Vegas mayor's comment irks locals By BRIANNA LUSK, Staff Writer
Monday, February 18, 2008 10:17 PM PST
MARIA NEGRETE PHOTO
Lettuce is harvested by farmworkers on Monday north of Brawley in a field owned by John Benson, a Brawley city councilman.
Water has been liquid gold for the Imperial Valley and for the city of Las Vegas.
Here it is funneled onto agriculture fields that reap salad greens, cattle feed and fruit.
Las Vegas pumps it through a multi-million dollar dancing fountain and an indoor river on the strip while water cops hand out tickets to residents found wasting it on their lawns.
So it came as no surprise to Brawley-area farmer John Benson that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman holds his city’s water needs higher than the Valley’s.
Goodman was quoted as saying no one would allow Vegas to dry up.
“The Imperial Valley farmers will have their fields go fallow before our spigots run dry,” Goodman said at a news conference last week.
“I understand that Mr. Goodman has made a political career of outrageous statements,” said Benson, who is farming and fallowing some of his fields. “If he wants to make flippant statements, more power to him. But it’s meaningless.”
Benson, also a Brawley city councilman, said it isn’t the first time the Imperial Valley agricultural industry has been insulted.
Water use is an ongoing battle between agriculture and urban users, he said, as evidenced by a claim a San Diego newspaper made in 1983 about water being used for cattle feed.
“They said that we should not be able to use water except on human food. But alfalfa becomes human food when it goes through a cow,” Benson said.
Phone calls made to Goodman’s office and the city’s public information offices were not returned Monday.
Goodman was reportedly responding to a question about a scientific study projecting that Lake Mead, the reservoir used to hold Colorado River water for most of the Southwest, could be dry by 2021 due to current water-use allocations and global warming.
Last year the Imperial Irrigation District entered into a landmark agreement that was designed to plan for future water droughts and prevent water wars. That agreement included the district that supplies water to Las Vegas.
The IID is also part of the nation’s largest ag-to-urban water transfer, district spokesman Kevin Kelley said.
“I think the mayor of Las Vegas must fall into the category of people who believe that food comes from supermarkets,” Kelley said.
Goodman’s suggestion of fallowing more local farmland was particularly offensive, Kelley said, given the impact fallowing has already had as water is being transferred to the coast.
“I don’t think there’s any appreciation of the socio-economic impacts of fallowing on an area like ours,” Kelley said.
This year 70,000 acre-feet of water is expected to be generated by fallowing as 20,000 acres of fields will lie dormant.
The IID board has vowed to never enter into another water transfer after the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, a 75-year pact that has been hotly contested and is still being litigated.
Nicole Rothfleisch, director of the Imperial County Farm Bureau, said Goodman’s words were “fighting words.”
The suggestion that food produced by local farms is less valuable than Las Vegas’ water need is incomprehensible, Rothfleisch said.
“What does Las Vegas want the water for … casinos and landscaping? That’s hardly a justifiable use for a commodity as precious as water,” Rothfleisch said.
Goodman entered his third four-year term as mayor last year and is known for his outspoken and often controversial commentary.
Though the laws of the Colorado River Compact would prevent Las Vegas from taking any of the Valley’s water, Kelley said, the larger problem is urban areas’ view of the Valley’s water rights.
“If the Valley is looked at as the sole means of these urban areas continuing to grow their populations and economies, then at what point are they satisfied? If you carry that line of thinking out to its logical conclusion there will be no water left in the Imperial Valley,” Kelley said.
The historic drought along the Colorado River continues after more than eight years with no end in sight.
Benson said as fallowing continues and the drought worsens, it drives up the cost of commodities.
“When there’s a drought, prices are sky-high. Prices are high but production is cut back. They will have a real tough time getting ground fallowed,” Benson said.
Fallowing, a struggle that farmers contend with every day, was mocked by Goodman’s comment, Kelley said.
“We have a noble cause on our side,” Rothfleisch said. “Our farmers are passionate about water and their livelihood and their heritage. Las Vegas would have a huge fight on their hands if they tried to take us on.”
