Bernhardt's firm also represented Cadiz Inc., in California, which wants to pump 50 billion gallons of water from an aquifer under the Mojave Desert and send it to Orange County, 150 miles away. The project was opposed by California's senators, the Department of the Interior, BLM, and by the Obama administration. As soon as trump took over, DOI and BLM are in favor of the project. Depleting the aquifer would be devastating for plant and animal life in the desert which rely on natural springs to provide water--water that won't be available when the water level falls due to the pumping.
19
You've probably heard this already, but just in case ...
The European countries that remain "committed" to the Paris Accord are emitting more carbon than before, whereas the US is emitting less. If the goal is actually to reduce carbon emissions, who deserves more credit?
Someone from Gig Harbor, Washington (near Seattle) corrected me:
"You are wrong. People eat Chinook salmon all the time."
Maybe they do in Gig Harbor. Just not in CA. People here don't eat Chinook salmon or Delta smelts. That's kind of the point. If the choice here is between eating Chinook salmon (or Delta smelt) or starving to death, people just have to starve to death.
This issue is more complicated than most because the profit-seeking "farmers" are on the same side as the poor people who will starve to death if too little food is produced. Those who argue for restrictions on agriculture may be right, but let's not forget that people starve to death every day because they can't afford food. Possibly allowing farmers to use more water from irrigation canals would just boost farmers' profits rather than lower food prices (as the farmers naturally argue), but there's probably no dispute that food prices wouldn't drop if irrigation restrictions were increased. Higher food prices means more people die of starvation. Maybe that's a good thing, but I doubt the people who starve to death feel that way.
"... the [CA] farmers have no business farming in what was virtually a desert 150 years ago..."
I care more about Delta smelt and Chinook salmon than I care about farmers -- unless, of course, I'm very hungry and sitting down to a meal. For that short time period, I'm thankful to the farmers, and care considerably less about Delta smelt and Chinook salmon.
I'd probably care even more about the farmers if I were poor and my family was about to starve because food prices were too high. I'm lucky, I guess
Several commenters have questioned reported sea level data. It's all out there, from apparently unbiased and reliable sources. For example, check out noaa.org, or maybe do a Google search on "sea level rise measurements." Many sources will appear.
In most US areas, sea level has been monitored for well over 100 years. Don't take anyone else's word for it. Check the actual measurements yourself. See whether they match projections. See whether there's been a recent acceleration. Pay attention to the actual measurements, not the "projections." You'll quickly see that there's a big difference. SF has become significantly warmer since I moved here over 40 years ago -- 6 degrees, to be precise, based on temperature checks once per hour over the year 1975 versus the year 2016. What has NOT happened, however, are the usual predicted consequences, notably sea level rise. Maybe it WILL happen; I don't purport to know the future. All I can say for sure (if the government measurements I've read are accurate) is that it hasn't happened yet, and that actual measurements don't show any recent "acceleration."
Bottom line: SF is getting warmer, but water levels aren't rising much at all.
Seems like the ethics officials in the Interior Department need an ethics check.
9
How many times will we be disgusted by the ruthless dismantling of our infrastructure, from education and the environment to respect for our government, by the shameless greed of Trump appointees and still be surprised at how low they can sink?
David Bernhardt was a lobbyist and now he has his dream job of controlling and dismantling the environmental protections he was paid to lobby against.
I read the stories about these people and my heart aches. Will we ever recover from the damage this president has caused and will continue to cause, even long after he is no longer in office?
11
California agriculture is the way that it is entirely because of rampant overuse of water resources. Trying to defend this as "but the farmers need water" is idiotic, the farmers have no business farming in what was virtually a desert 150 years ago to begin with.
9
So, we’re surprised because ...?
There is no henhouse into which DJT will not insert a fox.
15
We wouldn't be in the mess if the Electoral College hadn't allowed the "wisdom" of the majority to be usurped by the "idiocy" of the minority for the second time in 20 years.
How can one use the word "democracy" in relation to a country in which the minority has held sway twice in the last three elections?
It it just a coincidence that those happened to be the worst two administrations of the last 100 years?
15
It's the most openly corrupt administration in history.
18
All that complaining about "job-killing regulations" the GOP leadership has been whining about appears to be regulations that slowed the filling of henhouse-guarding jobs by foxes.
To those who say regulations strangle the economy, well, lack of regulations strangle the population, so there go the consumers and workers. Lack of regulations means we're at risk again of losing all that clean air and water we were beginning to enjoy in more recent decades, since Republican President Nixon created the EPA and signed bipartisan legislation for clean air and water.
11
Hey, give him a break... this corrupt corporate hack was hired specifically to destroy the environment and make it safe for making money. Too bad about the wildlife. Then again, the only wildlife that people of his ilk like are those they can kill. The more the better until they are all gone.
9
Great photo...looks like they're snacking on the last of a species.
5
Well of course he does.
That didn't look like a Chinook salmon to me...
Drain the swamp! Oh never mind, we're just to define it.
No surprise there. Trump is filling the swamp.
3
The psychology of the modern corporation is indistinguishable from that of a sociopath. And now the GOP has brought that same mentality to governance.
The hallmarks are:
Deception. Lack of empathy. Willing to cause harm to others. Paranoia. Superficial charm. Manipulativeness. Shallowness. Inability to show regret or remorse. Egomania and grandiosity. Inability to form lasting relationships. Self-serving. Exaggeration of achievements. Impulsivity. Parasitic lifestyle. Criminality. Etc, etc, etc.
Heck of a way to run a country.
13
This is not Bernhardt's first "favor" for Westlands. He has pushed Interior to increase the storage level behind Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River, with the primary beneficiary being Westlands, a project that would violate California law if they ever build it, because of the environmental effects on the Sacramento and McCloud Rivers.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/50.10/rivers-and-lakes-interior-revives-the-push-for-a-higher-shasta-dam
10
Marjorie Stoneham Douglas was more than the site of a shooting. She also saved quite a bit of Florida from men like this man.
4
The rollback of protections for the smelt and the salmon will cause significant harm to the ecosystem all the way to San Francisco Bay! Perhaps the farmers who want more water need to consider ways to reduce their demand for water, including crops that require less water. It is a cheap shot to single out the smelt from the larger ecosystem. Hoping Congress sees this ploy for what it is: a flagrant lack of ethics, and ignoring the larger consequences to the ecosystem. Long live the San Francisco Bay and the Chinook salmon!
11
We must farm and eat differently. We must reduce global populations. We must fight to keep and encourage more biodiversity, especially the space needed for this, if we are to save ourselves. By this, I mean taking responsibility for what comes well beyond the lifespan of this one, greedy, shortsighted lackey of a greedy, shortsighted president.
10
A drained swamp is no place for healthy fish, clearly.
4
Another fox guarding the hen house....
7
The best people...
3
Shine the light on this blatant corruption.
6
Humans are not suffering due to lack of food production, or the need for these farmers to increase production. We have a surplus of food - food waste lack and of food delivery to various locations is the current cause of food insecurity for particular populations. Most of the explosion in the acres dedicated to almond production in CA is due to the fact the Chinese developed a taste for these nuts, so most are exported. Growing cotton in a desert has long been an ecological disaster. Failure to protect our ecosystems will ravage this nation. Look at the algae problems Florida is having - these are toxic and poison the water. These should be considered criminal acts. Basically we are willing to degrade our ecology so the Chinese can eat almonds. Note that the ecology of the area around Willcox, AZ is also being decimated in order to produce nuts for export, mainly to China These foreign companies are draining the groundwater at such a rate that local residents are losing their drinking water. Industrial agriculture is often run by multi national firms who exploit local resources and then move on.
