Hoping to capitalize on the epic drought, the state’s water industry wants to usher in a new era of dam-building in the state. But environmentalists say it would cost billions and do more harm than good. By Will Parrish On the edge of the Yolla Bolly Wilderness, about 15 miles north of the dusty town … Read more
By: Will Parrish October 15, 2014 In roughly three weeks, the relatively slim percentage of Californians who vote in the Nov. 2014 election will decide on a politically contentious (is there any other kind of water politics in California?) $7.5 billion state general obligation bond, Proposition 1, entitled “THE State Water Bond” (emphasis added). A … Read more
by Will Parrish on Sep 28th, 2011 The Anderson Valley Advertiser The primary mandate of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), a division of the California Environmental Protection Agency, is to ensure adequate water for California’s fish populations. Its actual function, however, has proved to be altogether different. In … Read more
The Great Thirst: Water Wars in Mendo and the North Coast Thursday, September 29 The Spring House 304 Spring St., Ukiah Join local journalist Will Parrish as he leads a discussion on water woes in Mendocino County and the greater California North Coast, from the wine industry’s depletion of creeks, streams, and groundwater to the … Read more
by Darwin Bond-Graham and Will Parrish on Jul 27th, 2011 If you’ve followed the Anderson Valley Advertiser for any length of time, you’re no doubt aware that the wine industry wields inordinate political power, not only here on the North Coast, but at the state-wide level also. Whether they’re fighting to prevent regulation of their enormous appetite for … Read more
Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ Will Parrish: Laytonville Photo: The North Coast’s biggest forestland to vineyard conversion ever? Courtesy Friends of the Gualala River Spanish wine corporation Grupo Codorníu is accustomed to doing things in a big way. It is reputed to own a greater expanse of vineyard acreage than any wine company … Read more
Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ Drinking Our Rivers Dry By WILL PARRISH The latest in California’s North Coast wine oligarchy’s long series of legislative coups de grace occurred on December 14. In a 5-0 vote, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors rubber-stamped new regulations on frost protection in the Russian River water basin, … Read more
Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville “We have chosen as our first topic of discussion the reality of the business — cash. Everything we do eventually finds its way back to this common denominator. That is, cash in and cash out. … At Duckhorn Vineyards, we earn approximately 24% cash … Read more
Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville The North Coast wine industry is a sprawling, multi-billion dollar enterprise. It encompasses hundreds of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Marin, Lake, and Solano counties; commands millions of acre feet of the area’s ever-more scarce water resources; and … Read more