California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

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Trabisnikof: Dec 24, 2005

H.P. Hovercraft posted:

Well the state is already throwing money at the problem via desalination plants - the Carlsbad facility is scheduled to begin operation next year:

Yup, a Billion dollar facility to make 7% of the San Diego county needs. Oh and that's the largest plant constructed in the US. Meanwhile, recycling waste water is 1/2 the cost.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 00:21

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# ? May 23, 2024 19:17

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

Trabisnikof posted:

Yup, a Billion dollar facility to make 7% of the San Diego county needs. Oh and that's the largest plant constructed in the US. Meanwhile, recycling waste water is 1/2 the cost.

Desalination is more popular with the public, though. Most people don't understand the cost/energy requirements and waster generation of large scale desalination. They're thinking on simpler terms of "we're next to a huge body of water, we have the tech to get the salt out of it, so why aren't we doing it?!" Meanwhile, 'recycled water' conjures up the image of drinking other people's toilet water, which freaks out a good number of people. Sure it's the better solution, but this is politics, and they're going to do what gets them elected.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 00:26

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

Where do they think the treated toilet water goes, if we don't drink it?

That's right, right into the ocean.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 01:25

King Hong Kong: Nov 6, 2009; For we'll fight with a vim
that is dead sure to win.

H.P. Hovercraft posted:

Well the state is already throwing money at the problem via desalination plants - the Carlsbad facility is scheduled to begin operation next year:

The "proposed" plant in Santa Cruz is never going to happen because nearly every group I can think of opposed it.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 03:45

Pohl: Jan 28, 2005; In the future, please post shit with the sole purpose of antagonizing the person running this site. Thank you.

Trabisnikof posted:

Desalination is not a realistic option for solving the California water problem. They're an incredibly expensive and have huge waste issues. It would be cheaper to just subsidize the pressurizers and sand filters that Ag users need to switch to drop irrigation instead.

Or heck, if you want to throw money at the problem, I'd suggest covering the ditches that transport most of our water. Fewer dead deer in the LA water supply as a nice bonus!

The plants can provide drinking water to people, and probably enough water to shower.
We are never going to run out of residential water in CA. This freakout is loving hilarious.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 04:46

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

http://www.alternet.org/environment/why-jerry-brown-letting-big-ag-and-oil-gluttons-suck-most-californias-water

quote:

Why Is Jerry Brown a Letting Big Ag. and Oil Gluttons Suck Up Most of California's Water?

...

... with a conference that Mr. Reznick and his pistachio company, Paramount Farms, held just last month, where they bragged, literally bragged and celebrated about the record profits that they are making on pistachios, on almonds, and not only the profits, but the record production levels, and the record acreage levels, which means that as the state has been going into drought, nevertheless agricultural interests are planting more and more acreage, new almond trees � we are growing alfalfa here which is a very thirsty crop and gets exported over to China. There are all kinds of examples of this. But, the pain is not being felt equally here.

The growers at that conference, they literally trooped out of that conference listening to Louis Armstrong saying "it�s a wonderful world," and I think the mood was captured by one grower who said, "I�ve been smiling all the way to the bank," and they played a clip from that Tom Cruise movie, "Jerry Maguire" where Cruise yells out "show me the money." Well, they are making plenty of money, some of the big farmers here, and that�s largely because they are still getting plenty of water, and, as I say, the experts say that this water is underpriced. If that if we did price it properly, which means a little bit higher, that there is enormous strides that California could be taking with water efficiency. We literally could, essentially, wipe out the effects of the drought in California � 22 percent decrease in water consumption in the agricultural areas, which would be roughly the equivalent of the amount of surface water that the farmers did not have last year because of the drought. So, there is a lot that can be technologically, but until you get the pricing right, and the political economy of this straight, we are not going to see those things.

AMY GOODMAN: What about that? As you describe Stewart Reznick, a Beverly Hills billionaire known for his agricultural � sprawling agricultural holdings � his connection to the governors of California?

MARK HERTSGAARD: Not just the governors. Mr. Reznick, as you mentioned, he�s a billionaire, he made his money, basically, by, not so much being a smart farmer, as being a smart business man and a great, great marketer. He hired Stephen Colbert to do a Super Bowl commercial for pistachios. And he has seen, as many big business people do, that you have great advantages if you throw a lot of money around in politics, and he has been a bipartisan campaign contributor to Republicans and Democrats alike � pretty much every governor � Senator Dianne Feinstein, all of them, have been recipients of Mr. Reznick�s campaign contributions.