15
So it cost around 1.3 million in lobbying fees to Mr. Bernhardt's law firm to profoundly alter the existing protections to enrich the farmers and the Resnick family of Pom juice. Too bad the majority of Californians and perhaps the nation can't 'donate' 5 million dollars to outbid the lobbying bribes, I mean fees.
What amazes me is how little money it takes, in comparison to the windfalls reaped, to buy what you want from the government. If I were king, I would ban all lobbyist from working in the government and all government officials from becoming lobbyist for life.
13
Should we be surprised? Every appointment Donald Trump has made had an axe to grind and did their very best to destroy what they were charged to protect.
10
Another giant swamp monster sloshed into the undrained swamp—and another campaign lie unfulfilled. Well done Mr. President.
20
The swamp is alive and well.
11
File this under “Trump-Unsurprising”
8
Something's rotten in Denmark, and it smells fishy.
5
Another unethical Trump nominee that cares more about money than he cares about the health of mother earth. It's interesting that the Israelis are able to produce a great deal of food in the desert where there is little or no water, why don't U.S. farmers adopt the methods and drip irrigation systems that the Israelis have developed, are they just too stupid or are they worried they might not make as much profit?
10
Tough luck for Donald that El Chapo was found guilty.
He would have been a natural fit for FDA chief. Oh well, there’s always the presidential pardon option.
18
Pigs !!! We've had Pruitt. We've had Zinke. How many corporate swine can fit around the feed trough ?
This Planet that sustains us and gives us Life is dying, right before our eyes, and all Trump can see is more money for his pals in Big Oil and Coal.
How do we impeach the whole bunch, and throw these bums out? May 2020 bring good and positive change.
17
Any day now I fully expect that Trump will appoint Wile E. Coyote to be the next Secretary of Roadrunners.....
7
Brilliant metaphor. One can only hope that, much like Wile E., this continuous flow of incompetent, mendacious, unethical tools ends up “under the anvil” at the bottom of the proverbial canyon of justice in the end.
2
Maybe so, but who loses the battle every time?
1
Trump and his Fat Cats keep getting fatter on our
hard-earned taxpayer money.
4
NYT - who are the ethics lawyers? Who appointment/hired them? Why did they approve Bernhardt's push to roll back protections? That's missing from this article.
8
Re: "...David Bernhardt, the agency’s acting chief, wants to roll back endangered-species protections on a tiny fish, a change that benefits few outside a California group he once represented..."
D. Alighieri, writing about events in 13th. century Florence, ("Divine Comedy"), places folks like Bernhardt in troughs of boiling pitch, guarded, by, ('centaur-like'), demons with grappling hooks!
Quote: "Bolgia 5 – Barrators: Corrupt politicians, who made money by trafficking in public offices (the political analogue of the simoniacs), are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals.
[81] They are guarded by demons called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws");
The Poets observe a demon arrive with a grafting Senator of Lucca and throw him into the pitch where the demons set upon him. Virgil secures safe-conduct from the leader of the Malebranche, named Malacoda ("Evil Tail"). .."
{Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)#Eighth_Circle_(Fraud)}
2
Yet another bought and paid for GOP hack circling the shameless Trump swamp
5
"A spokesman for the Westlands, Johnny Amaral, declined a request to interview district officials."
What are you, and they, afraid of, Johnny?
8
This commenter suggests that CA's chinook salmon are being protected so we can eat them:
"Diverting the water ultimately disrupts salmon spawning which is a very high value foodstuff and industry."
I'm actually in favor of protecting chinook salmon (and Delta smelts), but I have no illusions that we're protecting them so we can eat them. We can't. I'm pretty sure I've never eaten a chinook salmon (or Delta smelt), and I doubt seriously that I (or anyone else) ever will. We don't protect wildlife species so that we can eat them; we protect them so that neither we nor anyone else eats them.
4
@MyThreeCents Absolutely correct. Who would have ever thought that the west coast's beloved sea lions and seals would be killed en masse. These states are culling sea lions and seals partly to protect fishing.
In process in Puget Sound.
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/nation-world/state-discusses-killing-seals-and-sea-lions-in-washington-state-puget-sound/83-623775291
Introduced by Oregon Democrat Kurt Schrader and Washington Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act, allowing for up to 920 California sea lions to be killed each year to protect fish.
https://www.capitalpress.com/nation_world/ap_nation_world/house-passes-bill-to-cull-predatory-columbia-river-sea-lions/article_359dcccc-8b82-5f73-85ec-1e07bf2709c2.html
@MyThreeCents You are wrong. People eat Chinook salmon all the time.
1
I'm surprised that more Americans don't seem to know this, but ...
"If we took global warming seriously and worked at containing it, instead of getting out of agreements to do so ..."
Less developed countries didn't commit in the Paris Accord to lower carbon emissions at all -- unless the developed countries funded their efforts 100%. India, for example, didn't commit to any reduction at all unless it received $1.5 trillion in aid from developed countries. The US' share of that $1.5 trillion was never specified, but presumably it was high.
Developed countries were allowed to count private-company investments toward their share, but I understand the grand total of US private-company commitments, or even proposals, to "mobilize" funds for emission-reduction was $0, so that all of the US' share of that cost would be borne by US taxpayers (either currently, or in the future if the US funded its commitment by issuing bonds).
I question how residents of, say, Iowa, would have responded when they were told that their taxes would rise substantially to pay for emission-control projects in, say, India. Maybe those Iowa residents would have understood and accepted that additional tax burden, but I suspect they'd have been surprised that this obligation even existed. What do you think?
2
@MyThreeCents
Decent US tax paying residents accept paying a little more to set climate change right. We have an advanced economy and extreme wealth because we leveraged these polluting energies most and longest, and have created most of the pollutants and the problem.
7
@MyThreeCents - when developed nations, and states like, say, Iowa, find private investors willing to build so much wind generation that Iowa's getting just about 40% of its electricity from wind, it kind of makes me wonder what you're talking about it all being on us poor, pitiful First World taxpayers.
When utilities are shutting down coal-fired plants because they're not economically competitive against natural gas and renewables (and especially as efficiency gains have flattened demand) again, I don't see me writing that check to the IRS.
I think we should continue using every means to reduce emissions, and I think you should realize that:
a) if we help developing nations buy green energy gear, some of that money comes back to us (get it?)
and
b) India's been cancelling planned coal plants in favor of cheaper solar (which also improves their energy security, since sunlight isn't shipped overseas, it's delivered direct).
7
@MyThreeCents
Sorry: India and China are doing more than we are. Your implication that we should do nothing about climate change would make sense if there were no such thing as climate change.
4
A commenter writes, misleadingly:
"If we took global warming seriously ... there would no longer be drought in California .... "
Rainfall is actually higher than usual here, and I understand it's also higher than usual in southern CA. Last winter, rainfall was still low in southern CA, but was higher than normal here in northern CA. Indeed, a big story from last winter involved a dam in northern CA that burst because the lake it held back had risen to a much higher level than it had during the earlier drought years.
Over the longer term, rainfall in CA is the same as always: sometimes higher than normal; sometimes lower.
The average temperature indeed has risen but, so far at least, that hasn't "translated" into the usually-predicted consequences -- more erratic rainfall, for example, or rising sea levels. At the turn of the century, SF sea level was predicted to rise 3-8 feet during the century, but it's actually risen only about an inch so far. We've still got more than 80 years left in the century, of course, and so things may change, but we're way behind schedule on sea level rise. In some parts of Oregon, and most of Alaska, sea level has actually been falling.
1
@MyThreeCents California is way overpopulated. The state is semi arid. The greedy have active plans to privatize water and dole it out at a high price. Logically there should have been a cap on the number of people in the state.
