California Fires - Politics of Blame & Trump water claims

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Instead of sending disaster relief aid to California, should Congress just pass a law that refunds to the State of California all federal revenues received from California that are in excess of federal expenditures in California? Surely this is the sort of fair, equitable, and commonsense solutions that the GOP champions.
ETA: The most recent data I could find, 2022, California sent $83 billion more to the federal government than it received back. I guess Republicans really do believe, "From them that has to them that needs."
Link: Balance of Payments Portal | Rockefeller Institute of Government
We self-reliant paragons of virtue in deep red North Carolina, only received a paltry $53B more from the Feds than we pay in. Our stalwart patriots in the NCGA should demand, demand I say, that this ill-gotten $53B be stripped from NC and forthwith, forthwith I say, sent to our brothers and sisters in need in California.
 
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“… Trump says he does not think his administration should give California any federal funds until the state “lets water flow down into there from the north to the south.”

The Trump team has been attacking California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his response to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, citing Newsom’s legal challenge in 2020 to a Trump plan to send more water from Northern California to farmers. Newsom at the time said he wanted to protect ecosystems in the region.

Trump’s criticism lacks evidence. Experts have said there is no connection between water kept in the north of the state and the spread of wildfires in southern California or the challenge of responding to the fires. …”

 
  • Records show L.A. County missed dozens of opportunities for water infrastructure improvements that experts say likely would have helped firefighters during the Palisades fire.
  • Some of the long-delayed projects were specifically aimed at improving “fire flow” and ensuring enough water during emergencies.
  • A county official said that the water system “performed as designed” during the Palisades fire, and that additional water would have saved “relatively few homes.”
Los Angeles County officials missed dozens of opportunities for water infrastructure improvements that experts say probably would have enabled firefighters to save more homes during the Palisades fire, public records show.

As crews battled the blaze, attempting to extinguish flames that burned huge swaths of L.A. County and killed at least 11 people, some hydrants ran dry.

The lack of water has come under scrutiny since the wildfire broke out Jan. 7, with officials scrambling to explain why the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir was left empty for maintenance.


www.latimes.com

Officials were warned of failing water system before Palisades fire. Fixes never happened

Thousands of pages of records reviewed by The Times show L.A. County officials had for years described water infrastructure in areas where hydrants ran dry during the Palisades fire as 'leak prone,' 'severely undersized' and not having enough flow to support firefighters.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
 
chrissteel said:
  • Records show L.A. County missed dozens of opportunities for water infrastructure improvements that experts say likely would have helped firefighters during the Palisades fire.
  • Some of the long-delayed projects were specifically aimed at improving “fire flow” and ensuring enough water during emergencies.
  • A county official said that the water system “performed as designed” during the Palisades fire, and that additional water would have saved “relatively few homes.”
Los Angeles County officials missed dozens of opportunities for water infrastructure improvements that experts say probably would have enabled firefighters to save more homes during the Palisades fire, public records show.

As crews battled the blaze, attempting to extinguish flames that burned huge swaths of L.A. County and killed at least 11 people, some hydrants ran dry.

The lack of water has come under scrutiny since the wildfire broke out Jan. 7, with officials scrambling to explain why the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir was left empty for maintenance.


www.latimes.com

Officials were warned of failing water system before Palisades fire. Fixes never happened

Thousands of pages of records reviewed by The Times show L.A. County officials had for years described water infrastructure in areas where hydrants ran dry during the Palisades fire as 'leak prone,' 'severely undersized' and not having enough flow to support firefighters.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
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I feel like it’s been stated over and over again that it’s the wind not a lack of water that has wreaked havoc.
 
Bigs23 said:
I feel like it’s been stated over and over again that it’s the wind not a lack of water that has wreaked havoc.
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As someone who has more than a passing interest in California wildfires and knows lots of wildfire attorneys, I think it is a bit premature to assign percentages of blame for the Palisades fire. I know the attorneys will be looking very closely at the water issues, and there will likely be many wildfire experts over the next several years assigning blame percentages.

There is not a lot that can be done about wind or drought. But like most wildfires around here, there are human decisions that can exacerbate or lessen the impact of wind and drought. It may well be that negligence significantly increased the extent of the Palisades fire. That chapter has yet to be written.
 
Calheel said:
As someone who has more than a passing interest in California wildfires and knows lots of wildfire attorneys, I think it is a bit premature to assign percentages of blame for the Palisades fire. I know the attorneys will be looking very closely at the water issues, and there will likely be many wildfire experts over the next several years assigning blame percentages.

There is not a lot that can be done about wind or drought. But like most wildfires around here, there are human decisions that can exacerbate or lessen the impact of wind and drought. It may well be that negligence significantly increased the extent of the Palisades fire. That chapter has yet to be written.
Click to expand...
Your point is generally correct, and you surely have a lot more insight and information than me.

But the problem here, as I understand it, was that the tremendous rains from last year caused huge vegetation growth, which then dried out and created kindling for fire.

If the cycle is a year or so, there's not a lot forest managers can do.

As you well know, the biggest problem is people building homes in fire areas.
 
Calheel said:
As someone who has more than a passing interest in California wildfires and knows lots of wildfire attorneys, I think it is a bit premature to assign percentages of blame for the Palisades fire. I know the attorneys will be looking very closely at the water issues, and there will likely be many wildfire experts over the next several years assigning blame percentages.

There is not a lot that can be done about wind or drought. But like most wildfires around here, there are human decisions that can exacerbate or lessen the impact of wind and drought. It may well be that negligence significantly increased the extent of the Palisades fire. That chapter has yet to be written.
Click to expand...
Tell me more about these “wildfire attorneys”
 
superrific said:
Your point is generally correct, and you surely have a lot more insight and information than me.

But the problem here, as I understand it, was that the tremendous rains from last year caused huge vegetation growth, which then dried out and created kindling for fire.

If the cycle is a year or so, there's not a lot forest managers can do.

As you well know, the biggest problem is people building homes in fire areas.
Click to expand...
All of that is true. But it also appears that decisions were made by governmental officials that made fighting the fire harder and less effective than it should have been.

That said, it is still early days and it may turn out that there was no negligence by anyone. I’m just reserving judgment on that for now.
 
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