More often than not, Trump tweets. And more often than not, these tweets make no sense. He has been ranting about how California environmental laws have worsened wildfires that are raging in the state, but White House either doesn’t want or doesn’t know how to explain his nonsensical rage on Twitter.
On Tuesday, Trump’s administration refused to offer any clarity about what is going on with the president’s series of tweets. He suggests that environmental laws and water regulations in California are making it difficult for the state authorities to extinguish the fires. According to wildfire experts and local officials, these claims aren’t true.
Even some of the White House officials are baffled by how POTUS managed to connect the problem California has with water and the division of limited supplies with the control of fires. Moreover, the officials are not familiar with whether Trump has met with California lawmakers and discussed this issue.
Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water – Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2018
What did Donald Trump say?
One of the tweets was: “California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.”
Then, he said that the water is “being diverted into the Pacific Ocean.”
After reiterating these claims on Monday, Trump called on Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown to “allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else.”
However, wildfire experts and California officials debunked Trump’s claims. On Tuesday, he told business leaders that a “very tough situation” is currently in California. “It’s been a very tough situation taking place in California for a number of years and we’re going to have to have some meetings about it,” president of the US said from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.
Even though he said that there are steps to be taken to “mitigate” the damage, he didn’t bother to clarify what are the things to be done.
He said he was “deeply grateful to firefighters and first responders” combating the flames, and said that his administration would do “everything in our power to protect those in harm’s way.” However, he didn’t repeat his earlier claims that water shortage in California is one of the reasons why the wildfire cannot be controlled and eventually put out.
What do the experts say?
According to a FEMA official who spoke with CNN, there is no water shortage and no problem with access to water. These are not the reasons why the fires are still raging. Meanwhile, Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift declined to comment on the tweets. She said: “We don’t weigh in on the President’s tweets. We let those statements speak for themselves.”
“I was stunned when I read this this morning,” Henri Grissino-Mayer, a climatologist and biogeographer at the University of Tennessee, told CNN in an email. “California does NOT divert water to the ocean. Ridiculous.”
Grissino-Mayer noted that water “is diverted to the coastal cities for a constant water supply but all such water is used by the coastal communities.”
What’s happening?
Interestingly enough, there was a debate this summer, when California officials proposed a plan to limit the amount of water which can be drawn from the San Joaquin River to use it for the cities in California as well as farmlands. Trump’s tweet comes after that debate. The US president attempted to connect the debate to wildfires, but that didn’t turn out well for him.
As experts claim, it is the sweltering heat, as well as dry conditions that have led to the worst wildfires in the history of California. Laws have nothing to do with that. Of course, climate change is what caused the weather conditions to be as such, according to the specialists, but Trump said that was nothing but a hoax.
California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2018
