Over most of its forty-six year history, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has been most often associated with developers and urban sprawl. With few exceptions, agriculture was virtually exempt from CEQA review. The almond boom and a six-year drought changed everything. Today, farming is no longer surrounded by a holy aura. The farmer as corporate businessman is as much a part of the ag image as the family farmer […]
Search Results for: OID
OID Suit Sets Ugly Precedent
From the very beginning, the Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) lawsuit against board members Gail Altieri and Linda Santos stunk of intimidation by way of litigation. It was thus not much of a surprise when Stanislaus County Judge John Freeland ruled OID’s claims amounted, “to placing handcuffs on Defendants’ ability to effectively operate as duly elected members of the Plaintiff’s Board of Directors.” Among the more telling aspects of the case […]
OID: If it Looks Like a Duck
News that the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) is suing two of its own board members should surprise no one familiar with OID shenanigans over the past few years. Even after two long-tenured directors were booted out by an overwhelming majority last election, OID management and three remaining directors have stubbornly refused to change direction and face the realities of a new water world. OID shares some of its problems with […]
OID Program Fails Transparency Test Says Director
In the following statement released to local media, newly elected Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) board member Linda Santos says the OID On-farm Conservation Program has not been openly and adequately explained to the public. I ran for the Oakdale Irrigation District board to help bring transparency and accountability to the district, and I have spent tremendous effort to do just that. Keeping our community’s water local is essential. With too many […]
CEQA Gauntlet Tossed at OID Board Meeting
Tuesday’s meeting of the Oakdale Irrigation District’s Board of Directors was only predictable until attorney Howard Wilkins strode to the public speaker’s podium. Prior to that, the presence of new directors Gail Altieri and Linda Santos had already resulted in several 3 to 2 votes on issues ranging from staff salary increases to appropriate recognition for outgoing board members Al Bairos and Frank Clark. No one was surprised at the […]
More Trouble for OID
The beleaguered Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) got more bad news this week when attorneys for rice farmer Robert Frobose claimed OID had hired an engineering firm to address its redistricting problems without first soliciting competitive bids for the job. Earlier this year, OID was found in violation of state requirements to change district boundaries based on updated census results. In response to the problem, OID hired CH2M Hill. CH2M Hill […]
FPPC Investigates OID’s Bairos
When he learned it had conducted a secret water sale, Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini called the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) a “rogue agency.” Shortly thereafter, OID General Manager Steve Knell paid for two-thirds of the OP/ED page in the Modesto Bee to defend his actions. For reasons known only to themselves, Bee editors and management didn’t point out the space was bought and paid for. Buying good publicity is […]
Did OID Violate the Brown Act?
Rice Farmer Robert Frobose has served the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) with documents including, “a formal Brown Act Violation letter of complaint and supporting documentation.” The Brown Act guarantees the public’s right to attend and participate in public meetings. Frobose and many other farmers protested earlier this year when OID cut water allotments for senior members of the district even while delivering surface water to Tier II member Trinitas Partners. […]
Despite Sale, OID is Still Under Water
It was fascinating to read Janie Gatzman’s letter of support for the Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) water sale in Wednesday’s Modesto Bee. Alert readers will remember that late last June Gatzman wrote that farming “south of the Tuolumne River” had not caused, “significant impacts to downstream city wells.” Gatzman made her claim despite widespread knowledge of a huge cone of depression in the very area she claimed suffered no “significant […]
OID Admits Secret Water Sale
Ordinarily, all the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) needs to do to spin the news is have its $160 an hour PR firm prepare a press release which is then picked up by the Oakdale Leader and printed nearly verbatim. That strategy fell apart last Tuesday, when The Valley Citizen revealed OID’s secret water sale. Not much later, OID General Manager Steve Knell responded candidly when Modesto Bee reporter Garth Stapley […]