AGENDA 21 RADIO

BY PAUL PRESTON

In the video below California Assemblyman James Gallagher of Assembly District 3 speaks before the California State Assembly about the Oroville Dam Disaster. Gallagher was the first state representative to go to the Oroville Dam on February 11, 2017 to assess the situation and to show support to the dam workers and to reassure the public. Gallagher was followed by State Senator Jim Neilson and member of the House of Representatives from the 1st Congressional Doug LaMalfa who game to the dam site the next day. All three representatives are to be praised for their leadership early on in this disaster and in the continuing crisis that is not over yet and very much at risk of becoming one of man kinds greatest disasters. These men have the courage to know when to lead and to take the publics safety seriously.

Governor Jerry Brown, who told the media on the night of February 12, 2017 that he would not visit the Oroville site has shown no leadership except to run from the problem. I visited the Oroville dam on February 11, 2017 and made an immediate assessment there was trouble that was plain to see with the emergency and main spillways. I cannot speak for the governor or Gallagher, Neilson and LaMalfa but it’s obvious the level of concern was much stronger for the public’s safety from the later than from the former.

I went on the radio on Sunday February 12, 2017 and blasted Governor Jerry Brown for his obvious lack of concern and his smugness at dismissing the concerns of hundreds of thousands of Californians who were at threat of injury or even death. Later in the afternoon on the 12th a listener to Agenda 21 Radio called me to inform me that the governor’s office of Emergency Services truck was spotted at a high rate of speed going north on Highway 99 towards Oroville. The evacuation was on and the mobilization of over 180,000 people was on. I thought how little to late Governor Brown’s lack of leadership at a time of crisis spoke volumes.The evacuation was ordered and the mobilization of over 180,000 people was on.

Earlier today, I spoke to my legislative colleagues for the first time about the situation at the Oroville Dam. I spoke about the need for a full and thorough review in order to get to the bottom of the issue. I spoke about the need to make a real investment to properly operate and maintain our exisiting water infrastructure. I spoke about the need to build new water storage, like Sites Reservoir, which would be able to take flood flows in the winter, reduce pressure on levees, and provide critical operational flexibility at Oroville, Shasta, and Folsom.
This is not a time for political grandstanding, this is a time for action.