by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
Newsom’s emergency drought declaration covered only two counties north of San Francisco which ‘serve his French Laundry wine and cheese crowd’
Last week, while standing in a dried out bed on Lake Mendocino, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency… but not for the entire state of California as expected. Newsom only declared a drought emergency for two Northern California counties last week, leaving the vast agricultural Central Valley region in the dust.
While California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal, each of California’s droughts are billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. Scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say California has been dry for significantly longer periods — more than 200 years, the Globe reported this week.
However, water has long been grossly mismanaged and used as a political football in the state of California, to the detriment of the people, agriculture and wildlife.
