An Unlikely Ally for Trump's Attack on the Environment?
The Trump administration and Cadiz company won an unlikely ally for their efforts to cut down a national monument designated by President Obama, roll back environmental protections and ignore science. Democratic Congressman Tony Cardenas signed a letter promoting the Cadiz company's plans to pump 16 billion gallons of water a year from Mojave Trails National Monument and sell it to Orange County.
Cardenas' letter regurgitates Cadiz talking points defending the company, and opposing Assembly Bill 1000 (AB1000), state-level legislation that would increase scrutiny of the Cadiz water deal to prevent the company from harming natural springs that wildlife depend upon for survival. It's not clear at first glance why Cardenas would support the Cadiz plan (although he received at least $2,500 in donations from Cadiz).
Writer Judith Lewis Mernit's wisdom probably sheds the most revealing light on the mentality driving Cardenas' support for Cadiz: "[T]he persistence of Cadiz on both sides of the political aisle in California has to do with the lingering belief that rural desert resources—be it space for landfills and energy plants, bomb-testing grounds or access to minerals and water—exist for the comfort of our coastal cities."
This isn't a new dynamic threatening our desert public lands. But it is still disappointing. I'm not sure who is worse. Congressman Paul Cook selling out his own district to let Cadiz profit from selling our water to the coastal cities and destroying our natural wonders, or a Representative who claims to be progressive but backs an early 1900s approach to the environment?
If you want to speak up for our desert widlands and sustainable water policy, support Assembly Bill 1000.
Cardenas' letter regurgitates Cadiz talking points defending the company, and opposing Assembly Bill 1000 (AB1000), state-level legislation that would increase scrutiny of the Cadiz water deal to prevent the company from harming natural springs that wildlife depend upon for survival. It's not clear at first glance why Cardenas would support the Cadiz plan (although he received at least $2,500 in donations from Cadiz).
Writer Judith Lewis Mernit's wisdom probably sheds the most revealing light on the mentality driving Cardenas' support for Cadiz: "[T]he persistence of Cadiz on both sides of the political aisle in California has to do with the lingering belief that rural desert resources—be it space for landfills and energy plants, bomb-testing grounds or access to minerals and water—exist for the comfort of our coastal cities."This isn't a new dynamic threatening our desert public lands. But it is still disappointing. I'm not sure who is worse. Congressman Paul Cook selling out his own district to let Cadiz profit from selling our water to the coastal cities and destroying our natural wonders, or a Representative who claims to be progressive but backs an early 1900s approach to the environment?
If you want to speak up for our desert widlands and sustainable water policy, support Assembly Bill 1000.
Prostitutes, plain and simple
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