Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge expressed reluctance about beginning judicial oversight of pollution issues that affect global warming as she heard arguments Friday in a complaint brought by eight states against some of the nation's largest power companies. "Why should I do something that Congress and the president have decided they don't want to do as a matter of policy?" Judge Loretta Preska asked lawyers for the states. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the states would prove that the five power companies are responsible for 10 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions. The states are asking...

Half Moon Bay farmer Aldo Giusti says he's given up farming a 100-acre field for lack of water. Water rights fight By Nicole A. Freeling-Half Moon Bay Review--Photos by Mark Jordan Since the Civil War, the fields surrounding the Johnston Ranch have been kept green in the summer by two old sets of wooden planks dropped into Arroyo Leon to form reservoirs. But this year, under an edict to protect endangered salmon, the dams remain open - and instead of leafy rows of mustard greens and brussels sprouts, there are acres of mostly unplanted dirt. The California Department of...