(With expanded coverage of all the Western States)
by Patrick Ruckert
www.californiadroughtupdate.org/California-Water-and-Infrastructure-Report-October-17%2C-2024.pdf
A Note to Readers
First, My Annoucement:
For personal reasons this will be the last report I will do on a weekly schedule. Though I will, periodically, perhaps monthly, continue to publish this report. For I cannot completely leave either the topic, or to leave my readers “high and dry,” as I know that at least a portion of the subscribers and readers do appreciate my efforts to provide both a picture of current developments in regard to this broad topic, and the political and technical developments presented.
It has been ten years since I began writing this report. I have learned a great deal about the California water management system, and much more. Most importantly, what I discovered is that, despite the recent decades of environmentalist and economic sabotage, this system still remains the largest and most complex water management system in the world. And it has made California the largest and most productive agricultural region in, not only the United States, but the entire world.
I am most happy with my discoveries of the historical background of both the development of the California system and the great and visionary individuals that created and built it. And, just as importantly, yet little known today, the great water project plans outlined during the presidency of John Kennedy, which fell by the wayside during the political and economic shift that seized the nation after that great President’s assassination.
Kennedy’s project to build nuclear-powered desalination plants nation-wide, and the one at Huntington Beach, which had, by 1970, resulted in a signed contract to begin construction of the first such plant between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The second major project that had hearings in both houses of Congress and actual bills being debated, the North American Water and Power Alliance, that would have created a continent-wide water management system, also had Congressional sponsors, the agreement of the Prime Minister of Canada, and great excitement in both countries, also faded away by the early 1970s.
Perhaps what I shall do in coming months is re-publish some of the studies I have done over the past decade that I believe should have more circulation.
This past decade, I hope, has provided thousands of readers of my reports something that has enriched their lives as it has definitely been, for me, a worthwhile journey. While I may not intrude as often into your mailbox, I will still do so, just less frequently.
This Week’s Report
There is very little real news this week on reportable developments, so outside of this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor, I will present two articles that I think are critical for us to understand how we can fulfill the mandate given to us in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution, and with the U.S. Presidential election just a couple of weeks ahead, we should all think about its obligations demanded of every U.S. citizen.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The report by Michael Carr, from Promethean Action, “Our Future: One Giant Catch for Mankind” defines the theme of this report. Real economy means science, technological revolutions, great projects of infrastructure, and daring to challenge all those who will claim “that is impossible.”
And the second report by Benjamin Deniston, “What Is Promethean Man? — In Defense of Science from Corruption”, also fromPromethean Action, provides the reader with an introduction to what to look for in the presidency of Donald Trump, beginning in January next year.
Michael Carr’s report highlights the extraordinary accomplishment of Elon Musk’s SpaceX ‘chopsticks’ capture of the Starship Super Heavy booster as it returned to Earth. “… Starship is designed to achieve reflight of its rocket booster ultimately within an hour after liftoff. The booster returns within ~5 minutes, so the remaining time is reloading propellant and placing a ship on top of the booster.”
Starship’s successful test flight is just the most recent, and a most important step, in the program launched by President Trump during his presidency called the “Artemis Project” with the goal of returning U.S. astronauts to the Moon and then on to Mars, not simply to visit the Moon, but to establish a permanent colony on the Earth’s celestial body.
Benjamin Deniston’s report, begins:
“The step-by-step destruction of the U.S. economy over the last two generations goes beyond simply bad policies. There are deeper cultural and philosophical elements that need to be addressed, centering around a corrupted view of mankind’s place in the universe. Addressing this creates the basis for a classical cultural renaissance that embraces and celebrates the true dignity of man.
“From radical environmentalists claiming today’s great moral act is to not have children, to ivory tower academics telling us human beings are fundamentally no different than animals, core notions about the fundamental dignity of man have been under attack. To a large degree, academic and scientific institutions have been leading the way in this cultural and philosophical shift.”
I have included both the introductory paragraphs and a link to the full article for both of them.
