Joe Cooper
2015-04-16 16:59:01 UTC
If you drive through Californias Central Valley, you will see, along
both sides of the ribbon of highway, acres of scorched earth. The arid
land goes on in some places as far as the eye can see. This land was once
rich in fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Now it is a wasteland, a seemingly
endless expanse of brown, dry, and barren earth.
Periodically you will see a billboard, welcoming you to the manmade
California desert, which displays mocking appreciation for some of our
more notable Democratic elected officials who have helped in this
creation.
California is experiencing the fourth year of a severe drought, a
condition not exactly uncommon in a climate that has only six months of
rain. Political and legal decisions made over the last forty years have
added to the droughts severity.
If you want to know what life would be like in an environmentalist-
dominated society, take a drive up Interstate 5. Environmentalists
sacrificed this productive land on the altar of the Endangered Species
Act. President Barack Obama has vowed to keep it that way.
Generations ago, the political leaders of California realized that the
only way to provide for a growing population and to make the land
productive was to create a water infrastructure that would move water
from where it was abundant to where it was sparse.
Beginning in the early 1970s, however, the environmentalists began going
to court to have water diverted to naturalize streams. In the name of
saving the environment, they fought every attempt to expand the water
infrastructure to meet the needs of Californias rapidly growing
population and agricultural base.
The environmentalists are quick to note that a rushing stream is
beautiful, and equally quick to ignore that an uncontrolled stream
produces both floods and drought.
The irony of using water from a manmade storage system to make rivers run
wild was not lost on Californias farmers, but the environmentalists,
drawn largely from our liberal, urban coastal elite, were incapable of
recognizing the paradox.
In 2007, they mobilized around saving the Delta Smelt, a three-inch
baitfish, as an outgrowth of a policy that for decades put animal life
and vegetation ahead of drinking water and food.
The Delta Smelt requires a rare and somewhat precise mixture of fresh and
salt water. It is by any measure a fragile species.
In August 2007, Federal Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that the fresh water
pumped into the Central Valley, the lifeblood of its economic base,
threatened the survival of the Delta Smelt. He ordered a severe reduction
in the water directed to Central Valley agriculture.
The ruling (subsequently reversed for sloppy science and then upheld)
resulted in a loss of thousands of jobs and acres of farmland. The recent
four-year drought exacerbated the rulings impact on the Central Valleys
economic base.
A University of California, Davis 2015 survey of the Delta Smelt
population showed that it was in such severe decline that despite the
diversion it has a low probability of survival.
The fight over the Delta Smelt casts into prominent relief an ongoing
cultural conflict. It is a fight between people who value a baitfish over
productive farmland and Americas food resources. Irrigated California
farms produce over 90% of some of the fruits and nuts that end up on
Americas dinner tables.
The environmentalists, for decades, have prevented the expansion of the
vital water infrastructure needed to deal with our growing population.
Environmentalists even object to building desalination plants because the
intake valves kill fish and the residual water has high concentrations of
salt.
The large desalination plant under construction at Carlsbad, California
endured six years of getting government permits and no fewer than twelve
environmental lawsuits.
Drought in this climate is a cyclical phenomenon. Between 1985 and 1991,
California experienced a severe drought that required the importation of
water by tanker ship from British Columbia.
Our powerful national senators and representatives did nothing to amend
the Endangered Species Act so that fresh water could be directed into the
Central Valley instead of the ocean. Our state government did nothing to
prepare for the inevitable drought because to build dams, reservoirs, and
desalination plants would upset the strong environmental political base.
Ironically, the same environmental base that is against expanding the
water infrastructure is also supportive of the states providing
inducements to the vast numbers of illegal immigrants coming through our
porous border with Mexico.
The environmentalists see no contradiction in freezing the California
water system at its 1970 level while creating a hospitable environment
for millions of illegal immigrants to settle in the state.
As the Central Valley farms dry up and as farmers desperately drill
further into the ever-diminishing water table, our urban liberal elites
have barely been affected. In the wealthy communities surrounding Los
Angeles, water usage during the drought has actually increased in order
to maintain lush lawns and landscapes. The environmentalists have not
proposed using the water in the Hetch Ketchy reservoir, San Franciscos
water supply, to naturalize rivers and streams.
In the Central Valley, the unemployment rates rise as the water table
sinks, and the people who live and work in this area are largely the
minorities for whom the urban elites profess such compassion.
Governor Jerry Brown campaigned for and had a water bond issue passed.
True to the liberal mentality, however, only a third of the funds will go
for water infrastructure. The rest will go to a new regulatory
bureaucracy.
California is the Petri dish of the nation. If environmentalists can
choose water for a baitfish over water for food and human consumption,
then there is no end to the harm they can wreak on humanity in order to
save the planet.
(Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science,
University of Cincinnati; he lives in Contra Costa County, California.)
Source: http://bit.ly/1Djtxbh
Democrats decided that the Delta Smelt was more important than the lives
of millions of Californians. No surprise there - with Democrats, it's all
about feeling good - destroying jobs and food matters not at all.
Democrats: Turning California into a desert.
--
"Next question: Why hasnt Obama ordered the Marine commandant at
Guantanamo Bay to stop providing an Islamic diet, prayer beads, prayer
rugs, and Korans to prisoners affiliated with al Qaeda, ISIL and other
terrorist groups if theyre not Islamic?" (Jan LaRue:
http://bit.ly/1ucU6Zp)
"Never underestimate the willingness of white progressives to be offended
on behalf of people who arent and to impose their will on those who
didnt ask for it." (Derek Hunter)
"Liberals never argue with one another over substance; their only dispute
is how to prevent the public from figuring out what they really
believe." (Ann Coulter)
both sides of the ribbon of highway, acres of scorched earth. The arid
land goes on in some places as far as the eye can see. This land was once
rich in fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Now it is a wasteland, a seemingly
endless expanse of brown, dry, and barren earth.
