... Reduced water allocations will also have an impact on school and governments in the Central Valley, said Fresno County Supervisor Phil Larson, by leading to farm workers leaving the valley and taking their children out of the schools. Reduced farm spending will also mean less revenue for local businesses and reduced tax receipts for local governments.
“I can tell you right now the biggest threat to farming and industry in California is the Endangered Species Act,” he said. “They can declare a critter endangered whether they see it or not. They say you have the habitat so it must be there, and you must mitigate it. Then they ask the farmers to pay a penalty because they can’t farm that land. How can that be right?
Larson agreed the Central Valley needs the water from Temperance Flat Dam. “I had a reporter tell me we did not need storage because we were going to get all this rainfall from climate change. I told him you made my point because we need to be able to capture that rainfall when we get it, and for that we need storage.”...
As handler/member of the food industry, I see and understand the plight of growers and farmers. This is their livelihood and they need to put food on the table for their family. (Although in case of almond growers, it's a choice of paying off their yacht, or buying that second vacation home in Belize)
With the amount of damages that we've caused the environment so far, I am not sure if backtracking on our environmental/conservation laws are the best option.
-T. Kim
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