"Friends of the fish" at it again

[Wilbur]

Now they may shut down the whole water delivery system because DWR doesn't have a permit for the unavoidable incidental killing of fish in pumping operations.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...NGCROR6P21.DTL

Nobody in their right mind would want to be in the water business in this highly litigious regulatory environment. But here we are.

[Matthew]

So we should let people continue to break laws? Is that your contention?

[Wilbur]

No, I'm saying nobody in the water system can come out of such intense scrutiny without problems being found, and we should quit reacting like CSD was caught raping babies. The way wastewater is stored -- an inherited flaw in the fundamentals of the system inevitably costing millions to correct -- was inevitably going to be found non-compliant under modern regulatory sensitivities and needs to be fixed, and as I've repeatedly stated I'm glad it was brought to light while there's still time to prevail upon developers to help fund a solution rather than take their money and run. Unlike some others, I don't offer an opinion on whether CSD was lying about anything to cover up the problems, because I try to keep in mind that I don't know the actual facts, only rumors spread by people with well-known agendas who might or might not be right about that. I also keep in mind that the water cops, who approved this flawed system before the creation of CSD and turned a blind eye to the wet season spillage for years until jumped by the Sportfishing Alliance, are highly motivated to shift blame to CSD for their own lax oversight, so I assess their self-serving assertions with some suspicion as well.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by Wilbur

highly motivated to shift blame to CSD for their own lax oversight

Since when is the blame for breaking the law placed on a regulatory agency? They can't shift blame that is not their to begin with. CSD has had and will always have the sole responsibility for their own actions.

CSD knew about these problem before they asked for more building permits. While I understand those last few permits are not what caused the problem it does demonstrate CSD did not care they were in violation until someone held their feet to the fire. Also the fact that CSD hired a PR firm with my rate paying dollars does not sit well with me.

[Wilbur]

If the building inspector tells you your new deck is OK, aren't you justified in being frustrated if they come back twenty years later and tell you they've changed their mind and it's not OK any more?

A big part of the problem is that both the standards and the enforcement practices have evolved over time. If your inspector keeps telling you naw, that's OK, where's the motivation to go tell the taxpayers they need to pony up millions to fix something the inspector keeps saying is OK, nod nod, wink wink. Anti-tax locals would go ape for the opposite reasons folks are going ape now.

Again, out and out fraud would change that equation. But thus far that's not been proven, just alleged by entities with obvious motives who can't possibly be regarded as neutral, disinterested judges of the facts.