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Courts put huge California water pact in limbo
AP via SacBee ^ | 11/20/11 | ELLIOT SPAGAT - Associated Press

Posted on 11/20/2011 9:45:14 PM PST by SmithL

SAN DIEGO -- A landmark accord that ended decades of acrimony over how Southern California gets its water is in jeopardy.

A California appeals court is considering whether to overturn a 2003 pact that created the nation's largest farm-to-city water transfer and set new rules for dividing the state's share of the Colorado River. If a lower court ruling stands, consequences could ripple to six other Western states and Mexico, which also rely on the 1,450-mile river that flows from the Rocky Mountains to the Sea of Cortez.

...

In January 2010, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Roland Candee gutted the pact in a sweeping, 52-page ruling that said the state of California - one of the signatories - violated its constitution by essentially writing a blank check to restore the rapidly shrinking Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley. California's largest lake is more than 200 feet below sea level and relies on water that seeps down from nearby farms. The sale of water to San Diego further threatens the lake's future.

The judge ruled that a state law committing California to save the lake no matter the cost set a dangerous precedent for the government to pledge money to other projects it couldn't afford.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: calwaterworks; coloradoriver; goldenstate; saltonsea; water; waterwars
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To: Monorprise
But I suppose this might require an alteration in the cultural stipulation that values very green yards?

Not necessarily, but it isn't easy to get there because the soils are so screwed up, particularly because of allelopathic hormones from non-native plants stressing the natives.

I had green grass until October with no water at all. There are many hundred degree days here over the summer and our soil is silty sand.

21 posted on 11/21/2011 12:20:35 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: Monorprise
I aware aware of this fact as well it was a fact I found curious given the courts determination to preserve it.

IIRC, the ruling was to protect the Salton Sea as a mitigation due to other habitat loss (particularly lagoons) pursuant to the Migratory Bird Treaty. This may unwittingly open the door to a market in "artificial" habitat to mitigate or offset urban impacts by which to re-establish such a use as a property right not to be regarded as the exclusive enterprise of the regulatory/academic/NGO monopoly.

22 posted on 11/21/2011 12:27:42 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: Carry_Okie

“”I aware aware of this fact as well it was a fact I found curious given the courts determination to preserve it.”

IIRC, the ruling was to protect the Salton Sea as a mitigation due to other habitat loss (particularly lagoons) pursuant to the Migratory Bird Treaty. This may unwittingly open the door to a market in “artificial” habitat to mitigate or offset urban impacts by which to re-establish such a use as a property right not to be regarded as the exclusive enterprise of the regulatory/academic/NGO monopoly.”

It is indeed interesting how liberal urban areas first vote to create theses rules(both authorized and unauthorized) in both at the State & federal Governments. Then when push comes to shove they try to push off the costs of complying with them to the rest of us.

They take up residency in the most pristine and productive land in the State, then when they destroy that land instead of taking responsibility for their own actions they expect the rest of us to make the sacrifices they refuse to make in order to uphold their beloved standards.

But your right this is a potential market for “artificial” habitat which in itself I don’t have a problem with. What I have a problem with is the rural areas being forced by law to pick up the cost for the same.


23 posted on 11/21/2011 2:22:16 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: Carry_Okie

“”But I suppose this might require an alteration in the cultural stipulation that values very green yards?”

Not necessarily, but it isn’t easy to get there because the soils are so screwed up, particularly because of allelopathic hormones from non-native plants stressing the natives.

I had green grass until October with no water at all. There are many hundred degree days here over the summer and our soil is silty sand.”

Would you suppose that it is possible for every lawn in Califorina to be made cost effectively green to fit the cultural stereo type?

Or should Californians instead embrace their regions specific geographic conditions as “beutifull”. Ts it the 1950’s stile desire for uniformity destructive & non-cost effective?


24 posted on 11/21/2011 2:23:49 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: Monorprise
They take up residency in the most pristine and productive land in the State, then when they destroy that land instead of taking responsibility for their own actions they expect the rest of us to make the sacrifices they refuse to make in order to uphold their beloved standards.

It's worse than that. They make a capital gain on their houses when costs rise for new construction due to the resulting material shortages.

