Of fish and men: Trump's California water order takes aim at Newsom and troubled smelt

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2025, 10:20 AM - Edit history (1)

In an apparent poke at California politics, one of President Donald Trump's executive orders on Monday directed federal agencies “to route more water" from across the state instead of trying to protect a nearly extinct tiny fish species.

Experts say the state's water flow has been complex for more than four decades, and the president's mandate might be considered a bit fishy as he tries to keep a longstanding campaign promise.

In the executive order titled “Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California,” Trump mandated water from Northern California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, one of the state's main water sources, to be redirected south. It's an attempt to change the environmental protections of the smelt, a three-inch-long fish once vital to California's ecosystem but now nearly extinct, and criticize the state's efforts while battling raging and deadly wildfires that have wreaked havoc across greater Los Angeles.

The executive order comes after Trump initially promised in 2016 to redirect California’s water runoff south to help farmers and growers in Central Valley. In 2020, then-President Trump issued a federal memorandum to redirect millions of gallons of water. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom successfully sued in federal court to limit the flow from the Delta.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/21/trump-water-california-fish-newsom/77848777007/