A man-made drought? "I beg to differ," Secretary Salazar

[LOUDNESSrocks]

FUCK the delta smelt!! Get that water into our fucking canals!! The "endangered species act" can suck my dick!! The California Aqueduct, Delta-Mendota Canal, Friant-Kern Canal, and Madera Canal ALL have priority OVER some shit trash fish that is way too small to have any value what so ever! Piece of shit judge who made the ruling to shut off the pumps to the canals, and his wife prabably need to be fucked up the ass...That will wake the cock suckers the hell up!! We need our fucking water NOW!!

[GodorScarecrow831]

When is religion steeping in and exposing these devils????

But yet again you dont believe in that cuss you need proff??

my answer if faith...May jesus be with us all

[skorpyonayts1169]

this guy salazar is either stupid. blind,or both!

this idiot doesn't care. he's from colorado. he doesn't care about the central valley in california.

[skorpyonayts1169]

this guy salazar is either stupid. blind,or both!

[loquat15]

Isn't it amazing how you can redirect water to a desert, and then when it becomes dangerous from the source area to divert the water, it then becomes a man made drought?

Besides, but hey, I'm rather certain that this is all dated and we're all getting upset over nothing. :-)

[joesixpack31]

The Zimbabwe black population has virtually starved to death due to famine since the Marxist Mugabe takeover. A word of advice to Central Valley farmers, organize your own militia including your national guard units. Take over your armories, seize the dam and pumping stations and turn your water back on. If schwarrtzennegger tries to interfere, shoot or hang him. The water resources belong to the citizens of the Central Valley.

[rodman820]

@joesixpack31

This video was posted AFTER the EPA pumping restrictions were lifted. All that remained in place were the normal rationings of water, per the LOCAL water agreements and contractual requirements. At the time, if your advice had been followed and the had seized the dam and pumping stations' - they would have pumped saline water into the irrigation canals from the Bay and poisoned all their ground. Does that sound like a winning solution to you?

[joesixpack31]

These people are out to destroy CA central valley farming and farmers...a key step in destroying our country. Obama is the US version of Zimbabwa's (formerly Rhodesia) Robert Mugabe who ethnically cleansed the nation of its white population including practically all its farmers. The remaining black population have since virtually all starved to death.

[joesixpack31]

Nothing wrong with Salazar that can't be cured by a solid hit on the head with an ax. He is clearly an obama "aparachik" implementing marxist policy of destroying food production as a tool for massively reducing human population, both US and worldwide. This policy was first proposed 30-40 years ago by "pinheads" of the "club of rome". Interestingly the same "pinheads" including obama are now running our country.

[loquat15]

Why not just pump ocean water out to the farms? 

[rodman820]

@loquat15

Are you serious? Really? Salt water is toxic to almost all crops and renders the ground unusable.

[loquat15]

@rodman820

My bad, I forgot to put in *sarcasm* I know all about how bad salt water is.

[rodman820]

@loquat15

You'd think that would be obvious to me, but with the proliferation of uninformed opinions out there, (I've seen more absurd suggestions made in earnest than your sarcastic one), it's hard to distinguish sarcasm from stupidity. My apologies.

[rodman820]

@spgfld1903

For the first time in 3 years there is a (small) Salmon fishing season in CA. CA salmon fisherman, who are people too, just like the farmers, had been out of work for 2 years! Over-irrigating and depletion of the water in the San Joaquin river resulted in the near total collapse of the CA chinook salmon population. Thanks, in part to the rationing Nunes is misrepresenting here, the salmon have begun a slight recovery.

Fish vs. People?

Not really, people are on both sides.

[freebearride]

@rodman820

I didn't realize there was such a commercial industry for salmon here in CA, it's unfortunate, you're right there are people on both sides. However I think there are more people depending on agriculture here, after all that is the export that our state is known for.

[rodman820]

@freebearride

Just that 1 point - people on both sides would make this issue easier to solve. Nunez wasn't interested in solutions though - he was interested in marketing this crisis as a campaign tool - and it worked.

There simply are limits to what can be grown though, there is only so much water. If you pump so much that the drought-lowered rivers run backwards and you pull salt or brackish water in the irrigation canals - how much good would that do the agriculture industry?

[1tamtom]

go check out our local lakes! we are having a drought and the farmers are using 3/4 of all the water for their greed. huge farms shipping things out of the country while locals eat imported produce,even the schools have imports way before the drought.

[Aleckael]

Oh yes, those greedy farmers! How dare they be part of an economy that provides families with the means to put dinner on the table.

[rodman820]

MsSierraKate & afhousiii:

It's not easy to cite sources in these comments since Youtube won't post comments with urls in them. But please indicate where your info comes from, so the rest of us can be persuaded, or not, but at least we'll have a few more facts. Otherwise, it's just a tennis match of hollow assertions and counter-assertions. Nobody benefits from that.

[divisioneight]

40,000 more voters who won't be voting for democrats next year. And that doesn't account for their immediate family, friends, relations and acquaintances who feel for these folks pain. Way to go Democrats, you're really spreading the love aren't you?

