by CABPRO Staff
Two years ago, Federal District Judge Oliver Wanger (U. S. District Court, Eastern District of California) imposed restrictions on how much California’s state water authority can pump out of the Sacramento River, on the grounds that the water pumps were drawing in and killing the endangered delta smelt, in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The delta smelt is a blue, 2-inch long fish native to California’s Sacramento River delta. The pumps supply millions of Californian farms, businesses and consumers with water.
Restricting the pumping of water may be good for the delta smelt, but they are killing jobs for Californians. As a result of the restrictions, thousands of acres of farmland in the once fertile western San Joaquin Valley, are drying up, 85,000 Californian farmers and laborers are out of work, and whole towns are dying. In Mendota, a century-old farming town west of Fresno, unemployment has reached 41 percent. In nearby Firebaugh, the unemployment rate has reached 40 percent. Overall, the pump restrictions are expected to cost California’s agriculture industry upwards of $500 million per year, indefinitely.
There are thousands of human victims of modern environmentalism, a movement that increasingly ignores the human costs of its efforts. What was once a movement dedicated to serving humanity and grounded in reason has gradually morphed into an ideological crusade grounded in hysteria. And what was once a campaign to improve the quality of life of humans is now fighting to improve the quality of life of fish — at the expense of humans.
Isn't this insane?
If it were truly about saving the delta smelt why not just install filters on the Sacramento River’s water pumps. This would save most, but not all, of the delta smelt, and would save California’s farms and farmers from economic destruction. But it isn't about saving the delta smelt but about environmental radicalism intruding further to control every aspect of our lives. Time to replace California's Legislature and the US Congress radicals with common sense business and people minded folks who know what it takes to put food on the table.