Petition: Pelosi’s Drought, Breadbasket Goes Hungry

Townhall.com ^ | August 19, 2009 | Steve Poizner

[Kaslin]

Each day thousands of farmers in California’s Central Valley depend on water to produce America’s food, but that water isn’t being delivered. Inaction from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress and state legislators are leaving thousands unemployed, threatening national food security and further crippling the American economy by causing a man-made drought in the most fertile land in America.

California farmers are not receiving enough water to sustain their crops because lawmakers refuse to ease the application of the Endangered Species Act, creating dire economic and agricultural conditions throughout the Central Valley.

This disaster will have a ripple effect on food prices across the broader economy and make it harder for American families to put food on the table – in the middle of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Economists at U.C. Davis recently concluded that drought conditions, coupled with federal regulations restricting the flow of water, would lead to income losses of nearly $1 billion. With an economy already facing tough times, there is no reason to justify allowing costs to go up for consumers when we can prevent it with immediate action.

My time in both public service and the private sector has proven to me we can’t sit by praying for Washington D.C. or Sacramento, CA to so solve problems. When it comes to the current water crisis in California’s Central Valley, the time to talk is over. We need action. California needs water now.

Join me and sign this online petition asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring “Water Now” to California.  We need to send a message to Speaker Pelosi to put American families first and support legislation for a more flexible application of the Endangered Species Act especially during times of emergency. Speaker Pelosi has voted for a similar exemption to aid New Mexico in the past, yet she stands in the way to provide relief for the farmers and workers of her home state.

Unemployment rates in some Central Valley counties are near 20%--and the news is even worse in a few California communities, like Mendota, where the unemployment rate is near 40%.  One scholar predicts that up to 30,000 jobs will be lost in the Central Valley, all because Speaker Pelosi and many of her colleagues in Congress have decided to turn their backs on California’s farmers, families, and small businesses. 

During my current run for governor of California I have met with citizens from every corner of the state and they have explained to me how this water crisis has affected their livelihoods. Driving through the state, it’s hard to miss the miles of sandy wasteland, where crops once grew. Workers in California’s San Joaquin Valley cannot grow food, they cannot afford to buy food and many have turned to food banks to feed their families. America’s breadbasket is going hungry.

I’m running for Governor of California to solve problems and find solutions to the issues facing California. We are all tired of career politicians talking endlessly about issues. Bold and immediate steps are needed to restore the flow of water, save jobs, revitalize the economy and protect American families.

The most immediate action that you can take to get water to our farmers now is to pressure Speaker Nancy Pelosi to support legislation to encourage the more flexible application of the Endangered Species Act during times of drought emergency in California.

Already, hundreds of people have joined me by adding their name to the online petition to Speaker Pelosi. Many others have sent a message on Twitter to Speaker Pelosi using the hashtag #WaterNow asking Pelosi, Congress and lawmakers to turn the water on now and chooses American families and building a stronger economy. 

Signing the petition to Nancy Pelosi is the most immediate action available and I encourage you to let your voice be heard, but I know that a more flexible application of the Endangered Species Act isn’t the type of comprehensive solution that will solve this problem once and for all

Accordingly, I have key proposals that will ensure we don’t find ourselves back in this situation again. California must invest in new infrastructure, promote water conservation and efficiency, and commit to innovative strategies that ensure the sustainability of nation’s natural resources. It’s important that we increase surface and groundwater storage so that we can be prepared for sustained dry periods in the state and that we empower our local water agencies to implement diverse water management strategies because our water system cannot function on a one-size-fits-all approach. Read my plan and leave your thoughts and suggestions.

After talking to farmers in the Central Valley and voters from all around the state, I know that easing the application of the Endangered Species Act in California is an issue that has bipartisan support. I also know that Californians want a comprehensive water plan so that we don’t find ourselves in the same situation a few years down the road.

Sign the Petition to Nancy Pelosi and send a clear message we need water now in California.

[mdmathis6]

It’s already August...even if you get the water released tomorrow...the damage for the year is done. It’s going to be a very expensive year for vegetables here in the US.

