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Gov. Gavin Newsom has mishandled California’s severe, year-long drought during his tenure while the state’s farms face declining yields, House Minority Chairman Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News.
“I think Gavin Newsom failed on the water issue,” said McCarthy, who represents a district in California’s Central Valley.
For the second time in nine years, California is facing a generational drought — a dry spell so severe it typically occurs only once per generation, according to Erik Ekdahl, associate director for water at the California State Water Resources Control Board. The Golden State has also endured a mega-drought — a drought lasting more than 20 years — since 2000, Ekdahl said.
“I think the state has actually done remarkably good planning, preparation and execution for the drought,” Ekdahl told Fox News.
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Gov. Gavin Newsom mishandled the drought in California.
(Fox News Digital/Jon Michael Raasch)
Regardless, farmer yields suffer and, consequently, their businesses suffer, said Sam Parnagian, a third-generation farmer in California’s Central Valley. More than a third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
“You’re going to see tens of thousands of acres that used to have nuts, almonds and pistachios, and they’re just bare,” Parnagian told Fox News. “It’s just dust.”
According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Drought Center, California experienced a brief respite from the drought in 2019, just months after Newsom took office. But by 2021, the state was again plunged into a major drought across the board – and it could get even worse.
“There is a very real prospect of a fourth year and possibly a fifth year of drought,” Ekdahl told Fox News.
Newsom, a Democrat, needs to use the drought-free period to prepare, McCarthy said.
“You should save it in the rich years to have for years to come when it comes to drought,” McCarthy, a Republican, told Fox News. “That would show you good management.”
McCarthy District includes a portion of Kern County, 70% of which is designated as having “extraordinary” drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Extraordinary drought, the most intense and devastating type of drought, can result in widespread wildlife death, removal of orchards, increased likelihood of wildfires, and low crop yields, according to NOAA.
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According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 97% of California’s population is experiencing severe to exceptional drought
(U.S. Drought Monitor)
Newsom outlined a 142-step plan in 2020 to make California more drought-resistant. It included long-term projects such as building new water reservoirs, surveying new water sources, and dismantling dams.
Many of these have yet to be built, according to a progress report released in January. Ekdahl said many of the water projects could take years to complete.
“They didn’t build any new reservoirs, they didn’t build any new dams,” McCarthy told Fox News. They keep pouring water into the ocean.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“The governor has worked with lawmakers to invest $8 billion to implement the strategies in the Water Resilience Portfolio, which focuses on diversifying our water supplies, enhancing ecosystems, improving infrastructure and ensuring that… California can handle hotter and drier weather better,” Erin Mellon, a Newsom spokesman, told the Los Angeles Times in July.
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But others agreed with McCarthy.
“Today, the Newsom administration and legislature have done little more than address water shaming,” Steven Greenhut, director of the R Street Institute’s western region, wrote in the Orange County Register. “Where are the plans to strengthen our water storage capacity?”
Newsom called on Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15% in 2021, but in March 2022 the use increased by 19%. In response, the governor threatened mandatory restrictions.
“There is no reason to shame westerners for their water use, but there is reason to shame our officials for not doing their part to modernize and build new water infrastructure,” Greenhut wrote, noting that Newsom California’s nearly $100 billion surplus should be used for investment in water facilities. He also blamed former Gov. Jerry Brown for inaction during another drought hiatus when he was in office.
US Drought Monitor map showing drought intensity in the western United States
(U.S. Drought Monitor)
However, Newsom has also been criticized for not imposing stricter restrictions.
“We know it’s an election year and Newsom doesn’t want to upset voters, but the failure to enforce mandatory water cuts in the midst of this crisis shows a staggering lack of leadership,” wrote the Mercury News and East Bay Times editors.
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According to the State Department of Water Resources, approximately 80% of California’s water use is used for agriculture.
“We are one of the most fertile countries in the world and we should use it to maximize our industry here in California and food for the world,” Parnagian told Fox News.
But according to Ekdahl, the drought even reduced farmers’ water consumption and thus reduced their economic output.
Some ranchers have even had to sell their cattle, which could lead to a spike in beef prices, FOX Business previously reported.
Governor Gavin Newsom stands on the edge of a reduced Lopez Lake near Arroyo Grande, California.
(David Middlecamp/The San Luis Obispo Grandstand via AP, file)
“You see people starting to manage the water that is available,” Parnagian told Fox News. “And we’re limited to the crops we can grow. We are limited to the returns we can generate.”
California rice producers are weighing imports from Japan and South Korea as domestic production has fallen sharply, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported.
Former climate and conservation manager for the California State Water Resources Control Board, Max Gomberg, also felt that Newsom isn’t doing the right thing about water resilience. But Gomberg, who said he left his post because the governor wasn’t aggressive enough on climate change, feels preferential treatment is given to agriculture.
A small stream flows through the drought-ravaged, cracked soil of a former wetland near Tulelake, California.
(AP Photo/Nathan Howard, file)