Hot on the heels of last week’s unveil of the Environmental Impact Report for Governor Brown’s proposed Delta tunnels project, a wealthy Stockton farmer has circulated a ballot initative that would force the plan to go to the voters for approval. David Siders and Ryan Sabalow have the story at the Sacramento Bee:
“[Signature] gatherers paid by Dean Cortopassi, a wealthy Stockton-area farmer and food processor, have started circulating an initiative to force large public works projects – Brown’s tunnels included – to go before voters for approval.
“The measure is expected to quality for the November 2016 ballot, and proponents of the tunnels project are reacting with alarm.
“’He has money,’ said Robin Swanson, a consultant working with Californians for Water Security, which supports the tunnels project. ‘And he has his own political agenda.’
“…The Cortopassi initiative stands to complicate Brown’s tunnels plan just as Brown works to revive it. After federal agencies balked at a 50-year permit for the project – a length of time attractive to water users because it assured them water deliveries could not easily be changed – Brown announced in April that he would seek a shorter permit and dramatically reduce the amount of habitat restoration originally proposed.”
Speaking of rich guys with agendas, the Bee also takes a look at billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer’s war on Big Oil.
And, while most Californians are generally receptive to efforts to combat climate change, this probably isn’t the week they want to talk about an oil severance tax: gas prices are predicted to go up 30-50 cents per gallon across the state by the weekend. Gary Richards has the bad news at the San Jose Mercury:
“Prices at the pump have already begun creeping up in recent days, and they may soar this week as much as 30 cents a gallon in the Bay Area and 50 cents in Southern California as refinery issues and a lack of imported crude oil slam the Golden State.
“That means the average cost of regular gas will soon exceed $4 a gallon in the Southland and get uncomfortably close to that mark in the Bay Area.
“GasBuddy.com analysts say the price hikes are occurring because of ‘an extraordinary convergence of fuel supply problems’ that have caused ‘severe spikes with no immediate relief in sight.’"
San Diego is moving ahead with a radical $3.5 billion water recycling plan that will convert sewage to drinking water. There is one problem (not counting the ‘ick’ factor, that is): it isn’t allowed under current state rules. David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune:
“State rules call for purified sewer water to be pumped into large natural basins under ground before it can enter the local water supply, partly because that’s how it’s done where water recycling essentially began in Orange County.
“San Diego’s lack of adequate groundwater basins and aquifers, however, will force local officials to pump the recycled water directly into city reservoirs.
“That nearly unprecedented approach, which will shrink the amount of time between water getting recycled and showing up in faucets, could create health concerns and make it harder for the public to embrace recycled water, which some critics call ‘toilet to tap.’
“…San Diego’s proposal has prompted state officials to begin crafting proposed regulations for pumping purified sewer water into reservoirs instead of into ground water, with a first draft of those regulations slated for release in late summer.
“’Since there aren’t any regulations for doing this with reservoirs, we’re working hand-in-hand with the state to develop them,’ said John Helminski, assistant director of the city’s Public Utilities Department. ‘There isn’t a precedent for how this works.’”
The LA Times’ Cathleen Decker follows up on last week’s release of Leadership California Institute’s “Status of Latinos in California” report, noting that while Latino representation is growing in California, they are still lagging behind their proportion of the population.
AB 20, a bill by Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) to create work permits for undocumented immigrant farmworkers passed the Senate Agriculture Committee last week. The measure has already cleared the Assembly. Julia Harris, Latin Post.
"’California's farmers are in the midst of their summer harvest season, and they are continuing to struggle with an ongoing labor shortage and a devastating drought,’ Democratic Assemblymember Luis Alejo of Salinas County, who authored the bill.
"’We cannot simply hope for things to get better,’ added Alejo. ‘In Washington D.C., the talks revolving around comprehensive immigration reform have stalled, and the president's executive action is still being blocked. If California wants change in immigration policy, we as state officials must stand up and lead.’"
Remember Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley billionaire who wanted to section California into six states? (He’s still wearing that tie, btw.) Dan Walters looks at the finalists for Draper’s recent “Fix California” project. Some proposals would be simple fixes such as increasing government transparency. Others are a bit more…. ambitious.
“The most far-reaching proposal… would replace California’s governmental structure with the parliamentary system used by most of the world’s democracies, with the governor the leader of the Legislature’s majority party or a coalition, like the British prime minister.
“All of the 16 are interesting, certainly, and demonstrate, if nothing else, that many Californians sense – accurately – that such a large and complex state is not being governed as well as it should be.”
OK, and here’s one for our Los Angeles readers: anyone recognize this “cool guy” caught on video driving backwards on Laurel Canyon Drive?
“Cellphone video captured the vehicle, described as an Audi, going backward.
“This guy’s going backwards on oncoming traffic! Amazing,’ a stunned witness is heard on the clip saying.
“The vehicle stayed in reverse for several minutes and along windy turns, according to the footage. At one point, the car appears to almost hit a pedestrian, reported CBS2’s Peter Daut.
“Several times, the Audi crosses the double-yellow lines, narrowly missing oncoming traffic. When the vehicle approaches busy Hollywood Boulevard, still in reverse, the driver maneuvers around other cars and into the left turn lane.
“’It definitely was a shocker for me,’ said Kevin Zanazanian, who recorded the video on his cellphone…. ‘It was definitely like a movie and I just think either this individual had an argument or a fight or something or just possibly just wanted to be a cool guy,’ Zanazanian said.”