(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
A Note to Readers
There are some new developments in regard to the Colorado River. California farmers will cut back their water use beginning this year by 700,000 acre feet, and states are at least somewhat working together on how to make permanent cuts in water use. Of course, the Bureau of Reclamation, that is the responsible agency in charge of the river, is directly involved in the negotiations.
The U.S. Drought Monitor for California still only shows a tiny corner of the state in any category of drought.
We do have coverage of the presidential race, with an article on how farmers in the Central Valley measure Trump and Harris. They like Trump on the water supply question, but consider Harris to be largely absent on the issue.
The Sites Reservoir project is now very near beginning construction. This “off-stream” reservoir has been on the construction menu for 50 years and will be only the second major water infrastructure project built in the state in 50 years.
Ag Alert reports that both federal and state agencies have a plan to limit water to agriculture.
Reporting on wildfires, there are two articles this week. The first on the devastating year for fires in Oregon, with one fire being the largest in Oregon history. The second is today’s report on fires in California from Royal Burnett, a retired fire fighter who spent many years as a supervisor and manager of fire fighting operations. The report is from his Face Book page today.
This week’s Feature has two items:
First is an article on how electricity-hungry data centers are threatening to derail California’s “clean energy” goals.
Second we have the “Physical Economy and Technology Report for August 14, 2024” from Promethean Action.
