In his 1912 book The Yosemite, [John] Muir wrote: "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."CORRECTION: Originally, I'd written 90 feet. It's 90 meters.
November 5, 2012
Restoring Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite's twin.
San Francisco will be voting whether to drain the reservoir, revealing whatever's been under 90 meters of water for a century.
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35 comments:
" It now supplies most of the San Francisco Bay Area's water and some of its hydropower." and "Water so pure it is not filtered."
So, the plan is to put together an $8m study to create a plan to make a proposal to move the intake pipes across a fairly substantial piece of land to another dammed lake. And then to drain the lake and remediate it. In a state that's basically brok.
I predict a 100 year battle over the moving of the pipes. Best of all would be finding both an invasive species and an endangered species in the to-be-drained lake. That would be awesomeness in the enviro infighting. Wait, add some native American holy land and a watershed in the pipe moving area. Even better.
In the 30's this project could have been completed in a year.
-XC
What about the poor fish?
Do it!
Of course, I can bring bottled water when I visit.
What are they going to dam to replace it?
Watch. The state that wants to start high-speed rail in the boonies will blow up the dam first, then they'll try to move the pipes.
"Best of all would be finding both an invasive species and an endangered species in the to-be-drained lake. That would be awesomeness in the enviro infighting. Wait, add some native American holy land and a watershed in the pipe moving area. Even better."
I do so love it when the beast feeds on itself.
Yosemite Sam has a twin?
(reads article)
Never mind.
"Hetch Hetchy" does have a cartoonish ring to it.
If America is to ever prosper again, we're going to have to establish limits on the environmentalists. People ask why we can't do big things anymore. The environmentalists are one big reason. They can tie up any project for many years, ultimately adding nothing but massive costs.
"Blogger Larry J said...
If America is to ever prosper again, we're going to have to establish limits on the environmentalists. People"
You just don't understand. Not prospering again is a feature, not a bug. Haven't you heard Claire McCaskill boasting about how the depression has cut greenhouse gases ?
The greenies recently dropped their 'environmental' lawsuit against a new LA football stadium in exchange for some extortion $$$.
"We love the environment and hate your evil project and... what's that? A pile of money? For me?
Never mind. Project no longer evil."
I suspect that we'll see some basic SF hypocracy in the vote, Note, the Sierra Club which has advocated draining the lake for 100 years, now takes no position on it.
Yes, because we have so much water in this state, we can easily replace the Hetch Hetchy storage.
Even San Francisco liberals have their limits. Didn't the crazy local proposition to rename the sewage plant for George W. Bush fail?
Then again, for them, $8 million to study this foolish idea is just rounding error on the city budget.
We are so screwed.
Idiots. SF has some of the best drinking water in the country--why would they monkey with it? Idiots.
"When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember your original mission was to drain the swamp".
Google News Archive
24 January 1983, Florence (SC) Tiimes-Daily, “Reading Howard’s Mind” (Howard Baker—ed.) by William Safire, pg. 4, col. 5:
After all, if you can’t drain the swamp, you can at least shoot the alligators. (I have to collect more expressions like that; they’re colorful and quotable and add to that down-home, old-shoe image. But wait—do you suppose many environmentalists object to the shooting of alligators?)
If the valley has been under water for a century, a vast mudflat will be exposed when they remove the dam. Nothing to see here folks, just move along!
I like to go camping at Huntington Lake, another man-made lake at 7000' in the Sierras. The wind there is very regular and great for sailing. A couple of decades ago they drained the lake to remediate the bottom when they found a B-25 that had been missing since 1942.
Whose water is San Francisco planning to confiscate to make up for the loss of Hetch Hetchy?
"
11/5/12 3:44 PM
Blogger Hagar said...
Whose water is San Francisco planning to confiscate to make up for the loss of Hetch Hetchy?"
Maybe George Soros has invested in a new desalinization method. It would be just like him and Buffet to make a fortune on lefty stupidity.
Another one of those ideas that's up there with the captain of the Titanic telling the helmsman, "Hey, pull over! The ice machine just busted".
Yes, we will blow up all the blasphemous temples against the true god of environment!
I've often thought that Lake Powell/Glen Canyon Dam would make for a good place to undertake such a project. I'm far from a hard core environmentalist but building that was a mistake.
Hard to imagine that being done, in any case.
Hagar said...
If the valley has been under water for a century, a vast mudflat will be exposed when they remove the dam. Nothing to see here folks, just move along!
Depending on how they breach the dam a lot of that silt will be washed downstream.
Hey, what the hell? Dam it, drain it, whatever. We Amerikan Blacks and Hispanics never get to see Yosemite or Hetch Hetchy anyway. Yhey and all the other parks and forests of the West are nothing but White and Asian country clubs.
Best of all, sell them all to Ted Turner, who knows how to preserve wild lands, and use the funds to give our Black and Hispanic kids a future.
Sometimes when you make a mistake, the only way to make it worse is to try to undo it. It's gonna be a mess physically and legally for a long time.
"Note, the Sierra Club which has advocated draining the lake for 100 years, now takes no position on it."
Pussies.
"Sometimes when you make a mistake, the only way to make it worse is to try to undo it."
I would say not sometimes but rather, often.
Dammed lake is REALLY pissing me off.
Hate to have tell all the Gaia worshipers that after being submerged for a century it ain't no Yosemite anymore, and it won't be for a very, very long time.
But at least we don't need the water and power!!
I can see Green on Green on Green on Green fights. Let. The. Rumble. BEGIN!
Douglas Brinkley in his book The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America wrote that Pres Theodore Roosevelt approved the Hetch Hetchy Dam because John Muir opposed TR's stand on hunting.
jimbino said...
Hey, what the hell? Dam it, drain it, whatever. We Amerikan Blacks and Hispanics never get to see Yosemite or Hetch Hetchy anyway. Yhey and all the other parks and forests of the West are nothing but White and Asian country clubs.
eat your heart out.
If San Francisco actually votes for this folly, and starts taking steps towards removing the dam, I wonder if Tuolumne County (where the dam is located) could sieze the dam under eminent domain proceedings.
@jimbeaner
When Romney becomes president he's gonna conscript all the black people into the Navy. The plan is to skin em and use 'em as wet suits.
How can we get more Mexicans to visit the national parks? Build a Home Depot, they will come.
We can also show 'em pictures of all the untagged walls.
Why don't black people visit national parks more? No Obamaphone service.
You wanted racist well, you got it.
No STFU ya' retard.
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