by Bob Walsh
Jerry Brown's #2 favorite project, right after the not-so-high-speed train, is the California Water Project. Specifically it is a plan to divert huge amounts of water from NoCal to SoCal so the greedy bastards down there can have green lawns and golf courses while the rest of the state turns to a dust bowl. It has been harder than Jerry would hope.
Back in 1939 the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation made a deal with major local water users in the San Joaquin Valley. They pretty much had to as many of the families that farmed the area had a lot of power and had been there since the 19th century. That deal is expressed with a cost allocation formula that says the farmers in that area that get their water from the Friant Dam near Fresno (another facility made possible by the 1939 deal) are specifically exempt from having to pay for diversion of water from the north.
Since the largest of those districts by far, the Westlands Water District, has just voted NO to the prospect of joining into Jerry's plan, possibly-probably leading others to follow suit, it may very well kill the deal. Had it gone ahead Westland's share of the cost would have been roughly 25% of the total cost, about $4 billion out of a $16 billion project. They see no benefit in paying. Other significant but smaller districts seem to be likely to join the HELL NO crowd, including the large metropolitan water district in L.A.
Maybe its just me being perverse, but I would dearly love to see them stick it in Jerry's eye. He is (at times) an arrogant, overbearing clown who listens to his own drummer rather than what the peons actually want, or need for that matter.
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