[env-trinity] Article Submission: California Water Restrictions MUST Include Big Ag, Big Oil and Nestlé!

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/09/1376701/-California-Water-Restrictions-MUST-Include-Big-Ag-Big-Oil-and-Nestl
California Water Restrictions MUST Include Big Ag, Big Oil and Nestlé!

by Dan Bacher
The mainstream media and state officials have for years tried to  
portray California as the "green" leader of the nation. In reality,  
California suffers from some of the greatest environmental degradation  
of any state in the nation, since corporate agribusiness, the oil  
industry and other big money interests control the majority of the  
state's politicians and exert inordinate influence over the state's  
environmental policies.
California is currently in a state of emergency, with NASA scientists  
saying that California has only about one year of water left in  
reserves, according to Food and Water Watch. This is largely due to  
the gross mismanagement of California's reservoirs, rivers and  
groundwater supplies, during a record drought, to serve the 1 percent.
California Governor Jerry "Big Oil" Brown's recent water restrictions  
on cities and counties are woefully inadequate. Big agribusiness, oil  
interests and bottled water companies continue to deplete and pollute  
California's precious groundwater resources that are crucial for  
saving water.
It's clear that the severity of this drought calls for much more than  
just individual action like cutting back on showers.
Sooner or later we have to stop subsidizing corporate agribusiness,  
growing almonds and other export crops on toxic land, soil that should  
have never been irrigated, with cheap water and other subsidies. The  
idea of big corporate growers "suffering" during the drought is a  
classic example of the "Big Lie" that has been spread by agribusiness,  
the Brown administration and Big Ag Astroturf groups.
At  a press conference in Sacramento on April 8 after meeting with  
water agency and agribusiness leaders, Governor Brown said that the  
"key is to get the water and not point fingers" during the drought.
Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta,  
responded, "We have already sent a tweet asking him get the water for  
whom? Westlands? Paramount Farms?"
Natural Resources Secretary John Laird claims that "everybody is a  
soldier in the fight" to address the drought. Yes, everybody except  
those planting almonds in the drought!
According to the "On the Public Record blog (http://onthepublicrecord.org 
), almond acreage in California has expanded by 70,000 acres, a total  
of 280,000 acre feet per year of new water demand:
"I have marked the almond acreage at the beginning and end of the  
2006-2009 drought (700,000 acres at the beginning, 810,000 acres at  
the end). At the beginning of our current drought, almond acreage was  
870,000 acres. In 2013, after two years of drought, it was up to  
940,000 acres. It looks like the 2014 California Almond Acreage Report  
comes out at the end of April (here’s 2013). I will be excited to see  
a new total acreage.
Let’s make this all explicit. Since this drought began, almonds have  
expanded by 70,000 acres. That’s 280,000 acft/year of new water demand  
for a snack that will be exported. That water will come from  
groundwater or from other farmers. At the same time, the California  
EPA is literally telling urban users to take five minute cold showers.  
If there is a lot of new acreage in 2014 and 2015, it is going to be  
difficult for the Brown administration to stay friends with them."
You can take action NOW to stop corporate agribusiness, big oil  
companies and Nestle and other bottled water companies from depleting  
California's precious water supplies during a record drought by going  
to: https://secure3.convio.net/fww/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2011&s_src=taf_sp&sp_ref=113679618.63.12411.f.50225.4
On March 20, environmental and human rights activists, holding plastic  
“torches” and “pitchforks,” formed human barricades at both entrances  
to the Nestlé Waters bottling plant in Sacramento at 5:00 a.m.,  
effectively shutting down the company's operations for the day. To  
read the complete story, go to: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/27/1373887/-Activists-Shut-Down-Nestl-Water-Bottling-Plant-in-Sacramento

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