The release of a 584-page report by the Independent Forensic Team (IFT) ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission foreshadows potentially significant liability for the State of California. One can only hope that Governor Brown and liberal Democrats in the Capitol, who seem more interested in California becoming the home of the “Resistance” to the Trump Administration, will make a priority of restoring those damaged by the State’s failures.

While this may seem a gratuitous partisan “shot” at the party controlling the levers of the state’s bureaucracies, it is based on some historical precedent set in the state’s treatment of victims of the past failures of California’s flood control systems.

Most remember the crisis last February involving the collapse of the Oroville Dam spillways and the emergency exodus of nearly 200,000 Californians fleeing a potential disaster. We heard last month nearly 500 cities, farmers, and residents have filed damage claims totaling more than $1.2 billion against the State. Naturally, according to recent reports, not one claim has been settled nor has there been any payment of damages.

What may not be… Read More