You can’t call this an unintended consequence. Anyone with half a brain can figure out that by channelling water away from farms and mountains into the OCEAN will lead to problems. But in California they did it anyway, and now there’s a drought in the San Joaquin Valley.
California has a new endangered species on its hands in the San Joaquin Valley—farmers. Thanks to environmental regulations designed to protect the likes of the three-inch long delta smelt, one of America’s premier agricultural regions is suffering in a drought made worse by federal regulations.
The state’s water emergency is unfolding thanks to the latest mishandling of the Endangered Species Act. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued what is known as a “biological opinion” imposing water reductions on the San Joaquin Valley and environs to safeguard the federally protected hypomesus transpacificus, a.k.a., the delta smelt. As a result, tens of billions of gallons of water from mountains east and north of Sacramento have been channelled away from farmers and into the ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land fallow or scorched.
For this, Californians can thank the usual environmental suspects, er, lawyers. Last year’s government ruling was the result of a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other outfits objecting to increased water pumping in the smelt vicinity. In June, things got even dustier when the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that local salmon and steelhead also needed to be defended from the valley’s water pumps. Those additional restrictions will begin to effect pumping operations next year.
The result has already been devastating for the state’s farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. In August, 50 mayors from the San Joaquin Valley signed a letter asking President Obama to observe the impact of the draconian water rules firsthand.
Naturally, Governor Schwarzenegger refuses to do anything to help alleviate the situation. And you know the farmers won’t get any relief from Washington.
The eco-nazis caused the death of firefighters few years ago.
A team was trapped by wildfire in the Nat’l forest. Air assets were restricted dipping their buckets in the river as it may have also scooped up some fish.
By the time someone made the decision to dip, the team was overrun by wildfire.
For some, fish are more important than people.
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It’s just like DDT. And it takes 2500 gallons of water to make just one(1) gallon of ethanol. Yet nobody hears a word of complaint from the eco-nazis about this waste of water resources, or the fact that the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico are being polluted by ethanol production.. They are very selective in their whining and demands. They are so typical and predictable.
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I watched Hannity last night on his special about water and the Delta Smelt. I was sympathetic until he cut off his lone defender of the fish who tried to interject some water facts into the conversation. Since I like to unravel string, this morning I looked into water rationing, the Delta Smelt, the Fresno Bee etc. All of that lead me to your site and I began reading. Recent postings were great but not what I was looking for, so I searched for the smelt on your site. I found this article. I am still in search mode, but observe that it would be helpful if people like me summarized all of the facts they find during their search into one cohesive document. I find it hard to believe either side could be so stupid or illogical and so I must look for facts. As Glen Beck says, truth will prevail. We need more such as you who seek the truth and then publish it far and wide.
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I only saw a few minutes of Hannity last night.
Let me know what you come up with.
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