Comments on: SB 34: Creature Crawls from Delta Lagoon

By: Wayne Lusvardi

Wayne Lusvardi — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:37:54 +0000

For those interested readers you can find the State Legislative Analysts report “Funding Public Benefits of Water Investments” dated March 22, 2011, completed for Senator Fran Pavley of the Resources Committee at the following link:

http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/resources/2011/Funding_Public_Benefits_of_Water_Investments_032211.pdf

By: Wayne Lusvardi

Wayne Lusvardi — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:15:23 +0000

Thank you Mr. Trainor:

After I submitted the above article a water economist sent me a post from his blog Aguanomics which predicts that farmers will soon be granted solar subsidies. This will provide a perverse incentive for unsuccessful farmers to pump their irrigation water using expensive green power (solar being 5 x base load power rates). If you can’t regulate or tax farmers them then buy them off I guess.

If you read my accompanying article on how “inflation means California is in default” you will find an explanation for such policies — which is to inflate the wholesale price of everything, including food, to get out of the debt the state finds itself in. The problem with this, as I point out, is that it won’t work unless a cap on state government spending is enacted. If a spending cap would be enacted and inflation takes off within 10 years or so the state would be running surpluses.

By: Richard Trainor

Richard Trainor — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:07:08 +0000

An excellent and probing story by Mr. Lusvardi. Water is truly the new Gold Rush in California, and a collection of Mustache Pete’s from both north and south are lining up to line their pockets with the proceeds from this new El Dorado. I wonder what persuaded Ms. Wolk to back this bill? And I don’t have much doubt that Governor Brown will back it.