Once more, the Feds evade responsibility

The history of water in California is a history of promises broken and solutions dissolved. As with anything political, anything that appears to be frozen into law will melt when enough heat is applied.

This time the Bureau of Reclamation has come up with a cockamamie plan to transfer one of it's biggest liabilities to those who benefit from their lack of planning. While that might seem to be a good idea, it is, in fact telling the foxes that they are not the guards of the hen house.

I have obtained a copy of the Bureau of Reclamation's Powerpoint Congressional Breifing. As one environmental water advocate said...

"The message is even clearer. If i grow subsidized crops with water subsidized by the Feds, and create a toxic waste stream from my farming, BuRec will seek ever more creative ways to make me richer."

This one is getting close to home. My local water district gets part of it's water from the same San Luis Reservoir. We are paying extra now to alleviate problems with water condition when the reservoir reaches low water points in the summer. Now, I am learning that the farmers of the Westlands Irrigation District are creating more problems for everyone and, in effect ruining that land that they are farming.

It appears to me that the political party structures in this state, no matter which party we talk about, are ineffective in dealing with independent districts, such as Westlands. The application of political power, the deals that take place outside of public view, all serve those special interests that no politician will admit they listen to.

I do not yet have any solutions to this. I do know that it is necessary to do everything we can to make sure that all of this happens in the public view.

Wes