Tough new rules aimed at keeping nitrate fertilizer out of drinking water on the Central Coast have been mainly upheld by state water quality officials, following appeals by agricultural and environmental groups. The State Water Resources Control Board issued a draft decision regarding the local water board’s requirements that growers reduce the amount of nitrate […]
KATHY JOHNSTON
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State issues first fracking rules
Long-awaited draft regulations on fracking were recently issued by state oil regulators, following a series of public workshops, including one in Santa Maria last summer. California’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) said the draft rules are “a starting point for discussion” by the industry, the environmental community, other regulators, and the public. […]
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Lockheed Martin buys SLO drone company
A San Luis Obispo manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles—known as drones—has been purchased by a major military contractor, Lockheed Martin, for an undisclosed amount. AME Unmanned Air Systems designs and manufactures a small drone aircraft known as the Fury UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), used to conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare missions for the […]
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Roger Briggs: A legacy of clean water
Forcing polluters to pay up and clean up has been just part of a day’s work for water watchdog Roger Briggs, who retired Aug. 1 after nearly 40 years with the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board. And he’s been a watchdog with sharp teeth, tirelessly enforcing state and federal clean water laws. It was […]
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Tip of the iceberg
A locally invented lettuce variety is now owned by Monsanto
Succulent crunchiness is the first thing you notice when you bite into a leaf of a new type of lettuce that’s just come on the market. Juicy, crispy, and surprisingly sweet, it’s a greener and healthier version of iceberg—and it was invented and patented in SLO County. At the end of a street in a […]
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Farming’s dark side?
Blamed for the Central Coast’s worst drinking-water pollution, farmers have to play by new rules
Fields of leafy green vegetables and ripening strawberries in the Santa Maria Valley look innocent enough as the food crops get ready for dining tables around the country, their growth spurred by farmers’ addition of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. But deep below the root zone lurks an unappetizing problem. A new study by UC Davis scientists […]
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Care for a swim?
New rules aim to clean up local rivers, creeks, and lakes
Just about anywhere you see fresh water flowing—or even standing—in or near Santa Maria, Orcutt, Guadalupe, Nipomo, or Cuyama, you can make plans to wade in for a safe, healthy swim. In about 15 years, that is—once all the targets in a newly adopted cleanup plan have been met. By that time, you should be […]
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Weather or not
A local cloud-seeding program aims to make more rainfall
Bristling with what appear to be fireworks aimed at the sky, a remote mountain ridge south of Santa Maria looks set for a pyrotechnic celebration. But this is more of a rain dance, of sorts. This is one of a network of Santa Barbara County mountaintop sites used to launch a rainmaking chemical into storm […]
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Squirrels have it right
Often-overlooked acorns are actually a great food source
Acorn recipes Note: All recipes require leached acorns, with tannins removed by soaking acorn flour or pieces in cold water; repeat until water is clear. Source of following recipes: Frank Zika’s adaptation of recipes found in The Settlement Cookbook. Pancakes ½ cup acorn flour ½ cup whole wheat flour (or use all acorn […]
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Farmworkers with 401Ks
‘Certified sustainable’ wine brings a harvest of benefits
It’s noon on the final day of wine-grape harvest, and Berta Gonzalez and Maria Cerna eat their homemade tacos, sharing stories and laughing together as they sit in the shade of an unusual trailer parked at the edge of a local vineyard. It beats crouching in the dirt in the hot sun at lunchtime, Mendoza […]
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Land lovers
Cattle, oak trees, wildlife, and history all share the Sinton family’s Avenales Ranch
At the headwaters of the Santa Maria River lies a vast oak-studded ranch, the quintessence of the Central Coast’s characteristic rural landscape. Here in the fresh air of the Avenales Ranch, the gentle mooing of cows and calves is likely to be punctuated by the otherworldly bugling of tule elk or the high-pitched yowl of […]