Fresno city ranked sustainability leader as county seeks disaster status
Posted on | June 23, 2009 | No Comments
AS California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in calling on the Obama administration to issue a federal disaster declaration for Fresno County today, AP / SF Chronicle, the City of Fresno received top ranking in the “sustainability index” of an UC Davis report “Achieving Sustainability in California’s Central Valley.”
From the UC Davis press release: The population of California’s Central Valley is expected to balloon from 7 million to 12 million people in the next 30 years, making it the fastest growing region anywhere in the U.S. or Mexico. Can the valley’s communities be that big and green as well?
“I am actually pretty pessimistic about the possibility,” said associate professor Mark Lubell, the lead author of a new UC Davis review of 100 Central Valley cities’ growth policies.
This post has been updated.
The week that was, 6/14-20/2009
Posted on | June 21, 2009 | 2 Comments
- “Paper water is an illusion. It is a term used in the water industry that represents an entitlement, existing only on paper, which agencies can expect to receive from state and federal water projects based on projections and expectations.” Orange County grand jury.
- “The past century is no longer a reasonable guide to the future for water management.” Multi-agency and White House Global Climate Change Report.
- The Clean Water Restoration Act, “would allow for government regulation of virtually all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including rivers, intermittent streams, mudflats, sandflats, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and others,” US Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Udall’s colleagues should see The Clean Water Restoration Act as the housekeeping measure that it is and give it quick passage, Santa Fe New Mexican
- Fresno farmers to Schwarzenegger, “Turn on the pumps.”
- Schwarzenegger to farmers, “We will get a water deal as soon as the budget is done. But there will never be a water deal until you get a budget, because you have to pay for it.”
- “I will aggressively work with local, state and federal officials toward the speedy approval and completion of the Two Gates project so that California’s bread basket can continue to feed the world,” says Schwarzenegger. Aquafornia asks and answers the question, “What’s the Two Gates project?”
- Mexican navy finds cocaine in sharks
- “You can’t find a qualified lobbyist who doesn’t have a conflict … it’s how you manage those conflicts,” Pat Mulroy, General Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority.
- “Environmentalists are tripping over themselves to preserve every species that crawls, squirms, swims or flies, but they are content to let humans die. And now they have a government that agrees with them,” US Congress Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare)
- “It smelled horrible. We were shocked at how many fish there were. It was gross.” Tourist on mass fish die-off at Lake Kaweah.
- Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists believe a virus that killed thousands of carp in Lake Mohave is doing the same at Lake Havasu … Biologists say that as water temperatures warm up in late spring, the Koi Herpes Virus impacts gill function and can lead to suffocation
- “Increased air temperatures lead to higher water temperatures, which have already been detected in many streams, especially during low-flow periods.” White House Global Climate Change Report.
- The Walker Lake restoration project “makes about as much sense as the State of Utah trying to reclaim the Great Salt Lake,” Nevada Department of Agriculture Director Tony Lesperance
- Treated wastewater and recycled water require energy for treatment, but little energy for supply and conveyance. Conserving water has the dual benefit of conserving energy and potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions. White House Global Climate Change Report.
This post was updated on 23 July, 2009. The link to the Santa Fe New Mexican editorial on the Clean Water Restoration Act was added.
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > headlines > The week that was
Please explain this Washington water lobbyist
Posted on | June 20, 2009 | No Comments
A SMART bit of reporting by Joe Schoenmann in the June 20 edition of the Las Vegas Sun follows up Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak asking questions about payments to consultants, lobbyists and public relations experts. First in line in the Sun story is Marcus G. Faust, an oddly Sidney Greenstreet-like figure among Washington lobbyists, whose influence is pervasive in Western water.
From the story:
- [Sisolak’s] questions were simple: Who’s getting the contracts and what are they doing for the money? … Washington, D.C., lobbyist Marcus Faust, for example, has had a Southern Nevada Water Authority contract for 17 years. The authority pays $150,000 a year to Faust, who also has contracts with the Water Reclamation District, Department of Aviation, Las Vegas Valley Water District and Regional Transportation Commission. Sisolak said the interests of some of Faust’s other clients — Coyote Springs Investment, a massive development north of Las Vegas, water districts in Utah, and the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority — might be at odds with those of the county or other local agencies. “You mean to tell me we can’t find other people here, or in Washington, who might be able to do the same job?” Sisolak said. Faust could not be reached for comment.
Via Great Basin Water Network
Editor’s note: A business story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal from earlier in the week (June 17) touched on Commission approval for an “one-year extension of a lobbying and governmental affairs contract with Marcus G. Faust valued at $200,000 annually.”
For how Mr. Faust figures in the current efforts by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to drive a pipeline into the Great Basin, see part 3 of the 5-part Sun series “Quenching Las Vegas’s Thirst”
The Dry Garden: Rethinking the parkway
Posted on | June 20, 2009 | 3 Comments
THERE may be a drought and tough watering restrictions, but there has never been a better time to tackle the knottiest problem in Los Angeles landscaping: How to plant parkways? For the full column, go to the LA Times
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden gone to the dogs?
Posted on | June 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
MISSION STATEMENT: “The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is an educational and scientific institution fostering stewardship of the natural world through inspired learning, rigorous scholarship, and premier displays. With an emphasis on plants native to California, the Garden advances the knowledge and understanding of plant life and provides a rewarding experience for visitors.”
And so, last April, the Garden Board of Trustees sacked its *Director of Nursery Operations and Horticultural Outreach but kept on a highly paid publicist. The upshot? Doggie Bagel Brunches.
*CORRECTION: An earlier take of this posting reported that the trustees sacked the Director of Horticulture. This is incorrect. The person sacked was formerly the Director of Horticulture but at the time of dismissal was Director of Nursery Operations and Horticultural Outreach. The text was amended accordingly.
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Native Gardening > Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
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