By JOSH FRIEDMAN The Oceano Community Services District Board recently voted to raise water rates to reduce budget deficits. However, the amounts to be garnered through the higher utility rates will not cover the overspending the board has approved in... (Continue reading)
OPINION By JULIE TACKER Henny Penny (aka Chicken Little) once said, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling.” The phrase has become a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. The front page special... (Continue reading)
OPINION By TOM SALMON Just when you thought the Los Osos Community Services District (LOCSD) could do nothing more stupid than allowing 150 million gallons – equivalent to six months’ of their district’s supply – of fresh water to be... (Continue reading)
By DANIEL BLACKBURN Planning by advocates of a sprawling water district to manage the Paso Robles basin has been cloaked in secrecy and back-room deals to help insure its eventual formation. Legislation carried by Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo)... (Continue reading)
OPINION By ALLEN DUCKWORTH The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors passed an urgency ordinance in Aug. 2013 to protect the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin from further depletion, however loopholes in that ordinance allowed for even greater vineyard planting... (Continue reading)
The Federal Bureau of Reclamation has announced it will not release reservoir water for most Central Valley farmers for the second straight year. [KCOY] Farmers are scrambling to find other water sources, uprooting or not planting their fields, while others... (Continue reading)
By DANIEL BLACKBURN A divided San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend an amended water moratorium beyond its August expiration date following several hours of often edgy discussion of the controversial issue. Supervisor Frank Mecham’s motion... (Continue reading)
OPINION By LARRY and SUSAN MCGOURTY If you live in a city in San Luis Obispo County or live in the rural county and grow fruits and vegetables for family and friends and think the permanent water offsets and groundwater... (Continue reading)
By JOSH FRIEDMAN San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson attempted to push forward a vote on a hotly contested water use ordinance during a Feb. 17 poorly attended board of supervisors hearing on planning department priorities. Throughout this month,... (Continue reading)
By JOSH FRIEDMAN A week after San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Frank Mecham removed his fellow board member Adam Hill from a leadership position, Hill lashed out at Mecham during a discussion on water use regulations. Despite receiving the verbal... (Continue reading)