Who said that the sea level would rise at a perfectly even rate over 100 years? Actually, it would make sense that it would raise exponentially higher once we reach the point of no return. Also, how can the water level be different for different areas? And in the same state? I don’t think water works like that.
@MyThreeCents
My fast web search for the c.1900 estimate of a 3-8' sea rise came up empty. Can you please share the source or report?
What was the reason given for the rise?
Do you trust science from the year 1900 or the year 2000 more?
What was everybody expecting - Mother Teresa?
2
It's time to end lobbying as we know it and call it out for what it really is: legalized bribery.
Trump has filled his swampy administration with former lobbyists from the very industries their cabinet positions are supposed to regulate.
It doesn't get more corrupt than this folks.
29
If we took global warming seriously and worked at containing it, instead of getting out of agreements to do so, there would no longer be drought in California and the farmers would h be able to solve the years long drought and have enough water.... (although they have been using up the underground water table so that might no change till it's all used up? Perhaps we should stop expecting strawberries in winter?)
Don't the people who oppose doing anything about global warming have children? Grandkids? Can't they don't think about the future?
I know that a good portion (though not all) of the 1% believes their money will save them from consequences (like DeVos 7 yachts) but it doesn't work that way...... (Hurricanes will sent the yachts down under as so many paper boats....)
7
..after living 'inside the Beltway' for 40 years, it's common knowledge there is a material amount of cronyism that takes place with all the government agencies.
I played handball with ex-Pentagon officials - they all worked at General Dynamics, Lockheed and Martin Marietta as consultants. They told me they would go back to their counterparts at Defense and get large contracts - it was definitely a 'who you know' business.
The FDA gets $1 billion a year to fund research on new drugs from the pharmaceutical industry - drug companies paying to fund research on their own drugs. I was listening to an FDA official yesterday who said there are major conflicts of interest inside the Food and Drug Administration.
It's more than cronyism -it borders on corruption -the FDA official was complaining the Agency he works for just approved the strongest Opioid ever to come to market. He said it was designed in conjunction with the Defense Dept. (surprise) and the conclusions they drew from the results were flawed.
Americans haven't a clue how much inappropriate conduct takes place in our federal government - it truly is a Swamp - one so thick, Trump is slowly getting swallowed up himself.
12
@JMS
I agree with all you said except the part about trump. He's another swindling contributor.
2
Thank you Jill Stein voters and Bernie supporters that thought Hillary was too tainted by giving a few speeches. Put this on the list of damages done to our country because of your "high standards". Please don't fall for this again in 2020.
16
This makes the expression, "draining the swamp" even more ironic.
10
Greed is the root of evil, and we are seeing that play out in real time in our country.
All of the decisions being made by this criminal administration are to enrich very few people while our society is being dismantled.
Trump’s success comes from dividing the country.
The American people are defeating themselves.
9
"in an interview, Mr. Bernhardt said he was extremely sensitive to ethics issues. “This is an area where I try to be very, very careful,” he said. “My view is, I signed an ethics agreement,"
--- and the real conclusion of the quote should be "and when I violate a clear rule, I make sure to violate the spirit AND the letter of the rule".
Swamping the swamp.
6
@b fagan He abided by the ethics agreement he signed until he was able to get out of it, which was as fast as possible.
1
Florida is my home. The algae blooms and red tides are caused mainly by the multi billion dollar sugar industry. The environmental, monetary, health and emotional damage is severe. I can’t comprehend the same happening to the San Francisco Bay. Please note, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are owned by the sugar lobby.
15
The swamp also rises. The story of the revolving door of corruption in the Trump administration.
5
One of the benefits of the Trump administration is the lack of subtly and opacity. Usually, in government, so much takes place behind the scene, behind closed doors. With Trump everything is so blatant and unabashed.....and in a perverse way, so open and clear.
5
Corruption rules the executive branch of government, for now. Someday all these decisions will be audited.
2
No “acting” agency head should be allowed to do anything except shuffle the papers on his desk, period.
2
The Resnicks, Owners of Pom wonderful, Figi Water, & Cuties Mandarines, are now thought to consume more of the state’s water than any other family, farm, or company, according to Mother Jones’ reporting.
They are the “mom & pop” farmers of this guy is representing.
“I think the Wonderful Company and the Resnicks are truly the top 1 percent wrapped in a green veneer, in a veneer of social justice,” says Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore the Delta, an advocacy group that represents farmers, fishermen, and environmentalists in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, east of San Francisco. “If they truly cared about a sustainable California and farmworkers within their own community, then how things are structured and how they are done by the Wonderful Company would be much different.”
4
Generally in ethical matters the dictate is not only to be within the rules of ethics, but far broader, to not suggest even the appearance of an ethical breach. But I guess the broader/narrower issue only works in one direction for millionaire lobbyists. For the rich, of the rich, by the rich....thank god for the Second Amendment!
1
We've already fought this battle in CA:
"Some in the dry American west have proposed a gigantic canal to drain the Great Lakes into .. Arizona and California ... Sorry, you can't have it!"
As anyone who's watched the (great) movie Chinatown knows, southern CA has long been siphoning off northern-CA water, and we here in northern CA recognize that we're pretty much at the mercy of the south -- given its much-higher population.
Even so, I was gladdened a few decades back when CA voters rejected the "Peripheral Canal" proposal, under which all Californians (and probably others as far away as Maine) would have paid billions upon billions of dollars to siphon off fresh water that otherwise would empty into SF Bay and transport it via canal to -- you guessed it -- southern CA. Although northern CA residents would have helped to pay for the PC, even though it would have benefitted only southern CA, CA voters rejected the proposal.
Whew! We northern CA residents dodged the bullet that time (though not on the Owens River projects highlighted in the Chinatown movie). I hope that continues, but I'm not optimistic.
You do realize that SF residents don’t have a local water source. Your water comes from over 170 miles away. So technically SF is no better than LA.
4
@Dan Fair point. We here in SF get almost all of our drinking water from Hetch Hetchy reservoir, on the north side of Yosemite.
Hetch Hetchy was created long ago, paid for in part by US residents who lived in, say, Maine and would never lay eyes on Hetch Hetchy. Even so, that doesn't make SF as bad as LA, which sought to impose most of the cost of the Peripheral Canal on CA residents, not on US residents generally. Like residents of most states, CA residents are usually happy about shifting the cost of some public project to non-CA residents (those who live in Maine, for example), but we're less keen to do what southern CA proposed to do with the PC project: shift the cost WITHIN the state to residents who will get no benefit whatsoever from the project but nevertheless will be required to help pay for it.
That's what the PC was all about, and I'm happy it was rejected. Apparently, SoCal voters concluded that, even though a great deal of the cost could be shifted to NoCal, the portion that was left to be borne by SoCal was still too large.
As I wrote, we dodged the bullet that time, and I hope that continues. I'm not optimistic, but hope springs eternal.
1
@Dan...I seriously doubt any major city gets their water "locally" - however you'd define it. So, "technically" SF is better than LA if you want...
This is a tougher issue than environmentalists acknowledge.
On most issues, one side is portrayed as greedy and narrow-minded, and the other side is portrayed as noble and broad-minded.
It's a bit more complicated here.
The same side that hopes to make large profits (farmers, industrial or otherwise) also has the "produce more food" argument available to it. They insist that, for every Delta smelt we protect by refusing them irrigation water, we condemn a poor family to death by starvation because less irrigation water means less food and higher food prices.
Whether food prices would actually drop if more irrigation water were made available to farmers is subject to vicious debates, of course -- with environmental groups typically arguing that prices would just stay the same and ag-industry profits would just increase, and farmers arguing that food prices would drop. Whether or not the farmers are correct, they do have an argument that isn't available in other disputes.
