http://www.californiadroughtupdate.org/pdf/20170323-California-Drought-(and-Flood)-Update.pdf
Our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, was born right here in Kentucky…. And the great 19th Century American statesman Henry Clay represented Kentucky in the United States Congress.
Henry Clay believed in what he called the American System. And proposed tariffs to protect American industry and finance American infrastructure…
So as you folks all know, Henry Clay was the legendary Kentucky politician who became the eighth Speaker of the House in 1811….
And explaining his American System, Clay argued that the sole object to the tariff is to tax the produce, and remember, to tax the produce of foreign industry with the view of promoting American industry. For too long our government has abandoned the American System.
President Donald Trump
Louisville, Kentucky
March 20, 2017
A Note To Readers
Yes, I did it again. I have given President Trump the quote to introduce my report. That is twice within the month. This time we feature his call for a return to the “American System,” of which he states that, “For too long our government has abandoned the American System.” As regular readers should know, for months I have discussed the American System of Alexander Hamilton, and how we must return to that idea, if we are to fix anything in the nation, much less the water management system of California.
It was not just in Louisville that the President raised this theme, but also in Detroit last week and to the Republican Congressional dinner on March 21. Later in this report I will present more of his remarks. That will be accompanied by some material that is more explicit than the words of the President on what exactly is the American System? But, I do hope you all have caught the importance of his remarks.
Our report this week does underline the importance of Americans understanding how we will fix what we must declare to be, our collapsing infrastructure. Droughts and floods, as my title now reads, requires that we declare that mankind must never be subject to the whims of nature. When we are, then we have failed to be that unique species that clearly determines its own destiny.
Oroville Dam is a case in point, and the report on it below is probably the clearest demonstration of the bankruptcy of more than 40 years of neglecting our infrastructure.
The drought, it is true, is mostly gone, though, as I often remind readers, the damage shall linger for years. The U.S. Drought Monitor is little changed from last week, and its inclusion here has now become little more than some color added to the report.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which built and manages the Central Valley Project, announced this week its probably final allocation of water this year for the region south of the Delta. It is 65 percent of what the water contractors have requested, while all other areas of the state served by the CVP shall receive 100 percent. I include some choice words by Aubrey Bettencourt, Executive Director of the California Water Alliance, in response to the Bureau’s announcement.
Following that report is the warning by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who declared a state of emergency Monday in response to possible flooding that could occur along the Los Angeles aqueduct system when the “historic” snowpack in the Eastern Sierras starts melting this spring.
And with the remaining days of March, as is the forecast, set to give us more rain and snow, I’ll just remind you that with apparently the largest snowpack since 1895 getting ready to melt and flood us, the Mayor’s warning will apply to the entire state.
I include also this week several items on agriculture and its relationship to the new Trump administration, a sort of love/worry one at this time. With cuts to the Agricultural Department budget and the issue of illegal immigrants, the President seems to be poking one of his most solid constituents.
