Sometimes I wish I lived in San Francisco just so I could move away from it. A whole lot of strange thinking comes out of that town.
San Francisco Supports Fish Not Farms
The Board of Supervisors of San Francisco threw a temper tantrum last week, and are trying to cut off their nose to spite their face. They chose to drop their support of a plan backed by President Trump and valley farmers which would keep water flowing to the cities and farms.
That plan offers alternatives to the proposal by the State Water Board, which sends more water out the Delta to the ocean to improve fish habitat.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission provides water to the city and its suburbs. The commission agrees with Central Valley growers and opposes a proposal that would keep water flowing out the Delta, and away from the farms and cities. If this plan were to be implemented, the city stands to lose on a giant scale – During times of drought, they could get only half of the amount of water they need each day. So the Commission, quite sensibly, opposed it.
But standing against that plan also aligns them with the Trump administration. And that’s just not acceptable to the city Board of Supervisors. They said the city’s water company is on the wrong side of the water debate since they are agreeing with farmers and President Trump.
According to a Sacramento Bee article, the Board said the alliance was unbearable. In an 11-0 vote, the San Francisco Supervisors passed a resolution to support the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposal to leave more water in the San Joaquin River and its tributaries to benefit struggling fish populations.
The state plan will reduce the amount of water available to farms and cities, including San Francisco, by 14 percent in a typical year and twice as much in a dry year.
According to the Bee article, The PUC’s general manager Harlan Kelly Jr. spoke to the Board and tried to explain the extent of the problem they were creating. He said the state’s plan would require them to release 100 million gallons of water per day during dry years. That’s equal to about half of the amount of water they deliver to their customers every day.
But showing the world how much they hate Trump won out over common sense, and the Board decided the state should give the water to the fishes.
Wow. Just wow. Can we give San Francisco back to the Russians?
I’m Len Wilcox and that’s the Western View from AgNet West and Citrus Industry Magazine. Visit us on the web at www.citrusindustry.net.