[babble-on]

I’ve always wondered frankly why so much of our nation’s food is grown in a place where it doesn’t rain.

Get Farmers off the GOVERNMENT TIT NOW!!

NO MORE CORPORATE WELFARE FOR AGRICULTURE!!

FREE WATER ISN’T FREE!!

[AmericaUnite]

This is so needless and sad. Sounds like something Robert Mugabe would do.

[Lazamataz]

There is more than a passing chance that this is an engineered drought. It is easier to kill millions by hunger, than it is by bullet.

Stalin starved the Ukraine. There is precedent.

[GeronL]

Online petition? Does anyone think an online petition is going to do anything? Did the Oregonians wait an wait and circulate a petition? No, they went down there and they turned the water back on.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I’ve always wondered frankly why so much of our nation’s food is grown in a place where it doesn’t rain.

Because California has so many electoral votes the rest of us subsidize their water, power and who knows what else.

Fortunately the left-wing will destroy all that wealth and drive California's population down to the point where they don't matter any more.

[Guenevere]

How about a contrived or engineered virus...like Swine Flu?

Or am I a conspiracy theorist?

[RKV]

You are lacking in clues. The water is already within the boundaries of the state, in the Sierra Mountains. As to the subsidies for dams and the like, the citizens of the State of California paid for those (not the American people at large), before the envirowackos shut down our ability to build new dams.

[Lazamataz]

Or am I a conspiracy theorist?

Think of the worst conspiracy you could imagine.

It's a zillion times worse than that.

We're all gonna die!!!!

[Guenevere]

I knew it

[Inwoodian]

Has this banshee done anything, one single thing , right since she became speaker?

[stephenjohnbanker]

“One scholar predicts that up to 30,000 jobs will be lost in the Central Valley, all because Speaker Pelosi and many of her colleagues in Congress have decided to turn their backs on California’s farmers, families, and small businesses. “

Pure evil.

[stephenjohnbanker]

The water is there, it has just been cut off.

[SZonian]

From what I’ve heard, this “fish” they’re worried about isn’t even indigenous to the US, it’s foreign.

That being said, driving to Boy Scout summer camp this summer thru the Central Valley, we saw lots and lots of brown and fallow fields. Very little action in the once active fields.

Sad.

SZ

[calex59]

Nobody subsidizes CAs water. What a tool. CA has all the water they need, the problem is the EPA diverting water to the "Delta Smelt", a non indigenous species brought into CA in the 1940s. Rather than see the water, water paid for by the farmers BTW, go to the farmers it is being sent down the rivers to the delta and into the ocean so these wonderful entirely unnecessary smelt will continue to exist in CA waters. We get our water from the mountains, we are not really in a drought except one manufactured by the politicians and we would have even more water if the EPA and other enviro weenies hadn't stopped us from building more dams, dams CA residents paid for BTW. As it is, there is plenty of water for the farms but the politicians won't divert it to the farms that are supposed to get it.

You are correct on the electricity however, but that doesn't excuse you from running your mouth about something which you know nothing about.

[sportutegrl]

Are these the people I saw on Hannity with the dead almond trees? These were 8 year old almond trees that are dead now due to lack of water. Nut trees take several years to reach the point where they produce nuts. This is an incredible waste, IMO. It will take years to replace these trees.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The DU server crashed again? Must be why you guys are here.

Now I know you don't like facts, but this is old news. Here's one example in easy to read English. If you had a computer with access to the internet, you could search and see this isn't all that unusual.

Now don't go crying and starting the name calling again, I'm sure DU will be up again later this week.

[jimt]

CA has all the water they need, the problem is the EPA diverting water to the "Delta Smelt", a non indigenous species brought into CA in the 1940s.

And as I understand it, smelt exist in many other places and the only "endangered feces" part of this is that these smelt are very slightly different than others through adaptation.

I wish enviro-whackos were an endangered species. Of course if they keep shafting the farmers they may be.

[crazyotto]

Let califorina fall into the ocean and forget about it. We would not even miss it. All it does is burn every year.