Really amazing story today about how the Billionaire Class in the USA gets pretty much, whatever it wants.
Even water, during a drought.
For over four years a record-breaking drought has scorched central California with Old Testament cruelty. Drive west of Bakersfield into the heart of the San Joaquin Valley and soon you will be engulfed by sloping brown hills broken up by dusty, slate-colored fields. ...Yet there is an Eden. It’s a little to the west of Lost Hills, off Route 33. Here there are rows upon rows of green–some 70,000 lush acres of water-hungry pistachio and almond trees. Come at the right time of year and you’ll see the almond trees blossoming, covering the valley in a blanket of light pink petals. This land belongs to the billionaire Resnicks, Stewart, 77, and Lynda, 72. It’s the most valuable part of their $4.3 billion fortune. Those crops and the land are worth more than ever before, about $3 billion.
Meet the Kochs of California.
Their oasis has plenty of water, the result of relentless opportunism that has given their orchards access to more water than nearly any other farm during the worst drought on record in California’s history. The Resnicks use at least 120 billion gallons a year, two-thirds on nuts, enough to supply San Francisco’s 852,000 residents for a decade. They own a majority stake in the Kern Water Bank, one of California’s largest underground water storage facilities, which they got fairly but sagely from the government 20 years ago. It is capable of storing 500 billion gallons of water. They have also spent at least $35 million in recent years buying up more water from nearby districts to replenish their supplies.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is that, without a vote, Californians may spend $15-60B to build two 40 foot tunnels beneath the San Francisco Bay Delta, permanently altering that estuary and the endangered species who live there, just to ensure that Agribillionaires like the Resnicks, continue to get deliveries of public trust water for private profits.
The Resnicks are already looking to secure additional water sources. The couple could score big if a $15 billion water project championed by Governor Jerry Brown is officially approved in the next few years.
Amazing story, read the whole thing at
Forbes.