Rep. Doug LaMalfa: Regulations 'Choking Off Agriculture' with Unscientific Species Listings

Opposition to Long Fin Smelt Listing

• 🎯 Rep. Doug LaMalfa is speaking in support of HJRES78 to block the US Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to list the San Francisco Bay Delta population of the long fin smelt as endangered.
• 🔬 The listing is criticized for abandoning best available scientific information, ignoring data gaps, and disregarding peer-reviewed criticisms.
• ⚠️ The Fish and Wildlife Service allegedly used unreliable data, unjustified analysis results, and flawed predictions, employing detection methods not designed for the species.

Water Management and Agriculture Impact

• 💧 Environmental groups are blamed for pushing the listing after tens of millions of acre feet of water have flowed out to the Delta, while ignoring issues like effluent from Bay Area cities.
• 🌾 Farmers are facing challenges, with recent allocations at only 50%, and this listing is predicted to cause a shortage for Central Valley farmers similar to the shortfall in St. Louis reservoir capacity.
• 🌊 Statistics show that 80% of water flowing into the Delta goes directly to the Pacific Ocean, and operating pumps could fill reservoirs like St. Louis.

Infrastructure and Policy Criticisms

• 🏗️ LaMalfa advocates for water infrastructure projects such as building Sites Reservoir and raising Shasta Dam, which would provide significant new water storage.
• 🐺 He criticizes policies like the introduction of wolves, tearing down dams, and the water allocation issues in Scott and Shasta Valley, which he argues are taken away from farmers.
• 📈 The representative argues that regulations and policies originating from Washington are choking off agriculture, making food more expensive, and forcing reliance on imported products with lower quality standards.

Accountability and Legal Battles

• ⚖️ The resolution is seen as a tool to review government actions and hold agencies accountable for unscientific pronouncements.
• 🚫 The courts are perceived as being stacked against farmers, making it difficult to fight against these regulatory actions.
• 🌾 The long fin smelt is described as the latest weapon used against agriculture and people's needs, impacting the production of key crops like tomatoes, pistachios, and almonds.