Democrats vs Democrat in California's water wars

Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES

(Reuters) - A group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday asked Senator Dianne Feinstein to abandon draft legislation that would divert more water to California's farmers, a plan that has quickly become a flashpoint in the state's long-running water wars

Feinstein's proposal, which would ease Endangered Species Act restrictions, has angered environmental activists and fishing groups. The powerful Democratic senator's rebuke by members of her own party underscores the incendiary nature of water politics in America's No. 1 farm state.

The 12 lawmakers, who sent a letter to Feinstein asking her to drop the plan, say it could ultimately lead to the extinction of Sacramento River salmon and eliminate up to 23,000 jobs in the Pacific coast fishing industry.

"Salmon may not have high-paid lobbyists like the corporate agriculture interests in the Central Valley, but they are critical to our economy," Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat, said in a written statement. Read more

Comments

[PortlandMark]

When I was growing up, my conservative family members used to make fun of the Ethiopians who were in the middle of a famine at the time. "How stupid they are" was the usual comment. "Everybody knows you can't farm in a desert!" Now, the high desert community I grew up in can't find enough water for both farming and fish, and California's farmers are in a similar situation. Now, I think these words should be communicated to American farmers trying to make a desert bloom!

[willymack]

Not to worry. California's main source of income is being destroyed on a reckless pace by pathologically greedy real estate "developers", who won't be happy until the entire state is one shabby housing development, surrounded by tacky shopping malls, parking lots, cinema complexes, and the like. Just look at what Florida has become to see the future of California.
Oh, well; we can always get our food from Mexico and South America, I guess.

[Alfreda Weiss]

DiFi is removed from the California water wars and is siding with the more obvious disaster in the central valley partly due to the drought. There is anger over the diversion of water south and failure to follow the establish rules for water flow in the delta. Eventually California needs to invest in desalination plants that are available now with solar power, but are still very expensive. The delta water can only supply so much even if the fish are now dead. Farmers need to join the rest of us who are adjusting to reality.

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all this conflict just makes me sad..

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Why do people live in the desert? If the conditions are so harsh
(heat, drought, famine), why not leave the desert for better areas to
live? (Details would be appreciated about different reasons. Also nice
would be authoritative sources that address this issue.)

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Oh, well; we can always get our food from Mexico and South America, I guess.

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