An electricity rate hike goes into effect this month, which will
cost Californians five-point-seven billion dollars. The increase
is meant to cover soaring power costs and force conservation.
Agricultural producers are already employing a variety of
techniques to cut electricity costs such as switching irrigation
pumps from electric power to diesel and irrigating at night. The
imposition of conservation on Californians comes at a time when
the White House has been pushing for more energy production
through conventional sources. But the White House environmental
view may be shifting. The study supports much of what the
scientific community commonly holds to be true, specifically,
global warming is real. Researchers also arrived at a number of
other conclusions, including: --The surface temperature of the
planet has increased at a greater rate during the past twenty
years than throughout the first part of the twentieth century
--Increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are
caused by a host of f