Unbundling Water Rights = Unrestrained Exploitation

When the appointments to the Nevada Drought Forum did not include anyone from Rural Nevada areas at risk of having our water taken, we in Rural Nevada were suspicious. Now we know why. The Nevada Drought Forum has recommended that we cast aside Nevada water law (that has served us for over a century) and start over with a new set of rules – which they call the “unbundling of water rights.”

Again and again we have seen in America that when the law doesn't allow the greedy to take what they want, the greedy try to change the law. They usually try to do this behind the scenes – with the least amount of democratic process. And they try to convince us this is all for our own good – by wrapping themselves in the “freedom” flag of “free” trade. But for decades now, we have seen that “free” trade has nothing to do with “fair” trade. Follow the money. The filthy rich are getting richer, and the rest of us are not.

Over a decade ago, we saw the world reject water privatization as an instrument for price gouging, anti-competitive behavior, corrupt practice, and fraud. But being discredited doesn't stop the greedy. They just repackage the scam, come up with new terms, and try to change the laws again.

It's blatantly obvious that “unbundling” of water rights is an intentionally obscure term for the commodification of water. And commodification is the key to unrestrained exploitation. With commodification there can be speculation. With speculation, expect high prices. But that's just the tip of the exploitation tsunami.

The Michael Young – Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions/Duke University report Unbundling Water Rights: A Blueprint for Development of Robust Water Allocation Systems in the Western United States proclaims that “the key difference between the current and proposed governance systems is the appointment of boards that take over many of the responsibilities currently undertaken by the courts.” Now think about that… an appointed board (The Nevada Drought Forum) recommends that appointed boards take over the duties of the courts. This “take over” implies that the greedy have been losing in the courts.

Repeatedly, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) has been losing in the courts in their attempts to take water from Rural Nevada with their Groundwater Development Project (The SNWA Watergrab). One of the primary reasons Nevada Courts have ruled against SNWA has been the potential detrimental effects on senior water rights holders. So; now we have an appointed board (The Nevada Drought Forum), essentially headed by SNWA General Manager John Entsminger, recommending that we effectively get rid of senior water rights and the courts. The implications are obvious.

But we don't have to speculate. Unbundling has been practiced elsewhere. There are examples worldwide. The Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report cites Australia as a successful example. But not everyone considers the “unbundling” of water in Australia to be such a success. In fact, ABC Australia reported that “The water market conspicuously failed to live up to the expectations of the National Water Initiative, driving down water storages in the Murray-Darling Basin to critically low levels at a time when conservation should have been paramount. The dire consequences for the environment, communities and economy of the Basin were clear for all to see… For eight long years the nation's most vital river was not allowed to flow into the sea.”

Now wait a minute. The Michael Young report repeatedly uses the word “robust” to define unbundling. They even define “robust” to mean; “that the resultant water rights, allocation, and governance systems are designed to work well during times of extreme stress.” Of course, they didn't define what “work well” means. Allow me to help. It appears “work well” in Australia's case means outside investors made lots of money.

A large number of offshore players have been quite active in Australia's water market. But the greedy have been keen on covering their tracks. Australian water law prohibits public access to details on water rights holders.

Back in the days of water privatization; foreign companies came in and bought up water companies and did a poor job of delivering water to consumers at hyper-inflated prices. Now, with unbundled water rights, foreign companies can simply buy up water rights and sell them back to consumers at hyper-inflated prices. The big difference is that now those companies don't have to deliver any water. All they have to do is speculate. In other words, unbundling is actually easier to exploit than privatization.

And what about the Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report that claims that unbundling will “improve environmental outcomes”? The claim sounds impressive, but there wasn't any explanation of how this would inevitably happen because of unbundling. Moreover, Adrian Walsh of the University of New England, in The Commodification of the Public Service of Water: A Normative Perspective, states: “Commodification will, in most cases, be at odds with commonly endorsed environmental values and will limit any government's ability to act in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner.” Admittedly, the Unbundling Water Rights report did mention that the environment could be protected if Nevada writes separate “plans” (laws) to protect the environment. But don't expect any significant environmental protections in a State with a Republican Governor, Senate, and House. (Of course, we didn't expect the Democrats to protect us either. The last Democratic candidate for Governor was a former head of SNWA.)

So, after Australia's environmental misery with unbundling, commodification's bad reputation, and no foreseeable responsible environmental legislation in Nevada; could Michael Young be whitewashing the potential environmental risks? It certainly looks like it. And if so, this casts doubt on the whole Unbundling Water Rights report to Nevada.

Michael Young recommends in the Unbundling Water Rights report that these new policies be “rolled out quickly” in Nevada. And why? So that we can be “leaders”. He also recommends that; “Rather than preparing a single integrated water resource bill for consideration by the Nevada's Legislature, it may be more appropriate to prepare separate bills”. And why? No reason given. These look like “Shock Doctrine” tactics – which are to wait for a crisis to ram through exploitative laws that benefit only the greedy. And if they separate these bills, it will be even more difficult for Nevadans to fight them.

