Need someone more honest than Valadao
Trump was the most corrupt President in my lifetime. His abuse of the powers of the presidency to plot assaults on Americans and undermine The Constitution on J6 are well known. A less well known corruption was his administration’s suppressing of a report by government scientists predicting harm to California’s wildlife including salmon if more water is diverted to powerful California agribusiness corporations. See https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-08-20/trump-california-water-salmon-farms
This giveaway of public water at the expense of the public environment is what happens when the Interior Secretary previously worked as a highly paid lobbyist for California agribusiness interests. Naturally, California Farm Bureau Federation President Jamie Johansson was thrilled: “We expect these new biological opinions to approach fishery recovery through a variety of tactics, including habitat restoration, improved science, and flexibility in dedicating enough water at the right time to maximize fishery benefits and improve water deliveries to people,” he said. “Narrow solutions based only on water flow mandates have failed to restore fisheries, at great loss of water for people.”
Fishing interests were not so thrilled: “The Trump administration, under former Westlands Water District lobbyist and now Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, released a doctored set of rules allowing much greater water diversions to its supporters in the dry western San Joaquin Valley. The new rules ensure great damage to California’s environment, especially to the state’s native salmon runs and the family jobs tied to them… (t)he scientists who wrote that July document were reassigned and prevented from working on the documents released today. No one disputes the new rules are the Trump administration’s attempt to make good on a promise to growers in the San Joaquin Valley to maximize water diversions to them, no matter the environmental and economic consequences to others,” said John Mcmanus, president of the Golden State Salmon Association.
Now Congressman Valadao sends out a press release about his attempt to codify this corrupt lie into law (Recorder 10/28/2023) and I am reminded that I desire a more honest Representative.
Len Andrews
Porterville