And while you ponder that question perhaps you can also take a guess as to who didn’t have to take a haircut on their water allocations this year…if you guessed ‘all the pet projects of California’s environmentalists’, then you’re absolutely correct.
Tyler Durden
Are Enviro’s Trying To Kill Farming In California? 2017 Water Allocations Imply ‘Yes’
Several times over the past two months we’ve written about the historic floods that have descended upon California during the 2016-2017 rainy season (see here and here for some examples). In fact, the flooding was so severe that it very nearly caused the complete failure of a major dam in Northern California and resulted in the evacuation of 200,000 residents in neighboring cities (see “Nearly 200,000 People Are Evacuating Over “Imminent Failure” Of California’s Oroville Dam – Live Feeds“).
Needless to say, per the following chart, 2016/2017 was the wettest year that has been recorded in the state of California in decades and likely one of the wettest ever.
And while the flooding had devastating consequences for several Northern California towns, those consequences were, at least, somewhat offset by the state’s sprawling network of canals and reservoirs, on which taxpayers and farmers have spent billions of dollars going back to the early 1900’s, that allow for the quick and easy movement of water around the state for storage purposes.
Moreover, that excess water storage was welcome news to California’s farmers in the Central Valley because it implied that after years of drought, fallowed acreage, economic losses and 0% water allocations from the state and federal water projects, that they might actually get a full allocation for the 2017 crop year and live to fight another day.
Therefore, you can imagine our complete ‘shock’ to learn that, despite record precipitation, California’s Central Valley Water Project has only allotted farmers 65% of their contracted water allocations for 2017. Which, combined with the state’s restrictions on groundwater pumping (the “Sustainable Groundwater Management Act“), will make it almost impossible to economically farm ground in the state of California over the coming years.
All of which, of course, begs the question if farmers can’t get full allocations of water to which they’re contractually entitled in a year of massive floods and literally overflowing reservoirs, then will they ever receive such allocations again?
And while you ponder that question perhaps you can also take a guess as to who didn’t have to take a haircut on their water allocations this year…if you guessed ‘all the pet projects of California’s environmentalists’, then you’re absolutely correct.
Meanwhile, if nothing else, at least this just goes to expose the fact that Trump was right, once again, when he told a group of farmers in Fresno last May that “there is no drought” in California…
“There is no drought. They turn the water out into the ocean.”
“We’re going to solve your water problem. You have a water problem that is so insane. It is so ridiculous where they’re taking the water and shoving it out to sea.”
“If I win, believe me, we’re going to start opening up the water so that you can have your farmers survive.”
…because poor water allocations to farmers was never about the “drought”…it was always about a group of well-orchestrated environmentalists looking to shut down the ag industry in their liberal ‘safe space’ of California.
Free Range Report
