The Los Angeles County wildfires triggered a rant from President-elect Donald Trump, who blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for depriving Southern California of water. Trump today repeated a claim he has made in the past, that state efforts “to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt” have caused pain and hardship in California.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote today on his social media site Truth Social.
Newsom responds
Newsom’s office responded with a sharp rebuke and a reality check.
“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration — that is pure fiction,” Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon said in a written statement. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
The fires burning in Los Angeles County were fanned by severe winds and exacerbated by near-zero rainfall throughout Southern California. But sending more water south from the Bay-Delta would have done nothing to prevent them or extinguish them.
Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said Trump’s comments do not reflect California’s complex water supply systems and just fan flames of political discontent.
“Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating…
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