President Donald Trump is reviving California‘s water wars, which serves as a reminder that California Democrats would rather prioritize the needs of fish over the needs of farmers and the people who rely on them for food.
The Trump administration announced a new plan to move water south from Northern California to farmers in the Central Valley, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum saying it will help “strengthen California’s water resilience.” Environmental activists are already rousing the rabble and pushing for opposition from the state’s Democratic leaders, which it will secure, as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) fought similar moves in Trump’s first term on behalf of the activists who support northern fish populations.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S WAR ON CALIFORNIA FARMS
The justification, then and now, for depriving Central California farms of water is that fish populations such as the Delta Smelt and Chinook Salmon are suffering as a result of water being pumped south. The problem is that those fish populations are declining irrespective of the extra protections California is taking to help them. California is drying up farms on behalf of fish species that are dying out, even with the water Democrats are hoarding for them. This is a failing fight against Mother Nature, regardless of who sits in the White House.
As a result, California is losing farms and dairies left and right. California leads the nation in farm bankruptcies, and dairies being priced out (in part thanks to water regulations) are moving to Texas and Arizona. Farms relying on groundwater to make up for the water they are being deprived of by California’s water storage decisions are now having that groundwater heavily regulated by the state. Those farms are running out of options.
FARMERS EVERYWHERE NEED A BREAK, NOT A BAILOUT
This would be devastating for both the state’s economy and for the nation’s food security. California’s Central Valley is an agricultural anomaly, making up 1% of U.S. farmland and producing 25% of the nation’s food. California is deliberately drying out the most fertile farmland on the planet, jeopardizing the livelihood of millions of people who live in Central California’s cities and farm towns whose communities rely on the agriculture industry.
California refuses to build water storage facilities that would aid with this problem, and also refuses to redirect northern water south to solve this problem that Democrats have created. In a war between already failing fish populations and farmers that California is effectively forcing out of business, the obvious choice is to help keep those farms running. Trump has chosen that side, while Newsom will continue to fight for the fish as California’s farms shut down and move out.