"Eventually it will be broadly understood what an abomination a reservoir in a valley like Yosemite Valley really is."
Donald Hodel, former chief of the Department of the Interior
It will be interesting to hear what Bob has to say when he returns from Yosemite. My own opinion is that flooding a wonder as spectacular as Yosemite Vally is UNTHINKABLE... repugnant to any decent person who has seen it. And yet, in the case of Hetch Hetchy, it happened.
Who are the despicable creatures who today oppose restoring Hetch Hetchy? None other than Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi... and the lower-than-slime Democrats who support them.
Bring back Yosemite's lost valley? Voters to decide
San Franciscans weigh costs/benefits of reservoir providing them water
By JASON DEAREN AND TRACIE CONE
Associated Press
updated 8/4/2012
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — This fall San Franciscans will vote on a local measure with national implications: It could return to the American people a flooded gorge described as the twin of breathtaking Yosemite Valley.
Voters will decide whether they want a plan for draining the 117-billion-gallon Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, exposing for the first time in 80 years a glacially carved, granite-ringed valley of towering waterfalls 17 miles north of its more famous geologic sibling.
The November ballot measure asks: Should city officials devise a modern water plan that incorporates recycling and study expansion of other storage reservoirs to make up the loss?
The measure could eventually undo a controversial century-old decision by Congress that created the only reservoir in a national park and slaked the thirst of a city 190 miles away.
The battle over Hetch Hetchy, first waged unsuccessfully by naturalist John Muir, had turned the Sierra Club from an outdoors group into an environmental powerhouse. The fight gained momentum in recent years when unlikely allies joined forces.
On one side are Republican lawmakers and environmentalists, including Ronald Reagan's former interior secretary, who want the dam removed and valley restored. On the other are Democratic San Franciscans, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, fighting to hold onto the city's famously pure drinking water in a drought-prone state.
More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48508018/ns/us_news-environment
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