“Sustainability” once had a real meaning: using resources responsibly, reducing unnecessary waste, and protecting the environment in balance with the needs of mankind.
That is not what it always means now.
Increasingly, sustainability is used as a feel-good justification for government agencies to expand their authority and funnel taxpayer dollars into a growing ecosystem of regulators, consultants, grant administrators, and politically favored contractors.
The real-world consequences of this new kind of “sustainability” include more permits, more paperwork, higher costs, delayed projects, and another set of rules that businesses must somehow finance and navigate.
It will also mean less delicious California wine.
At the end of last year, the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (NCGSA) Board of Directors adopted a resolution that authorized the agency to impose groundwater-sustainability fees on users within the Napa Valley Subbasin.
The fee applies only to groundwater using parcels inside the Napa Valley Subbasin. The fees will be used to fund the NCGSA’s implementation of the approved Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) under the state-mandated Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014.
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