Clearway Energy crushed to death tens of thousands of desert critters in their burrows ('in our backyard'), damaged the historic base for future tourism in our valley, and increased the amount of carcinogenic silica dust that we breathe daily in Newberry Springs.

    To reward Clearway Energy, the Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce has given Clearway Energy a bonanza win... the Chamber's welcome blessing, and public recognition of being a responsible Chamber member.

    Despite the horrific devastation that Clearway Energy has caused the entire valley, Clearway Energy can now promote itself to investors and governmental overseers as being a good, welcomed neighbor.

    The Chamber's travesty of bedding with Clearway is enough to make many in Newberry puke!

    Why would the Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce salt the wounds of injured residents with such an insensitive and unholy alliance?   Answer: For money, the corruption of thousands of U.S. dollars!   Greed !  Yes, pure Chamber greed.  (And this is coming from so-called Christians.)

    Where is that money going?  Even the Chamber's board doesn't know because the Chamber has not been keeping proper financial records as required of an operational non-profit.  What are the Chamber's expenditures?  How much might be going quietly to administration?  It is being publicly hidden.

    The top echelon of the Chamber now appears to be actively mining for dollars.  The Chamber has amassed money from Clearway, money from misled locals, $5K from the Third District Supervisor, Dawn Rowe, and another $5K from Cadiz, Inc.!

    Yes, Cadiz, the Los Angeles company that for over two decades has been trying to pirate the county's public desert water for its resale.  The value of the water has been estimated at over $1 billion (wholesale).

    First, before discussing Cadiz, Inc., what about that $5,000 of our taxpayer dollars from Dawn Rowe?  Doesn't she investigate and practice due diligence in the vetting of recipients of County funds?  Shouldn't there be proper reporting, tracking, and accountability of public funds?  Or is public money from Dawn Rowe just being thrown at unaccountable black holes?

    The Newberry CSD has just spent many thousands of dollars with a CPA firm to get its books in order. This is necessary for the CSD to be a candidate for construction grants. The Chamber lacks such credible financials.

    In another horrific blunder of common sense, the Newberry Chamber has climbed into bed with pure evil.  Cadiz, Inc. is bribing the Chamber in a quid pro quo of bribe dollars for Chamber support.

    Cadiz, Inc.'s land assets sit on a desert water basin at Cadiz, California, approximately 80 miles east of Newberry Springs.  For decades, Cadiz, Inc. has been attempting to sell 50,000 acre-feet of public water per year, for 50 years, to whoever it can convey the water to.

    Cadiz, Inc. has its corporate offices in Los Angeles.  It has no business activity in Newberry Springs.  It has no interest in Newberry Springs, except for its corporate goals.  So, as with politicians, it is spreading its cash for insider support.

    There is, however, a problem.  Cadiz, Inc. is sneaky.  It likes to enter through the back door with money, and it is now expecting that it is acquiring Newberry Springs' support for the community's acceptance of Cadiz's water.

    That, however, may not happen.  The Newberry Chamber does not represent and speak for Newberry Springs.  With good cause, Newberry Springs may not want the Cadiz water.

    Having struck out with its attempt to convey water to the Santa Margarita Water District and the greater Orange County area, Cadiz, Inc. has been trying to sign up the less sophisticated and more gullible High Desert leaders as a political springboard for its project.

    Cadiz, Inc. desperately needs a groundswell of political support to advance its project in Sacramento.  The State has been a major opponent of the Cadiz project.

    Dumb Barstow, with the Golden State Water Company, has joined a few other High Desert cities that have signed up for the Cadiz water.  Dawn Rowe has also joined the scheme.  But, these self-centered politicians are not looking out for their constituents.

    Dawn Rowe has demonstrated this indifference to protect her constituents by voting for the placement of photovoltaic solar farms in a Sand Transport Path upwind to Newberry Springs.

    Despite paying and purchasing politicians for years, Cadiz, Inc. has been unsuccessful in its water scheme.  There is a reason why this company has repeatedly come up dry.

    Despite being in business for decades, Cadiz, Inc. has not had a single profitable year.  I believe that some Wall Street funds are now so heavily invested in Cadiz, Inc. that they are forced to keep financing it to keep Cadiz, Inc. afloat.

    I see Cadiz, Inc. as a pyramid device that keeps feeding upper management salaries without any profitable corporate results.

    The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) is a consortium of 26 cities and Water Districts in Southern California.  It provides water to one-half of California's population.  With its water allocation to the Colorado River Aqueduct declining, and other sources being impacted by climate change, the MWD is always looking for new water sources.

    Despite this need, the MWD does not want the Cadiz water.  It has deeply studied the Cadiz proposal and has found it lacking in environmental sustainability, and the proposal being based on questionable science and shaky economic feasibility.

    Cadiz, Inc. had originally proposed to transport the water 43 miles south via pipeline to the MWD's Colorado River Aqueduct.  The MWD turned down the idea because it did not want the Cadiz water mixing with its pure Colorado River water because the Cadiz, Inc.'s water has carcinogenic Chromium 6.

    While Cadiz, Inc. claims that its water meets the federal threshold, no amount of Chromium 6 is safe, and the MWD does not want the Cadiz water being diluted in its water supply.

    The State of California felt that the federal standard for Chromium 6 (100 parts per billion) was so skewed that for about 4 years, California had its own legal standard that was 10 times stricter.  That law was overturned in the courts, not on the law's health science, but over economic reasons.

    A few small water companies complained that the legislature had not taken into consideration the cost factor to small companies having to meet the State's stricter criteria.

    Last September, 2024, after addressing the court's concerns, California reimposed the 10 parts to 1 billion limit on Chromium 6. Some small water companies are now scrambling on how to financially address it.

    The incompetent Barstow officials, along with the Golden State Water Company, on hearing of a new water source, were eager to jump on it.

    While PG&E has spent millions of dollars trying to stop a Chromium 6 expanding plume, from Hinkley, reaching Barstow's water wells, the local officials have decided to pipe Chromium 6 directly into Barstow's water system.

    Years ago, some people were outraged that fluoride was being added to their water.  Wait until they learn about Chromium 6 !

    Another major problem with Cadiz, Inc.'s proposal is the devastation that the project will have on the desert's environment.  Nature in the Cadiz basin is already being stressed by climate change.  The Cadiz project will cause tragic havoc.

    The wildlife and the vegetation will not likely survive under the unsustainable Cadiz water extraction. It is greed on steroids.

    Overpumping a water aquifer causes subsidence, a dropping of the elevation of the land mass.  As water is extracted, the earth materials settle and are compacted.  The basin is not capable of later expanding.  The earth materials are not like a sponge. Over-pumping causes irreparable harm.

    The Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce secretly hosted Cadiz, Inc.'s CEO in Newberry Springs, where she was lobbied by the Chamber.  Newberry's Chamber is seriously working to have a "successful collaboration" with Cadiz, Inc., to get the Cadiz water and allow Chromium 6 to contaminate Newberry's water supply.

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