1
@MyThreeCents
Wrong. It isn't a bit more complicated. CV agribusiness wastes a tremendous volume of water with its irrigation methods. The Central Valley Project water producers with vested riparian rights receive is massively subsidized by the public, leading to uneconomic crop rotations that use lots of water like almonds and rice. Diverting the water ultimately disrupts salmon spawning which is a very high value foodstuff and industry. Tree fruits and nuts and produce are important, but not typically part of a subsistence diet and replaceable from trading partners.
4
Well I didn’t realize “families will starve”
If they don’t get their almonds and cotton
—-“has fought for river water on behalf of the 700 or so almond, cotton and tomato farmers of California’s arid San Joaquin Valley”
These greedily farmers will suck the whole state dry if they can get away with it - most of what they produce is exported, by the way -
2
This commenter seems to be arguing for the opposite of what his remarks imply:
"Lobbyists and lobbying will be left in the dust as people become ever more desperate for food and water."
The highly-paid lobbyists aren't arguing that more irrigation-canal water should be set aside for Delta smelts. Mostly they represent the other side -- the farmers (industrial or otherwise). The farmers want more irrigation water, not less, and typically they insist their real concern is to produce food for everyone, not profits for themselves.
In truth, farmers may care much more about making profits for themselves than they care about making food for everyone. Whether it's profits or food they're after, though, they haven't expressed a great deal of interest in the third alternative: protecting Delta smelt.
3
When crops grown with our water are exported, we are in effect exporting that water. If a dry country like Saudi Arabia buys American grain, we are exporting our water to them because they don't have water to grow their own grain.
Some in the dry American west have proposed a gigantic canal to drain the Great Lakes into farm fields in Arizona and California, now that they've exhausted their own water resources. Sorry, you can't have it!
So let's think about this long and hard. Do we really want to be ruining our own natural environment to export our precious water to others in the form of irrigated crops?
8
Maybe most almonds are sold to China, but one wouldn't know that from SF grocery stores. Almonds are added to many other products –– butter, coffee and milk, for example, along with dozens of others -- and thousands of bags of plain old almonds are conveniently placed at supermarket-aisle ends.
My very strong impression is that CA almond growers have grown way too many almonds, and they are trying -- with some success -- to figure out ways to get rid of the oversupply. China is an obvious candidate, but it costs money to ship almonds to China. Growers appear to have come up with some clever ideas closer to home.
In the long run, CA almond growers are likely to grow fewer almonds -- indeed, they probably are already. Good thing, too: If it takes 8 gallons of water to grow a single almond, as this article reports, fewer almonds will mean more water -- whether that water is used to provide an environment for Delta smelt, or to increase irrigation for farmers growing something other than almonds. Either way, I'm pretty sure we CA consumers can squeak by with fewer almonds.
Of course, farmers may simply lurch to some other food product and overproduce it -- cashews, perhaps.
4
@MyThreeCents
...couldn't find in this article the fact that you cite about each almond requiring 8 gallons of water. In fact, the word "gallon" doesn't appear once. Undermines your credibility a bit. Please point to a source that says it "takes 8 gallons of water to grow a single almond."
Thank you.
Virtually all of Westlands arguments can also be made for the CA fishing industry with a few words swapped in:
"These Westlands farmers [swap in "Delta and offshore fishermen"] are growing the nation’s food, the world’s food, and as a result of these protections on fish [swap in "water diversions for corporate Ag"], their water supplies are drastically reduced"
And:
"It’s a foundational need for us....If we get this water, it means our communities can thrive, we can employ people. Without water, it’s very difficult to farm [swap in "fish"]. There are dramatic job losses. It reduces our food supply. There’s human suffering.”
Curious [swap in "Not curious at all"] that the Trump doesn't seem to cower to the well-connected corporate ag folks.
3
@Brian
"doesn't seem to" should be "seems to" in that last line.
The ethics questions distract from a larger moral issue: the self serving greed that those of means practice to give themselves significant advantage, in this case directly at the expense of taxpayers as well as the environment,
There is a massive, and deceptive, PR campaign in California to increase support for diverting more water to farmers. Signs posted along freeways ask if using water to grow food is wrong, hinting that, of course, that cant be so. The campaign suggests that farmers are simply hard working citizens working hard to provide food for everyone. This is patently manipulative and deceptive.
First, these are mostly massive, corporate operations. not small, family run farms. Second, they are not farming in areas ideally suited for farms. Much of the Westlands district is, if left alone, desert or near to it. Third, irrigation tends to ruin the soil in this area, increasing its salt content, and in some areas, depositing toxic minerals such as selenium in the soil. Fourth, and most tellingly, these corporate ag interests have asked, and are asking for massive amount of public funding for infrastructure that serves private financial interests.
The suggestion that they are feeding the public is disingenuous. Much of the crop land is devoted to cotton, not food, and much of the crop is exported outside the country, and isn’t feeding us.
There are other, more suitable areas for growing the food and fiber the US needs. Profit is fine, just not at public expense.
21
80% of California-grown almonds are exported to countries outside of the USA. As measured by monetary value, 86% of the crops grown in California are exported to other countries. So the water is being used to line the pockets of large agribusiness operations. Meanwhile, residential water is taking a double hit, as it as, it is also being spread more and more thinly, due to excessive over-building that has occurred in the last decade or so. California, and all of the US need to consider that the resources required for life are not unlimited. Honest water use policies and water conservation policies are a must. I don't see a former lobbyist for agribusiness as the person to be leading this discussion.
26
It seems that these people are emboldened by the fact that they are never held accountable.
We need to have real oversight, prosecution, and severe penalties for their betrayal of the American people for personal gain.
23
The bigger context of this story is the water intensive crops being grown in the Central Valley. I have driven through there so many times--nut trees like almonds are everywhere and use huge amounts of water; cattle--there are cattle factory farms that cover vast areas along I-5. And now grape vines. I was shocked when I first saw grape vines along the I-5. The water needed for this type of agriculture is tremendous. And lets be clear, most of this is factory farming with corporations the true owners. The bottom line is cash not water conservation. If these farms cared about water, they would plant crops that used far less water.
37
As always, there are arguments on both sides.
Anyone who's driven through the "Grapevine" (the winding freeway (I-5) that connects the LA Basin to CA's Central Valley) has surely noticed the many signs (and sometimes live protesters) on the north side, complaining about the shortage (in their view) of irrigation water necessary (in their view) to grow food on their land. Elsewhere are signs (and sometimes live protesters) arguing that irrigation water should be cut even more, to protect one or more species of wildlife that lives in CA's rivers or extensive system of irrigation canals.
Probably needless to say, the live protesters on both sides don't appear to be wealthy; wealthy protesters very rarely persuade many people.
Regulators have long had to mediate between the two groups -- sometimes favoring farmers who stridently demand more irrigation water, sometimes favoring environmentalists who insist that farmers already get too much. I've never heard of David Bernhardt, but he's certainly not the first government official to have represented farmers before arriving in Washington, nor will he be the last. Sometimes the top regulator has represented industry groups in the past, sometimes environmental groups. It's pretty much always been that way, and probably always will be. The American people want to maximize two variables here -- food production and protection of endangered species -- and it's impossible to maximize both. Always has been; always will be.
@MyThreeCents
Now that we're in an age of mass, human-caused extinction, it appears that this see-saw that you describe will cease to be the status quo. Increasing droughts and the reported, especially rapid disappearance of insects may fuel an equally rapid reduction in global agricultural production. What then? Lobbyists and lobbying will be left in the dust as people become ever more desperate for food and water.
7
@MyThreeCents The poor protesters aren't owning the properties, but we're in agreement that maximizing both nature and farming is impossible. But read C's comment directly above yours and see what's being farmed in that desert environment.
