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Labor Day odds and ends: Poseidon and privatization, ‘brown’ western politics, Delta in distress, and predictions for the epic budget battle ahead

Posted by: Maven on September 1, 2008 at 7:55 am

Poseidon: An ‘investor’s dream’ but raises other issues, says this blogger: ” … once built and once we depend on this new water supply, these plants become virtual monopolies with guaranteed survival. Induced by this profit potential, corporations will agitate for more access, less regulation, larger plants. Peering into the crystal ball can you see the day when Poseidon’s Carlsbad plant and the 50 million gallons of water it provides would be turned off? Shut down? Can you imagine the day when we no longer need the water? I can’t. So Poseidon is now a risk free investment with a guaranteed return; an investor’s dream. But by allowing our water supply to become privatized, we will pay in many ways, says this blogger. From the O.B. Rag blog: The Poseidon Adventure Begins.

Western politics and the Colorado River Compact: … the one political defining characteristic of the western U.S. that I have observed in about eight years of residence (primarily in Colorado, now in Arizona) is that the people this side of the 100th meridian think for themselves, make choices that are best for their wallets and their land, and don’t want the Federal government to interfere in the loose “controls” that the states have established for regulatory and administrative authority. The West is neither red nor blue, and almost certainly not green (though there are LEED-approved pockets here and there). The color of western libertarianism is brown, the color of the parched landscape on which they make their living. And libertarianism is not a political party out here, it’s a lifestyle. The blogger discusses politics, climatology, and the Colorado Compact in this post from Hydro-Logic: Politics and the River. (Note: you will need to scroll down past the references, which are given first for some reason, to read the post.)

The history and background of the Delta: This blogger, a state scientist in Sacramento, has a post on the history of the Delta and the threats it is facing now. An informative post with a lot of references. Check it out from the Chimaera Contemplations blog: Delta in Distress.

Legislative session closes, still no budget, but no one’s going home just yet. No convention parties either, as Perata says the Senate will meet every day until a budget is passed, and Bass has ordered the Assembly to reconvene on Wednesday (Sacramento Bee story). So what’s next? Jerry Roberts at the Santa Barbara Independent makes some ‘whimsical’ predictions for the epic budget battle, including this: Democratic leaders offer new tax plan, “The Peripheral Canal of Money,” asking taxpayers to toss cash once a month into the California Aqueduct, to be pumped upstream through the Delta directly to the Treasurer’s Office in Sacramento. “Throw in $1, $5, $20—whatever you can afford,” says Speaker Karen Bass, “because it’s all for the children.” More predictions by clicking here.

September 1, 2008 · Filed Under Aquafornia News & Exclusives

Comments

One Response to “Labor Day odds and ends: Poseidon and privatization, ‘brown’ western politics, Delta in distress, and predictions for the epic budget battle ahead”

  1. Laurie on September 1st, 2008 10:45 pm

    Thanks for spotlighting my post!

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