1 ni P or 11 and O bserver • M arch 26, 1997
Farm land threatened
Urban sprawl is engulfing prime
farmland so fast that the United
States may be forced by the middle
of the next century to import more
food than it exports, a conservation
group contends.
American Farmland Trust pro
jected in a "worst-case scenario"
today that with the U S population
expected to jum p 50 percent b\ 2050
and high-quality farmland projected
to shrink 13 percent, the nation could
become a net food importer within
60 years.
That probably would lead to diffi
culty in dealing with a host o f social,
economic, food security and envi
ronmental issues, said the report.
"Farming on the Edge
"The destruction ofour best farm
land by spraw I development reduces
ouragricultural efficiency, increases
tensions between farmers and sub
urban neighbors, leads to higher tax
burdens and puts greater pressure
on less productive, more environ
m entally fragile lands here and
around the world." said AFT Presi
dent Ralph Grossi
U S agricultural exports totaled
a record $59.8 billion in the fiscal
year that ended in September, and
the Agriculture Department is fore
casting total farm expons o f $56 5
billion in the current fiscal year.
Regardless o f whether the worst-
case scenario actually occurs, the
AFT report said, "the loss o f open
space, wildlife habitat, groundwater
recharge areas and other benefits
attributable to farmland are reason
enough for our country to develop its
land in a more efficient manner,
directing development onto land less
suitable for grow ing food and fiber ”
The A griculture D epartm ent's
natural resources conservation chief.
Paul Johnson, would not say how
accurate the report’s projection was,
but welcomed it as raising an impor
tant topic
"It’s something we should be very
concerned about," Johnson said. "In
my lifetime, the world population has
doubled twice, and the next 25 years,
there should be up to 8 billion people.”
USDA already is examining the
threats to farmland, but Johnson said
he did not disagree with the conser
vation group’s request that it better
quantify them.
The study found that between
1982 and 1992. 4.3 million acres of
prime farm land were overrun-nearly
50 acres every hour o f every day.
Every state shared in the loss, it said,
most frequently to scattered and frag
m ented urban developm ent near
major metropolitan areas.
Texas lost the most farmland.
489.000 acres or I 1.5 percent o f the
I S total. Otherstates with big losses
were North Carolina, Ohio. Georgia
and Louisiana.
The study placed the Sacramento
and San Joaquin Valley in central
California at the top o f its endan
gered list, followed by the Northern
Piedmont areas o f Maryland. New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia
Also threatened were the South
ern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois
Drift Plain, the Texas Blackland
Prairie and the Willamette and Puget
Sound Valleys o f Oregon and Wash
ington.
The 20 most threatened regions
produce 51 percent o f the fruit and
39 percent o f the vegetables grown
in the United States.
AFT said the federal government
should strengthen, expand and en
force its farmland protection pro
grams and change federal estate tax
laws to encourage farm families to
keep their property in agriculture. It
also urged the government to quan
tify farmland by its agricultural im
portance and vulnerability to rapid
urban development.
AFT urged local communities to
analyze land development trends,
agree on which farmland to save and
adopt the necessary policy reforms.
AFT is a private, nonprofit con
servation organization Its study was
funded in part by the Philip Morris
Cos
The educational ranch
Continued from Front
A m erican Education Data Book
which reports that from 1984 to
1994 there has been a 2 19 percent
increase in the percentage o f black
women obtaining first professional
degrees.
But. while blacks who received
doctorates in education and theol
ogy doubled the number o f whites
(percentage-wise), they were at the
bottom in engineering and science.
already see a trend toward less diver
sity on the college campus as special
programs for minorities and women
have been cut back since that Califor
nia state system lawsuit Many, many
special scholarships and student aid
programs for these groups have been
terminated as a direct result.
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Asian
group
decries
magazine
Asian-Americans are outraged
at the latest cover o f the National
Review magazine, which depicts
Bill and Hillary Clinton buck
toothed with narrow eyes and
w earing stereotypical Chinese
clothing.
Asian-American groups have
threatened to protest outside the
New York offices o f the conser
vative magazine, claim ing the
cover is offensive and racist.
The m onthly magazine has
been flooded with letters since
the issue hit the stands last week.
" It’s reminiscent o f the carica
ture made o f the Chinese in the
800s,” Daphne Kwok, execu
tive director o f the Organization
o f Chinese Americans, told the
Daily News in today’s editions.
Vice President AI Gore is de
picted on the cover as wel I, wear
ing Buddhist robes and holding a
cup spouting with money. The
caricature is a reference to ques
tionable fund-raising efforts at a
Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.
Flooding in large areas of U.S.
Spring flooding could be more
widespread this year than in any
year in the past decade, with the
upper M idwest's snowbound w inter
leaving that region especially vul
nerable, government experts said
Tuesday
"Even without rainfall in the up
per Midwest, there is enough snow
on the ground that w e’ll probably
see some flooding,” Frank Richards,
of the National Oceanic and Atmo
spheric Administration, said at a
briefing
Areas along the Red River in
North Dakota and Minnesota, and
the James River in South Dakota,
face potential record floods when
snow that was unusually high in
moisture levels melts this spring,
said Richards, chief o f N O A A ’s
National Weather Service Hydro-
logic Information Center.
