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Seley Ranch Installs
World's Largest Solar-Powered Irrigation System |
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| In December 2004,
several newspaper articles[1]
appeared describing Seley Ranch's acquisition of a solar-powered, irrigation
pumping system and the economic and environmental advantages it offers. |
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| Seley Ranch's
solar-powered, irrigation pumping system admittedly has a couple of
relatively minor societal/environmental benefits. Its biggest benefit,
however, accrues to Seley Ranch's bottom line: It will provide free
electricity and eliminate their very substantial cost of pumping groundwater |
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| Another legitimate way
of looking at Seley's new installation is, therefore, as a way to continue
depleting our single source aquifer on the cheap. Opting to invest in
technology to reduce the cost of energy rather than in means of reducing
water use removes the significant incremental cost of power. That in turn
removes the growers' only real incentive to conserve water because it was,
in effect, "pre-purchased" by a large investment in a cost-free way of
pumping it. That, in turn, makes it the functional equivalent of an
all you can eat buffet To add insult to injury, government incentives
and tax breaks funded by American taxpayers reduce Seley's cost by
two-thirds. The government's largess will greatly shorten the time to
break-even for Seley, at which point the mining of our precious and fast
disappearing groundwater becomes free and unfettered for the ranch. |
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| So, while there is a
very modest advantage for the regional environment and SDG&E and a
significant one for Seley Ranch, the rest of us in Borrego are paying dearly
for them in scarce groundwater. Anyone who understands the situation
in and cares about our enchanted valley will find it exceedingly difficult
to view this development as anything but a more cost efficient way of
looting the commons |
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[1] Borrego Sun, 2
December, p. 2; and 16 December 2004, p. 3. San Diego Union - Tribune, 11
December 2004, NorthCounty, p. 1. |
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