CA: Dispute flares over tainted land settlement

Modesto Bee ^ | February 20, 2004 | MICHAEL DOYLE

[calcowgirl]

WASHINGTON -- Westerners fear they'll be the ones tapped to pay for a multimillion-dollar settlement with Westlands Water District farmers.

So now unhappy California lawmakers intend to force the Bush administration to again find some other way to fund the land-retirement deal.

[calcowgirl]

ping

[Carry_Okie]

At roughly $4,000 an acre, the Sumner Peck settlement struck some critics as overly generous. But on Capitol Hill, the biggest noise resounded over where the money was going to come from.

No mention that Bill Jones is a direct beneficiary to this little scam.

[calcowgirl]

I'm getting an education on how Government really works. :(
Now I know why my pockets are always empty.

[Carry_Okie]

I'm getting an education on how Government really works. :(

It's all about tweaking things so that somebody else gets to carry the risks.

Perhaps it's time to learn how the solution works. :-)

[calcowgirl]

Solution.... that does it. It's goin' in the mail today!

This is interesting - GAO 1996

GAO found that: (1) since the start of the reclamation program in 1902,
irrigators generally have had 40 years or more to repay without interest
their share of water project construction costs; (2) if irrigators are
unable to repay their share of project construction costs, the costs are
repaid from other project revenues, primarily hydropower revenues; (3)
if the federal government determines that special circumstances exist in
the irrigated area, such as unproductive land, drought, or depressed
economic conditions, it will relieve irrigators of portions of their
repayment obligation; (4) the Bureau of Reclamation has determined that
$16.9 billion of the $21.8-billion investment in water projects is
reimbursable to the federal government; (5) while $7.1 billion in
reimbursable costs have been allocated to irrigators, the irrigators are
scheduled to repay only $3.4 billion, because their obligations have
been adjusted by irrigation assistance and charge-offs; (6) $3.4 billion
of the $7.1 billion of reimbursable costs owed by irrigators will be
paid by other sources, primarily hydropower revenues; and (7) $373.1
million of the $7.1 billion of reimbursable costs owed by irrigators has
been charged off.

[Carry_Okie]

Got a source link for that one?

The California Water Project and its outfall was at that time the biggest real estate scam in history. Of course, Sustainable Development now dwarfs it.

[calcowgirl]

There are a lot of links on this subject, I perused one report from 1971.
It's always interesting to see how "history" changes over time. LOL

The excerpt was from GPOaccess: [RCED-96-109] Bureau of Reclamation: Information on Allocation and Repayment of Costs of Constructing Water Projects

If that link doesn't work, go here and search for "Westlands". You should get 5 results.

The older stuff (and LOTS more) I found from firstgov, searching on 'westlands' and 'peck'.

There's so much information... someone could write a book! ;-)

[calcowgirl]

This is a 2 page PDF "Historical Perspective" from Bureau of Reclamation

[calcowgirl]

See above.

[Carry_Okie]

Well, one piece of good news, I haven't found a connection between Bill Jones and the Renewable Energy Action Project (REAP). I guess leftist and Republican alcohol whores don't all directly affiliate.