Spring rains could bring flooding
in the Ohio River valley, which was
pummeled in February and March
by rains and deadly floods, and in
the sodden Mississippi and lower
Missouri river valleys, as well as
parts o f the Southeast and West, the
NOAA said.
With heavy winter precipitation
over much o f the Midwest, flooding
also should be widespread in the
eastern Dakotas, southern portions
of Minnesota and Wisconsin and
northern Iowa, Richards said.
"As a result o f inflow from so
many tributaries, minor to moderate
flooding is a virtual certainty on the
lower Missouri and Mississippi riv
ers,” he said.
The agency also said spring
floods are likely in the northern
and central Rocky M ountains, par
ticularly in Idaho and parts o f
M ontana, W yom ing, U tah and
Colorado, w here snow packs are
well above average.
Areas along the lower Milk River
in northeast Montana could have
record floods, and much o f Wash
ington and northern Oregon also
have heavy snowpacks and face
spring flooding, the agency said.
Deep snow in the central and
southern Sierra Mountains could
produce floods in western Nevada
and the Sacramento and San Joaquin
river drainages in California, but
experts said six weeks o f generally
dry conditions have greatly reduced
flooding threats for much o f the Far
West.
Other areas with above-average
risk for spring floods include the
Great Lakes region and much o f the
S o u th e a st from e a ste rn T ex as
through South Carolina, excluding
Florida and southern parts o f Ala
bama and Georgia.
With such severe flooding threats
the legacy o f heavy winter snow
and rain over the middle third o f the
nation
NOAAofficialssaidpeople
should take precautions.
During the recent flooding in
the Ohio river basin, more than 20
people lost their lives. Many people
perished in vehicles, and most o f
these fatalities occured in areas that
were under flash flood and/or flood
warnings." Elbert Friday Jr., NOAA
assistant administrator for weather
services, said.
“ In many cases, the loss o f life
was preventable,” he said.
Local Insurance company recalcitrant
An Oakland Superior Court jury
ordered Oregon Mutual Insurance
Company to pay $567.641 to a couple
whose home and possessions were
destroyed in the 1991 Oakland Hills
fire, a devastating firestorm which
destroyed more than 3.000 homes
and caused an estimated $ 1.5 billion
dollars in damage. The McMinn
ville, Oregon-based insurance com
pany had refused to honor its own
policy - or the urging o f then-Cali-
fomia Insurance Commissioner John
Garamendi - and would not pay the
replacement value o f the couple’s
possessions.
The suit was initially filed in 1993,
afterOregon Mutual InsuranceCom-
pany paid Barbara and Christopher
Westover for the replacement value
o f their home, but refused to pay the
$723,841 replacement value o f its
contents - paying them instead a
pre-set limit o f $165.200 for their
possessions. The com pany told
Arnold Levinson, attorney for the
W estovers, that O regon Mutual
would not pay the W estover's claim
because it would then be forced to
pay the replacement value claims o f
A d v e rtise In
(T lje
all its policy holders
"O regon Mutual ignored their
ow n p o lic y , the v alue o f the
W estover’s possessions and the Cali-
fornia Insurance Com m issioner,”
said Mr. Levinson. “The company
was worried about setting a prece
dent. I guess the jury, in awarding
every penny the W estover’s re
quested for replacement o f their pos
sessions, set the precedent for O r
egon Mutual.”
In Westover vs. Oregon Mutual
Insurance Company, which went to
trial on March 3. 1997, the company
argued that it did pay the replace
ment value o f the W estover’s pos
sessions, but on ly up to the $ 165,200
limit. Superior Court Judge Joseph
Carson ruled that the $ 165,200 limit
applied only to the current dollar
value o f the possessions, and that
undei the clear terms o f Oregon
M utual’s policy, the company was
required to pay the full replacement
value o f the items.
Many insurance companies faced
claims after the devastating O ak
land Hills lire. However, at the urg
ing o f Commissioner Garamendi.
most insurance companies honored
claims for the replacement value o f
the homes and possessions destroyed
in the fire. After Oregon Mutual
ignored his initial request, the In
surance Commissioner called com
pany executives to California for a
personal meeting during which he
strongly urged the company to honor
replacement value claims. The com
pany still refused.
Mr. Levinson and Terrance J.
Coleman served as legal counsel to
the Westovers. Mr. Levinson is a
partner and Mr. Coleman an attorney
in the firm Pillsbury, Levinson &
Mills, one o f the premier litigation'
firms in San Francisco specializing in
insurance company disputes and bad
faith litigation. In February 1997. the
firm won a $26 million bad faith
award in Vann vs. The Travelers, the
5th largest bad faith award for an
individual in California history. The
firm has also handled numerous com
plex claims against insurance compa
nies on behalf o f individuals and cor
porate clients, including I^G&E,
K elly -M o o re Paint C om pany,
Crowley Maritime and others.
fabric
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