Will Crestview continue spending money on Well #8, or renegotiate or terminate it to cut our losses? The purpose of Well #8 is to supply emergency water to Calleguas and the City of Oxnard. Crestview shareholders cannot get even one additional quart. The current board entered into the contract with Calleguas, and recently amended it, on the assumption that Calleguas will pay all the capital costs, but the amended contract limits Calleguas’s obligation to $3.3 million. If the project is completed, the cost will probably be twice that. If the project is not completed by the deadline, Crestview must reimburse all the money that Calleguas has advanced. Either way, Crestview will be paying up to $3 million for a dead horse.
If Well #4 goes back into service in the next two months, when do we start another well project? From 2007 through 2020, Well #6 and Well $4 together pumped all the groundwater to which Crestview was entitled. How much would it be reasonable to invest in a well that adds nothing to our supply until one of the existing wells fails, bearing in mind that rates would have to go up to cover interest and depreciation on the standby well? Is it reasonable to assume our groundwater allocation will be more or less the same for the next decade or two, or would we possibly be adding a third well to pump less water? If there is to be a replacement well, where can we put it that does not result in another debacle like Well #7?
Who trusts the same board that did not understand what they were getting into with Well #7, and apparently do not understand the contract they signed with Calleguas, to make good judgments about Well #8 or a replacement for Well #7?
[The title of this post has been edited to correct the date to May 13.]
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