A reaction comes via email from a Caltrans employee to the story:
Caltrans abandons weather, embraces “climate change” as the reason for washed out roads
I’ve redacted the name and other identifying information, to protect the employee identity.
This inside view of Caltrans is quite revealing, and it jibes with what I have observed from the outside looking in as a citizen. His point about erosion control is something I see and shake my head about all the time when passing construction sites. The Highway 149 project that he speaks of is a particularly bad example of environmentalism gone berserk. Especially galling was the death of a little boy in his mother’s car in a broadside collision at the intersection that could have been improved 10 years ago if it weren’t for the pointless and bogus lawsuits that kept being put in the way of the project by eco-activists. There were other accidents, injuries and deaths too during that period.
Our local newspaper has a summary from when it finally got underway. Here’s the short story.
The Highway 149 project was conceived in 1993, with work to begin in 1998.
Initially, the project would have cost $40 million, but construction costs soared since then. It ended up being a $128 million project and required environmental mitigation measures that cost $13 million.
Plus, to add insult to injury, in addition to other lawsuits, a local enviro-activist group filed environmental lawsuits over one of the mitigation measures saying it wasn’t enough.
The timeline for the Highway 149 project reads like a wreck in itself.
The Caltrans employee writes:
In my job as a [type of engineer] it is hard enough to actually be responsible for the results a construction contract and try to motivate my people to work, under the backdrop of a falling financial sky with the governor balancing budget on backs of State employees. The budget crisis is supposedly due to a lack of funds. Now, reading this, it is truly disturbing that the Caltrans is willing to make “global warming” a priority and call it the biggest threat to our infrastructure.
We are building projects on a shoestring personnel budget, being forced to comply with draconian water board rules that make no sense and are very costly (like apply erosion control in the middle of the summer), paying off resource agencies for taking the habitat of microscopic organisms that live in cow pastures on other people’s land, and using “clean air” vehicles that do not have an adequate fueling infrastructure, are unreliable and very expensive (maintenance must be done in Texas). These overreaching requirements delay project development and make the projects much more expensive. I sometimes refer to our department as an environmental department that builds roads on the side.
In your area, there is the case of the recent highway 149 widening. That project developed very slowly due to these issues, people continued to crash and die at 70/149. All of these rules stem from laws enacted by other state agencies. Their biggest champion was your local Butte Environmental Council.
When I started with the State years ago, none of these rules existed. Yet I see no change in the environment and continue to hear of manmade degradation of the environment. I am not certain, but I would highly suspect, that no one has done a quantifiable analysis of how much of anything we are saving by implementing these rules. I am certain that we can quantify the number of people who have died and the number of our tax dollars used due to the delay of the projects.
Just like Global Warming, I suspect this is all a money grab and alarmist funding feast. No problem = no funding.
While I am very tempted to write to our management about the piece, I know that my letter would be immediately round-filed and ignored. With an organization that will ignore even basic facts like water running downhill (I have to fix faulty designs on a routine basis) trying to “address” the piece would most likely go nowhere and only serve to frustrate me even more.
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As a child, I wondered why, as population grew, the highway system did not grow accordingly. This is why. They hate people. We are a scourge on this planet, and anything we might want to do to improve out quality of life must therefore be bad.
GPlant
Another example of how Reality is nowhere to be found when eco-tyrants flex their muscles.
More news from the land of the fruits and the nuts.
Twas ever thus.
If a government could take the cheap route then there would be a requirement to reduce taxes. Reduced taxes means a reduced chance of promotion and a bigger pay packet.
In the UK now we, the taxpayers, pay government employees a bonus for doing their jobs! The mind boggles.
Finally I can prove without any doubt there is global warming in the arctic
Should be top post for a month! I think you cant find through google
I feel for this guy. And it’s only going to get worse. Governor Moonbeam is back and he’s a full-frontal supporter of enviro-rigging. Now, taxes are going up (again) in California, the new rules will only increase the cost of living.
The good news for this guy is that as taxes go up, jobs leave the state, and the number of people will start to dwindle. As that happens, less people will have to die on the interchanges that need help.
California really needs to dissolve its government and start from scratch.
“With an organization that will ignore even basic facts like water running downhill…”
That kind of sums up everything about CA’s direction, doesn’t it?
“[…] and using “clean air” vehicles that do not have an adequate fueling infrastructure, are unreliable and very expensive (maintenance must be done in Texas). […]”
Can you say, “Face palm?” I knew you could.
My guess, from reading this amazingly clear-eyed overview, is that if California got rid of all their ‘green’ mandates they’d be twice as ‘green’ at 1/3 the cost.
