Business backed coalition drops plan to put water bond initiative on the November ballot

From Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:

A coalition of business and farming groups said Thursday it is dropping plans to put a water bond initiative before voters on the November ballot.

The group said it instead will work with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to negotiate a compromise that can be passed this year by the state Legislature.

The coalition, dubbed “Californians for Clean and Reliable Water”, had proposed a $11.6 billion ballot initiative that included funding for reservoirs.  The initiative met with much criticism, and generated little support.  However, the coalition is not abandoning the cause:

The business groups still believe more reservoirs and new aqueducts to move water around the state must be part of any compromise, coalition consultant Rick Claussen said.

“An unreliable and outdated water supply system leaves California just one earthquake or flood away from a massive catastrophe,” Claussen said in a statement announcing the group would drop its initiative.

Drought, climate change and recent court decisions requiring more water to protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are endangering the water supply for California residents, he said.

Get the rest of the story from Riverside’s Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

Weird happenings in the water wars, says Hank Shaw. Will anything substantive emerge from all of this? He consults his magic 8-ball on these ‘curious events’ and reports on his blog – click here.

Comments

Admin

• Log in

Credits

Powered by Vertigo & WordPress
WordPress Themes by Brian Gardner