Stockton, CA — In response to reports that Governor Gavin Newsom will meet with President Donald Trump and Republican leaders tomorrow, February 5, 2025, to discuss the Los Angeles fires and California’s water management, we urge the Governor to defend California’s people, environment, and laws in these discussions.
The President’s recent executive orders (EOs) attempt to undermine California’s right to manage its water for the benefit of all Californians. By leveraging the urgent need for federal disaster relief in Los Angeles, the administration is pressuring the state to accept changes in water policy that would devastate California’s watershed communities. Federal aid should not come with conditions that force California to sacrifice its clean water, cultural resources, and ecological health. The pain and suffering of Los Angeles residents must be addressed immediately — just as in any other natural disaster across the United States — without tying it to unrelated, harmful policy changes.
The Federal EO seeks to override state law, harming Tribes, cultural resources, vulnerable riverside communities, and clean water throughout San Francisco Bay’s watershed and Central Valley river systems. Moreover, the President’s policies threaten to devastate coastal communities that rely on California’s commercial and recreational fishing industries. Implementation of this unlawful EO would ensure further degradation of California’s clean water and living rivers, and may lead to extinction of native species, including the state’s iconic salmon runs. Destroying river and coastal economies worth billions of dollars to repair the damage in Los Angeles does not solve any problems for California.
On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, we stand ready to defend California’s people, environment, and laws. We call on Governor Newsom to defend all California regions and uphold our State laws on behalf of all people.
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