Sunday, April 10, 2011

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/8841 

California’s “Dust Bowl Drought” That Really Never Happened - Is Officially Over!

Thank you for spreading the word about California Progress Report.

Posted on 04 April 2011
Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionSend to friendSend to friend  



By Patrick Porgans
Planetary Solutionaries

No; it wasn’t an April Fool’s Joke. (Article Released on 1 April 2011.)

Governor Jerry Brown’s recent announcement that California’s “drought” is officially over, which critics claimed was grossly exaggerated; government records indicate it may not have happened. Gov. Brown’s Proclamation officially rescinds former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-06-08, issued on June 4, 2008 and ends the States of Emergency called on June 12, 2008, and on February 27, 2009.

It took as much as 50 feet of snowpack, which blanketed the roughed Sierra Nevada Mountains, all of the state’s major reservoirs full or overflowing, many of which are making floodwater releases to provide room for spring runoff, and the Golden State at “ground saturation, before the Governor’s water advisors to confirm the “drought emergency” was over.

Ironically, doubts were raised at the time former Gov. Schwarzenegger issued the “drought proclamation”, which he issued at the very onset of a below-average water year; slightly less than the “average” amount of precipitation and water runoff received statewide.

Last, year, for example, California received more than 110 percent of “average” precipitation, and statewide reservoir capacity reach 95 percent. At the end of that year, the “fourth” year of the “drought” federal and state water “experts” were at odds as to whether the drought was over; state officials took the position it wasn’t.

A series of in-depth reports, based entirely on government documents, revealed that the so-called “drought” was not only significantly overstated but, revealed serious doubts as to whether it actually happened.  For example, for the four year period (water-years 2007 through 2011), at which time the “drought proclamation” was in effect, California received 85 percent of “average” precipitation, and the “average” water storage, based on “averages”, in its major reservoirs, for that period was in the 90 percentile range.

Weather conditions in the Golden State vary from year to year, the “average” precipitation and water runoff varies; it is not unusual to experience wet and dry cycles. In fact, prior to 2007, the state had experienced a series of very wet water years.

When it rains it pours, and if it someone “claims” it doesn’t rain in Sunny California, it pours a torrent of free-flowing “drought-relief” grant funding. Funds that primarily go to benefit government water agencies, their customers, and wealthy landowners and water speculators. This funding mechanism is made possible by using the public’s credit to borrow vast sums of money, which is repaid back by the public-at-large, from the $26 billion deficit-ridden General Fund.  One of the how to get “drought” relief give-away money sessions was held at the Irvine Ranch Water District’s duck club, which was announced on California Department of Water Resources’ letterhead.  The district is a well-healed and politically connected supporter of water development.

Critics contend that the motive behind the drought was essentially a major financial bailout for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s campaign supporters that rely heavily on publicly subsidized water, provided by government water projects, exporting water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to central and southern California.  They claim that by issuing the drought proclamation at the onset of the below average conditions, and not declaring the drought as being over in 2010, allowed the flow of cash to continue.

Obviously, the drought proclamation opened up the floodgate to release hundreds of millions of dollars of public moneys used to fund so-called drought relief programs to a host of local water agencies and agricultural recipients.

California recently sold $733 million in bonds to fund drought, flood control and water management projects, and the state is preparing for another bond sale of $400 million for water and drought response, according to a press release issued by the Governor on the 15 April 2009.
Lastly, and yet equally important, is when a state-of-emergency is proclaimed, it essentially sets aside many regulatory and environmental safeguards.

Next in the series: Harvesting Windfall Profits from the so-called Drought – While Funds for Public Safety-Net Programs and Jobs Dry Up. Other drought-related stories, published by the author, can be obtained at the following websites: www.planetarysolutionaries.org; www.lloydgcarter.com or Google “Doubts About the Drought”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patrick Porgans and author Lloyd G. Carter are involved in publishing a series of articles, entitled: “Doubts About the Drought." 

Is California's Gov. Jerry Brown Backing Down?

(04-09) 04:00 PDT Riverside - --
Gov. Jerry Brown signaled Friday that he may change strategy and push the Legislature to approve tax extensions and increases before voters have a chance to weigh in on the issue.

Under this new plan being considered by the Democratic governor, Californians would get to vote on whether to undo any tax hikes or extensions imposed by the Legislature and governor.

The governor promised during his campaign and after his election that he would not increase taxes to help solve the state's budget crisis without asking voters for their approval. Brown said Republicans, however, have blocked his attempts to bring the tax question to voters in a special election before the start of the new fiscal year, July 1.

Brown rejected the notion that such a plan would violate his promise, which was central in his campaign. "I'll keep my campaign promise," he said. "You watch, you'll see."
The governor has said a vote could be held as soon as September.

If voters decided to rescind any Legislature-approved taxes, then an all-cuts budget would be triggered, Brown said.

Brown is working with the Legislature to find a solution to California's remaining $15.4 billion deficit before the start of the fiscal year on July 1.


"Right now, you can't have an election in June. It's too late, OK?" Brown said to reporters after meeting with county law enforcement officials. "So either we crash over the cliff or we come up with something else."
The governor will release his updated plan for solving the state's remaining deficit in mid-May.

Brown made the comments in Riverside, on the first leg of what he says will be a statewide tour to hear for himself what an all-cuts solution to the state's deficit would mean for California. Earlier, he visited an elementary school that largely serves non-native English speakers in a poorer part of this city where he gave a frank accounting of the state's fiscal hole.

"I'm not here as part of some campaign," Brown told the approximately 60 invited education officials from the area who gathered in the school's cafeteria. "I'm really here to get some information and to give voice to you here in Riverside County, to learn for myself some of the practical implications of what we're facing."

He got a firsthand look at what previous budget cuts from the state's persistent deficits have meant in this city, as he visited a fourth-grade classroom holding 35 students. Last year, the classroom had 22 students, their teacher said, saying she has had to cut back on the time dedicated to studying California's history.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/08/BA8G1IT5LO.DTL#ixzz1J9xWb55p