Latest news with #EndangeredSpeciesList
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House removes federal protection for an endangered species
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – House lawmakers Thursday passed a bill to remove federal protections for a fish that has become a flashpoint in the debate over California's water resources. The roughly three-inch long longfin smelt that swims in the San Francisco Bay-Delta has members of Congress split. 'They're turning a small fish into a very large scapegoat,' Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. 'The latest weapon to take water away from farmers,' Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said. California Republican Doug LaMalfa and Democrat Jared Huffman traded barbs Thursday over Republican efforts to remove the endangered species status for the fish. 'Only about 1% of the population is left. That's like the number of environmentalists left in the Republican party these days,' Huffman said. 'It seems like we're in parallel universes when I hear him starting to talk about defending agriculture,' LaMalfa said. LaMalfa led the push to take the fish off the Endangered Species List after it was added under the Biden administration last summer. The designation aims to help recover the fish by ensuring it gets enough freshwater. The House voted 216-195 to undo that Thursday. LaMalfa says he doesn't think the listing is justified and believes it'll lead to less water for farmers in the Central Valley, and as a result, fewer crops. 'And that will be denied to the whole country,' LaMalfa said. Huffman says protecting the species is about more than any one fish but preserving a whole water supply that millions rely on. 'It's about protecting the ecological health of the entire Bay-Delta,' Huffman said. 'Its health underpins clean drinking water for millions.' Huffman says the House's vote is a distraction. 'The real threats to rural America, to water security and the livelihoods of American farmers are trade wars,' Huffman said. The resolution now heads to the Senate. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
28-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump says military 'turned on the water' in California. State officials say that's false.
Trump says military 'turned on the water' in California. State officials say that's false. "The military did not enter California," said the state's Department of Water Resources. Show Caption Hide Caption Trump greeted by Newsom in Los Angeles ahead of wildfires tour President Donald Trump was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom in Los Angeles to tour areas hit by the deadly wildfires. California officials said late Monday that the U.S. military did not enter the state and release a large flow of water, as President Donald Trump had earlier claimed in the latest back-and-forth between Trump and the state over water resources. Trump, who visited fire-ravaged parts of Los Angeles last week, wrote Monday night on Truth Social that "The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond." "The days of putting a Fake Environmental Argument, over PEOPLE, are over," he said. "Enjoy the water, California!!!" Soon the California Department of Water Resources shot back, saying "The military did not enter California." Instead, the agency said, the federal government "restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days," adding: "State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful." The exchange comes after Trump visited scorched parts of Los Angeles on Friday and signed an executive order that demands federal and state officials deliver more water and other resources to help combat wildfires in Southern California. The wide-ranging executive order signed on Sunday ordered the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a national agency, to deliver more water through the Central Valley Project, a network of dams, canals and other infrastructure. And his administration said the delivery should come even if it conflicts with state or local laws. The order calls on the interior and commerce secretaries to zero in on "activities that unduly burden efforts" to move water around the state, and directs the White House to see whether it can attach conditions on federal aid to California to ensure cooperation. Last week, during his first day in office, the president signed an executive order directing federal agencies 'to route more water" from across California instead of trying to protect smelt, a tiny fish on the Endangered Species List. Trump has criticized the state for its handling of the recent wildfires that have burned over 37,000 acres of land, destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 28 people. The president was among those who chastised officials after some fire hydrants ran dry in Los Angeles. State and local officials have said the water system was overwhelmed and was not designed to deal with the massive scale of the recent fires. While touring the damage sites in Los Angeles on Friday, Trump said he hadn't seen anything like it. "I didn't realize. I saw a lot of bad things on television, but the extent of it, the size of it. We flew over it," Trump said. "It is devastation. It's incredible. It's really an incineration." Contributing: Terry Collins, USA TODAY
USA Today
27-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump issues new California water order as wildfires continue to burn: What to know
Trump issues new California water order as wildfires continue to burn: What to know Show Caption Hide Caption Trump greeted by Newsom in Los Angeles ahead of wildfires tour President Donald Trump was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom in Los Angeles to tour areas hit by the deadly wildfires. President Donald Trump signed a wide-ranging executive order Sunday demanding federal and state officials deliver more water and other resources to southern California to help fight wildfires – even if it means clashing with area leaders. Trump for weeks has criticized California officials over their handling of the latest wildfire blazes, which have killed at least 28 people and burned more than 35,000 acres. "Firefighters were unable to fight the massive wildfires due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure," the president wrote in an order earlier this month. Some hydrants in the Los Angeles area ran dry during the height of the wildfires, but local officials say that's because they were not designed to deal with major disasters. Trump also accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of refusing to provide water from northern California to fight the fires. But what would Trump's order actually do? It directs the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a national agency, to deliver more water through the Central Valley Project, a network of dams, canals and other infrastructure. And his administration said the delivery should come even if it conflicts with state or local laws. That's not the only time Trump called for overriding ongoing efforts in the California. The order calls on the interior and commerce secretaries to zero in on "activities that unduly burden efforts" to move water around the state. Trump's order also directs the White House to see whether it can attach conditions on federal aid to the state to ensure cooperation. The president has repeatedly threatened to withhold relief if it doesn't reroute water to southern California. California has arguably the nation's most complex water systems, Fresno State University political science professor Tom Holyoke, who specializes in western water policy, told USA TODAY last week. Los Angeles gets its water primarily from the Los Angeles River, Owens Valley in eastern California and the Colorado River terminating from the Rocky Mountains, Holyoke said. More: Trump's California water order takes aim at Newsom, troubled Delta smelt This is the president's second water-related executive order and another attempt to mandate water from northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, one of the state's main water sources, to be redirected south. Last week, Trump issued another order meant to change the environmental protections surrounding the smelt, a three-inch-long fish once vital to California's ecosystem but now on the Endangered Species List. The latest directive also came two days after the president toured the destruction in Los Angeles. The area's two largest wildfires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena have now reached at least 90% containment. During a roundtable meeting with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other officials afterward, Trump said Friday he didn't know how "devastating" the fires were until he saw for himself. "I didn't realize. I saw a lot of bad things on television, but the extent of it, the size of it. We flew over it," Trump said of the fire damage. "It is devastation. It's incredible. It's really an incineration." Trump clashed with Bass on local management and whether residents, including those living in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, can return to what's left of their homes. Newsom has also repeatedly hit back and Trump's criticism of local management in the face of disaster. "Maybe the president doesn't know that there's not a spigot that can be turned to solve all the water problems that he alleges exist, that don't exist when it comes to the state water system here in California," he told reporters last week. The lack of measurable rain, hurricane-force winds, low humidity, and vegetation made for the 'unfortunate perfect firestorm,' said Char Miller, an author and environmental analysis professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California. 'It was simply too overpowering.' 'They could've had five times the resources that night, personnel and technical," Miller said. "But nothing, and I mean nothing, could have been done to stop that fire.' Much-needed rain helped firefighters make gains on several blazes in Southern California on Monday as flooding shuttered schools, triggered landslides and prompted road closures. With help from the rain, containment has increased for the Palisades and Eaton fires as well as the Hughes Fire, north of Santa Clarita, and the Border Fire 2 in San Diego County. Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Reuters
