MarkMiller
09-24-2009, 10:34 PM
Hannity stumbles upon cause of west side water issues
Published online on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009
By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee E-Mail
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•Hannity airs from Valley's west side
The water shortage on the Valley's west side got thrust into the national spotlight Thursday as conservative commentator Sean Hannity broadcast his Fox News Channel show "Hannity" live from a farm near Huron.
Several thousand people cheered him as he made fun of "radical environmentalists," saying they are protecting the delta smelt over the needs of farmers and their workers.
Hannity also chided President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Washington, challenging them to "turn the water back on."
•Delta deadlock
Delta deadlockEditor's note: The Fresno Bee spent the summer of 2008 examining how experts and interested parties are trying to make the Delta work, and what it means to people who live in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Reporters Russell Clemings and Dennis Pollock collaborated on the research. Pollock, formerly The Bee's agriculture beat writer, has since retired.
Their report published Aug. 24, 2008. It's republished here as a service to those who are interested in following the Delta debate.
•California must get serious about water
•California must get serious about water
Irrigation water is cut off to protect fish. Protesting farmers fill highways with tractors. Congressmen seek modification of the Endangered Species Act. The governor declares a drought disaster. A little rain falls, and water flows again -- too little, too late to prevent crop losses.
•This is a story of two places:
the west side of the Central San Joaquin Valley right now and the Klamath Basin straddling the California-Oregon border in 2001. And the similarities point to a larger problem that has to be solved.
There are complicating differences, to be sure. Native Americans have rights to Klamath River water and fish. Here in the Valley, water to the west side flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides drinking water to millions of Californians.
•House's $33b energy, water bill will help Valley
House's $33b energy, water bill will help ValleyWASHINGTON The House today is scheduled to approve a $33 billion energy and water bill that includes some modest help for San Joaquin Valley farms.
Urged by two Valley Democrats, the House on Wednesday amended the massive bill to include $10 million for several Valley-related water projects designed to boost irrigation deliveries. The revised bill also is supposed to make it easier to transfer California water from one district to another.
Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, wrote the two California water amendments adopted by the House on voice votes as part of the fiscal 2010 energy and water appropriations package. The bill funds Army Corps of Engineers projects like Pine Flat Dam, Bureau of Reclamation projects like Friant Dam and energy-related work at places like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
•Anger alone won't solve the Valley's water woes
Anger alone won't solve the Valley's water woesIt was a warm October night, and the hall on 13th Street in Firebaugh was packed with people. They had come to voice frustration about the "man-made drought," fallowed land and lost jobs.
That was five years ago. Little has changed.
Once-fertile land in the Westlands Water District is ruined by salty irrigation water trapped between the soil surface and layers of clay. Farmers scramble for water. Their deliveries are cut because of below-average rainfall and attempts to protect the delta smelt and salmon.
Sean Hannity came to the San Joaquin Valley a few days ago and did what he does best. He exaggerated, distorted and turned a complex situation into a hysterical rant.
But I'll give the Fox News right-wing shouter this: citing all the wrong reasons, he unintentionally fingered the right culprit for the economic disaster unfolding on the Valley's west side and in Northern California.
To hear Hannity and his cast of local enablers tell it, farmers and farmworkers in the Westlands Water District are suffering the pain of a water shortage caused by activist federal judges, the delta smelt and President Barack Obama's administration.
Not much of that -- or anything else he said -- is true. But, in fact, the federal government does bear much of the responsibility for the mess entangling the west side, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the decline of salmon along California's coast.
Decades ago, federal authorities promised more water to farmers than they could deliver. They compounded the mistake by offering subsidies and incentives that encouraged small farmers to become mega-farmers.
Then they turned around and -- again with incentives -- encouraged small fishermen to build bigger boats and bigger fleets, further endangering salmon.
The whole time, few in the federal bureaucracy had either the wisdom or the courage to ask how much water would be needed to sustain California's fish and wildlife, much less the state's population growth.
Hannity, of course, didn't say this. He's incapable of anything but shouting, mugging to his fans and palming off his made-to-fit lies and omissions as facts.
