State of denial: Grounds for anger (California plunders neighbors)

Sacramento Bee ^ | 8-17-03 | Tom Knudson

[hoosierskypilot]

Three years ago, the view from Cheryl Millican's waterfront home on a quiet bay north of Vancouver, British Columbia, was exquisite. Each day brought a fresh palette of wave and wind. Sunsets were sublime -- splashes of lilac, streaks of rose and layers of lemon that transformed evening meals on the deck with her husband and son into artistic events.

[jimkress]

Her view is history.

You want the view? Spend your own money and buy the property. If you are unwilling to pay the price, don't whine about it when someone else is.

[harpu]

Kalifornia would be a better place for the country if they turned it all into gravel pits and illegal employment centers (aka; agriculture opportunities)

[Dog Gone]

Californians won't use their own natural resources, and they feel guilty using someone else's.

The solution, it seems to me, is to quit using natural resources. Just stop entirely.

Sit around and hum, perhaps.

[donmeaker]

I think the good news is the employees of the Baja Ca sand and gravel pits are not illegal aliens.

I would propose getting a lot of sand and gravel by digging a moat along the southern border of the US. Really deep. With a strong fence, for the sake of safety at the northern edge.

[Dog Gone]

Good idea, but the environmentalists would never allow that.

The mere suggestion of this, though, proves that the Bush Administration is in bed with Big Gravel.

[stop_fascism]

I live on the outskirts of Sacramento. Every day to get to town I drive by mile after mile of active gravel pits. This article is simply an example of the environmental-wacko demofascist "reporting" that we get with the Bee. It bears little relation to reality.

[Gritty]

The problem is not sand and gravel mining, it is illegal immigration!

Without the huge infux of millions of illegals, the population would be generally stable and the infrastructure adequate, proceeding at a saner pace.

Kalifornia had a net outflow of 750,000 citizens since 1995, but this mumber was overwhelmed by nearly 5 million immigrants, most of them illegal. Stop that problem, and most of the rest are solveable without harsh means.

[Dog Gone]

Either that, or require illegal immigrants to bring sand and gravel with them.

[jocon307]

Ack, what a long article about sand and gravel. I'm sorry to say I found this very dull and boring, no pun intended. I don't know what to do about this problem, Gritty, I defer to you! You got the name, you get the game!

[rmvh]

Too Bad!

Everyone wants things around their neighborhood to stay just the way they were...Its a simplistic view..truly childlike....And completely unjustified.

[mamarainsberry]

"Every citizen in California demands a particular lifestyle, yet they do not want to take responsibility for the things it takes to support that lifestyle. We need sand and gravel." and oil, and electricity and clean water. But we don't want to muck up our state so lets take Washington's power(we are too enviro conscious to build our own plants) Oregon's water (they are just a bunch of farmers) and BC's gravel. What we really need to save the enviroment is for the whole damn state of Calif to slide off into the ocean. OK maybe just the southern half.

[daviddennis]

I was thinking this might be a good thing, after all.

Our architects will have to use less concrete, and perhaps that will mean more attractive buildings in the future.

Concrete's about the ugliest material I know.

D

[Dog Gone]

You could make them out of wood, but that would offend Gaia. And iron mining isn't much different from gravel mining.

No, the solution is to stop building stuff.

[DoughtyOne]

But today, the state's passion for protecting its own back yard from the dust, noise and scars of mining and its penchant for building homes over rich reserves is beginning to shift the pain of producing those natural resources to other landscapes and cultures.

Excuse me but don't we live in the age of importation of everything except jobs?  We export our jobs and import everything else.  What else is new Sacramento Bee?  Where have you been for the last decade?  When people mine for minerals, someone in that area makes a lot of money.  People are employed there.  The region experiences an influx of money.  Duh!  Anotherwords, that one person you found with a dusty balcony is balanced by a number of other people who can afford to put food on the table or perhaps buy a second car, maybe even take a vacation this year for the first time in a decade.

One of my first clues to the mindset of the person writing this article is highlighted in red above.  Sprawl is the latest catch-phrase of the rabid environmentalist.

Perhaps this nitwit can figure out why we have such a demand for new homes in California.  I'll give you a clue, citizens are leaving the state in record numbers.

[BenLurkin]

But, shouldn't we take all the trees and put them in a tree museum? Then we could charge all the people a dollar and a half just to see them

[Dog Gone]

I like the way you think.

[Sabatier]

From a related article (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030130-9999_1n30sand.html}:

"...a joint venture called Petreos del Pacifico... The company was formed in 2001 by a well-established Baja California construction company, Amaya Curiel, and British-based Hanson Aggregates, which has offices in San Diego... ...General Manager Roberto Curiel Ortega said Petreos del Pacifico has invested close to $40 million to develop the infrastructure for sand and rock mining, including a port facility at Ensenada and barges to carry the material to California..."

Presumably this company was providing jobs to an area that otherwise wouldn't offer much opportunity? The thing that is so striking about Mexico is how rich it is in possibilities and how resistant the leadership is to those very things which would allow the country to prosper.

[Hildy]

I love your profile!

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Not to worry, Kalifornia is too broke to buy dirt, even dirt cheap.