Posted on 04/06/2015 1:09:03 PM PDT by walford
Liberal policies turn a small problem into a statewide crisis.
My family and I are in Los Angeles this week for some meetings concerning a super-secret venture, which, dude . . . it's super-secret! (But it won't be for long.)
But one of the first things that became clear when we got here is that the state is in the midst of a water crisis - one so serious that Gov. Jerry (Moonbeam) Brown has imposed an unprecedented set of restrictions on the use of water. Friends we visited for Easter tell us the state isn't messing around. They send inspectors around and if they catch you watering your lawn when you're not supposed to be, they'll slap fines on you. Would that we inspected Iran's nuke facilities with as much zeal!
As the Wall Street Journal's Allysia Finley explains, the lack of rain is obviously the source of the problem. But liberal state policies that bow at the altar of environmental groups are not helping at all:
During normal years, the state should replenish reservoirs. However, environmental regulations require that about 4.4 million acre-feet of water—enough to sustain 4.4 million families and irrigate one million acres of farmland—be diverted to ecological purposes. Even in dry years, hundreds of thousands of acre feet of runoff are flushed into San Francisco Bay to protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
During the last two winters amid the drought, regulators let more than 2.6 million acre-feet out into the bay. The reason: California lacked storage capacity north of the delta, and environmental rules restrict water pumping to reservoirs south. After heavy rains doused northern California this February, the State Water Resources Control Board dissipated tens of thousands of more acre-feet. Every smelt matters.
Increased surface storage would give regulators more latitude to conserve water during heavy storm-flows and would have allowed the state to stockpile larger reserves during the 15 years that preceded the last drought. Yet no major water infrastructure project has been completed in California since the 1960s.
Money is not the obstacle. Since 2000 voters have approved five bonds authorizing $22 billion in spending for water improvements. Environmental projects have been the biggest winners. In 2008 the legislature established a “Strategic Growth Council” to steer some bond proceeds to affordable housing and “sustainable land use” (e.g., reduced carbon emissions and suburban sprawl).
Meantime, green groups won’t allow new storage regardless—and perhaps because—of the benefits. California’s Department of Water Resources calculates that the proposed Sites Reservoir, which has been in the planning stages since the 1980s, could provide enough additional water during droughts to sustain seven million Californians for a year. Given the regulatory climate, Gov. Brown’s bullet train will probably be built first.
Once beloved by greens, desalination has likewise become unfashionable. After six years of permitting and litigation, the company Poseidon this year will finally complete a $1 billion desalination facility that will augment San Diego County’s water supply by 7%. Most other desalination projects have been abandoned.
This is a classic case of what happens when politicians bow to every whim of environmental groups without really thinking through or understanding the implications of what they're doing. Not enough storage. No new desalination plants. Money for water improvement projects diverted to suit the greenies' agenda. The Sites Reservoir perpetually delayed. California Democrats know where their campaign cash comes from, and they dutifully obey the priorities of their benefactors. When you end up with a severe drought and you're poorly prepared as a result, all you can do is impose restrictions on everyone and maybe ask for money from Washington.
Remember that these are the same people Obama listens to in stonewalling approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Reality be damned. The environmental lobby hates it, so Obama won't approve it. Period. He'd fit right in here.
So much about politics is insane in California, and the inability to deal rationally with the drought is just the most obvious example of the moment. It's beautiful here! The palm trees are tall, the sunshine is warm and the mountains are spectactular. If you have to go on a business trip, you could pick a much worse place. But California's politicians work against so much that could be great here. So if you come, enjoy your stay, but you might want to bring your own water. The politicians and the greenies have made sure it won't be easy to get any here.
Logic and sensibility are irrelevant with Mad Jerry Geezer!
Watching him act out is an exercise in hilarity - the Crazed Old Coot rumbles and growls about “watering your lawn!? that’s over with!”
He sprayed us with the Medfly insecticide and that PO’d everyone 30 years ago. This time he wants to send the water cops to harass us.
Just Jump Him Out! Jump Jerry! Mad Jerry Geezer Retire Now!
And let us get our own water.
So, that must mean that Moonbeam gave those inspector jobs to all his friends. Right ..??
I don’t think anybody else is hiring in CA.
Ping
Piss Poor Priorities?
Running out of water; farms and orchards are drying up.
...and how much are they spending for that goofy new rail system?
My vote is for nuclear powered desalination plants. They could also produce electricity in the process. San Onofre would be one good spot as the now shut down nuclear facilites are there.
I can’t believe Moonbeam hasn’t declared a water restriction until now.
He should have done at least a year ago, 2 years ago.
And can be fined by your town for not watering or under watering your lawn ...
The ones that use waste water are fine. No one will say this but there are millions who have no water rights. Is this a 25 year or 100 year year drought?
Outdoor marijuana plants consume 6 gal of water per day during their 150-day growing cycle. Funny old Jerry doesn’t seem to have a problem with this. It is destroying the NorCal watersheds. I say lose the pot and keep the food.
Really a bummer because I love nuts but I find paying what I pay now pretty painful.
for one shining moment, y’all were watching TV.
Read anything from Victor Davis Hanson on the subject and you will know all you need to know. He has been writing on it for many years.
Thanks for the info.
Hablas ingles?
“California Environmentalists are anti-immigrant.”
They’re not. The Sierra Club in particular refuses to criticize illegal immigration’s role in California’s problems.
This cannot be overstated.
“The Sierra Club in particular refuses to criticize illegal immigration’s role in California’s problems.”
Exactly. And they frustrate efforts to provide sufficient resources for these new residents, let alone for the current ones. Thus, while they support illegal immigration, they are anti-immigrant.
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