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MEDIA CENTER - Press Letter
to Editor Editor -- The Tuolumne River is a California treasure. Flowing from Yosemite across the San Joaquin Valley, the Tuolumne is home to world-famous whitewater runs, the Central Valley's largest wild salmon run, and some of the Sierra's best wildlife habitat. Last week the river was named as one of the nation's 10 most endangered. Why? Because San Francisco proposes to build a new pipeline that can increase its average daily withdrawal of Tuolumne water by 70 percent -- from 235 to 400 million gallons -- effectively destroying the river's natural uses. The S.F. Public Utilities Commission says it has no current plans to use the water the new pipeline could carry, except while the city's older pipelines are being repaired. Unfortunately, today's commission can't ensure that future commissions won't use that new capacity. And can anyone imagine that a $557 million pipeline will sit idle as Bay Area water consumption continues to grow unrestrained? Instead of destroying one of California's few remaining wild rivers, San Francisco should learn from the state's thoughtful response to our 2000-2001 energy crisis. State energy agencies adopted and are implementing a new Energy Action Plan that sets six unambiguous priorities: the highest is conservation and more efficient resource use, while the lowest is increasing conventional supplies. For water, as for energy, we should use what we have wisely before we squander what remains. John Nimmons |
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