The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just opened up two California dams. A spokesperson says the flows are 'controlled' and being coordinated with local officials.
Huh I’m surprised that an LA newspaper would cater to Trump, but it was the first article I found that seemed to have a lot of information (or maybe they’ve changed the page since I linked it?). Here’s another article which is currently very negative of the situation… https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/us/trump-water-california-central-valley.html
So basically, dams were opened up spilling water on the other side of a mountain away from the fires. There are no pipes connecting these reservoirs to LA to fight the fires. Even if you wanted to collect the water with fire-fighting airplanes, you would have done that in the reservoir, you can’t scoop it up from a river. Basically he drained all the water out into the ground to affect this Summer’s crops, there is no other logical explanation.
Political theater. It also reads like a shot across Gavin Newsom’s bow that says he can fuck with CA water whenever he likes. Details that are given include how there was no coordination with CA officials, Trump just went over all their heads and drained water from reservoirs, followed by a social media post of the flow bragging about releasing the needed water.
What is the currency CA needs most? Water. Trump admin showed a distinctive “power over” move here that says to Newsom he can drain the reservoirs whenever he likes.
I think we need to consider authoritarian interpretations of behaviors like these going forward.
Huh I’m surprised that an LA newspaper would cater to Trump, but it was the first article I found that seemed to have a lot of information (or maybe they’ve changed the page since I linked it?). Here’s another article which is currently very negative of the situation… https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/us/trump-water-california-central-valley.html
So basically, dams were opened up spilling water on the other side of a mountain away from the fires. There are no pipes connecting these reservoirs to LA to fight the fires. Even if you wanted to collect the water with fire-fighting airplanes, you would have done that in the reservoir, you can’t scoop it up from a river. Basically he drained all the water out into the ground to affect this Summer’s crops, there is no other logical explanation.
Political theater. It also reads like a shot across Gavin Newsom’s bow that says he can fuck with CA water whenever he likes. Details that are given include how there was no coordination with CA officials, Trump just went over all their heads and drained water from reservoirs, followed by a social media post of the flow bragging about releasing the needed water.
What is the currency CA needs most? Water. Trump admin showed a distinctive “power over” move here that says to Newsom he can drain the reservoirs whenever he likes.
I think we need to consider authoritarian interpretations of behaviors like these going forward.