President-elect Donald Trump ridiculed California Governor Gavin Newsom for his policies related to the Golden State’s priorities related to water delivery.

Droughts have occurred in The Golden State as far back as recorded data. There is nothing unusual about them than any other time in the state’s history. The reality is that California’s water problems are the result of a lack of water delivery infrastructure resulting from (you guessed it) environmentalist activism.

Most of California’s water supply is delivered from the Sierra Nevada mountains due to snowfall that takes place there every winter. Since the 1980’s, environmentalist groups have been steadfast in opposing upgrades to the state’s water delivery system that affects major cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Environmentalist support of proposals like conservation and water recycling is merely smoke and mirrors for their opposition to enhanced water delivery systems elsewhere too.

As to Donald Trump’s claim that California officials were placing environmental concerns over human needs, what he is referring to is California’s Delta smelt. To protect the fish, the state ordered reduced water amounts relayed to cities and towns to protect it and other native fish from being sucked into water pumps that service southern portions of California. The policy was enacted by California’s Fish and Wildlife Department declaring the Delta smelt an endangered species in 1993. ReasonTV covered this in a documentary they released on this very topic some years ago.

Scientists and environmentalists say that the fish needs protection since its health is vital to the local ecosphere. Farmers counter that attempts to preserve the fish have resulted in too much water not being made available to fill reservoirs for crop production. Consequently, not only have crop yields in California diminished due to the drought but it has also resulted in farmers laying off employees. An attempt to challenge the endangered status of the Delta smelt was turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court during 2015.

Even though the Delta smelt’s legal status continues to contribute to reduced state crop yields, a fish hatchery at UC Davis Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory in Byron, California has been breeding large quantities of fish in order to ensure its survival. If the Delta smelt were to be released into the wild, environmentalists allege, it may not survive due to changes in the the area’s ecology. However, there have been plenty of animals bred to save or enhance the populations of endangered species that have successfully lived in their natural habitats after being released.

Since most of California is desert, droughts there are a regular occurrence and for decades environmentalist groups have opposed upgrading California’s water delivery infrastructure that would enable the build up of water reserves that farmers can use to cultivate crops but firefighters can use to extinguish fires. Donald Trump’s solution is to open up the water along with more infrastructure for water delivery. These would be good, necessary steps to ending California’s water crisis.

The Delta smelt controversy demonstrates one other way environmentalists express their nihilistic, vicious hostility toward human beings. What better way to rid the planet of more humans by affecting the substance (i.e. water) that we use to keep ourselves hydrated and cultivate crops used for food?

PHOTO CREDIT: By Peterson, B. Moose / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2031053