Unions, Water, California, Environmentalists, and Economic Recovery

[WhiskeyGirl]

Who is paying for all the unemployment?  Higher food prices?  Food insecurity?

Who benefits two years from now when farmers have lost their land and ability to support themselves?  Two years from now, after ownership changes hands, will water start to flow again into these dry parched fields?  More socialist improvements?

A package of water-related bills introduced in the state Legislature would "impede California's ability to meet water supply reliability" goals, according to a group of 42 agricultural, water and business organizations.

In their letter, the agricultural and water organizations agreed that the delta "faces an immediate crisis." But, they added, "without a reliable water supply that supports and sustains a recovering economy there is no capacity to invest in the environment."

http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1378&ck=8D9A0ADB7C204239C9635426F35C9522

Isn't economic recovery important?  What to do with all those unemployed people?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Union politics, Latino clout entwined in water battle"

“They’ve always had the clout, they just haven’t exercised it,” said Mario Santoyo, a director and adviser to the California Latino Water Coalition and an executive at the Friant Water Authority. They want a water plan that includes a canal through or around the delta east of San Francisco, reservoirs, desalination, recycling, delta environmental protections, and more water for Central and Southern California. And more.

“But what really brought them to the table this time was the crisis, the drought, in the Central Valley that has left hundreds of thousands of acres fallow. There are Latinos in the bread lines, there are Latinos in the unemployment lines,” Santoyo said.

Less than 24 hours later, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the UFW’s top legislative priority, SB 789 by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, that would have made it easier for the UFW to sign up new members. Schwarzenegger said the bill violated worker’s rights to secret-ballot elections. The union has said the current system allows employers to draw out the election time table and intimidate workers.

Not everyone is on board. A national union coalition has poured $1 million into a newly formed committee of the United Farm Workers, specifically to oppose any water package that emerges from the Legislature in the final week of the session.

http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=y8q5v45s3x98vk&xid=y8q5anxa8lx703&done=.y8q5v45s3xs8vk

How much federal taxpayer money will end up supporting all these programs?

[WhiskeyGirl]

California's Man-Made Drought
The green war against San Joaquin Valley farmers.

The result has already been devastating for the state's farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. In August, 50 mayors from the San Joaquin Valley signed a letter asking President Obama to observe the impact of the draconian water rules firsthand.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he "doesn't have the authority to turn on the pumps" that would supply the delta with water, or "otherwise, they would be on." He did, however, have the ability to request intervention from the Department of Interior. Under a provision added to the Endangered Species Act in 1978 after the snail darter fiasco, a panel of seven cabinet officials known as a "God Squad" is able to intercede in economic emergencies, such as the one now parching California farmers. Despite a petition with more than 12,000 signers, Mr. Schwarzenegger has refused that remedy.

Things in California may have to get so bad that they endanger Democratic Congressional incumbents before Washington wakes up, but it doesn't have to be that way. Mr. Salazar has said that convening the God Squad would be "admitting failure" in the effort to save the smelt under the Endangered Species Act. Maybe so, but the livelihoods of tens of thousands of humans are also at stake. If the Obama Administration wants to help, it can take up Governor Schwarzenegger's request that it revisit the two biological opinions that are hanging farmers and farm workers out to dry.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574384731898375624.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

After the farmers are broke and lose their land, how long before the water flows again?  Who will own the land?  Rich global corporations?  Hedge funds?  Foreign businesses?

[WhiskeyGirl]

When I read these articles and the comments a few questions come to mind.

Why is it, when draught and water fails to flow in the U.S. somehow it's a good thing for environmentalists? 

In other countries, draught and unemployment and hunger are a bad thing? 

Why must send BILLIONS in aid to foreign nations to keep water flowing, turn the dry and parched land into an oasis?

Scare tactics - Global warming is turning millions of acres into desert, and it endangers millions of people...what about people in the U.S.?

There is no thermostat for the globe.  IIRC, the Grand Canyon was once a lush green land in which dinosaurs roamed.  Lots of bones there, petrified forrests...

Can we turn back the clock and restore the Grand Canyon to what it was millions of years ago?

No jobs for Americans, no food, no prosperity...just keep sending billions elsewhere to support foreigners...