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Despair flows as fields go dry and unemployment rises
LA Times ^ | July 6, 2009 | Alana Semuels

Posted on 07/25/2009 10:45:29 PM PDT by Entrepreneur

San Joaquin Valley farms are laying off workers and letting fields lie fallow as their water ration falls.

Reporting from Mendota, Calif. -- Water built the semi-arid San Joaquin Valley into an agricultural powerhouse. Drought and irrigation battles now threaten to turn huge swaths of it into a dust bowl.

Farmers have idled half a million acres of once-productive ground and are laying off legions of farmhands. That's sending joblessness soaring in a region already plagued by chronic poverty.

[snip]

This year has been even drier after a federal court ordered that pumps moving water through the system be turned down to protect endangered species including delta smelt, salmon and green sturgeon. The pumps can reverse the water flow and trap salmon in the river, pulverize fish or ensnare them on screens, said Maria Rea, supervisor of the Sacramento office of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; drought; environmentalist; water
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To: Haddit

What do you mean, they won’t even give his name? We have a secret judge that made this ruling?! I didn’t even know that was legal!

and then there’s this:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/158674-The-US-has-no-remaining-grain-reserves

(from the article linked earlier in the thread)


21 posted on 07/26/2009 2:26:17 AM PDT by Daisyjane69 (Michael Reagan: "Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing children this time)
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To: Entrepreneur

As many ways as the UN communists can dream up - control water and food and you control the population.


22 posted on 07/26/2009 3:33:57 AM PDT by blueplum
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To: Entrepreneur

POS “reporter” just had to blame it one “climate change”: “But climate change is intensifying competition for this resource and may well force changes in the way the valley has been farmed for decades.”

What a moron.


23 posted on 07/26/2009 3:59:56 AM PDT by piytar (Take back the language: Obama axing Chrystler dealers based on political donations is REAL fascism!)
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To: wastedyears

Congress didn’t do this. A Federal Judge did it. Credit where credit is due.


24 posted on 07/26/2009 4:31:20 AM PDT by saganite (What would Sully do?)
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To: Entrepreneur
Too bad that a few "workers" don't go the the houses of the Sierra Club board members and protest. Where is George Lopeez, the voice of the working class latino?? It would be interesting for a few "workers" to file legal action for lost wages. That would put a face on the EnviroWacko actions and results.

It would not hurt if a few families, that lost their homes, filed for damages for national forest that burned because the Forest service and BLM could not clear brush. Make the Sierra Club pay and pay in court costs.

25 posted on 07/26/2009 6:16:13 AM PDT by q_an_a
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To: max americana
This is So Cal. Despair is everywhere. At least they are in the San J Valley. In L.A., everyone is miserable.

I guess it isn't easy, being green.

26 posted on 07/26/2009 9:34:27 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: GodGunsGuts

Yes, they are. The UFW has stated they will not join the fight for water because they do not wish to appear to aiding “white growers.” Yes, they are that blunt. But of course, there are declarations of “emergency” that make the area eligible for “assistance” (handouts) that the democrats will take the credit for.

Rands great quote of the only way to rule men is to make them criminals is being supplemented by also making them dependent. A man dependent on the government or a party is not going to rock the boat.


27 posted on 07/26/2009 3:42:34 PM PDT by gracie1 (visualize whirled peas)
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To: dalereed

Why would they then stop with those west of the Rockies??? I wonder!!!


28 posted on 07/26/2009 7:10:40 PM PDT by SierraWasp (Galloping suffocating American Socialism stinks like BO!!!)
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To: SierraWasp
“Why would they then stop with those west of the Rockies??? I wonder!!!”

Probably because thirty or so years ago when it was stated they were a reasonably small California organization.

29 posted on 07/26/2009 7:18:41 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: dalereed

Gee! I came here in 1964 and they were a pretty big Item here already at that time as I recall. They had already nearly stopped the development of Lake Powell, New Melones Reservoir and Oroville dam that Reagan dedicated in about 1968, or ‘70.


30 posted on 07/26/2009 7:25:25 PM PDT by SierraWasp (Galloping suffocating American Socialism stinks like BO!!!)
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To: SierraWasp
Time gets away from me in my old age!!

I remember when in 1955 they amounted to 80 jet set ski bums that only wanted to secure their cross country ski rights in the Sierras, I knew one of them personally.

In later years they were taken over by the environmentalists and became the horrible monster they are today.

31 posted on 07/26/2009 7:56:05 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: Entrepreneur

Just wait until people start seeing how much food prices will rise because the supply isn’t what it should be. This should just about collide with the inflation that is coming.


32 posted on 07/26/2009 8:04:59 PM PDT by chris_bdba
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To: Entrepreneur

Some of those farms cannot recover quickly even if the water is turned back on. This just hurts the country even further. Why cannot the judges see this?

This is going to be a disaster that will have long-term repercussions.


33 posted on 08/02/2009 1:00:55 PM PDT by Z80_Inside
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To: Entrepreneur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waj2KrKYTZo


34 posted on 08/02/2009 1:08:59 PM PDT by houeto (Defang the FEDGOV. Repeal the 17th!)
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