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America is huge. Why do they need to be constructed next to people's homes?
by masfuerte 29d ago
America is huge. Why do they need to be constructed next to people's homes?
- dylan604 29d agoThat's where the resources are. You wouldn't expect some uber wealthy billion dollar company to have to provide power/water needs way out in the middle of nowhere would you?
- lenerdenator 29d agoWell, to a point. I honestly don't get why, for example, we're building anything that requires a lot of water in Arizona.
- dylan604 29d agoWhy are we growing crops that depend on monsoon amounts of water in the desert? Because people with money and power have decided that's what they want to do.
- missedthecue 29d agoThe explanation has never made intuitive sense to me and the political power of almond and alfalfa farmers continues to elude me. Yes, almond farmers have money but Larry Ellison, Musk, and Sergey Brin have a shitload more. As do non-tech industries like Californian real estate developers. California has ~40 billionaires from real estate alone. That industry, and tech, and manufacturing, and everyone else is also competing for water supply. What makes almond farmers so good at procuring and maintaining political influence?
- quickthrowman 29d agoI don’t even know if they need to maintain political influence, they own water rights which are worth a ridiculous amount of money which entitles them to a share of water based on when the water usage began. It’s complicated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior-appropriation_water_rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior-appropriation_water_righ...
- Sabinus 28d agoBecause farming in a desert means you have as much sun as you could want, and can (with the aid of groundwater and water transport infrastructure) add as much water as you need, when you need it, and at no other times (harvest etc).