Opinion: Calif. reaps bitter harvest of environmental extremism
By Darrell Issa, Orange County Register
California has always prided itself on setting an example for the nation. From its early Gold Rush days, through the rise of its tech industry and the Silicon Valley, the Golden State has repeatedly positioned itself on the cutting edge of the next significant undertaking in American society.
Today, unfortunately, California’s lack of preparedness for this multiyear drought is an example of what happens when the state’s historic boldness and ingenuity take a backseat to a radical political ideology.
How could such an industrious and forward-thinking state – which is also the world’s eighth-largest economy – ever allow itself to get in this position?
In the 1970s, the environmentalist movement began to take shape in the United States. Many California lawmakers and the state’s youthful first-term governor, Jerry Brown, embraced the tenets of this movement and set ambitious goals to create a futuristic Golden State in the vein of environmental idealism. While the notion of making California the greenest state in the country at all costs probably seemed as exciting and ambitious to politicians as building a high-speed bullet train to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, the consequences of environmental extremism have proven to be, at best, problematic and, at worst, detrimental during times of crisis.
So says Darrell “Grand Theft Auto” Issa.
Classic GOP rubbish blaming conservationists while denying actual environmental science.
Go figure!
The Congressman uses a lot of ink to say CA needs more dams. More dams won’t be used for storage. Through wet cycles, the water would be used up for growth and plenty, then when drought hits we are out of water again. At that point, we will have drowned priceless ecosystems forever. Once dams are built they are never torn out or restored. Environmental advocates fight hardest against dams because they are generally irreversible and the damage is vast.
Dams are quick-and-dirty solutions. We owe it to future generations to put more effort toward innovations like migrating desalinaztion ships or a pipeline from east of the Rockies. The Navy has nuclear-powered war ships headed for retirement that could be repurposed as offshore water plants. And the Keystone XL Pipeline is showing how far we are willing to go to distribute petroleum evenly around the nation, so why not do it for water (rhetorical question mark).
Look who wrote this article, conservative in the most conservative county in california (outside of el dorado county). Im proud of the fact that some politicians will stand up to unnecessary development. Having reservoirs and dams only work if there is moisture to capture. There are 100, s of such developments sitting without any significant water accumulations. Maybe these development hungry developers can put their collective smarts together to start focusing on desalination facilities for the masses in the southwest. Mostly I just see a bunch of big boys who want to play in the dirt with their big tonka toys. Time to grow up boys!
Dams are hardly a quick fix. In this permit and lawsuit crazy era, even if you had a dam site chosen, it may be a decade of paperwork before anybody moves any dirt to build a dam.
Jeffy- Desalination is also a dirty word for many environmentalists, who are concerned that we are disposing of the salts in the oceans (true of course) causing yet other environmental impacts which are unacceptable. In any event it is a temporary fix.
The earth is a closed system….we get very little from, and dispose of very little to space.
As a closed system, the carrying capacity of the earth, the ability of it to support life as WE know it, is limited.
Consequently, growth must be seen as the real problem.
As we know, the global economic system is based entirely on achieving growth at the exponential percentage rate of around 3 percent annually. We think we are doing something wrong if our GNP is not showing a 3 percent annual growth.
And yet, we are now also consumed with the growing concept of sustainability. Riiight, his makes a lot of sense.
It may only slow down the ultimate crash of life as we know it, when something out of our control, or something we did that went wrong which pollutes or changes one of our critical needs (air or water, or temperature) to the extent that human life is negatively affected or even terminated.
Basically all the worlds leaders must be aware of the foregoing, but the game is just to keep doing what we are doing as long as we are alive, make as much money, accumulate as as much power as we can in the short term and leaving to total chance the welfare and existence of generations who follow us.
The bottom line just may be, we have been wrong consistently since humans took over as a dominant species.
Is there ANY reason to believe we finally got it right???
I think not.
There is a possibility that south of Sacramento will be facing climate change akin to the Sahara desert expanding. Apparently the snow line will go up in elevation also. These long term forecasts by some, almost certainly have dire effects on the water situation.
If most storms will be warmer, hence less snow pack, water storage management should reflect the situation.
What if, outside of Ca., domestic concern is mainly interested in export of food from Ca., without regard to local inhabitants. Somewhat akin to colonization of Ca. for its ability to produce huge agricultural bounties.
And just WHO are the extremists?
California has become the country’s poster child for out of control failed liberalism. Nothing to be proud of Moonbutt. If you had half a real interest in the state you would stop thinking about your stupid train to nowhere. Why not put that 700+ million you got from TAXPAYERS towards our drought situation. Collect the runoff and ultimately the farmers could grow as usual and help feed the country. POS
Kits wants us to believe that HE is a voice of sanity and moderation. Kits is a vegetable.
Hmmm: Once again you liberal idiot….you don’t even count. YOU are beyond educating to the obvious. Stay in your liberal, ever tax increasing mindset and the fool in office from DC down to Moonbutt.
PS: I’m only stating an opinion. I could not care less if you follow it. Seriously. You are Bah-bah sheep led by those hell bent on ruining the state and country. Please tell me you don’t breed.
