Did anyone watch Hannity tonight on Fox?

[PLC1]

Hannity was in fine form tonight. He was addressing a local issue here in California, the problem of the farmers in the west side of the San Joaquin Valley who depend for part of their water on pumping from the Sacramento Delta.

There is an endangered fish, the delta smelt, that might be affected by the pumps, so the feds have turned off the pumps.

The farmers, predictably are not exactly happy with that decision.

Exacerbating the situation is the lingering drought, which has affected the north more than the south. The Sacramento River is in the north, and has less water than usual.

Giving the other side of the argument was a caller from the north coast, where salmon fishing is the main stay of the economy. Salmon fishing has been suspended for the past couple of years due to reduced runs.

Those reduced runs might be caused, at least in part, by degradation of the water quality of the delta, which is exacerbated by the pumping.

So, the fight, as usual, is over water, and has pitted fisherman against farmers.

Since Hannity was talking to the farmers, he completely ignored the points made by the caller, which were:

1. Come to the north coast (Fort Bragg, Coos Bay, and Eureka) and tell the salmon fishermen why they have been out of work for the past two years.

2. Some of the farmers have been selling subsidized water to Los Angeles at a profit, and doing so legally.

Of course, Hannity completely ignored the caller's points, continuing to say that the problem was a "2 inch minnow" causing people to be out of work.

Hannity is a great showman, I have to admit. I'm personally on his side, as there is really no proof that pumping is affecting either the salmon or the delta smelt.

But, he and I could both be wrong. The fishermen need to be heard as well, and his showmanship doesn't include being able to rationally examine an issue. He's more into bumper sticker solutions.

And, the government needs to put a stop to farmers selling federally subsidized water at a profit to them.

Anyway, this is an interesting issue, at least locally. Maybe no one outside of California knows or cares about the it.

Do you? What do you think?

 

[TheFranklinParty]

We've had a similar, yet slightly different issue on the west coast of Florida. We have had several droughts in the past 10 years, and have had major water restrictions now for 5 years. The only problem is that it has been raining for 2 years now and we still have a problem. Why? They are allowing bottling companies to pump water out of the aquifers and sell it. There always seems to be $$$ playing into the mix of these issues while the citizens suffer for it.

 

[Sihouette]

There's a jackass in a friend's pasture that I watch anytime I get the urge for a Hannity fix.

It's a pretty unflattering comparison I know. Donkeys in general show much greater intellect and discernment than Sean on any given day.

 

[Pandora]

Hannity was in fine form tonight. He was addressing a local issue here in California, the problem of the farmers in the west side of the San Joaquin Valley who depend for part of their water on pumping from the Sacramento Delta.

There is an endangered fish, the delta smelt, that might be affected by the pumps, so the feds have turned off the pumps.

The farmers, predictably are not exactly happy with that decision.

Exacerbating the situation is the lingering drought, which has affected the north more than the south. The Sacramento River is in the north, and has less water than usual.

Giving the other side of the argument was a caller from the north coast, where salmon fishing is the main stay of the economy. Salmon fishing has been suspended for the past couple of years due to reduced runs.

Those reduced runs might be caused, at least in part, by degradation of the water quality of the delta, which is exacerbated by the pumping.

So, the fight, as usual, is over water, and has pitted fisherman against farmers.

Since Hannity was talking to the farmers, he completely ignored the points made by the caller, which were:

1. Come to the north coast (Fort Bragg, Coos Bay, and Eureka) and tell the salmon fishermen why they have been out of work for the past two years.

2. Some of the farmers have been selling subsidized water to Los Angeles at a profit, and doing so legally.

Of course, Hannity completely ignored the caller's points, continuing to say that the problem was a "2 inch minnow" causing people to be out of work.

Hannity is a great showman, I have to admit. I'm personally on his side, as there is really no proof that pumping is affecting either the salmon or the delta smelt.

But, he and I could both be wrong. The fishermen need to be heard as well, and his showmanship doesn't include being able to rationally examine an issue. He's more into bumper sticker solutions.

And, the government needs to put a stop to farmers selling federally subsidized water at a profit to them.

Anyway, this is an interesting issue, at least locally. Maybe no one outside of California knows or cares about the it.

Do you? What do you think?

I saw it. I just do not understand how the government can have this type of abuse of power.

It was so sad to see the fields dry like that. Totally intentional. I agree with the one man who called it domestic terrorism.

 

[Pandora]

We've had a similar, yet slightly different issue on the west coast of Florida. We have had several droughts in the past 10 years, and have had major water restrictions now for 5 years. The only problem is that it has been raining for 2 years now and we still have a problem. Why? They are allowing bottling companies to pump water out of the aquifers and sell it. There always seems to be $$$ playing into the mix of these issues while the citizens suffer for it.

The problem in Calif is not because of drought. Its because of a little fish called the delta shmelt that they really dont even know if its in danger because they only recently started counting them and they dont even think they are native to the area.

If you get a chance look up the whole delta shmelt story, it blows my mind at the abuse of power by the government.

 

[chestnut]

Obama should be ashamed for letting this go on.

