Schwarzenegger, Feinstein propose $9.3 billion water bond

San Diego Union - Tribune ^ | 7/10/08 | Michael Gardner

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO – With scattered rationing punishing cities and farms statewide, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Thursday jointly unveiled a $9.3 billion water bond proposal, convinced that fears over prolonged shortages and environmental collapse in the vital Sacramento delta will be enough to overcome resistance to building dams and a north-to-south delivery canal.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Feinstein, a Democrat, plan to aggressively push lawmakers to approve taking the bond measure to voters in November.

The plan still faces tough odds. The ballot is already crowded with controversial initiatives addressing same-sex marriage, abortions for minors and caged farm animals. And voters may balk at spending more at a time when the state is facing a $15 billion deficit and the economy continues to stagnate.

But current circumstances – rationing, drought and global warming – could convince a skeptical electorate to vote for the big-ticket water projects.

The measure is an extension of the perennial debate over dams and a revived Peripheral Canal, a delta water conveyance system defeated by voters in 1982.

How the $9.2 billion would be spent:

$3 billion to provide more storage, including statewide reservoirs, groundwater banks and local projects.

$2 billion on grants to local agencies, including $108 million for those in the San Diego region, to improve water quality and quantity.

$1.9 billion to help restore the Sacramento delta, hub of the state's water supply system. A share of the money could be used for a new canal to bring water south.

$1.3 billion for rivers and watersheds, for such things as improvements at the Salton Sea, post-fire restoration and removing fish migration barriers such as obsolete dams.

$800 million for water quality, including cleaning up contaminated underground reservoirs that could be used for future storage.

$250 million for water recycling projects.

[NormsRevenge]

don’t forget the smelt!

[NormsRevenge]

http://gov.ca.gov/multimedia

They have a blog these days. wow.

and check out the about Maria tab.. lol

It’s about WE.

[Be_Politically_Erect]

Colorado needs to make Arizona, California and Nevada pay for the overage of the water shares they use each year.

We need more reservoirs in the mountains, but of course being the PC state that Colorado has become, building new reservoirs is virtually impossible.

Arnold, Maria and Diane...what a liberal troika...and Tax Ritter from Colorado is a flaming lib voyeur so you know he'd like to see how he can import any crazy lib idea.

[TheZMan]

I wonder how many desalination plants you could build for 9 billion..

[skeeter]

Sign me up to pay more for a north to south canal. How much do you suppose they need?

I wanna do my part to facilitate LA's exploding immigrant population.

[Myrddin]

There was a surplus of water this year from the heavy snow. That surplus was dumped in the ocean to appease the enviromentalist fish huggers. The dumbass politicians wasted a water surplus. Now they want to float a huge bond with huge tax implications. All because they are too stupid to manage the resource properly. The taxpayers should boot these imbeciles out of office.

[Paperdoll]

Pure evil genious - limit the oil, limit the electric, limit the water, for heaven sake, and you rule! And the Sheeple shivered!

[Clintonfatigued]

Interesting that Feinstein appeared with Schwarzenegger. Maybe she expects that he’ll be joining her in the Senate in a few years.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Good point. As Calif. and the west continue to grow, the water needs grow too. There isn’t enough water from rainfall or the existing network of dams and reservoirs and water pipelines. The seawater is where the future water source is.

heck the enviro people should be happy to pump the water out of the ocean, what with global warming and melting polar ice caps raising the ocean level. Desalination on a big scale can lower the sea level.

[NormsRevenge]

Maybe she expects that he’ll be joining her in the Senate in a few years.

as a Senator from Mass. if we’re lucky. or is that.. unlucky? lol

[RetiredArmy]

HELLO MEXCIFORNIASTAN!!!! SAY GOOD BYE TO MORE OF YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you thought Gray Davis was bad. How do you like Arnold now?

[calcowgirl]

Will Feinstein/Blum and Schwarzenegger/Shriver be offering to pay for the bond, as well?

I thought not.

OPM... funding of royalty.

[TheDon]

And not a penny for desalination. Sigh....

[TheDon]

Yep, it’s the only answer for SoCal. And it would be a great help to other states, and regions in Cali, we draw water from.

[monkeyshine]

How about letting a private company build 1 new dam, and use the energy created from it to power a couple of brand new desalination plants? Then, and I know this is hard for a couple of socialists in disguise to swallow - SELL THE WATER TO THE PEOPLE WHO CONSUME IT instead of taxing future citizens for another state run boondoggle. We’re already $15 billion in the red why float another $10b in bonds?

Next, they’ll propose a $10b bond for speed train between LA and SF :-)

[TheDon]

Apparently, we are not that bright. Speaking collectively, not individually. :-)

[monkeyshine]

Exactly, but why should the taxpayers have anything to do with it? Let the private sector build the plants and sell the water back to the water agencies.

[TexasCajun]

I wanna see the evaluaion reports from EPA, Sierra Club, Fed. Wildlife amd Snail-Darters for a Better America.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

OK, I'm a state that borders the fricking biggest ocean in the world. What do I do? I build nuclear desalination plants and several pipelines. I have clean fresh water for the next millenium.

Dude, you couldn't pay me to move to Cali. As liberal as Wisconsin is sometimes, we sit adjacent to two of the largest fresh lakes in the world.