Today’s Bee editorial shows the Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration moving along (a most important recreational addition to California and significant as it involves removing a dam to accomplish it) and we couldn’t be more pleased to see this wonderful project approaching implementation.
Here is an excerpt.
Editorial: Hetchy, almost hatched
State's review to surface at campaign time
Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, June 17, 2006
Word is that state officials have authorized the printing of the long-awaited study of the feasibility of restoring Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley.
The great naturalist John Muir considered Hetch Hetchy to be the smaller twin of the magnificent Yosemite Valley. But this treasure has been underwater for 83 years, thanks to a dam on the Tuolumne River that created a reservoir to serve the San Francisco Bay Area. This upcoming study by the Schwarzenegger administration will review some intriguing ways to store this same water supply outside this stunning setting. If those options work, a wonderful deal may be in the offing. The Bay Area keeps its water; Yosemite gets back its stunning glacial valley.
This is precisely the kind of outside-the-box thinking that, at the beginning of his term, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to relish. But this is now the political season of a re-election campaign. His campaign handlers may be tempted to revert to cautious behavior.
The inundation of the Hetch Hetchy Valley was arguably the most contentious environmental decision that Congress made in the 20th century. Talk of undoing the deed, even preliminary talk, has prompted hyperventilation from San Francisco and wild charges of a Southern California conspiracy to steal their water.
Puhleeze. The key instigators here are some key Northern California water leaders in the Legislature who are seeking new and better information about options for Hetch Hetchy.
So what is a governor who likes to think big -- yet wants to keep his day job -- to do? Here's hoping it will be obvious.
One side wants a new set of accurate facts to better understand the true costs and benefits of creating a Yosemite with two valleys. The other side doesn't want new facts and prefers to consider things settled as of 1913, when Congress approved the Hetch Hetchy dam. Neither side should be afraid of facts. (Sen. Dianne Feinstein, are you listening?) Neither should Schwarzenegger (nor Phil Angelides, for that matter).
We have grown excited about the possibilities for restoring Hetch Hetchy because of some potential flexibility in the Bay Area's water system. Hetch Hetchy is but one of nine reservoirs in the system. Either by expanding others, maximizing their use or storing water underground, the same supplies may continue to be captured as Hetch Hetchy gets reclaimed.