Astonishingly, Nevada's State Engineers haven't simply waited for this “Shock Doctrine” water crisis. Actually, they have historically enabled it by over-allocating water rights in Nevada. In defense on the Nevada State Engineers, they haven't really had the political power to say no. But in places like Diamond Valley, where the USGS claims that sustainable use is about 35,000 acre feet per year, State Engineers have allocated 70,000 acre feet per year, and actual use may be as high as 100,000 acre feet per year! Disastrously, this water crisis was enabled by those who were supposed to protect us from this very thing.

It appears that Nevada bureaucrats have created a water crisis which our politicians are now being enticed to make worse by passing bills to further enable unrestrained exploitation.

...But it's even less democratic than that. The Michael Young Unbundling Water Rights report states: “Under existing legislation… the state engineer could declare a groundwater resource to be a critical management area and could require preparation of and implement a water resource sharing plan… the state engineer would appear to have sufficient authority to pilot test the proposed right system in the Diamond Valley and the Humboldt Basin.”

In other words, initially, we the people don't have any say in this comprehensive change in Nevada water law. Of course, the Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report explains that an election could be held after five years – where a majority of water rights holders could change things back to senior/junior water rights. But there isn't even a mention of any options for those with minority opinion. It's like the lamb and the pack of wolves voting on what to have for dinner. If senior water rights holders realize they've been taken advantage of; they likely won't be able to go to court, they will likely be in the minority in the valley, and if foreign speculators buy up junior water rights in their basin, senior water rights holders could eventually be in the minority to foreign water investors, hedge funds, or even big cities.

But the water users most likely to suffer from unbundling are the small family farms. Anthony S. Kiem's article Drought and Water Policy in Australia concludes; “there are also some significant limitations and the people and industries that are negatively impacted by water trading are hit hard.” And; “However, these benefits are limited to the larger, well-informed irrigators at the expense of the smaller “family farm” organizations”... I wouldn't vote for that. But nobody gets to.

In the Humboldt Basin, the Michael Young Unbundling Water Rights report recommends; “the existing authority (the 15-person Humboldt River Basin Water Authority) be disbanded and replaced.” Now I'm pretty sure no one on that existing authority voted to be reduced to an advisory position on a “community reference panel.” This takeover is unnecessary. It is effectively a coup d'état that seizes power away from local control and puts it in the hands of the State politicians and bureaucrats that got us into this crisis!

...But at least the former board of the Humboldt River Basin Water Authority will still have some input – unlike environmentalists and Native Americans – that didn't even get mentioned.

Of course, the Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report did include some good ideas. Nevada's water resource plan should:

• “Allow water account holders to carry forward as many unused water allocations as desired from one season to the next.”
• “Require all significant water use to be metered and recorded in a robust accounting system.”
• “Discourage intentional overuse by setting the penalty for a water account deficit of more than 21 continuous days at three times the cost of restoring the account to a zero balance.”

These are good ideas. But we don't have to unbundle water rights to accomplish them.

Nevada has been offered three spoons of sugar to go with our tainted Kool Aid.

We need to realize the obvious: The long-term answers to our water issues do not include selling it off to anyone who wants to buy it.

Allow me to speculate for a moment:

What if this “unbundling” process is really a surreptitious effort by the big cities to buy up Rural water rights for cheap? What if the big cities and the speculators have devised a way to copy the Los Angeles buy up of Owens Valley water by purchasing those water rights on the open market? What if this whole unbundling scheme is all a scam to force the hyper-exploitation of Rural Nevada?

For some unexplained reason, the Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report states; “Well written plans give priority to the water needed for conveyance.” And they define conveyance as; “water delivered to other systems or states”. This one statement reveals the blatant bias of this report. They want us to accept that water to be shipped out of a basin should have priority over water that stays in the basin. A basic understanding of sustainability dictates that exported water should have the lowest priority. One can't sustain an environment, or an economy, when the highest priority is shipping out the deserts' most valuable resource – water. So, why would Michael Young want to give priority to the water “needed” for conveyance? He didn't say. But maybe it has something to do with the financial support he received.

The Michael Young/Nicholas Institute/Duke University Unbundling Water Rights report was funded by:

• Bechtel Foundation – founded and funded by Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., co-owner of Bechtel Corporation. That's right, the company known for big engineering projects, including water pipelines. And most telling; the same Bechtel that was thrown out of Bolivia by rioting citizens for their privatized water company that was accused of price gouging and deficient water deliveries. 
  
  
  
• Pisces Foundation – works closely with Bechtel Foundation
• Walton Foundation – known to support ALEC (a corporate bill mill)
• Rockefeller Foundation – known for supporting big agricultural interests

These foundations have done many good deeds. Their general intentions are good. But there is no guarantee that these foundations are above reproach on every issue. These are not grass roots organizations. And it only makes sense that the best place to hide bad intentions is in an organization delivering on good intentions. Considered separately, these financial supporters (excluding the Bechtel Foundation) don't arouse many suspicions. However, when considered together (along with the unrestrained exploitation recommendations of the report), one might feel compelled to question the integrity of those who donated money to support this report – and of course, the integrity of those who wrote this report.

