Special Interests: Cost vs. Benefits
Existing public information on the project suspiciously omits a clear description of how newly available water would be allocated, sold, and ultimately delivered throughout the state. Who gets the water? How much will they pay for it? What impact will new deliveries have on the economy and the environment?
Absent this information, Californians can only speculate about who benefits most from raising the dam. The biggest beneficiaries, however, likely include special interests such as Westlands Water District in Fresno. According to their website, Westlands serves only 700 families with farms that average 875 acres in size. California can do better than spending billions to benefit so few. To be fair, according to Westlands, as the largest agricultural water district in the United States it produces over $1 billion worth of food and fiber every year and generates $3.5 billion in farm-related economic activity for the communities of Fresno and Kings County. The CA Department of Agriculture, however, points out that state agriculture generated over $47.1 billion in 2017 in cash receipts. Westland’s output, therefore, accounts for a small percentage of the state’s agricultural economic impact but would likely benefit disproportionately from the project.
Why should taxpayers cover the $1.3 billion-dollar expense when the project (1) primarily benefits wealthy water districts in Fresno (2) generates average deliveries of just 51,300 acre-feet, and (3) only delivers water on 20 percent of average water years?