Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The "Regulation Clique" is at it Again

The “government regulation clique” in Borrego is at it again. Apparently not satisfied with the Borrego Water District’s (BWD) efforts to impose on its customers an exorbitant rate increase ostensibly in the name of water conservation, a couple of these folks are proposing even bigger and better government control for Borrego.

One scheme recently suggested to the BWD is that the district could acquire status as something called a “Special Act District,” which would give it power to regulate all water use in the valley, even by people who are not BWD customers. That’s a little like the cable company telling you you’re watching too much television…even when you don’t have cable. Acquiring that kind of power would require an act of the California Legislature. The BWD’s attorney has suggested that the district’s lobbyist could help with that. Great.

And then there is this. One local resident, who anonymously publishes an angry and alarmist website devoted to scaring people about an alleged “water crisis,” seems to be mounting his own campaign to invite state regulatory agencies into Borrego to take control of the valley’s water, or as he puts it, to make Borrego “subject to the state’s regulatory and enforcement powers.” While disguising his identity online, this web-poster compares Borrego managing its own groundwater to “leaving a hog to guard a cabbage patch.” That is colorful language, of course, but not very community-spirited to my way of thinking, and certainly off the mark in every other way.

So this seems to be what the “government regulation clique” has in store for us next—more restrictions and ridicule for anyone who dares to object. If you like the sound of that, you’ll be happy when these schemes are under way. Personally, I don’t believe that either giving the BWD enforcement power over water use by non-customers or giving the state direct control of Borrego’s water has merit or is either necessary or desirable.

If you agree with me, I urge you to watch carefully for early signs these schemes are being put into motion.

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