Gov. Newsom: Stand Up to Big Ag and Protect California’s Water

For Immediate Release—October 23, 2019

Sacramento—In response to the Trump Administration’s decision to weaken protections for the Delta smelt, allowing water to be diverted from the San Francisco Bay Delta to large agricultural operations inland, Food & Water Action California State Director Alexandra Nagy, issued the following statement:

“It is not surprising that California Big Ag has found a friend in the Trump administration when, until recently, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was lobbying on behalf of these rich and powerful agricultural interests. Without an Interior Department willing to do its job, the ball is now squarely in Gov. Newsom’s court to resist efforts to compromise the Delta’s vital and delicate ecosystem and Californian’s right to water.

“Delta-area family’s water bills will increase as the cost of treating drinking water spikes and we will see more harmful algal blooms, if the Delta is drained. The Interior Department’s assault on the environment cannot become part of California Policy. Gov. Newsom’s decision to veto SB1, which would have protected California from precisely this type of action by the Trump administration, is all the more shameful because it left the Delta vulnerable. The governor should reverse that fatal mistake now by stepping up and protecting Californian’s water and the environment from this and any further rollbacks.”

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Contact: Julie Light, 510-992-4083, [email protected]

Food & Water Action is the political advocacy arm of the research and education organization Food & Water Watch. We mobilize people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water and climate problems of our time.