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Stephen To
Prof. Difiori
Physical Science 2
24 November 2012
The Fight for the Preservation of the Hetch Hetchy Valley
Much was at stake during Election Day last November. Was Barack Obama going to win re-election, or was Mitt Romney going to be able to ride on the momentum he had from the first presidential debate and pull of an upset victory? Was California going to vote to abolish the death penalty, or pass the proposition increasing taxes to increase funding for Californian schools? Was Los Angeles going to vote to force adult actors to wear condoms during their jobs? A measure that did not get much publicity especially in the Los Angeles area, was a local measure voted by San Franciscans. The measure, which was defeated, called for a study on whether to drain the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
What is the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and what makes this measure even worth any mention about? Talking about this particular subject would probably be incomplete without any mention of John Muir. John Muir was born in 1838, and lived till 1914. He was a heavy advocate for environmentalism, and had already been spearheading the movement in the United States decades before the hippie movement in the 1960’s. “He is one of California's most important historical personalities. He has been called "The Father of our National Parks," "Wilderness Prophet," and "Citizen of the Universe.” “As a wilderness explorer, he is renowned for his exciting adventures in California's Sierra Nevada, among Alaska's glaciers, and
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worldwide travels in search of nature's beauty. As a writer, he taught the people of his time and ours the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. His writings contributed greatly to the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks.” On the political side, his writings were very influential, convincing people then and now, even presidents to do their part to preserve nature. He also created the Sierra Club, probably named after the Sierra Nevada Mountains he loved so much, which is probably one the most important conservationist organizations today. His contributions played a major role in opposing the unregulated deforestation, and also the creation of the concept of national parks (Who was John Muir?).
From his many travels all over the world, he found the Yosemite’s beauty to be the crème de la crème. His writings to the government later on actually helped conserve the Yosemite (and many other natural sites) in the form of becoming a national park. The other sites which were then created to become national parks include other notable names like the “Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks” (Who was John Muir?). Despite his success in preserving Yosemite, he failed in his attempt to do so with the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
The Hetch Hetchy Valley, considered by Muir and his other conservationist colleagues to be the “exact counterpart” of the majestic Yosemite Valley, is located in the northwest corner of the Yosemite National Park (San Francisco’s Spectacular Hypocrisy”). He discovered the Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1871. However, it was a place few had seen as it was deep into the park. There was a part of the valley that was flooded, and San Franciscans wanted to use this runoff as a water supply for the city. They could do so by tapping it permanently by building a dam. This led
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to the question whether Hetch Hetchy should be preserved or should the use of water be licensed (The Hetch Hetchy Dam Controversy: An Introduction).
In 1890, the San Franciscan mayor, James Phelan, proposed damming the Hetch Hetchy to create a reservoir in San Francisco. He later also applies for rights to Hetch Hetchy’s water on two separate occasions, both of which were denied. However, in 1906, the devastating San Francisco earthquake occurred, followed by a great fire (The Hetch Hetchy Dam Controversy: An Introduction). Deemed among the greatest natural disasters to hit the United States, these calamities claimed about 3000 lives, destroyed a huge portion of the city, and had an economic impact on the scale of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Recognizing the desperate need for a new source of water for the growing city, and also partly thanks to the sympathy they received after being hit by the earthquake, “Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913, authorizing the construction of a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley as well as another dam at Lake Eleanor” (Hetch Hetchy Valley). 10 years later, the building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed, despite efforts by John Muir and his Sierra Club to protect the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Today, the Hetch Hetchy water system “provides water to 2.4 million people in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties.” Eight-five percent of the water comes from the actual Hetch Hetchy reservoir, the other fifteen percent come from the system’s other reservoirs (Hetch Hetchy Water System). As one can see, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir was crucial to the recovery of the city from the 1906 earthquake, and still continues to play a major role in sufficiently providing for the everyday needs of the Bay Area.
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Needless to say, there were obviously some controversies going into the building of the Hetch Hetchy Dam. On one hand, we have conservationists like John Muir who wanted to protect the Hetch Hetchy Valley. He saw the Hetch Hetchy Valley as a mountain temple, writing that “It is impossible to overestimate the value of wild mountains and mountain temples as places for people to grow in, recreation grounds for soul and body. They are the greatest of our natural resources, God's best gifts. . . ." The only justification that I see for protecting the Hetch Hetchy Valley is just only for the sole purpose of the preservation of a beautiful piece of land. Perhaps it could be turned into a national park, retaining it as a natural gem for future generations. The Yosemite and Grand Canyon are excellent examples of what the Hetch Hetchy Valley could have become. Today, both of these are major tourist attractions, enticing people far and wide, and even international tourists to come and witness their beauties. Also being national parks, these lands are protected by law against development. Therefore, the grandeur of these sites will be able to be experienced by the future generations to come.
