This Billionaire Couple Stole California's Water Supply

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4SU9A0mwdhE

[ancianita]

1. Thanks!

Because the more you know about oligarchs...

Turns out Stewart Resnick is the richest farmer in America, and that his almonds are the 2nd largest crop grown in California, with both almonds & pistachios being 2nd highest in water use.

... Through what some sources have called backroom negotiations, in 1994 the water bank was transferred under what's known as Monterey Plus Amendments[9] from the public to the private ownership of the Resnick's.[8] It was passed from the Department of Water Resources to the agribusiness-dominated Kern County Water Authority, and from there to the Kern Water Bank Authority.

The Kern Water Bank Authority consists of four water districts and a private company, Westside Mutual.[7] Westside is a shell corporation owned by Paramount Farming which is a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company.[7] It is primarily through Westside that the Resnicks own 57% of the Water Bank.[10] News outlets, academic papers, and advocacy groups have criticized The Wonderful Company for its possession of what was originally meant to be a public asset, and the monetary benefit they have gained through it.[11]

The Wonderful Company has been criticized for its aggressive consumption of water in the drought ridden state of California. The company has expanded its business even as California residents have faced water shortages and the water ecosystem has been irreversibly damaged.[11] Residents of the Central Valley, while the target of the company's charitable giving, suffer from an acute water crisis. It is also claimed that the company lobbies to privatize the state's water and funds opposition research on the impact of farming on the drought.[11][8]

In 2024, the company sought to halt a new state law that would make it easier for its employees to unionize. The move came after United Farm Workers started representing some of its employees in Kern County under the recent law.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Company

Also raises a question about whether the Resnicks have any connection to the Border Patrol recently arresting undocumented workers in Kern County, which also caused 75% of workers (& their families, maybe) to just disappear...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143370289
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219893532

[WestMichRad]

2. K&R

[Auggie]

3. Resnick brands to boycott:

The Resnicks, through their holding company, The Wonderful Company, own the POM Wonderful and Fiji Water brands, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, JUSTIN Wines, Landmark Wines, JNSQ Wines, and the Teleflora floral wire service company.

In addition to being all-around MAGA assholes, the water they hoard means less for California family farms.

Don’t buy their shit.

[kiri]

5. don't buy almonds

5 yrs ago I learned about the ridiculous amounts of water an almond orchard takes. More than a rice paddy/field (altho there are---really---rice fields north of Sacramento!))

I stopped buying almonds in all forms, cereals, cookies, mixed nuts....(confession: occasional chocolate bar).

[spike jones]

4. I heard years ago that the Bush family businesses were buying water rights on a worldwide basis.

[Wiz Imp]

6. For those not aware, Musk is attempting to take over a huge portion of the water supply in South Texas

An area which is already in a drought.

https://www.miningweekly.com/article/musks-massive-tesla-lithium-plant-hunts-for-water-in-drought-hit-texas-2025-01-08

Musk’s massive Tesla lithium plant hunts for water in drought-hit Texas

In 2022, Tesla estimated it would need 400,000 gallons per day to run the lithium plant, rising to 800 000 gallons per day at peak usage. Two years later, a Tesla employee told a consulting firm, Raftelis, that the forecast has spiked to as high as eight-million gallons per day, according to South Texas Water Authority records obtained by Bloomberg News through a public records request.

It’s difficult to determine what kind of drain Tesla’s factory would have on the area’s water supply. But the average American family uses about 300 gallons of water per day or 109 500 gallons per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

For Robstown, which had 3 804 households as of 2023, that would equate to about 1.1-million gallons a day. At the high-end estimate of 8 million gallons per day, Tesla would be using eight times Robstown’s average residential water use. That’s enough water to fill eight ten-foot-deep swimming pools that are nearly the size of a football field, according to the US Geological Survey.

In December, South Texas Water Authority passed an infrastructure deal that will allow Nueces Water Supply to sell rights to the pipe Tesla will need to obtain water, which was one of the hold-ups for a water deal. In a meeting last month, Nueces Water Supply’s board authorized management to “take any and all actions necessary or convenient” to reach an agreement to provide Tesla with the water it needs.

(Snip)

[Orrex]

7. #luigi

[Dem2theMax]

8. This article, from Mother Jones, is dated from 2016. I read this last night.

Shocked at how many Democrats have helped them. It wasn't only the Republicans.

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/08/lynda-stewart-resnick-california-water/

They also use highly toxic chemicals. So not only are they exposing their workers to these chemicals, it's probably in the products they sell.
I have a friend who constantly drinks POM, so this article stayed with me when I read it last year.

https://www.ewg.org/research/wonderful-company-among-californias-top-users-toxic-weedkiller-paraquat