Trinitas Partners recent declaration of bankruptcy is likely just the beginning of widespread economic devastation throughout the San Joaquin Valley. No one saw it coming more clearly than the pseudonymous author of On the Public Record (OtPR), who wrote nine years ago, “This economic model, in which powerful outsiders come in, displace the natives and destroy local natural resources (the aquifers) to provide cheap unprocessed goods to a foreign country is pure colonial […]
Environment
Trinitas Partners Farming Declares Bankruptcy
Trinitas Partners, the Bay Area investment firm that bought cattle land in Stanislaus County’s eastern foothills over a decade ago and then converted it to almond orchards, has declared bankruptcy. Trinitas made headlines when it was annexed into Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and jumped ahead of local farmers who protested that its out-of-town owners were not serious farmers, but speculators who had their eyes on OID’s abundance of surface water. […]
State Rejects Groundwater Plan for Modesto Subbasin
The late Vance Kennedy was appalled when he learned tens of thousands of groundwater-dependent acres had been planted with almond orchards in the foothills on Stanislaus County’s east side. “That groundwater is our savings bank,” said Kennedy, then a resident of the City of Modesto. “That’s our reserve in case of an extended drought.” Kennedy, an award-winning hydrologist and geologist during his career at the U.S. Geological Survey, thought the […]
Time for a Water Wake Up Call
Recent stories in the New York Times highlight a groundwater crisis throughout much of the United States, including the San Joaquin Valley. While depleted aquifers aren’t news to Valley citizens, the urgency of the situation has yet to strike home, especially in the northern part of the Valley where last winter’s heavy rains have led to a false sense of security and a “it can’t happen here” mindset. Farther south, […]
The Perverse Arithmetic of Water Sales
Ever since Modesto Irrigation District (MID) proposed selling water to San Francisco more than ten years ago, the topic of sales has been fraught with political peril. The prospect of selling local water to San Francisco brought about changes on the MID Board of Directors and served as a warning notice that peddling MID water to outsiders was political suicide. No such peril existed for the nearby Oakdale Irrigation District […]
Modesto Irrigation District Sales Proposal Roils the Waters
For years, Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) water sales seldom caused more than a flicker of public interest. Let nearby Modesto Irrigation District (MID) even think about a sale, however, and the hue and cry are heard for miles around. That was the case in 2011, when MID proposed selling water to the City of San Francisco. Angry protests followed and the public uproar ended with a resounding defeat for those […]
Josh Harder’s Amendment to Stop the Delta Tunnel
Last week, during an Appropriations Committee write up, California Congressman Josh Harder proposed an amendment to stop the Delta Tunnel, a supposedly preferable alternative to the “Twin Tunnels,” a project that morphed out of Jerry Brown’s 1980s plan for the “Peripheral Canal.” Both the Peripheral Canal and Twin Tunnels proposals perished under heavy resistance from farmers, environmentalists, businesses and other Valley residents who all agreed the projects were nothing more […]
“River Islands”: The Ultimate Bad Idea for Residential Development
Listeners to Bay Area radio stations frequently hear advertisements for a massive Lathrop residential project called “River Islands.” The advertisements tout home construction by a group of award-winning homebuilders on secluded islands in the San Joaquin River Delta. The ads go on to boast six restaurants to serve residents, one new fire station and a new police station, as well as a plethora of recreational activities. Ads rarely live up to […]
Bob Hackamack — “Godfather of the Tuolumne”
Known variously as “The Godfather of the Tuolumne” and “Mr. Tuolumne,” legendary Sierra Club member and activist Bob Hackamack passed away last week. An avid rock climber, canoeist and kayaker, Hackamack was one of the earliest conservationists to realize the ecological value of San Joaquin Valley watersheds. His training as a Chemical and Systems Engineer enabled him to provide meticulously detailed criticisms of proposals that would have weakened the Tuolumne […]
“We are in compliance,” says Conagra about alleged Stanislaus River Pollution
In an email dated March 29, a Conagra spokesperson wrote, “Conagra has the proper permits from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board and we are in compliance with the regulatory requirements as specified in the permits. This includes managing the flow of water from our facility, proper monitoring and completing reporting procedures.” Don Hare, Conagra’s director for “Communications and External Relations,” was responding to our inquiry about possible pollution […]