http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tuolumne-20111213,0,7382453.story
I’ve been a supporter of the proposed restoration of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite Valley for years. I have to laugh that whenever this subject is brought up in politics, it’s the liberal enclave of San Francisco, the home of the Sierra Club, which fights the proposal because it is where a lot of their water is stored. It doesn’t matter that Hetch Hetchy was said to rival Yosemite Valley in grander, nor does it matter that studies have been made to show that water savings and the enlarging of other dams here would make up for the loss of Hetch Hetchy water.
So once again, a liberal politician, Senator Dianne Feinstein, a supposedly pro-environment one at that, is fighting the proposed restoration. Sure would be nice if she could figure out exactly what she supports instead of bending with the wind.
Let me quote John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, who had fought the damming of this valley (which by some accounts, led to his death because of his broken heart over the project):
“These temple-destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.” — from The Yosemite (1912)