You might want to take a look at my first book, Natural Process. You are clearly one of the few ready to read it.

What I have a problem with is the rural areas being forced by law to pick up the cost for the same.

It's worse than that. The methods they employ assure that the asset at risk never recovers. It keeps them in power and employ forever.

25 posted on 11/21/2011 2:34:27 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: Monorprise
Would you suppose that it is possible for every lawn in Califorina to be made cost effectively green to fit the cultural stereo type?

Probably not, but then, "cost effective" presupposes an impressed valuation system that is subject to manipulation, as you suggested.

Or should Californians instead embrace their regions specific geographic conditions as “beutifull”. Ts it the 1950’s stile desire for uniformity destructive & non-cost effective?

I think our entire land use model is all screwed up, but you would need to read a great deal of what I've published and what I haven't yet published to get even an inkling of just HOW messed up it is. For example, some of the most effective vegetation and predation management processes are most efficiently executed by a nomadic culture. How would that fit in our latter day era?

It's doable, but it would take a rethinking of contract law, tort, and insurance regulation to make it pencil.

Seriously, take a serious look at the two book sites linked from my FR page. They will give you a few ideas of some of the possibilities.

26 posted on 11/21/2011 2:44:11 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: Carry_Okie

You would be wise to publish as an E-book on all the different venders.


27 posted on 11/21/2011 7:23:44 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: D-fendr

“Yep, they have the perfect solution, nukes and desalinization, but won’t do it.”

Again your talking cost & risk they aren’t willing to assume.


28 posted on 11/21/2011 7:32:05 PM PST by Monorprise
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To: gunsequalfreedom

Wet.


29 posted on 11/21/2011 9:59:02 PM PST by aliquando (A Scout is T, L, H, F, C, K, O, C, T, B, C, and R.)
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To: Monorprise

I can do that with Natural Process but not Shemitta. As a 400MB file containing almost 1,000 pages of photographs, the latter has too much color photography for an e-book at this point.


30 posted on 11/21/2011 10:17:57 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: aliquando
Hmmm, wet is something we get once in a while as a treat. Actually, clouds are pretty rare.

One day a few of us were in the house, the sunlight beaming through the windows. Then, like some freakish scene in a horror movie the house went dark, the sunlight no longer filled the room.

It was shocking and we ran outside to see what could be the matter. We looked up and a cloud just happened to be casting a shadow over a small section of the neighborhood, our house included.

The locals that had the same thing happen at their homes talked about it for a few weeks, the local coffee shop was abuzz with people wanting to hear from those that had experienced it. They wanted to know what it was like to actually have a cloud overhead.

With my worldly experience I was of course the talk of the town as I explained I used to live in a place that had nothing but clouds for months on end. All wondered what a place like that must be like and I answered as you have, wet.

31 posted on 11/21/2011 11:34:04 PM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: Carry_Okie

“I can do that with Natural Process but not Shemitta. As a 400MB file containing almost 1,000 pages of photographs, the latter has too much color photography for an e-book at this point.”

Most unfortunate the market for physical books is drying up fast. That being said I am certain you can downsize convert your photos to work.


32 posted on 11/22/2011 11:21:29 AM PST by Monorprise
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To: Carry_Okie

“I can do that with Natural Process but not Shemitta. As a 400MB file containing almost 1,000 pages of photographs, the latter has too much color photography for an e-book at this point.”

Most unfortunate the market for physical books is drying up fast. That being said I am certain you can downsize convert your photos to work.


33 posted on 11/22/2011 11:21:40 AM PST by Monorprise
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To: Monorprise
Most unfortunate the market for physical books is drying up fast.

It's a CD, not a book.

That being said I am certain you can downsize convert your photos to work.

They are already compressed. What my plan is to make the book into a multimodal interlinked experience to be entered from any one of several intellectual directions: economic, political, environmental, or religious.

34 posted on 11/22/2011 12:22:38 PM PST by Carry_Okie (In the GOP, desperation is the mother of convention.)
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To: aliquando

What, not even a chuckle from that one?


35 posted on 11/22/2011 7:58:38 PM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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