Water is a Terrible Thing to Waste

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.ACA

                The deep blue Golden State is home to environmentalist extremists who seem to be at war with each other. They advocate for more equitable food distribution policies and healthier diets but at the same time promote policies that may threaten California’s status as the nation’s leading agriculture producer. The issue is water and who gets to use it.

                This past winter was one of the wettest on record with successive storms rolling in from the northwest. Yet, we were warned by our climate wizards that the drought wasn’t over. But perhaps it would be for all practical purposes if we were better at managing the abundant water that fell from the sky. Even during the driest of winters, there’s enough snowmelt to provide an adequate supply of water to all users with a little help from the Colorado River and perhaps from sea water distilling plants. California, it has been said, doesn’t have a water supply problem so much as a water storage and distribution problem. The ancient Romans seemed to figure out how to collect, store and distribute water to where it’s needed and the naval fleet operates on distilled sea water so one might think that Sacramento could figure it out by now.

                Most of the winter storm precipitation is flushed out to sea for the benefit of the delta smelt and other endangered species by diluting the nutrient pollution in the San Francisco Bay area instead of being collected and diverted to the cities and to Central Valley farmers who may soon also become an endangered species if their fields continue to lie fallow for lack of water.

                Who, you might ask, makes these decisions? Apparently, California’s powerful environmental warriors who seem to have a thing for endangered species like the aforementioned smelt and the fairy shrimp, neither of which you will see on the menus of your favorite sea food restaurant or, indeed ever see at all. Nor are they, as far as I know, favored by sea creatures farther up on the food chain or used as bait. The real question that should be asked is “Why are these people given such power and why do the taxpayers tolerate the decisions they make that result in endangered species taking precedence over humans?”

                Approximately 150 to 200 plant and animal species become extinct, on average, every day. You probably never notice. And since these are computer-generated estimates, the experts probably don’t know for certain, either. People still, nevertheless, manage to survive and even prosper. No one endangered species has ever caused mass extinction, not even the dinosaurs. Extinction, it would appear, is a fact of life like death and taxes. Californian environmentalists, however, seem determined to save several of their favorites like the delta smelt and the fairy shrimp even if by doing so they cause the Central Valley farmers to become an endangered specie.

                Edward Ring, a senior fellow and co-founder of the California Policy Center, writing in the Wall Street Journal recently, says that the state’s environmental extremists have done all they can to prevent water managers from filling reservoirs and allowing pumps to operate at capacity to fill southbound aqueducts and allow farmers to get their full water allocations. But even if they put the needs of the farmers and cities ahead of endangered critters, there isn’t enough water infrastructure to solve the containment and transportation problem. We all know what it takes to get anything built in California especially if it inconveniences endangered weeds or insects.

                The state’s two largest water reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are also the nation’s largest. They are far below capacity in spite of record winter precipitation. Record snowmelt will result in severe flooding in many areas causing billions in damages, including lost homes. Much of this could be avoided if we had the political will to build new reservoirs and expand existing ones and put the needs of human beings first. Doing so would also reduce our dependence upon the dwindling supply available from the Colorado River which must be shared by seven states.

May 17, 2023

Freedom of the Press

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

As I write this, World Press Freedom Day is being observed but not throughout the entire world, unfortunately. In Russia, for example, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich remains incarcerated for the crime of telling the truth as a journalist. We, fortunately, still have freedom of the press in America but we shouldn’t take it for granted because it is fragile and easily lost.

In many autocratic regimes like China and Russia, reporting the news truthfully and objectively can get a journalist detained, perhaps forever. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that the number of journalists who were imprisoned in 2022 has doubled since it peaked in 2015. At least 67 of them were killed. 2022 was the deadliest year for journalists in Mexico. Some governments are easily offended by the truth or by even discussing controversial subjects. During a trip to China a few years ago, we were warned by the tour guide to refrain from even mentioning Taiwan or certain other controversial topics or risk being detained.

Could our own freedom of the press in America be at risk? It could indeed if the media continues to take sides in reporting news and becomes a public relations tool of a political party which is not to say that the news media can’t express opinion or favor a political party or candidate. There are, to be sure, liberal and conservative media outlets which is fine as long as articles allegedly reporting news are objective and free of political bias and opinion is confined to the opinion section or otherwise clearly identified as opinion. But often, particularly on television, for example, “Breaking News” turns out to be opinion.

Newspapers are disappearing rapidly and, as they do, so are jobs in journalism. The public seems more interested in the entertainment value of television and radio than in its role in educating, informing and acting as a watchdog against government abuse. A free and honest press remains an essential check on government excesses but to fill this role it must be trusted. There’s the rub.

According to a Gallup poll only 34% of Americans trust the mass media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly”. Only 7% have a “great deal of confidence” that it will and 27% have a “fair amount”. 28%, however, say they don’t have much confidence and 38% say they don’t have any at all. While confidence rates have been declining for several years, 2022 marked the first year that the percent of Americans with no trust in the media at all is higher than the percent with a great deal or fair amount combined. In a recent survey released by the Gallup and Knight Foundation, approximately half of respondents indicated that they believed national news organizations intentionally misled, misinformed or persuaded the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting. Only one quarter believed that the media did not intentionally mislead.                                                                 

The rapid pace of news reporting and easy access to it should ensure that Americans are on top of the news but the shear volume of it may have caused information overload to take effect. 61% said this makes the news more difficult to understand according to one survey.

Back in ancient days when I was taking journalism courses and editing my college newspaper, reporters were praised for having a nose for news and they worked hard to find it wherever it might be before their colleagues did. But even on a slow news day, they didn’t resort to inventing it. Today they seem to search for sensational news or scandal, preferably involving persons or causes they don’t agree with or approve of.

The press used to be trusted by the public and depended upon to be accurate and objective. Not so much anymore. You can still pretty much tell someone’s political orientation by the newspapers or periodicals they read even though the surveys indicate that half of them apparently believe they are being misled by a media they no longer trust.

May 10, 2023