No Temperance Flat Dam is needed
Will there ever be enough dams on the San Joaquin River? Apparently not in the opinion of The Bee (editorial, Dec. 4).
The so-called Temperance Flat dam would flood miles of a scenic gorge up from the Millerton reservoir. It would flood miles of popular recreation area and habitat for wildlife. It would also destroy two power stations and homes.
The Bee makes an unfounded assumption that the rains will come back. The loss of precipitation for five years running may be the new norm. And building one more expensive dam will not squeeze more water out of a dry sky
. At $3.5 billion, neither The Bee nor its advocates can guarantee that this dam would save water-thirsty farms in the Valley. We can make better use of the $7.5 billion approved for water infrastructure projects in the passed statewide bond issue. But then, water is always more a political issue than an economic one.
Larry Miller, Fresno
This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "No Temperance Flat Dam is needed."