In one of his first acts upon returning to the White House, President Trump issued a directive aimed at restarting efforts to release more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of California — even if it’s detrimental to endangered fish.
The title of Trump’s memorandum, issued within hours of taking office Monday: “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California.”
The directive received scant attention against the backdrop of a flurry of executive orders that had environmental groups focusing on issues with global implications, including again pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords aimed at reducing global warming.
In his renewed focus on the Delta, Trump singles out the “protection of the Delta smelt and other species of fish” as the reason he believes that California officials are flushing away vast amount of freshwater into the ocean rather than putting it to use for homes and farms.
In the directive, Trump said he wants to restart the effort from his first administration to change California’s water priorities. He blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for filing a lawsuit to halt the effort from his first administration. Had he not been thwarted, Trump said he would have “allowed enormous amounts of water to flow from the snow melt and rainwater in rivers in Northern California to beneficial use in the Central Valley and Southern California.”
Trump cited Southern California’s catastrophic wildfires this month as a reason why more water needs to be available to the region.
The directive came as no surprise. Trump took to his Truth Social account earlier this month to try to connect Delta water releases to save the smelt with a lack of water to fight fires in the Los Angeles area, where thousands of homes were destroyed and dozens of people were kiled. At that time, Newsom responded with a sharp denial, and experts concurred that deliveries of Northern California water played no role in why some fire hydrants in L.A. went dry.
In his inaugural address, Trump said of the fires: “From weeks ago, without even a token of defense, they’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country, some of whom are sitting here right now.” He called it “interesting.”
Newsom immediately responded to the implication that there was lack of defense in a social media post, posting several images of firefighters battling the blazes, but so far, the governor has not said anything new about the smelt.
Trump’s directive was sent to the secretaries of Commerce and Interior. They are being given 90 days to report back to Trump on their progress in redirecting California’s water policy. The departments are currently under the auspices of interim appointees while Trump’s nominees — financial industry executive Howard Lutnick at Commerce and former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum at Interior — await Senate confirmation.
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