I agree with you Mr. Schulte in your abysmal assessment of our environmental affairs here in California. Yes, the CCC possibility had good intentions during its inception, but has morphed into a radical, Marxist Junta which has collaborated and conspired with radical left wing environmental activists as those in the Sierra Club, EDC, Green Peace and Surfrider. It should be obvious to all, the environmentalists have destroyed our state in having radical views concerning agriculture, water policy, forest management and fiscal stewardship. The CCC is corrupt and should be investigated by the Trump DOJ, in fact the entire state should be under investigation for its incompetence and negligence in addressing the destruction caused by wild fires, which was foreseeable and preventable!
Trusting the CCC with public funds is about as ridiculous and absurd as public funding for Black Lives Matter, oh wait, that actually happened!
Yes, the environmentalists continue lobbying efforts to take farm land and convert it to “land trusts” which we see here locally, thereby removing huge swathes of Ag land off the tax roles and closing public access…what a scam!
Of course illegal immigration is non negotiable with the green movement, despite the massive amounts of pollution, disease and environmental destruction. We see now where local “warriors” are aiding, abetting, interfering and thwarting federal agents from making arrests of illegal criminal aliens. “805Undocufund” is busy locally, tipping off and printing license plate numbers of federal agents in an effort to obstruct removal of illegals. These perpetrators should be jailed immediately!
It's soo easy to lump all those organizations together - but so inaccurate. I agree with you that the EDC is out of control when it's dealing with oil companies. And the CCC is lame. But what's your gripe with Surfrider? I'm not saying they are saints - but it would be nice to know what they're up to that bugs you.
Follow the money TJ! Complaints including; misappropriations of tax exempt status in supporting (Dem) political campaigns, under reporting of lobbying activities, beach access disputes with property owners and suing the FFA over Space X rocket launches at Bolsa Chica beach in Tx., just to name a few.
Yup, sounds like a lefty, anti oil, anti property rights sham to me! Sorry to burst your bubble, TJ.
CARB California Air Resources Board prevents most control burns from happening. It is so ironic that CARB stops these smaller, less destructive and less intense fires from occurring in favor of more destructive hyper intensity soil destroying huge conflagrations More polluting smoke comes out of these fires than a century worth of control burns
In conjunction with smoke, did you know that recently the vintners are now stopping most control burns?????
Why?? Because it damages the taste of their wine. So save the wines but burn down your homes. Hmmm?
On a closing note, I had a very well respected retired local city fire chief state the a fact. “If he burns down one home in a control burn he will be fired yet if a hundred homes are destroyed in a wildfire, he is a hero. Hmm? Go figure.
As I stated above, CARB, gets a complaint from public, vineyard owners, stating that smoke from control burns damages the quality of their grapes. The CARB denies County Fire from conducting the control burn. CARB has an iron fist to restrict fires, except wildfires that don't need no stinking permits. Sorry for the movie analogy. I spoke with county fire and local ranchers wanting to do range improvement projects that reduce brush concentrations, thus reduce fire hazards at the same time.
Believe me, vintners don't want to be linked to homes burning in wildfires because they didn't want control burns.
One of my close friends is a NFS observer and advisor. He is Chumash, BTW, which is part of the reason he does that rather thankless (and unpaid) job. One of the biggest challenges that he related to me with regard to forest management practices, was the banning of large equipment operation, ostensibly to protect certain threatened or endangered species. With the massive amount of drought and pestilence related forest death, this (and other policies) have created a large inventory of highly combustible fuels up watershed. Combine that with the building of residential communities in close proximity to unmanaged "open spaces" coupled with the chasing out of major insurance companies via malevolent Ca State policies, and a perfect storm of asset loss, seizure and death became our present reality. Deep subject Henry. Thank you for writing on it.
It sure would be nice if the silver lining was a rethinking of Californians about their liberal politicians, but unfortunately, 99% of them won’t read what you have so eloquently put down in writing today. They don’t pay attention to anything I’m thinking and have been so indoctrinatedthrough the school systems over the years that nothing is going to reach them until a fire burns down their house. Great work, I couldn’t agree more!
Great article article, Henry. To me it is interesting how the true meaning of the word "environmentalism" has become so opposite to what the policies the state government mandates. As you so rightly pointed out, most of the regulations have lost all common sense and yet a good portion of the population are more than happy to keep on championing the bureaucratic errors. Too much money to be made I guess. And I do think that you may be right about more and more people, because of these man made disasters, seeing the light and hopefully getting rid of these detrimental agencies and the people that run them.
Re agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, a substantial amount of irrigation is supplied by the underground water table.. In many cases the entire irrigation source comes from underground water. Over the decades this water source has been depleted at an alarming rate due to increased water needs combined with years of drought. Water rights are a big deal in the Central Valley (and elsewhere). Some users get the lion's share, for example, one of the largest producers of almonds, pomegranates, and mandarin oranges "Cuties," the Wonderful company. Others go without.
Driving through the valley (Highway 33 approaching 99 comes to mind) one can see the crops on the left side of the highway completely dried out, gone, while the right side is lush and green. Also notable are giant "NO STATE WATER" signs that were posted by farmers. This has traditionally been a Republican viewpoint. I find it interesting that conservatives are now blaming Democrats for not having distributed water more strategically throughout California.
