On Sep 17, 12:40*pm, 1949 Whizzer <macmi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Save the delta smelt, lose the Mexicans. Is that such a bad deal for
> California?
>
> Local TV ads from White farmers decry the drying up of California
> agricultural land which normally receives water from the Sacramento
> River delta via the California Aqueduct that runs the length of the
> state.
>
> Agriculture accounts for half of California's economy, and the
> spokeman for the farmers is saying, "If you like foreign oil, you're
> going to love foreign food," implying that California, and much of the
> rest of the nation will be eating produce imported from Mexico and
> Chile, where it will be grown and harvested by Mexicans and Chileans,
> etc.
>
> San Hannity's TV show about the irrigation water shortage in
> California's central valley takes place in Huron, CA and recent news
> programs have shown Mexican farm workers lined up at food banks,
> tearfully embarrassed to be taking charity again.
>
> They say that they want to work, that they don't want welfare...
>
> But why did Hannity pick Huron, out in the middle of an area which is
> technically a *desert*, receiving less than 10 inches of rain a year?
>
> Huron is a small town in Fresno County, California, in the United
> States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,306. During
> the harvest season, the population swells to over 15,000 people due to
> the influx of migrant farm workers.
>
> In the 2000 census, 98.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of
> any race. The per capita income for the city was $9,425. About 38.3%
> of families and 39.4% of the population were below the poverty line,
> including 48.4% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or
> over.
>
> The greatest percentage of farmland surrounding Huron is devoted to
> the production of lettuce, onions and tomatoes. The city has only had
> 5 violent gang related homicides since 2003.
>
> In July 2009, action by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation to protect
> threatened fish stopped irrigation pumping to parts of the California
> Central Valley causing canals leading into Huron and the surrounding
> areas and the farms that rely on them to dry up.
>
> Delta smelt used to be a common fish in the Sacramento - San Joaquin
> rivers estuary. The population is much smaller than historically and
> the species was listed in 1993 as threatened under the California
> Endangered Species Act (CESA) and Federal Endangered Species Act
>
> On August 31, 2007, California Federal Judge Oliver Wanger of Federal
> District Court protected the rare declining fish delta smelt by
> severely curtailing human use water deliveries at San Joaquin-
> Sacramento River delta from December to June. These are the pumps at
> the Banks Pumping Plant that send water to Central and Southern
> California for agricultural and residential use.
>
> The judge said pressure from the pumps helped reverse the natural
> direction of water within the estuary, damaging habitat and killing
> delta smelt, a fish that experts say might be on the brink of
> extinction.
>
> “The evidence is uncontradicted that these project operations move the
> fish,” the judge said. Under the ruling, limits would be put in place
> from the end of December, when the fish are about to spawn, until
> June, when young fish can move into areas with better habitat and more
> food.
>
> Unemployment in Huron has reached over 35% as farms dried up. Governor
> Schwarzenegger stated the Federal action is putting the fish "above
> the needs of millions of Californians." The issue received coverage on
> the Hannity program from Fox News broadcasting from Huron.
>
> Comedian Paul Rodriguez acted as a celebrity spokesperson criticizing
> the action as his mother owns a farm in the area.
>
> Rodriguez has another interest in farming: he is the chairman of the
> California Latino Water Coalition, a group trying to draw attention to
> California's dire water situation.
>
> Over here on the east side of the central valley, farmers don't depend
> on water from the California aqueduct, they receive snow melt from the
> Sierra Nevada, and they're not so affected by the delta smelt issue.
>
> One of our hispanic city councilmen recently boasted about his
> political activism and his march with the *California Latino Water
> Coalition and locals wondered why there would be a *latino"
> coalition.
>
> Now we understand. The latinos need to water to keep flowing into the
> California desert, or they will have to go back home to find work
> picking lettuce...
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