What about JOBS JOBS JOBS. Isn't that what he said he was going to do?

 

[TruthAboveAll]

The problem in Calif is not because of drought. Its because of a little fish called the delta shmelt that they really dont even know if its in danger because they only recently started counting them and they dont even think they are native to the area.

If you get a chance look up the whole delta shmelt story, it blows my mind at the abuse of power by the government.

Yes, I love it. Here we are, driving farmers in California over the brink and out of business, because of a fish that nobody is even sure should be there in the first place. THIS is government in action, folks.

It will be small satisfaction, but they will eventually find out that the sweet little delta smelt is NOT indigenous to the area, and is actually destroying either something in the natural habitat or a true indigenous species. Caution about protecting them should be exercised.

Case in point - Zebra Mussels. Here in Michigan, we're well aware of how devastating these little critters can be. They were inadvertently introduced into our fresh water system, the Great Lakes, and noted in 1988. In just over 20 years, they have spread literally throughout the country, with nearly every state having environmental alerts and policies regarding them.

When they first showed up, environmentalists wanted nothing done to harm them. There is the initial benefit of their presence of cleaning up water. But then the other issues hit. The has given a $5 BILLION figure for economic losses and in efforts to control this species, just in the U.S. Because they've also infiltrated power and other "water-consuming" facilities costs an addition $500 million per year.

So go gov! 21 years and can't fix this one. So go ahead, and see what spawns from your poorly thought-out knee-jerk protectionist policies. The Laws of Unintended Consequences are open and ready for new entries.

 

[Pidgey]

Well... y'all need to understand something about a climate wave that also affects said area--it's called the "PDO", or "Pacific Decadal Oscillation". For about 30 years, the winds will drive the topwater of the Northern Pacific more towards China and vice-versa for another 30 years-ish. What you get is a general tend towards sea surface temperature anomalies that look like this:

Left is pictured the "warm phase" and right is the "cool phase". The US west coast gets more rain during the "warm phase".

And here's an index track over a long period of time:

Moral of the story, California is very likely going to be on an extended decline of available fresh water. At this point, it's going to be a Darwinian process with respect to agribusiness in the area. Fisheries are affected as well.

 

[Popeye]

You know what's odd and also a little sickening? Several of you on this thread, obviously watch such biased crap as Hannity and Beck and take whatever they say at face value.

Murdoch's dumbing down of America continues..

Your typical Faux News viewer:

 

[PLC1]

Obama should be ashamed for letting this go on.

What about JOBS JOBS JOBS. Isn't that what he said he was going to do?

Jobs for farmers and farmworkers?

Or jobs for fishermen?


Which do you think are more important?

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Obama should be ashamed for letting this go on.

What about JOBS JOBS JOBS. Isn't that what he said he was going to do?

Thank you for adding that pointless rant...since the whole point of the thread was that Not doing it could be hurting jobs as well as doing it...its a matter of who's jobs.

maybe next time you can read the cliff notes of the issue and add something of value...

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Jobs for farmers and farmworkers?

Or jobs for fishermen?


Which do you think are more important?

I think cali needs to own up to the fact that its basicly gives water away for free, and people never seem to want to pay for it...but you take it away and and they cry...you ask them to pay for it, they cry...they just want it for nothing. And I think we need to start addressing are overall comercial fishing world wide, and in the US...Some will cry that limits on it hurt the industry, but what realy kills it is overfishing that can not be sustained. And this includes the effect smaller fish have on the food chain, that effects other fishing...onlike what some seem to think...Small fish play a huge role in the fishing indestry for other fish you may want more of...even if you dont care about the smaller fish AkA the food for them

 

[PLC1]

I think cali needs to own up to the fact that its basicly gives water away for free, and people never seem to want to pay for it...but you take it away and and they cry...you ask them to pay for it, they cry...they just want it for nothing. And I think we need to start addressing are overall comercial fishing world wide, and in the US...Some will cry that limits on it hurt the industry, but what realy kills it is overfishing that can not be sustained. And this includes the effect smaller fish have on the food chain, that effects other fishing...onlike what some seem to think...Small fish play a huge role in the fishing indestry for other fish you may want more of...even if you dont care about the smaller fish AkA the food for them

Washington State, on the other hand, is having a record salmon run this fall, despite plenty of fishing pressure.

No one really knows why the salmon have declined in California. It could be because of degradation of water quality in the Delta, which is related to pumping, or maybe not. No one is sure. The decline of that much maligned little fish, the delta smelt, might be due to a decline in water quality, to being sucked into the pumps, to predation by striped bass, or by all or none of the above. No one really knows.

The decline in the amount of farmland being used to grow crops is partly, but only party, due to the decline in the water being pumped from the delta. There still is water. The California Aqueduct is full of water from the rivers in Northern California. One farmer still sold $73 million worth of his water to the city of Los Angeles.

The bottom line is that there is no black and white answer to the problem of agriculture and the endangered species act.

But the old saw is still correct: In the west, whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over.

And, there simply isn't enough water to go around in California, even without three dry years in a row.