Kit, you are aware that most Blue states generate more revenue than they get from the federal government and that the opposite is true with red states they require more assistance from the feds then they generate . This is especially true for California which has a huge benefit for the federal government in terms of the amount of revenue we generate versus what we take back in all forms of assistance.
So I guess us dumb libs are really smart and great at making money. And you T party types are pretty stupid and poor .
Rick
Kits…sure I count. And I know how to spell. And I know how to use critical thinking skills. AND, I am well educated. I worked my way through college. You are the one who parrots the predictable party line.
@Rick-of course he is aware of it.. the numbers have been well researched, documented, and made so widely available the conservative media can’t refute them-they just ignore it and throw red meat and bacon to the dummies and watch em scarf it down. They don’t want to look at the truth, so they ignore facts and connections and make ‘stuff’ up.
Hell, half the time Kits doesn’t even realize it when he is being insulted.
“YOU are beyond educating to the obvious.”
What degree do you have?
Rick; Revenue generated by TAXES. Get it?!
LOL Hmmm, you have to do better than that.
Kit, you don’t get it. States with booming economy’s generate revenue, those sucking wind take, because they have no industry. Good chance that I pay well more in federal taxes then you make. I would rather be in that boat with good discretionary income then belong to a red state that has to take more because they are dirt poor – get it!
Rick
Any of the geniuses here been to the solid “red” south? Everywhere you go, practically, it’s a 2 tooth minimum. Implying that these states are putting more into the pot than they are taking is just flat ignoring the facts. And let’s not get into a discussion on the ruination of the environment in this country. There’s blame enough to go from coast to coast, from blue to red to purple.
Rick- Glad to hear you’re wealthy. Years ago a study of the wealthiest men on the planet asked them what they would give-up their fortunes for. Every single one said- “a good relationship”. Wealth comes in many forms. Living in Tahoe makes us wealthy beyond measure.
Enjoy this beautiful day in paradise.
Rick: With all your bragging wealth you haven’t the basic third grade knowledge of how to use the word “then” or “than”
Ps: I live quite well and don’t feel any need to brag about it.
Kits,
What is a “bragging wealth”? Which part of speech is that in the context of your reply about California’s growing economy?
Why Kits? Those with an education and an understanding of who controls the economic and cultural dynamics of this republic, who turns the screws and how they do it got it.
Do I need to use small words with sing gul syll abl es for you?
Have a nice nap.
Kits does live quite well. She finally upgraded to a double wide trailer last month. Her 13 year old finally doesn’t sleep in the same bed as her.
Its the end of the month and kitty litter is out of happy pills…
Kit, I was not bragging but stating a fact based on statistics of average annual salaries in the US and particularly Tahoe. In other words, I as a patriotic American who makes a hell of a living believes in paying for a strong central government. The classic argument that conservatives (think Mitt Romney 47% comment) and particularly the Tea party make which is factually incorrect, is that only people who take want a strong gov, when in fact, it is the conservatives who take in excess of what they put in. We liberals, do not mind paying for a strong gov, particularly to assist other Americans with basic services and improve circumstances for all.
To quote someone else, if you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values.
Rick
Of course this pathetic state will flourish at the cost of taxpayers. Heck yes, if I taxed all you blind libs I would be even wealthier. Get it??!!! I think we learned that somewhere….
Liberule: You have zero clue. How funny….yet not surprising.
Kit, we could be like Red states (can we say the broken experiment in Kansas), groveling and poor. I like the fact California is one of the most significant economic engines in the world – not just the US, but the world.
Please stay out of my state and keep to your broken state.
Rick
Cat litter: I hit the nail on the head lady.
Keep thinking that Lib…..and Rick. You keep your ever increasing taxes. It makes Moonbutt look good….and drains your income. Do I care? Not one bit.
If you dont care why do you rag and rant for all to see? Move somewhere else and than you can have something to compare.
Any state compares better than Cali-Lib-Mexico-Tax central.
BTW nature: It’s THEN not THAN. You really should have finished the third grade instead of sniffing pine trees.
Darrell Issa and is ilk are complete Reich Wing Morons! We have the most Dams of any State in the Union now! What we need is fresh water! Rather than subsidizing Oil, Coal and Gas for decades, we should have been subsidizing fresh water desalination/reclamation plants, solar panel development, wind turbines & geothermal power in California.
Darrell, want somebody to point your finger at… look in a mirror.
Kits: You like to point out grammatical problem. Are you going anything to address your flawed understanding of the term ‘minority’?
Rock for Tahoe,
Alternative energy such as solar, wind ect… have been subsidized for decades. Most likely there can be some new programs to look at.
Supposedly around half the energy in this country is used for buildings. Buildings are owned by land owners who most likely pay much more taxes than renters. Maybe a complete tax credit for existing buildings to be upgraded will be huge for quality of life, ect…
Perry. In 2012, the Fossil Fuels Industry received about $550 Billion in Subsidies versus about $100 Billion for Alternatives worldwide. This does not include the health cost related to burning fossil fuels.
Germany is producing 3 times as much power from Solar as America and I do not believe Germany is in the Sun belt (35.5 GW versus 12 GW).
So Yes, clearly we should look at increased solar programs and solar capacity.