State likes its old science even when new studies prove it wrong

When Ben Franklin wanted to learn about lightning, he attached a kite to a wire string and flew it through an electrical storm – discarding decades-old “science” that said lightning was a fluid.

When Louis Pasteur developed theories about invisible germs causing disease, he ignored the ancient belief that said disease arose spontaneously within unlucky humans.

When the state of California decided it wanted more water from the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers to use elsewhere, it turned to 10-, 20-, 30-year-old studies – the “best available science” – to prove more water equals more fish.  “From the very beginning of this process, it was a foregone conclusion what they wanted out of this,” said Doug Demko, a very real scientist and one of the principles of FishBio, which studies fish populations around the world and right here. “I don’t think the science supports the justification for the unimpaired flows regimes the state is proposing.”