Here's the thing about all the extinctions we're willfully or unintentionally causing - think of it like chipping away the mortar between round stones in a very old, very tall tower.
Each flake of mortar lost isn't likely to cause catastrophe - but at the same time, we don't have a good idea of how far we can push it.
So, time for me to quit eating almonds, which is a shame. But quitting almonds won't lead to my extinction.
7
You know the end result of these extinctions is mankind itself. We cannot survive without a thriving eco system. Kill that, and we all eventually die. Our kids must be so proud
3
Having lived here over 40 years, I've noticed that:
"The CV [Central Valley] farmers are not small Mom and Pop operations."
Some CV farms used to be small Mom and Pop operations, but most Moms and Pops have sold out to larger operators (including some Moms and Pops whose holdings have grown as they've bought out other farmers). Hard to tell for sure, but most CV farms appear to be quite large. No comment on whether "small" or "big" is better -- just pointing out that most CV farms are big.
14
Wow, what a surprise! Just another example of Trump carrying out his plan to "surround myself only with the best and most serious people". And the base eats it up...
14
An utterly corrupt regime bestowing benefits to its political clients at the cost of the public good.
28
Let’s not pretend these are “family” farms. This is industrial agriculture at its worst with all the attendant ecological damage that affects wildlife and people with less political influence. Time after time the interests of commercial timber and big agricultural trump downstream fisheries and communities. One of the most impacted of those communities is native Americans whose livelihoods are imperiled so land can be clear cut and crops for export can be grown. This is the kind of short sighted nonsense that people like Trump and his corrupt flunkies profit from, drain the swamp? Yeah right, but only to grow more almonds and pistachios 2/3rds of which are exported. https://newrepublic.com/article/125450/heres-real-problem-almonds This isn’t about food crops to feed Americans, its about cash crops and the influence they buy in Washington, especially the influence of lobbyists masquerading as administration officials. Or if you will, wolves in sheep’s clothing.
36
@John Chastain "Suitcase farms" is a term that came into use during the nineteen thirties. It described the farms of absentee owners who do not live in an actual agricultural production area with agricultural chemicals, smells, flies, and dust.
9
I'm sorry but this article made me laugh, it seemed to imply that Bernhardt should have some ethics in him and that would make him different from the rest of Trump's cabinet members.
To be a member of Trump's cabinet you have to have shown that you have no ethics that way you can be just like your boss.
39
Welcome to the true meaning of Trump's (and formerly Scott Walker's) administrative motto:
"Open for Business"
16
The trump administration has an ethics pledge? Surely you jest. I thought corrupt and unethical behavior was a job requirement. It would be interesting to look at who benefits (at least in the short term) from this administration’s refusal to take climate change action and their influence on the mob boss president’s expanded swamp. Better yet, look at every cabinet member, Betsy DeVos comes to mind, to see who they are working for instead of the American people.
54
This Administration maintains a remarkable lack of integrity and competency - except when it comes to corruption, seemingly only able to muster any success when carrying out its narrow-minded and nefarious goals.
16
This is a new kind of white collar environmental crime.
20
This article is misleading. It makes it sound like the benefits of deregulating this water only goes to about 700 farmers. In reality these changes benefit a lot of farm workers and the entire economy of a wide area of central California.
@Peter B - when an economy is artificially expanded by over-exploiting a particular resource, there isn't a good reason to keep it artificially expanded beyond a sustainable level of consumption.
Agriculture makes up just two percent of California's economy, yet consumes 80% of water allocated for human use in the state - a desert state that's facing long-term collapse of water supply from snowpack in the Sierras and other ranges, and from the over-allocated Colorado.
To protect that (largely undocumented) workforce and that part of the economy, do all rivers need to go dry before they accept reality?
Once the fish are gone, they don't come back. That's not worthwhile.
12
He's intent on creating a swamp, not draining one. Bernhardt and his boss are unethical. The next wall Trump will start to build is the one to separate the privileged few who have access to the little remaining fresh water on this planet and the rest of us, and our grandchildren, left to live in the world his policies devastated. #Dune
7
I suggest someone send this guy and trump a copy of Dr. Seuss
"The Lorax" and suggest watching it every morning before they go to work to remind them what their job is!
5
No surprises here, our government is bought and paid for by lobbyists and corrupt politicians.
It has been this way for decades.
Trump has given them all free reign.
16
Think of all the people that could be employed, and the profits to be made, if only Death Valley was used to grow almond trees. What's a little water when profits are at stake.
I wish the endangered species (and krill) would hurry up and die off. Then Trump and his cohorts could see the immediate effects of their policies. As it is, they'll take their profits, enjoy them, and die naturally before the full effects of their decisions are felt.
7
Putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse. SOP in the Trump cabinet.
12
The only reason Republicans fight for less regulations is to enrich themselves and their friends. I am amazed voters still somehow believe it is for the little guy. I have news for the little guy: Trump and company would dance on your ruin for a dollar. They will poison your soil and water for the almighty dollar, then give you a nearly pointless tax credit to keep you quiet. Wake up America.
22
Up is down. Left is right. Fiction is fact. Fake is real.
And if a lawyer tells me I’ve broken my word on an ethics agreement, I’ll just find me another ethics lawyer til i get the answer I want.
Sick.
Westlands was never meant for farming. Read ‘Cadillac Desert’ by Marc Reisner, for a comprehensive and unbiased description of the history of Western water law.
17
Pure greed. Not since the Teapot Dome scandal days have we seen such blatant corruption. It’s a critical time for our planet, not just our nation, and we simply cannot afford and should not tolerate these destructive industry shills in positions of power. (Please recall if you will that Obama appointed Sally Jewel, former CEO of REI, to Interior Secretary.)
6
More “progress” from the skeletal trump administration that is one of the most corrupt, unethical and self dealing group of people ever to be assembled and unleashed on the people and institutions of our great country. Never again! The Dems have to get it right in 2020 and trump along with his cronies need to head into the annals of ignominy as a cautionary tale for future generations.
8
An apparatchik's decision cleared by an apparatchik ethics lawyer. In this administration I would only be surprised if someone actually went against their former interests.
9
Apparently people are only supposed to have the “correct opinions” determined by media. There is no room for a different viewpoint. ButI guess if he favored something that didn’t benefit the interests of a former client it would not be news.
1
Here's an idea, let's roll back the protections on all the lobbyists Trump has chosen to destroy all the government departments they are now in charge of, or "acting" in charge of, and FIRE THEM!
7
More blatant conflict-of-interest back-scratching and outright violations of ethics regulations by a member of the most corrupt "administration" in US history?
Surprise, surprise, surprise...
In a "normal" administration, this would be major news and cause for heads to roll (both Bernhardt's, whoever appointed him, and the so-called boss) but in Trump-world, this s jist another day in the news...
How FAR out government has sunk into a cesspool of corruption, lies, and deceit!
7
Does anyone calculate the cost of whipsaw rulings like this? For the next 2 years, water will be pumped, farms will grow and two years from now a Democratic President will roll back everyone of these new policies. Same story for recent EPA rulings and his so called Trade War, and so on and so on...
If I was a farmer in California, an oil exec in Oklahoma or a steel CEO in Ohio, the last thing I'd do is invest in a 600 day 'Trumpportunity.'
6
Thank you for this important story. The acting secretary is in violation of several ethics regulations.
In the interest of accuracy and the importance of avoiding confusion among the public, the image is a shad (freshwater member of the herring family), probably a Threadfin Shad. Delta Smelt are members of a different family. They have a similarly silvery body but possess an adipose fin (lacking spines or fin rays) along the back behind their dorsal fin.
