Delta tunnel plan cost hammered at hearing [Sacramento Bee]
Pointing
to cost overruns with California’s high-speed rail project, lawmakers on
Wednesday pressed state officials on the funding sources and ultimate price tag
for the governor’s water tunnel plan. “I’m very concerned about the
ever-expanding cost,” Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, said at the hearing’s
outset. Frazier referred to an article in the San Jose Mercury News that puts
the project’s cost over 50 years at over $50 billion – more than double the
state’s figure of $24.7 billion – and added that “I tend to believe the higher
number is probably the more accurate number.”
Recent rain a small
relief to Sonoma County ranchers [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
For
the first time in more than a year, the hills and pastures of Sonoma County are
sporting a faint haze of green. “We asked for it; we got it,” said Santa Rosa
rancher Doug Beretta, contemplating the astonishing fact that his fields have
gone from tarmac-hard bare dirt to boot-sucking mud lakes in less than a
week.…The rain didn't do as much for city folk. Water managers were quick to
say that even such a monster rain fell far short of refilling the reservoirs
that supply North Coast cities from Santa Rosa south to San Rafael. “It was not
a drought buster,” Sonoma County Water Agency spokesman Brad Sherwood said. For
the area's agricultural community, however, the soaking was met with a cautious
cheer. “It was a miracle rain for the North Coast,” Sonoma County Farm Bureau
Executive Director Tim Tesconi said.
Genetically
engineered crops in nearly 12% of fields [USA Today]
Even
as some U.S. consumers reject foods containing ingredients from genetically
modified plants, farmers continue to embrace the technology. In 2013, crops
grown from seed engineered to withstand weed killers, kill pests or resist
diseases made up 11.7% of fields planted worldwide, a report released Thursday
says. Last year, farmers planted 12 million more acres of plants genetically
engineered to be herbicide tolerant, pest resistant or able to stand up to
diseases than in 2012, said Clive James, with the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. The non-profit tracks biotech crops
and is based at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. The United States leads the
world in genetically modified (GM) plantings. Commodity crops genetically
engineered to be herbicide tolerant or pest resistant are the norm in U.S.
fields.
Opinion: Solving California’s reckless water policy [Sacramento
Bee]
It
appears that Washington has awakened to the current water woes of the West
Coast. Late last week, the White House announced that President Barack Obama
will visit Fresno on Friday to review and discuss federal relief efforts in
response to the drought. Prior to that, the president had called Gov. Jerry
Brown to express his support for our state and had mentioned to Rep. Kevin
McCarthy at the State of the Union address that he had his eye on the issue.
This drought has national significance; an outsized percentage of the nation’s
food supply is grown in California, which is the nation’s No. 1 producer of
fruits, vegetables and nuts. But having an “eye on the problem” is not a
solution in and of itself. And unless the president can mandate rain or snow to
fall from the heavens, we still will be faced with the driest year in more than
a century.
Editorial: Welcome, President Obama; help us solve the problem [Merced
Sun-Star]
As
President Barack Obama prepares for his visit to Fresno on Friday, we can’t
help but be reminded of another presidential visit 52 years ago. President John
F. Kennedy came in 1962 to celebrate the groundbreaking for the San Luis Reservoir,
which was built to hold 2 million acre-feet of irrigation water but has just
603,000 as of Wednesday – about half of what it held this time last year.
Kennedy’s visit lasted two days and was a cause for celebration. President
Obama’s visit will be to look at a disaster in the making. And we wonder how
much of this disaster is political. Considering the gridlock and animosity in
Washington, we wonder if our nation is even capable of envisioning projects as
large as the San Luis Reservoir? Projects that could do so much good. What
should be clear is the desperate need for additional water. We hope the
president understands that we can’t provide more water in dry years unless we
have places to store water in wet years.
Op-Ed: Don't give up on the bullet train, California [Los
Angeles Times]
High-speed
rail can succeed, but the state needs to backtrack from several mistakes, many
of which were also made by its international predecessors. Who doesn't love a
train? Who cannot fail to be seduced by the most appealing vehicle in human
history — the rail-induced sensuality of "Brief Encounter," the
desperate heroism of engineer Casey Jones, the creative muscle of the Big Four
railroad barons, the plucky fortitude of Thomas the Tank Engine and the Little
Engine That Could, all wrapped up in gleaming, rocking steel, punctuated by a high,
lonesome whistle?...The reality has proved more problematic. The California
High-Speed Rail Authority stumbled first by promising a smooth construction
schedule and a $32-billion price tag. The ensuing lawsuits and engineering
revisions have fouled up the timeline and bumped up the price to the current
reckoning of $67.6 billion (and it'll probably be more expensive than that).
The rail authority's latest business plan assumes ever more riders and ever
less revenue but still suggests the project will ultimately be self-sustaining.
Unfortunately, surveys demonstrate that voters are at best skeptical. Up to 59%
in a late 2012 USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll said they would turn down
high-speed rail, given the chance at a redo.
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