Jan 17, 2012

Washington State Hort. Assc. opposes water bill

At a recent legislative hearing in Olympia, the Washington State Horticultural Association and its lobbyist Jim Halstrom publicly opposed legislation (House Bill 2192) that would provide a relatively small amount of new water to allow apple and tree fruit growers to grow additional acreage of organic tree fruit.

House Bill 2192 and its companion bill (Senate Bill 6028) would promote increased production of organic crops and biofuel crops along the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington State. The bills have received enormous support with 21 co-sponsors in the House and 15 co-sponsors in the Senate.

The reason that HB 2192 and SB 6028 have received widespread support from legislators is because the bills provide some additional irrigation water to help meet the increasing need to produce more biofuel crops and organic crops as a result of the following new laws, rules and policies that have been enacted or implemented by the Washington State Legislature and various Washington State agencies over the past few years which have created significant increases in demand for biofuel crops and organic crops (in Washington State). PR Newswire

Read more of the story here.