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Blog commentary: Politics of water splits environmental organizations

Posted by: Maven on November 3, 2009 at 12:30 pm

From the California Greening blog:

“If you want to know more about what we should really be doing regarding water in California, you need to read Mato Ska here. here, here, or here. I want to talk about the politics. That is beginning to splinter over more than North / South, Valley / Coast or even the widening gap between Democrats and Republicans.

Let me call your attention to two things that happened today. One is the fact that the California League of Conservation Voters sent a floor alert to the members of the California Assembly giving strong support to the Steinberg proposal. In this, they join three other environmental organizations that have already taken this position: Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy. Each of the latter has strong ties to corporate funding and seem to be taking the corporate position. There is strong evidence that staff for Natural Resources Defense Council have been meeting behind closed doors with the water districts who have the most to gain were the the Steinberg legislation legislation enacted. …”

Read more from the California Greening blog by clicking here.

November 3, 2009 · Filed Under Legislation - State & Federal

Comments

One Response to “Blog commentary: Politics of water splits environmental organizations”

  1. Martin Zehr on November 8th, 2009 2:47 pm

    Thank you Barbara for the recognition. There is so much to learn here. I invite others to review the planning process of the Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly. http://www.waterassembly.org It took us a long time and great leadership by Bob Wessely to grasp the water politics of the various users and their utilization of certain entities and venues to accomplish their goals.

    California Greens are actively looking to develop an effective political strategy and increase our public education among users, specialists and advocates. Our hope is that more people see the need to develop a comprehensive strategy so we can build alliances capable of winning and re-orienting water planning and management. The water wars will continue indefinitely, if we accept diversions as any kind of solution. How many more aqueducts do we need in this state before we figure out that they are really just diversions away from sustainable solutions?

    The only thing that the state legislature could do that would get us out of this cycle would be to empower elected authorities of stakeholders, the science and the environment within our regions. Let’s make our own 50 year plans so that we can work together as neighbors who are in the same boat together.

    We need Greens elected to the legislature. We need Greens elected to water boards. We need Green candidates with real in-depth grasp of the issues and a grasp of the political smokescreens that the Democrats and Republican are running on all of us. We are reaching out to small farmers, farmworkers, Delta users, public officials, water advocates, urban users, rural users, local businesspeople, planners, hydrologists, fishermen and all others willing to make the kind of changes needed to bring control of the water resources back to those who depend on them.

    Martin
    aka Mato Ska

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