California’s awash in water drama this week, some of it frozen, some of it fictional, and some of it extremely exciting for people who love jobs (like us!). In the Delta, developers want to revive shipbuilding and industrial might with a federal recognized “Maritime Prosperity Zone” that sounds equal parts Rooseveltian reboot and Silicon Valley startup. Up north, Trump’s USDA is suddenly obsessed with geriatric, money-losing dams. Snowstorms came just in time to fatten our reservoirs — but labor fights over who gets to build them could drain the momentum fast. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom’s trying to keep billionaires from jumping ship, even if it means torpedoing a wealth tax backed by unions. Add in some cartographic fever dreams and a podcast that knows the East Bay like the back of its calloused hand, and you've got a California newsletter that reads like a whitewater run down the North Fork of the American River.

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Let’s begin…

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HULL YES! CA SHIPBUILDING PLOTS COMEBACK — California Forever and the Nimitz Group are pitching a bold reinvention of the California Delta: a federally designated Maritime Prosperity Zone that would turn the region into a shipbuilding and industrial powerhouse — again. The plan spans from Sacramento to San Pablo Bay, marrying WWII-era infrastructure with Silicon Valley proximity and underutilized land ripe for reinvention. Backers include unions, Cal Poly Maritime, developers, economic groups and policy wonks who smell new economic vitality, middle income jobs, and steel. “This region has the scale, history, and workforce,” said Nimitz’s Darren Lingle. If Washington bites, the Delta would be trading fallow fields for federal dollars and a blowtorch future. “A Maritime Prosperity Zone here would strengthen national security, bring advanced manufacturing back home, and put thousands of Americans to work building the ships that power our economy and protect our nation,” John Grubb, interim president and CEO of the Bay Area Council. We like the sound of that!

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🤫 Everything you should know

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💧  -  AN EEL WIND — The Trump administration is storming into Northern California’s dam fight, attempting to block the dismantling of PG&E’s century-old Potter Valley Project, an expensive, aging hydro relic that reroutes Eel River water to vineyards and farms in the Russian River basin. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is pitching the dams as patriotic lifelines under siege from “radical” fish-lovers, accusing California of prioritizing salmon over “hardworking families.” In reality, the state has little say here, and FERC — the federal regulator — can't legally force PG&E to keep operating a money-losing hydro project. While a new agency plans to keep some water flowing sans dams, many in agriculture still fear skyrocketing water costs. Legal experts expect conditions to be slapped on the closure, but not salvation for the dams. As UC Davis law professor Karrigan Börk puts it, “FERC has never found that it has the authority to force continued operations.”  — SF Chronicle

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❄️ - OH SNOW! — California’s snow-starved neighbors are side-eying the Sierra Nevada, where a December dump gave the state a much-needed water reprieve — a literal snow job that bumped snow-water levels as high as 167% of normal in the Eastern Sierras. That’s big news in a drought-prone state that counts on snowmelt for a third of its water. Meanwhile, the state’s grand plan to stash that water in the $6B Sites Reservoir is hitting union-fueled turbulence. The project is catching friction from the appointment of Montana-based Barnard Construction, with the NorCal Carpenters Union arguing the company lacks the local labor force and chops for a project of this scale. The state’s water overlords aren’t unsympathetic — and since they control over a billion in funding, their doubts could melt this whole thing down faster than a February heat wave. The snow’s here. Whether California can keep it is another story. — Drought.gov | SF Chronicle

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💰 - FARE THEE WEALTH  — Gov. Gavin Newsom is going to war against a proposed California wealth tax on billionaires, insisting it’s already spooking the ultra-rich into fleeing the state. The SEIU-backed ballot measure would slap a one-time 5% tax on net worth over $1 billion, applied retroactively, with most of the money earmarked for health care to offset Trump-era federal cuts. Newsom, who’s long opposed a state wealth tax, says it threatens innovation, future revenues, and California’s ability to compete with the other 49 states. “This will be defeated — there’s no question in my mind,” he vows, framing himself as protector of the state’s golden geese. The union counters that he’s defending “200 ultrawealthy individuals” while “millions will lose health care.” Business groups are lining up with Newsom; some billionaires grumble, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang shrugs, and the stage is set for a very expensive November class war cosplay. — NY Times

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🎙️ 💬 🎧 - ON THE POD: EAST BAY YESTERDAY

East Bay Yesterday is a fiercely independent podcast digging into the past and present of Oakland and its neighbors, where politics, nature, and culture collide. Hosted by Liam O’Donoghue, a journalist-turned-historian with serious local cred, it’s history with teeth, not textbooks. — East Bay Yesterday

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🤔 🗺️ 🤨 — SIX WEIRD CALIFORNIA MAPS

Image: Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons.

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Old-time cartographers obviously had a loose relationship with reality, or a strong relationship with hallucinogens. California once floated as an island, got rechristened “New Albion” by English buccaneers, boasted inland seas that vanished under dams, once tied Los Angeles County to New Mexico, and even rotated itself on paper. Oh, and we also have some visions of what the state might look like in 15 million years. These six weird maps prove that reality is what you make it.

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🏃‍♂️ 💨 ✋ FAST FIVE

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1. 👩‍⚖️ Federal court upholds California’s new congressional districts. LA Times
2. 👀 San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan considers CA gubernatorial run. KRON
3. 🛣️ Iconic stretch of California Highway 1 reopens after years of closure. SFGate
4. 🙄 Trump vows to halt federal funding to states with sanctuary cities. Associated Press
5. 🏘️ Bay Area exurb is the “next frontier” of the CA housing crisis. SF Chronicle

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