On Sunday, the White House issued an executive order from President Trump to develop a plan to practice the role of the federal government in the complex water management operations in California and demands its authority to veto state officials.
OrderOn Friday, it comes after Mr. Trump traveled to the state to see the destruction caused by the forest fires that erupted in Los Angeles weeks ago. I have put official directives behind Mr. Trump’s directives Continuous criticism of California leaders And their response to the fires.
In a department entitled “Overcoming California Policies”, it cost more than six agencies to find ways to circumvent federal laws and state laws that control various aspects of water management in California. The Ministry of Interior also directed to make decisions on how to provide water throughout the state, “regardless of any violating governmental or local laws.”
The most collided language in the matter directed federal officials to extend their authority without necessarily working alongside state officials who manage state tanks and plan droughts and fires.
The Ministry of Interior officials “must take all available measures to ensure that state agencies – including the California Ministry of Water Resources – are not interfered with the project of the reclamation office for the project,” referring to the dams network run by the federal government. Tanks, channels and other facilities.
Many of the procedures shown in the matter relate to the restrictions governed by the endangered species law, given that the region is home to many fish at risk. One of them tries to form a committee known as the “Division of the gods” that can overcome the law, which ultimately leads to the extinction of a species. Environmental preservation groups criticized the matter and threatened to sue it depending on how to implement it.
In spite of the language of the executive command, the Law Professor at the University of California, Davis, and the temporary director of the Water Assembly Sciences Center, said that despite the language of the executive command, the White House is bound by the current federal laws, state laws and nature, said Carigge Burke, Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, and the temporary director of the Water Assembly Sciences Center.
“I don’t think this changes things a lot,” Burke said of the executive. “This does not change the hydrology in California, which imposes the most important borders on the amount of water that can flow into the middle valley and southern California.”
California water wars have long been pitched by the agricultural industry, which depends on the transformed water, against fish fisheries and environmental defenders.
“It is an artificial crisis and seizure of water for the agricultural sector,” said Regina Chichesola, Executive Director of Save California Salmon, a non -profit organization led by tribes, in a statement.
Trump has always blamed the Delta fish, a small and modest fish on the brink of extinction, causing a lot of California water to flow to the Pacific Ocean. This type lives in North California Delta Sacramento-San JawakinWhere the water, which was previously, meets mountain snow or rain with salt sea water. It is one of seven extinct or endangered fish that can be damaged when a lot of water is diverted from the delta. But fish are not the only one that needs water flow. Experts say that if a lot of water is converted, it can become very salty for agriculture and drinking, whether in the delta or in the south.
It also authorized a number of responsibilities – from removal of the rubble to providing emergency housing for the displaced people due to fires – to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But this aspect of the matter was contrary to Mr. Trump’s recent comments about responding to disasters. He insisted that state officials should take the initiative to direct the recovery efforts and even I thought about eliminating Fema.
Upon arrival in California On Friday, Mr. Trump met with the ruler Javin Newsum and the mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, and he briefly hung criticism and pledged to help by giving up federal permits to accelerate the reconstruction process.
Mr. Trump said at the meeting: “We are looking to accomplish something.” “The way you accomplish something is to work together.”
However, after the publication of the matter was published on Sunday, the office of Mr. Newsum accused the president of raising a crisis based on an unhealthy evaluation of the situation on the ground.
While Mr. Trump insisted that Fires in Los Angeles This could have been completely avoided by pumping more water from northern California to the south, as many tanks in the region are located at a level or higher. Historical averages. When firefighters were fighting fires in Los Angeles, they used dry taps, She did not have what she was doing With the amount of water available from the north.
“There is no fictional tap to make water appear magically in forest fires, despite Trump’s allegations,” Niocom spokeswoman Tara Galligos said in a statement on Sunday.
She said: “Water operations to transport water south through the delta have nothing to do with the local response to Los Angeles.” “Either Trump does not know how to store water in California, or he deliberately misleads the audience.”
Mr. Trump’s spokesman did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
The executive order gave the concerned agencies 15 days to submit a report to the White House on the authorities it has to exercise greater control of the water infrastructure in California. This came almost a week after Trump’s first day in office, when he issued another order directing federal officials to reach ways to direct more water to other parts of the state.
