The White House announced an executive order by President Trump on Sunday laying out plans for a federal role in California's complex water management projects and asserting federal authority over state agencies.
The order, dated Friday, came after Trump visited the state to see the devastation of wildfires that have been raging in Los Angeles for weeks. The official directive comes as Trump has steadily criticized California leaders and their response to the fires.
The order, in a section titled “Reversing California's Disastrous Policies,” directs more than six government agencies to find ways to circumvent federal and state laws that regulate various aspects of water management in California. commanded. It also directed the Department of the Interior to make decisions on how to provide water throughout the state “despite any violation of state or local law.”
The order included more confrontational language, directing federal officials to exercise their authority to manage state reservoirs and do their own drought and fire planning without necessarily cooperating with state officials.
The order mentions a network of dams operated by the federal government and states that Interior Department officials “shall take all steps to ensure that state agencies, including the California Department of Water Resources, do not interfere with the operation of the Bureau of Reclamation's projects.” It has been stated. Reservoirs, canals and other facilities.
Because the region is home to several endangered fish species, many of the measures outlined in this order relate to regulations under the Endangered Species Act. One of them attempts to convene a committee known as the God Squad, which could nullify the law and ultimately lead to the extinction of the species. Conservation groups slammed the order and threatened lawsuits depending on how it was implemented.
Despite the text of the executive order, the White House is constrained by existing federal and state laws and nature, said Carrigan Bork, a law professor and interim director of the Center for Watershed Science at the University of California, Davis.
“I don't think it changes things much,” Bork said of the order. “And it certainly doesn't change California's hydrology, which imposes the most significant limitations on the amount of water that can flow into the Central Valley and Southern California.”
Water wars have long pitted California's agricultural industry, which relies on diverted water, against fishermen and conservationists.
“This is a manufactured crisis and a water grab for the agricultural sector,” Regina Chichisola, executive director of the tribal-led nonprofit Save California Salmon, said in a statement.
Trump has long blamed the delta smelt, a small, unassuming endangered fish, for causing too much California water to flow into the Pacific Ocean. This species lives in Northern California's Sacramento and San Joaquin deltas, where water that was once mountain snow and rain meets salt water from the ocean. It is one of seven endangered fish that could be harmed if too much water is diverted from the delta. But it's not just fish that need flushing. Experts say if too much water is diverted, it could become too salty for agriculture and drinking, both in the delta and further south.
The order also delegated many responsibilities to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from debris removal to providing emergency housing to people displaced by the fires.
But the order contrasted with Trump's recent comments on disaster response. He argued that state officials should take the lead in leading recovery efforts, and he also considered abolishing FEMA.
Mr. Trump, who arrived in California on Friday, met with Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to temporarily suspend criticism and seek a waiver from federal permits to speed up the rebuilding process. promised to support.
“We want to get something done,” Trump said during the meeting. “To get anything done, we have to work together.”
But after the order was released on Sunday, Newsom's office accused the president of provoking the crisis based on a dishonest assessment of the situation on the ground.
Trump has argued that the Los Angeles wildfires could have been completely avoided by pumping more water from northern California to the south, but many reservoirs in the region are at or above historical averages. When firefighters battling wildfires in Los Angeles were struggling with dry hydrants, it had nothing to do with the amount of water available from the north.
“Contrary to President Trump's claims, there is no imaginary spigot that will magically make water appear on a wildfire,” Newsom's press secretary Tara Gallegos said in a statement Sunday.
“Water operations that move water south through the delta have nothing to do with local fire response in Los Angeles,” she said. “Either Mr. Trump doesn’t know how water is stored in California or he is intentionally misleading the public.”
Trump's press secretary did not respond to a request for comment.
The executive order gave agencies 15 days to report to the White House on which agencies have the authority to exercise greater control over California's water infrastructure. Nearly a week after Trump's first day in office, he issued another order directing federal officials to devise ways to deliver more water to other parts of the state.
