Last Updated on 14/09/2024 by Arun jain
Donald J. Trump threatened Friday to withhold federal wildfire aid from California, if elected president, unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees to divert more water for farmers instead of letting it flow into the ocean.
Mr. Trump, during a news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, claimed that the state’s devastating wildfires could be prevented by changes in how California manages its limited water supply.
“If he doesn’t sign those papers, we’re not going to give him the money to put out all his fires,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Newsom’s authorization of water diversions to farmers. “And if we don’t give him all the money to put out the fire, he has a problem.”
In his remarks, Mr. Trump, a former Republican president, repeatedly called the Democratic governor a “newscom.”
Soon after, Governor Newsom posted a clip of Trump’s comments on X and said every American voter should pay attention.
Governor Newsom said that Mr. Trump “just admitted that he will block emergency disaster funding for political revenge.” “Today it’s the California wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flood aid for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America – he only cares about himself.
Most of California’s water is contained in Northern California, due to runoff from the Sierra Nevada and heavy rainfall each winter. The state sends most of that water to the Central Valley and Southern California through vast canals. But California is also required by court decisions to send water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which eventually flows into San Francisco Bay, to preserve wildlife — especially small fish called delta smelt, but also salmon and other species.
In 2019, Mr. Trump as President Battle with Californian leaders How much water should go to farmers, not through the delta. Five years later, he seems intent on reviving that fight and using federal aid as leverage should he become president.
California has had a difficult fire year, with nearly one million acres burning across the state so far. Three large fires are burning in Southern California that have destroyed dozens of homes and displaced thousands of people.
The state’s worst fires this year have been in rural and mountainous parts of California, which are heavily Republican. Kern, Tehama and Tulare counties have suffered large fires this year and all went for Mr. Trump in the 2020 election.
Fire experts say the state’s fire season is getting worse than usual because a century of fire suppression allowed vegetation to grow thick and uncontrolled. Those forests and shrubs are especially poised to burn as climate change makes the weather hotter and hotter.
But Mr. Trump mistakenly blamed the California wildfires because the state’s water supply has been allowed to flow into the Pacific Ocean. He said that diverting water to farmers would help the agribusiness and also moisten the land. Most of California’s fires occur on forest land, on hillsides and in valleys that are not used for agriculture.
“You’re going to stop a lot of these horrible fires that cost billions and billions of dollars,” Mr. Trump said on Friday. “One thing I’m going to do for California — vote for me, California — I’m going to give you safety. I’m going to give you a great border. I’m going to give you more water than almost anybody else has, and the North Farmers across the country will be able to use 100 per cent of their land, not 1 per cent.”
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