There is so much information available on water politics and corruption (but it's so much easier to just blame the democrats). This documentary is a must watch: National Geographic's Water and Power: A California Heist. Unfortunately it's no longer available on YouTube for free (there are plenty of clips and trailers available though)...
Radical environmentalism, out of control immigration, fiscal insolvency, ALL on the watch of the liberal left which has had a super majority in our state for the last 40 years. You can run, but you cannot hide from culpability!
The Left still exists on the fumes of their cartoon version of conservatives. Good to see they are still pushing their one-dimensional viewpoints, so they no longer need to taken seriously.
The water table in the San Joaquin Valley is 100 to 300 feet deep, and in some places it's as deep as 700 feet. The water table has been declining due to over-extraction of groundwater, which has caused the land to sink.
Factors affecting the water table:
Groundwater extraction: Pumping groundwater faster than it can be naturally recharged has caused the water table to decline.
Drought: Droughts have made the decline in groundwater levels even worse.
Recharge: Efforts to recharge the groundwater have increased in recent years, but more needs to be done.
Effects of the declining water table
Dried-up wells: Many wells in the San Joaquin Valley have dried up.
Land sinking: The land in the San Joaquin Valley has been sinking at record rates, with an average of nearly an inch per year between 2006 and 2022.
Solutions to the declining water table
Reduce pumping: Pumping from wells needs to be drastically reduced.
Increase recharge: More agencies are recharging groundwater, but more needs to be done.
Manage aquifers: Managed aquifer recharge is needed to raise groundwater levels.
Monitoring groundwater levels
Groundwater monitoring wells are used to measure water table depth.
These wells are also used to characterize aquifers and hydrogeological parameters.
Land management, resource management. Not zero tolerance for your gauzy anti-humanist agenda, Victoria. You actually think farmers are not aware of both?
Do you see them as only insensitive resource rapists, Victoria? 19th Century robber barons of throwbacks to the Gilded Age?
Victoria, If you were more observant during your drive, you would see acres almond trees are now getting replaced by pistachios in order to conserve what farmers have always known is and shall remain precious - water. Since the dawn of civilizations, it was instinctual to be near a water sources. Market forces. You also mislead about the "No state water" signs. Just the opposite - the signs all claim they want more water and to stop playing politics with water.
Do know how we all know the Palisades and Eaton destruction was caused by 100mph winds? Very simple. Try to take a guess before I spoon feed the answer to you. That’s right. There was a fire in the Palisades just 1 week prior in dry conditions but without 100mph winds and they put it out. Eaton fire only out of control during this wind event. Likely caused by downed power lines. Also don’t forget 8 months without rain. You people always want a Villan to tar and feather and through taking slivers of facts distort them so greatly they are now just fantasy land you always find a way to blame people working much harder than you to solve problems. And your great white hope is going to sweep in and fix it all.
No Elizabeth, none of what you are offering sounds in fact at this time. None of it. But the points you are trying to make are all showing up to support a predetermined non-responsibility and go get the deep pockets agenda.
Guard against any early conclusions at this point. And why did you totally avoid mentioning the vagrants camps found near both origin sites? Did winds cause the fire or exacerbate the fires? When high winds are known and predictable factor, what's would have been in place which was not?
How much delay between initial sightings and response was also a factor, while ground troops were squabbling over chain of command issues.
Why did it t take the volunteer Palisades community group to be the only vagrant camp watch dogs in their area, which are a known, highly dangerous and preventable sources of combustion.
Trump will make a great-looking Indian doing a rain dance, adorned with feathers and beating on a tom tom drum with Elon right behind him doing the same.
I can see Trump doing that. I saw a video of Elon dancing at new years - I'm not sure that will help the cause. He should stick with making stuff vs. the dance floor.
Elizabeth, you might check out preliminary forensic investigative reports centered around Via La Costa Street in Palisades. Also, the timing delay of requesting mutual aid back up. There are multiple human error contributing factors beyond wind. As a native Angelina we’ve experienced many fires. Leadership, resident advocacy demanding preventive measures (firebreaks, clearance), water supply & pressure checks, wise spending, forward thinking planning, building and road transportation departments make a difference.
Why do we continue to allow home building and re-building on steep mountainsides, in canyons, surrounded by unmaintained and uncleared dead vegetation?
Mr. Schulte, you state: "Humans are now the endangered species." Though that sentence rolls right off the tongue it is far from the truth. Why, did you know that just 200 years ago humans accounted for just 1% of Earth's non-insect biomass, while the other 99% consisted of wild animals, fishes, and amphibians? Today the mammalian biomass breakdown is 60% livestock (for human consumption), 36% humans, and only 1% for all other animals. And at this pace we can expect somewhere between 12% and 40% of all Earth's other species to become extinct by the end of this century.
Ergo, it's not humanity that is endangered, but the other roughly 8 million species with which we share the lovely planet. What you blame on "environmentalists" and "hippies" and "Pelosi" and "Newsom" and the CCC, you should instead be blaming on overpopulation and continued rampant population growth.
As you stated: wildfires are natural, but the recent urban destruction we've witnessed recently has to do with our building ever further into the urban-wildland interface (necessitated by population growth) as well as by anthropogenic climate change, caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels. These recent fires were NOT caused by mismanaged water systems or through over zealous protection of the delta smelt, despite what Trump claims.
