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Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
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Environment

Are Water Sales Delaying Development of Alternative Sources?

August 29, 2021 By Bruce Frohman 5 Comments

If one wants to know how bad a drought is, ask someone whose business it is to plumb the water table and test the effectiveness of wells and pumps. A gentleman in the business told this writer that he is busier than ever. Businesses that rely on well water need to keep the water flowing. Wells need testing to make sure they don’t go dry and to check pumps for […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: California drought, Dry wells San Joaquin Valley, Eastern Stanislaus County groundwater, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales, San Joaquin Delta water, San Joaquin Valley aquifer

Is San Joaquin River Groundwater Allstate’s Orchard Insurance?

August 5, 2021 By Steve Ringhoff 6 Comments

San Joaquin River

YOU tell Allstate they can’t draw from the San Joaquin River to water the almonds they planted in the last couple of years west of Modesto — a modest little project — modest if you have a basket of billions. Though some think $28,000,000 is more than modest. If you use Highway 132 to go west from Modesto, you probably have noticed a big change to farmland just west of […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: groundwater in Stanislaus County, Modesto groundwater

Valley Water Belongs to the People

July 8, 2021 By Eric Caine 8 Comments

Modesto Resevoir

Much of the history recounted below is from David Igler’s Industrial Cowboys and Mark Arax’s The Dreamt Land. Much appreciation to both. Also, kudos to Lois Henry for journalism in the great tradition. From the very beginning, water in the San Joaquin Valley has been manipulated, controlled and adjudicated by the wealthy and powerful. Its history is a story of exploitation, mostly through the use of serf labor, the courts, […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Audubon vs Superior Court, Boswell Corcoran, Lux vs Haggin, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales, Subsidence San Joaquin Valley, Trinitas Partners Oakdale, Trinitas PSP Maui

Local Agencies Shirk Groundwater Accountability

February 28, 2021 By Eric Caine 7 Comments

Stanislaus River

Local experts on water and water use like Vance Kennedy were apoplectic when farmers planted almonds and walnuts in the foothills of eastern Stanislaus County, where one of the last viable aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley provided enough groundwater for tens of thousands of acres of trees. “That aquifer should be saved for use in an emergency,” said Kennedy, a retired hydrologist formerly with U.S. Geological Survey. Today, obeying […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Almond Orchards eastern Stanislaus County, Eastern Stanislaus County groundwater, San Joaquin Valley groundwater, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Court Ruling on Water Challenges Valley Water Districts

October 9, 2020 By Ronda Lucas 5 Comments

Oakdale Irrigation District Board of Directors March, 2020

Water in California has always presented unique challenges. Along with these challenges come opportunities for those with enough leadership, vision, courage and determination to conquer them. Our forefathers recognized this reality and helped create a fertile paradise, the world’s bread basket, when they rose to the challenge of harnessing and managing water in a way that protected the environment and developed irrigated agriculture in California’s Great Valley. Today, our water leaders have […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Oakdale Irrigation District, Oakdale Irrigation District sphere of influence, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

Lawsuit Forces Reckoning on Groundwater Authorities

March 22, 2020 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

Groundwater flow charty

In a suit listing dozens of defendants, including Groundwater Sustainability Agencies for the Oakdale Irrigation District, Stanislaus County, and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, and Manteca, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance  (CSPA) has alleged that in adopting their Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), the various agencies and authorities involved failed to follow procedures required by California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) which was signed into law September 16, 2014. More critically, […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Eastern Stanislaus County groundwater, ground water Stanislaus County, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

Coronavirus? Just Chase it Around Town

March 19, 2020 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Imagine some of the most vulnerable residents in your town being chased from place to place during a pandemic. Imagine that their only access to hygiene is public restrooms, back alleys, and the great outdoors. Fanciful as it may sound, that’s exactly the case with members of Modesto’s homeless population who didn’t make it into the county’s new 182 bed shelter on 9th and D Streets in Modesto. When the […]

Filed Under: Environment, History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Another OID Water Scheme Revealed

March 12, 2020 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

Oakdale Irrigation District Board of Directors

At least three of Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) directors seemed reluctant to pursue local water sales during their March 3 meeting. Though they had committed to develop a plan for delivering water to local buyers outside the district the last July, directors Herman Doornenbal, Brad DeBoer, and Tom Orvis seemed to be having second thoughts about following through on the program. When audience members reminded the board some had spent […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

OID: Still Gambling with Its Water Rights

March 6, 2020 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

Unsustainable Pumping Graphic

Last July, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) Board of Directors agreed to develop a five year plan to deliver water to farmers outside district boundaries but within its sphere of influence. Based on the board’s decision, several farmers who had petitioned for water began making good on their promises to provide infrastructure necessary for the deliveries. In some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent. Then, just last Tuesday, […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Linda Santos Oakdale Irrigation District, Oakdale Irrigation District water sales

Homeless: Time to Focus on Accountability

March 4, 2020 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Alan Davis downtown Modesto

The sign on J Street reads, “Cruising Prohibited.” Below that,  “Loitering Prohibited, 6pm to 6am.” Another warns, “This area is under video surveillance.” It’s very doubtful Alan Davis, the amputee across the street, ever reads the signs, even though he’d haunted downtown Modesto for months before being taken by volunteers to the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter (MOES) last fall, where he had a tent, a bed, and routine checkups of […]

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Alan Davis homeless, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

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Off The Wire

In California?s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
In California’s Heartland, a New Resistance Movement Is Taking Root
How do you change a place as polluted and desperately unequal as the San Joaquin Valley?
www.nytimes.com
America?s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
America’s Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails
In a time of fentanyl and meth, we need to use law enforcement differently and more often.
www.theatlantic.com
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It?s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Plastic Pollution Is So Pervasive That It’s Causing a New Disease in Seabirds
Researchers coined the term “plasticosis” to describe stomach damage related to ingesting trash.
www.audubon.org
'Greedflation,' Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
‘Greedflation,’ Conspiracy Theories, And Conspiracy
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM?s home for opinion and news…
talkingpointsmemo.com
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
White House plan to fight antisemitism takes on centuries of hatred in America
Recommended steps include raising awareness of antisemitism now and in the past, expanding knowledge of Jewish heritage in the US
www.timesofisrael.com
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers leader Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faces a prison sentence up to 25 years in the first punishments for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
www.washingtonpost.com
Opinion | America?s Poverty Is Built by Design
Opinion | America’s Poverty Is Built by Design
How did the U.S. become a land of economic extremes with the rich getting richer while the working poor grind it out? Deliberately.
www.politico.com
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer's Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has 'No Place' In Congress
Republican Jewish Coalition Blasts Gosar Over Staffer’s Ties To White Supremacist: Fuentes Has ‘No Place’ In Congress
The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) following a  TPM…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
Newsom restores floodplain funds, adds $290 million to flood control budget
After widespread, bipartisan criticism, the governor revised his budget to include $40 million to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains.
calmatters.org
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
New Study Finds a High Minimum Wages Creates Jobs
Conventional wisdom had long suggested the opposite.
nymag.com
Spiraling in San Francisco?s Doom Loop
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.
www.curbed.com
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
San Diego to open homeless camp sites at two parking lots near Balboa Park
The two lots could accommodate about 500 tents and would be an alternative to congregate shelters
www.sandiegouniontribune.com

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PO Box 156
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1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

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Email us at:
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