5
This level of corruption is possible because a substantial minority of Americans want it. These destructive policies are possible because that majority hates all living things of earth. They’ve never seen a living creature they didn’t want to kill. There is really no other conclusion
7
@Doug K
No it's not a proper conclusion. The majority of the votes did no go to Trump and his accomplices.
1
No doubt the Agribusinesses employ illegal aliens, aka undocumented workers. It's time for ICE to raid these businesses and file charges against the owners for violating labor laws.
7
David Bernhardt is the 'classic ' example of the swinish corruption, and open conflict of interest, we have seen ever since Trump assaulted the presidency. It is getting difficult to find anybody in his cabinet free of graft, given that the boss, the vulgar bully occupying the Oval Office, knows no other way. Shameful but hardly a dent in their shamelessness.
6
Once again, is anyone surprised by this?
7
The law will surely jail someone
who steals a goose from the commons.
Yet the man is running loose
who stole the commons from the goose.
(This is an old English ditty that I read elsewhere on NYT and re-phrased to modernize the language)
4
@mlbex
Perfect!
1
It is just plain disgusting. Rich white men just caring about how to get richer, no matter what it might cost others. These men need to be stopped.
5
What is wrong with these people? They are literally stealing from their grandchildren in order to increase their profits today. Greed is at the heart of every single Republican policy. Every one... these are the worst people possible to be in charge.
9
@Adam They are stealing from our grandchildren. Their grandchildren will fall softly into nests of ill-gotten gains procured by their grandparents.
1
'Dark (Republican) Money' and it's lobbyists run the American kleptocracy, fronting foreign money laundering that's made New York the world capital of klepto real estate.
6
"I'm shocked, shocked that there is gambling here."
"Your winnings sir"
6
The Westlands Water District is either loved (by Central Valley Farmers) or hated by the rest of California. Its unofficial motto is "Every Piece of WET Belongs To Us."
Decades of (faded and new) signs dot the Central Valley demonizing the little Delta Smelt. Quite simply; Big Ag doesn't believe California's commercial fishing industry is a real industry; and never has. And...that- environmental integrity impacts it too. Of course its more complicated-but the gist is water must be shared and up to now, that reality doesn't exist for California's Central Valley farming operations.
Anyone who has studied California's Water Wars (Owens Valley water wars of "Chinatown" infamy) knows this is a classic battle of survival & greed.
I am certain there will be another lawsuit added to the others filed through the years.
6
Didn’t see that coming. ;-|
3
Farming these crops in such an arid region should be at their own risk. Growing almonds is especially risky and irresponsible in a region where water is at a premium. It takes nearly a gallon of water per almond nut. Almond farming uses ten percent of California’s water.
95
@DonYes, very disturbing. I wish that consumers of almond milk, who believe they are making a better choice for them and for the environment by choosing non-dairy milk, would become better educated about the consequences of that choice. I like almond milk, and I have a lot of concerns about the dairy industry, but the insanity of almonds as a huge agribusiness in California convinced me to avoid almond drinks in all forms.
25
@Jen yes. This is why I use oat, hemp, then soy milk instead of almond milk. Almonds are very expensive, in terms of water resources consumed.
There was an article a few years back about crickets (yes, crickets) being a more sustainable source of protein than almonds.
8
This is unbelievable! The Trump administration is delivering huge wins for agribusiness, banking, coal and energy industries. But the real shame is that the lobbyists (ok, technically they work for the federal government) are not being fully compensated for their efforts. These so called ethics laws need to be repealed immediately to stop what amounts to wage theft, enabling fair pay for the hard work of administration officials.
31
@Zachary Printemps - ha ha you had me there for a moment...
2
Partly correct, partly not:
"... climate change propels California toward a hotter, drier future."
I've lived in CA for over 40 years.
Rainfall is pretty much the same as always. Some years (like this year, for example), it's higher than usual; other years it's lower. The graphs don't show any long-term change.
It has got much warmer here, though. About 2-3 years ago, I checked a government website that listed SF temperatures for each hour. The hourly average had risen by 6 degrees since I moved here, which I consider to be significant.
The average-temperature rise hasn't translated into the usual consequences -- so far, at least. Sea level figures show a steady but very slight rise, and it's difficult or impossible to notice a measurable difference. At the turn of the millennium, SF sea level was projected to rise 3-8 feet during the next century, but we're way behind that pace so far. Sea level here has risen a little over an inch so far this century, and coastal property owners aren't doing anything noticeable to protect against sea level rise. (One exception: SF voters approved a redevelopment project on a south city pier a few years back, which called for the land to be built up several inches higher than the developer had initially proposed, because of projected sea level rise; the developer balked because that would add about $1 million to the project cost, but he ultimately agreed.) Still over 80 years left in this century, though, so maybe things will change.
80 percent of California's water set aside for human consumption goes to farmers, and 70% of the almonds grown in the state are exported (with China being the main market). It takes 8 gallons of water to grow a single almond. In essence, we are exporting California's precious and limited water to China and other countries to benefit wealthy landowners such as those in the Westlands Water District, and they have an insatiable need for more water to keep the profits flowing. With Bernhardt at the helm doing their bidding, it's a dream come true for farmers. The struggling Bay Delta and its native fish will be pushed further to the brink.
7
If people are serious about open borders and a green new deal, we're going to have to provide farmers in California with access to irrigation water rather than letting it flow into the ocean.
1
What is ethical about a former lobbyist placed into a position where he can advance what he was working on as a lobbyist? He now lobbies for his pet projects on the taxpayers dime and with the approval of the government.
Perhaps the solution includes banning farming in areas where there is insufficient water available.
11
I guess I won’t need to drink almond milk.
I noted yesterday at Costco that salad mixes are labeled as to place of origin. Ok, If it’s from Central Valley, CA, no to my purchase. We can get hydroponic grown greens that are grown local. Year round.
The CV farmers are not small Mom and Pop operations. They know what they want and spend millions for it. But, they still need a customer. I’ll do my best to avoid CV product and again, write my elected officials.
26
SOP for the Trump administration: line your pockets while lining the pockets of your cohorts. We have become a banana republic.
Has anyone yet coined the term 'Banana Republicans'?
26
So more ethics violations lining up for the Interior Dept. Something is very broken in our government for these self-serving appointees to be in positions where they can serve their cronies over "We the People."
If allowed to proceed, this will affect the food chain, environment, and climate as the article points out.
When will the Republicans stand up against this abuse of government power?
12
Water quality is being sacrificed all over the United States in return for "economic development" It is sold to the people as progress by the businesses who benefit . In Massachusetts. Cape Cod, has traded away its clean water for property and real estate development. It now shockingly has a massive water pollution problem. At a local level we have seen a similar pattern as Interior under Zinke and Bernhardt and EPA under Pruitt and Wheeler. What we have seen are Building, property development, and real-estate special interests take over town halls and place their insiders - often the same business owners or their industry associates - onto the regulatory boards. They fund the elected officials, have specialized lawyers to support them when challenged, and regulate (or really don't regulate) in a manner that maximizes their industry and companies growth. Citizens don't pay much attention and when the do speak up are run over. Finally, one has to understand that these industry people do believe they are doing the right thing - after so many years of telling half truths they come to believe it themselves. And then one day the citizens wake up to find harmful algae blooms, dying estuaries, and coastal waters that smell like septic tanks.
23
Hopefully the State Attorney Generals of the states that border the rivers involved will challenge this action. Especially California. It would fall to the Attorneys for the Interior Department to defend the Federal Endangered Species Act, which they obviously will not do if their Boss is the one changing the law. So much damage to the environment in such a short time!! Can it be reversed in the future?
