[env-trinity] Times Standard- Water bond's lure for the North Coast

[Emelia Berol]

I think the Mexicans have an expression for it, too (false promises - sounds good, but the part that sounds good they have no intention of delivering) :

arroz con pollo, sin pollo (rice with chicken, without chicken) 



________________________________
From: Kier Associates <kierassociates at suddenlink.net>
To: Tom Stokely <tstokely at att.net>; Trinity List <env-trinity at crank.dcn.davis.ca.us>
Sent: Wed, November 25, 2009 9:50:19 AM
Subject: Re: [env-trinity] Times Standard- Water bond's lure for the North Coast

Tom

That's what Zeke and I used to call "getting van Pelted" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_van_Pelt )

Bill

At 09:24 AM 11/25/2009, Tom Stokely wrote:


Water bond's lure for the
>North Coast
>
>>John Driscoll/The Times-Standard
>>Posted: 11/25/2009 01:30:21 AM PST
>
>>The North Coast would get $315 million and be eligible for a share of
>$3.38 billion as part of a state water bond being proposed for 2010 -- a
>bond that many are questioning as unaffordable and that regional
>interests say threaten salmon rivers. 
>
>>The Department of Water Resources this week roughly outlined how the
>$11.1 billion in the water bond would be dispersed by region. The North
>Coast would be eligible for hundreds of millions for watershed projects,
>wetland restoration, salmon habitat improvement, waterfowl habitat
>projects, and vegetation management. In the bond measure is also $250
>million for removal of the Klamath River's four main dams. 
>
>>While the bond, and the legislative package passed earlier this month,
>has been touted by supporters as a big stride toward improving the
>state's weak water policies, conservationists in the north point out that
>most of the money would go to new dams, water projects and a canal to
>pump water around the Sacramento River Delta to cities and farms to the
>south. That could threaten water available for fish in the Trinity River,
>which is connected to the Central Valley Project, they say. 
>
>>”I'm pretty sure that it's a long-term commitment of Central Valley water
>and nobody is sure how the Trinity River plays into that,” said Humboldt
>County Supervisor Jimmy Smith, “but I think it's going to be
>significant.” 
>
>>The Legislative Analyst's Office points out that the state is currently
>operating at 
>>a $6.3 billion shortfall, with deficits projected to reach $14 billion
>next fiscal year and $20 billion a year for another five years. The bond
>would create debt service of $600 million a year. 
>
>>Smith said the proposed bond is far too expensive and complex, and that
>the Klamath money should be carved off and put forward in its own
>package, or a simpler one. 
>
>>If the money for the North Coast -- Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and
>parts of Glenn, Lake, Marin, Modoc, Siskiyou and Sonoma counties -- is
>meant to draw support from the region, it's not certain that it would be
>delivered. Proposition 84, a water bond passed in 2006, was $5.4 billion.
>Tom Stokely with the California Water Impact Network pointed out that
>some $40 million for the California Department of Fish and Game's
>fisheries restoration program hasn't yet come through. 
>
>>Billions from previous water bonds also haven't been spent, according to
>the State Treasurer's Office. 
>
>>Stokely cautioned that the efforts most likely to be funded are the
>building of dams, reservoirs and canals, while fish and wildlife
>provisions are likely to get bound up due to state budget woes. 
>
>>”I liken it to Charlie Brown and Lucy where she holds the football for
>him and then at the last minute pulls it away,” Stokely said. 
>
>>Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro called the water package and the bond to be “a
>wolf in sheep's clothing.” The Trinity River may be particularly
>vulnerable to excess diversion due to existing infrastructure tying it to
>the Central Valley Project, he said. Chesbro also said that water
>projects have always been paid with revenue bonds, but that's different
>with the latest water bond. 
>
>>”This would be a general obligation bond, which means they want to take
>our water and then make us pay for it,” the Arcata Democrat said.
>
>
>>John Driscoll covers natural resources/industry. He can be reached at
>441-0504 or jdriscoll at times-standard.com. 
>
>
>> 
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Blue Lake, CA 95525
707.668.1822 
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