03/29/2024

News

The 2014-15 Budget: A Review of the 2014 California Five-Year Infrastructure Plan

We also find that the plan raises some important policy issues related to the financing and maintenance of state infrastructure and serves as a valuable starting point for legislative discussions. However, we note that the plan does not include some key information and suggest some changes that could make the plan more helpful to the Legislature. In addition, given the size of the state’s infrastructure investments and their long-term nature, we recommend that the Legislature take a more active role in considering infrastructure in a comprehensive way.

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California Transportation Infrastructure Priorities: Vision and Interim Recommendations

The California State Transportation Agency has released the California Transportation Infrastructure Priorities (CTIP workgroup vision and interim recommendations document. Last year’s budget directed the new Transportation Agency to work with stakeholders to develop funding priorities and long-term funding options. The workgroup examined the current status of the state’s transportation system and discussed challenges that lie ahead. The interim recommendations offers both a vision for California’s transportation future and a set of immediate action items toward achieving that vision that are centered on the concepts of preservation, innovation, integration, reform and funding.

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California Drought: Farmers, Ranchers Face Uncertain Future

On Friday, amid California’s driest year on record, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in the state. As days pass without snow or rain, dairymen, farmers and other livestock producers are finding themselves in the same predicament as Imhof. Without water to irrigate, produce growers fear they will have to leave some fields fallow.

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Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency

With California facing water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proclaimed a State of Emergency and directed state officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for these drought conditions.

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Jerry Brown Says Drought Declaration Imminent

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday his administration would soon declare that California is officially in the midst of a drought.

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State Water Officials Considering Drought Declaration

The California Department of Water Resources is planning to draft an emergency drought declaration for Gov. Jerry Brown’s consideration as dry winter conditions continue.

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Dispute Threatens Completion of Panama Canal Expansion

A planned expansion of the Panama Canal may be halted because of a dispute between the building consortium and canal authorities over $1.6 billion in extra costs.

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Drought Prompts Deep Cuts in American River Flows

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to reduce flows in the river from the current 1,100 cubic feet per second to 800 cfs starting tonight, then in stages each night afterward until flows reach just 500 cfs on Friday, said Tom Gohring, executive director of the Sacramento Water Forum.

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Cities Struggle as Reservoirs Dry Up

The City of Calistoga has pumped the last drop of drinking water it can from its main reservoir. No rain this winter would mean no water at all from behind the Kimball Dam next summer.

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Colorado River Drought Forces a Painful Reckoning for States

The sinuous Colorado River and its slew of man-made reservoirs from the Rockies to southern Arizona are being sapped by 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years.

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State Water Picture “Bleak”

The first statewide survey of the season Friday will find little snow in the Sierra, sending an ominous warning that California may be headed into a third straight dry year and intensifying pressure to break the political stalemate over rebuilding the state’s antiquated water storage and delivery network.

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Delta Tunnels Plan’s True Price Tag: As Much as $67 Billion

For more than a year, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has been describing his plan to build two massive water tunnels through the Delta as a $25 billion project.

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California Prepares for Third Straight Dry Year

Last month DWR announced an initial water allocation of only five percent of requested deliveries from the state water project.

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Proposed Delta Tunnels May Not Satisfy Water Needs, Documents Say

A $25-billion proposal to re-engineer the hub of California’s sprawling water system may not yield all the water that San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southland cities want, leaving open the question of whether the massive project will be built.

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Delta Water Tunnel Plan Presents California with Tough Choices

A new future for the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was laid out for public review Monday in 34,000 sprawling pages of analysis associated with two giant water-diversion tunnels proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The question now for the public and policy makers: Is this the future they want?

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