Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 11/11/2008 7:14:14 AM PST by WayneLusvardi
Economist Tom Sowell once aptly wrote that “there are no solutions; there are only tradeoffs.” This can be no better seen than in the recent enactment of California Senate Bill 375 which will unknowingly trade precious groundwater resources for “Smart Growth” anti-urban sprawl policies. Under this legislation water will no longer be gold in California ; ethereal concepts about reducing “global warming” and producing “green power” will be California ’s new fools gold. It is little wonder that California is experiencing a “perfect drought” with the adoption of such policies.
SB 375 is a piece of legislation which requires regional planning agencies to put into place “sustainable” growth plans. It will require the California Air Resources Board to double the targeted reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that local governments must meet in its land use plans. More specifically, it will require that new housing development be shifted from the urban fringe, where groundwater resources are more abundant (San Bernardino County, Morgan Hill), to highly dense urban areas near public transit and light rail lines (Pasadena, East Bay) where local water sources are patchy and often polluted. The environmental intent of SB 375 is to reduce auto commuter trips, air pollution, and gasoline consumption. However, the legislation will unintentionally result in more reliance on imported water supplies from the Sacramento Delta, Mono Lake , and the Colorado River for thirsty cities along California ’s coastline instead of diverting development to inland areas which have more “sustainable” groundwater resources.
This can be clearly seen by viewing the California Department of Water Resources map of Groundwater Basins in California shown at this web link:
http://www.dpla2.water.ca.gov/publications/groundwater/bulletin118/maps/correct_statewide_basin_map_V3.pdf
As can easily be seen on the map, the populous coastal areas of the state have spotty groundwater resources while the inland areas have the most abundant water basins to sustain new development.
For example, the City of San Bernardino in the “Inland Empire” of Southern California has such abundant groundwater resources that it has long-range plans to draw down its high groundwater table to reduce the potential for liquefaction (ground failure) in the even of an earthquake, construct lakeside developments, and sell the surplus water.
Even if we ignore for the moment that diverting housing development to urban areas will increase reliance on imported water from the environmentally sensitive Sacramento Delta, the policy makes no sense from even a global warming perspective. Look at the drawing at the link provided below which depicts the geographic profile of the “Urban Heat Island Effect.”
Urban Heat Island Profile Sketch Source: http://heatisland.lbl.gov/HighTemps/
Concentrating housing development in already highly dense urban areas will only worsen the urban heat island effect and thus increase “global warming.” The obvious solution from the greenhouse effect resulting from pollution is housing dispersion, not concentration.
Moreover, by virtue of shifting to reliance on imported water supplies California will need to generate more electricity to pump that water to urban centers located far from the sources of water. No doubt that electricity will also come from imported energy sources outside the state. Green power (solar, wind) cannot be used to pump water because it is too unreliable due to the unpredictability of the weather. Thus, SB 375 undercuts California ’s Global Warming Solutions Act (“Green Power Law - Assembly Bill 32).
Fortunately, the new law doesn’t yet mandate local governments to comply with the plans. No real changes are expected until regional planning agencies adopt the “sustainable communities” growth policies called for in the law three years from now. However, if cities choose not to comply, then state transportation tax funds can conceivably be diverted to compliant cities. That SB 375 is a license for greedy coastal cities in Democratic strongholds along the coast to capture the taxes of inland cities in Republican territory is never mentioned in the media. Environmentalism serves as a cover for politics by other means.
Laws like SB 375 continue dependence on costly imported wholesale water, say at $500 per acre foot (a football field of water one foot high which sustains two families per year) compared to cheap local groundwater at roughly $50 per acre foot.
That this piece of legislation was passed by “Green Governor” Arnold Schwarzenegger without dissent by local water agencies and even air quality resource boards, is indicative of how environmental policy often defies science and common sense and is based on powerful cultural images spawned by government and unquestioned by the media. Incredibly, the implementation of SB 375 will even be granted certain breaks for transit oriented development under the California Environmental Quality Act.
California is shifting from valuing water as gold to a Fool’s Gold Rush to reduce global warming and generate green power. Unfortunately, the public has already bought the fake for the real gold thanks mostly to the media. Paraphrasing a Latin proverb, “(political) hay is more acceptable to a donkey than gold.”
Oh what myths we perceive, when first we practice to deceive!
Now, IF AGW were actually a significant change in temperature,
IF GreenHOuse Gasses WERE being increased significantly by man’s activities,
IF these changes in CA’s energy and water policies made a difference in man’s total amounts of GHG being emitted,
IF CA’s water were not already stretched beyond limits,
IF global temperatures were actually rising the past ten years,
....
Om second thought, Naaaah . That would mean the liberals had a brain among them.
Forget it. ( my head feels better now)
Correction:I’m having a “tinfoil conspiracy” moment.
What if liberals WANT to make things so difficult in California so the underclass(der Untermensch ) will flee the state, taking their democratic leanings to red states and start converting them into blue states. Have to admit it working out that way.
On second thought, Naaaah . That would mean the liberals had a brain among them.
Forget it. ( my head feels better now)
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