Washington Post: ‘Army Corps knew Trump order would waste California water, memo shows’
In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) recently blasted the Trump Administration’s reckless mismanagement of California water in a Washington Post article discussing the Army Corps of Engineers’ rash, unscheduled water releases from Lake Kaweah and Success Lake in Tulare County. President Trump lied about these releases to claim that the water could be used to assist in fighting Los Angeles County fires, even though the fires had already been contained. A memo obtained by the Post made clear that the Army Corps knew that this rushed release of irrigation water “could not be delivered to Southern California directly,” but was responding to President Trump’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to maximize water deliveries in the state.
Earlier this year, Senator Padilla immediately demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after Trump took credit for directing these dangerous releases and admitted he was responsible for nearly flooding downstream communities, while falsely claiming he delivered billions of gallons of water to Southern California. These actions wasted significant water resources that farmers were saving for use in the summer. Padilla also questioned Hegseth on President Trump’s January 27th Truth Social post, which claimed that the U.S. military “entered” California and “turned on the water” flowing from Northern California to other parts of the state, despite the fact that water was flowing at similar pumping levels as under the prior Administration. President Trump has incorrectly blamed statewide water policy for the devastating Los Angeles fires.
Local officials warned the Army Corps that releasing water at the levels the Corps planned to would have flooded both the Kaweah and Tule rivers, posing a flood risk to communities and farms down river and wasting water that could have been used for irrigation over the summer.
Key Excerpts:
- Col. Chad W. Caldwell, commander of the Army Corps’ Sacramento district, wrote that the water that poured out of Lake Kaweah and Success Lake “could not be delivered to Southern California directly.” To do so would have required several steps of coordination with state and federal agencies to transport the water to a rarely used connection point, and it quickly became clear that was impossible in such little time, according to the memo. The release was done to satisfy Trump’s executive order, Caldwell wrote.
- Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) called the water release — at a time when the fires were already contained — a “potent example of the danger of an administration that either doesn’t know or doesn’t care what they do.”
- “It was clearly nothing but a poor publicity stunt. And it was a dangerous one,” Padilla said in an interview. “An unexpected, non-noticed release threatens lives, threatens the safety of communities if you flood somewhere without the proper coordination.”
- The release was also an early sign of upheaval to come for water managers in the West. The Trump administration has moved to cut staff at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages reservoirs and canals across the West. Senate Democrats in the region wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum this week to complain about staff cuts, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, and the freeze on funding that has been instrumental in preserving Colorado River water and keeping major reservoirs from falling to dangerous levels.
- For the farmers in the Central Valley, it was not irrigation season, and this was their precious summer supply. It had been an abnormally dry January, snowpack was low, and an atmospheric river headed toward California was not forecast to significantly affect the two reservoirs in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada. The Army Corps should have focused on maximizing storage, not dumping water in January in a place “where it doesn’t really serve anybody,” said Jeffrey Kightlinger, former general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “We need it in the summer,” he said.
Full text of the article is available here.
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Thank you for standing up to this criminal regime! Stupidity and lies at this level of governance must be published and called out. Of course, his supporters will ignore the fact that a dog is biting their legs off if he told them it wasn’t really happening. There’s no saving those lost minds.
Take the blame off empty reservoirs Newsum- I totally agree it’s Trump fault !! I have a stomach ache through all of this, Trumps fault again !!!
Should be a headache, but trumpies lack the neurons.
The gut and the brain are very connected. Gut problems are as likely as a headache.
For the billionth time: the reservoirs were not empty. And even if they were, pointlessly dumping water needed for Central Valley peak demand was Trump’s fault since he personally directed it to be done.
Contradictory: For the billionth time: the reservoirs were not empty. And even if they were——explain that to 18,000 fire victim home owners
C’mon – try using those neurons.
Is that a new word in your vocabulary neurons? you always thought it wasn’t plural or at least people told you that and it probably started with an M and sounded similar
Well, that was a word salad. Just try using those neurons; especially the connections between them. You’ll finds it helps greatly in communicating, and you might even start looking at facts instead of social media garbage.
ANON – what’s a “meuron?”
They wrote that it *sounds* similar. Meaning “moron”
If only it had been commented in English.
Free link to article:
https://wapo.st/3Dz20w8
Little known as well there was a second such incident where a couple of young men associated with DOGE (Hassen and Shang)were trying to open valves at the Jones Pumping Plant in the central valley for a photo op for our administration’s folly’s. Gosh the power was off for “maintenance” and they had no authority to access such facilities and were sent packing.
holy carp! Amazing and appalling. At least they were stymied.
I searched “Jones Pumping Plant doge news”
Good gods, I’m sick from the news; need another break from it.
But at least there’s no more pollution or warming gasses in the USA anymore… yes, that’s sarcasm. Goodbye EPA, was nice knowing ya.
By all accounts and measures the reservoirs were technically not empty (as in absolutely no water). I disagree that the water was “pointlessly” dumped. The dumping sent a very strong message to Newsom to get his act together and to work with Trump….or else. The “or else” is a $hit-ton of Federal money that this flailing state desperately needs. Newsom is going to play with Trump because he has to if he wants to continue being the (D) 2028 front runner for POTUS. That explains in part his recent flip-flops. That does not make him a flip-flopper because that’s how politics work. Remember, pay attention to what these pols do, not what they say.
Side note: Cachuma – 88%, Jameson – 96%, Gibraltar – 72%
Bullpuckey. The release did nothing but waste water, and helped no one.
Remember – look at the facts.
Two billion-ish gallons of water in a drought-prone, agricultural leading state, poured down streams “to send a message”? The only message that sent was that the Trump is a crazy-assed, reckless, mad bully of a leader, and incredibly stupid.
**BendsKnees dude, stop advocating cowardice!
You don’t capitulate to bullies, you stand up to them and hit back. Otherwise they walk all over you and there are already countless examples of Trump doing just that: forcing someone’s submission to demonstrate loyalty, followed by Trump walking all over them anyway.
“BendsKnees” – Perfect descriptor for what he posts!
It’s amazing how one orange moron can crush an entire country and live in a person’s mind 24/7. Not good. It’s fine if you want to capitulate and accept y-o-u-r fate, but please/please let those of us who want stand up to the nonsense alone. Be a leader.
BEES – so how are you “standing up to the nonsense?” You complain whenever people here speak badly of what Trump is doing, so what are you doing?
By bending that knee? What you are advocating *is* capitulation.
But, when that’s all you’ve ever done, it’s what you’ll advocate.