Did you know Stanislaus County is an island?

We didn't either, but some of our county supervisors seem to think so -- or at least that's the impression they give by their isolationist attitude toward regional planning.

The board has been, at best, lukewarm about the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint Planning Process, a two-year-old effort to identify a common vision for land use, transportation, housing and other issues in eight counties.

But Tuesday, lukewarm deteriorated to icy. Supervisor Jim DeMartini went on a rant, saying, "This is such nonsense. I can't believe we're talking about it." He dismissed the idea of greenhouse gases, saying he didn't know what they are. (The simple answer, Supervisor DeMartini: water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, and ozone.) On a 4-0 vote, the supervisors agreed to continue participating in blueprint discussions, but only if they can draft their own alternative.

The blueprint process is far from over, but we're seriously concerned about the troubling attitude among many local officials. We know local leaders hate to be told what to do, and they're really unhappy about Senate Bill 375, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, that establishes new incentives to discourage sprawl.

But the fact is, sprawl has caused many of the valley's problems -- air pollution, traffic, insufficient water, etc. Until the sour economy shoved everything else aside, survey after survey showed that valley residents want better long-term planning. We hope residents will let their supervisors and city council members know that they want Stanislaus County participating in this regional planning strategy. We are not an island.