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8 CapitalPress.com March 27, 2015 California Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Groups offer tepid praise for drought package By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Farm groups offered tepid praise for a $1 billion drought relief pack- age Gov. Jerry Brown and top California lawmakers unveiled March 19 to speed up delivery of voter-approved bond money for such projects as flood control and securing safe drinking water. In a news conference, Brown proposed legislation that in- cludes $660 million for projects identified in Proposition 1E, a 2006 disaster-preparedness bond measure. Such projects include flood protection officials con- tend is needed in case sudden heavy storms inundate bone-dry ground. The package also includes $272 million for safe drinking water and water recycling set aside in Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond approved by Richard Pedroncelli/Associated Press Gov. Jerry Brown answers questions concerning the proposed $1 billion package of emergency drought-relief legislation during a Capitol news conference March 19 in Sacramento. He is accom- panied by Legislative leaders including Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, of San Diego, left, and Assembly Minority Leader Kristin Olsen, of Modesto. voters in November, and acceler- ates $128 million from Brown’s proposed budget to help workers Amy’s Kitchen recalls products over possible listeria risk By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Amy’s Kitchen posted a voluntary recall on Sunday as a precautionary measure based on a recall notice from a suppli- er that stated Amy’s might have received organic spinach with the possible presence of listeria monocytogens. Amy’s has recalled approx- imately 73,897 cases of various vegetarian products distributed to stores in the U.S. and Cana- da, company officials stated in a press release. The spinach supplier in- volved in the recall is Coastal Green Vegetable Co., Oxnard, Calif. Cases generally hold six to 12 items each, said Debby For- tune of Fortune Public Relations, representing Amy’s Kitchen. Amy’s has notified distribu- tors and retailers, and the recall is being conducted with U.S. Food and Drug Administration knowl- edge, the press release stated. Amy’s is not aware of any illnesses related to the recalled products, the company stated. The bacteria can cause seri- ous and sometimes fatal infec- tions in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. It can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women. Recalled products include vegetable and tofu lasagnas, tofu scramble and breakfast wraps, rice and pasta bowls, enchilada verde and spinach pizza. Based in Petaluma, Calif., the company has plants in Santa Rosa, Calif., Medford, Ore., and Pocatello, Idaho. Consumers who have any of the recalled products are encour- aged to dispose of them or return them to the store where they were purchased for an exchange or full refund. Consumers can also call Amy’s Kitchen at (707) 781-7535. and communities impacted by the drought and to implement his Water Action Plan. Unveiled last year, the plan details conservation, water recy- cling, expanded storage and oth- er efforts to secure California’s water future. “This unprecedented drought continues with no signs yet of letting up,” Brown said in pre- pared remarks. “The programs funded by the actions announced today will provide direct relief to workers and communities most impacted by these historic dry conditions.” The emergency legislation underscores the ongoing crisis facing the state’s rural commu- nities, asserts Paul Wenger, pres- ident of the California Farm Bu- reau Federation. While tackling short-term needs, the state should also improve management of existing water infrastructure and adapt it to meet future needs, Wenger said in a statement. “Many California farmers face water cutbacks of 80 to 100 percent, and water shortages will force hundreds of thousands of acres of productive farmland to be idled,” he said. “Tens of thousands of jobs will be lost on farms and in packing houses and other rural businesses.” Western Growers president and CEO Tom Nassif said he ap- preciates funding that might pro- vide some relief for communities rocked by the loss of 17,000 farm jobs because of water shutoffs. But he called on Congress to craft legislation to shield San Joa- quin Valley farmers from what he called a “regulatory overreach” that has prevented water from being pumped from the Sacra- mento-San Joaquin River Delta. “We continue to watch help- lessly as scarce water that could be stored south of the Delta is in- stead sent to the sea in the name of species protection, notwith- standing the fact that through both wet and dry periods this has failed to halt the decline of the very same species,” Nassif said in a statement. State Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, the vice chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called the funding package “a good start” but added the drought underscores the need to build storage facilities such as the pro- posed Sites Reservoir in the Sac- ramento Valley. Brown was joined in his an- nouncement by Senate President pro Tempore Kevin De Leon, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, Republican Senate leader Bob Huff and GOP Assembly leader Kristin Olsen. The governor’s proposal was much anticipated, coming a year after he signed a $687 million drought-relief package that in- cluded money for food and rental assistance in drought-stricken communities and water recycling and new wells. Board notices signal another year of shutoffs By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press RED BLUFF, Calif. — State water regulators are tak- ing initial steps toward issuing stop-diversion orders to water rights holders again this year, including sending notices to landowners on three creeks near here. Property owners on Mill, Deer and Antelope creeks in Tehama County have been told they’ll be barred at certain times from taking water for irrigation if creek levels fall below what is needed for migrating fish. “They are on notice that when curtailment notices go out again during the specific times for spawning, they must curtail any and all water di- version from those tributaries, just like last year,” said George Kostyrko, a spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board. The orders would be similar to those issued in 2014, when Tim Hearden/Capital Press Darrell Mullins, manager of the Los Molinos, Calif., Mutual Water Co., stands on a bridge overlooking Mill Creek in the northern Sac- ramento Valley in July 2014. Landowners on the creek have been notified they could again be barred from diverting water at certain times this year to leave enough water in the stream for migrating fish. ranchers along the creeks had to let their fields stay dry in June — when pastures normally are most productive — to accom- modate salmon and steelhead spring runs. “It was tough,” said Burt Bundy, a county supervisor who owns a small ranch on Mill Creek. “It would have been tough no matter what the story was, though. We expect it to not be any different this year.” Bundy and other area land- owners have complained the water board’s actions have lacked due process. Bundy said the board is “overkilling” by requiring at least 50 cubic feet per second in the creeks at a given time as well as pulses of 100 cubic feet per second every two weeks. “You just get your ditches full and get your rotation in or- der, then you have to cut the wa- ter off for three days and then it’s geared back up again,” Bundy said. “It just really is murder for the pasture irrigators, and that’s mostly what we have.” The notices along the three creeks, which are key tributar- ies to the Sacramento River, came amid a series of emergen- cy measures the water board enacted March 18. The board also approved a requirement that landowners document their wa- ter rights and submit records of their diversions if a dispute with other rights holders arises. 13-4/#4N