CALIFORNIA FOCUS
1720 OAK STREET, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA 90405
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018, OR THEREAFTER
1720 OAK STREET, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA 90405
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“CONGRESS
MUST TEMPER TRUMP’S CALIFORNIA VENDETTA”
This
has all the symptoms of a classical political vendetta: At every opportunity,
President Trump does whatever he thinks might harm California, which does more
to resist his agenda than any other state and which provided the vote margin
that saddled him with a popular vote loss in 2016.
In just
one late-winter week, Trump took three such actions. First, he threatened to
pull federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers out of
California, predicting a massive crime wave if he did that. Then his budget
director for the second straight year cut out of the next proposed federal
budget all $10 million that was spent last year on an earthquake early warning
system. His attorney general topped it off by filing suit to knock out
California’s “sanctuary state” laws.
California
law enforcement for the most part greeted the “threat” of an ICE pullout with a
yawn. “Do your worst,” many police chiefs seemed to say. Several had previously
testified in federal hearings that fall and winter ICE raids targeting illegal
immigrants everywhere from body shops to supermarket checkout lines hurt their
own anti-crime efforts by diminishing cooperation and trust between immigrants
and cops.
And
California officials from the governor down promised to fight Trump’s
anti-sanctuary action.
But the
state’s response to the threatened quake warning cut is completely different,
several members of Congress from both major parties insisting they won’t let
seismic warning money disappear from the budget.
“Congress
has remained steadfast in its bipartisan support for the system,” said
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, one of the prime thorns in Trump’s
side. “I’ll work to see the project (gets funded) just as we did last year.”
And
Republican Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona, who chairs an appropriations
subcommittee overseeing the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), said “I will
continue to advocate for…the earthquake early warning system. This is a system
the West Coast needs.”
Of
course, Trump hadn’t visited the West Coast as president until the middle of
this month, when he was due to fly here to look at border wall prototypes and
headline a Beverly Hills fundraiser. In his pre-politics days as a television
reality show performer, he was here often, but didn’t venture far from studio
lots or his Los Angeles-area properties, not worrying much about the ground
shaking. He may never have experienced a significant quake.
The
USGS project he seeks to quash, called ShakeAlert, would provide between 30 and
60 seconds notice before earthquakes, allowing millions of persons to get out
of harm’s way. Warnings would come via radio, television, alarm sirens and a
smartphone app.
The
system would also operate in Oregon and Washington, but the great majority of
lives that might be saved are in California.
No one
doubts that early warnings could help greatly when (not if) the next major
temblor strikes. The extra half-minute or more would allow time to duck under
desks, move away from sides buildings that might shed bricks and stones, drive
to the sides of highways and get off bridges that might collapse. Each of these
things could have saved multiple lives during the1989 Loma Prieta quake and the
equally devastating 1994 Northridge shock.
When
Trump first threatened to cut the federal contribution to this system, whose
app is already being tested, state lawmakers led by Democratic Sens. Robert
Hertzberg of Van Nuys and Jerry Hill of San Mateo proposed $23 million in state
money to keep the project going.
If the
federal government pulls out of ShakeAlert – comparable systems already exist
in other quake-prone countries like Japan and Taiwan – California appears ready
to go it alone. For sure, those other countries have proven the technology
works.
The
proposed Trump cut would probably delay setting up 800 new sensing stations
which need to be added to 850 that already exist. The added listening posts
could increase warning times by detecting earth movements at their very
beginning.
Here’s
the irony: While Trump conducts his vendetta against California, in keeping
with his frequent practice of ignoring his previous actions and statements
whenever he gets that impulse, he’s nevertheless likely to attend whatever
ribbon-cutting grand opening event the USGS might stage, and then try to take
credit for a program he twice tried to kill.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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