Some 40 years ago, at the age of around 30, I made my first attempt to run for public office, but not your typical public office.
The Goleta Water Board in those days was about the only thing that had any teeth to qualify as some form of government for the unincorporated area. It met in a tiny room as part of the water district’s offices, and for all I know still does. But the days of controversy surrounding the municipality are long gone.
All those many years ago, it was the biggest thing going in the county. Water was the weapon of choice to prevent any development from taking place. The hippies of Isla Vista and the strengthening environmental movement moved in to take control of the water board and therefore take control of all county development decisions. No water, no building.
In those days, instead of the customary term of today being called a racist for everything, back then the ugly word was “developer.” Once you were tagged with that title, you were regarded as poison, and no amount of bleach could clean you up.
Forming the incorporated city of Goleta was sparked by the water board’s abuse of power. Many of us saw it was time to get some real self-governance. After failing twice to get a seat on the water board, defeated by the kids at UCSB and cheating, I made a run for the new city council.
The first attempt to form a city failed, but I won my city council seat for a city that didn’t exist.
Where am I going with this? The greatest weapon the left and environmentalists had, and still do, were the UCSB students.
They played to their ignorance and planted all kinds of propaganda seeds that bloomed in their minds and once they flowered, there was nothing to reverse the thinking. Same thing is still happening today all across the country.
I don’t know if I should have taken it as a compliment, but during one of my campaigns, Jane Fonda spoke out against me and my running mate at a rally at the UCSB quad. She was at her peak in her movie career and so was her activism (traitor in Vietnam). She stirred things up talking about everything from saving the whales to fighting the building of nuclear power plants.
Ms. Fonda starred in a popular and controversial film, “The China Syndrome” (how ironic) — a 197 propaganda film warning us of the dangers of nuclear plants. Most people, including Jane, didn’t understand nuclear power anymore than anyone else, and we got suckered and scared into believing that these plants were going to kill us all.
Of course, it never happened, and nuclear power plants have proven to be one of the safest and cleanest forms of energy around the world.
In California, despite that knowledge, all nuclear power plants have been either shut down or lived out their lives, except one.
The Diablo Canyon Power Plant was to be the last on the list. That was until Gov. Gavin Newsom had a moment of clarity realizing California doesn’t have enough energy sources to sustain it during peak periods. Losing 10% to 15% of our energy supply during a summer heat wave would be catastrophic. And it would not play well into his all electric state plans.
As it is, making all cars electric by 2035 is a propaganda dream. It’s never going to happen unless Gov. Newsom opens up more oil development and builds a few more nuclear plants. California’s fantasy of windmills and solar solving the energy deficiency is playing out more and more that we’re not quite there yet.
Even the failing Sen. Diane Feinstein, who I’m certain was against nuclear power back in the day, came out in support of keeping Diablo Canyon open. It shows when common sense is applied, minds can change.
Maybe Gov. Newsom and his Chicken Little crowd will some day soon publicly admit that an all-electric state isn’t going to work, at least in the time frame they’ve given themselves.
There’s been talk for decades, and that’s all, to build more water storage and maybe in turn more hydroelectric plants — thereby solving two problems. Lake Cachuma was originally built for farmers. But as we know, over time it has become the main water source for human consumption on the South Coast.
A big controversy during my campaigns was the then new state water project. There were opposition campaign cartoons depicting a pipeline coming over a hill of avocado groves (I was managing our avocado ranches) with people pouring out. The big argument was state water would mean more housing and more housing for more people. State water proved to be almost a bust because when you need it, they don’t have it. And yet Santa Barbara and Goleta still grew like weeds anyway.
Some four decades ago, nuclear plants, water development and storage played big roles in California. And not a thing has been done since then to improve any of it. In many respects we’ve gone backward. Despite thousands fleeing the overtaxed and over regulated state, California still has about 40 million people. Likely a third or more came here illegally (unscientific guess), and thousands more are sleeping on a sidewalk or in a park near you.
Despite all the efforts to oust development, building blossomed anyway. As it is, Santa Barbara is looking to turn her malls into hundreds of condos or apartments, and Santa Maria is willing to give up prime farmland in exchange for thousands of new homes.
Where’s the long-term water plan? No one ever seems to learn, from the city to state levels. We had more water vanish into the ocean in the past few weeks to take care of our area for, let’s say, maybe a thousand years (another unscientific guess). Nothing was and is ever done during a drought, and when it finally rains. all that we can do is wave bye-bye to the water. Then when we enter the next drought, everyone will cry again how we have no water.
As for nuclear power: At one time, California had six carbon-free nuclear power plants. Two were very small. I wonder what Gov. Newsom and the hippies are thinking now. If you had those plants, or upgraded or built more, you could have done away with all the carbon polluting stuff they claim is the reason why the weather changes. Bang! That was the shot in the foot.
Henry Schulte welcomes questions or comments at hschulteopinions@gmail.com.