There is potentially big money in water – the 21^st century's oil.

Yet water is life.

We had better be very careful who's advice we take.

Our Post-Modern Parallel Universe

• Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
• Almost every civilization that has ever existed has collapsed.
• Some civilizations did not collapse because they adapted.
• The Internet is a tool capable of stimulating massive, rapid adaptation.
• If monopolies control the Internet, our civilization will be less capable of adapting – which could be disastrous on a scale we have yet to imagine.

Have you ever noticed how economists never seem to talk about science? Sure, economists have all kinds of technical looking charts and graphs. And they have a whole language of scientific sounding terms. But rarely do you hear them mention the pure sciences. It's as if economics is a separate study unaffected by the rest of the world. It's as if economics is a parallel universe – where only money matters.

And politicians aren't much better. They pretty much defer to the economists. 

On the other hand; real scientists (such as conservation biologist and Professor Emeritus of University of Arizona, Guy R. McPherson) have published books that warn of dire consequences of continuing on our path of environmental exploitation. Guy R. McPherson's book, Going Dark, even warns of a possibility of humanity's extinction by 2040!

There are conspicuous signs we are already straining the Earth's capacity to support us. We have already witnessed recent mass unrest worldwide due, at least in part, to lack of food – due, at least in part, to Global warming – due, at least in part, to human activities.

...And recently on The Cobert Report, Edward O. Wilson (one of the smartest scientists I know of) reminded us that humanity isn't just experiencing the Earth's sixth extinction event on Earth – we are the extinction event.

When legitimate scientists warn us that we could drive ourselves to extinction in the near term, we need to pay attention. But even though scientists have been warning us since the 1960's, humanity has not acted with real commitment.

Evidently, our money obsessed culture has tried to create a “parallel universe” society that doesn't reflect the actual world we live in – so that we won't have to face our planet's limitations. However, of course; pretending there is no precipice does not take it away.

In our dysfunctional society; it's not about the balance of life on the planet, it's about the balance sheets that tell us our profits and losses. We have become disconnected with our world, and yet we've somehow convinced ourselves we see a clearer view (on television, of course).

Far too many people have been convinced that our fossil fuel dependent economy matters more than our environment. But it is so blatantly obvious that every economy on Earth combined are just a subset of our planet's Environment.

Example: Our present economy relies heavily on fossil fuels. Through the main stream media, those who sell and use fossil fuels have conned us into believing our economy would collapse without them. So, we continue to burn fossil fuels. Now, scientists have found that we have consequently pushed the West Antarctica ice sheet past its tipping point – which guarantees a 10 foot sea level rise... NASA scientist Thomas P. Wagner has said; “This is really happening.”... “There's nothing to stop it now.” And NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot has said; “The system is in sort of a chain reaction that is unstoppable.” … And a 10 foot sea level rise pretty much guarantees a collapse of everyone's economies.

Nonetheless; one in four Americans take no stock in Global Warming. That's right, one in four Americans get their science education from advertiser supported main stream media “news.” What's astounding about this is that they have to wait for that “education” while watching countless advertisements from fossil fuel companies. Haven't they ever heard the term; “follow the money”? Though this is the epitome of gullibility, one in four Americans would rather believe that Global Warming is some sort of scientists' conspiracy than seriously concern themselves with cutting back on fossil fuel consumption.

Obviously, far too many of us simply don't want to know the truth.

The truth is just too depressing... and horrifically scary.

In the real world; every technological innovation humanity has ever invented has had (sometimes far reaching) consequences.

In the parallel universe; it's OK to build nuclear power plants, because somebody will soon invent a way to deal with all the nuclear waste.

In the real world; our planet has only a limited number of resources.

In the parallel universe; we can make out like bandits selling scarce resources.

In the real world; climate change is beginning to disastrously effect every place on the planet.

In the parallel universe; we won't have to wear jackets in the Winter.

In the real world; almost every civilization that has existed has collapsed.

In the parallel universe; our super-superior civilization cannot fail – no matter how hard we push it to the brink.

In the real world; the Earth is now in it's sixth great extinction event – and most of this extinction is human caused.

In the parallel universe; we can't know this – or we don't care to remember it.

In the real world; when you die, you rot.

In the parallel universe; if you pray to the right God, he will rescue you from the predicament humanity has created.

(Now wait a minute... God is going to save us from killing off all of his creations? If you believe that after destroying life on Earth – all of God's creations, we will be welcome in Heaven; then you really are thinking in a parallel universe.)

So...

What if the “sky is falling” scientists are right?

What if we are on the short road to extinction by going the direction we are headed?

Then we obviously need to change that direction.

We need to start thinking in the real world.

It has basically come down to; adapt or die.

