Worries Build Among Investors Over Oil and Gas Industry's Exposure to Water and Climate Risks

From:  Truth Out 

Friday, 30 October 2015 00:00 
 By Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog | News Analysis 

(Photo: Oil Pollution via Shutterstock)  

When it comes to financial risks surrounding water, there is one industry that, according to a new report, is both among the most exposed to these risks and the least transparent to investors about them: the oil and gas industry.

This year, 1,073 of the world's largest publicly listed companies faced requests from institutional investors concerned about the companies' vulnerability to water-related risks that they disclose their plans for adapting and responding to issues like drought or water shortages.

Many of those companies responded by reporting their information to a group called CDP, which works with over 800 institutional investors with assets of US$95 trillion to push for corporate transparency. But in the oil and gas industry, the compliance rate was just over half the average, with only 22% of companies providing information, CDP reported.

MORE

Worried about toxic chemicals? This band exposes them

From:  USA Today

NEW YORK — It's frightening stuff.

by Edward C. Baig 

During a single week back in August in which I bopped in and around New York City, I was exposed to at least 16 hazardous chemicals. These included phthalate chemicals of the type banned in kids toys and pacifiers, flame retardants such as TCPP and TPP, and Galaxolide, a common fragrance found in cleaning and beauty products.

I'm aware of the sobering details because of a wearable.

While most of us don high tech bands and fitness bracelets to count steps or calories burned, the ordinary looking, waterproof, silicon black band I had on my wrist for those seven days serves a very different purpose. It passively absorbs organic compounds that may be present in the air, water or consumer products around you. In fact, it can currently detect 1,418 chemicals.  MORE

You can sign up HERE

Will The Crazed Neocons Bring Us Nuclear Winter?

From:  LewRockwell.com

By Paul Craig Roberts

PaulCraigRoberts.org

October 21, 2015

As readers know, I have emphasized that the declared neoconservative intention of achieving global hegemony has resurrected the threat of nuclear armageddon as Russia and China are most definitely not going to submit, as every European country, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, and Japan have submitted, to being Washington’s vassals.

The president of Russia and the president of China have made this completely clear.

If the arrogance, ignorance and incompetence of the Western political systems permit the continuation of the crazed, totally unrealistic, neoconservative agenda, the planet will die.  MORE

How the State's "Justice" System Cultivates Predators like Ibn Hunter

From:  Pro Libertate

 

By William Norman Grigg

Pro Libertate Blog

On occasion, government-employed police can solve a crime of violence – assuming that the act is captured on video, the offender makes a point of mugging for the camera in close-up, and the clip is disseminated to a large social media audience. Closing the case is even easier when the assailant is a veteran of the criminal “justice” system, and his whereabouts are well-known.

Given all of those advantages, police in Atlantic City were able to arrest Ibn Hunter for punching a homeless 45-year-old woman in an unprovoked attack that left the victim with serious brain trauma. Clearing this case was not beyond the police department’s competence – once others had done the leg work.

In the video, a glassy-eyed Hunter is seen taunting the unnamed victim, who had apparently warned the gibbering predator to stay away from her dog.  MORE

Bipartisan Support for the Regulation Freedom Amendment!

Two key Democratic leaders, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin of West Virginia  and Kentucky House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, joined in a unanimous vote of state legislators and governors' representatives on the Southern States Energy Board today to endorse and urge Congress to propose the Regulation Freedom Amendment.

The Regulation Freedom Amendment, now endorsed by more than 500 legislators, 4 Governors, the American Farm Bureau, the National Taxpayers Union and the General Counsel of the RNC, would require that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress.

As Eddie Jo Williams the immediate past Majority Leader of the Arkansas Senate who sponsored the Resolution with Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris said:

"If you've had enough, raise your hand."

The Southern States Energy Board, established by an interstate state compact, is composed of legislators and representatives of Governors from the Southern States and two territories.

The only objections voiced were from the Virgin Islands which voted no and Puerto Rico which abstained.

The text of the Regulation Freedom Amendment as specified in Resolutions by 15 state legislative Chambers is:

"Whenever one quarter of the Members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate transmit to the President their written declaration of opposition to a proposed federal regulation, it shall require a majority vote of the House and Senate to adopt that regulation."

