Water rights and energy sources were the focus of the keynote speakers at the most recent meeting of the Tea Party Patriots of El Dorado Hills.

Paul Smith, a delegate to the California Republican Party, 5th Congressional District, spoke to the group Oct. 19, about wind, solar and nuclear power sources and explained just how the U.S. is lagging energy production.

“People don’t seem to understand how far behind we are with our energy policy,” Smith said.

He said the U.S. focus on wind and solar energy production is, in a sense, archaic.

“Wind and solar are intermittent energy supplies,” Smith said. “If the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, we don’t get energy.”

Russia, India and China are leading the pack as far as progress thinking and policies surround the production of energy, he said.

“We are so far behind the rest of the world,” Smith said in a recent phone interview.

He said that Russian currently has 32 nuclear plants and India and China have 20.

“At the current pace, China, India and Russia will exceed the U.S. in energy production and put the U.S. at an economic disadvantage,” Smith said.

Harry Norris, president of the El Dorado Irrigation District, spoke at the October meeting about the possibility of an increase of water flow from the mountains to the Delta.

“What this plan means is that they are going to try to get more water flow through the Delta to keep out encroachment of salt water, etc.,” Norris said. “That all sounds great but the water they want comes from our county and other mountain counties.”

Norris said he is not a fan of sending local water down to the valley.

“We need to band together to protect our water rights,” he said. “They don’t seem to have a lot of respect for our water rights.”

He proposes a resolution that El Dorado County and neighboring county water and water rights not be utilized in the Delta or the “Delta Solution.”

“They think that just because the water flows down there it must be for their use,” Norris said.

He is hopeful that the Tea Party Patriots, as well as other local Tea Party groups, will sign the resolution.

“I think if they signed, it would have a lot of power,” Norris said.

The next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Nov. 15, at Oak Ridge High School, room B3.

Scheduled speakers are Terri Daly, chief administrative officer of El Dorado County, Norman Gonzales, community outreach director for Rep. Tom McClintock, and Paul Smith.

Telegraph Correspondent

Penne Usher can be reached at penne.usher@gmail.com.