On the other hand, there were people who were in support of the building of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Among the leaders of this group was Gifford Pinchot, who was once a friend of John Muir as they were both in favor of preservation of the environment. However, they had a very different definition for preservation. Pinchot saw preservation as a way to manage resources and use them as needed by humankind. Pinchot saw the building of the dam necessary for the San Francisco area residents. Pinchot and another influential supporter, Franklin Lane, testified at the U.S. House hearings in favor of the building of the dam. Their grounds for the building of the dam were that the city was growing and that the best way to get it would be through the building of the dam. In the hearings, Lane claimed that the water supply San Francisco had had
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been developed from time to time for the past 50 years, and that the city had outgrown it. The residents did not have easy access to clean water for their daily activities, and were especially affected as a result of the 1906 earthquake and fire. A group of engineers was formed to find a solution to this problem, and they found that the most reasonably available source of water would be the building of the dam.
Looking at the extent that the dam is integrated into the everyday lives of the Bay Area community today, I think it is safe to say that the decision to build the dam was the right one. Granted, the Hetch Hetchy Valley is not as beautiful anymore, (although, as Lane pointed out, “in matters of taste we all differ”), if I had to choose between the immediate everyday needs of water for a major city and conserving a beautiful piece of nature, I would not hesitate to choose the former. There is no doubt in my mind that America is blessed with many natural gems such as the Hetch Hetchy Valley, but what good is a beautiful piece of land, when the residents of a major city like San Francisco cannot even fulfill its daily water needs?
Interestingly enough, it seems the battle for trying to protect Hetch Hetchy Valley was far from over after the building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam. As mentioned earlier, San Francisco residents voted on whether to take the first step to drain the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir on Election Day, almost ninety years after the completion of the dam. One would think a city as liberal as San Francisco, the very city where the Sierra Club was found, would approve a measure of this nature in a heartbeat. However, the measure was surprisingly defeated, with an astounding 77% of voters voting against the restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley. Who were the major players for each side of the issue? What were their respective arguments?
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Restore Hetch Hetchy, sponsored by the Sierra Club, were the leading supporters for this movement, and they successfully placed the measure on the ballot. Their main argument was that Hetch Hetchy was a natural gem that should be left to be complete with Yosemite National Park, returning the land to the people. Independent studies showed that the ecosystem before the dam was built could be restored within 50-100 years after the reservoir is drained. The supporters claimed that they were trying to undo the one of the biggest wrongs done in environmental history.
The groups opposing this measure include all the political leaders and newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, which either is a sign of how blatantly stupid the measure is, or how much of a political party issue this has become. The Republicans are calling for the removal of the dam, and the Democrats are doing everything they can to stop it. San Francisco mayor declared the measure stupid, and Senator Diane Feinstein said, “The suggestion that San Francisco is not using its water supply efficiently is simply not true. Per person, Bay Area residents use less than half...the state's per-capita average. Hetch Hetchy provides critical water supplies to 2.5 million people and thousands of businesses, and any effort to jeopardize that water supply is simply unacceptable." They also claimed that this would have been a huge waste of taxpayer money, claiming that dismantling the dam could cost up to $10 billion (although other sources have claimed that it only might cost $1 billion). They also claim that, without the dam, they would lose a major amount of its electricity power.
With the defeat of the measure, the battle for the protection of the Hetch Hetchy Valley will probably lay for rest for a bit and may resurface in the next election. While I agree with John
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Muir’s stand on preservation, I think that at some point, we have to draw a line between what we should preserve, and what we should not preserve. When the basic living needs of the residents of a major city like San Francisco cannot even be met, I think that it is a no brainer to provide water for the residents in the most reasonable way as soon as possible. However, my take on the November ballot is: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Sure, the damage has been done to the Hetch Hetchy Valley, but if it is going to cost at least $1 billion to restore Hetch Hetchy, I personally do not think it is worth it. In today’s tough economic times, I am sure that $1 billion can be put in better use in other places where it will be more productive than being a natural beauty.
References
Crawford, Amy. “San Francisco’s Spectacular Hypocrisy.” Slate Magazine. The Slate Group. 25 October 2012. Web. 24 November 2012.
“Hetch Hetchy Water System.” Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency. Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency. Web. 24 November 2012.
“Hetch Hetchy Valley.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. March 2007. Web. 24 November 2012.
“The Hetch Hetchy Dam Controversy: An Introduction.” Assumption College. Assumption College. Web. 24 November 2012.
“Who was John Muir?” Sierra Club. Sierra Club. Web. 24 November 2012.
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