Environmentalists Leave California Farmers Out to Dry
(By Meredith Jessup, Townhall.com) - Some of you may have seen Sean Hannity's recent report, "The Valley Hope Forgot," which details the plight of local farmers in California's Central Valley who have been left out to dry -- literally.
The issue: a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that required water to be cut-off to the area to protect the Delta Smelt--a three-inch minnow-like fish. The problem: local farmers depended on that water to irrigate crops and could see farm job losses of up to 80,000.
In the Senate Tuesday evening, Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) tried to get the water flowing once again the Central Valley farmers who depend on their agriculture for livelihood. Demint offered an amendment to the Senate's Department of Interior spending bill that would've prohibited any federal funds from being used to restrict the water supply in the Central Valley area.
Despite Demint's efforts, the measure was voted down 61-36. Included in the opposition to the Demint amendment were both of California's Senators--both Democrats. Sen. Dianne Feinstein went so far as to compare Demint's amendment to let more water flow in her state to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. (Yeah, I don't get that one either.)
She explained:
A video of Feinstein's ridiculous statement has subsequently been posted by Mr. DeMint's office online.
The issue: a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that required water to be cut-off to the area to protect the Delta Smelt--a three-inch minnow-like fish. The problem: local farmers depended on that water to irrigate crops and could see farm job losses of up to 80,000.
In the Senate Tuesday evening, Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) tried to get the water flowing once again the Central Valley farmers who depend on their agriculture for livelihood. Demint offered an amendment to the Senate's Department of Interior spending bill that would've prohibited any federal funds from being used to restrict the water supply in the Central Valley area.
Despite Demint's efforts, the measure was voted down 61-36. Included in the opposition to the Demint amendment were both of California's Senators--both Democrats. Sen. Dianne Feinstein went so far as to compare Demint's amendment to let more water flow in her state to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. (Yeah, I don't get that one either.)
She explained:
"I don’t quite understand what is going on here,” she said on the floor of the Senate. “And that is the reason for my objection. I’m not going to put the state of California and the Bay Delta in the threat of another lawsuit. We have enough already and water is a huge, difficult and complicated issue...in a way this a kind of Pearl Harbor, when everything we are trying to do, to work together, to put Interior in the lead, not to handcuff Interior and that is the reason I object to the amendment."
A video of Feinstein's ridiculous statement has subsequently been posted by Mr. DeMint's office online.
Mr. DeMint seemed to think she was making it too complicated. “Unlike most of the big government solutions coming out of Washington that cost taxpayers billions, this amendment doesn’t cost a single penny,” said Mr. DeMint in statement. “We can turn the water on so thousands of Central Valley farmers can get back to work without creating another federal program or bailing out another industry.”
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:12 PM
1 Comments:
I'm a long-time activist against ESA extremism; in fact, I've made my living at it, but I get what Feinstein was saying nonetheless.
There have been more than 50 lawsuits filed by all factions over the Delta, and achieving a resolution of the conflicting water supply and environmental problems there is something we've been working on here in CA for decades. We have made some real progress on in the last few years.
I'm not sure if we'll get it solved even on this go-round, but as much as I like DeMint's heart, coming in at this time with a one-sided attack (a Pearl Harbor) would have messed up a sometimes finely balanced, sometimes teetering, effort to solve this mess. As much as Hannity's report made me feel good, it and DeMint's effort are non-productive in the real world, other than in raising awareness. Now it's time to let the California factions that support more water flow to use that awareness in our tactics.
Post a Comment
<< Home