FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Trouble is, Congress' 1902 Reclamation Act specifies that water from such federal projects can only be supplied to farmers who [1] actually live on the land, and [2] own no more than 160 acres (or 320 acres for a couple).

The big companies, of course, have found ways around the law (such as selling their property to relatives, and then leasing it back). It's obvious, though, that the small farmer is being kept out of the area as a result. And the government hasn't done much to help.

So now, for the first time, local citizens have begun to organize and actively seek means of putting property back into the hands of the people who actually work the soil. And one such group—an alliance of Fresno-area farmers and Chicano workers called National Land for People—is suing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in order to force it to uphold the law . . . and to make Westlands' corporate owners sell off their excess property at pre-irrigation-era prices.

A key issue in the fight is agribiz's contention that the Reclamation Act is out of date because small farms themselves are out of date.. . inefficient, unproductive, and non-competitive as compared to modern multi-thousand-acre food factories.

Such an assumption holds obvious implications for the future of farming everywhere. Watch this one closely, folks.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY BLUES

Did you know that San Francisco's famous bay is only a little more than half its original size? That's right . . . what used to be primarily rich marshland—where salmon, oysters, clams, sturgeon, ducks, crab, abalone, and other wildlife thrived—has been filled in over the years to allow the cities on its shores to expand. We're glad to say that this process was eventually halted by law, but we're not so happy to report that a new threat to the region has recently surfaced.

At the north end of the bay, near the mouth of the Sacramento River, is Suisan Marsh: the largest wetlands territory remaining in California. And Dow Chemical (the folks who brought us napalm) wants to build a huge petrochemical plant near that unique area.

The facility, of course, will do what all big factories do everywhere: It'll spew pollutants into the air, create a boombust economy in the region, and stimulate an increase in taxes to pay for the roads, schools, and other construction that will be necessary to accommodate the sudden influx of new residents. Even worse, though, is a special danger that this particular plant will produce.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print