(I'm reminded of the scene in the movie Blade Runner, where Eldon Tyrell, the insanely-rich oligarch, says to the engineered human; “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very, very brightly....”)

Blade Runner depiction of Los Angeles in the future

It may be that, in order to get where we are today, our civilization had to “break some eggs”. (In case you're not familiar with the quote; “If you want an omelet, you have to break some eggs.”)

Maybe we had to create an unstable society to nurture the innovations we have seen. Maybe our fatal weaknesses are unavoidable hidden consequences of our greatest strengths. Maybe intelligent life is its own greatest enemy. But then again maybe, if we accepted our predicament; we might change our behavior – and fix our problems.

Money is just a tool. All tools can be misused. But we have the capacity to learn how not to misuse our tools.

Humanity's extinction by 2040?

...We can do better than that.

But how?

...Not by thinking in an imaginary parallel universe – by honestly assessing our real world situation and creatively devising better ways to deal with it.

We need to work together. We need to notice everyone's ideas. We need to fix our systems and to develop new ones that work even better.

That's why the Internet is so important.

That's why the monopolization of the Internet might just be the hindrance that blocks us from fixing critical things – which could lead to humanity's extinction. 

So, why wouldn't everyone want net neutrality? Because if they can control the flow of information, they can make money for doing nothing.  

In the real world; life is full of predators, parasites, and swindlers. There are people who want us to think in their parallel universe. That's how they control us. That's how they enslave us. That's how they keep up their outdated multi-billion dollar income streams. That's how they crush better ideas. That's how they ruin our future.

Throughout history, there have always been scheming demons who have wanted to control others, to manipulate them, and to dominate their minds. These lying thieves want your wealth. They want you to be their part-time slave. They want you to fight and die for their exploits of greed. And they want you to think that they are your “friend.”

...But first of all, they want to control what you know.

They have controlled mass media ever since they monopolized print media over a century ago. But they don't have control over the Internet – yet.

 

Net Neutrality assures that the scheming demons can't buy their way into your mind.

Which is why the ISPs want to get rid of net neutrality – there's really big money in accessing your mind.

They tried to buy off Congress. But killing net neutrality was far too unpopular. So they tried taking their corrupt case to the corrupt Supreme Court. They won. But only if the FCC allowed them to sell access. They had that covered too. They had convinced President Obama to appoint an industry mole, Tom Wheeler, to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

President Obama's FCC chief is lying to us about his position on net neutrality. He is on the fast track to ignore the people, enrich the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and destroy the free flow of information humanity so desperately needs. 

Now would be a good time to urge President Obama to fire Tom Wheeler from the FCC. But we can only assume Obama, the first President elected by the Internet, wants this. He hired him. 

The good news is that individuals are not the only ones fighting this. Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, and Yahoo are on our side. We can win this... again. (And of course, they will try again... eternal vigilance...)

You only have a few more days to make a comment to the FCC.

To make a comment to the FCC: click here

...And if the FCC fails to act in the best interests of America and the world?

Then we need to build our own Internet. This isn't as hard as it sounds. We could connect in an open mesh network. Essentially, we could eliminate the need for ISPs. This is already being done in other parts of the world – for far less money, much better connection speeds, and better privacy from the NSA.

The ISPs have been overcharging us for connection to the Internet for too damn long. And now they're using our money to steal control over the Internet to ultimately charge us even more. What's worse, they may make it very difficult for small websites to be accessed. Essentially, the ISPs want to make the Internet like cable TV – devoid of fresh ideas.

We don't need the ISPs. They charge far too much. And we certainly don't want them to control what we know.

The information we share on the “neutral” Internet may include the tools to save our civilization – maybe even our species.

It's that important.

If We Really Want Net Neutrality...

The recent ruling by the Federal Appeals Court has been a death sentence for net neutrality. But there are two things we can do to bring it back.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not the Internet. They just provide a connection to the last mile – to the customer.

ISPs are actually the weakest link of the Internet. They charge ridiculously exorbitant rates to provide much slower service than offered in many other countries.

And now they want to charge even more...

Verizon sued to control the flow of the Internet, and they just won. Now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has no jurisdiction on the Internet. But this is not the final word – if we speak up.

Right now, we need to tell the FCC that they need to rewrite their regulations of the Internet – and bring back net neutrality. Click here to act.

...And if the FCC fails to act?

Then we need to build our own Internet. This isn't as hard as it sounds. We could connect in an open mesh network. Essentially, we could eliminate the need for ISPs. This is already being done in other parts of the world – for far less money, much better connection speeds, and better privacy from the NSA.

The ISPs have been overcharging us for connection to the Internet for too damn long. And now they're using our money to steal control over the Internet to ultimately charge us even more. What's worse, they may make it very difficult for small websites to be accessed. Essentially, the ISPs want to make the Internet like cable TV.

We don't need the ISPs. They charge far too much. And we certainly don't want them to control what we know.

Please Don't Frack Up Nevada

The BLM has announced that they are considering leasing almost 400,000 acres for drilling and fracking of oil.

