Posted on 04/24/2007 11:04:38 AM PDT by SierraWasp
Warming threat fails to sway foes of dam (Auburn, CA)
AuburnJournal.com
By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Tying global warming and the possibility of increased flooding into efforts to build a multipurpose Auburn dam, a California State University, Sacramento survey indicates that the more people fear the threat of a shrinking ozone layer, the less they want the controversial flood-control project.
The poll of 1,100 adult residents, including nearly about 200 from Placer County, indicated that 74 percent of those taking the survey think the threat of global warming is a serious one. Forty-eight percent said it was very serious while another 26 percent said it was somewhat serious.
But Department of Sociology and Institute for Social Research Professor Amy Liu, the project's director, said that a "negative relationship" between belief in the threat of global warming and support for the Auburn dam cropped up in results.
"Those who think global warming is very serious are least likely to support construction of the Auburn dam, while those who think the threat of global warming is not serious are most likely to endorse the dam construction," Liu said.
Thirty-nine percent of people who believed global warming a serious threat supported the Auburn dam while 74 percent of those who didn't endorsed the dam's construction.
The survey was a computer assisted telephone interview in late February and late March of 1,106 randomly selected adults from Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties by the Institute for Social Research. Results were released Friday.
While 86 percent of respondents favor water-conservation measures to address flood and drought control, and 88 percent believe local government should restrict construction of new homes in areas without adequate flood protection, the question of an Auburn dam continued to be a divisive one - with much of the division along part lines.
A total of 43 percent of Democrats favored a dam while 38 opposed one. On the GOP side, 68 percent favored a dam and 15 percent were in opposition.
Men were also more likely to favor the dam concept - 54 percent - while women were 49 percent in favor.
There was also more support the longer a person had lived in the area, with 56 percent of people living in the region 20 years or longer for a dam. People who had lived in the region six years or less were 36 percent in favor of a dam but many (36 percent) admitted that they were undecided or had limited knowledge of the long-delayed, much-debated project.
The Hurricane Katrina flooding in 2005 resulted in an increase in interest in Congress for dam-related flood protection but the recent turnover in the House and Senate from the Republican to Democratic Party slowed any momentum that had been building. A report issued this year by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation estimated dam construction could reach from $6 billion to $10 billion.
U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, said earlier this month in a meeting with the Auburn Journal editorial board that his attempt to gain $3 million in federal funding to start a feasibility study on the dam and a study of Highway 49 re-routing options in the American River canyon had reached a dead-end during the current budget cycle.
Breaking the numbers down into ages, the survey showed 43 percent of those 40 or under favored the dam but 32 percent of people in that category were undecided. People ages 41 to 64 were 50 percent in favor of a dam while those 65 and over were 61 percent for it.
Yolo County residents as a group were least likely to support a dam (38 percent) and most likely to know little about it (28 percent). El Dorado County residents had the strongest support (60 percent) while survey respondents in Placer County and Sacramento County were 52 percent in favor of a dam.
A second question asked people if they were familiar with the Auburn dam or its debate. Nineteen percent said they were very familiar, 44 percent were somewhat familiar, 33 percent were not at all familiar and four percent had not heard about it.
Liu said a majority of area residents "very" or "somewhat" familiar with the dam support the project, while just more than a third of those who are not familiar with the project endorse it.
The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.
A new Sacramento State survey indicates support levels in four counties for an Auburn dam: Placer 52 percent (31 percent opposed) El Dorado 60 percent (25 percent opposed) Sacramento 52 percent (25 percent opposed) Yolo 38 percent (34 percent opposed)
Can someone help me here with the math?
The stopping of this project is the 8th wonder of the modern world and a memorial, no a monument to utter stupidity!!! (Thanks Dems)
Shrinking ozone layer? This writer needs to get his liberal junk science straight. The so-called "shrinking ozone layer" scare is not related to the so-called "manmande global warming" scare.
Completing that dam will negate billions that they plan to spend on levies.
The rafters can go play with themselves in the bath tub as far as i’m cincerned.
Let’s see if I can follow their reasoning. To start, I don’t believe their poll, I doubt 74 percent of placer county residents think global warming is serious, I live in Amador county, just a short ways away, and 99 percent of the people I talk to (informal poll)don’t believe in global warming. Secondly, if global warming does what they claim it will do then there should be less water available(you know, droughts, less rainfall and all that other BS)if the climate warms to their expectation, therefore people who take global warming seriously should be all for another dam because according to the gorecal we are in for a dry spell, the more dams the better in that case. I guess they can’t keep their stories straight.
Actually the shrinking ozone layer scare was part of the global-cooling scare era. It would help produce the opposite of global warming. But that is OK, it is tough to keep up with the latest fear-mongering spin.