In much the same way that states helped force Congress to propose the Bill of Rights support from 2/3 of the states for the Regulation Freedom Amendment could help force Congress to propose it.

A network of grassroots community and business leaders is working to educate state legislators and Members of Congress about their potential to work together to break the deadlock in Washington and curb the authority of federal regulators.

For more information contact:

Roman Buhler
Director
The Madison Coalition
202 255 5000
www.RegulationFreedom.Org

Plains All American pipeline spills 4,200 gallons of oil

From:  Houston Business Journal 

Laura Furr

Houston Business Journal

SEE CORRECTION AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE

Enlarge

U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTO BY PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS ANDREA ANDERSON

Crews are completing clean-up of the oil along Refugio State Beach in Goleta, California,… more

A Plains All American Pipeline LP (NYSE: PAA) pipeline spilled an estimated 4,200 gallons of crude oil near St. Louis on July 10.

According to a statement from the Houston-based company, the flow of oil has been stopped, but some reached a nearby creek. Plains has initiated its emergency response plan to contain the release and work crews are on site.

The leak was traced back to small-diameter pipeline at the company’s Pocahontas pump station in southwest Illinois, about 40 miles from St. Louis, the company said in the statement.  MORE

Atwater oil spill: A year later, a new law and a business still closed

From:  KPCC 

by Sharon McNary 

Plains All American Pipeline, the same company that operates the pipe that polluted a Santa  Barbara 

County beach last week, was also responsible for a spill in Atwater Village one year ago.

The mess has long since been cleaned up, but a couple of things have changed since the early 

hours of May 14, morning 2014, when oil gushed out of control.

The crude flooded a nude entertainment venue next door called The Gentlemen's Club. The business hasn't re-opened since, with the loss of some 50 jobs and tax revenues to the city, said owner Michael King Khorsandi.  MORE

Refugio Insights - Rex & Greg on the beach

By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster 

DANS, CEO

Rex and Greg having a confab on the Beach in Santa Barbara 

Let's start at the beginning.  The oil which poured out of the pipe originated from the Hondo Drilling Platform, owned by ExxonMobil.  It was transported via ExxonMobil pipes to Las Flores, an ExxonMobil Facility, and then began its transport by Plains All American Pipeline through the Plains connection to the ExxonMobil Tank. 

10:45:00 AM

Five Plains employees are at work in a room at ExxonMobil's Las Flores Pump Station where their company's ten miles of pipeline begins a few feet from one of two massive tanks.  

A mechanical issue is reported.  The pipeline, carrying Exxon crude from Hondo, shuts down at Sisquoc Pumping Station due to unknown reasons.  At 10:47AM, approximately, Las Flores shuts down, reporting a pressure surge.  

Exxon owns the three drilling platforms, Hondo, Heritage and Harmony, located in the Santa Barbara Channel.  Exxon owns the pipeline which feeds into the Las Flores  Canyon Processing Facility along with the room provided to the five Plains employees who oversee the exit of Pipe 901 from Las Flores.  The Refugio Spill will take place three miles into the 901. 

                                                                               

ExxonMobil Infrastructure involved in the Refugio Spill

The ten miles of pipe owned by Plains on this route, known as Pipeline 901,  had been cited by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)  as needing immediate repair in the Corrective Action Order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), dated June 3, 2015.  Plains had been aware of the problems since the test was done a month earlier, two weeks before the spill took place on May 19^th.   

 Las Flores Facility, owned by ExxonMobil.  Red Line is Pipe 901.

The May 5^th In-Line Inspection (ILI) revealed four areas requiring, “ immediate investigation and remediation” on Pipe 901.  Loss of original metal was reported as “54 and 74% of the original pipe wall thickness.”  

Because of the corrosive nature of crude, high temperatures used for transport and weathering pipes need constant monitoring.  

The Hondo Crude flowing through Pipe 901 on May 19^th was heated to 126 degrees so it could be transported.  The profile for the Hondo Crude includes Sulphur 4.3 % by volume (sour oil) .  

When heated, the Sulfur will be ready, if exposed to oxygen, to react, becoming Hydrogen Sulfide, a highly poisonous gas.  The Hondo Crude also contains Benzene, which also becomes gaseous when released to the air.  Both, being heavier than air, could have, absent a breeze, flowed down to the beach.   

