Arkansas billionaire Sam Walton donates $40,000 to support Hetch Hetchy restoration measure [View all]
Matier & Ross, San Francisco Chronicle / 5-7-12
Sam Walton, the billionaire chairman of Walmart, has kicked in $40,000 to support a proposed San Francisco ballot measure to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park by draining its reservoir.
The Arkansas Republican's contribution accounts for more than half the $77,000 that's been raised this year by the Yosemite Restoration Campaign, according to election filings.
The campaign, being spearheaded locally by Restore Hetch Hetchy nonprofit executive Mike Marshall, calls for the city's Public Utilities Commission to boost its water recycling, plus study the idea of draining the century-old Hetch Hetchy reservoir - the main source of drinking water for San Francisco, much of the Peninsula and part of the East Bay.
It's interesting to note that Walton is a board member of the nonprofit Conservation International, alongside the likes of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and actor Harrison Ford - another vocal backer of the Hetch Hetchy restoration.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/07/BAOU1ODKMB.DTL
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