Trump: Speed up water projects

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the government to speed up environmental reviews and streamline regulations that he says are hindering work on major water projects in California and other Western states.

Trump signed a memorandum aimed at helping the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project in California, the Klamath Irrigation Project in Oregon and California and the Columbia River Basin system in the Pacific Northwest.

“We will resolve the issues blocking the completion of the Central Valley project,” Trump said in Arizona during a swing through Western states. “I hope you enjoy the water that you’re going to have.”

The Central Valley Project is a federally managed water storage and delivery system that primarily benefits agricultural users in California’s rich farming country in the center of the state.

The State Water Project serves agricultural and urban water users, including Los Angeles and much of sprawling Southern California.

The announcement is a boost for endangered Republican lawmakers in California’s Central Valley facing tough challenges from Democrats looking to take control of the U.S. House. Trump signed the memo alongside Central Valley GOP Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Devin Nunes and Jeff Denham.

But it is likely to inflame an ongoing battle in California over divvying up water between cities, farms and environmental needs like the protection of fish.

Farming interests have long pushed to raise Shasta Dam, which holds back California’s largest reservoir as part of the Central Valley Project, by more than 18 feet. The project is opposed by environmentalists who say it would harm threatened fish and by the Winnemem Wintu tribe, which says it would flood sacred sites.