Speaking at a forum on the drought yesterday, the chair of the Water Resources Control Board predicted that California’s handling of water as resource has changed forever. (Implied: and that’s a good thing.) Tony Bizjack at the Sacramento Bee:
“California needs to use ‘this crisis as an opportunity to accelerate what we know we are going to have to do under climate change anyway,’ said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, which oversees the state’s complex system of water allocations, and this spring is tasked with writing new usage regulations.
“Speaking at a Sacramento forum about the state’s drought efforts, Marcus issued what amounted to a policy statement, saying California must learn to ‘make multiple use of each drop of water ... get more pop per drop,’ by reusing shower water, for example, and no longer using water to grow ornamental lawns…
“’We should not be playing Russian roulette with Mother Nature,” said Marcus… “We are going to lose.”
While farmers were spared under the Governor’s mandatory usage cuts, they have found themselves facing a backlash over just how much water they use. And, just how much is that? From David Siders and Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee:
“On the total water use numbers themselves, there is broad agreement. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, about 9 million acres of farmland in the state are irrigated, representing about 80 percent of all water used by people.
“But that figure excludes roughly 50 percent of all water in California dedicated for environmental purposes, and farmers complain some water in the ecologically sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is off-limits to them….
“Farmers argue that so-called ‘environmental water’ should be taken into account when calculating total water use, putting agriculture’s consumption at closer to 40 percent.
…”Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the [Farm Bureau Federation], said 80 percent is ‘a statistic that’s used as a weapon.’ He suggested that instead of saying a certain amount of water is used for agriculture, say that water is ‘used to produce food.’”
While almond growers have faced the worst of the negative PR, the shoe has yet to drop for alfalfa, grown as animal feed. From Alissa Walker at Gizmodo:
“By far, the most water used for a single agricultural product in the state of California is used to grow alfalfa. About 15 percent, maybe more.
“[Over] a million acres in the state are estimated to be dedicated to growing alfalfa….
In 2011 the Port of LA moved 2,398,113 metric tons of animal feed off our shores. Most of that is California-grown alfalfa. In some parts of the state, it’s about a third of what is grown annually….
“The equivalent of 100 billion gallons of water per year is packaged up in shipping containers and floated over the Pacific Ocean.”
The feel-good story of the week is the passage of AB 147, a bill by Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, (D-Encino) that mandates that public universities offer healthy research animals as pets when their service is done. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Jeremy White, Sacramento Bee: “’The goal is to make sure before these animals are euthanized, every possible measure is taken to adopt them out,’ said Dababneh, who was sporting a purple tie with a terrier print pattern.
“Many colleges and universities already have adoption programs, Dababneh said. His bill seeks to ensure all of them make some attempt to extend the lives of animals that had been tested using taxpayer dollars.”
The sole “no” vote came from Matthew Harper, (R-Huntington Beach) who played the Grinch. Luckily for Spot and Fluffy, the Grinch only gets one vote.
The rumor mill has it that Hillary Clinton will announce her candidacy for President in Iowa this Sunday. Iowa, of course, holds the Iowa Caucuses, the first major event of the presidential electoral calendar. The Hawkeye State boasts 6 electoral votes and turns out about 1.5 million voters in a presidential election.
George Skelton asks why California (55 electoral votes, 11 million votes) should concede the candidate selection process to Iowa and other early primary states.
“My vote will be meaningless. It can't be cast until the June 2016 California primary, long after the nominating contests will have been decided by other states, too many of them pampered peewees. That's just how it has been for about the last 40 years.
“Typically, a candidate breaks ahead of the pack, then increases the lead and becomes a speeding train. Politicians, donors and voters scamper aboard. Money dries up for challengers…
“So California voters again will be watching from the nosebleed seats. We may as well be living in Guam, rather than the most populous state with the world's eighth largest economy.”
The California Public Utilities Commission voted yesterday to approve a record $1.6 billion fine against PG&E for violating state and federal pipeline safety standards, resulting in a 2010 explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people. The fine is the largest penalty ever issued by the commission – more than 10 times the amount of the next highest fine. From Marc Lifsher at the Los Angeles Times:
“PG&E does not expect to appeal the PUC’s decision, Chief Executive Tony Earley said.
“’I want to be very clear — our focus is on moving forward to complete the important safety work we set out to do,’ he said in a statement. ‘We’ve made tremendous progress but we have more to do and we are committed to doing it right.’
“The entire $1.6-billion penalty will come from the company and its shareholders — not from ratepayers.”
And that’s the good news for the utility company. The bad news is that the investigations will continue. The worse news was the suggestion from PUC President Michael Picker that PG&E may need to be broken up. From Jaxon Van Derbeken at SFGate:
“’If PG&E is failing to establish a safety culture, and we continue to see more accidents and violations, what are our tools?’ Picker said, pointing to a chart showing that safety citations skyrocketed in 2013.
“’Is the organization simply too large — spread across a sizable portion of a large state, and encompassing diverse functions such as both gas transmission and gas distribution, as well as electric service — to succeed at safety?’ Picker said.
“Picker said the state’s lawyers would look into the question, and gave no details about what steps the commission might take. But he suggested that PG&E’s profitability made it immune, even to hefty penalties such as the one the utilities commission approved Thursday on a 4-0 vote.”
Given all that, it was easy to select PG&E CEO Tony Earley for the award no one wants to win: our Golden State Blues Singer with the worst week in California politics.