[rodman820]

Your point reflects Nunes' intent. He's successfully duped you! That's exactly what he wanted to do: represent this as a 'Democrat' problem and demonize the Federal gov't for not doing what they have no business doing - interfering in local water management issues. By now, the problem has mostly passed, EPA restrictions ended 4 months ago. But Nunes has scored his points already. He's spun this issue and moved on to others. Did he accomplish anything? Of course not. That wasn't the goal.

[rodman820]

Notice how Nunes doesn't let Salazar respond and has cropped this excerpt to avoid all points made against his.

Water re-use projects in LA reduce the demands on existing water supplies, leaving more available for the SJ Valley!.

So they're hardly irrelevant as Mr. Nunes would have you believe.

This is a real problem and there probably are real solutions, but to find them we have to grow up, look at the facts and the full complexity of the issue. It will NOT be solved with sound bites.

[MrBullfrog9876]

rodman, While we are waiting to "grow up" and while we look at the "full complexity of the issue", and while we play politics with the tree hugging fish kissing democrats THOUSANDS OF LIVES are being destroyed, family farms are going out of exsistense and you want to talk about the fine points of how Nunes addresses Salazar ----

[rodman820]

Bullfrog,

You think we can solve the problem with partisan talking points? Nunes is pretending this was as simple as 'turning on the pumps'. It isn't, and to claim that it is, is folly. To really help the thousands affected by this, ON BOTH SIDES, fishermen too, we MUST deal with the 'full complexity of the issue' as grown-ups do; addressing the problem as it really exists, not as it's construed to be by cynical opportunists. Nunes was only exploiting this to score cheap political points.

[bluteek]

Someone should have stood up and called Salazar A LIAR

[angiechapa28]

How do you get rid of illegal immigrants/guest workers? Turn off the water! This is a travesty and as a raza we need to unite and yell them to turn the dam pumps on!

[preagnantflea]

Unite the raza in mexico where it belongs,k pedro?

[JAKECUB100]

I don't know what a raza is, but as an American I am disgusted by what is happening in California. And as some one who grew up on a farm I am shocked that they would do this.

[tgold1968]

Salazar has one thing right: Government doesn't regulate weather; it can't "create" drought. Drought is defined in terms or precipitation, not pumps.

[librophile]

The Republicans controlled Congress for 12 yrs.

What have they done to remedy the farmers water supply problem & the increasing populatrion & need for water during those 12 yrs?

NOTHING !!

Bush was president for 8 yrs, beside his special Iraq War project, what has he done to remedy the water supply problem in California?

NOTHING !!

Now, after 3.5 years of drought & the problem was left unremedied, Obama with a snap of his fingers is asked to fix everything yesterday !!

[sincal559]

not only is this affecting the ag workers and farmers its affecting anyone who has anyhting to do with them i know people who have equipment business' and provide mechanical services to farmers who are all going out of business do to know work from the farmers..turn the damn pumps on

[Dewdaahman]

isn't it Mother Natures job to tend to species that die out..? how is it anyones business..? some call it evalution.. moreover, how many species have died out since we started keeping track..? humans are an endangered species my friends, there are those that wish to "cull the herd.."

[unsheepled]

Charge the bastards with treason!!!

[wolfhybred]

Can't they find a way to keep the minnows out of the pipes? I would think so. Use the money for that and let the farmers work. There are many ways to help a little with water like rain barrels ect.

[Djsolidstate420]

one thought is if we were to stop paying taxes not vote and not pay one single cent to any government body would we actually be able to control our own country this is my question to all of you tube does anyone have insight on if this would work because if we didnt pay taxes then the government wouldnt have money to use against us but i could be wrong

[bigdaddyevil666]

If there was no Government, then there would be anarchy. If I wanted what you owned, then unless you could stop me, I could take it. After all, with no Government to make laws, I would not be breaking any when taking everything you owned.

Without taxes, who would pay for infrastucture like roads and bridges? Without taxes who would pay the police, fire and resuce services?

Without taxes, who would fund public schools?

[tHoM0r]

I think the people should rise up and turn the pumps on by them selves. There's no use pleading to the scum in your government, they clearly don't care about people. Bastards

[rodman820]

Which pumps? Do you even know? Exactly which water district had the pumps turned off and why? They are back on, by the way. Nobody is still cut off.

The people getting this water KNOW that they are at the end of the list. They AGREED that as the last ones in line their water WOULD BE CUT during droughts. Now, they want to cry foul and pretend that the big mean government, who built the water system and maintains it and subsidizes the water, is abusing them. It's a little disingenuous.

[TheDailyMeasure]

You are wrong. The water remains off. The legislature has not overturned anything. Stop spinning lies ACORN worker, get a real job!

[rodman820]

The pumps are on. The temporary pumping restrictions that were required under the Endangered Species Act ended on June 30th. They accounted for approximately one-quarter of 2009 water delivery shortages to farms and water users; the other three-quarters of this years delivery shortage were the result of a lack of run-off. To help alleviate water shortages caused by the lack of precipitation and pumping restrictions. This from the Dept. of Interior. If you have other facts, lets see 'em!

