Trump Just Gave the Fire Victims in LA a Long Overdue Present That Will Change Everything

One of President Donald Trump’s initial executive orders issued on Monday was a directive to implement a plan that would increase water deliveries from northern California to the central and southern regions of the state.

Trump highlighted the lack of water as a contributing factor to the widespread destruction caused by the California wildfires.

In his Jan. 20 order — titled “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California” — addressed to the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior Departments, Trump stated, “During my first term, the State of California, at the direction of its Governor [Gavin Newsom], filed a lawsuit to stop my Administration from implementing improvements to California’s water infrastructure. My Administration’s plan would have allowed enormous amounts of water to flow from the snow melt and rainwater in rivers in Northern California to beneficial use in the Central Valley and Southern California.”

He continued, “This catastrophic halt was allegedly in protection of the Delta smelt and other species of fish. Today, this enormous water supply flows wastefully into the Pacific Ocean.”

Politico reported that Newsom had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in 2020 to block federal water rule changes that were expected to deliver 600,000 acre-feet of water annually from northern California to the southern parts of the state.

Newsom argued that the Endangered Species Act applied to the Delta smelt and salmon, making Trump’s proposed rule changes unlawful.

The Biden administration later sided with Newsom, finalizing a rule change last month.

Trump further emphasized in his Monday executive order, “The recent deadly and historically destructive wildfires in Southern California underscore why the State of California needs a reliable water supply and sound vegetation management practices in order to provide water desperately needed there, and why this plan must immediately be reimplemented.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that firefighters working to contain the fires in the exclusive Pacific Palisades area faced difficulties with fire hydrants running dry.

One reason was that a 117 million-gallon reservoir in the region was depleted and had been down for maintenance since February of the previous year.

In concluding his order, Trump specified that within 90 days of the memorandum, he expects the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to report back to him with progress on the directive and recommendations for future implementation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Cal Fire reported two major fires in the Los Angeles area: the Palisades Fire, which was 63% contained, and the Eaton Fire, which was 89% contained.

So far, the wildfires in southern California have claimed 28 lives, scorched over 40,600 acres, and destroyed approximately 15,800 structures.

During a pre-inauguration day rally in Washington, Trump pledged, “Together, we will rebuild Los Angeles better, more beautiful than ever before.”

He also noted that Los Angeles would host the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics, assuring that the city would be prepared.