‘Harmful, Ludicrous Action!’ California Dem Slams Trump For ‘PR Stunt’ Release of Water That Never Made It To LA
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) slammed President Donald Trump on Thursday for “causing harm” by ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water in northern California in the wake of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, water which never made it to southern California.
Lieu, who represents western Los Angeles in Congress, fumed at Trump during a House hearing on the fires, saying, “ When you solve for the wrong problem, not only do you not get the solution, you can cause harm.”
“So Donald Trump has it in his mind that somehow there’s a spigot in northern California. He’s gonna open a valve and dump water to southern California. Here are the facts. Southern California’s reservoirs are right near record levels when this fire happened. Did it matter? Because Donald Trump then ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release over 2 billion gallons of water that almost flooded farmland,” Lieu continued, adding:
If not for the local water districts that pushed back. But guess what? This water was saved for the farmers for the summer season when they needed the water. And so the president wasted all this water that isn’t even reaching Southern California, it is going to evaporate. For a PR stunt. So this is a harmful, ludicrous action to solve for the wrong problem.
Trump’s forced release of the water raised eyebrows across the media and the government. Fox News’s Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported on the topic this week, noting, “The water released by the Army Corps of Engineers from 2 dams in Central California has no way to reach Southern California. The sudden rush alarmed local farmers whose land was nearly flooded.” Griffin added:
The water is usually kept in reserve to help farmers in Central California during summer drought months. There are no crops that need the water right now. They are dormant.
The water was released by the Army Corps of Engineers from Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success but has no way to connect to the aqueduct to deliver water to Southern California to be used for wildfires (most of which are now no longer burning.)
Griffin also noted that California’s Senior Senator Alex Padilla (D) wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and said:
“If the purpose of these releases is to help fight wildfires in Los Angeles County (which arealready almost fully contained), what is the plan to transport this water to Los Angeles rather than let the water simply be discharged into Tulare Lake where it will evaporate?”
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.
