Dave Shoemaker: Environmental Dictators are ruining California
Water, gas and trees – Environmental Dictators!
Example 1: EDs have ruled a 2-inch fish is more important than having irrigation water for our farms and ranches. So our fields wither and the valley’s economy gets its death penalty.
Example 2: EDs have ruled that we must use gas no one in the world uses despite the hardships it metes out. Our gas prices have beat out Hawaii as the most expensive fuel in the nation – 50 cents a gallon higher. If that weren’t enough, if one of our few refineries has something go wrong, our prices skyrocket because other states can’t bail us out.
Example 3: EDs have ruled we can’t care for our forests but must leave them to nature. We can’t thin them, harvest them or have free access to them. Then something like the Rim fire comes along and they are denuded. The EDs still don’t stop. We can’t harvest dead trees and must fight in court to thin them. Instead, we’re told to leave this tragedy for nature, allowing beetles to feed and multiply – then move to surviving trees.
Where is Sacramento? Oh, wait! We only have one political party, and the EDs control it.
Dave Shoemaker, Sonora
This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Dave Shoemaker: Environmental Dictators are ruining California."