Over the past 200 years our global population has grown 8x (800%), whereas over the same two centuries our consumption of resources has grown 100x. This is why aquifers are dropping, and fresh water sources are drying up all around the globe.
Simply put: Human overpopulation is sucking away our fresh water aquifers and global warming is reducing our snow and ice packs. So, if you truly want to solve this problem--and the desperate immigrations of people into our country and all over the world--I would encourage you to direct your energies toward reducing the global population back down to a sustainable level. And you can do this by encouraging the GOP to revoke its specious "Global Gag Rule" which use to provide contraception to women worldwide who otherwise have no access to such.
"Just two kids, just two billion; we can live with that!"
Isn’t anybody in the middle? this extreme righteousness of the far right I find just as ridiculous as the far left. The real problem is over a population!!!! unfortunately, the far right does not recognize this and instead strips women of the right to abortion I agree with the far right, we shouldn’t take on the problems of another country that doesn’t control its population with a spillover of illegal immigrants. But I’m an environmentalist, although most of my values are very conservative and to just say we should not listen to the environmentalist is fool hearty
There's a difference between activism and reality on the ground. I farmed 8,000 acres of land for fifty years. We nursed, coddled and took care of the land and made certain it stayed healthy for future generations. Did I get a thank you for doing something for the environment. Farmers are the real environmentalists. We actually care and do something about at our expense. The left wing enviro crowd bitch and complain and try to steal farmland thinking they can do better and most of the time just screw things up. And how the heck does abortion fit in with protecting the land? People are the biggest problem. You allow millions upon millions of uninvited invaders and you're going to get much more pollution and destruction of natural resources.
CA needs a population reduction. Our statewide infrastructure master plan is for 30M not 40M. Reportedly, 97% of CA’s population growth comes from illegally entering migrants, Visa overstays, and their offspring. CA has a major growth and assimilation problem that contributes to its rapid decline beyond the inept politicians we’ve elected for too many decades who overtax us while failing us.
Why are we complicit complainers instead of activists? Why perpetuate the status quo? Seems majority are happy until directly adversely impacted.
I’m conservative and an environmentalist. Not an easy place to be sometimes. I’m a huge fan of Barbara Jordan. The Jordan Commission recommended a cap of 500,000 immigrants per year. She was black and a Democrat. I believe she was one of the first black women in congress, and from Texas. What ever happened to Democrats?
Jessica, I really don't see how your comment on the "extreme righteousness" of the far right pertains to Mr. Shulte's article. Your take on it implies that questioning the state and federal policies that he mentioned is unfounded and without merit. You ask if anyone, other than you, are middle of the road thinkers. I would like to think that most mature thinking minds would dissect the pros and cons of all sides and deduct what is the best route to take. Unfortunately there is a truth that cannot be denied and to me is one of the most important which is that a certain portion of the population in this country believe that big government involving a huge bureaucracy is mandatory for us to survive. And I believe that the far left has an almost cult like hold on that philosophy.which would include your slant that this article which to me is "fool hearty".
Teachers unions have been teaching "environmentalism" across the curriculum for decades now. Save the polar bears was their icon.
We now have a very indoctrinated generation of true believers, who are actually institutionalized automatons who cannot yet let go of their early indoctrination Otherwise the fragile house of cards they call their adult life, will come crashing down.
Their teacher union-indoctrinated public education gave them few building blocks to respond to changing realities. "Prepare for the future you cannot yet imagine", or whatever is the SBUSD malarky posts on their school house walls, is a meaningless taxpayer fraud.
"Prepare for the known challenges of adul life" serves everyone far better
Too bad too many students didn’t learn the public school taught lessons of protect and preserve CA for the next generation. Observe plastic water bottles and trash, tolerance of vagrancy, tax free heavy battery EVs destroying roads and adding to land fill dangers, … I’m not impressed: environmental protection instruction has delivered little to no observable positive results. Rather it has entrenched self righteous dogma.
Jessica, the environmentalist was a hardy fellow, round soft squishy and full of tofu. The environmentalist was a fool, unaware of the destructive implications of simple minded environmental policy. It never occurred to the hardy fool that diverting water to save a fish might have downsides. The environmentalist was foolhardy.
S.2. Killing babies is extinction. No reason to call it anything else. The market economy historically remains the best proven uplifting option of all. As you sit at your computer and rail against private enterprise.
100% of people get abortions because they procreated a human life. Poverty does not create this life, procreation created this life. But solo parenting does create poverty.
Murdering babies for personal cost savings needs full condemnation. Have a better action plan in place up front. Vasectomies and tubal ligations come to mind.
Try harder to excuse baby-killing next time, S.2. Life begins at conception. Why not just admit that, instead of creating semantic band-aids to cover up this fact?
Did you know that Resinck, that water controlling billionaire that is in bed with Gavin and Polosi just moved into our county and lives in a mansion in Solvang? Hmm?
Abortion is one technique to intentionally kill a baby. What you are asking for is genocide for population control, jessica. Say what you mean next time.