6
It’s not about jobs. Or it won’t be, when the shift to robotic farming becomes complete over the next ten years. It’s about selfish greed, and power.
17
Obvious conflict of interest, serving the needs of a few wealthy donors instead of the public common.
On top of that, the destruction of native ecosystems and species by industrial agriculture is legendary. It's not just a "tiny fish." It's the entire natural wetlands and water systems of the California delta and valley.
Bernhardt should be removed from office and prosecuted for corruption.
How long will we allow our government to be corrupted and bought off by those who destroy the biosphere and our quality of life?
33
Yes, Mr. Davies, of course it's a "conflict of interest" but the mafia doesn't care. That is why they are there. To enrich each other.
16
One has to wonder if people in power in OUR political/legal/ military and secret service complexes read this stuff. If they do one has to wonder what they do after they read it. Do they shake their heads as if they have no power to do anything? Do they discuss it over lunch and dinner but do nothing?
It is past time for them to step up, put The Con Don, Minister Pence and Traitor Mitch McConnell under citizen's arrest to await prosecution and let Speaker Pelosi can take over.
The Speaker can immediately dismiss all The Con Don's Robber Baron cabinet and regulatory appointments, rescind all his executive orders and get OUR United States of America back on track.
Have we become so insulated and greedy as individuals that people in power can't stop talking and work together to put a stop to the demented Con Don's actions? They cannot wait for the "rule of law" to work. It's too slow and he can destroy OUR world while they're waiting.
NOW is the time. Before he can hit the nuclear button because "it's his right".
Please, truly Good People, Stop Him NOW.
12
This level of corrupt, serve-serving policies is the Republican Party's operating procedure just disguised as 'limited government'. This is not a Trump issue but Republican Party standard procedure.
65
We have to realize that this administration and many top supporters work for themselves and a restricted circle of privileged people, not for America.
55
@Armando: We've known that since day 1. I hope that because Trump is so blatant about it, that enough of the country will wake up and put a stop to it in 2020.
3
Conflict of interest pure and simple only this time the payments were made upfront. Another example of the Trump Administration’s total lack of ethics.
32
So much for draining the swamp. Trump is turning our country and resources into an invite-only going out of business sale. 2020 can't come soon enough!
22
Not that we would expect anything less from a Trump appointee, but much of the blame can be laid as well at the feet of McConnell, Graham, etc.—the corrupt GOP in the Senate who approved the appointment.
Perhaps in 2020, voters in those states will see the danger signs for themselves and vote them out.
23
@Kathy. Don’t count on it. They see it now and Trump’s support among Republicans is 90%. They know that the administration is super corrupt and they love it!
3
@Doug K Sigh!! I fear you are all too correct, but trying to hope for some change in a year or two! Thx
1
@Kathy
True, but let’s also not forget Dems like Dianne Feinstein who has supported big Ag and massive water diversions for decades.
At 86 Californians returned her, and her pro business anti public lands stances (look what she has championed at Point Reyes National Seashore subsidized ranching and oyster farming over native Tule Elk and wilderness).
She and her billionaire husband have often used their power and wealth to support their wealthy friends/donors in ways that set terrible precedents and lasting environmental damage.
As the salmon die out and California experiences major economic and environmental harm due to decades of politically motivated and I’ll-advised water diversions, historians will define Feinstein’s legacy as the politician most responsible for California’s environmental woes. (This is assuming of course that historians and the rest of us survive Trump’s presidency).
2
When I left academic to become a Federal official, I was barred from having anything to do with decisions about my former university. I couldn't even be in the room when a decision dealing with them was discussed. I believe that lasted for at least 12 months!
15
Bernhardt's syllogism :
I signed an ethics agreement.
I need to get good advice so I don’t make mistakes. Everything I do, I go to our ethics officers first.
My syllogism :
I don't care about ethics.
Ethics officers take care of that.
My broad back is covered, ka-ching
A single grain of salt as more taste than the entire Trump administration.
9
As I have commented earlier, the wall is small compared to the water wars which will come. I would be interested in a 'follow the money' story about where the financial gain for this change goes and how much. I suspect it will be another 'I just made you very rich story' PT can tell the Mar a Lago crowd.
27
Look at Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades if you want to get an idea of “unintended consequences.” Trump’s appointees all have remarkably short sight.
78
Another unethical member of the Trump cabinet/administration. The environment and all the species that live in it are more important to protect than this man's business clients. All species, endangered or not,including man are more important to protect than improving this mans checking account.
29
We can't get rid of these corrupt people soon enough.
76
Don’t we enforce RICO laws any more? Tired of it! Enough organized crime!
19
The essence of conservative republicanism...do what you can to advance your own interests. To heck with repercussions.
45
@caljn
It seems that they are emboldened by the fact that they never are held accountable.
We need to have real oversight, prosecution, and severe penalties for their betrayal of the American people for personal gain.
5
I hope the state of California has something to say about this. It is disgusting what Trump has done to our environment.
29
Good for him. That's what we, the American people, deserve. We knew it and went for it. No complaints now.
5
I didn't know it Mr. Lopez , and I didn't go for it. Only the Russians and their International Mafia Brethren like Steve Bannon went for it.
Shame on those dumb enough to buy it.
1
@Frank Lopez not sure if you’re being sarcastic, but the fact that future generations and ecosystems are paying the price for shortsighted financial gain disgusts me at my core.
Much of humanity does not deserve to help steward the planet. We need to be called to task for our irresponsible behavior and choices.
1
Congress should pass a law that makes nominations of former lobbyists to these vaulted governing positions illegal!
15
I remember a Fox News segment on this issue from years ago. The reporter held up a tiny Delta Smtelt and scoffed at the idea that the “left” had engineered laws to protect this tiny fish over the welfare of people who needed jobs and a multi-billion dollar industry.
There was no discussion about the food chain, the iinterconnectedness of all living things on this planet necessary to sustain life for as all. The almond industry has quadrupled over the last 30 years and now dominates CA Ag with this intensive water use crop—which constitutes the 7th largest exported crop in the U.S.
The Trump administration explains this is all about jobs. But when you drive through the Central Valley and see the endless stands of flooded Almond orchards, you also see that while almond growing requires much less labor than other crops what labor is required is predominantly done by guest workers who cross legally over our militarized southern border which is being defended by military force at a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars. The H-2A guest worker program has increased 10 fold over just the last two years to assist CA growers harvest a variety of crops. In the case of Almonds, the bulk of the crop is trucked and then shipped to overseas markets.
This industry is being sanctioned despite overwhelming scientific evidence of disastrous environmental consequences. I hope the Times provides more coverage of both the scientific and political realities of this issue.
47
''This is a clear case of violating the ethics code, and a clear conflict of interest,” said James Thurber,''
If he couldn't do this sort of thing he wouldn't have gotten the job.
Next up a hunting season for really rich hunters on the Bald Eagle.
12
Every building in the District of Columbia that houses a department head should have a banner or sign that states who the corporate or special interest sponsor is so there are no questions about who will benefit from this corrupt government of ours. That signage also applies to the halls and chambers of Congress.
19
I have to seriously question the quality of ethics officers within these government agencies like interior and justice when they seem to consistently approve actions that are blatant conflicts of interest, even to the casually observant layman.
52
The worst part is the water is being pumped into almonds and pistachios that are being exported, so it's not like this sacrifice of an aquatic ecosystem (and the marine resources that benefit commercial fishers) are at least going to feed us, they are just going to short term profit and overseas shipment.
71
This issue isn’t just about endangered fish, but is also about protecting an ecosystem. “American Experience, The Swamp” on PBS is a documentary the explains the environmental damage to the Everglades that massive diversions of water have caused. Just seeing the pictures of the dead fish, manatees, dolphins, turtles etc. on South Florida beaches and bright green algal blooms should be warning enough for keeping our wetlands protected.
