01/18/05 Klamath court win; Energy price down

01/18/05 Klamath court win; Energy price down

Chalk another win for Klamath Basin irrigators plagued by environmental issues since the 2001 irrigation water shut off in the name of Endangered Species Act protections. A U.S. District Court Judge in Oakland California dismissed a lawsuit brought by environmentalists and the Yurok Tribe claiming the Bureau of Reclamation was solely responsible for the 2002 fish kill in the Lower Klamath River. The Tribe claimed the Bureau violated their fishing rights by allowing inadequate flows into the Lower Klamath that year, causing the fish kill off. But Klamath Water Users Association attorneys, serving as interveners in the case, successfully argued that the Klamath project did not harm the Yurok's fishery operations, and that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. It was the largest drop in wholesale energy prices since April of 2003. A point seven per cent drop in December from the previous month. Overall energy prices dropped four per cent last month, also the largest monthly drop since April 2003. Gasoline prices decreased over eleven per cent. So did that help producers with their bottom line? Well, additional numbers from the Federal Reserve revealed wholesale food prices increased point-one per cent in December. And although the wholesale cost of vegetables saw their biggest decrease in three years, it was offset by big gains in the costs of beef, dairy products, eggs, and fresh fruit. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: For years we have heard from the environmental community that time is running out that humans have tipped natures perfectly balanced scale and the only way to even the score is to sell our SUV's, ride bikes and recycle our diapers. Despite generations of American youth being taught that that the earth's population is exploding and resources are running out, apparently they aren't. Bjorn Lomborg, author of one of the most important books on the environment, The Skeptical Environmentalist, reports after extensive study that we are not running out of energy or natural resources and in fact far fewer people are starving. When it comes to agricultural resources I couldn't agree with more. Today Famine exists not because of production but distribution. Advances in technology have enabled farmers throughout the world to produce more food than in any time in history and remarkably do this on less land with less impact to the environment. Of course we still have a long way to go to maximize sustainability but It is enlightening to know that that some great minds feel we are headed in the right direction. I'm Susan Allen with "Food Forethought".
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