As if the SNWA watergrab isn't bad enough...

Now they want to frack Nevada, including Steptoe Valley.

(Fracking in Wyoming)

Do you know how much water that's going to cost?

A 2009 report on fracking by the Groundwater Protection Council stated that “the amount of water needed to drill and fracture a horizontal shale gas well generally ranges from about 2 million to 4 million gallons...”

...That's just one well.

And what's in that fracking fluid? They don't have to tell us. Surreptitiously, they have finagled the legal right to put whatever they want to in fracking fluid without anyone ever finding out. Frackers could be putting their toxic waste in it, and we can't know. (Maybe that's why a U.S.G.S. survey found millions of barrels of fracking wastewater with radioactivity levels over 3,000 times the Federal limit for drinking water.)

Frackers have a history of polluting local groundwater, and then suing anyone who speaks up about their polluted groundwater.

...And in what is an insult to our "democracy" and a disgrace to America; billions of dollars of our tax monies are being squandered on subsidies for fossil fuel companies' exploitative and unsustainable projects – so that their monopolistic companies can be even more profitable. We're paying them to poison us! 


(Great speech. It points out that America's Congress has done everything within their power to give the fossil fuel industries billions of dollars of unfair advantages in the market - and continues to do so. Meanwhile, President Obama has also helped the fossil fuel industry - but talks tough on issues he can't personally change.)

What's worse; it's this way all over the world:

“Worldwide subsidies for fossil fuels remain six times higher than economic incentives for renewables”

Not only are the fossil fuel monopolies utilizing an unfair advantage to displace renewable energy in the market, fracking will displace traditional renewable industries (such as farming and ranching) in Nevada. There is only so much water. And what's left will probably be poisoned. A Cornell study has found numerous symptoms in cattle near fracking wells: “Reduced milk production. Gastrointestinal, neurological, and urological issues. Even sudden death.”

And the EPA recently stated, in report about water contanimnation in Pavillion Wyoming; “had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least ten compounds known to be used in frack fluids.” No doubt; fracking pollutes groundwater.

Drilling for oil is a very dirty job. Oil spills on land in the U.S. last year were cumulatively greater than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska back in 1989. That's right, the more than 6,000 spills that occurred in 2012 amounted to 15.6 million gallons of oil, fracking fluid, wastewater, and other liquids reported spilled at production sites last year. The Exxon Valdez only spilled 11 million gallons. The fracking companies may try to clean things up, but they won't ever be able to return things to their natural state and the spilled fluids have to go somewhere. Which means Nevada will end up with at least one toxic waste dump. No thanks.

And to top it all off; fracking causes earthquakes. The U.S.G.S. has reported that “the annual number of earthquakes recorded at magnitude 3.0 or higher in the Central and Eastern United States has increased almost tenfold in the past decade.” So, who's going to pay for the earthquake damage? I guarantee you not the fracking companies. They'll blame (an act of) God.

It's foolish to abandon sustainable ways for locals to make money (such as ranching, farming, and tourism) for a quick buck – for some far away oil company.

It's a foolish act to waste water in the desert. And poisoning water is wasting it.

The world has already reached peak water. The Earth Policy Institute has claimed that “18 countries (including the U.S.) together containing half of the World's people, are now overpumping their underground water to the point... where they are not replenishing and where harvests are getting smaller each year.”

...So don't be surprised if the same people who've invested in the companies that plan to pollute our water with fracking fluid intend to use their profits to buy up what remaining clean water rights that will exist and then sell our own water back to us (for a very big profit, of course).

This isn't Free Market Capitalism. This is Crony Capitalism. This is Monopoly Capitalism. And it's destined to fail. By now we can see it. An unstable system is inherently short-lived. And if a system can't correct itself, really bad things end up happening. Everything starts to fall apart. 

Eventually, Nevada's oil will run out. And when that happens, all we will be left with is polluted water (and not much of it), rampant illness, and an atmosphere we won't recognize.

Vast methane plumes have been spotted in the Arctic. The Earth's subterranean methane is now melting – and we cannot stop it. Methane is 20 times the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide is. The horror of our world being dangerously chemically out of balance may already be upon us. We may have already past a tipping point in Global warming that could have far more devastating results than our scientists have predicted. But even if we haven't, the fossil fuel industry is in high gear to make Carbon Dioxide emissions even worse.

This video is a couple of years old. But it points out the lies – that are even more blatant today.

 

It has become obvious that the greedy will risk the future of humanity, even the future of life on Earth... for billions of quick and dirty bucks. In this way; they are no better than organized thieves. In fact, I would claim this is what organized crime looks like in the 21st century. 

It may even be likely that this is what the beginning of the collapse of our civilization looks like. We can't seem to fix things. Consequently, our system is starting to fall apart. 

We cannot allow this.

I fear the BLM may only be a rubber stamp organization – that writes great reports. But we still need to participate in their comments by the end of July.

This is the link to the BLM preliminary Environmental Assessment.

