California Industrial Hemp Bill Progress

The California state Assembly has passed a bill to once again allow farmers to raise industrial hemp. The bill, co-authored by a Northern California Democrat and a Southern California Republican, now moves to the Senate. A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the governor has not taken a position on the proposal.

Scroll down this page to read a Chico Enterprise-Record article on the legislation and for links to other articles. To check the latest status of the bill and read the full text of the legislation, click here, then type 1147 in the “Bill Number” box.

NOTE: To read the copyright ©U.S. Newswire report on the legislation, click here.

The U.S. Newswire article begins: “SACREMENTO, Calif., Jan. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ — California business leaders and farmers are celebrating today’s passage of AB 1147, which clarifies that the cultivation of industrial hemp is legal on the condition it contains no more than three tenths of one percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). AB 1147 passed with a clear majority of 44 votes to 32 against and now goes to the Senate for consideration. Final passage of AB 1147 could revitalize commercial industrial hemp farming, which occurred in the state until shortly after World War II.”

The U.S. Newswire article goes on to quote David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. It also notes that: “If AB 1147 passes the Senate and is signed by the governor, California will join the six states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia) that have current laws removing barriers to industrial hemp production or research. To date, twenty-six state legislatures have considered industrial hemp legislation and fourteen have passed laws or resolutions, including the California Assembly which, in 1999, passed a resolution declaring ‘that the Legislature should consider action to revise the legal status of industrial hemp to allow for its growth in California as an agricultural and industrial crop.’ “

For the complete U.S. Newswire article, click here. As noted by U.S. Newswire, “BETA SP Video News Release featuring footage of hemp farming in other countries is available upon request by contacting Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671.”

Chico Enterprise-Record Article:
By LARRY MITCHELL – Staff Writer, Chico Enterprise-Record

A local Farm Bureau leader sees potential benefits for farmers in a bill that would legalize growing “industrial hemp,” a plant related to marijuana.

“If it’s something farmers in the area can grow and make money, and it’s legal, I don’t see any problem with it,” said Tod Kimmelshue, a member of the boards of directors of both the state and Butte County Farm Bureau organizations.

Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, doesn’t share Kimmelshue’s enthusiasm for Assembly Bill 1147, which passed the Assembly Thursday.

Keene said he and most other Republican Assembly members fear that making it legal to grow industrial hemp would create problems for law enforcement and perhaps encourage drug use.

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, passed the Assembly by a vote of 44-32. Only one Republican supported the bill, Assemblyman Chuck Devore of Irvine, who co-authored the measure.

According to Leno, in 1937 the federal government mistakenly put hemp in the same category as marijuana because the plants look similar and both contain THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. The difference is that hemp contains only a tiny amount of THC, not enough to have mind-altering effects on people.

Keene said he didn’t see any need to legalize growing hemp. He said he was told that if there was cross-pollination between marijuana and hemp, the hemp’s THC content could increase.

Keene said the legalization of growing hemp is advocated as “a first step” by those who wish to legalize growing marijuana.

Leno’s bill now moves to the state Senate.

According to a legislative analysis of AB1147, industrial hemp can be used to make paper, clothing, rope, food products, biocomposite products that can replace fiberglass and plastics, biofuel to produce ethanol, and body-care products.

Statistics on hemp grown in Canada show the acreage has risen from 3,200 in 2001 to an estimated 10,000-15,000 in 2005. It is grown through dry-land farming and in irrigated environments. It has little need for pesticide as it shades out competing weeds.

Six states — Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and Virginia — have made it legal to grow hemp, but so far they only allow limited cultivation for research purposes, the analysis stated.

Kimmelshue said its conceivable hemp could become a viable crop in California. “Farmers are always looking for new crops to grow,” he said. “It all depends on the economics.” As long as hemp was grown for its value as a food, fiber or other products and it couldn’t be used as a drug, Kimmelshue said he saw no reason to oppose legalizing its cultivation.  It “could be good for the local economy,” he said.

Staff writer Larry Mitchell can be reached at 896-7759 or lmitchell@chicoer.com.

BACKGROUND: Hemp, a relative of marijuana, is illegal to grow in California and most other states.

WHAT’S NEW: The state Assembly, on a party line vote, passed a bill that would allow farmers to raise “industrial hemp,” which contains just tiny amounts of the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.

WHAT’S NEXT: The bill, co-authored by a Northern California Democrat and a Southern California Republican, now moves to the Senate.

America Must End its Dependence on Oil

“America must end its dependence on oil” according to Robert McFarlane and James Woolsey in a Financial Times article published  January 23, 2006

“A little over a year ago we helped organize an effort among a wide range of groups in the US to draw public attention to the potential for two emerging trends to bring down the global economy. These trends, which affect the price and availability of energy, are the greater-than-expected pace of increased demand for oil in China, India and other emerging markets and the threat of disruption of Persian Gulf supplies by a terrorist attack. They have helped push the price of oil to more than $60 a barrel with forecasters seeing little prospect of it ever going below $50 again.”

