Bush Budget Includes 265X Increase In SF Rent For Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

[hatrack]

Washington -- President Bush's new budget contains an unwelcome bombshell for San Francisco, a proposal to raise the rent the city pays for its Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park from $30,000 a year to a whopping $8 million.

The city's representatives in Congress pledged Tuesday to fight the proposed increase in the rent, which hasn't gone up in more than 70 years. The proposal comes at a particularly bad time for San Francisco, which faces a budget deficit that could hit $300 million.

It also could prove difficult for the Public Utilities Commission, the city agency that owns and operates the vast Hetch Hetchy system, which supplies water to 2.4 million customers in the city, on the Peninsula and in parts of Alameda County.

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Under the Raker Act of 1913, the law that allowed the city to flood the scenic valley to build a dam and reservoir, San Francisco first paid $5,000 a year in rent, then $20,000 and, since the late 1920s, $30,000 a year. In addition, the commission pays the Park Service for such services as ranger protection around Hetch Hetchy and help in maintaining water quality. Last year, the payments were $1.7 million, according to the PUC."

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Hmm, maybe this is a secret Bush stealth decommissioning plan in deep drag. ;-)