In 1965 congress approved completion of the Auburn Dam. Construction began in 1968. The river canyon was carved on both sides to anchor the dam, by-pass tunnels were constructed and a huge cofferdam was built to divert the water. The dam was originally designed to be completed in 1970. Then there was an earthquake nearby, which scared everyone. The environmental lobby seized the day. The Auburn Dam project came to a screeching halt.
It’s a really good thing we didn’t build that dam, because now we would have 2.8 million more acre feet of water available. Just think of the environmental damage from that. Why there would be no justification for building enormous tunnels designed to divert even more Northern California water to La La land.
Some naïve and irresponsible people, like Tom McClintock, think we should take another look at building the Auburn Dam. How stupid can you get? This makes me think that perhaps, gasp, McClintock might have been negatively influenced by the story of Joseph in the Bible. How could we possibly trust a politician who read the Bible? Ok, Joseph did warn Pharaoh that there were good times and bad times and that Pharaoh needed to store up grain during the good times. Perhaps that did save a lot of lives, but at what cost. Just think about all the environmental damage from building all those storage facilities. In addition, what kind of population control is that? It’s not like ancient Egyptians could have solved the population problem by giving away free abortions.
I know there are some misguided people who believe that California actually has enough water if we found a way to store it instead of watching 70% of it just flow into the ocean. How short sighted can you get? The obvious solution is for the state to monitor how long people take in the shower.
This summer, when you are taking your weekly shower with one gallon of water under close supervision by Governor Brown’s water Nazi corps take a moment to thank the environmental activists who made this all possible. When you find the cost of groceries has doubled and the average grape starts to look like a raisin, thank them for that too. When you start paying $5 a gallon for gas because of the increased gas taxes needed to fund the high speed rail between Modesto and Fresno, well you know who to thank.
Just think of how awful it would be if the Auburn Dam had been built. Salmon in the American river would have to learn how to swim in all that fresh, cold water. People would be expected to shower again. We would be inundated with noise from lawnmowers cutting all that green stuff. We might even be forced to eat fresh vegetables again. All of this would be proof positive of global warming and the need to cut greenhouse emissions.
It’s a good thing we didn’t build the Auburn Dam, because that would be a Dam shame.
TDM