Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Botany

(73,081 posts)
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 10:27 AM Tuesday

CNN: 2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of California reservoirs because of Trump's order to open dams


The US Army Corps of Engineers opened two dams on Friday in Central California and let roughly 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs, after President Donald Trump ordered the release with the misguided intent to send water to fire-ravaged Southern California.

Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”

There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.

“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.

Snip


“Downstream entities used these releases for limited irrigation demand and groundwater recharge,” the statement said.

Snip

“This release is extremely concerning,” Cooley said. “It’s providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/climate/trump-california-water-dams-reservoirs/index.html

Btw this really pisses me off. My late grandfather grew fruit in Southern Oregon (Ashland) using
the winter’s waters from the snow pack and reservoirs

Btw the Central Valley is nowhere near Los Angeles and is blocked by mountains, valleys, and
hundreds of miles.



55 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
CNN: 2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of California reservoirs because of Trump's order to open dams (Original Post) Botany Tuesday OP
Felon 47 & G.O.P. making war on US farmers BoRaGard Tuesday #1
And on blue California. Is he stupid or deliberately horrible? spooky3 Tuesday #6
He's stupid all right. And dangerous because he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. brush Tuesday #29
What a crime. CrispyQ Tuesday #2
They will know this summer. Will they blame Trump? Who knows? yardwork Tuesday #4
Clueless Botany Tuesday #7
I moved to CA 10 months ago LittleGirl Tuesday #33
Why did the Army Corps of Engineers do this? yardwork Tuesday #3
Because he is C. I. C of the military Botany Tuesday #8
The military is going to have to decide what to do with unlawful orders. yardwork Tuesday #9
Here is what the UCMJ has to say. You are right maybe this action wasn't unlawful enough. BUT they will come. usaf-vet Tuesday #16
Here's the big problem. yardwork Tuesday #18
Agreed! usaf-vet Tuesday #20
They could have opened it a trickle and Dementia Donnie would have never known. travelingthrulife Tuesday #47
That's true. yardwork Tuesday #49
"Orders" is a time honored excuse for doing what is known to be wrong. Magoo48 Tuesday #27
They're just trying to break the California economy defacto7 Tuesday #5
+1 That sounds right. bronxiteforever Tuesday #10
Well I hope a few affected mump supporters down there jeffreyi Tuesday #17
Seems like cutting off their noses to spite their faces dickthegrouch Tuesday #45
A lot of voters will blame Newsome come the hot season and no water to grow food. Magas have short attention spans Attilatheblond Tuesday #46
Farmers in California always blame Democrats travelingthrulife Tuesday #48
Yep, but these Trump moves will impress more than just the farmers. Especially considering the ignorance of MAGAs Attilatheblond Tuesday #54
The SlobFather continues to maintain his perfect record of fucking up every single thing he does. NoMoreRepugs Tuesday #11
No water for crops that no one will pick RainCaster Tuesday #12
Change 'misguided' to 'imbecilic' and it reads better. pandr32 Tuesday #13
What an unconscionable stupid fucking act to do. Evolve Dammit Tuesday #14
And the water that was released from the reservoirs goes into the San Joaquin River (if it makes it that far) Botany Tuesday #19
I heard that. What a f'in waste. Wait until summer when it really matters. Gross abuse of power. To punish CA again. Evolve Dammit Tuesday #26
Donnie will just take a blue sharpie Retrograde Tuesday #43
Post from yesterday with a great local report. "...just dumb" underpants Tuesday #15
If farms don't get water this summer, that should lower grocery prices, right? IronLionZion Tuesday #21
Those Pecan Orchards in the southern part of the CA's Central Valley need water at very certain times of Botany Tuesday #32
Trump knows how destructive this act was-he is getting revenge on a blue state Stargazer99 Tuesday #22
And with his "Get Out Of Jail Free" card from SCOTUS rurallib Tuesday #23
Very good. Chaos in your agriculture and trade sectors. Now work on NATO and have Tulsi get me that list of agents. Marcuse Tuesday #24
As well as DENVERPOPS Tuesday #40
There's no stopping him or his wake of destruction. C0RI0LANUS Tuesday #25
Once again, Trump shows his willful ignorance, and takes actions that have consequences he should have seen. patphil Tuesday #28
I wonder how many affected farmers & investors in Agriculture voted for Trump? Martin Eden Tuesday #30
They will die in the woods eating Dinty Moore from the can in a truck topper on cinder blocks. HAPPY, Maru Kitteh Tuesday #36
One could ask how does "risk of water supply constraints" translate to profits? BadgerKid Tuesday #31
He's playing dumb on this one. Cruelty is the point. How many blue states dams can Maru Kitteh Tuesday #34
He is just stupid enough to kill us all. surfered Tuesday #35
Sadly, he is insane enough to try. Attilatheblond Tuesday #44
The bastard. Setting up for the hottest summer to burn the rest of California. nt Jit423 Tuesday #37
So as I drive down I-5 in the center of the state, will the Hate- Newsom signs be switched to Hate-Trump signs? NBachers Tuesday #38
I loved when the mayor of Phoenix DENVERPOPS Tuesday #39
The reckless stupidity will never end over the next 4 years. Passages Tuesday #41
Typical GOP mindset: Use every resource up NOW so nobody gets any of it but me now! Attilatheblond Tuesday #42
In related news, a Central Valley man leads the effort for California secession... AntiFascist Tuesday #50
I wonder how that would align defacto7 Tuesday #53
I don't know, but... AntiFascist Tuesday #55
Sabotaging America's future. That's what traitor's do .Does he think only Democrats and Latino's will suffer OAITW r.2.0 Tuesday #51
somebody should have said no to trump ecstatic Tuesday #52

BoRaGard

(3,852 posts)
1. Felon 47 & G.O.P. making war on US farmers
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 10:31 AM
Tuesday

sick billionaire bastards (R).

