The Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial published Aug. 7 that liberals exploiting natural disasters such as drought, hurricane, and blizzards to promote their anti-fossil fuels agenda is no secret.
Yet, these same liberals are outraged that Trump is daring to fight fire with fire by making a connection between California’s wildfires and destructive green policies.
“Bad environmental laws are magnifying California’s horrific wildfires by not allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “Tree clear to stop fire spreading.”
On Monday, the Journal reported that Trump complained that “vast amounts of water” were being “diverted into the Pacific Ocean” that could be used for “fires, farming and everything else.”
The Westlands Water District reported last month that pumping restrictions at the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that are ostensibly intended to protect smelt and salmon had resulted in 151,000 acre-feet of water — enough to sustain nearly a half million households annually — lost to the Pacific Ocean in June.
Spending More On Electric Car Subsidies, High-Speed Rail
The state also spends 10 times more on electric car subsidies than on dead-tree clearing, according to the Journal editorial.
“Bad environmental laws are magnifying California’s horrific wildfires by not allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.” — President Donald Trump
The Journal reported that this year the Democratic-dominated Legislature appropriated a mere $30 million of cap-and-trade revenues for fuel reductions on 60,000 acres of forest land. They allocated $335 million for electric vehicle subsidies.
Democrats have also spent billions on high-speed rail, but only this year did they get around to appropriating $101 million to replace a dozen or so Vietnam War-era helicopters unequipped with modern technology that enables night-flying for fire-fighting, the Journal said.
Imagine the damage that could have been averted — and lives saved — if the state had replaced the antiques earlier and cleared millions of dead trees in lieu of building the train whose costs are careening toward $100 billion and may never be finished, the Journal reported. But instead of examining their own priorities, the state’s politicians will blame the damaging fires on climate change and Donald Trump.
Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.
