That old threat?
Posted on | October 12, 2009 | No Comments
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last night dropped threats to veto more than 700 bills unless the legislature brought him a water package to his liking. Rather, saying a deal was near, he declared the legislature in special session.
While the official reversal was more dignified than the Tweet that the Governor sent out reading, “going all out, signing two bills at once,” the proclamation for a special session itself is loaded.
Even if the governor enjoyed the consensus necessary to resolve differences over whether or not to build a peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the proclamation makes a difficult task all but impossible.* It bundles with a Delta fix demands for two previously rejected dam projects — current estimated costs between $4 and $5bn.
The Los Angeles Times has the story on some of what got signed and what didn’t.
UPDATE: *Politicians disagree and are out in force cheerleading for a potential deal. On KPCC’s AirTalk, Larry Mantle’s guests are LA Times reporter Michael Rothfeld, Northern Californian Senator Sam Aanestad (R-4th Distrist) and Assembly Member Anna Caballero (D-Salinas). As Aanestad has it, the sticking points include ground-water monitoring and 20% conservation goals for rural conservatives. Caballero, who is heading negotiations for Assembly Democrats, says that, while split, they may accede to the governor’s demand for dams (she authored a $12bn draft bond measure AB 752). She hopes for a deal by the end of the week.
VIA Aquafornia: Senate Speaker pro tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) are on YouTube discussing what they now describe as a $9.4bn bill. “Water is considered one of the unsolvable issues in this state,” said Steinberg. “There has been a seeming barrier for decades in terms of resolving California’s water challenges. We believe that we are on the verge of breaking that barrier.” According to Bass, the items covered by the legislation are: Statewide 20% water reduction by 2020, statewide ground-water monitoring, increased water rights supervision and formation of a Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta stewardship council and conservancy.
UPDATE OCT. 13, 2009: A Field Poll gives the legislature and governor record low job approval numbers. To read it, click here.
For the full press rundown on water, go to Aquafornia. This post has been updated.
For the text of the Governor’s proclamation, click here
The week that was, 10/4-10/2009
Posted on | October 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
Credit: David M. Carroll, via Yankee Magazine. Click on the image to be taken to Yankee Magazine
With its limited appeal to lovers of swamps and turtles, it’s hard to imagine how David M. Carroll’s beautiful new book, his fifth, will find enough buyers to earn its advance, much less turn a profit. — October 4, 2009 Seattle Times review of David M. Carroll’s “Following the Water — a Hydromancer’s Notebook”
Was it really possible that power of such magnitude — diverting water supplies, building suburbs, playing a central role in the fastest growth any American city has ever seen — could be exercised from the offices of a newspaper publisher? — October 4, 2009 New York Times review of the PBS documentary “Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times”
[Las Vegas] is probably the poster child for the most unsustainable city in the world. — former Las Vegas Sun environment writer Launce Rake interviewed by UC Berkeley water economist David Zetland, October 8, 2009
Click here to keep reading The week that was
Hot and cold: Summer 2009
Posted on | October 11, 2009 | No Comments
CLICK on the maps to enlarge these graphic wrap-ups of summer 2009 from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Or click here to be taken to the NOAA Satellite and Information Service.
Tags: chance of rain > climate change > Emily Green > National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Entering the age of Ritalin
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | 6 Comments
WITH what is less a case of skepticism and more one of complete incomprehension, Chance of Rain has joined Twitter. The inconspicuousness of the icons, which are found at the bottom of each post, attest to the ambivalence. I owe the ironic reference to Ritalin to my friend, poet Amy Scattergood. What Twittering does apart from wrecking any hope of concentration and reducing us all to high school students is unclear to me, but there is something generous, free-wheeling and stupid-profound about it too, not to mention good for numbers. This much I can see from the clickometer of this website: When Aquadoc of WaterWired, aka Michael Campana of Oregon State University, thinks enough of something I’ve written to tweet it, people read it.
Relying on Michael to tweet indefinitely for me would be an abuse of his infinite obligations to just about anyone ready and willing to improve understanding of water.
So, to the great universe on Tweet, I mean Twitter, how scary you are. To my 300 or so daily readers, thank you.
Western datebook
Posted on | October 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
THE CALIFORNIA State Board of Food and Agriculture will hold its first 2010 Drought Meeting looking at how fluctuating supply affects water quality. The board will hear from speakers from the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board and conduct a panel discussion on “actionable solutions with agricultural farm organizations, water districts and state officials.” The word “actionable” usually refers to law suits, but in this case it connotes seriousness and is code for rent-a-mobs and posturing politicians to stay away. That said, public participation and comment is encouraged. Time: Wednesday, October 14, 10am-2pm. Place: Fresno Farm Bureau, 1274 West Hedges Avenue, Fresno, CA 93728
Tags: California State Board of Food and Agriculture > chance of rain > drought > Emily Green
North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
