by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
Restricting water for human basic needs such as food makes no sense
How can California have a water crisis when the state borders the Pacific Ocean, and the Sierra Nevada mountain range, 400 miles north-south and 50 miles to 80 miles east–west, drains into more than 15 rivers, 6 lakes, and numerous creeks? The Sierra Nevada snowpack is the major source of water and a significant source of electric power generation in California.
Only government mismanagement could screw up this natural abundance so badly. But think about where California is right now – we have many crises going on concurrently.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s California, which is still under his COVID State of Emergency from March 2020, can be summed up this way: Water rationing, grocery unions striking, homeless denied housing vouchers in Los Angeles, reparations for descendants of slaves, $7.00-per-gallon-gas, porn K-12 curriculum, COVID vaccine bills, Single Payer health coverage, public school teachers strike, energy shortage and the crime… There’s more, but this is a decent summary, all of which link to articles explaining.
California is a state in crisis and decline. California has the highest taxes in the country and seriously declining public services, which were among the best in the nation at one time.
As the Globe reported in November, California was once the land of opportunity and innovation. There was a time when nearly anyone with a good idea and solid work ethic could open a business. California led the nation in manufacturing – today there isn’t much manufacturing left in the state. California’s schools were once envied by the nation – today they rank at the bottom of the entire country. California agriculture has always provided for more than just our state, but even that is under attack. What made California great is systematically being destroyed.
