‘Pure Fiction’: Trump Cites Nonexistent ‘Declaration’ He Claims Would’ve Contained SoCal Wildfires by Now
AP Photo/Truth Social
President-elect Donald Trump claimed that the wildfires raging across the Los Angeles area have been exacerbated thanks to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s refusal to sign “the water restoration declaration.”
However, the document in question does not appear to exist.
On Wednesday, Trump sent a post on Truth Social slamming Newsom, claiming the governor helped exacerbate the problem by not approving a plan to allow more water to flow from mountains north of the city:
Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way….
“There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” Newsom’s communications director, Izzy Gordon, told CalMatters on Wednesday. Indeed, a web search of any such document yielded no results.
Trump also claimed that Newsom wanted to protect the smelt, a small fish, and that the resulting water policies have been disastrous for southern California:
He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!
The president-elect seemed to be referencing the delta smelt, which along with other endangered species, were the subjects of a 2020 lawsuit filed by California against the Trump administration. California alleged Trump had failed to protect those species in accordance with the Endangered Species Act.
Mark Gold, who is a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told CalMatters that Trump is wrong to link smelt conservation efforts to a lack of water to fight fires 400 miles away.
“Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people’s lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible,” he said.
The publication further explained:
Trump appeared to be referring to water imported south from the Bay-Delta, fed by Northern California rivers and snowmelt. But most Los Angeles water does not come from Northern California. It comes via the city’s 112-year-old aqueduct that runs from the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada, not the Delta, as well as groundwater. The city also imports water from the Metropolitan Water District, which relays water from the Colorado River and Delta to numerous local agencies. The city was the main motivating force for the building of the Colorado River Aqueduct in the 1930s.
On Wednesday, Newsom responded to Trump’s attacks on CNN.
“People are literally fleeing,” the governor said. “People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools, families completely torn asunder, churches burned down. This guy wanted to politicize it.”
