phipps@fortune.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (02/23/84)
California's current governor, George Deukmeijan (sp?),
is not considered to be very sensitive to environmental issues.
The problem of air pollution causing dollar-measurable crop damage will
therefore, boil down to a battle between the farmers and the polluters.
The farmers have substantial clout because of California's status
as the state with the greatest (absolute) farm revenue in the country.
The latter class (in the broadest sense) includes many industries and
every driver of an internal combustion vehicle (and do Californians
love their cars and freeways ?).
The problem is even worse than one might guess:
not only is are the crops being damaged and the soil depleted,
but good farmland is increasingly being taken out of production.
Silicon Valley has some of the most fertile soil in the world,
but substantial portions of formerly productive and profitable farmland
are being covered by semiconductor and computer labs and factories,
and residential areas to house the people that work there
(Yes, I'm a relative newcomer to California).
Toxic waste is also becoming a significant problem.
-- Clay Phipps
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