The author reminds us of a very serious problem which is bound to get worse: The unchecked proliferation of overly-strict, complicated and very costly rules and regulations brought in by ever-growing and increasingly avaricious bureacracies. Regulations are imposed with relative ease and on the flimsiest of rationales, and even when they prove to be useless or harmful, inertia and vested interests protect them from proper review, alteration or cancellation. Historically, societies which have burdened themselves in this way tend to suffer, to eventually collapse economically and socially and eventually undergo violent overthrows with the promise and hope of a new start, a “clean slate.” I’m not aware of any successful cases where rational and responsible administrations successfully managed to review, change or cancel damaging regulatory and legal burdens in a pragmatic, orderly or peaceful manner. Good luck, California; don’t feel alone in your decline; we’re all boldly heading in the same direction anyway.
Anyone wondering why Cali is bankrupt? This story is just one of thousands describing tax dollars wasted on a monumental scale.
Wow, just wow. Let me be the first to say “It’s worse than we thought;” that is, the political leadership in California. To the author of this post, an engineer, stand firm and hang in there…engineering is a tough gig (I know, I’ve been at it since 1980).
Anthony:
[snip – noted and fixed thanks]
Nice to see an inside view. I am dismayed, not surprised, to read that California ships “clean air” vehicles to Texas for maintenance. True eco-blinders driven fanaticism at work…
Brave man…….Engineers tend to have no-BS perspectives.
As a company California would have been a nice corporate scandal. It is a shame. People
who have opinion and power do think they can do everything. If water continues to flow downhill they may pass a law prohibiting exactly that.
Good night, CA. If there is someone out there seeking an explanation why the US is where it is – just consider that this is one small piece of info only that leaked.
That Environmental Councils are responsable for deaths is definitively worse than we thought.
To repeat a very important quote from the last “Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup”
Our society appears to no longer be raising people who can think with their brains rather than their hearts.
In the electric utility industry, environmental laws are the NIMBY’s primary weapon. Whine about how a transmission line will impact your view and people will ignore you. Claim that the line will disturb wildlife and you’ll have a dozen enviro groups supporting you.
I’d be willing to bet the Butte enviro’s who most strongly opposed the street widening were primarily people who thought that their property value would be decreased by the project.
“it jives with …”
That’s the wrong word. You mean “jibe”
Definition of JIBE
intransitive verb
: to be in accord : agree
The word “jive” has a completely different, arguably opposing meaning. As in “I don’t believe any of that Hockey Team jive”.
REPLY: Correct you are, thanks, fixed. -Anthony
I live in northern Japan, Tohoku. Right now we have a couple of substantive issues to deal with. My reading of the situation is the nation is united and effort is focussed on solving the problems and moving forward. I’m glad I made the move from the west, and I’m anticipating watching most of the industrialised nations disappearing in the rear view mirror. There’s no appetite for self inflicted impoverishment here. And our rivers are clean and jumping with fish.
John Marshall says:
April 14, 2011 at 6:32 am
“In the UK now we, the taxpayers, pay government employees a bonus for doing their jobs! The mind boggles.”
Yes indeed, even the Met Office, and we all know how ‘well’ they did at their job.
“The Government-owned body also came under fire during the volcanic ash cloud “crisis” for its role in the closure of British airspace, which caused travel misery for millions in what has since been seen as largely a waste of time.”
“Matthew Sinclair, research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “With many of their seasonal forecasts proving spectacularly wrong and ordinary taxpayers struggling following the recession, it is shocking that the Met Office thinks big bonuses for its staff are appropriate.”
“Taxpayers will be outraged to see that their money is being spent like this, while they are facing higher taxes and services are under pressure. This shows that the Government needs to do more to restrain remuneration at unaccountable quangos.””
And as usual the vast bulk of the bonuses go to the people at the top. I suspect the bonuses are more for pushing the propaganda rather than any accuracy at forecasting!
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/189142/Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-Met-Office-duffers-get-1-4m-bonus-#ixzz1JVi0B1q6
“draconian water board rules that make no sense and are very costly (like apply erosion control in the middle of the summer), paying off resource agencies for taking the habitat of microscopic organisms that live in cow pastures on other people’s land, and using “clean air” vehicles that do not have an adequate fueling infrastructure, are unreliable and very expensive (maintenance must be done in Texas). These overreaching requirements delay project development and make the projects much more expensive. I sometimes refer to our department as an environmental department that builds roads on the side”.
It’s the same in Europe.
Lunatic demands for service vehicles to enter cities or vehicle requirements for companies who make an offer to public projects.
Endless procedures and law suits and when a project finally gets the go ahead the find of a single toad (protected species) is sufficient to halt the entire project.
That’s why more and more private construction companies go to China where they can build without restrictions and leave the public projects in Europe to the Chinese.
It’s time to set fire to the house of the green sustainable madness and burn the red tape for good.
