Western U.S. needs water and Eastern states have too much. Simply pipe the extra westward

Reader’s solution to water crisis

It is possible to use power generation technology to resolve the Western water crisis.

Tunnel boring machines can create reinforced concrete water tunnels for about $100M per mile. A 30-foot ID tunnel flowing 20 FPS carries about 2/3rds the average flow of the Colorado River. Mississippi River water (and that from other flood-prone rivers) can be moved into the West & Midwest water basin areas. An 800-mile tunnel from Mississippi to Colorado could supply water to the depleted Ogalala Aquifer in Oklahoma and replace much of the agriculture usage of the upper Colorado Basin.

This $80 Billion project over 5-10 years would be equivalent to only about 1% to 2% of the U.S. military’s annual budget. Movement of the water can be achieved by siting new 60% high efficiency powerplants approximately every 50 miles along the tunnel route. Their normal plant cooling water pump load can be used to propel the water westward after using it for cooling. The intervening ground serves as a radiator, the tunnel eliminates evaporative losses. Terrain elevation changes present opportunities for both energy storage and low-head hydro generation.

There is no new technology needed to achieve any of this, just the will to do so.

Questioning Bredefeld on rants

I was two teaspoons into my breakfast yogurt when I read a fresh rant from Councilman/psychologist(!) Garry Bredefeld in a recent Bee. Like a diminutive Moses descending the mountain, tablets in his arms, Bredefeld thundered: “California will become a statewide slaughterhouse for the innocent and defenseless unborn.”

Moses — excuse me, Bredefeld — cares passionately for all six-week zygotes. What about women and young girls raped and impregnated by their fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, grandpas, strangers? What has Bredefeld, this valiant warrior for “life,” done lately for them?

Chiding mayor over his PP veto

Look out, Fresno mayor, your misogyny is showing. How dare you veto the $1million grant to Planned Parenthood. How dare you!

What were you thinking? Oh wait, religious dogma doesn’t support rational thought. If you had actually taken the time to read, (reading — a concept!) you would have seen that abortion is just one of many vital health-care services provided to underserved communities of women, who vote, by the way.

Apparently, in your zeal to oppress and subjugate women, you would condemn them to die from undiagnosed and thus untreated cancers of the cervix, uterus, and breast.

Your bigoted religious beliefs have no business in the public domain. This is a deal breaker; do not be surprised when you won’t even be able to be elected dog catcher in this city in the future. Your political career is over!

Trump vs. Clinton: comparing debacles

If we must compare the “Clinton Debacle” to the “Trump Fiasco” let’s do so.

Hillary Clinton “illegally” used her private email account while secretary of state to conduct official business, and in doing so may have exposed classified information to anyone spying on her account; then thousands of those emails disappeared.

Citizen Trump “illegally” took hundreds of documents, including extremely sensitive, top secret to the upmost classified of secret materials, including information on our foreign spy network, to his home in Florida. We don’t know yet who has seen or been shown these materials, or for what purpose it was seen, but there is evidence that it has been accessed since it was insecurely stored there.

This may become known, given all the surveillance video available at a resort such as Mar-a-Lago, but given the high level of secrecy that has been violated during this typically sloppy blunder by Citizen Trump, the public may never know.

As to whether he should face prosecution for what he has done, substitute the name Obama or Biden for Trump, whether for the crime of “illegally removing classified documents” or “obstruction of justice” and you be the judge. Now lets compare Benghazi to Jan. 6.

MAGA Republicans’ tactics revealed

A recent column by Henry Olson of the Ethics and Policy Center struck me as devoid both of good ethics and wise policy. Olson attempts to defend MAGA Republicans against charges of “semi-fascism” by claiming that MAGA motives/tactics fall well within both national and international traditional practices of nationalism and concepts of the nation-state. Nonsense.

Why not a word from Olson about the lame defenses by MAGA politicians for Jan. 6 attackers as being “patriots,” or the attempt to deflect with blatant lies by some that attackers were “false flag” Antifa or FBI personnel (not a shred of evidence for those or other claims about election fraud, Covid vaccine disinformation, etc.)

Most disturbing is that MAGA promotes political violence through distortions and lies. One sees those lies supported by MAGA Republican candidates throughout the country. In the 2020 presidential campaign, the party even failed to provide an official party platform, ceding that function to the candidate, Trump.

MAGA luminaries like Tucker Carlson and CPAC openly support dictators like Orbon and Putin (as does Trump). Democracy is an impediment to their fascist goals, so fundamental rights become dispensable. What could be more fascist?

Fairgrounds must be cleaned up

With the Big Fresno Fair opening soon it is important to note that in many areas the grounds are an “eyesore.”

In the stable area where many people care for the incoming horses and actually reside during the horse racing meet, it is an unsanitary and despicable hazard to the safety and well being of the horses and employees. The stable area is an unattractive and dangerous fire hazard. In addition, the pavement in and around the grandstand area is a huge liability for trip and falls.

To my knowledge the area has never been paved since inception. The responsibility of the upgrades to these areas are solely the responsibility of the Fair Board of Directors, and the governor’s appointments to the board of people that spend no time in personal inspections of the premises.

They and the county Board of Supervisors should be reprimanded at the highest level.

This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Western U.S. needs water and Eastern states have too much. Simply pipe the extra westward."