Trump brings more water to California farmers

President Trump swooped into California farm country Wednesday and, with a flourish, signed off on a plan that would take water away from fish and ship more to farmers in the Central Valley. A crowd of several hundred farmers cheered inside an airplane hangar at Meadows Field Airport, northwest of Bakersfield, as Trump finalized a federal plan, known as a biological opinion, that loosens restrictions on water deliveries to growers in the region. The ceremonial signing of the controversial document, which federal officials say will boost water “flexibility,” came on the second day of a four-day sweep through California and the western United States. Trump, flanked by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, said he promised more water for California farmers in 2018 and is now coming through after years of bad policy and “millions and millions of gallons being poured out into the Pacific Ocean.” “A major obstacle to providing more water for the region’s farmers has now been eliminated by the federal government,” he said. “We got it done, and we got it done fast.” The plan has been challenged by fishing and environmental groups, which accused the Trump administration of scrapping regulations proposed last July by the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect chinook salmon, steelhead trout and the endangered delta smelt. They say it benefits Trump’s well-connected friends, siphoning 10 to 12% more water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Part of the fury generated by Wednesday’s signing is the belief among opponents that the president has somehow managed to turn a science document into a political football. But farmers in water-starved Kern County were thankful the president was standing up for their water rights and livelihoods. Farmers, meanwhile, claim they are losing crops and money during dry years because regulations over the years have favored fish over food.  “The science that comes out in these biological opinions says increased flows do not result in more fish,” said John Moore, the president of Kern County Farm Bureau and a fourth-generation farmer. “You can do both conservation and deliver water supplies, but nobody wants to come together and admit that we can work together.”...MORE