Periodically you will see a billboard, welcoming you to the manmade
California desert, which displays mocking appreciation for some of our
more notable Democratic elected officials who have helped in this
creation.
California is experiencing the fourth year of a severe drought, a
condition not exactly uncommon in a climate that has only six months of
rain. Political and legal decisions made over the last forty years have
added to the droughts severity.
If you want to know what life would be like in an environmentalist-
dominated society, take a drive up Interstate 5. Environmentalists
sacrificed this productive land on the altar of the Endangered Species
Act. President Barack Obama has vowed to keep it that way.
Generations ago, the political leaders of California realized that the
only way to provide for a growing population and to make the land
productive was to create a water infrastructure that would move water
from where it was abundant to where it was sparse.
Beginning in the early 1970s, however, the environmentalists began going
to court to have water diverted to naturalize streams. In the name of
saving the environment, they fought every attempt to expand the water
infrastructure to meet the needs of Californias rapidly growing
population and agricultural base.
The environmentalists are quick to note that a rushing stream is
beautiful, and equally quick to ignore that an uncontrolled stream
produces both floods and drought.
The irony of using water from a manmade storage system to make rivers run
wild was not lost on Californias farmers, but the environmentalists,
drawn largely from our liberal, urban coastal elite, were incapable of
recognizing the paradox.
In 2007, they mobilized around saving the Delta Smelt, a three-inch
baitfish, as an outgrowth of a policy that for decades put animal life
and vegetation ahead of drinking water and food.
The Delta Smelt requires a rare and somewhat precise mixture of fresh and
salt water. It is by any measure a fragile species.
In August 2007, Federal Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that the fresh water
pumped into the Central Valley, the lifeblood of its economic base,
threatened the survival of the Delta Smelt. He ordered a severe reduction
in the water directed to Central Valley agriculture.
The ruling (subsequently reversed for sloppy science and then upheld)
resulted in a loss of thousands of jobs and acres of farmland. The recent
four-year drought exacerbated the rulings impact on the Central Valleys
economic base.
A University of California, Davis 2015 survey of the Delta Smelt
population showed that it was in such severe decline that despite the
diversion it has a low probability of survival.
The fight over the Delta Smelt casts into prominent relief an ongoing
cultural conflict. It is a fight between people who value a baitfish over
productive farmland and Americas food resources. Irrigated California
farms produce over 90% of some of the fruits and nuts that end up on
Americas dinner tables.
The environmentalists, for decades, have prevented the expansion of the
vital water infrastructure needed to deal with our growing population.
Environmentalists even object to building desalination plants because the
intake valves kill fish and the residual water has high concentrations of
salt.
The large desalination plant under construction at Carlsbad, California
endured six years of getting government permits and no fewer than twelve
environmental lawsuits.
Drought in this climate is a cyclical phenomenon. Between 1985 and 1991,
California experienced a severe drought that required the importation of
water by tanker ship from British Columbia.
Our powerful national senators and representatives did nothing to amend
the Endangered Species Act so that fresh water could be directed into the
Central Valley instead of the ocean. Our state government did nothing to
prepare for the inevitable drought because to build dams, reservoirs, and
desalination plants would upset the strong environmental political base.
Ironically, the same environmental base that is against expanding the
water infrastructure is also supportive of the states providing
inducements to the vast numbers of illegal immigrants coming through our
porous border with Mexico.
The environmentalists see no contradiction in freezing the California
water system at its 1970 level while creating a hospitable environment
for millions of illegal immigrants to settle in the state.
As the Central Valley farms dry up and as farmers desperately drill
further into the ever-diminishing water table, our urban liberal elites
have barely been affected. In the wealthy communities surrounding Los
Angeles, water usage during the drought has actually increased in order
to maintain lush lawns and landscapes. The environmentalists have not
proposed using the water in the Hetch Ketchy reservoir, San Franciscos
water supply, to naturalize rivers and streams.
In the Central Valley, the unemployment rates rise as the water table
sinks, and the people who live and work in this area are largely the
minorities for whom the urban elites profess such compassion.
Governor Jerry Brown campaigned for and had a water bond issue passed.
True to the liberal mentality, however, only a third of the funds will go
for water infrastructure. The rest will go to a new regulatory
bureaucracy.
California is the Petri dish of the nation. If environmentalists can
choose water for a baitfish over water for food and human consumption,
then there is no end to the harm they can wreak on humanity in order to
save the planet.
(Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science,
University of Cincinnati; he lives in Contra Costa County, California.)
Source: http://bit.ly/1Djtxbh
Democrats decided that the Delta Smelt was more important than the lives
of millions of Californians. No surprise there - with Democrats, it's all
about feeling good - destroying jobs and food matters not at all.
Democrats: Turning California into a desert.
--
"Next question: Why hasnt Obama ordered the Marine commandant at
Guantanamo Bay to stop providing an Islamic diet, prayer beads, prayer
rugs, and Korans to prisoners affiliated with al Qaeda, ISIL and other
terrorist groups if theyre not Islamic?" (Jan LaRue:
http://bit.ly/1ucU6Zp)
"Never underestimate the willingness of white progressives to be offended
on behalf of people who arent and to impose their will on those who
didnt ask for it." (Derek Hunter)
"Liberals never argue with one another over substance; their only dispute
is how to prevent the public from figuring out what they really
believe." (Ann Coulter)