Private companies could make a profit by selling water back to the public under a little-noticed provision in California's $11.1 billion water bond. In a state where water is an especially precious resource, this provision may become controversial as it goes before voters in 2010.... [A]ccording to the San Francisco Chronicle, the bond allows for the creation of joint powers authorities who "may include in their membership governmental and nongovernmental partners that are not located within their respective hydrologic regions in financing the surface storage projects." "The bond basically spreads the cost over the state of California. This puts us in a position of having general taxpayers subsidizing at least some profits for a private corporation. And that's not right, especially at a time when we have huge budget deficits," said Mark Schlosberg, Western regional director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit organization in Washington.... The bond provides for the formation of what are known as joint powers authorities - usually a coalition of public entities that pool resources for projects they probably couldn't do, or couldn't afford to do, on their own. The water bond, though, specifically allows for the creation of joint powers authorities that "may include in their membership governmental and nongovernmental partners that are not located within their respective hydrologic regions in financing the surface storage projects." Read more...
[A]ccording to the San Francisco Chronicle, the bond allows for the creation of joint powers authorities who "may include in their membership governmental and nongovernmental partners that are not located within their respective hydrologic regions in financing the surface storage projects."
"The bond basically spreads the cost over the state of California. This puts us in a position of having general taxpayers subsidizing at least some profits for a private corporation. And that's not right, especially at a time when we have huge budget deficits," said Mark Schlosberg, Western regional director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit organization in Washington.... The bond provides for the formation of what are known as joint powers authorities - usually a coalition of public entities that pool resources for projects they probably couldn't do, or couldn't afford to do, on their own. The water bond, though, specifically allows for the creation of joint powers authorities that "may include in their membership governmental and nongovernmental partners that are not located within their respective hydrologic regions in financing the surface storage projects."
The bond provides for the formation of what are known as joint powers authorities - usually a coalition of public entities that pool resources for projects they probably couldn't do, or couldn't afford to do, on their own. The water bond, though, specifically allows for the creation of joint powers authorities that "may include in their membership governmental and nongovernmental partners that are not located within their respective hydrologic regions in financing the surface storage projects."
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Possibly related lesson:
IRR Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
State records show Walmart paid $22.6 million in cash last year for the right to claim $33.6 million in energy tax credits. The cash went to seven projects, including two eastern Oregon wind farms and SolarWorld's manufacturing plant in Hillsboro. In return, Walmart profits $11 million on the deal because that's the difference between what it paid for the tax credit and the amount of its tax reduction. The loser in the transaction is Oregon's general fund -- which pays for public schools, prisons and health care programs -- because the state is out the full $33.6 million in tax revenues. Read more...
The loser in the transaction is Oregon's general fund -- which pays for public schools, prisons and health care programs -- because the state is out the full $33.6 million in tax revenues.
Possibly related history:
S.Res. 98, 1997 S. 280, 2007, Lieberman, HRC, Collins, Durbin, Lincoln, McCain, Nelson, Obama, Snowe instead of REDD Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
It is logical for such tax credits to be taken over by companies that are rich - you need companies that do pay tax bills for the taxcredits to have any value, and it is logical to pay less for a tax credit that you will be able to use only later. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
En deuxième lieu, le Conseil a jugé que l'importance des exemptions totales de contribution carbone étaient contraires à l'objectif de lutte contre le carbon réchauffement climatique et créaient une rupture d'égalité devant les charges publiques. (articles 7, 9 et 10). this contribution (articles 7, 9 and 10). --Décision n° 2009-599 DC du 29 décembre 2009 Decision No. 2009-599 DC of December 29, 2009
How Limousine Liberals, Oligarch Farmers and Even Sean Hannity Are Hijacking Our Water Supply - By Yasha Levine - The eXiled
A group of water oligarchs in California have engineered a disastrous deregulation and privatization scheme. And they've pulled in hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars without any real public outrage. The amount of power and control they wield over California's most precious resource, water, should shock and frighten us -- and it would, if more people were aware of it. But here is the scary thing: They are plotting to gain an even larger share of California's increasingly-scarce, over-tapped water supply, which will surely lead to shortages, higher prices and untold destruction to California's environment.
NASA Satellites Can See California's Wealth Transfer All The Way From Space - By Yasha Levine - The eXiled
That much water would be enough to keep the taps and toilets flowing for half the people living in America for a year. And, in terms of cash-money, it's worth many billions of dollars. At the most conservative estimate (using the rate at which California's water officials buy back water from farmers), it amounts to something like $6 billion. But it could go all the way to a hundred billion if the state's dry spell persists. And because NASA says that most of the pumping happened on the south-western edge of the Central Valley, all those billions have been going to the richest corporate farmers in California, the kind of farmers who commute to work at the crack of dawn on their personal jets while getting briefed by their financial advisers on a plan to scrap their farming operations and transition into water trading full time. Because selling taxpayer-subsidized water back to the masses at a markup has been the easiest money they ever made.
Assembly Budget Committee Chairwoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, said the state should seek a federal guarantee for its bond debt. That would mean the federal government would ensure people who buy the state's bonds that it would repay them in the event California could not. That idea was dismissed last year by leaders in Washington. Spending that money, which already has been approved by voters, could create "thousands and thousands of jobs, and it would do it now," she said. Read more...
