By Free Republic | Created at 2025-01-10 11:27:30 | Updated at 2025-01-10 15:06:03
4 hours ago
Amid Drought, Billionaires Control A Critical California Water Bank
https://www.forbes.com/ ^ | Oct 11, 2021 | Chloe Sorvino
Posted on 01/10/2025 3:03:53 AM PST by Jonty30
Water prices are soaring in California’s Central Valley, where a quarter of the nation’s food is grown. As the West Coast’s megadrought worsens, one farming company has long been scrutinized for its outsize role in the arid region’s water supply.
Wonderful, the closely held company owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, can buy up huge amounts of water whenever it needs more. Most of the Resnicks’ water comes from long-term contracts and other water from land rights they have from the farms they own. Around 9% of the total water used by Wonderful is bought out on the open water market. While that’s not a huge amount of the water it uses, the company can outspend pretty much every other farmer in the region, which can influence water prices.
“Like all farmers, we occasionally need to purchase water for our crops,” a spokesperson for the Wonderful Co. said. “However, we prioritize water rights when purchasing farmland, thus most of our supply is not purchased on the water market. Based on this, we do not believe we have enough purchasing power to impact water prices.”
The water that the Resnicks use gets stored underground initially before the water is delivered to the roots of the Resnicks’ pistachios, almonds and pomegranate orchards. Specifically, it is stored in the Kern Water Bank, the most valuable water resource in a region critical to America’s fresh food supply. The water bank, which is a public-private partnership in which the Resnicks own a 57% stake, is a 32-square-mile recharge basin—which looks like floodlands from the street that essentially stores up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water (or 500 billion gallons) underground.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
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How many houses burned down because of this arrangement?
1 posted on 01/10/2025 3:03:53 AM PST by Jonty30
To: sauropod
2 posted on 01/10/2025 3:10:18 AM PST by sauropod ("You didn't take a country. You only won a football game!" - Dan Dakich Ne supra crepidam)
To: Jonty30
“ How many houses burned down because of this arrangement?”
***********************************************
Probably none. 3 1/2 year old article.
3 posted on 01/10/2025 3:16:29 AM PST by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX)
To: House Atreides
Why? Have they given up ownership of the water since?
4 posted on 01/10/2025 3:17:13 AM PST by Jonty30 (Liberals are a fulfillment of II Tim3:5. We are instructed to have nothing to do with those people. )
To: Jonty30
“How many houses burned down because of this arrangement”
None.
5 posted on 01/10/2025 3:20:19 AM PST by linMcHlp
To: Jonty30
“Wonderful, the closely held company owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick”
They make damn good pistachios, so can’t blame them for wanting to control their water access.
6 posted on 01/10/2025 3:20:24 AM PST by BobL
To: linMcHlp
I’m not prepared to say that.
7 posted on 01/10/2025 3:22:18 AM PST by Jonty30 (Liberals are a fulfillment of II Tim3:5. We are instructed to have nothing to do with those people. )
To: Jonty30
In 2024, Stewart Resnick gave $100,000 to the Democratic Majority for Israel and approximately $785,000 to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Lynda Resnick also donated approximately $785,000 to the DCCC.
8 posted on 01/10/2025 3:23:30 AM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Trump & Vance, 2024! (Formerly) Goldwater & Thomas Sowell)
To: Jonty30
Stewart and Lynda Resnick - mostly Dem donors
https://revealnews.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy-images/resnick/resnick_donations.html
Stewart and Lynda Resnick are philanthropists who have donated millions of dollars to academic institutions, climate change initiatives, and other causes.
Notable donations
Lynda and Stewart Resnick Center for Agricultural Innovation at UC Davis
A $50 million gift in 2022 established this center to support research in agriculture and environmental sustainability. The center will focus on developing technologies to make crops more resilient, increasing access to nutritious food, and more.
Caltech sustainability center
A $750 million gift in 2019 funded sustainability research at Caltech. This was the largest donation in the field at the time. (a request for them to donate to CalTech by their grandkids)
Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital
Named after Stewart and Lynda Resnick in honor of their involvement.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A $45 million gift in 2008 funded the construction of a new exhibition pavilion.
Hammer Museum
A $30 million gift in 2018 helped pay for a renovation and expansion project.
9 posted on 01/10/2025 3:27:17 AM PST by mairdie
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