President-elect Donald Trump faulted California water policies for the devastating wildfires that are burning in Los Angeles County. The fires started because of fierce winds and extremely dry conditions.
By Alastair Bland, Cal Matters
The Los Angeles County wildfires triggered a rant from President-elect Donald Trump, who blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for depriving Southern California of water. Trump today repeated a claim he has made in the past, that state efforts “to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt” have caused pain and hardship in California.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote today on his social media site Truth Social.
Newsom’s office responded with a sharp rebuke and a reality check.
“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon said in a written statement. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
The fires burning in Los Angeles County were fanned by severe winds and exacerbated by near-zero rainfall throughout Southern California. But sending more water south from the Bay-Delta would have done nothing to prevent them or extinguish them.
Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said Trump’s comments do not reflect California’s complex water supply systems and just fan flames of political discontent.
“Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people’s lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it’s happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency,” he said. “It’s not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It’s about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate.”
Trump appeared to be referring to water imported south from the Bay-Delta, fed by Northern California rivers and snowmelt. But most Los Angeles water does not come from Northern California. It comes via the city’s 112-year-old aqueduct that runs from the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada, not the Delta, as well as groundwater. The city also imports water from the Metropolitan Water District, which relays water from the Colorado River and Delta to numerous local agencies. The city was the main motivating force for the building of the Colorado River Aqueduct in the 1930s.
In December, the Biden administration and state officials agreed to a new long-term operating plan for the Delta water projects that effectively replaced rules produced by the first Trump administration in 2019 — an action that may have sparked Trump’s latest social media post.
The new rules adjust water allocations for cities and farms and attempt to restore depleted populations of salmon and other fish, including the endangered Delta smelt. Some Central Valley farmers and Southern California cities will see more water and have endorsed the plan, while some farmers will get less. Water exports from the Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via the State Water Project increase under the new plan.
Click here for comprehensive SoCal fire coverage in today’s Daily Digest.
Other coverage:
Trump seizes on California wildfires to roast endangered fish, Dems
“President-elect Donald Trump took to social media Wednesday to blame massive wildfires in the Los Angeles area — sparked by dry winds, warm temperatures and eight months of near total drought — on efforts to save a tiny endangered fish. In comments posted to Truth Social, Trump criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over state and federal efforts to bolster water flows for “an essentially worthless fish called a smelt.” Trump has long begrudged efforts to protect the tiny delta smelt — a 3-inch fish that lives in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in California — siding with critics who argue that flows from a major state water source would be better used by farmers and major cities, rather than for environmental needs including wildlife habitat. “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote, in an apparent intentional misspelling of the governor’s last name. … ” Read more from E&E News.
Trump blames Newsom for Southern California wildfires, governor’s office pushes back on facts
“President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the massive wildfires burning homes in Southern California on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies, claiming in a jab on his Truth Social media platform that Newsom put the needs of “essentially worthless fish” over “the people of California.” “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump’s post said. “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California,” continued the post, one of several he wrote on the California fires. “Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!” But local officials blamed infrastructure for hydrant failures, and Newsom’s office quickly pushed back on the facts in Trump’s posts. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
SEE ALSO:
- Trump blames Newsom for California’s raging wildfires, from the Hill
- Trump blames Newsom for wildfires over water management, protecting Delta smelt, from ABC 10
- Trump Blames California’s Governor, and His Water Policy, for Wildfires, from the New York Times
What’s most likely going on …
Dry hydrants. Grounded aircraft. How L.A. struggled to get enough water to attack fires
“Firefighters in the Los Angeles area faced a severely overtaxed water system as they attacked four separate blazes to the north and west of the city. Los Angeles authorities said fire hydrants began to run dry early Wednesday morning as the Palisades Fire raged, and compounding the problem, water-drop aircraft were also grounded by high winds until this morning. Municipal systems “are not designed to fire wildfires,” Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, said at a press briefing Wednesday. “A firefight with multiple fire hydrants drawing water from the system for several hours is unsustainable.” Pestrella urged residents to conserve water, or turn it off before evacuating, to help make more water available for fire suppression. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle (gift article).
Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame ‘tremendous demand
“As wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out. “The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications. “Water supply just dropped,” said another. By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all water storage tanks in the Palisades area “went dry,” diminishing the flow of water from hydrants in higher elevations, said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city’s utility. “We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones said Wednesday morning. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.” … ” Read more from the LA Times.
