California Water Crisis
More on California Water Crisis
February 25, 2021
Everything that we touch in our daily lives; everything that makes our lives possible; everything that makes us more comfortable and more prosperous; comes to us in only two ways. It is either grown or it is mined. That is a universal truth. Everything is either grown or mined. Fortunately, nature has given us a superabundance of resources and left it to us to responsibly reap and manage this bounty. But it is precisely these resources that the left has waged war against for a full generation. The very things that make us prosperous and comfortable are the things the left attempts to put off limits. Is it any wonder that the more they extend their domain, the worse the human conditions that they produce?
February 12, 2020
Statements by Congressman McClintock at the Natural Resources Commitee Markup Hearing, February 12, 2020
Remarks Regarding the Motion to Grant Chairman Plenary Subpoena Power
Congressman Tom McClintock
House Natural Resources Committee
February 12, 2020
There
January 28, 2020
Although the west faces an on-going water crisis, the Water Subcommittee has not held a hearing to address it since July of 2019. Equally disappointing is the fact that after six months of inactivity on the subject, the best the majority can offer is a hodge-podge of New Mexico earmarks and legislation that duplicates in California’s Central Valley what the WIIN Act of 2016 is already accomplishing, but desperately needs to be reauthorized.
November 21, 2019
California Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04) and 11 members representing western states today introduced legislation designed to reform water policy in the west. “Western water policy is a bureaucratic nightmare designed to delay and deny the storage, delivery and use of our abundant water by farmers and residents. Environmental groups have used the law to block construction on new reservoirs, resulting in man-made droughts that have devastated entire communities. This legislation provides a common-sense approach to allowing water to flow quickly and efficiently to the communities that need it, while maintaining environmental protections,” McClintock said...
April 2, 2019
The subcommittee meets today to consider “The State of Western Water Infrastructure and Innovation.” Central to this discussion is a simple question: which is better: abundance or shortage? The answer is so self-evident, it seems like a trick question.
March 12, 2019
For many years, our nations’ water policy was one of abundance and our nation’s lands policy was one of sustainable, scientific management. These policies served the betterment of both humanity and nature.
February 26, 2019
According to the EPA, since 1901, global precipitation has increased at an average rate of roughly a tenth of an inch per decade, while precipitation in the contiguous 48 states has increased at a rate of nearly 2/10ths of an inch per decade. Globally, annual rainfall alone produces roughly 50,000 gallons of freshwater every day for every man, woman and child on this planet. The problem is that this abundance of freshwater is unevenly distributed over time and space. Throughout the 20th Century, it was the policy of this government to guarantee abundant water for all the people and regions of our country. We built reservoirs to transfer water from wet years to dry years and we built canals to transfer water from wet regions to dry ones. By doing so, we made the deserts bloom, protected our communities from floods and droughts and opened up vast tracts of land to support a prosperous population made possible by water abundance. Sadly, these policies were reversed over the last 45 years...
October 19, 2018
“The President’s announcement is an immense relief for the farmers and families of the San Joaquin Valley and communities across California. Due to the actions of environmental extremists and overzealous bureaucrats, California has been suffering from a years-long water crisis that has wreaked havoc in Central Valley farming communities that feed tens of millions of Americans. Productive land has gone fallow and farmworkers have lost their jobs. Communities across California have also been devastated as senseless government regulations have mandated that billions of gallons of water be flushed out to the ocean and wasted. Now, with this executive action, there is a strict timetable...
August 16, 2018
Letter to Felicia Marcus, Chair, California Water Resources Control Board Regarding the Final Draft of the Bay-Delta Plan Update (click letter below to view)
October 17, 2017
There have been so many milestones passed with this project, it is a wonderful feeling to realize that we’ve finally arrived at the destination. The Folsom Dam auxiliary gates will help the Sacramento region achieve 200-year flood protection, taking the chance of flooding to one half of one percent per year. Those are better odds than we’ve ever had against the kind of flooding that once plagued our Capitol region. This year, we’ve seen the damage flooding can do on a massive scale, and this project will help defend against such a fate here.