The five Plains employees controlled a valve in a small building, like a maintenance shed, a few feet inside the Exxon Facility.  

 Pipeline 901 crosses the manifold carrying the oil, owned by ExxonMobil.

150 feet from the tank is a manifold where pipes  come together.  This is exposed.  A spur crosses the main pipeline.  The pipelines, perpendicular to the main line,  lead to  a small building about six car lengths long and 2 car lengths wide where it stops.  

This is where the valve is believed to be located.   It is also the place where the Smart Pig, used to test Pipe 901 on May 5^th was inserted, traveling all the way to Refugio and beyond.  The Smart Pig reported to Plains' contractors, who let Plains know, there were problems with 901, providing them with the data.  

Smart Pig

Plains had not been ordered by Jeffrey D. Wiese, Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to stop pumping  so they continued to do so.  It was a judgment call.  

10:47:00AM

Sisquoc Pump Station shuts down both the backup and main pumps.  

10:50:00AM

The Refugio Spill has not yet taken place.  

The pumps at Las Flores shut down due to a high pressure reading.  An operator restarts the pumps at the Sisquoc Pump Station, which is about 50 miles north of the spill site.  

10:53:00AM

Between 10:53 an 10:55 first Las Flores and then Sisquoc restart pumping. 

How much pressure is too much when the pipe is already having issues?  This is a judgment call.  

Pressure gauges are old technology and subject to multiple misreadings.  Many oil companies now use Ultrasound monitoring, which provides precise bi-directional and highly dynamic flow measurement and the non-intrusive clamp-on technology to ascertain flow rates, a better indicator. 

Plains is still on old technology in other ways as well.  No automatic shut off valve is on the system although Santa Barbara County requires this.  

11:15:00AM

The Sisquoc back-up pump goes down, followed by the main pump, according to the company. It is not possible to restart the pumping.  At Las Flores pumping continues.  

11:30:00AM

Due to “pressure anomalies” occur that morning, a Plains operator at the Midland Control Center in Texas remotely shuts down the ruptured pipe and finally stopping the pump at Las Flores.  

11:42:00AM

A 9-1-1 call reporting strong oily odors comes in to the Fire Department Dispatch Center for Gaviota. In response, a crew from County Fire Station 18 goes out on the bluffs to investigate the strong odor and follows it down to the beach at Refugio where 901 is bleeding oil through the culvert, onto the beach and into the Pacific Ocean.  

The potentially fatal concentration of Hydrogen Sulfide and Benzene, dispersed to the area north and east, will have dissipated from its maximum ten minute high by the time emergency personnel arrive.  

It could have been worse. 

Exxon and Plains appear, by reports, to follow the same protocols for monitoring flow in the pipelines in Santa Barbara County, this being a pressure reading.  No mention is made of ultrasound technology.  

Some questions naturally occur.  

What did Exxon know about the problems with 901 and when did they know it?  

Why is Exxon not also under investigation?  Why have litigants failed to name the corporation in their law suits, as is usual in similar circumstances?  

Why wasn't ExxonMobil asked to answer questions at the June 26^th Hearing in Santa Barbara?   

Does Exxon have any data which is relevant to the ongoing investigation?  

Now, how about some answers!

Company Safety Records:  

Plains All American Pipeline - Environmental Record 

Our thanks to Channel Keepers

ExxonMobil - Environmental Record

Our thanks to the great people who provided the original research.

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster is the CEO of DANS, Disaster Alert News Service, and a life long advocate for the environment and social justice.  DANS provides technical background on issues of petroleum using the expertise of DANS Director, David Lincoln, a whistleblower on the oil companies and qualified expert witness on their practices and technologies.  

Arkansas Hires Notorious Private Contractor To Clean Up Mayflower Tar Sands Spill, Same Firm Also Contracted For KXL

From:  DeSmogBlog

By Steve Horn • Saturday, April 13, 2013 - 05:30

Arkansas' Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has contracted out the “independent analysis of the cleanup” of the ExxonMobil Pegasus tar sands pipeline spill to Witt O'Brien's, a firm with a history of oil spill cover-ups, a DeSmogBlog investigation reveals. 

