Having lived by Ann Arbor once upon a time, I'm floored they are doing this. Has it finally happened?
Posted on 08/05/2012 12:11:27 PM PDT by jwsea55
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — This fall San Franciscans will vote on a local measure with national implications: It could return to the American people a flooded gorge described as the twin of breathtaking Yosemite Valley.
Voters will decide whether they want a plan for draining the 117-billion-gallon Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, exposing for the first time in 80 years a glacially carved, granite-ringed valley of towering waterfalls 17 miles north of its more famous geologic sibling.
The November ballot measure asks: Should city officials devise a modern water plan that incorporates recycling and study expansion of other storage reservoirs to make up the loss?
The measure could eventually undo a controversial century-old decision by Congress that created the only reservoir in a national park and slaked the thirst of a city 190 miles away.
The battle over Hetch Hetchy, first waged unsuccessfully by naturalist John Muir, had turned the Sierra Club from an outdoors group into an environmental powerhouse. The fight gained momentum in recent years when unlikely allies joined forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted2.ap.org ...
The enviros are also after most of the Bonneville dams, too. BPA provides huge, cheap Western US generating capacity. Sweetheart deals with various locals and, of course, the aluminum industry and Boeing. The Northwest power rates are cheap compared to CA's.
If BPA becomes castrated, bring back Dandy Don Merideth to sing "turn off the lights..."
At the same time this $14 billion water project to drain the Sacramento Delta sending more water southward is in the works:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/25/california-embarks-on-massive-water-project/
Having lived by Ann Arbor once upon a time, I'm floored they are doing this. Has it finally happened?
Too much great fishing up here to take that group seriously, I doubt more than "a few" would ever fish there, it just gave the greenies some cover.
I used to live a bit south of there in Evart. Just about anywhere there was water, there were trout. In fact I used to catch trout at the Hershey dam (which is now gone to return trout to the river)
They probably think they've made the water wetter too........
When they undam the valley, the years and years of silt buildup will go down stream and destroy all the fish all the way to the sea.
But hey, California has Billions of dollars in the bank to go replace perfectly good power and water systems for the fun of it right?
That's the problem with these states so flush with money they don't know what to do with it. At least it is not like the state of Kalifornia that is heading towards bankruptcy...with a pension system $1 trillion underfunded.
Out of 36 million people, twentyfive percent of Kalifornia's budget is paid for by 144,000 residents. Another way of looking at that number is 144,000 residents pay 50% of the state's income taxes.
Over 20 years, from 1984 to 2004, Kalifornia's poplulation increased by 10 million people (from 24 to 36 million). During that period, only 100,000, or so, were added to the tax roles.
The most common things in the universe are ignorance and stupidity. San Francisco leads on both counts. Perversion-addled brains may contribute to the problem.
San Francisco County has a watershed (in terms of ueful water supply for humans) of exactly zero.
I lived the first third of my life in SF.
I will probably live the final third of my life in the California Central Valley, which is on its way to becoming a dust bowl, thanks to the actions and inaction of the arrogant Dianne Feinstein.
Perhaps a similar fate would be a good irony for Sodom-by-the-Bay.
They would still need to get across the bay. What about the other municipalities that are sold Hetch's water?
Wouldn't that be hilarious? They could get all their future drinking water from their George Dubya Bush Memorial Sewage Treatment Plant.
A more delicious irony is hard to imagine.
Wouldn't that be hilarious? They could get all their future drinking water from their George Dubya Bush Memorial Sewage Treatment Plant.
A more delicious irony is hard to imagine.
The only thing that may be funnier is all those from Hollywierd out on Malibu's Colony sea shore. The leach lines for their "septic" tanks is the ocean in front of them. I wonder where they swim?
I think that S.F. gets all of its electrical power from generators whose turbines are powered exclusively by Hetch Hetchy water.
That is what the article said. In reality, the power travels down transmission lines is generally sold to the nearest buyer to avoid transmission power losses and transmission costs. Agencies and power companies, essentially, swap production to avoid these costs.
What happens when you’ve got nuthin’ to swap?
Ohhh, so observant! You got problems. Remember 10 years ago when Kalifornia had all those issues with expensive power? What ever is committed to has to be provided. In Kali's/SF's case, it is usually very expensive to replace peak power needs. SCE's residential rates are 30 cents a KW for not much power usage.
This is why so many people who look at the long term, cleanest and cheapest solution for the Country's future electricy production needs to focus on nuclear.
Assuming the Japanese, Russians, French or the guys from 3 Mile Island don't operate a facility, nuke facilities are extremely safe.
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