The activist federal judge ruling on many issues affecting the delta, farmers and fishermen is Oliver W. Wanger, a conservative Republican appointed by President George H.W. Bush.
Hannity called the Central Valley "a Dust Bowl." It's not. Millions of acres are being farmed, and most farmers are getting their water deliveries. In a one-hour show alleged to be about water, there wasn't a single second devoted to an explanation of the hierarchy of water rights under California law. Or a single word about the fact that Westlands' farmers have junior water rights, meaning that by law they get what is left after all the other interests have dipped into the state's sprawling water system.
Nor did Hannity bother to explain that Westlands' water comes from the Trinity River 400 miles away and that some Valley farmers sell their water rights to cities and developers.
And somehow Hannity, a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, didn't get around to noting that some of his newfound friends in agriculture rely on illegal immigrants to harvest their crops.
Hannity came here for two things: to tell the nation that a "2-inch minnow" is killing farming in the food basket of America, and to tell Obama to turn on delta pumps that send water to Westlands.
Never mind that the pumps have been on since June 30 -- too late for spring plantings, admittedly, but on nonetheless despite claims otherwise by three local congressmen and comedian Paul Rodriguez.
In a fake attempt at balance, Hannity conned Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, to be on the show. Hannity began the short segment by calling Grader "a wacko environmentalist from San Francisco" and any chance to have a thoughtful discussion about the destruction of the salmon fishing industry was lost.
All this said, the Obama administration's response to the economic hurt on the west side has been disappointing. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made it clear during a recent interview at The Bee that the president isn't interested in entering California's water wars.
If heavy rains don't come this winter, a good argument can be made for keeping the pumps on next spring so that Westlands' soil can be planted and watered -- particularly since there is evidence suggesting that pollution and non-native species also are contributing to the decline of fish in the delta.
But the long-term answers aren't that simple. Simple, unfortunately, is the only thing that Hannity understands.
The columnist can be reached at bmcewen@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6632. His blog is at fresnobeehive.com. Listen to his talk show daily at noon on KYNO (AM 1300).
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/mcewen/story/1644349.html
Published online on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009
By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee E-Mail
•Hannity airs from Valley's west side
The water shortage on the Valley's west side got thrust into the national spotlight Thursday as conservative commentator Sean Hannity broadcast his Fox News Channel show "Hannity" live from a farm near Huron.
Several thousand people cheered him as he made fun of "radical environmentalists," saying they are protecting the delta smelt over the needs of farmers and their workers.
Hannity also chided President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Washington, challenging them to "turn the water back on."
•Delta deadlock
Delta deadlockEditor's note: The Fresno Bee spent the summer of 2008 examining how experts and interested parties are trying to make the Delta work, and what it means to people who live in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Reporters Russell Clemings and Dennis Pollock collaborated on the research. Pollock, formerly The Bee's agriculture beat writer, has since retired.
Their report published Aug. 24, 2008. It's republished here as a service to those who are interested in following the Delta debate.
•California must get serious about water
•California must get serious about water
Irrigation water is cut off to protect fish. Protesting farmers fill highways with tractors. Congressmen seek modification of the Endangered Species Act. The governor declares a drought disaster. A little rain falls, and water flows again -- too little, too late to prevent crop losses.
•This is a story of two places:
the west side of the Central San Joaquin Valley right now and the Klamath Basin straddling the California-Oregon border in 2001. And the similarities point to a larger problem that has to be solved.
There are complicating differences, to be sure. Native Americans have rights to Klamath River water and fish. Here in the Valley, water to the west side flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides drinking water to millions of Californians.
•House's $33b energy, water bill will help Valley
House's $33b energy, water bill will help ValleyWASHINGTON The House today is scheduled to approve a $33 billion energy and water bill that includes some modest help for San Joaquin Valley farms.
Urged by two Valley Democrats, the House on Wednesday amended the massive bill to include $10 million for several Valley-related water projects designed to boost irrigation deliveries. The revised bill also is supposed to make it easier to transfer California water from one district to another.
Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, wrote the two California water amendments adopted by the House on voice votes as part of the fiscal 2010 energy and water appropriations package. The bill funds Army Corps of Engineers projects like Pine Flat Dam, Bureau of Reclamation projects like Friant Dam and energy-related work at places like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
•Anger alone won't solve the Valley's water woes
Anger alone won't solve the Valley's water woesIt was a warm October night, and the hall on 13th Street in Firebaugh was packed with people. They had come to voice frustration about the "man-made drought," fallowed land and lost jobs.
That was five years ago. Little has changed.
Once-fertile land in the Westlands Water District is ruined by salty irrigation water trapped between the soil surface and layers of clay. Farmers scramble for water. Their deliveries are cut because of below-average rainfall and attempts to protect the delta smelt and salmon.
Sean Hannity came to the San Joaquin Valley a few days ago and did what he does best. He exaggerated, distorted and turned a complex situation into a hysterical rant.
But I'll give the Fox News right-wing shouter this: citing all the wrong reasons, he unintentionally fingered the right culprit for the economic disaster unfolding on the Valley's west side and in Northern California.
To hear Hannity and his cast of local enablers tell it, farmers and farmworkers in the Westlands Water District are suffering the pain of a water shortage caused by activist federal judges, the delta smelt and President Barack Obama's administration.
Not much of that -- or anything else he said -- is true. But, in fact, the federal government does bear much of the responsibility for the mess entangling the west side, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the decline of salmon along California's coast.
Decades ago, federal authorities promised more water to farmers than they could deliver. They compounded the mistake by offering subsidies and incentives that encouraged small farmers to become mega-farmers.
Then they turned around and -- again with incentives -- encouraged small fishermen to build bigger boats and bigger fleets, further endangering salmon.
The whole time, few in the federal bureaucracy had either the wisdom or the courage to ask how much water would be needed to sustain California's fish and wildlife, much less the state's population growth.
Hannity, of course, didn't say this. He's incapable of anything but shouting, mugging to his fans and palming off his made-to-fit lies and omissions as facts.
The activist federal judge ruling on many issues affecting the delta, farmers and fishermen is Oliver W. Wanger, a conservative Republican appointed by President George H.W. Bush.
Hannity called the Central Valley "a Dust Bowl." It's not. Millions of acres are being farmed, and most farmers are getting their water deliveries. In a one-hour show alleged to be about water, there wasn't a single second devoted to an explanation of the hierarchy of water rights under California law. Or a single word about the fact that Westlands' farmers have junior water rights, meaning that by law they get what is left after all the other interests have dipped into the state's sprawling water system.
Nor did Hannity bother to explain that Westlands' water comes from the Trinity River 400 miles away and that some Valley farmers sell their water rights to cities and developers.
And somehow Hannity, a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, didn't get around to noting that some of his newfound friends in agriculture rely on illegal immigrants to harvest their crops.
Hannity came here for two things: to tell the nation that a "2-inch minnow" is killing farming in the food basket of America, and to tell Obama to turn on delta pumps that send water to Westlands.
Never mind that the pumps have been on since June 30 -- too late for spring plantings, admittedly, but on nonetheless despite claims otherwise by three local congressmen and comedian Paul Rodriguez.
In a fake attempt at balance, Hannity conned Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, to be on the show. Hannity began the short segment by calling Grader "a wacko environmentalist from San Francisco" and any chance to have a thoughtful discussion about the destruction of the salmon fishing industry was lost.
All this said, the Obama administration's response to the economic hurt on the west side has been disappointing. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made it clear during a recent interview at The Bee that the president isn't interested in entering California's water wars.
If heavy rains don't come this winter, a good argument can be made for keeping the pumps on next spring so that Westlands' soil can be planted and watered -- particularly since there is evidence suggesting that pollution and non-native species also are contributing to the decline of fish in the delta.
But the long-term answers aren't that simple. Simple, unfortunately, is the only thing that Hannity understands.
The columnist can be reached at bmcewen@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6632. His blog is at fresnobeehive.com. Listen to his talk show daily at noon on KYNO (AM 1300).
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/mcewen/story/1644349.html