At his April 10 press conference about the Mayflower spill response, AGMcDaniel confirmed that Exxon had turned over 12,500 pages of documents to his office resulting from a subpoena related to Exxon's response to the March 29 Pegasus disaster. A 22-foot gash in the 65-year-old pipeline spewed over 500,000 gallons of tar sands dilbit through the streets of Mayflower, AR. 

McDaniel also provided the media with a presser explaining that his office had“retained the assistance of Witt O’Brien’s, a firm whose experts will immediately begin an independent analysis of the cleanup process.”  MORE

Court decides wrangle over shot-down drone

From:  BBC News 

Drones are becoming popular hi-tech toys for many people

A US court has found in favour of a drone owner who sued a man who shot his hexacopter out of the sky.

The drone, built and flown by Eric Joe, was shot down by Brett McBay in late November, 2014. 

Mr McBay claimed the drone was over his property and said he believed it was being used to spy on him.  MORE

Oklahoma court rules earthquake victim can sue oil companies

From:  Reuters 

By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Oklahoma woman who was injured when an earthquake rocked her home in 2011 can sue oil companies for damages, the state's highest court ruled on Tuesday, opening the door to other potential lawsuits against the state's energy companies.

Oklahoma has experienced a dramatic spike in earthquakes in the last five years, and researchers have blamed the oil and gas industry's practice of injecting massive volumes of saltwater left over from oil and gas drilling.

The state saw nearly 600 quakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in 2014, compared to just one or two per year prior to 2009, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. MORE

Official says pipeline firm violated state guidelines for reporting Santa Barbara spill

From:  Los Angeles Times 

by Javier Panzar

Caption Oil spill cleanup

Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

With boats offshore, cleanup efforts continue at Refugio State Beach on Thursday morning June 4, 2015.

State Atty. Gen. and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris, center, is briefed by Tyson Butzke, right, a superintendent with California State Parks, and Tom Cullen, left, of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, at Refugio State Beach on Thursday.

The Texas owner of the crude oil pipeline that ruptured along the Santa Barbara County coast last month did not meet state guidelines for reporting an oil spill, a top state official said at an oversight hearing Friday.

The joint hearing of two legislative committees focused on the response to the May 19 spill and the initial hours after the pipe owned by Plains All American Pipeline burst. Lawmakers also wanted to know why the company was unaware of corrosion in its pipeline.

Plains employees did not report the spill to state officials until 2:54 p.m. on May 19, about an hour and a half after company officials said they confirmed a Plains pipeline was responsible for spilling thousands of gallons of oil along the coast.  MORE

Goleta Residents Hot Over Venoco’s Proposed Drilling Project

From:  Noozhawk

By Gina Potthoff, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @ginapotthoff | Published on 06.24.2015 10:30 p.m.

Oil company hosts two community meetings about its plans to drill six wells ahead of consideration by the State Lands Commission

Protesters gather outside the Goleta Valley Community Center on Wednesday to protest a proposed Venoco drilling project ahead of a public hearing on the matter. (Gina Potthoff / Noozhawk photo)


The recent oil spill off the Gaviota coast gave Goleta residents sufficient ammunition Wednesday to attack Venoco Inc.’s plans to drill six wells into a new area of the South Ellwood Oil Field.

Consensus at one public hearing was that Goleta residents who don't work for the oil company are tired of seeing oil development in their backyards.

The privately owned Santa Barbara County-based oil company presented its proposal during two community meetings — at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. — at the Goleta Valley Community Center, where the State Lands Commission gathered public input ahead of its meeting to rule on the project.  MORE

South Coast Lawmakers Press Company Officials for Answers on Refugio Oil Spill

From:  Noozhawk

 By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @laraanncooper | Published on 06.26.2015 7:10 p.m.

Few new details emerge during an oversight hearing in Santa Barbara, with Sen. Jackson telling a Plains rep, 'We expect and will demand better'

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblyman Das Williams lead Friday's hearing on the Refugio oil spill. (Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)

Patrick Hodgins, director of safety and security for Plains All American Pipeline, answers questions from local lawmakers about the Refugio oil spill during a joint meeting held Friday in Santa Barbara. (Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)

Lawmakers representing the South Coast pressed for answers on the Refugio oil spill on Friday afternoon, but got few answers as oil company officials gave no new details about the cause.

