{"id":1577230,"date":"2022-07-28T18:01:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T22:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577230"},"modified":"2022-07-28T18:01:23","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T22:01:23","slug":"leftist-california-water-official-quits-blames-newsom-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leftist-california-water-official-quits-blames-newsom-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftist California Water Official Quits, Blames Newsom Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleftist-california-water-official-quits-blames-newsom-administration%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577230&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"p1\">Max Gomberg, a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/climate-change\">climate change<\/a> mitigation strategist with progressive views, resigned from the California State Water Resources Control Board this month, pointing to Governor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u2019s<\/a> (D-CA) administration\u2019s unwillingness to make changes during a drought in the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In a resignation message, Gomberg <a href=\"https:\/\/onthepublicrecord.org\/2022\/07\/16\/on-your-watch\/\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cThese are dark and uncertain times, both because fascists are regaining power and because climate change is rapidly decreasing the habitability of many places.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Invoking a wish list of progress policies, Gomberg lamented, \u201c[s]adly, this state is not on a path towards steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, massive construction to alleviate the housing crisis, quickly and permanently reducing agriculture to manage the loss of water to aridification, and reducing law enforcement and carceral budgets and reallocating resources to programs that actually increase public health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He claimed that all of the listed policies \u201cand more\u201d are needed \u201cfor an equitable and livable future.\u201d He added, \u201cyou convince yourselves that inhabiting the middle ground between advocates and industry (and other status quo defenders) makes you reasonable. But it does not. It makes you complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The main focus of Gomberg\u2019s ire, however, was directed at Newsom\u2019s administration, along with some of his colleagues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWitnessing the agency\u2019s ability to tackle big challenges nearly eviscerated by this Administration has been gut wrenching,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe way some of you have simply rolled over and accepted this has also been difficult to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Newsom spokesperson Erin Mellon pushed back on Gomberg\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe Governor has worked with the legislature to invest $8 billion to implement the strategies in the\u00a0Water Resilience Portfolio, which focuses on diversifying our water supplies, enhancing ecosystems, improving infrastructure and ensuring California is better able to manage hotter and drier weather,\u201d Mellon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-07-28\/california-drought-official-blasts-newsom-administration\">told<\/a> the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">One bright side, according to Gomberg, was the organization\u2019s \u201ccommitment to racial equity.\u201d In an interview with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-07-28\/california-drought-official-blasts-newsom-administration\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>, however, he noted that he believes the water rights system is \u201cfundamentally unjust and unsuited to contemporary challenges brought on by climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Water Education Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.watereducation.org\/aquapedia\/water-rights-california\">explained<\/a> the water rights process in California. Controversy has arisen through the difference between two methods of securing a right to water. \u201cRiparian rights\u201d belong to people who own land next to a water source, and have the right to utilize the water. \u201cAppropriative rights\u201d came into being during the Gold Rush when settlers could claim the right to water through \u201cfirst in time, first in right,\u201d meaning whoever claimed the water first got to have it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/aquaoso.com\/water-rights\/water-rights-california\/\">Aquaoso<\/a>, certain appropriative rights secured before 1914 in the state have been grandfathered in using a seniority method, but rights given after 1914 must go through a registration process and get official paperwork.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThere is no equitable approach to water management that doesn\u2019t undo that system,\u201d Gomberg said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gomberg criticized the administration for going after \u201cvoluntary agreements\u201d with large water suppliers to get water for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u2019s ecosystem needs, calling their method a \u201chuge waste of time.\u201d He also said he thinks Newsom\u2019s administration has not dealt with inequity in the water rights system, has kept a twenty-year time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2021-12-16\/its-a-race-to-the-bottom-for-agricultural-wells\">span<\/a> for entirely enforcing new groundwater rules, and has favored the \u201cperpetuation of status-quo power structures,\u201d as local groundwater agencies now include people who are on the side of the irrigation districts and the needs of growers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gomberg seemed to believe that agriculture was at fault for much of the issues, even as he suggested changing the water rights system. He said the administration has shown \u201czero inclination\u201d to look into an equilibrium of farmers\u2019 use of water and the environmental and rural communities\u2019 requirements. If water was no longer prioritized for certain environmental initiatives, however, farmers would be in a much better position than they are today in the extremely dry conditions where over 97% of the state is in a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.drought.gov\/states\/california\">severe drought<\/a>\u201c and almost 60% is in \u201cextreme drought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He suggested that farming methods need to change in the state, even as farmers struggle to get the resources they need and looming water regulations threaten to further push out small family farms and growers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI think California needs an agriculture policy,\u201d Gomberg said. \u201cThe de-facto policy is cheap food, as cheap as possible. Don\u2019t do anything that would in any way impinge on the ability of people growing any kind of agricultural product to grow as much as they want, where they want, with however much water they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Gomberg added that California\u2019s many water systems have made it possible for agricultural output to overdraw water resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThere are the zillions of acres of almonds and grapes. It\u2019s not sustainable,\u201d Gomberg said. \u201cEveryone knows it\u2019s not sustainable, just like everyone knows the amount of withdrawals from the shrinking\u00a0Colorado River\u00a0system are not sustainable. But it\u2019s almost like it\u2019s a game of chicken right now. Everyone\u2019s waiting for someone else to blink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Farmers, however, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2022-07-26\/drought-farming-central-california\">said<\/a> they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Max Gomberg, a former climate change mitigation strategist with leftist views, resigned from the California State Water Resources Control Board this month, pointing to Governor Gavin Newsom\u2019s (D-CA) administration\u2019s unwillingness to make changes during a drought in the state. In a resignation message, Gomberg wrote, \u201cThese are dark and uncertain times, both because fascists are &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1577378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}