Still optimistic
March 3, 2008 | Posted by Thomas J. Graff in Bay Delta, Water Supply
Thomas J. Graff is Senior Counsel at EDF.
Nearly a year ago an award-winning well-known albeit now himself "retired" water (b)logger announced to his readers that EDF Regional Director Tom Graff planned "to retire at the end of the year and return in an undefined avuncular capacity".
So here I am, no longer Regional Director, still active though no longer fulltime, still worried about proposals that would require massive taxpayer subsidies for projects without assessment of water supply benefits or environmental impacts. Yet I’m still optimistic that all the processes now underway to plan California’s water future (the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, the Governor’s Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, and even Senator Simitian’s subversive SB 27 among them) might actually lead to a Nirvana in which environmental objectives are celebrated, promoted, and ACHIEVED.
Let’s hope that we can reach Nirvana even as our agricultural and urban friends continue to prosper (but maybe with just a little less water spread around for them to consume).
2 Responses
Comment from bwl3
March 6th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Tom's optimism is encouraging as we work to defeat current major efforts by many to steal Northern California's water.
The governor, some legislators, South of the Delta irrigators – particularly Westlands Water District irrigating poisoned land that should be retired (it will be a Superfund Site in a few decades), and the Southern California water barons all now are waging a water war that would destroy much of what we know and experience as Northern Californians.
With leadership on this and so many other California water and environmental issues, Environmental Defense has played a crucial role through the years in advancing the public interest in our now limited California public resources. Wow! A public interest?
I share Tom's optimism because Environmental Defense will continue to lead and to play an informed, scientifically based role in turning on their heels the free loaders of huge amounts of taxpayer money and those who care less about this state and its fragile environment and beauty than short and long term money grabs.
Current ill-conceived and grossly inadequate short term solutions to California water issues are in vogue in many well financed, political or politically connected quarters. For the rest of us, we – organizations and just plain citizens – need to advocate, to stand firm and to work with Environmental Defense and others to defeat those pursuing thoughtless, destructive initiatives for California's water future.
Pingback from On the Water Front » Tom’s Night: A water buffalo tribute - Blogs & Podcasts - Environmental Defense
March 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] question of the evening was: What does Tom know that the rest of us don’t, that causes him to be optimistic? I suspect it has something to do with the feeling in that room last night. Care to let us in on [...]
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