Xasáuan Today

A big thank you to the more than 130 people who packed the Monterey City Council Chambers for the first of three Public Participation Hearings on the Regional Water Project. The testimony was, in most cases, well-reasoned and articulate, and the vast majority of those who spoke asked the PUC to fix the glaring problems with the current scheme for running the Regional Project. So many people were so well-informed and so well spoken, in fact, that we’ve rarely sat (or, in this case, stood) through a public hearing that gave us more hope for the future of direct democracy and effective community engagement. Read the rest of this entry »

WHAT: California Public Utility Commission Public Participation Hearings

WHEN: Monday, June 28, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Monterey City Hall Council Chambers (580 Pacific St., Monterey) and Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. at the Oldemeyer Center (968 Hilby Ave., Seaside).

These hearings will allow members of the public to “present comments and address issues related to the Regional Water Project, including costs.”

The reservoir impounded by the Los Padres Dam: The Regional Water Project is intended to replace water being illegally pumped from the Carmel River by Cal-Am, but the agreement controlling the Regional Project, as currently written, will not only rip-off the Cal-Am ratepayers and leave them without a say in how the Project is run, but could easily result in the Project failing to deliver enough water to offset the illegal diversions. The PUC can easily fix these problems, but they need to hear from the Cal-Am ratepayers that the community wants the problems fixed. The PUC’s record of doing the right thing on their own isn’t too good. Read the rest of this entry »