69
@Philippa
I live in SWFL and I can tell you this is not a trade off the citizens of California want to make. Last summer the toxic algae killed hundreds of sea turtles, manatees and dolphins, and millions of fish. The city of Cape Coral smelled like a pig farm, and had three dead manatees floating at their fishing pier. A few yards away the city was holding a standing room only meeting on water quality. The algae released toxins into the air making the beaches unsafe, children were forced indoors and respiratory distress was common. It decimated our tourist trade. Since tourism is the lifeblood of our community, the financial consequences were widespread. Don't let this happen to you.
56
@Martha Grattan
& it extended north to on the Gulf of Mexico Clearwater, FL and around the tip of the Florida peninsula to Miami-Dade County on the Atlantic side. Although the Gulf coast side suffered the most from Red Tide occurring most of late summer and Fall 2018. Millions of fish and sea life were floating in our waters. It was like an apocalyptic proportion of sea life death! No one went near the water and those who lived near the water sought to flee. During this time, Hurricane Micheal hit north Florida. In California and northward along the Pacific coast states and into British Columbia the Pacific Northwest suffered from drought and severe wild fires which may be one reason why most of the US was unaware of south Florida's redtide woes. But it was severe and although the verdict is out regarding its cause. Scientists do blame algae-growth sustained by fertilizer (nutrient) run-off that depletes oxygen in the ocean.
Everything (and everyone;) is connected, hence the term: eco-system.
15
The corrosive corruption of our government is nowhere better illustrated than by the Trump maladministration’s broad-front attack on the environment in service to short-term profit.
99
Good reporting. More of the same corrupt, conflict-of-interest-infected policies that we expect from this administration. As for California water, the Westlands project has been an environmental disaster since its inception, and only marginally viable economically. Meanwhile, California Big Water continues to corrupt not only in Washington DC, but also in Sacramento where it had undue influence over California's sainted ex-Gov. Jerry Brown.
13
Government of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists, for the lobbyists.
It could be the Gettysburg Address of President Trump
91
This is appalling. How can the ethics people at Interior give this a pass? It's a blatant conflict of interest, even if he is doing Trump's bidding (which is another problem altogether). I am totally tired of these people nominated to decimate the departments they're supposed to run.
124
@ariella
Ethics and Trump Administration is an oxymoron.
7
As the article indicates, Mr. Bernhardt may have violated ethical rules. But there is no allegation of criminal wrongdoing for good reason. Acts of favoritism do not constitute extortion or bribery unless there is evidence of a quid pro quo. And there is no evidence here of financial benefit to Mr. Bernhardt.
Where there is a suggestion of improper benefit but no evidence of such, fairness requires that that be explicitly stated. Otherwise the reader may wrongly believe that the misconduct is criminal.
@michjas The conduct may not be criminal, but, is the conduct in the best interest of the country and the people within?
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Michjas, you make some good points, but just because something isn’t criminal doesn’t make it right. The low bar of this administration’s ethics just keeps lowering.
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This is a distinction without a difference, friend. Extinction is forever.
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it figures that the Westlands district is involved with this particular part of the DC swamp. the west side of the san Joaquin is the dry side with few water rights...... unlike the east side where people first settled, claimed the water and farmed. Westlands plays the victim to the hilt but in reality most the land they want new water for was always grazing land at best. recently the head of
Westlands was heard to say - "I don't understand taking water away from people and giving it to the environment". absolutely clueless.
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@coale johnson
The Westlands should never have been put to the plow. As you know, they poisoned the water with selenium runoff, killing and maiming tens of thousands of waterfowl in a sump called, ironically, Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. It's a refuge alright: a cemetery for birds.
Bernhardt will fax that, I'm sure.( NOT! )
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Yet another example of the swelling human population causing decimation and disappearance of our animal brethren.
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Government of the $, by the $, for the $. Too bad the founding fathers didn't pick something else, like, say, "people". Oh, wait, that would be socialist. Take care of corporations, and the rest will take care of itself in these "Citizens United" States of America.
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With every incremental uptick in the economy, you can be assured there’s a species, a wetland or a group of marginalized citizens taking the hit.
The Mueller investigation is a bright, shiny object and one that’s fun to ponder, but it’s this conversation about the Trump administration, that needs to oxygen.
The planet only has so much time, folks.
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Here's another example of how 'big-farmer businesses' in California are benefitting from Trump appointees and the rollback-protections they support.
And please, lets not ignore the underlying facts when we discuss these corporate-size entities, these same farmers and rancher INC.'s, hotel industry magnates, meat-packing plant owners, house and office construction contractors. These are the ones not being called out as they continue to rely on migrants to plant, cultivate, and harvest their crops, work in their hotels and meat-packing plants, help build their structures, and thus, by attrition, encourage the migrations they obviously must support.
And here's another rub, and a very big one at that. How are what I've mentioned not perfect examples of what encourages this migratiuon to our borders and what continually flies in the face of everything President Trump has been yammering against for over a decade?
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Here’s the problem, stated correctly:
The agribusiness needs the water to expand their profits, not to ‘survive’ to ‘feed the world’.
It is this highly emotive framing of questions that prevents a cold calculation of the real risks, costs and benefits of environmental deregulation.
Create permanent changes in a vast ecosystem sustaining millions of people, so that a few businessmen can profit from selling more almonds and tomatoes?
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"Under federal ethics rules, Mr. Bernhardt could have requested a formal written waiver from the White House..."
Its called legalized corruption in the US, in other countries, just corruption.
The role of the Interior Department is to manage resources for multiple use. Instead the Interior nominee demonstrates a preference for a single use by a favored client, degrading the resource for other uses.
The decision should and probably will be challenged in the courts. The green light supposedly provided by an Interior ethics lawyer makes no sense because its not just about a single fish but a whole ecosystem.
About 2% of the California economy is generated by agriculture, which consumes 80% of the water in the state. The largest crops are low value, hay, rice, cotton and alfalfa, relying on cheap Federally subsidized water and 19th century use rules.
In fact, while the large populations along the coast are periodically under severe water rationing, water hasn't even been metered for residents in the agricultural areas.
Things are going to change.
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There’s an old saying in California: whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting.
When the salmon disappear, and toxic algae blooms become the norm, thank the Republicans.
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@John M Without water to make it, there is no whiskey, wine, gin, vodka or beer. With out water there is no life at all on planet earth.
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I hate to sound too dystopian, but fresh water will be the most highly valued commodity in the world in the next century and the likelihood of the robber-baron mentality of our society's most opulent is not going to be changed into a widespread altruistic streak where they don't try to profit off the death, displacement, and conflict caused by the rest of us trying to access it. At what point do we, as a civil society, lookout for each other's well being, and by default, our planet's?
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@Aaron Pryzbek
Maybe either at a point of great inspiration - no such catalytic figures plainly exist on any horizon at the moment - or at a point of extreme threat, a la “the day the earth stood still.”
Climate change could be that threat, but we’re too distracted by various entertainments to recognize it.
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@Aaron Pryzbek [[I hate to sound too dystopian, but fresh water will be the most highly valued commodity in the world.]]
It already is.
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@Aaron Pryzbek: already true. Wars and killing will be over water , coming to a theatre near us soon. What point is anything really without water? Hopefully there will be enough poison caplets made for us first to put the animal life we have betrayed out of its misery, then to put ourselves out of the misery of slowly thirsting and starving to death. This is what is in store - look at the lack of snowpack in the mountains this winter - bad times are ahead - and to deny it is simply dancing in la la land. Wall Street and all the money in the world will not save anything from the catastrophe around just a few years away.
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