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The BDCP Propaganda Mill is at again. Is there no shame?

by Burt Wilson, Public Water News Service
This article turns out to be a shameless example of water agency propaganda--the kind the Bee loves to print--turgid prose loaded with assumptions designed to throw a scare into people. I'm really surprised the Bee actually printed it.
220px-burt_wilson_2008.jpg
The BDCP Propaganda Mill is at again. Is there no shame?

by Burt Wilson, Editor and Publisher, Public Water News Service, bwilson5404 [at] sbcglobal.net,

"If you can get them to ask the wrong questions, then the
answers don't really matter."
--Old Political Maxim

Nothing is more truthful in politics than the above quote. In fact, this constitutes the entire propaganda base upon which the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) was built. By withholding the truth of what the use of the proposed Delta tunnels are really for and only dishing out misleading platitudes, the public, held in sway by such propaganda, will always be asking the wrong questions. Thus, whatever answer NRC Deputy Secretary Jerry Meral gives to a public comment doesn't really matter.

A good example of Meral's dishing out propaganda was published in the Sacrament Bee last Sunday in the Forum section. Let's see what Jerry said and compare it to the truth.

MERAL: "California has an extraordinary opportunity to make its water supplies safer and more secure."

TRUTH: Northern California's water supply is both safe and secure. It's southern California that wants to grab NorCal's water. By talking about a "safe" and "secure" water supply, Mr. Meral hopes to put fear in the public's mind which decodes such talk as "If I'm not for the tunnels, water might not come out of my tap." Fear-mongering is one of the basics of all propaganda campaigns.

MERAL: "A so-called "atmospheric river" storm and flood event, which occurs about every 150 years, would result in the long-term permanent loss of the Delta as a water supply for much of the state."

TRUTH: More fear-mongering, intimating that the water supply is in jeopardy. Well hell, when the Edmonston Pumping plant pumps water over the Tehachapies to LA, it crosses two major and one minor earthquake faults--one of which is the San Andreas Fault. An earthquake there could immediately disrupt the water supply "for much of the state."

MERAL: "The last such event was 151 years ago."

TRUTH: This is intended to make people think "Holy Cow! It could happen any day now!" But carefully missing are similar potential disasters (see above) that could also affect the water supply, but not necessarily occur in the Delta.

MERAL: "By the end of this century (2099!), climate change could cause the sea level in the Delta to rise by almost 5 feet. It will become virtually impossible to maintain the levees..."

TRUTH: Make note of Dr. Meral's use of the word "could." This word denotes a lack of certainty. The BDCP plan is full of concocted assumptions such as this. Using it means Dr. Meral has no idea what he's talking about! Such impotent threats like this shows the BDCP has no shame! And no respect for the people of California.

MERAL: "If the Delta levees [given some kind of disaster] could not be repaired, economic damages would exceed $10 billion per year until a water transfer facility could be completed."

TRUTH: Again, the wicked "would" and "could"--pure assumptions pulled out of the air. This Bee article is turning out to be one scare tactic following another and all are nothing but assumptions designed to scare people into supporting this boondoggle.

MERAL: "No one knows precisely when a catastrophic event might occur..."

TRUTH: Well, he got that right!

This article turns out to be a shameless example of water agency propaganda--the kind the Bee loves to print--turgid prose loaded with assumptions designed to throw a scare into people. I'm really surprised the Bee actually printed it.

Actually, the Bee printed an opposing view by Gregory S. Weber, professor of law and the director of the graduate and professional water resources law program at the University of Pacific School of Law. It seems Weber doesn't trust the BDCP. He writes, "I don't question the bona fides of the BDCP team. I do not believe that it is obfuscating by burying us in paper. "Trust us" is the message (the BDCP) intended. Instead, that intended message seems simple: 'The problems are complex and serious; (the people should) spend billions of dollars to try to fix them in the ways we propose.'"

Of course the real problem is that the people of California will not be allowed to vote on this boondoggle. The "fix" is in from the Governor's office on down the line. After reading the kind of propaganda the water agencies and the BDCP put out, I'm inclined to believe that the reams of paper they churn out are nothing but a chimera, distributed with the fervent hope that the people won't catch on.
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