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OPINION: California Must Address Vital Infrastructure Needs

There is a cycle to the conversation about infrastructure and how to pay for it. And it goes like this in California: A few politicians say that infrastructure — roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, dams and more — are the lifeblood of economic prosperity. Editorial boards point out that Gov. Pat Brown and the Legislature of his era helped make California an economic power by investing in the massive California State Water Project and highways, and by making the University of California system the best in the world.

 

Record January-February Rain Total For Sacramento

The rain that fell in Sacramento added up to a record when the months of January and February were combined. The drenching that Sacramento experienced last month strained creeks and caused some flooding, but February was not the wettest on the record. A total of 8.04 inches fell in Sacramento in February. Other wet Februaries occurred in 2000 (8.93 inches) and 1986 (10.30 inches). If not for a weeklong dry spell late in the month, those marks might have been surpassed. But when the extremely wet January 2017 (9.85) is combined with the very wet February 2017 (8.04), the combined two-month total is a record 17.89 inches.

VIDEO: Oroville Dam Spillway Devastation, Ruined Hillside, Clogged River Revealed After Water Flow Is Stopped

A helicopter tour over Oroville Dam and the Feather River on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, reveals the dramatic extent of damage suffered by the spillway, the adjacent hillside scoured down to bedrock and the streambed of the Feather River piled with rock and other debris by dangerous high flows that nearly caused catastrophe beginning on Feb. 12. A series of storms filled Lake Oroville and taxed the dam’s main and emergency spillways, while causing widespread flooding and evacuations downstream.

Snowpack Levels Surge In The Sierra Nevada, Helping To Power California Out Of Drought

Plunging the long, metal rod into the snow beneath his feet in the mountain town of Phillips, state snow survey chief Frank Gehrke measured the Sierra Nevada snowpack Wednesday not against California’s recent, historic drought but against its biggest rain years. “It’s in the top two or three, three or four snow accumulations for March,” Gehrke said, standing on a 9-foot-high pillow of fresh powder Wednesday morning.

 

California’s Cap and Trade Auction Another Washout

February’s quarterly auction of carbon dioxide emission allowances under California’s cap and trade program was another financial washout for the state. Results for last week’s auction were posted Wednesday morning, revealing that just 16.5 percent of the 74.8 million metric tons of emission allowances were sold at the floor price of $13.57 per ton.


Debate Rages Over Whether Heavy Rains Could Trigger More California Earthquakes

Could the torrents of rain that have recently soaked California trigger an earthquake? The science is mixed. Heavy rainfall can spark earthquakes, according to one scientist, and with a winter marked by moisture-packed storms, California should be prepared. “If water enters a fault, especially under high pressure, it lubricates the fault and can push it open and make it easier for it to move, causing an earthquake,” said Gillian Foulger, a professor of geophysics at Durham University in the United Kingdom.

OPINION: Here’s Who Should Get The Bill For Oroville Repairs

As you are probably aware, on Sunday, Feb. 12, the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway almost eroded away. This caused more than 180,000 people to evacuate the area immediately. If the wall above the emergency spillway failed, it would have been catastrophic and could have caused many to lose their lives. Fortunately, this did not happen.

California Faces $50B Price Tag For Flood Control Fixes

California faces an estimated $50 billion price tag for roads, dams and other infrastructure threatened by floods such as the one that severely damaged Oroville Dam last month, the state’s natural resources secretary said Wednesday. Nearly 200,000 people living near the country’s tallest dam were evacuated three weeks ago amid fears of a catastrophic flood after a chunk of concrete tore out the main spillway following heavy rains.

Water Rule Rollback Gives Growers What They Wanted From Trump

To hear John Duarte tell it, farmers knew the cavalry was coming to their rescue on election night. It’s one reason agricultural areas voted heavily for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Trump ordered his new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, to scale back the agency’s interpretation of the Clean Water Act. The 1972 law is widely credited for reversing the decline in drinking water quality nationwide by controlling pollution to navigable waters.