Trump challenges California water policies

 The Hill:

President Trump directed U.S. government agencies to override California’s water policies as needed — slamming the state’s handling of the Los Angeles region’s wildfires in an executive order this weekend.

“Firefighters were unable to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure,” the order stated. “It is in the Nation’s interest to ensure that California has what it needs to prevent and fight these fires and others in the future.”

Writing that “it is the policy of the United States to provide Southern California with necessary water resources,” the order directed federal officials to “immediately take actions to override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries.”

The order follows comments Trump made Friday prior to visiting Los Angeles, at which time he said he would condition federal wildfire assistance on both voter identification mandates and a release of more water from Northern California statewide.

Trump has repeatedly argued that California officials could have boosted water flow to Los Angeles from the northern part of the state simply by pumping more of the resource.

Earlier this month, he went so far as to call on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to resign, while also accusing him of failing to sign a declaration that would have “allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
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California water management appears weird and counterproductive, but California officials appear to like it that way.   It seems obvious that the California way is making the Los Angeles area more vulnerable to wildfires.