Send your comments to the BLM. 

 

Clash Of The Titanic Bloodsuckers

In case you didn't notice; there have already been what are essentially five too-big-to-fail bank bailouts in the United States – and now there's another one planned into the U.S. budget. The big banksters have now moved beyond stealing from the poor, the middle class, the upper middle class, the young and the unborn. They're now after money from the sick, the elderly, and even other members of the oligarchy. 

 

The big banksters are now after a bigger piece of the Federal budget. With the recent sequester, the banking industry is poised to take taxpayer money from the military/industrial complex and the health “care” industry. This could get bloody. Maybe it already has.

...Oh, nobody told you that we're working on our sixth bank bailout?

Well, the term “bailout” is just so incendiary. So, they simply called the bank bailouts something else.

Of course, B.S. by any other name is still a smelly pile of bovine excrement.

Why would those in power want to lie to us?

Because they want to hide an injustice – being done to us.

Lies from our “leaders” are not to be taken lightly.

Thirty years of the LIE of “free market” capitalism has led to oligarchy control of America – and they are taking advantage of us in every way they can.

For more than three decades we have carelessly watched as our Nation's companies morphed into monopolies. There's been a constant stream of news reports about mergers, buyouts, takeovers, hostile takeovers, multi-billion dollar (bankrupting) lawsuits, over-regulation for the little guy, and even what is effectively “corporate anarchy” for the big guys.

Apparently, the way to win in our form of capitalism is to monopolize an industry, sell practically instant garbage (that has to be replaced often), and charge whatever the market will bear for it. Oh... And two more things, if you're particularly sleazy; get the laws changed to favor your business, and get as much taxpayer money as you can. And if your company screws up in spite of all those unfair advantages, be too-big-to-fail.

 

As you may have noticed; four major (monopolistic) industries control most of what happens in the United States. These industries are the too-big-to-fail banks, the military/industrial complex, the fossil fuel industry, and the health “care” industry.  

These four industries rely heavily on taxpayer and ratepayer monies. We're talking billions and billions of dollars – our dollars – for each of these industries – every year!

The recent sequester has cut into the profits of two of these industries; the military/industrial complex and the health “care” industry. And why? To pay down the National debt. But the mass media never seems to mention who's actually going to get paid. The “debt” is owed to the too-big-to-fail banks, of course.

Once you start to think about it, this sequester starts to look like another bank bailout. In fact, there are a number of what are effectively big bank bailouts we've had to endure:

Bailout #1 – the official bank bailout of 2008; TARP

Bailout #2 – the secret FED bailout; the printing of $16 trillion dollars to be loaned to the banks (including foreign banks)

Bailout #3 – the reduction of the prime lending rate to near zero to the big banks (so that they could borrow money for next to nothing – and pay out next to nothing to savings accounts) 

Bailout #4 – the $40 billion dollar a month FED buy out of bad mortgage-backed security debts 

Bailout #5 – the sequester

and now:

Bailout #6 – the proposed reduction of Social Security benefits

Of course, with the exception of TARP, the mass media won't call the big buck bank payoffs bailouts. Apparently, they're hoping we won't notice the money to pay down the National debt is money for big banks. Or at least they're hoping we won't notice until it's too late.

Which brings me to the latest distractions; the bombing of the Boston Marathon and the poison letters sent to President Obama and Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss). Both of these stories are very newsworthy. However, we can expect never ending coverage of these events. Which is a little curious. Because there isn't much we, as citizens, can do about them.

But on the other hand; we could work to stop the Social Security cutbacks. We were. Public resistance was building up against the austerity measures aimed at Social Security. And now; losing our Social Security is suddenly on the back burner in most people's minds. How convenient...

I'm not saying the banks are behind the terrorist attacks. However, the too-big-to-fail banks do spend a lot of money on advertising in mass media news. What does that buy them? Silence. The for-profit “news” corporations know the score. They better change the subject about Social Security, or they won't get paid.

But who else wants the bombings on the front page? Homeland Security, of course. I'm sure they weren't too thrilled about the sequester cuts. In fact, I'm sure they're already working overtime trying to get that money back.

It's quite likely that the rest of the military/industrial complex secretly cheered about the terrorist attacks too. They knew the American people weren't falling for the North Korea hype.

Let's face it; one little-bitty country with a couple of nuclear bombs isn't really a threat to us. Attacking America would just be “Assured Self Destruction.” We all know that if the U.S. wanted to, we could literally vaporize their whole little country. We all realize that the only way Korea would ever launch nuclear weapons on the U.S. is if they were desperately losing a war with us. In other words Korea's only practical use of nuclear weapons is as a last ditch act of defiance.

After the invasion of Iraq and the accusation by then President George Bush Jr. that North Korea was part of the “Axis of Evil,” you can't blame Kim Jong Un for being a little paranoid. So, what does America do? We yank his chain...

