relationship with residents and businesses in the area has been strained by those fires and the company’s decision to shut power off to prevent fires.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/business/energy-environment/pge-wildfire-california-summer.html
Almond growers fret over expectations for another record harvest [Bakersfield Californian]
… It’s simple supply and demand: More almonds generally means lower prices, which is great for consumers but not so good for Kern ag. … What makes all of this a problem for Davis and other local almond growers is that depressed global demand during the pandemic, along with factors including Chinese retaliatory tariffs of 55 percent that have cut that country’s consumption in half, have brought down prices farmers are paid to between $1.50 and $1.75 per pound. That’s half what it was six years ago.
Opinion: Foie gras farms duck destruction [Wall Street Journal]
… California implemented a statewide ban on the sale of foie gras in 2012, and litigation ensued. The ban was fully enforced in 2019, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the issue. … But the litigation wasn’t over. Under Monday’s decision from Judge Stephen V. Wilson, it’s still illegal for California restaurants to serve foie gras, but individuals are free to purchase it from other states. Liver-deprived Californians immediately flooded Mr. Saravia’s farm with orders.