Great article, but I would hesitate to call the California Coastal Commission a criminal organization. Clueless, ignorant and sometimes wrong, but not criminal. The Coastal zone that the Commission is charged with protecting averages about 1000 yards inland. It is pretty much the shape of a noodle, flattened out a bit at the top. It is five miles deep in some areas and a few hundred feet deep in others. It includes some of the most densely populated areas in California. Each county is charged with coming up with its own coastal plan. Despite the control the commission exercises Santa Barbara has ended up with two oversized hideous beach hotels. The Miramar gave us a gigantic, ugly wall to look at, and the Bacara destroyed one of the most iconic, scenic and beautiful beaches in California, Haskell’s Beach. Haskell’s was compromised and the Miramar became an exclusive hide out for the wealthy. Despite everything, a lot of stuff gets built. Ideally, the Commission represents the public. We voted it in. It is painful when it fails to deliver as promised.
Nonsense, both the Bacara and Miramar are world class destinations. The amount of income added to county coffers and local economy is tens of millions. Granted, locals don’t want Disneyland, but how else are we to raise revenues to pay for this massive screw up we find ourselves in? Clearly the CCC bows to the environmental lobby and tied to the Democratic Party elites, NOT the taxpaying public.
The Mirimar was already there, just replaced. The environmentalists caved when they got about $5M (could even be 10. My memory isn't so good anymore) to step aside for the Bacara to moved forward. Everyone has a price.
Believe me, I was disappointed by the EDC’s decision to throw in the towel on the proposed Hyatt Hotel. They claimed that they done all they could. They were not happy with me describing it as a bribe. There was an effort to save Haskell’s Beach but it failed. The EDC’s decision made it almost impossible for those who cared about Haskell’s beach to do anything about it. It was as though God had spoken.
A note for the last sentence of Mr. Schulte's piece. A pound of tofu requires about 7 times less water than a pound of hamburger.
Why isn't cotton as plentiful in the Central Valley? The global market for cotton has fluctuated so much over the past three decades that many farmers got out of it and moved over to higher-paying more price-stable crops.
And don't forget, yes California agrucultrue feeds lots of people. And it uses 80% of the developed water. All to produce 2.5% of the States GDP.
How is that for bang for your buck? But their lawyers and lobbyists will protect that water use tooth and nail.
What is the point of equating the % of water used by agriculture to the % GDP? I don't believe a thinking human would make that comparison which brings me back to my observation of long ago. John Thomas: brought to you by chat GPT.
No this is work I get paid to do Jeff. I think it's lame that we have to install low flush toilets while some farmer grows alfalfa to ship to china - or grow almonds to ship to the middle east. Seems like a poorly allocated use of a resource.
You get paid to equate things that are unrelated? I could do that. How much do you get paid? Did you hear that more people died of covid than were killed in Vietnam? Outrageous. Someone should pass a bill.
A way to look at the Covid vs. Vietnam differently. Like the chance of dying per year or event per 100,000 people. Simple mortality rate. Or like being a passenger in a car vs. rider of a motorcycle in deaths per mile. But I guess these are all unrelated.
Part of Schulte's opinion is that water is mismanaged. I agree that it is - but not in the same way he does. And thanks - I'm doing fine money-wise. Work mostly from home, and for breaks now and then read here and there on some substacks. Some with young folks - some that quote movies and commercials from the 70s like this one. Lots of companies care about corporate and product impacts. But sure, you're some sort of engineer right? With a few decades of expericne and some software you could join me.
Politians kinda suck at things like forest management. We should let the Chumash and other knowledgeable groups take over forest management. BTW... isn't the Federal Government responsible for controlled burns in National forests versus the State? I got confused with how Forest management would have helped in LA, where experts say residential fire control systems have never been designed for what they experienced in LA. He is what one person wrote. If you find it inaccurate, let us know why. Thanks.
The local water system failed because the city’s infrastructure was built to respond to routine structure fires, not massive wildfires across multiple neighborhoods, experts told us. Ann Jeffers, a University of Michigan civil and environmental engineering professor who studies fire engineering, said she doesn’t know of any industry standard for designing city water supplies to fight the kind of fire that erupted in the Palisades.
Environmentalism, created by man, may be the biggest smokescreen of all. It covers ,creates and excuses multitudes of sins. It reeks of hubris; not humanitarianism.
"Environmentalism" today is now the last defense of a scoundrel(s).
At the risk of being repetitive- we need to hire the Israelis who have built enough desalination capacity to be supplying water to Jordan to show California how to fix our water issues
I agree with you Mr. Schulte in your abysmal assessment of our environmental affairs here in California. Yes, the CCC possibility had good intentions during its inception, but has morphed into a radical, Marxist Junta which has collaborated and conspired with radical left wing environmental activists as those in the Sierra Club, EDC, Green Peace and Surfrider. It should be obvious to all, the environmentalists have destroyed our state in having radical views concerning agriculture, water policy, forest management and fiscal stewardship. The CCC is corrupt and should be investigated by the Trump DOJ, in fact the entire state should be under investigation for its incompetence and negligence in addressing the destruction caused by wild fires, which was foreseeable and preventable!
Trusting the CCC with public funds is about as ridiculous and absurd as public funding for Black Lives Matter, oh wait, that actually happened!