The U.S. conducted military exercises recently right near North Korea. They knew the new leader of North Korea would just have to say something about it. And then U.S. mass media jumped on his statements as a threat to attack us. And this all happens right about the same time as the sequester... Things like this don't just happen. This blatantly looks like a contrived threat to stop the Federal cuts. I think most Americans would concur. We were never fully convinced Korea was really a threat.

And then the Boston Marathon gets bombed.

How convenient...

Homeland Security faces funding cuts from the sequester – and suddenly there is this slaughter of the innocents. This “terrorist attack” just doesn't look that plausible.

Nonetheless at this point, when it comes down to National politics; it doesn't really matter who did it. Homeland Security will react to this just as if it were a false-flag operation. That's right; expect just what you saw with 9/11 (unending terrorism hype). What really matters is; this act of terrorism can be used as an excuse to get more taxpayer money. The Boston Marathon bombing will be used over and over again as an excuse to refund Homeland Security and the military/industrial complex. Never mind the fact that even before the sequestration cuts, with billions of taxpayer dollars funding anti-terrorist efforts; they failed to prevent it...

Homeland Security failed us. And they will be arguing that we reward them for that – with more taxpayer dollars.

And the military/industrial complex failed us in the Middle East. America now spends more on “Defense” than the next 12 countries combined – and we are less safe now than we were before we (for lack of a better word) invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. etc. Of course; what the military/industrial complex really wants is not more war, but more taxpayer dollars. Nonetheless; if that takes another war....

This all reminds me of a George Carlin quote on a bumper sticker I recently saw; “Fighting for Peace is like Screwing for Virginity.” 

(Guess what: Only the American public is going to have to suffer the austerity consequences of the greed of the Titanic Bloodsuckers. The Obama budget request already includes returning 80% of the sequestered military/industrial funding – already!)

As I mentioned earlier; there are four major monopolistic industries that run most of our country. I haven't spent much time on the health “care” industry. The recent austerity moves are most likely to hurt the profits of the health “care” industry. I pity the sick. But I don't pity the health “care” industry. We have the most expensive health care in the world and America ranks as the 40th country in life expectancy. Our health “care” industry has failed us also.

I also haven't mentioned the fossil fuel industry. But they are so big that even the banksters can't take their tax monies. In fact, they are so big that they can force America to run the Keystone XL pipeline across America to sell oil to foreign countries, so that they can raise their prices on us! Moreover, the fact that they secretly hold back renewable energy development so that they can continue to poison our air, land, water, and destroy the balance of our atmosphere - makes the fossil fuel industry the biggest failure to humanity in history! 

And the too-big-to-fail banks? Everybody knows the banksters have failed us. The takeover of America is just another hostile takeover for them. But they're not the only ones. This is just what monopolies do.

In the short run (shorter than our lifespans), the Titanic Bloodsuckers haven't failed themselves. They want to take as much money as they can get from the taxpayers and the ratepayers. In this, they've been very successful.

This isn't about terrorism.

This isn't about National Security.

This isn't about helping the sick.

This isn't about energy independence. (That would mean generating our own power.)

And this isn't about saving our economy.

This is about taking your money.

This is about taking you savings.

This is about taking your tax dollars.

This is about taking your wages before you ever even see them.

Our taxation system has become a racket – that just funnels our money to the biggest monopolies – who don't give us anywhere near our money's worth. But that wasn't good enough. Now they're cutting our government benefits, that we taxpayers pay for, to boost their profits. They're manipulating our money, so that eventually it will be virtually worthless. And they're driving down our pay, so that they can keep the profits for themselves.

President Obama stated in a recent speech:

“So to change Washington, you, the American people, are going to have to sustain some passion about this. And when necessary, you've got to send the right people to Washington. And that requires strength, and it requires persistence.”

After five years, it has become obvious that even the most powerful man on the planet, the President of the United States, can't get real change without the American people forcing the system to fix things.

Though President Obama's speech was about gun control (which I believe is mostly a distraction), it applies also to the budget. Social Security is about to be whittled away while the bloated and ineffective military/industrial complex is about to get almost all of our hard fought sequester cuts back – and the too-big-to-fail banks are going to get another bailout.

The Republicans are the Party of austerity.
But the Demcrats have become only the Party of less austerity.
Only the people will have to suffer austerity.
The Titanic Bloodsuckers will take all of the tax money you pay, and then want more.   
Please, don't be distracted.

To do nothing is to willingly become a slave to a dysfunctional system that will ultimately crash in upon itself.

Is It Illegal Water Banking Or Is It A Scam?

Because Nevada water law is so poorly written, Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) has been driven to make some horrible decisions. This has cost Southern Nevada water ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars – and may eventually cost them over 15 billion dollars. That could amount to; worst case scenario, (so far) of 100 dollars more a month ratepayers may have to pay for at least the next 50 years!

So, it only makes sense that we might want to consider some alternatives.