" The order came at the request of two groups, 99 Percent and Coalition for Adequate Review, which sought greater public review of The Citys bike plan. The groups lawsuit claimed that The City acted hastily in approving a plan to add 34 miles of bike lanes within city limits.
Warren ordered a freeze on any implementation of the bike plan until a new environmental impact report was completed. City officials must complete both a draft and final EIR before the injunction can be lifted. ========================== mercy [url=http://www.fastrealestate.net]Real Estate Search[/url] "
mercy123 wrote on Mar 11, 2009 12:53 AM:
" The order came at the request of two groups, 99 Percent and Coalition for Adequate Review, which sought greater public review of The Citys bike plan. The groups lawsuit claimed that The City acted hastily in approving a plan to add 34 miles of bike lanes within city limits.
Warren ordered a freeze on any implementation of the bike plan until a new environmental impact report was completed. City officials must complete both a draft and final EIR before the injunction can be lifted. ========================== mercy Real Estate Search "
ricocafe99 wrote on Feb 20, 2008 3:15 PM:
" MEXICALI, Mexico (Reuters) - Like other California vegetable growers, Larry Cox oversees hundreds of Mexican farm workers picking green onions, asparagus and cauliflower in the fertile Colorado River valley.
But this farm is not in California, where illegal immigration raids are causing labor shortages and strict environmental regulations are increasing costs.
Instead, Cox's farm is just south of the border in Mexico where he can hire workers at a tenth of the cost.
Americans are farming some 50,000 acres of land in Mexico and employing 11,000 people, in spite of high crime, suspicion of outsiders and doubts back home about Mexican food safety standards......
Read the rest of the article on the Reuters or yahoo news website "
Prov3 wrote on Feb 20, 2008 9:07 AM:
" So, Goodman, you think the Imperial Valley should have to fallow some of its fertile fields so that you Vegas folks can continue to waste water on your numerous golf courses, huge hotel swimming pools and fountains, etc.? Funny how you seem to feel justified in your comments. If the Imperial Valley should need to fallow ground so that Vegas can continue with it's over-the-top misuse of water, then perhaps we'll just have to cut back on the amount of Valley produce that we send your way. Eat sand, you idiot! "
CHS_ALU wrote on Feb 19, 2008 11:31 PM:
" 4th grade CA history lesson-Imperial Valley is the second largest agricultural area of the state. "
vallenwood_1@yahoo.com wrote on Feb 19, 2008 11:21 PM:
" As a concerned former valleyite it makes me sick to listen to another greedy politician make such ignorant comments over the Imperial Valley agricultural needs. He is a prime example of a modern day politician minus any common sense, whatsoever. As for the MWD, you live along the coast and you chose to spend tax payers hard earned money on legal battles to pipe water to your communities, if it don't evaporate first, when you could've funded the construction of water purification plants along the coast and provided many job opportunities within your communities. Valleyites....wake-up and protect your community and it's precious commodities from money-hungry politicians like Goodman....there aren't too many places, like it,left. "
ricocafe99 wrote on Feb 19, 2008 10:31 PM:
" I hate to be the naysayer here but our produce doesn't really mean that much in the grand scheme of things. If we do not produce then other areas will, including Mexico which is perfectly capable of filling any void in the marketplace. Imperial Valley produce would not be missed by the rest of the nation. I don't like it anymore than anyone else but that's the honest truth. "
myth wrote on Feb 19, 2008 9:42 PM:
" sad to say but LV brought an idiot into office, how lame could you be by saying that your state is much more important than our valley, for god's sake does this moron even know what the Imperial Valley produces for the nation. Idiots these days just want to be heard. He's a perfect example why we must vote on election day to keep idiots like him out office "
kozzackkelt wrote on Feb 19, 2008 8:04 PM:
" All the states in the Colorado River system get a share of the water.....NOT our fault if Vegas has grown too big, is too wasteful and as anyone who has visited there knows, lacks for city planning and who knows whatelse their lack of thought will find in the future. BUT, they do have clout. We here in the I.V. don't seem to have much clout these days; that is a worry for our future. Is our future biowaste burning and solid trash disposal facilities? Why don't we ever see I.V. produce in local stores? Seems half the produce I see is from Mexico or Chile..... Boycott Vegas....or if you go, take LONG showers !
