CA Governor Brown Declares Statewide Drought Emergency
by Robert Wilde 18 Jan 2014, 4:07
PM PDT
“The history of California water is the history of
droughts…Droughts motivate us to do stuff,” says Jay Lund, director of the
Center for Watershed Sciences at UC
Davis. On Friday, Governor of
California Jerry Brown announced
he is ready to “do stuff.”
Brown declared that California is officially
in a statewide drought emergency. His pronouncement comes during one of California’s driest
winters on record. As a result of this and after two previous years of
diminished rainfall, reservoirs have reached undesirable levels. Therefore,
Brown is advocating that all residents reduce water usage by 20%. "We
ought to be ready for a long, continued, persistent effort to restrain our
water use," the Governor stated.
California farmers hailed Brown’s action as welcome news. "Farmers
across California
face wrenching decisions today, as well as in coming months," Paul Wenger,
president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, acknowledged in a
statement. "Will they have enough water to plant crops, to water their
livestock, and keep trees and vines alive?" Wenger asked.
Although the governor’s 20-point
drought declaration does not require mandatory rationing yet, there will be a
statewide conservation campaign and a program to help direct water flow from
rights holders to districts in need. Moreover, state agencies will make efforts
to minimize the effects of water shortages on agriculture, communities, and
fish and wildlife.
This is the 13th emergency drought
proclamation since 1987, equating to about one every other year. These proclamations
are usually confined to only one part of the state. The last statewide drought
declaration was in 2009, issued by then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Politicians also applauded Brown’s
decisions and plan on making sure they promote their pet projects. As former
Obama adminsitartion Chief of Staff Rahm
Emanuel once said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste, what I
mean by that it is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do
before.” The drought announcement by Brown is prompting lawmakers from California’s Central Valley
to call for more water storage projects.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is pushing for an $11-billion water bond for the fall
ballot and is calling on the state to use significant capital resources
available from prior state bonds. Moreover, Brown’s actions have reinvigorated
proponents of a $25 billion project to re-plumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin
delta. Advocates say the project would help avert future water shortages.
Nevertheless, Governor Brown
believes that the drought is not a political phenomenon. He stated at the news
conference in San Francisco, "This is not a
partisan adversary. This is Mother Nature." Brown added, "We have to
get on nature's side and not abuse the resources that we have."
UC Davis
Cruz
Reynoso is a professor at the University
of California at Davis, and was a trustee at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Note: Stewart A. Resnick
is a chancellor's advisory board member for the University of California at Davis, and a benefactor at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
James J.
Duderstadt is a chancellor's advisory board member for the University of California at Davis, and
a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
George Soros
is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
James S.
Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member
of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Lester Crown
was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a
member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Rahm
I. Emanuel is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Kathleen
Brown is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, Jerry Brown’s sister,
and was the California state government treasurer.
Jerry
Brown is Kathleen Brown’s
brother, and the California state government governor.
California
state government is the government for the State of California.
CA
congressional delegation is the delegation for the State of California.
Dianne
Feinstein is a senator for the CA
congressional delegation, a U.S.
Senate senator, married to Richard
C. Blum, and was the San Francisco
(CA) mayor.
Richard
C. Blum is married to Senator Dianne
Feinstein, a regent for the University of California,
an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and the Economic Advisory Council member for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Kathleen
Brown is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, Jerry Brown’s sister,
and was the California state government treasurer.
Jerry
Brown is Kathleen Brown’s
brother, and the California state government governor.
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