NEWSOM HAS NOT LET CALIFORNIA GET BULLIED

 

CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2024 OR THEREAFTER

BY THOMAS D. ELIAS

“NEWSOM HAS NOT LET CALIFORNIA GET

BULLIED”

 

California has far more population than any of the other six states with whom it shares the Colorado River, a major water lifeline for the entire American Southwest.

 

This state also has 12 more electoral college votes when it comes to picking presidents than the other six combined. But taken together, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming possess 12 U.S. Senate seats to just two for California.

 

So in the very recent time of severe drought and bottomed-out reservoirs along the Colorado, there was a serious threat that California could suffer from water-related bullying, especially since President Biden counted on at least some of those Southwestern senators for support on Capitol Hill, from budgets to building bridges and confirming federal judges.

 

The Interior Department he still controls also gets the final say on any new water arrangements along the Colorado.

 

So it's been up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to make sure California wasn’t bullied into losing much of this critical resource. He needed to see that California farmers and other residents would not suffer more severe water rationing than folks in the other river basin states, who initially wanted to penalize this state for being large. At least for now, that has been staved off.

 

Newsom, of course, has been criticized – often justifiably – for many moves, but never has taken kindly to bullying of himself or California. One example: When Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed his state is more successful in business and at fighting off diseases than California, Newsom shot right back.

 

He used epithets like “Gov. DeathSantis” and aired television ads in Florida touting both greater success against the coronavirus pandemic and more freedoms in general in California than under DeSantis in Florida, where women can’t decide for themselves whether or not to bear children. Teachers there also may not discuss gay or transgender life in most public school classrooms. Newsom also notes DeSantis has spurred schoolhouse bans on books he dislikes, including prize-winning best-sellers like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

 

Newsom rejected changes in history textbooks demanded by DeSantis before letting Florida schools buy them. The result: Publishers did not kowtow to DeSantis, maintaining their sales to California, where textbook purchases are far larger.

 

So it was never likely Newsom would cave in to the attempt by other Colorado River basin states to force California to give up a far greater percentage of its water use due to drought than any of them would.

 

Newsom didn’t conduct the direct negotiating. His appointees did that, getting tough because they knew Newsom would reject any deal that trampled California.

 

The governor gets both praise and criticism for pushing changes to the California Environmental Quality Act that would give citizens less say than now over building projects that could seriously affect them. He is blasted fairly for doing the bidding of developers and utilities who help fund his campaigns. He admits to mistakes during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

But he lets neither critics nor supporters bully him.

 

As a result, California will probably lose only a fair share of its Colorado River water take, and federal funds will likely compensate farmers and others for losses that may create.

 

Farms in the Imperial Valley in the state’s southeast corner are now the biggest users, per capita, of Colorado River water. They will voluntarily cut use by about 10 percent, getting about $250 million for reducing crops.

 

Two years from now, after the 2023-24 winter’s bonanza of rain and snow is likely drained out, for the most part, there figures to be more wrangling over the river.

 

Those talks may drag on into 2027, so it could be up to California’s next governor – identity currently unknown – to carry on Newsom’s refusal to be bullied.

 

But for the moment, Newsom’s “Don’t tread on me” attitude has won the day, so long as the Interior Department under new President Donald Trump sticks with the latest arrangement, as expected.

 

That successful negotiation figures to prove more important in the long run for both California’s environment and economy than any Newsom mistakes on other issues.

 

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    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