If you thought California’s new water-saving restrictions were severe, meet the liberal environmentalists who think California’s problem is too MUCH water.
Restore Hetch Hetchy, an environmental nonprofit based in the San Francisco suburbs, has just filed a lawsuit to force California to drain the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which supplies water to 2.6 million people in and around San Francisco. And they’re trying to do so in the middle of one of the biggest droughts in recent California history.
Their goal? Restore the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park to its “natural splendor” (their words.) Their alleged “plans” to house San Francisco’s water supply elsewhere have been widely derided as insufficient, even being called an “unfortunate distraction” by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The new lawsuit comes after a failed ballot initiative in San Francisco back in 2012, which was crushed 77%-23%, in one of the most liberal, pro-environment cities in the country.
Worse, it attracted opposition from some of the biggest liberal voices in California, including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who has rarely seen an environmental bill she doesn’t like.
The new lawsuit–designed to drain the reservoir over the objections of Californians–hinges on the word “reasonable” in the California state constitution, where it applies to water use. They’re arguing that, by flooding the beautiful landscape like the one-time Hetch Hetchy Valley, California is somehow being unreasonable when it comes to water policy.
The dam that turned the Hetch Hetchy Valley into the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was built in 1913, and the reservoir has stored San Francisco’s water for a more than a century.
California liberals, of course, have a long history of shooting themselves in the foot on water issues, to satisfy their far-Left environmental agenda.
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who’s rumored to run for President in 2016 as a Republican, summed up California’s water problems best:
“While California is clearly experiencing another drought, the extreme water shortages are an ongoing and man-made human tragedy — one that has been brought on by overzealous liberal environmentalists who continue to devalue the lives and livelihoods of California residents in pursuit of their own agenda.”
A man-made water disaster. That’s what California environmental groups aim to create–although Restore Hetch Hetchy would be by far the worst.
Unfortunately for Restore Hetch Hetchy, even liberal San Franciscans–who have strangled California farms with environmental and water regulations–think this is one environmental fight too insane. They realize what an unmitigated disaster it would be to drain the lion’s share of a major city’s water supply, especially during a historic drought.