BAKERSFIELD. CALIF, (KERO) — Experts highlight the need for policy changes to ensure affordable water and energy, crucial for Kern County's economy.
- KernTax's 85th Annual Meeting focused on water and energy issues in Kern County.
- Ed Ring from the California Policy Center highlighted the need to change current state policies to make water and energy more affordable.
- Ring warned that without restored water deliveries, Kern County's agricultural economy could suffer.
- Ring emphasized that Kern County has one of the highest electricity costs in California, impacting both water and energy sectors.
- Jesse D. Frederick from WZI Inc. stressed the importance of developing policies to address these issues at the state level.
Broadcast transcript:
Water and energy solutions are some of the main concerns of citizens throughout our county. I'm Madi Vollmer your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter and I talked with the California Policy Center on this year's 85th Kern Tax meeting.
The meeting's main focus was water and energy and how it impacts Kern County. According to Ed Ring with the California Policy Center, current state policies on water and energy issues need to be changed to make both affordable. "What we have in California right now and I think the worst case is Kern County is shortages. Politically, contrived artificial shortages of energy and water," said Ed Ring of the California Policy Center.
Ring tells me that in the long run if water deliveries don't get restored to Kern County it runs the risk of hurting the agricultural economy. "We have normal rainfall so far but the farmers are given a 5% allocation which means unless they get more water, they aren't going to plant their crops, and if you don't know you're going to have a higher water allocation soon enough you'll have to leave all of those fields empty," Ring explained.
Ring says not only will water be impacted but so will the energy sector, saying Kern County has one of the highest costs of electricity in California. "We have the opportunity to have abundant electricity in California if we weren't trying to get rid of conventional sources of energy, before we really have all of this renewable energy at a cost-effective price," he added.
Jesse D Frederick is the Vice President of WZI Inc, an environmental and consulting company, and he says that while water and energy are new topics to the Kern Tax meetings, both are vital issues for Kern's economy. "I think the only thing left to do like I said is further investigate, refine, develop some policies, organize, and get a central focus so we can deal with state issues at the state level in a manner that best reflects the interest of the Central Valley," said Jesse D Frederick, Vice President of WZI Inc.
Ring gave proposed solutions to help bring the focus back to maintaining the foundation of a healthy economy, saying that if the public doesn't maintain that focus, counties like ours will have a tough time generating much-needed tax revenue. The California Policy Center says moving forward water and energy should be on the forefront of people's minds.
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