Salton Sea problem solved: Install perforated pipe to Sea of Cortez
I retired to the desert 20+ years ago and have seen dozens of plans to "restore" the Salton Sea. Lots of talk and print but no action, so here is my suggestion.
The Sea is about 200 feet below sea level. The Sea of Cortez has significant tidal changes, especially in the very narrow section closest to the U.S.A. border. So, install a large sealed pipe at an appropriate level in this narrow region at low tide. Perforate the pipe in many places and cover with some type of plastic mesh to keep out sea life.
Extend this pipe into the Salton Sea either by canal or pipe. When the tide is in, the filtered water will flow into the Sea. When the tide is out, it will stop.
Eventually a shut off device in the pipe might be needed when both "seas" are at equal levels. Damn off an appropriate size on the north end of the Sea. Pump it dry. Install a desal plant above sea level near this site run by IID. Pull salt water out of the Sea, turn it into fresh water in the damned off section that IID can sell to the farmers in the area. Pay local residents in Mexico to keep the mesh filters clean at low tide.
No pumps, no tunneling, a simple solution.
Salton Sea problem solved!
Neil Mahony, Cathedral City
The Moore v. Harper case
The Supreme Court will soon consider the validity of the Independent Legislature Theory in Moore v. Harper. Specifically, they will decide whether North Carolina’s [NC] Supreme Court can overrule N.C. state law when it violates the N.C. State Constitution and the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Marbury v. Madison looms large in this SCOTUS review. Marbury established (counterintuitively) that “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,” not the legislature. This ruling was later extended to lower federal courts and state courts like N.C. To this day, Marbury remains the law of the land.
Conservatives in the N.C. legislature now argue that the N.C. court’s decision to overrule a blatantly prejudicial gerrymandering law was unconstitutional because it violated U.S. Constitution’s Election Clause which they claim vests unreviewable authority in state legislatures over all election matters.
This argument, however, turns Marbury on its head and asserts that it is the legislature, not the courts, that have the power to interpret the law. Marbury, the law of the land since 1808, may be the next major precedent to be overturned or weakened by this court despite 124 years of legal tradition.
Richard Leslie Brock, Indio
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Salton Sea problem solved: Install perforated pipe to Sea of Cortez
