federal taxpayers

Reality Takes a Back Seat to Hyperbole in Water Debate

By Steve Evans
Friends of the River Conservation Director
It's a sad state of affairs when good public policy takes a back seat to sound bites that have no basis in reality. So here is a selection of pithy-sounding but less-than-factual sound bites of dam proponents compared to the real facts of the matter (complete with footnotes).

"Do you know that for 20 years, well, actually since the late '70s, they have not built a dam? I mean, think about that. They have not built a dam."

Private Water Contractors in CA Owe Taxpayers $500 million

New government audit finds that the bulk of an interest-free loan from the 1960s is still unpaid by irrigation water contractors

WASHINGTON - Four large irrigation water districts in the Central Valley of California still owe federal taxpayers nearly $500 million for a network of dams and canals constructed for their benefit in the 1960s, according to a new report issued by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO). Only 14 percent of capital costs have been repaid.

Dam Facts, Dam Lies, and Statistics.

Reality Takes a Back Seat to Hyperbole in Water Debate

By Steve Evans
Friends of the River Conservation Director

It's a sad state of affairs when good public policy takes a back seat to sound bites that have no basis in reality. So here is a selection of pithy-sounding but less-than-factual sound bites of dam proponents compared to the real facts of the matter (complete with footnotes).