It’s about time.
California has been rogue for a long time, and that would be fine if they were their own isolated area, but they’re not.
In fact, the Federal Government gives them a TON of money every year, much of which is squandered.
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At least that’s the view of President Trump who recently called them out and said enough is enough!
Here's more on the story, from TheFederalistPapers:
“California, get on the ball. Because we’re not going to hand you any more money. It’s ridiculous, okay?” Trump said Tuesday during a state leadership conference in Washington, D.C., which included representatives from The Golden State. “Do you know the kind of money you’re talking about for the state and for the federal government?”
California, which is experiencing a historic wildfire season, has battled with drought for years. However, the president argues that the state’s water management policies are largely to blame — and he is threatening to withhold federal funds unless they change.
More specifically, Trump is criticizing California leaders for allowing water to flow into the ocean instead of letting farmers in Central Valley to use it for crops.
“‘No, we have so much water, we don’t know what to do with it,’” Trump said, repeating what a farmer stated to him when he visited California.
“‘But they don’t let the water come down to us. It naturally flows to us. They won’t let it — they send it out into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions and millions of gallons. We have the greatest farmland anywhere in the world, but they won’t give us water.’”
This is not the first time the president has been tough with California over its wildfire situation. Earlier in October, he made an open call to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown to “get your act together,” urging him and state officials to change the state’s forest policies and “bad environmental laws.”
Whitehouse.gov had the full remarks in a transcript, here is the relevant portion:
Just last week, I signed a presidential memorandum to dramatically improve the reliable supply and delivery of water critical to states like California. (Applause.) It’s one of the most ridiculous things. I saw it on the campaign trail, and I saw it numerous times. But I was out in that area — actually with Congressman Devin Nunes, who is a terrific guy, and some of the congressmen that, right now, are out there so happy at what I signed.
And I look at these incredible, beautiful fields, and they’re dry. It’s like dry as a bone. And I see hundreds and hundreds of acres as far as the eye could see, and then you’d have a little, tiny, little green patch in the corner. Just beautiful — green. It’s so beautiful. So rich.
And I said, “Huh, what’s going on? You have this little patch, and then you have all this dry, horrible…” — really, to me, it was horrible. It was all dry land. And they said — I said, “You must have a tremendous drought going on.” This is like, three and a half, four years ago. I said, “You must have a tremendous drought going on.”
They said, “No, we have so much water, we don’t know what to do with it. But they don’t let the water come down to us. It naturally flows to us. They won’t let it — they send it out into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions and millions of gallons. We have the greatest farmland anywhere in the world, but they won’t give us water. So the only areas are if we take little spots on these massive areas of land.”
I could see it. I’m driving down the highway and I’m saying — after, like, 10 minutes of looking at all this barren — and then a little spot of beautiful. So green. I’ve never forgotten it.
And I said, “What’s going on here?” But I assumed it was a drought. They said, “No. The government, state and federal, send the water out into the Pacific.” I believe he said they’re trying to protect a smelt. Little, tiny — which, by the way, is doing very poorly. (Laughter.) It’s doing very poorly. Nobody knows what a smelt is. I still don’t know what a smelt is. But it’s doing very poorly. It really is a terrible thing.
I said, “So, let me ask you…” And they have a — they have a — like a valve, but massive. Like from a faucet, but massive. And they turn it and the water goes pouring, Elaine, out into the Pacific Ocean, where it means nothing. Like, like a drop. For the Pacific, it’s a drop. For the farmers, it’s like we have more water, more economic development than anything you can do in the state of California.
So it left a great impression. And I told them, I said, “Listen, if I win the nomination…” — this was during — before I got the nomination — “…and if I go on to victory, I’m going to come back and revisit this. This is a seriously defective thing going on.” I thought they had a drought. I said — you know, I didn’t realize. They said, “No, we have so much water, we don’t know what to do with it.”
Then you have all the forest fires burning. We have so much water, they could actually water some of it. And of course, Secretary Zinke — I’m sure he talked about management. Because, you know, we’re tired of giving California hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars all the time for their forest fires, when you wouldn’t have them if they managed their forests properly. They don’t. They have lousy management.
And the environmentalists are, you know, doing something very bad. They won’t let us take the logs. They won’t let us take the dead trees. It’s all a mess.
And if you did it properly — I was in another state I won’t mention, but I was in another state where they have tremendous forests and it’s a very well-managed state. And they maintain their property. And when a tree dies, it doesn’t sit there dry as a bone; rotting; and, if a little spark hits it, the whole — they lose 200,000 acres.
And they’ve tested and they did — and, basically, it’s almost — you can’t lose anything when you maintain. They sometimes have a grass burn-off underneath the tree; doesn’t affect the tree. Doesn’t last long enough to light the tree. And they said, “We had two areas we checked. One was where we let it be, like the California where they have such a disaster. And the other was where we cleaned and managed the forests.
We lit one; we lost a half an acre. We lit the other; we lost like — I don’t know what he said — like 100,000 — it was out of control. And these guys are really good with this. But they did it as an experiment. They lost a tremendous — thousands and thousands of acres. We couldn’t put it out, they said.
So, California, get on the ball. Because we’re not going to hand you any more money. It’s ridiculous, okay? (Applause.)
So with the water, we’re looking at that. I mean, we’re not only looking, it’s going to be approved. We’re — Andrew Wheeler, EPA, is working on it; and Zinke; and everybody. We’re going to have that approved fast. And the state has to approve it too. And I hope the state will do it. You know, in California, it might be tough, but they have to do it. They have to do it.
Do you know the kind of money you’re talking about for the state and for the federal government? You’re talking about an area that’s not doing well, to an area that would be the most robust farmland in — anywhere in the world.
Because I’ve heard — I don’t know, you people are nodding like you know exactly what I’m talking about. I hear it’s the finest land there is for growing things. But they took away the water. You know, it’s artificial. They took it away. Do you understand? Am I correct? Do you want to stand up? You look like you know exactly what you’re talking about. I don’t know who he is, but that’s okay. (Laughter.) Good-looking man. Nice-looking man. (Laughter.) Go ahead. Go ahead.
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