Total tangent, but no matter what else happens theres always that word "Feinstein" in any story about how CA is going to poo poo. Who the gently caress votes for that villainous troll anymore?

# ? Apr 4, 2015 18:47

Choadmaster: Oct 7, 2004; I don't care how snug they fit, you're nuts!

Pohl posted:

The plants can provide drinking water to people, and probably enough water to shower.
We are never going to run out of residential water in CA. This freakout is loving hilarious.

It won't be long before Santa Barbara is out of residential water. We relied nearly 100% on local water sources before our state water hookup; even now the state gives barely a trickle. When is the state going to hand over more water? We have no idea and no control over that.

The city of Santa Barbara pays about $5 million per year for our state water hookup, for which the state promises us 3,300 acre feet per year (1/3 of the city's usage). The ACTUAL allocation last year was 5%, and this year it's a generous 10%. Sweet! That's a cost of only $15,000 per acre foot. In fairness, the hookup at least allows us to buy additional water from rice farmers... at further cost of ~$1800 per acre foot plus returning the water (in equal or greater amounts) over the next decade (it's just a rental, I guess?).

OTOH, our desalination plant (missing from the above map for unknown reasons) can provide a third of the city's water for $1500-$2000 per acre foot. Why the hell shouldn't we fire it back up? (We also recycle our wastewater into non-potable irrigation water for $1200 per acre foot. We just refurbished the system; hopefully we can expand it soon too.)

In a perfect world there are other options, but the residents of this city can't personally go out and build covers over the California aqueduct, or (legally) burn down all the almond trees in the state. We can (and do) bitch and moan and vote, but so far that's as effective as bare-handed karate chopping at the almond trees. Of the locally-available options that can guarantee us actual water, desalination is a pretty reasonable choice.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 19:00

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

FRINGE posted:

Total tangent, but no matter what else happens theres always that word "Feinstein" in any story about how CA is going to poo poo. Who the gently caress votes for that villainous troll anymore?

Gimme a contested Democratic primary, and I will vote against DiFi with both hands. DiFi is a covert Republican, but she votes for my issues more often than any of the Republicans I've seen running for that seat.

Parts of California are already running out of residential water, because they depend on depleted aquifers. It's a big ol' state, and almost anything is happening somewhere.

I'm seriously contemplating a very simple laundry-to-yard greywater system, because my lot runs straight downhill and I already have fruit trees in a direct line from the laundry machine. The major catch is whether I can trust the rest of the household to turn the diverter valve when they use plant-unhealthy laundry products.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 19:20

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

Arsenic Lupin posted:

Gimme a contested Democratic primary, and I will vote against DiFi with both hands. DiFi is a covert Republican, but she votes for my issues more often than any of the Republicans I've seen running for that seat.

Pretty much this, yeah. No Democrat is going to run against Feinstein since she's so entrenched, and any Republican who runs against her is invariably going to be a worse choice, since they have to appear further to the right of her (which must be a challenge some days, I wager). Feinstein is absolutely awful, but she's the lesser of two evils, which is about all we get to make a choice between these days.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 00:58

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

I'm really bummed it was Boxer rather than Feinstein who retired.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:09

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I'm really bummed it was Boxer rather than Feinstein who retired.

On the other hand, "Senator Kamala Harris of California".

On the other other hand, "Senator Gavin Newsom of California" is still possible.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:21

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Maybe Napolitano will end her term as UC President when Feinstein retires and run for her seat. :v:

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:29

Jerry Manderbilt: May 31, 2012; No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

Bizarro Watt posted:

Maybe Napolitano will end her term as UC President when Feinstein retires and run for her seat.

I don't care how she gets ousted as UC President, just so long as she fucks off somehow.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:40

ShadowHawk: Jun 25, 2000; CERTIFIED PRE OWNED TESLA OWNER

Leperflesh posted:

The fundamental issue you're describing is zoning, and the disinterest people have in cities in allowing higher-density zoning in their backyards. Those laws that dictate a certain density can be changed, simply by rezoning for higher density: but the voters and communities in question don't want to. The landowners in those communities are disincentivized to, because refusing to allow density to increase drives up home prices due to the restriction on supply... and they already own the homes.

Renters must seize control of their cities and force rezoning for density.