Yes, the environmentalists continue lobbying efforts to take farm land and convert it to “land trusts” which we see here locally, thereby removing huge swathes of Ag land off the tax roles and closing public access…what a scam!
Of course illegal immigration is non negotiable with the green movement, despite the massive amounts of pollution, disease and environmental destruction. We see now where local “warriors” are aiding, abetting, interfering and thwarting federal agents from making arrests of illegal criminal aliens. “805Undocufund” is busy locally, tipping off and printing license plate numbers of federal agents in an effort to obstruct removal of illegals. These perpetrators should be jailed immediately!
It's soo easy to lump all those organizations together - but so inaccurate. I agree with you that the EDC is out of control when it's dealing with oil companies. And the CCC is lame. But what's your gripe with Surfrider? I'm not saying they are saints - but it would be nice to know what they're up to that bugs you.
Follow the money TJ! Complaints including; misappropriations of tax exempt status in supporting (Dem) political campaigns, under reporting of lobbying activities, beach access disputes with property owners and suing the FFA over Space X rocket launches at Bolsa Chica beach in Tx., just to name a few.
Yup, sounds like a lefty, anti oil, anti property rights sham to me! Sorry to burst your bubble, TJ.
Did environmentalists declare the 200,000 vagrants "living in the rough" in the LA basin are also a new protected form of wildlife?
Great article. May I add a few comments?
CARB California Air Resources Board prevents most control burns from happening. It is so ironic that CARB stops these smaller, less destructive and less intense fires from occurring in favor of more destructive hyper intensity soil destroying huge conflagrations More polluting smoke comes out of these fires than a century worth of control burns
In conjunction with smoke, did you know that recently the vintners are now stopping most control burns?????
Why?? Because it damages the taste of their wine. So save the wines but burn down your homes. Hmmm?
On a closing note, I had a very well respected retired local city fire chief state the a fact. “If he burns down one home in a control burn he will be fired yet if a hundred homes are destroyed in a wildfire, he is a hero. Hmm? Go figure.
How does the wine industry stop controlled burns? I can't find anything confirming this.
As I stated above, CARB, gets a complaint from public, vineyard owners, stating that smoke from control burns damages the quality of their grapes. The CARB denies County Fire from conducting the control burn. CARB has an iron fist to restrict fires, except wildfires that don't need no stinking permits. Sorry for the movie analogy. I spoke with county fire and local ranchers wanting to do range improvement projects that reduce brush concentrations, thus reduce fire hazards at the same time.
Believe me, vintners don't want to be linked to homes burning in wildfires because they didn't want control burns.
.
Copy - thank you.
One of my close friends is a NFS observer and advisor. He is Chumash, BTW, which is part of the reason he does that rather thankless (and unpaid) job. One of the biggest challenges that he related to me with regard to forest management practices, was the banning of large equipment operation, ostensibly to protect certain threatened or endangered species. With the massive amount of drought and pestilence related forest death, this (and other policies) have created a large inventory of highly combustible fuels up watershed. Combine that with the building of residential communities in close proximity to unmanaged "open spaces" coupled with the chasing out of major insurance companies via malevolent Ca State policies, and a perfect storm of asset loss, seizure and death became our present reality. Deep subject Henry. Thank you for writing on it.
It sure would be nice if the silver lining was a rethinking of Californians about their liberal politicians, but unfortunately, 99% of them won’t read what you have so eloquently put down in writing today. They don’t pay attention to anything I’m thinking and have been so indoctrinatedthrough the school systems over the years that nothing is going to reach them until a fire burns down their house. Great work, I couldn’t agree more!
Great article article, Henry. To me it is interesting how the true meaning of the word "environmentalism" has become so opposite to what the policies the state government mandates. As you so rightly pointed out, most of the regulations have lost all common sense and yet a good portion of the population are more than happy to keep on championing the bureaucratic errors. Too much money to be made I guess. And I do think that you may be right about more and more people, because of these man made disasters, seeing the light and hopefully getting rid of these detrimental agencies and the people that run them.
Go Henry go. The non Ca. Education degree holders are behind Ya'. Nick in the SYV valley.
Re agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, a substantial amount of irrigation is supplied by the underground water table.. In many cases the entire irrigation source comes from underground water. Over the decades this water source has been depleted at an alarming rate due to increased water needs combined with years of drought. Water rights are a big deal in the Central Valley (and elsewhere). Some users get the lion's share, for example, one of the largest producers of almonds, pomegranates, and mandarin oranges "Cuties," the Wonderful company. Others go without.
Driving through the valley (Highway 33 approaching 99 comes to mind) one can see the crops on the left side of the highway completely dried out, gone, while the right side is lush and green. Also notable are giant "NO STATE WATER" signs that were posted by farmers. This has traditionally been a Republican viewpoint. I find it interesting that conservatives are now blaming Democrats for not having distributed water more strategically throughout California.
There is so much information available on water politics and corruption (but it's so much easier to just blame the democrats). This documentary is a must watch: National Geographic's Water and Power: A California Heist. Unfortunately it's no longer available on YouTube for free (there are plenty of clips and trailers available though)...
https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/water-power-a-california-heist
Radical environmentalism, out of control immigration, fiscal insolvency, ALL on the watch of the liberal left which has had a super majority in our state for the last 40 years. You can run, but you cannot hide from culpability!