First they attack the working men and women. Then they attack the water.

Botany

(73,081 posts)
7. Clueless
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 10:40 AM
Tuesday


Never mind those mountain ranges, valleys, and the 200 + miles between where the water was
released and the L.A. Basin.

yardwork

(65,322 posts)
9. The military is going to have to decide what to do with unlawful orders.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:00 AM
Tuesday

Maybe this order didn't rise to the level of "unlawful" but there will be worse to come.

usaf-vet

(7,222 posts)
16. Here is what the UCMJ has to say. You are right maybe this action wasn't unlawful enough. BUT they will come.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:24 AM
Tuesday

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) addresses disobeying an unlawful order in Article 92. This article outlines the duties of military personnel to obey lawful orders and establishes the punishment for failure to do so.

Specifically, Article 92 of the UCMJ includes the following provisions:

Violation of a lawful general order or regulation (Section 1)
Failure to obey other lawful orders (Section 2)
Disrespect toward a superior officer (Section 3)

An unlawful order refers to any command that is contrary to law or is in violation of the Constitution or the UCMJ itself. If a service member receives an order that is unlawful, they have the right to refuse it without facing punishment, provided that they can demonstrate that the order was, in fact, unlawful.

Here's a relevant portion of Article 92:

"Any person subject to this chapter who:

(1) Violates or fails to obey any lawful general order or regulation; (2) Having knowledge of any other lawful order issued by a member of the armed forces, which it is his duty to obey, fails to obey the order; or (3) Is derelict in the performance of his duties; Shall be punished as a court-martial may direct."


In these cases, the order itself must be lawful. If the order is found to be unlawful, disobeying it is not punishable under the UCMJ.

yardwork

(65,322 posts)
18. Here's the big problem.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:39 AM
Tuesday

Will Trump's appointees protect military who refuse unlawful orders? Hegseth now runs the military and Bondi will run DOJ.

We're in uncharted territory.

Magoo48

(5,825 posts)
27. "Orders" is a time honored excuse for doing what is known to be wrong.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:31 PM
Tuesday

The oaths we take are to our nation, our constitution, not to leaders who represent the antithesis of what’s good for this land and our guiding document.
The military will be faced with moral dilemmas in the very near future. May they have the courage to do what’s best for this land and all of its people.

jeffreyi

(2,183 posts)
17. Well I hope a few affected mump supporters down there
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:25 AM
Tuesday

Are seeing the light of what a s**show this is. By the way, there is some serious drought going on in that area. The lost water from these releases might not be not replaced by runoff. That will be a very bad thing come irrigation season.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Attilatheblond

(5,038 posts)
46. A lot of voters will blame Newsome come the hot season and no water to grow food. Magas have short attention spans
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 02:00 PM
Tuesday

Trump and his masters are terrified of Newsome coming into any sort of power nationally. They will kill hundreds of thousands if they have to in order to end Newsome's political career. I see FIVE attempts to recall him. Guess the GOP figured that method wasn't gonna work so now they are letting Trump destroy California agriculture, in hopes of ending Newsome's popularity and success at running one of the largest economies in the world.

Attilatheblond

(5,038 posts)
54. Yep, but these Trump moves will impress more than just the farmers. Especially considering the ignorance of MAGAs
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 06:21 PM
Tuesday

and the corporate owned media spreading the needed propaganda

Botany

(73,081 posts)
19. And the water that was released from the reservoirs goes into the San Joaquin River (if it makes it that far)
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:42 AM
Tuesday

which flows north and then out to the Pacific via San Francisco Bay not to Los Angeles.





Evolve Dammit

(19,769 posts)
26. I heard that. What a f'in waste. Wait until summer when it really matters. Gross abuse of power. To punish CA again.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:25 PM
Tuesday

Retrograde

(10,884 posts)
43. Donnie will just take a blue sharpie
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:33 PM
Tuesday

and redirect the Kern river over the mountains to the LA Basin. He doesn't comprehend that those crinkly-looking brownish parts of the map are some pretty high and rugged hills.

IronLionZion

(47,399 posts)
21. If farms don't get water this summer, that should lower grocery prices, right?
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 11:52 AM
Tuesday

or the dry fields will be at high risk of more wildfires.