[rodman820]

Fragement in above post, continued:

"To help alleviate water shortages caused by the lack of precipitation and pumping restrictions, the federal governments Bureau of Reclamation has helped move more than 600,000 acre feet of water to communities in most need, and is taking steps to prepare for a potential fourth year of drought."

You can find more: Search: CA_Water_Reality_Check.pdf

[rodman820]

What do you think the legislature would need to overturn? This is an issue primarily of contractual agreements determining what happens when there's not enough water for everyone to get all they want. Conservatives gripe about the feds being involved in local issues, but that's exactly what Nunes was pretending to ask for here. But he KNEW that the Gov't wouldn't, COULDN'T override local water rights agreements. He also knew that feigning outrage over this was a great way to get on TV.

[jonpaul70]

THE DAMS ARE FULL! Come here and look for yourself. Mr. Salazar has not visited the dams so how can he speak intelligently about this issue? He flew around in a helicopter over the delta. Did he see our dams? How can any reasonable person ignore this fact? It is because Salazar and his democratic cronies are punishing our farmers! For what reason?

[Houseitch]

Salazar need to dry up & die!

[STEVESWAMMY]

afhouseiii...I don't know if you pay for your water or not, but it doesn't matter if the government pays for the canal or the water districts pay for it...either way you look at it it is coming out of the people of the state...it has nothing to do with politicians who don't have to pay for gasoline, water, food, etc. It is easy for this politicians to be oblivious and ignorant if they don't feel the effects of raising prices.

[MsSierraKate]

1)Water districts HAVE NOT offered to pay 100% of the cost of the canal.2)Laws required to build the P canal (aka Delta Vision) haven't been passed 3)Water belongs to the people of California, not just farmers 4) Salmon fishermen, who provide valuable food, and employ many, depend on a healthy Delta for the entire California West Coast Salmon fishery, which has been closed for the past 2 years because Salmon are collapsing. What a terrible price to pay-salmon vs. a handful of subsidized almonds

[MsSierraKate]

One of the ways Schwarzenneger wants to send more water to Big Ag in the Central Valley is building a Peripheral Canal, at the cost of $20 Billion or more --all to be paid for us taxpayers--this in spite Sacramento hasn't been able to balance the budget without closing State parks.

Also, Ag jobs have been the jobs that have actually increased this year in the Central Valley, and the tomato harvest promises to be one of the best ever, so don't blame water -ask why big Ag is manipulating issues.

[jonpaul70]

You are so off base. Apparently you don't live her in the Central Valley. Canals that have been full of water for decades are bone dry. Those canals come off the federal pumps. This is a not a complicated issue.

Democrats are sacrificing the livelihoods of working families for what they believe is a noble cause. What a bunch of hypocrites!

[STEVESWAMMY]

To all you Earth loving veggie eating people out there that think that Central California doesn't deserve water...take a drive to CenCal. Most of the US believes that California consists of SoCal and San Fransisco, you people are wrong. The most financially stable part of the state is CenCal. Majority of the fruit and veggies that you eat come from CenCal. If you enjoy paying more and if you want your oranges to start looking like tangerines keep your blinders on or wake up and give 'em H20

[NorCalExplorer]

Yes, it is a man made drought. They are letting water out of the dam at trinity lake like crazy for no reason. See my video on it and you will see how empty the lake is. Who cares about a 1 inch fish, no one will miss it. I am sure the fish has survived numerous droughts long before people were here.

[RebelRouserMC]

salazar is beating around the bush,go down there and smack the piss out of him then ask him the question again plz...

[Hybrid5226]

Yes or No ???? Geezus

[Hybrid5226]

Any veggies in California . If there green or red buy them now because your not going to be able to afford them soon .

[onotarh]

SALAZAR, all hands on deck!? no, all hands on the NWO you punkass bastard, we had plenty of rain in the past months! turn the dam pumps on and see for yourself! Mr. Nunes, I thank u for your efforts, next time mention MONSANTOS, BILDERBERG... they are taking the one and only prosperous industry in america, i.e. agriculture, and destroying, it so they can implement 3 more trillion in bailouts, i.e. 30 trillion in fractional reserve, to cause hyperinflation, thus implementing a one world currency

[rebecca1972able]

salazar..do you have his number i will call and complain also and i do not live in the San Joaquin Valley, but it effects me when one dang tomato is 2.69, that is toooo much, TURN THE WATER BACK ON..I am from california high desert and it is wrong for people to be losing there jobs when they have a chance to work especially right now when millions are jobless and the government isnt helping us get those jobs back..ridiculous

[mojdfiv]

The simplest way for them to see if its a man made drought would be to turn on the pumps for a few months and see what happens. Of course they would never do that because that would prove that they have ruined over 40,000 peoples careers and communities over a bait fish. Bet they will blame global warming when there are food shortages in the coming year.