Amid the ongoing wildfire in Los Angeles, President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized the state’s water management policies and said it was a mistake to prioritize environmental concerns over human needs.
Trump said he condemned sending over water to the Pacific Ocean aimed at protecting the delta smelt, a small fish considered endangered in the region, while communities suffer. Trump said that California does not suffer from a true drought but rather from a misallocation of resources.
“It’s very sad because I’ve been trying to get Gavin Newsom to allow water to come. You’d have tremendous water up there. They sent it out to the Pacific because they’re trying to protect a tiny little fish, which is, in other areas, by the way, called the smelt. And for the sake of a smelt, they have no water. They had no water in the fire hydrants today in Los Angeles,” Trump said.
The president-elect also said that he had secured federal approval for a plan on water management, which he said Democratic California Gov. Newsom refused to enact.
“It was a terrible thing. And we’re going to get that done. It’s going to finally be done. I got it done from the federal side and he didn’t want to sign it, but it’s not going to happen again like that,” Trump said. “There’s no reason. Can you imagine you have farmers that don’t have any water in California? They have plenty of water. They don’t have a drought. They sent it out to the Pacific, and it’s crazy. So what’s happening in California is a true tragedy.”
Trump pointed out what he said was the potential economic fallout for California, particularly in affluent regions like Beverly Hills.
“I mean, virtually Beverly Hills and areas around Beverly Hills are being decimated. The biggest homes, some of the most valuable homes in the world are just destroyed. I don’t even know. You know, you talk about a tax base. If those people leave, you’re going to lose half your tax base of California,” Trump added. “It’s a mistake of the governor. And you could say the administration. They don’t have any water. They didn’t have water in the fire hydrants.”
An analysis by OpenTheBooks, a government transparency organization, said that officials from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) received substantial taxpayer-funded salaries, yet the city has no budget to fund adequate fire hydrants. The Los Angeles Times reported that as firefighters battled to control the fires, which have destroyed hundreds of buildings, numerous LADWP fire hydrants ran dry.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News)
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