A joint oversight hearing was held on Friday in Santa Barbara between the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Select Committee on the Refugio Oil Spill, with state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblyman Das Williams conducting the hearing.

Jackson and Williams are each working on legislation in the wake of the spill, which occurred May 19 off Refugio State Beach.

Assemblyman Mark Stone of Santa Cruz and Monterrey counties was also on the dais.  MORE

Jackson, Williams Holding Oversight Hearing in Santa Barbara on Refugio Oil Spill

From:  Noozhawk

Source: Lisa Gardiner for Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, chair of the Senate Select Committee on the Refugio oil spill, and Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Carpinteria, chair of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, will hold a joint oversight hearing to examine the causes, response to and impacts of the spill on Friday in Santa Barbara.

The hearing will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing room, fourth floor, at 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.

It will be open to the public and can also be watched live at this link or on Channel 20 on Cox Cable in Santa Barbara.  MORE

Pipeline Company CEO Gives Timeline for Refugio Oil Spill Response

From:  Noozhawk

By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @laraanncooper | Published on 06.24.2015 7:30 p.m.

Lawmakers question why it took Plains All American employees 3½ hours to notify the National Response Center of the equipment failure

Bret Moxley of the Environmental Protection Agency speaks at a news conference Wednesday in front of a timeline outlining response of the Refugio Oil Spill.  Officials could not give more details on the hours surrounding the spill, but a letter from Plains CEO Greg Armstrong to lawmakers published Wednesday afternoon included more details.(Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)

It took Plains All American Pipeline employees two hours to visually confirm that oil was indeed spilling out of their own Line 901 last month, the discovery of which prompted one outmatched employee to fight the flow by making a makeshift berm with his shovel.

Those are just a few of the details listed in a letter sent from Plains CEO to several lawmakers probing for answers about the timeline on the day of the Refugio oil spill.

The spill dumped as much as 100,000 gallons into the Pacific Ocean and surrounding beaches last month, and a letter published Wednesday between Plains CEO Greg Armstrong and handful of legislators put some more clarity to the day's events.  MORE

Santa Barbara County Supervisors Extend State of Emergency for Refugio Oil Spill

From:  Noozhawk

By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @laraanncooper | Published on 06.23.2015 4:43 p.m.

As efforts continued to clean up the Refugio oil spill, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the state of emergency in the county.

The board also discussed — and ultimately postponed — renewing a large contract for inmate health care at the jail.

The supervisors first approved extending the state of emergency for the spill that covered Refugio State Beach last month.  MORE

Homeowner Files Class-Action Suit Over Refugio Oil Spill

From:  Noozhawk

By Gina Potthoff, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @ginapotthoff

The owner of a home just up the beach from the oil spill off the Gaviota coast has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Plains All American Pipeline, alleging negligence in an attempt to recover more than $5 million in losses and to prevent future disaster.

Santa Barbara attorney A. Barry Cappello of Cappello & Noel LLP filed the class-action suit this week in U.S. District Court on behalf of Alexandria Geremia, who owns oceanfront property north of Refugio State Beach, where more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil was spilled when a Plains pipeline ruptured on May 19.

The lawsuit alleges Plains All American — owner of Line 901, the pipeline responsible — failed to install an automatic shut-off valve that could’ve averted the tragedy that has since killed wildlife, closed beaches and left a lingering noxious odor of crude oil.  MORE

Only On 9: Lab Working To Find Out Source Of Mysterious Tar Balls

From:  CBS Los Angeles 


LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —  A laboratory located outside Sacramento is determined to find the source of those mysterious tar balls that have been washing up on Southland and South Bay beaches.
Some, like Heal The Bay, speculate the balls are tied to the corroded pipeline that broke and leaked oil near Santa Barbara last month.
On Friday, KCAL9’s Dave Bryan went into the lab – a virtual CSI for tar balls – as investigators tried to come up with answers.  MORE

Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, dies of brain cancer

From:  Fox News 

COMMENT - Believed to have been caused by cell phone use.  

Beau Biden dies of brain cancer at the age of 46

Beau Biden -- son of Vice President Joe Biden -- died of brain cancer at 46, the White House confirmed in a statement Saturday.