For California, the necessary process is: crash -> reboot. Well intentioned efforts to fix the problems only serve to delay the inevitable. The problem is the people are fooled into believing those in charge know what they are doing, and are working in the best interests of the people. They want us to believe there are greedy forces from which we need protection. It’s more like a mob protection racket. The greedy and power-mad are in Sacramento.
It is important for California to utterly fail – to save the nation. The same dangerous ‘progressive’ policies bringing ruin to the state have infected Congress. Waxman-Markey (cap-and-trade swindle) being just one example.
If California goes down hard and fast, we have a chance to recover quickly with vigorous new leadership in a new direction, backed by popular demands. With a slow devolution, we will grow accustomed to increasingly third-world conditions. People who have a chance to flee the sinking ship will do so, and the exodus will be more complete the longer this process takes. If those we need for the rebound are gone, we’ll be stuck in the mud for a long time.
Therefore, you Republicans in Sacramento, don’t try to save us. Make clear how the Democrat policies will destroy the state, and plan the recovery. Let the socialists have whatever they want, and it will be clear whose policies are wrecking the state. Communicate how those policies are the problem and what needs to change.
It’s like letting my kids have all the chocolate they want and more. After binging for a day, they don’t want any for a long time. Natural consequences are the best teachers. We have a chance to save the nation if a few socialist states go down. Otherwise, the whole country could fail, and we know we are closer to that point now than we have ever been before.
Ah, it all makes sense now.
Los Angeles has bad traffic. Granted any one spot in LA is probably not as bad as some very famous junctions or bridges back east. However, taken as a whole, I would easily wager it is harder to get anywhere meaningful in Los Angeles during rush hour than any other city on earth. This is a combination of size (LA is *very* spread out) and not enough road. When I moved here in 1984 rush hour was simply heavier traffic with backups only when there were accidents. Now if you leave LAX anytime between 3:30pm and 5pm on a weekday, you wont make it to Orange County until an hour later regardless of which route you take (it should only take 25 minutes). In that span of time Los Angeles has only gained 1 freeway, the 105, which runs between the 605 and the 405 and is among the shortest freeways LA has.
I know a lot of this had to do with our now re-elected Governor Moonbeam. California knew it was facing a population crunch back in the 80s, and Gerrymandering Brown and his party at the time decided the way to prevent people from coming to California was to stop building. Their philosophy was truly, “Don’t build it and they wont come.” It was a wholly luddite approach that meant if they stopped expanding the freeway system, the environment would improve for everyone.
Twenty seven years later the air is cleaner, but you don’t live in a house. Instead the average person I know splits their time between car and apartment.
I can’t speak for Northern CA but here in Southern California, where daily commerce wholly depends on freeway use, the economic impact of that decision is probably incalculable. The hilarious thing is, CARB is still trying to make it harder for you to use your car. They penalize companies for how many employees don’t use public transportation in a city where the bus system is a joke (you’re better off riding a bicycle in most cases), and light-rail simply doesn’t cover enough area to be useful.
This is government at it’s worst, not listening to the peoples needs, dictating action based on a pseudo-moral choice, and demonizing industry.
In my county [south of San Francisco], we have a mini-me version of Caltrans called the Valley Transit Authority [VTA].
The VTA always used private contractors to run the bus system. These contractors had always bid competitively for the contracts, thus keeping the cost to taxpayers down. They also paid property taxes on their buses, equipment, terminals, etc.
Then 2 years ago the VTA management decided it could run the system better than the private sector, so it took over the bus system, thus losing all the county’s tax income in the process. The bus drivers promptly became
public employee union membersparasites on the public, with increased pay and benefits, and the VTA’s top management gave themselves raises for their ‘increased responsibility.’You can probably guess the rest of the story: costs to the taxpaying public promptly doubled, and are still rising, while service has gotten spotty and less reliable, and bus routes have been cut. But government bureaucrats run the system now, and that’s all that seems to matter.
My thanks to the Caltrans employee who wrote this. Know that you are not alone – there are many other rational professionals working for government agencies in northern California. We will not go quietly into the night, and we will fight the lunacy as best we can.
The following comments are my own opinion:
I find in my dealing with regulatory agencies and and their agents that the best and brightest minds work in the industry. I routinely come across people working for companies that once worked for various government agencies. When I bring up various regulations that don’t make any sense they shake their heads and say something to the effect that this is why they don’t work for the gov’t anymore.
We must all keep in mind that many state agencies don’t pay well, actually have very limited budgets, and often have low requirements for employment (especially when “equal employment opportunity” is taken into consideration – see http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/11/DiversityPerversity & http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/11/DepartmentOfInjustice ). A further example is how ideological many government agencies have become, see EPA, DOI, California, etc.
When idiocy is combined with ideological goals you get what is exemplified in this article, and on a grander scheme the entire UN-IPCC agenda driven corruption.