Botany

(73,081 posts)
32. Those Pecan Orchards in the southern part of the CA's Central Valley need water at very certain times of
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:56 PM
Tuesday

… their growing season for nut production and Trump just dumped that water into a watershed
that flows north and then out to the Pacific if it doesn’t evaporate before then. This is designed
economic terrorism on so many different levels to burn America to the ground by Stochastic and
other methods. And all those red voting farmers will still vote for the GOP. Fuck ‘em.

We are in dangerous times with criminals in charge. These crazy acts are not done independently.

Marcuse

(8,105 posts)
24. Very good. Chaos in your agriculture and trade sectors. Now work on NATO and have Tulsi get me that list of agents.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:15 PM
Tuesday

DENVERPOPS

(10,649 posts)
40. As well as
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:17 PM
Tuesday

a copy of any and all of your Top Secret Military intelligence, as well as any supplied to you from NATO countries, at no cost.

C0RI0LANUS

(2,709 posts)
25. There's no stopping him or his wake of destruction.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:23 PM
Tuesday
America's Godzilla destroyed 2.2 billion gallons of California's water.

patphil

(7,348 posts)
28. Once again, Trump shows his willful ignorance, and takes actions that have consequences he should have seen.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:43 PM
Tuesday

Combine a lack of water with deported farm workers, and California farmers will have a very poor year.
Of course, this might be intentional. Maybe punishing California is his goal, but higher food prices will probably result.
Normally this would hurt him politically, but he isn't planning to run for reelection. He's planning on keeping his job without all the fuss of having an election.
He said so, and I believe him.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-christians-they-wont-have-vote-after-this-election-2024-07-27/

Of course he also said he was a Christian, and he loved Christians. Two lies and a truth?




Martin Eden

(13,751 posts)
30. I wonder how many affected farmers & investors in Agriculture voted for Trump?
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:44 PM
Tuesday

Last edited Tue Feb 4, 2025, 03:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Leopards are running rampant.

Maru Kitteh

(29,510 posts)
36. They will die in the woods eating Dinty Moore from the can in a truck topper on cinder blocks. HAPPY,
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:07 PM
Tuesday

Because they know the “bad” people are being punished. He hates who they hate, and that is all they really need.



NBachers

(18,278 posts)
38. So as I drive down I-5 in the center of the state, will the Hate- Newsom signs be switched to Hate-Trump signs?
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:14 PM
Tuesday

I highly fucking doubt it.

DENVERPOPS

(10,649 posts)
39. I loved when the mayor of Phoenix
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:14 PM
Tuesday

asked Colorado to release more water into the Colorado River in September a couple of years ago....... LOL LOL LOL LOL

I guess he didn't realize Colorado doesn't " Manufacture" water, and the snow melt had long since melted in May, June, and July.

BTW: Phoenix had realized that "developers" in their city, in order to keep building, needed vast amounts of water, so Phoenix had been taking more water than they were allocated, and no one noticed for years and years.

We here in Colorado have been rationing water for a decade or more.......Phoenix not so much. Flying over Phoenix, note the bright green, 30+ golf courses, and a pool in every resident's back yard..............As well as all the residences with bright green lawns.

Attilatheblond

(5,038 posts)
42. Typical GOP mindset: Use every resource up NOW so nobody gets any of it but me now!
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:21 PM
Tuesday

Throw in the Convicted Felon's raging need to throw his weight around to sooth his own insecurities and there is gonna be trouble.

AntiFascist

(13,001 posts)
50. In related news, a Central Valley man leads the effort for California secession...
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 02:45 PM
Tuesday
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Requires Future Vote on Whether California
Should Become Independent Country. Initiative Statute

...
REQUIRES FUTURE VOTE ON WHETHER CALIFORNIA SHOULD BECOME INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. INITIATIVE STATUTE. If enacted, this measure places the following question on November 2028 ballot: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?” If at least 50% of registered voters participate in that election, and at least 55% vote “yes”, it would constitute “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America” and “expression of the will of the people of California” to become an independent country, but would not change California’s current government or relationship with the United States. Creates commission to report on California’s viability as independent country.
https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2025-news-releases-and-advisories/Proposed-Initiative-Enters-Circulation-Requires-Future-Vote-on-Whether-California-Should-Become-Independent-Country

defacto7

(13,774 posts)
53. I wonder how that would align
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 05:21 PM
Tuesday

or conflict with those who want to split red northern CA from the blue south? Then there's the idea where northern CA joins eastern OR, WA and ID to become the Inland Empire state or country. Then there's CA, OR and WA becoming Pacific something or other ...

AntiFascist

(13,001 posts)
55. I don't know, but...
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 07:56 PM
Tuesday

the idea that California sends a lot of wasteful tax dollars used by red states that aren't managed as well may appeal to some on both sides. On the other hand, a lot of farmers depend on Federal programs.

OAITW r.2.0

(29,271 posts)
51. Sabotaging America's future. That's what traitor's do .Does he think only Democrats and Latino's will suffer
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 03:06 PM
Tuesday

from this reckless action?

ecstatic

(34,599 posts)
52. somebody should have said no to trump
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 03:11 PM
Tuesday

and his ridiculous request. That's the bottom line. When people are afraid to speak up we're all less safe.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»CNN: 2.2 billion gallon...