“The sober awakening to these two trends by governments and the oil industry was underscored by a new round in the debate concerning the ‘peak’ of oil reserves – the top of the bell-shaped curve that represents the world’s oil reserves and the lower production and higher cost of oil products that lie ahead when the peak is reached. Most experts agree that we will reach the peak within 25-30 years.”

“Because the impact of growing demand and dwindling supplies is long-term, it is not surprising that there has been only a cautious response to these factors from governments, with no noticeable action. It is less understandable that political leaders from Tokyo to London and Washington have failed to deal with the threat of a disruption in oil flows from the Gulf.”

McFarlane and Woolsey call for four responses: 1. Blend ethanol with gasoline as Brazil does, 2. Use existing technology to enable cars and trucks to burn a variety of fuel mixtures, 3. Improve hybrid-electric vehicles, 4. Develolp lighter, stronger carbon composite materials to reduce vehicle weight.

McFarlane and Woolsey point out that “Predictably there has been resistance towards such technologies within the automobile and energy industries, but their concerns over safety and cost can be answered. Alternative fuels are affordable and the practicality of the vehicle technologies is being shown in Japan by Toyota and other manufacturers. Odds are there will be a plug-in hybrid from Japan within two years and it will take away even more market share from Detroit.”

McFarlane and Woolsey conclude their commentary with a warning: “Even if all these measures were adopted it would take 20 years to replace the 150m vehicles on the road in the US. But the cost of not taking action could be catastrophic.”

To read the complete article, available to Financial Times subscribers or trial subscribers, Click here.

Reno Woman Pursues Hemp Initiative Petition

Carson City, Nevada Jan. 13, 2006 – Station KRNV in Reno, Nevada reports that Reno’s Kathryn Whitman, a Truckee Meadows Community College student, “has filed an initiative petition with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office seeking to legalize the use of industrial hemp to produce clean-burning energy.”

Whitman “says hemp is one of the most efficient agricultural resources to produce methane to fuel the country’s energy needs.”

To read the complete Associated Press article, click here.

Bright Prospects for Canadian Industrial Hemp Production

Recalling the bust-to-boom story of canola, a Brandon Sun article forecasts a bright future for industrial hemp. In fact, hemp could outshine canola because “hemp has an advantage over canola in that the plant’s fibre has commercial applications as well as its seed. . .’Industrial hemp is different in that it has the opportunity to develop an industry based on total plant utilization,’ Keith Watson, a diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives recently told an agronomists‚ meeting.”

The Jan. 12, 2006 article recalls hemp’s earlier problems: “Farmers who initially attempted growing the early varieties wound up with dense fields of plants pushing 10 feet or more. Harvesting the coarse fibrous stocks even sent a few combines up in smoke. . . Then Consolidated Growers and Processors Ltd., one of the first processors to attempt establishing a plant in the province, fizzled out before construction began. . .  and then went bankrupt in early 2000, leaving growers with a mountain of seed and no market.”

The article explains that producers responded to the setbacks by “pursuing marketing and processing opportunities for a crop they believed has a future here” and forming “a company called Parkland Bio Fibre Ltd., which is working towards construction of a plant to process hemp plants into insulation products used in place of pink fiberglass.”

The article concludes that “these early setbacks — which forced growers to become leaders in the industry’s evolution — may actually contribute to the industry’s long-term stability.”

False Arrest Disrupts Industrial Hemp Production

Jan. 9, 06   BBC News, Belgrade – “A UK charity is to sue the Albanian government after being accused of cultivating the drug cannabis for the black market. It comes after Albanian police arrested several farmers and seized over a tonne of legitimate industrial hemp which was destined for the US textile industry. . . The charity Partnership for Growth says it plans to sue for loss of earnings.”

That’s the story of a supposed “major drugs haul” which instead turned into a case of badly mistaken identify — mixing up industrial hemp with its distant cousin.

Unfortunately, since the charity is still trying to collect more than $100,000 in compensation for the last mistaken seizure in 2001, the charity reports that despite the many economic and environmental benefits offered by industrial hemp production, it is “reconsidering its decision to encourage the production of hemp. . .”

For the complete BBC News story, Click here.

Industrial Hemp Boosts Building Performance

Jan. 5, 06 Industrial Hemp Boosts Building Performance

Using industrial hemp in the wall-construction blocks for a new British warehouse will help maintain an ideal temperature. Result: improved environmental performance with dramatically lower operating costs. The Archant Regional article points out that “Less energy is required to produce the blocks compared with conventional concrete, and while the high percentage of lime and stone dust aggregate required to give them the necessary strength limits their thermal performance, this is offset by the insulation qualities of a hemp-and-lime cavity infill. The two skins of block and the infill mix should create a constant warehouse temperature of 11C – perfect for beer storage without the use of heating or cooling equipment.”

To read the complete copyright © 2006 Archant Regional article, click here.