The Left still exists on the fumes of their cartoon version of conservatives. Good to see they are still pushing their one-dimensional viewpoints, so they no longer need to taken seriously.
From Google AI:
The water table in the San Joaquin Valley is 100 to 300 feet deep, and in some places it's as deep as 700 feet. The water table has been declining due to over-extraction of groundwater, which has caused the land to sink.
Factors affecting the water table:
Groundwater extraction: Pumping groundwater faster than it can be naturally recharged has caused the water table to decline.
Drought: Droughts have made the decline in groundwater levels even worse.
Recharge: Efforts to recharge the groundwater have increased in recent years, but more needs to be done.
Effects of the declining water table
Dried-up wells: Many wells in the San Joaquin Valley have dried up.
Land sinking: The land in the San Joaquin Valley has been sinking at record rates, with an average of nearly an inch per year between 2006 and 2022.
Solutions to the declining water table
Reduce pumping: Pumping from wells needs to be drastically reduced.
Increase recharge: More agencies are recharging groundwater, but more needs to be done.
Manage aquifers: Managed aquifer recharge is needed to raise groundwater levels.
Monitoring groundwater levels
Groundwater monitoring wells are used to measure water table depth.
These wells are also used to characterize aquifers and hydrogeological parameters.
Land management, resource management. Not zero tolerance for your gauzy anti-humanist agenda, Victoria. You actually think farmers are not aware of both?
Do you see them as only insensitive resource rapists, Victoria? 19th Century robber barons of throwbacks to the Gilded Age?
Victoria, If you were more observant during your drive, you would see acres almond trees are now getting replaced by pistachios in order to conserve what farmers have always known is and shall remain precious - water. Since the dawn of civilizations, it was instinctual to be near a water sources. Market forces. You also mislead about the "No state water" signs. Just the opposite - the signs all claim they want more water and to stop playing politics with water.
Do know how we all know the Palisades and Eaton destruction was caused by 100mph winds? Very simple. Try to take a guess before I spoon feed the answer to you. That’s right. There was a fire in the Palisades just 1 week prior in dry conditions but without 100mph winds and they put it out. Eaton fire only out of control during this wind event. Likely caused by downed power lines. Also don’t forget 8 months without rain. You people always want a Villan to tar and feather and through taking slivers of facts distort them so greatly they are now just fantasy land you always find a way to blame people working much harder than you to solve problems. And your great white hope is going to sweep in and fix it all.
No Elizabeth, none of what you are offering sounds in fact at this time. None of it. But the points you are trying to make are all showing up to support a predetermined non-responsibility and go get the deep pockets agenda.
Guard against any early conclusions at this point. And why did you totally avoid mentioning the vagrants camps found near both origin sites? Did winds cause the fire or exacerbate the fires? When high winds are known and predictable factor, what's would have been in place which was not?
How much delay between initial sightings and response was also a factor, while ground troops were squabbling over chain of command issues.
Why did it t take the volunteer Palisades community group to be the only vagrant camp watch dogs in their area, which are a known, highly dangerous and preventable sources of combustion.
Trump will make it rain!
Trump will make a great-looking Indian doing a rain dance, adorned with feathers and beating on a tom tom drum with Elon right behind him doing the same.
I can see Trump doing that. I saw a video of Elon dancing at new years - I'm not sure that will help the cause. He should stick with making stuff vs. the dance floor.
Elizabeth, you might check out preliminary forensic investigative reports centered around Via La Costa Street in Palisades. Also, the timing delay of requesting mutual aid back up. There are multiple human error contributing factors beyond wind. As a native Angelina we’ve experienced many fires. Leadership, resident advocacy demanding preventive measures (firebreaks, clearance), water supply & pressure checks, wise spending, forward thinking planning, building and road transportation departments make a difference.
Why do we continue to allow home building and re-building on steep mountainsides, in canyons, surrounded by unmaintained and uncleared dead vegetation?
Mr. Schulte, you state: "Humans are now the endangered species." Though that sentence rolls right off the tongue it is far from the truth. Why, did you know that just 200 years ago humans accounted for just 1% of Earth's non-insect biomass, while the other 99% consisted of wild animals, fishes, and amphibians? Today the mammalian biomass breakdown is 60% livestock (for human consumption), 36% humans, and only 1% for all other animals. And at this pace we can expect somewhere between 12% and 40% of all Earth's other species to become extinct by the end of this century.
Ergo, it's not humanity that is endangered, but the other roughly 8 million species with which we share the lovely planet. What you blame on "environmentalists" and "hippies" and "Pelosi" and "Newsom" and the CCC, you should instead be blaming on overpopulation and continued rampant population growth.
As you stated: wildfires are natural, but the recent urban destruction we've witnessed recently has to do with our building ever further into the urban-wildland interface (necessitated by population growth) as well as by anthropogenic climate change, caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels. These recent fires were NOT caused by mismanaged water systems or through over zealous protection of the delta smelt, despite what Trump claims.
Over the past 200 years our global population has grown 8x (800%), whereas over the same two centuries our consumption of resources has grown 100x. This is why aquifers are dropping, and fresh water sources are drying up all around the globe.