"
calbearz wrote on Feb 19, 2008 3:45 PM:
" while Goodman’s words sound harsh and arrogant, he might be right .. Vegas is way too powerful, all you need to change the laws and have it your way in America is money, and Vegas has plenty "
aanen123 wrote on Feb 19, 2008 3:28 PM:
" I wonder what the mayor and all the people in Las Vegas, including the tourists who keep the city alive, are going to eat if they take away the Imperial Valley's water. "
living in imperial wrote on Feb 19, 2008 1:22 PM:
" What a douche. "
chevr1967 wrote on Feb 19, 2008 11:42 AM:
" I was about to go spend some money in Las Vegas, but now that I hear this, I no longer want to go. "
abelito wrote on Feb 19, 2008 11:17 AM:
" Regarding the IID's "brilliant" 75 year Quantification Settlement Agreement: "TOO SOON OLD; TOO LATE SMART" "
creek123 wrote on Feb 19, 2008 8:23 AM:
" Goodman is just a loud mouthed MOB attorney turned politician. "
ricocafe99 wrote on Feb 19, 2008 7:22 AM:
" I wouldn't worry about what this schmuck has to say, this mayor of Las Vegas will be long gone before the Imperial Valley canals run dry. On the other hand it is a reminder that we will always be challenged and we must never relax in our efforts to keep our water. "
cmpatin wrote on Feb 19, 2008 5:57 AM:
" It would be my opinion that the Imperial Valley boycott Las Vegas by not allowing any vegetables or beef, or for that matter anything grown in the Valley, to be sent to the State of Nevada, PERIOD. They may have all the water they need but nothing to feed the tourist. If there is nothing to feed the tourist, will they continue to come?
A couple of years ago I moved to Bangor, Maine after living in the Valley over 30 years. I go to the supermarket here and continuelly find all the produce and fruit I need,and it is grown in the IMPERIAL VALLEY. "
Log on
If you have an account already, just enter your Member ID and Password to access this page.
If you're new to our site, please create a new account.
Register FREE
To use certain features of ivpressonline.com, you must register FREE on the form provided. The Imperial Valley Press’ use of any personally identifying information you provide as part of registration is governed by the following privacy policy:
ivpressonline.com does not, and will not, release your personal information to any third party without your consent. We may, however, share some of the information we gather, in aggregate or demographic form, with advertisers and other partners. That is, we may provide general information about ways people use our site without identifying any particular individuals.
The opinions above are from readers of ivpressonline.com and in no way represent the views of the Imperial Valley Press staff or Schurz Communications Inc.
ivpressonline.com encourages readers to offer their opinions on our local stories. We ask readers keep their comments on topic and avoid derogatory comments about fellow readers. Our goal is to promote a civil discussion about the news.
We will never edit or alter comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain:
Subscribe Get the Imperial Valley Press every morning at your home or office. Start a subscription for your family, for yourself or give it to someone special. Click here.
Text Message AlertsReceive text message alerts on breaking news, latest updates, sports scores, offers and much more on your cellphone or PDA. Sign up here.
RegisterRegister free and start receiving email alerts on breaking news, a sneak preview of upcoming stories, reminders and much more. Click here to begin.
About UsWant to know more about the Imperial Valley Press? Want to contact us? Get general and contact information. Click here.
mercy123 wrote on Mar 11, 2009 12:54 AM:
Warren ordered a freeze on any implementation of the bike plan until a new environmental impact report was completed. City officials must complete both a draft and final EIR before the injunction can be lifted.
==========================
mercy
[url=http://www.fastrealestate.net]Real Estate Search[/url] "