SNWA claims they have considered alternatives, when they paid CH2MHill and Black & Veatch millions of dollars to evaluate their options. (Click here to see the overview.) One might expect that, at that price, we would get a very thorough report. But that didn't happen. Some very good options never got considered:

1. Offshore Desalination – CH2M Hill did consider desalination, but only massive facilities right on the coast. Nobody wants that. On shore desal plants salt up coastline water, are vulnerable to tsunamis, are vulnerable to earthquakes, are vulnerable to sea level rise, are vulnerable to terrorism, are vulnerable to single point failures, and furthermore; they look like hell on the beach. Offshore desalination may be more expensive up front, but CH2M Hill never checked. One more thing; the price of desalination has dropped precipitously and desalination science is getting even better, even since this report (2008).
2. Fixing of leaks in California, Arizona, and Utah pipes and aqueducts – SNWA could fix water systems in other states for more water allocated from the Colorado River. Californians lose a massive amount of water to leaks and poorly designed rainwater management. CH2M Hill did consider water use efficiency, but only for Colorado River water. And it doesn't appear they considered lining aqueducts for water leaving the Colorado River.
3. Smart Breeding of California crops – SNWA could pay to develop the technology to breed crops that don't use as much water. Unlike genetically modified organisms, smart bred crops would be safe – even organic. And farmers wouldn't have to pay huge fees for GMO seeds to monopolistic companies like Monsanto. CH2M Hill did study vegetation management, which includes chopping down Nevada's forests (which bureaucrats call “treating”). But, somehow, they never considered developing low water use crops. (Too altruistic?)
4. Solar and Wind power – CH2M Hill did study increasing water efficiency at power plants. But photovoltaic solar and wind power generation use no water. SNWA lost a huge opportunity when they allowed Nevada Energy to build a natural gas (steam) power plant recently. CH2M Hill never even considered the possibility of giving Nevada Energy financial incentives to install solar or wind – which would have saved thousands of acre-feet of water every year. Nonetheless, the opportunity still exists with the Navajo Generating Station – a coal fired power plant that uses 34,000 acre-feet of water every year. This water buffalo power plant is now over 40 years old and solar power is now likely cheaper. But... apparently SNWA still uses the CH2M Hill report without this recommendation to make their decisions.
5. Buying farms – back in 2008, CH2M Hill ignored (then) State Senator Bob Beers' suggestion that SNWA buy up farms in California and use their water allotments. It wouldn't have taken that many farms and might have been much cheaper. But we'll never know how much cheaper from the report. CH2M Hill never even checked.
6. Real conservation for future residents – Admittedly, this was not in CH2M Hill's charter for this study to find new sources of water. But, if new residents and businesses to Las Vegas were not allowed to have water wasting luxuries such as pools, fountains, lawns, invasive trees (such as palm trees), etc., then almost all of the new residents' water could be recycled. SNWA claims that interior water use has virtually no loss. So, just by requiring real conservation for new construction, there wouldn't be a need for new water. (Unless, of course, the water isn't really intended for the Las Vegas Valley, and won't flow back to the Colorado River – which would mean the watergrab isn't really for Las Vegas – just to be paid for by them. But that's another story...)

The CH2M Hill evaluation report is horribly flawed. They went so far as to study bringing icebergs from the Arctic and piping in water from the Mississippi River, but ignored practical ideas. Now, why would they do that? I'm sure that CH2M Hill's highly paid engineers are smarter than that. It's as if this whole study was merely propaganda to make the watergrab look tolerable. It looks as if they just left out the good ideas.

Which brings us to the why. Why did CH2M Hill evaluate SNWA's water options? For the money, of course. And if the watergrab pipeline does get built, will CH2M Hill make even more money? We don't know yet for sure, but this report makes one think CH2M Hill believes they will.

So, can we trust CH2M Hill? Click here to see what happened in Orange County.

Can we trust SNWA? If you trust me, NO! The SNWA propaganda machine is full of lies. If you don't trust me yet, consider this; hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent. Heads would roll at SNWA if ratepayers found out that this money was wasted.

So, what can we do?

SNWA needs oversight.

It is very likely that SNWA management did not foresee the cost of desalination dropping like it did. And now they're going full speed ahead on a bad idea, because they can't admit how badly they predicted the future. I'm convinced there is a cover up. I've even called it Watergrabgate. But it could even be worse. Maybe this is all about the money instead. This could all just be a predatory loan scam.

Nevada has a Public Utilities Commission (PUC). This commission oversees power generation and fees. At one time, it really represented the public. Not so much anymore. But, at least it's better than nothing. Gross fraud, negligence, or criminal overcharging usually get noticed.

A bill has been introduced to the Nevada Legislature this year that would give the PUC oversight of SNWA. If you care about the environment – if you care about Rural Nevada's economy – if you care about exorbitant water bills; support this bill.

...and what if SNWA is just trying to bank Central Nevada water for later use? That's illegal by Nevada water law... But personally, I don't really see anything all that wrong with saving water for when we might really need it. If this is the case, let's change Nevada water law to reflect wise thinking. In fact, let's change Nevada water law to save water for when we really need it. 

This is a desert.