Simply put: Human overpopulation is sucking away our fresh water aquifers and global warming is reducing our snow and ice packs. So, if you truly want to solve this problem--and the desperate immigrations of people into our country and all over the world--I would encourage you to direct your energies toward reducing the global population back down to a sustainable level. And you can do this by encouraging the GOP to revoke its specious "Global Gag Rule" which use to provide contraception to women worldwide who otherwise have no access to such.
"Just two kids, just two billion; we can live with that!"
Isn’t anybody in the middle? this extreme righteousness of the far right I find just as ridiculous as the far left. The real problem is over a population!!!! unfortunately, the far right does not recognize this and instead strips women of the right to abortion I agree with the far right, we shouldn’t take on the problems of another country that doesn’t control its population with a spillover of illegal immigrants. But I’m an environmentalist, although most of my values are very conservative and to just say we should not listen to the environmentalist is fool hearty
There's a difference between activism and reality on the ground. I farmed 8,000 acres of land for fifty years. We nursed, coddled and took care of the land and made certain it stayed healthy for future generations. Did I get a thank you for doing something for the environment. Farmers are the real environmentalists. We actually care and do something about at our expense. The left wing enviro crowd bitch and complain and try to steal farmland thinking they can do better and most of the time just screw things up. And how the heck does abortion fit in with protecting the land? People are the biggest problem. You allow millions upon millions of uninvited invaders and you're going to get much more pollution and destruction of natural resources.
Environmental shibboleth: people are bad. We save the planet by getting rid of people. Ergo: calls for more infanticide.
CA needs a population reduction. Our statewide infrastructure master plan is for 30M not 40M. Reportedly, 97% of CA’s population growth comes from illegally entering migrants, Visa overstays, and their offspring. CA has a major growth and assimilation problem that contributes to its rapid decline beyond the inept politicians we’ve elected for too many decades who overtax us while failing us.
Why are we complicit complainers instead of activists? Why perpetuate the status quo? Seems majority are happy until directly adversely impacted.
I’m conservative and an environmentalist. Not an easy place to be sometimes. I’m a huge fan of Barbara Jordan. The Jordan Commission recommended a cap of 500,000 immigrants per year. She was black and a Democrat. I believe she was one of the first black women in congress, and from Texas. What ever happened to Democrats?
Jessica, I really don't see how your comment on the "extreme righteousness" of the far right pertains to Mr. Shulte's article. Your take on it implies that questioning the state and federal policies that he mentioned is unfounded and without merit. You ask if anyone, other than you, are middle of the road thinkers. I would like to think that most mature thinking minds would dissect the pros and cons of all sides and deduct what is the best route to take. Unfortunately there is a truth that cannot be denied and to me is one of the most important which is that a certain portion of the population in this country believe that big government involving a huge bureaucracy is mandatory for us to survive. And I believe that the far left has an almost cult like hold on that philosophy.which would include your slant that this article which to me is "fool hearty".
Teachers unions have been teaching "environmentalism" across the curriculum for decades now. Save the polar bears was their icon.
We now have a very indoctrinated generation of true believers, who are actually institutionalized automatons who cannot yet let go of their early indoctrination Otherwise the fragile house of cards they call their adult life, will come crashing down.
Their teacher union-indoctrinated public education gave them few building blocks to respond to changing realities. "Prepare for the future you cannot yet imagine", or whatever is the SBUSD malarky posts on their school house walls, is a meaningless taxpayer fraud.
"Prepare for the known challenges of adul life" serves everyone far better
That same polar bear icon looks like the bear in the cartoon of this article. Just not white.
Too bad too many students didn’t learn the public school taught lessons of protect and preserve CA for the next generation. Observe plastic water bottles and trash, tolerance of vagrancy, tax free heavy battery EVs destroying roads and adding to land fill dangers, … I’m not impressed: environmental protection instruction has delivered little to no observable positive results. Rather it has entrenched self righteous dogma.
Sad but true.
Jessica, the environmentalist was a hardy fellow, round soft squishy and full of tofu. The environmentalist was a fool, unaware of the destructive implications of simple minded environmental policy. It never occurred to the hardy fool that diverting water to save a fish might have downsides. The environmentalist was foolhardy.
Wow Jessica. Killing the innocent is NEVER the right answer
Just stop getting pregnant!!
Show a little self control.
Stop being so selfish please
S.2. Killing babies is extinction. No reason to call it anything else. The market economy historically remains the best proven uplifting option of all. As you sit at your computer and rail against private enterprise.
100% of people get abortions because they procreated a human life. Poverty does not create this life, procreation created this life. But solo parenting does create poverty.
Murdering babies for personal cost savings needs full condemnation. Have a better action plan in place up front. Vasectomies and tubal ligations come to mind.
Try harder to excuse baby-killing next time, S.2. Life begins at conception. Why not just admit that, instead of creating semantic band-aids to cover up this fact?
Speaking of baby killing, I respect your position on this, but are you this outspoken about baby killing in Palestine with our money?
Excellent comment!!
Did you know that Resinck, that water controlling billionaire that is in bed with Gavin and Polosi just moved into our county and lives in a mansion in Solvang? Hmm?
S.2. What does the term "corporate fascim" even mean in a free and competitive market economy?
Deep thinking S.2, it’s called capitalism!
