April 15, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
California
Almond growers, beekeepers urged to report hive damage
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Report:
California
carbon tax
hikes gas
prices
11 cents
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — The
California Legislature’s non-
partisan analyst estimates the
state’s pollution tax has raised
gasoline prices by 11 cents per
gallon and diesel prices by 13
cents, according to a month-
old letter released on April 7.
The pollution tax costs
drivers collectively about
$2 billion a year, Legislative
Analyst Mac Taylor said. His
staff calculated the estimate
in response to questions from
Assemblyman Tom Lackey,
R-Palmdale, who is pushing
legislation that would require
the state to report more de-
tailed information about the
costs to drivers.
“These impartial estimates
confirm that Californians are
paying significantly high-
er prices,” Lackey said in a
statement.
Consumers may
Wk not
43, have
10/21
noticed much impact at the
pump because the
Wk pollution
47, 11/18
tax came at a time when gas
prices were plummeting na-
tionally. The U.S. average for
a gallon of gasoline dropped
from $3.26 per gallon at the
beginning of 2014 to $2.14 a
year later, according to the
U.S. Energy Information
Administration.
California launched the
pollution-restriction
pro-
gram in 2012 and began ap-
plying it to gas and diesel
last year. Known as “cap-
and-trade,” the program is
designed to control emis-
sions of heat-trapping gases
and to spur investment in
clean technologies. It limits
how much pollution busi-
nesses can spew, making
them buy permits.
The program creates
a marketplace for carbon
emissions and incentives
to reduce greenhouse gas-
es. The marketplace puts a
price on carbon emissions
and caps how much indi-
vidual polluters are allowed
to release. Businesses are
required to either cut emis-
sions to the cap levels or buy
allowances from other com-
panies for each metric ton of
carbon spewed over the cap
each year.
The
carbon-reduction
program generates billions
of dollars a year for efforts
to fight climate change. A
large portion of the money
is dedicated to California’s
high-speed rail line and oth-
er transportation projects.
Stanley Young, a spokes-
man for the Air Resources
Board, which administers
the program, said the esti-
mate of a price spike of 11
to 13 cents is consistent with
expectations.
“These proceeds are
pumped right back into Cali-
fornia — including the most
disadvantaged communities
— as investments that help
clean the air, support the
cleanest vehicles for all Cal-
ifornians, and promote safer
and more livable neighbor-
hoods,” Young said.
The gas-price analysis by
the Legislative Analyst’s Of-
fice assumed that oil compa-
nies passed the entire cost to
consumers, but Young said
there’s no requirement that
fuel suppliers do so.
The analysis was based
on the $12.73-per-ton price
for allowances in the most
recent auction, held in Feb-
ruary. It says some people
paying the higher gas prices
will ultimately benefit from
the money it generates.
Democratic Gov. Jerry
Brown, a vocal advocate
for reducing carbon emis-
sions, has proposed spend-
ing $3.1 billion of money
from the program on ini-
tiatives that include incen-
tives for electric vehicles,
transit programs and biofu-
el subsidies.
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — The
Almond Board of California
is urging growers and bee-
keepers to provide data about
their hive deployments to
help research aimed at pre-
venting honeybee die-offs.
The board wants bee pro-
ducers to complete a survey
sent out in recent weeks by
the California State Beekeep-
ers Association and other
groups to assist a study pri-
marily funded by the USDA.
Further, if a grower ob-
served what appeared to be
pesticide-related
impacts
to hives during this year’s
bloom, he or she should re-
port the damage to county
officials so a record could be
kept of incidents, the board
advises.
It is especially important
to gather information about
pesticide application tim-
ings and conditions, product
names and active ingredients,
the board said in a news re-
lease.
“Incidents affecting hon-
eybee health have been in
the news lately, and Almond
Board is appealing to almond
growers to report information
to county agricultural com-
Courtesy of Kathy Keatley Garvey/UC-Davis
University of California-Davis Extension apiculturist Elina Nino, center, checks a bee observation hive
with Solano County fairs president James Fuller during an Ag Day celebration in March. The Almond
Board of California is asking growers to submit data as part of an ongoing honeybee research project.
missioners ... as their part in
an ongoing investigation into
the cause,” board spokes-
woman Linda Romander said
in an email.
The request for informa-
tion follows a quick and vi-
brant blossom in February
and early March that industry
insiders initially said was rel-
atively trouble-free, although
some reports have since sur-
faced of beekeepers encoun-
tering losses of immature bee
broods at the close of this
year’s bloom.
While
this
year’s
bloom-related losses weren’t
nearly as severe as in 2014,
when a mixture of fungicides
used by almond growers and
insecticides applied to field
crops killed millions of bees,
they came after a rough winter
in which some beekeepers re-
ported significant losses.
In late 2014, the almond
board and bee experts devel-
oped a best-practices check-
list for growers and bee-
keepers during the harvest,
including removing bees from
orchards before petal fall to
avoid having them wander
off. While most hives had
been removed near the end of
this year’s bloom, a few hives
were still in orchards as of the
last week of March, according
to the board.
Bee activity during the
blossom was monitored
closely by researchers from
the nationwide Bee Informed
Partnership, whose aim is to
help beekeepers improve the
strength of their hives, the
California Farm Bureau Fed-
eration reported.
The almond board is ac-
tively working with beekeep-
ers and government agencies
to investigate affected hives.
To facilitate their investiga-
tion, growers and beekeepers
can contact Bob Curtis, the al-
mond board’s director of ag-
ricultural affairs, at rcurtis@
almondboard.com or (209)
343-3216.
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