January 2014

The great danger to California from fracking is earthquakes

 and "There Will Be Graft" (even as there already has been).
Even right here in the former Gateway to Yosemite, and new Home of UC Merced.
Our state assemblyman, Adam Gray, D-Merced, did not just vote for the fracking-regulation-that-is-not, he proudly announced he was "a principle co-sponsor" of the bill. 

California plumbing in drought ... again

 The two articles below discuss the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River. We will link the two by recalling a comment made about a decade ago by Bill Jennings, then the head of Deltakeepers. Former California Gov. Gray Davis had recently announced “peace on the river,” a new arrangement for sharing out all the water in the Colorado River before it gets to Mexico, but one that gave a little more to upstream states and less to Southern California.

The wolf comes trotting out of Congress

 We often thought, in our thought-limited way, that Chomsky’s sentences ran on a clause or two long, so we were glad to see the following because it equated with our own sentiment about the cuts in food stamps and unemployment benefits: That’s bleeped! -- blj
 
1-9-14
CommonDreams
Chomsky Describes US Domestic Policy in Two Words: 'Pure Savagery'
Cuts to food stamps and jobless benefits predictable result of 'neoliberal assault' on American people
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

Now our drought is official

 Some environmental groups expressed concern that fine print in Friday’s drought declaration could lead to disruptive changes in how water is distributed. For instance, the drought declaration directs the State Water Resources Control Board to “immediately” consider petitions that would consolidate “places of use” for water diversions now held separately by the State Water Project and the federal government’s Central Valley Project.

Rachel Maddow earthquake/fracking link

Wandering beyond our immediate concern with earthquakes near the Monterey Shale Formation, promoted as a new bonanza for hydraulic fracturing well-injection technology, we'd like to refer you to a segment of the Rachel Maddow Show last week that focuses on a small Texas town near Fort Worth wracked by earthquakes that citizens believe are the result of nearby fracking. -- blj

Astrofracking

As fine and example of open-minded, balanced journalism as ever a newspaper founded on a mining fortune could offer. The question this article raises is: how much like sand is public opinion if it is consistently treated like sand to be molded into more plutocrats' castles? -- blj
 
1-24-14
San Francisco Chronicle
Sustainable Fracking? For Real?...Sara Murphy, The Motley Fool