This actually happened in Mountain View. The city has wildly shifted from representing nimby no-growthers to approving some rather large dense housing projects near something resembling an actual downtown.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:40

nm: Jan 28, 2008; "I saw Minos the Space Judge holding a golden sceptre and passing sentence upon the Martians. There he presided, and around him the noble Space Prosecutors sought the firm justice of space law."

ComradeCosmobot posted:

On the other hand, "Senator Kamala Harris of California".

On the other other hand, "Senator Gavin Newsom of California" is still possible.

Kamala Harris is kind of an unethical tool, or was that the point?

# ? Apr 5, 2015 02:21

GhostofJohnMuir: Aug 14, 2014; anime is not good

ComradeCosmobot posted:

On the other hand, "Senator Kamala Harris of California".

On the other other hand, "Senator Gavin Newsom of California" is still possible.

Eh, he's pushing his chips in pretty hard for the Governorship. Unless Feinstein hangs on for a really long time, I think the timing is off for Newsome. Unless he loses the race for Governor.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 02:24

Jerry Manderbilt: May 31, 2012; No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

Eh, he's pushing his chips in pretty hard for the Governorship. Unless Feinstein hangs on for a really long time, I think the timing is off for Newsome. Unless he loses the race for Governor.

Aside from those two who else are the top tier candidates the CA Democrats have? Goodwin Liu?

# ? Apr 5, 2015 02:27

Cicero: Dec 17, 2003; Jumpjet, melta, jumpjet. Repeat for ten minutes or until victory is assured.

ShadowHawk posted:

This actually happened in Mountain View. The city has wildly shifted from representing nimby no-growthers to approving some rather large dense housing projects near something resembling an actual downtown.

Yeah, this last election three outgoing councilmen (councilpeople? councilpersons?) who were against housing in north bayshore (area around Google, linkedin, et al) were replaced with three candidates who were in favor of it, so that's good. Maybe Mountain View will become a True City between SF and SJ.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 02:28

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Aside from those two who else are the top tier candidates the CA Democrats have? Goodwin Liu?

Eric Garcetti (Mayor of Los Angeles) is up and coming unless there's been some scandal I haven't heard about. Goodwin Liu is an academic, not a politician. Unless he gets nominated to some higher court, I think he's content being a justice.

edit: Maybe John Chiang someday, since he's perennially bouncing around from one elected position to another.

Bizarro Watt fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Apr 5, 2015

# ? Apr 5, 2015 02:34

Wicked Them Beats: Apr 1, 2007; Moralists don't really *have* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded.

ComradeCosmobot posted:

On the other hand, "Senator Kamala Harris of California".

On the other other hand, "Senator Gavin Newsom of California" is still possible.

President Gavin Newsom :v:

You know he wants it.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 03:18

Bip Roberts: Mar 29, 2005

Litany Unheard posted:

President Gavin Newsom

You know he wants it.

So did Gray Davis.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 03:20

FRINGE: May 23, 2003; title stolen for lf posting

Bip Roberts posted:

So did Gray Davis.

He was en route until the "energy crisis".

# ? Apr 5, 2015 03:28

GhostofJohnMuir: Aug 14, 2014; anime is not good

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Aside from those two who else are the top tier candidates the CA Democrats have? Goodwin Liu?

Antonio Villaraig.... haha, I can't even finish that sentence.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 03:39

Jerry Manderbilt: May 31, 2012; No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

I'll just mention that every day the fact that my hometown's congressional district wasn't fired up and ready for Ro makes me smile.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 03:45

Family Values: Jun 26, 2007

nm posted:

Kamala Harris is kind of an unethical tool, or was that the point?

What's this about?

# ? Apr 5, 2015 04:35

ComradeCosmobot: Dec 4, 2004; USPOL July

Family Values posted:

What's this about?

I'm not sure myself. I was trying to say it wasn't a net bad. :confused:

# ? Apr 5, 2015 04:39

Wicked Them Beats: Apr 1, 2007; Moralists don't really *have* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded.

The only negative thing I can remember about Harris involved a guy who was in prison under three strikes, but was declared innocent on appeal. The AG Office tried to say they didn't need to release him, even if he was innocent, because he missed the filing deadline for his writ of habeas corpus.

Edit: Here it is. Daniel Larsen was the guy: http://californiainnocenceproject.org/read-their-stories/daniel-larsen/