Yep, they make that mistake quite often. In reality if you wanted to solve having too much greenhouse gas it seems like one solution would be to open of those ozone holes and let it escape. Ironically, the real solutions to global warming may be to bring back CFC's and Nuclear power, the two top things the enviro-whackos fought against in the 1970's.
48 + 26 = 74.
48% think GW is “very series”
26% think GW is “somewhat series”
-—’
74% are technically illiterate.
A lot of analysis for what purpose? The majority favor construction regardless of party affiliation. I suspect the author is a global warming zealot and disagrees with the majority who want the dam.
Ahh, now I get it. It’s sort of like a word problem or something.
So what's the fuss about? You have a sizeable majority of folks in favor of constructing the dam.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The key to this issue is clear. The same people that fear GW still want to stop creating clean energy. They are against hydro, nuke, wind, LPG, oil, coal, wood...... The only thing they support is solar and we are not anywhere close to making that a large scale possibility. The goal is to destroy capitalism and democracy for their fantasy of a Utopian socialist society. Liberalism is a mental illness.
Sorry, but if global warming is the most serious issue on the planet right now, then California needs to build several new dams to store water during droughts.
Self-proclaimed “environmentalists” need to understand that due to the SERIOUS problems we are facing, “rafting” is no longer a luxury that we can afford.
Ozone is so yesterday. It killed off billions of people and animals, just like they predicted, and went on its way.
On another note: if townsfolks are scared of "global warming", then why not put a generator or two on the dam and produce clean, "carbon-free" power? Answer: people don't really believe in "global warming". It's something trendy to wear on a sleeve. IOW, they're all for someone else crimping their lifestyle, but they'll be damned if they can't raft their river.
(As of several months ago. This list is from actual stories in various actual news articles.)
By John Brignell is author of Numberwatch.
See article at http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/2045/
Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), ancient forests dramatically changed, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety, algal blooms, Arctic bogs melt, Asthma, atmospheric defiance, atmospheric circulation modified, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, bananas destroyed, bananas grow, bet for $10,000, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, birds return early, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, boredom, Britain Siberian, British gardens change, bubonic plague, budget increases, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, cardiac arrest, caterpillar biomass shift, challenges and opportunities, Cholera, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, cod go south, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , cold spells, cost of trillions, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cyclones (Australia), damages equivalent to $200 billion, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, diseases move north, Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spinning out of control, Earth to explode, earth upside down, Earth wobbling, earthquakes, El Niño intensification, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, bats, pandas, pikas, polar bears, pigmy possums, gorillas, koalas, walrus, whales, frogs, toads, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, less, not polar bears), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, famine, farmers go under, figurehead sacked, fish catches drop, fish catches rise, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, floods, Florida economic decline, food poisoning, food prices rise, food security threat (SA), footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frosts, fungi invasion, Garden of Eden wilts, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, Gore omnipresence, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, greening of the North, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, hazardous waste sites breached, heat waves, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, high court debates, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, human health risk, hurricanes, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, inclement weather, infrastructure failure (Canada), Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, industry threatened, infectious diseases, insurance premium rises, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, Kew Gardens taxed, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers’ income increased (surprise, surprise!), lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, Lyme disease, Malaria, malnutrition, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, marine dead zone, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, more bad air days, more research needed, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountains break up, mountains taller, mudslides, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India, nuclear plants bloom, oaks move north, ocean acidification, outdoor hockey threatened, oyster diseases, ozone loss, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, Pacific dead zone, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, plants march north, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears drowning, polar bears starve, polar tours scrapped, psychosocial disturbances, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, refugees, reindeer larger, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, rivers raised, rivers dry up, rockfalls, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, Ross river disease, salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, salmon stronger, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, sex change, sharks booming, shrinking ponds, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall reduction, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, squirrels reproduce earlier, spectacular orchids, stormwater drains stressed, taxes, tectonic plate movement, terrorism, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tourism increase, trade winds weakened, tree beetle attacks, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees could return to Antarctic, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, tsunamis, turtles lay earlier, UK Katrina, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions, walrus pups orphaned, war, wars over water, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, weeds, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, white Christmas dream ends, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , winters in Britain colder, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, Yellow fever
But, it's for the fish!
You must mean Elk Creek, unless they pulled that stunt again elsewhere.
Have they finished tearing out Savage Rapids Dam?
How about Gold Ray...is that to stay or go?
Yes, it is Elk Creek. I don’t think it is a big enough creek to hold much in the way of fish. What could have been a boon to a lot of people in energy, water, and recreation is now just a mammoth waste of taxpayer money. I think the other two are probably coming down if they are the two I am thinking of on the Klamath.
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