AdventureBound Interview: It was great to talk with Host Rob Roy about Hetch Hetchy. He has a very nice way of getting to the core of why places like Hetch Hetchy matter so much to all of us. Rob is a navy pilot and a relatively new father – which has inspired him to do in-depth interviews with professional athletes, thrill seekers, entrepreneurs and everyday people who continually make conscious decisions to spend more time outdoors.
Check out our interview on AdventureBound. You’ll enjoy it. And check out Rob’s other interviews as well.
Hetch Hetchy Hubris: Dennis Herrera, City Attorney of San Francisco, took on the State of Texas in the wake of the recent storm that left millions without power and water. In the course of writing “So you want to leave California for Texas? Think again” for the San Francisco Chronicle, Herrera does a little bragging about Hetch Hetchy.
It’s hard to blame Herrera for defending his city. That’s what politicians do, especially when the media has been filled with stories about businesses leaving California for friendlier and less costly environments. Moreover, public officials should take pride in the reliable delivery of water and power to their customers.
Herrera’s statement about San Francisco’s electricity, however, is rife with inaccuracies. Does he even know, for example, that only one of the City’s three hydroelectric powerplants is connected to the reservoir?
And bragging about San Francisco’s “ingenious gravity-fed system from Hetch Hetchy high in the Sierra” simply sticks in the craw of folks who love Yosemite and want to see Hetch Hetchy restored. Herrera leaves out the fact that the reservoir is the result of “America’s Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism” (the title of historian Robert Righter’s book) and that everyone concedes no one would let such a dam be built today.
Someday, San Francisco politicians will be able to say they gave Hetch Hetchy back to Yosemite and the American people, while continuing to deliver reliable water and power. That will be something to brag about!