"It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life," the statement from Vice President Biden's office said.

"The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau's spirit will live on in all of us-especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter," the statement said.  MORE

California property values collapse as water shut-offs begin... wealthy community to go dry in days... real estate implosion now inevitable

From:  Natural News 

Wednesday, June 17, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) Water shut-offs have now begun in California, where government-ordered restrictions are starting to leave large communities high and dry. As CBS News is now reporting, the Mountain House community of 15,000 residents will run out of water in just a matter of days.

"The community's sole source of water, the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, was one of 114 senior water rights holders cut off by a curtailment notice from the state on Friday," reports CBS.

And just like that, the property values of millions of dollars worth of homes belonging to 15,000 residents nosedives toward zero.

After all, what's the value of a home that has no running water? California isn't Africa... yet... so the idea of carrying your own buckets of water for bathing isn't widely accepted.

Get ready for a real estate collapse in Collapsifornia

As Natural News readers know, I saw all this coming. In a May 7th article entitled Why the California water crisis will lead to a housing collapse, municipal bankruptcies and a mass exodus of climate refugees, I wrote:

How many California homes and businesses are headed for a zero-water future? Many millions. How many Californians are aware of all this and already have their homes on the market so they can move somewhere else? A very small number... a tiny fraction of the total number of home and property owners invested there.

What these people are unfortunately not yet seeing is the catastrophic consequences of a continued drought and how it can utterly destroy the value of their property.

In that same article, I also foretold what's going to happen next: plunging property tax revenues, municipal bankruptcies, a wave of climate refugees fleeing California and the collapse of the California economy. Unless rain starts falling out of the sky, all this is going to start unraveling like clockwork. (Count on it.)

"A number of water districts plan to sue the state on the grounds the State Water Resources Control Board has no legal authority to cut off some of California’s oldest and most protected water rights," reports CBS. And so the water wars begin: there's not enough water to go around, and the courtroom serves as the new battleground over a resource that the state of California has squandered for far too long.

The Collapsifornia real estate collapse has already begun

Just as I predicted in May, the collapse of real estate valuations in California is already well under way.

As the Washington Post now reports:

Rancho Santa Fe resident Randy Woods was feeling burdened by his lush landscape and opted to downsize. ...The drought has dampened demand for large estates in San ­Diego County.

Woods said his girlfriend is among those struggling to sell. Her home boasts a yard designed by Kate Sessions, a well-known landscape architect and botanist who died in 1940. But now, the rare palm tree specimens, the secret garden and the turret-shaped hedges are a liability rather than a selling point.

Another friend, Woods said, has seen the value of his nine-acre plot plummet from $30 million to $22 million.

Did you read that correctly? A multi-million-dollar estate has lost over 25% of its value virtually overnight due to the issue of water. And this collapse in property prices is for properties that still have running water. What happens when the water supply to a $30 million estate is cut off? The value collapses to almost nothing. Who wants to live in a $30 million mansion and pay seven figures of property tax each year to the same California government that cuts off your water supply? Who wants to live like a third world refugee in a $30 million estate?

Nobody in their right mind, it turns out. Not even in California.

Freak out and get out, or be the last one holding worthless property

As this drought has unfolded, my message to Californians has been consistent and simple: freak out early and you might still be able to sell and leave. But if you delay, you'll be among the last people holding near-worthless property.

This isn't difficult to predict. As the sell-off begins, property valuations will plunge in an accelerated manner. (It has already begun.) The more water gets cut off by the government, the more desperate people will be to sell and leave. The term "motivated seller" will be ratcheted up to "panicked seller" and then finally "fire sale!"

People who buy the properties will soon be able to pick up once-prized real estate for dimes on the dollar. But it's a gamble: If the rainfall comes back, property valuations may recover. And yet, according to nearly all the people who live in California right now, this drought is all caused by man-made global warming. And because I don't see China shutting down its coal-fired power plants anytime soon, there's no end to this drought if the climate change alarmists are correct.

