Sunday, April 12, 2009

San Francisco Chronicle Peripheral Canal Articles

Today, the San Francisco Chronicle published pro/con peripheral canal articles. The PPIC/UC-Davis team of Ellen Hanak and Jay Lund argued pro, and George Miller and Lois Wok against.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I don't think much of the PPICs much-touted study. Click the peripheral canal link on this blog for comments or here to see my detailed review of their work. Hanak/Lund should be fixing their deeply flawed study instead of writing editorials.

I think the Miller/Wolk piece is very good. This part was particularly interesting to me.
Yet the state Department of Water Resources is now spending more than $1.1 billion on canal and water project planning - off budget, with no legislative oversight or public accountability

You would think that $1billion of planning and engineering studies would include at least one cost-benefit study of this massive public spending program. Nope. I guess they don't want to know the answer. Miller/Wolk propose adding Delta as a place as a 3rd priority to the co-equal goals of reliable water supplies and the environment. I would add a 4th stakeholder, the state's taxpayer, who is being asked to be the banker.

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