Daily Business Report: Thursday, December 18, 2025
Local lawmakers demand answers after motorists stuck in series of I-5 shutdowns
By Jennifer Vigil | Times of San Diego
Stretches of Interstate 5 have been temporarily shut down for planned or emergency closures at least once a month since September.
And apparently San Diego County motorists are fed up and have made sure their elected representatives know it. Three state senators, four assemblymembers and one San Diego city councilman signed a letter, dated Monday, to state transportation and law enforcement officials demanding answers for how the agencies handle prolonged freeway closures, in the wake of the latest incident, on Dec. 5.
“We’ve heard from many about the unintended consequences of the Dec. 5 shutdown,” they wrote in the letter, which was also directed to the San Diego Police Department. “Parents could not pick up kids from childcare, people missed flights, workers couldn’t get to their jobs or get home from their jobs. When a major transportation artery is closed, it has profound negative rippling effects across our society.”
Mexicali Farmers Threaten to Use Their Colorado River Water, Putting Tijuana’s Supply in Jeopardy
By Vicente Calderón and MacKenzie Elmer | Voice of San Diego
If Mexicali farmers can’t cut a deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, the city of Tijuana’s at risk of losing its water supply from the Colorado River.
For generations, these farmers – known as Irrigation District 14 – sold river water the Mexican government ceded to them for agricultural production to coastal cities like Tijuana and Ensenada. The Colorado River flows through Mexicali, but because of this deal, it’s diverted over 100 miles the coast via an aqueduct.
But Mexico’s president has taken a hard stance on how the country’s constitution defines ownership of water: It belongs to the nation and cannot be privatized. Sheinbaum proposed sweeping changes to Mexico’s national water law to prohibit water from being bought and sold in what she called “black markets,” effectively eliminating exchanges like the one between Mexicali and Tijuana.
The U.S. is committed to cleaning up Tijuana River pollution. Will California follow through?
By Deborah Brennan | CalMatters
As Tijuana River sewage has contaminated neighborhoods in southern San Diego County, the federal government has pledged two-thirds of a billion to clean it up.
Now local lawmakers are calling on California to step up the fight against cross-border pollution, and one introduced a bill this week to revisit air quality standards for noxious gas from the river.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear held a joint hearing of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee in San Diego Thursday to explore how the state can help solve the problem.