Yup. They know how to play both sides. Just like the corporate War Industry does
Who on the right stripped you of your rights to abortion?
What right to murder your own child are you even talking about?
Abortion is one technique to intentionally kill a baby. What you are asking for is genocide for population control, jessica. Say what you mean next time.
Great article, but I would hesitate to call the California Coastal Commission a criminal organization. Clueless, ignorant and sometimes wrong, but not criminal. The Coastal zone that the Commission is charged with protecting averages about 1000 yards inland. It is pretty much the shape of a noodle, flattened out a bit at the top. It is five miles deep in some areas and a few hundred feet deep in others. It includes some of the most densely populated areas in California. Each county is charged with coming up with its own coastal plan. Despite the control the commission exercises Santa Barbara has ended up with two oversized hideous beach hotels. The Miramar gave us a gigantic, ugly wall to look at, and the Bacara destroyed one of the most iconic, scenic and beautiful beaches in California, Haskell’s Beach. Haskell’s was compromised and the Miramar became an exclusive hide out for the wealthy. Despite everything, a lot of stuff gets built. Ideally, the Commission represents the public. We voted it in. It is painful when it fails to deliver as promised.
Nonsense, both the Bacara and Miramar are world class destinations. The amount of income added to county coffers and local economy is tens of millions. Granted, locals don’t want Disneyland, but how else are we to raise revenues to pay for this massive screw up we find ourselves in? Clearly the CCC bows to the environmental lobby and tied to the Democratic Party elites, NOT the taxpaying public.
True, I'm sure it adds money to the economy. Unfortunately, tourism jobs don't pay a whole lot.
The Mirimar was already there, just replaced. The environmentalists caved when they got about $5M (could even be 10. My memory isn't so good anymore) to step aside for the Bacara to moved forward. Everyone has a price.
Believe me, I was disappointed by the EDC’s decision to throw in the towel on the proposed Hyatt Hotel. They claimed that they done all they could. They were not happy with me describing it as a bribe. There was an effort to save Haskell’s Beach but it failed. The EDC’s decision made it almost impossible for those who cared about Haskell’s beach to do anything about it. It was as though God had spoken.
Are you infering the Coastal Commission should be able to approve hotel design style?
If it does’t meet the requirements of the Coastal Plan, sure.
A note for the last sentence of Mr. Schulte's piece. A pound of tofu requires about 7 times less water than a pound of hamburger.
Why isn't cotton as plentiful in the Central Valley? The global market for cotton has fluctuated so much over the past three decades that many farmers got out of it and moved over to higher-paying more price-stable crops.
And don't forget, yes California agrucultrue feeds lots of people. And it uses 80% of the developed water. All to produce 2.5% of the States GDP.
How is that for bang for your buck? But their lawyers and lobbyists will protect that water use tooth and nail.
What is the point of equating the % of water used by agriculture to the % GDP? I don't believe a thinking human would make that comparison which brings me back to my observation of long ago. John Thomas: brought to you by chat GPT.
No this is work I get paid to do Jeff. I think it's lame that we have to install low flush toilets while some farmer grows alfalfa to ship to china - or grow almonds to ship to the middle east. Seems like a poorly allocated use of a resource.
You still using your 1962 Enclyopedia Britannica?
You get paid to equate things that are unrelated? I could do that. How much do you get paid? Did you hear that more people died of covid than were killed in Vietnam? Outrageous. Someone should pass a bill.
A way to look at the Covid vs. Vietnam differently. Like the chance of dying per year or event per 100,000 people. Simple mortality rate. Or like being a passenger in a car vs. rider of a motorcycle in deaths per mile. But I guess these are all unrelated.
Part of Schulte's opinion is that water is mismanaged. I agree that it is - but not in the same way he does. And thanks - I'm doing fine money-wise. Work mostly from home, and for breaks now and then read here and there on some substacks. Some with young folks - some that quote movies and commercials from the 70s like this one. Lots of companies care about corporate and product impacts. But sure, you're some sort of engineer right? With a few decades of expericne and some software you could join me.
Politians kinda suck at things like forest management. We should let the Chumash and other knowledgeable groups take over forest management. BTW... isn't the Federal Government responsible for controlled burns in National forests versus the State? I got confused with how Forest management would have helped in LA, where experts say residential fire control systems have never been designed for what they experienced in LA. He is what one person wrote. If you find it inaccurate, let us know why. Thanks.
The local water system failed because the city’s infrastructure was built to respond to routine structure fires, not massive wildfires across multiple neighborhoods, experts told us. Ann Jeffers, a University of Michigan civil and environmental engineering professor who studies fire engineering, said she doesn’t know of any industry standard for designing city water supplies to fight the kind of fire that erupted in the Palisades.
Environmentalism, created by man, may be the biggest smokescreen of all. It covers ,creates and excuses multitudes of sins. It reeks of hubris; not humanitarianism.
"Environmentalism" today is now the last defense of a scoundrel(s).
At the risk of being repetitive- we need to hire the Israelis who have built enough desalination capacity to be supplying water to Jordan to show California how to fix our water issues
Dams would be nice, too
Hire them? After all the billions we've given them, we shouldn't pay them more to come help us. Mexico and Ukraine came to help, where was Israel?