I’ll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks, out in Kommiefornia helping wrangle two grandkids as my youngest recovers from some major surgery. Suffice to say, blogging, commenting, and pretty much everything else will be light/non-existent…
But, in ‘other’ CA news, actually heard this from both Steve and youngest daughter, who has a friend that is a winery manager up by Hopland.
Napa Valley’s already struggling wine industry is being slapped with a new groundwater bill as county officials scramble to meet California’s state-mandated ‘sustainability goals’. Even grape growers who don’t pump groundwater will have to cough up $17.53 for every planted acre under proposed fees for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Those who actually use groundwater for irrigation face another $26.91 per acre, taking their total hit to $44.44. County officials argue that even growers who dry-farm or use surface or recycled water benefit from having groundwater available.
Full article, HERE from The View from Lady Lake blog.
The winery he manages is a ‘dry farm’ winery, basically on the western slopes of the hills, and it is about 10 years old, so it is producing. But, the charges are going to put them in danger of having to close, as their small winery doesn’t make that much a year…
Sigh…
The oppression is terrible in that land.
Next they will have to pay for the sunshine that falls on their land.
How dare you be productive in the People’s Republic of California?
Once more with feeling.
The purpose of a system is what it does.
NFO: Hoping things go smoothly, Gramps. Looking forward to a post on the state of the State after you return.
“Next they will have to pay for the sunshine that falls on their land.”
I think somebody already proposed that a few years ago.
Look for surreptitious non-flush outhouses to proliferate.
California’s state-mandated ‘sustainability goals’ aren’t sustainable. Or in this case, even rational. Glad I left back in ’81.
Reading too fast, thought it said “helping strangle two grandkids”. They must be a handful, then I reread it slower.
sustainability programs and research often have a first assumption that political consensuses now or soon will be effective in binding persons very far into the future. This is obviously a fairly insane hypothesis when you really think about it, so presumeably there are some really crazy academics who are genuinely so defective in their thinking.
All- Thanks for the comments. Been up since 0300 to catch flights, plus a 2 hour drive. Made it in one piece…