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Editorial: Hetch Hetchy
Parochial interests stymie restoration study
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, June 30, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
It's hardly surprising that a key House panel rejected President Bush's proposal to study how to restore Yosemite's famously submerged Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Ever since Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco became House speaker, it was clear Bush's proposal would go nowhere, and that John Muir would remain heartbroken, rolling over in his grave.
Pelosi and her powerhouse counterpart in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein, cling to fears that draining Hetch Hetchy would endanger San Francisco's water and power supplies. Numerous California scientists say those supplies could be replaced by enlarging and revamping downstream reservoirs, but Pelosi and other Democrats in the House apparently don't want such findings validated by a federal study.
What is more unexpected, and disappointing, is the timidity of the Bush administration in advancing this proposal. Although Bush had included $7 million for the Hetch Hetchy study in his proposed budget, his aides and spokesmen declined to say how it got there. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Folsom, delivered a spirited speech in support of restoring Hetch Hetchy, but Bush and his minions were missing in action.
With the administration playing opossum, it was easy for the House Appropriations Committee to reject the Hetch Hetchy study, claiming the proposal "was not well justified in the budget materials." The Senate Appropriations Committee, on which Feinstein sits, had already omitted funding for the study.
We remain convinced that one day, with less conflicted leaders in Congress and a more visionary president, the nation will realize the wisdom of restoring Yosemite -- our only national park with a valley plugged up by a municipal drinking water reservoir. With incremental investments over a generation, this "twin" of the Yosemite Valley, as Muir put it, could regain its place as a part of our nation's heritage.
For now, it remains clear that The Twin will remain buried by politicians -- those in San Francisco who call themselves environmentalists, and those in the White House who side with restoration only when they want to gig San Francisco politicians.
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