California: President Trump Signed Order Allowing Water to Flow to Farmers Instead of the Pacific Ocean. Governor Newsom Sues Trump.
California sued the Trump administration on Thursday to block new rules that would let farmers take more water from the state’s largest river systems, arguing it would push endangered populations of delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout to extinction.
The federal rules govern how much water can be pumped out of the watersheds of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which flow from the Sierra Nevada mountains to the San Francisco Bay and provide the state with much of its water for a bustling agriculture industry that supplies two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables.
But the rivers are also home to a variety of state and federally protected fish species, whose numbers have been dwindling since humans began building dams and reservoirs to control flooding and send water throughout the state.
Two massive networks of dams and canals determine how much water gets taken out, with one system run by the state and the other run by the federal government.
Historically, the federal government has set the rules for both systems. But recently, state officials have complained the Trump administration’s proposed rules don’t do enough to protect endangered species. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration threatened to sue the federal government in November, but delayed action in the hopes he could work out a compromise.
But the federal government finalized the new rules this week. Trump traveled to Bakersfield on Wednesday to celebrate them before a jubilant crowd.
“We’re going to get you your water and put a lot of pressure on your governor,” Trump told the crowd. “And, frankly, if he doesn’t do it, you’re going to get a new governor.”
Newsom responded on Thursday with a lawsuit, filed in partnership with state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
“California won’t silently spectate as the Trump Administration adopts scientifically-challenged biological opinions that push species to extinction and harm our natural resources and waterways,” Becerra said.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, challenges the actions of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who oversees the bureau, warned Thursday night of unpredictable consequences that could result from the lawsuit.
“The governor and attorney general just launched a ship into a sea of unpredictable administrative and legal challenges regarding the most complex water operations in the country, something they have not chartered before,” Bernhardt said in a statement. “Litigation can lead to unpredictable twists and turns that can create significant challenges for the people of California who depend on the sound operation of these two important water projects.”
Battle on brother waring celt your doing the right thing
On water Use It, or lose it.
Land use works like the afore also.
CA…. Especially from Stockton on South has millions of acre feet of perched wafer they could sure use.
Say there’s a 100 year perched supply volume right there for the Valley.
Eventually CA and the Feds too might figure the obvious supply out and allow beneficial use of that too..
Don’t really understand why any supposed govt thinks they even matter when it’s the law of gravity that makes all water simply flow downhill.