Welcome to Delusionville, where the power of magical belief in Big Government can overcome any drought

California, it seems, is reverting back to a barren desert. Meanwhile, far too many of the people who live in California remain in a state of absolute denial over where this is all headed. Overall, I love California optimism, and many of my best friends live in California. But as anyone who lives in Los Angeles knows all too well, California is also the home of fantasyland dream weavers... people who live in their minds instead of reality. (Oh yeah, and I have a really awesome script I need you to read... it will change the movie industry forever!)

Delusional thinking is also a key trait of California's political leadership. These are people who think money falls out of the sky and water runs uphill. They've recently even decided that California should cover the health care costs of the children of illegal immigrants.

And why not? If you're going to live in Delusionville, you might as well dress it up with all the false hope and delusional wishes on your list: free health care for everyone, unlimited debt spending on entitlement programs, magical waterfalls of free H2O falling out of the clouds, and so on.

I once lived in Arizona, and many of the street names there envision concepts that are total fiction: Waterfall Lane, Great Spring Drive, Surging Rivers Rd. and so on. (Most of the rivers in Southern Arizona are bone dry riverbeds nearly all the time.) Wouldn't it be great if California renamed its own streets and thoroughfares to match its own fantasies? Everything Is Free Hwy and Limitless Entitlements Drive seem especially fitting. Why not open a new swimming area called No Consequences Beach?

I think I'll also take a long, meandering drive down If I Think It, It Must Be Real Highway, where "positive thinking" overpowers negative obstacles to such an amazing degree that you don't even need to wear seatbelts or turn on your headlights.

Desalination is an environmental nightmare

For those who are saying, "There's no water problem in California! It has the entire Pacific Ocean right next door!", you need to look into the catastrophic environmental destruction tied to ocean water desalination.

Not only does desalination use fossil fuels which emit the very same carbon emissions that the California government insists caused the drought in the first place, the desalination process itself pollutes the ocean with high concentration salt brine that kills marine ecosystems and destroys ocean life along the California coastline.

And that's on top of all the Fukushima radiation that's already causing a marine ecosystem collapse in many areas of the coast. Add more salt brine to the mix and you get a state where rich, self-entitled Hollywood celebrities demand their lush, green lawns at the expense of ocean life, climate change and the global ecosystem. If that happens, California will lose all credibility as a "green" state, and its wealthiest residents will be living an ecological lie.

The new green, it turns out, is actually BROWN.

How dare we think ahead!

I fully realize it's entirely evil of me to think ahead and point out what's coming. There is no person more hated in modern society than someone who tells the truth. (Just ask Donald Trump, who's now running for President by abandoning political correctness and stating the obvious.)

But when I see headlines like Rich Californians balk at limits: 'We're not all equal when it comes to water', I can tell you without hesitation that California's water woes have only begun.

If you live in California and don't have your own individual water supply -- a private well that still works, large-scale rainwater collection in a rare area that still has rainfall, access to a private year-round stream, etc. -- you either wake up to what's coming or you get steamrolled by it.

Think of California as a jumbo jet that has just run out of fuel and is plummeting toward a mountain. You can either grab a parachute and bail out, or you can plug in your headphones and keep watching the in-flight Hollywood entertainment, pretending nothing bad is happening outside your immediate focus.

I know this isn't the good news you wanted to hear. It's much nicer to turn on the local TV and hear how Gov. Jerry Brown is going to brilliantly solve all of California's problems by using the magic of wishful thinking and sleight-of-mind economic trickery. Meanwhile, in the real world, the taps are running dry, employers are fleeing the state's high taxes, the almond orchards have shriveled into dust, the flood of non-citizen immigrants is draining the state's revenues and property valuations are about to fall off a cliff.

Perhaps the California that has been promoted by socialist-minded propagandists can be recreated as a virtual reality destination for Oculus Rift fans, but in the real world, nobody wants to live in third-world conditions and drink their own recycled urine. Not even Ed Begley, Jr., and he's a pretty cool dude who's willing to do almost anything to save the planet.

Hence the coming wave of recently-bankrupt California climate refugees who will flood into neighboring states seeking water, low-cost housing and free entitlements. That's not gonna win friends in neighboring states, trust me. If you're living in California right now, I urge you to strongly consider where things are really headed and start making a realistic list of your options.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050101_California_drought_property_values_real_estate_collapse.html#ixzz3dPvkTXTh