A New State of Water

Central Valley Project

The land frauds and the landgrabs compose the shabbiest chapter in our history. We have 75 years now of conservation as a (federal) government policy, of husbanding, developing, and using the publically owned natural resources for the public benefit. So we have grown used to believing that such corruption, such raids on the treasury, such blind imbecility were ended for all time.

But at this moment some powerful interests are preaching that what was intolerable corruption on a scale of half a million acres becomes wise public policy if you up the scale to half a billion acres. They are calling on Congress to legalize a final, conclusive raid on the publicly owned resources of the United States.

1953, Bernard DeVoto on the public lands

The Central Valley

450 miles long

40-70 miles wide

Little precipitation and bad timing

Extremely fertile

Water in wrong places

Serious floods

Saltwater intrusion

Government Intervention

State supervision of irrigation districts

Flood control

Valley wide plan

Decreasing ground water

Corps or Bureau?

Army Corps of Engineers

primarily flood control and navigation

levees and redirection

Bureau of Reclamation

primarily irrigation

dams and canal systems

Compete over budgets and political power

Irrigation Districts

Not particularly successful

Property –weighted voting

monopoly power

Water storage districts

Kern County

125,000/250,000 votes!

Local control failure to reach goals

Need Recognition

Dam on the Sacramento River

Aqueducts to both sides of Valley

Water to Bay Area

Improved navigation

Prevent saltwater intrusion

Water to LA area

Electricity production

Issues

Progressive movement losing influence

Private Power

SCE and PG&E

North worried about shipping water south

Existing water rights holders

Riparian supersedes appropriative

1928 vote “reasonable beneficial use.”

County of origin law

Political Evolution

Depression – repudiate Republicans

FDR= government intervention

Republicans had to switch ideas

The pendulum

Depression and Drought

Increased pressure to build something

JOBS

Need for Federal financing

Pubic or private power

“No public power, no federal help”

July 1933, bill passed the state

Revolt

Private power lobbying

LA against

North in favor

Valley in favor

Federal takeover by Bureau

The Task

*20 dams

*500 miles of canals

*9 MAF

*2.5 municipal consumers

*3 million acres

*Environmental benefits

*5.6 MkWH

*2 million customers

*$34 million revenues

Reclamation Law

160 acres

Excess sold within 10 years

Excess sold at prices reflecting prior to water

No interest on capital funding

Costs reduced by electricity revenues

6% of owners held 53% of land!

Acreage Limits?

Many large farms predated the CVP

“unearned increment” from CVP

Dinuba study

small farms = equality, higher living standards, schools and parks, and businesses

study buried

Technical Compliance

Post war philosophy

Increase Bureau’s budget

Post war technology (not in book)

160 acres per shareholder or family member or employee

Accelerated payoff

Ignore residency requirement

Ignore “unearned increment”

The Partnership Between Gov’t and Private Enterprise

Jefferson Vs Hamilton

Should the Gov’t aid, support, subsidize or ignore private business?

Large business or small business?

Labor relations?

GDP or singing and dancing?

Public or Private Power?

Recall: Hoover Dam: LADWP and SCE

Recall Hetch Hetchy: Municipal sold to PG&E

Farmers want what?

Power to be delivered in the North

Large farms in the south

Small farms in the North

What is the conflict?

Power’s Technical Compliance

Power to the Bureau

Used for Bureau pumps

Excess sold to PG&E

PG&E sells back to gov’t

PG&E sells to customers

Customers subsidize PG&E (monopoly) and agribusiness

The Punch Line

Electricity users (northern cities, SF, and small farms) were providing $300,000,000 in subsidies to the (large) Central Valley Farms!

Southern cities, LA, did not need the power