The Trump administration is weighing how to take control of water in California — including setting aside endangered species protections — framing its mission in a new executive order as necessary to prevent future wildfires like those that recently swept across Los Angeles.
President Donald Trump issued the order titled “Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas,” following his visit Friday to see fire-damaged areas and meet with local, state and federal elected officials.
“I’m signing an executive order to open up the pumps and valves in the north. We want to get that water pouring down here as quickly as possible and let hundreds of millions of gallons of water flow down into Southern California, and that’ll be a big benefit to you,” Trump said during his meeting with officials. The order was not published by the White House until Sunday.
“You’ll never run out, you’ll never have shortages, and you won’t have things like this, and when you do, you’ll have a lot of water to put it out,” Trump added.
A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Trump was once again conflating water needs for the LA fires with other issues.
“The premise of this executive order is false,” said spokesperson Tara Gallegos. “Attempts to connect water management in Northern California to local wildfire fighting in Los Angeles have zero factual basis. California continues to pump as much water as it did under the Trump administration’s policies, and water operations to move water south through the Delta have absolutely nothing to do with the local fire response in Los Angeles.”
Local experts have said that most reservoirs in Southern California have been largely full in the months leading up to the fires.
Trump’s executive order directs leaders of a half-dozen agencies — the Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Interior and Agriculture departments — to issue reports to the White House within 15 days outlining their powers to “fight and prevent massive wildfires in Southern California.”
The order goes on to instruct the Interior and Commerce leaders to “immediately take actions to override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries.”
Trump’s missive focuses on the flows from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a major water hub for California that provides water to about 30 million people and irrigates 6 million acres of farmland.
Water is sent from the state’s wet north to its dry south via the tandem systems of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, which are operated by California and the federal government, respectively.
Following years of negotiations, the Biden administration and state officials signed off in December on final rules for managing the water, agreeing on a plan to balance water deliveries to farmers, cities and environmental needs including protecting endangered fish like the Delta smelt and chinook salmon.
But in his new executive order, Trump wants federal officials to revert to a plan issued in his previous term that favored flows to farmers over fish.
Trump has spent years criticizing efforts to protect endangered species in the region — particularly the Delta smelt, against which he has a long-publicized grudge — and also indicated he will seek to exempt the fish from protections, possibly using the “God Squad” that can circumvent the Endangered Species Act.
The executive order directs the Interior Department to “expedite action related to any exemption” under the ESA for both the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.
Trump also set a 30-day deadline for each of the six agencies to identify “regulatory hurdles that unduly burden each respective water project,” including state and federal laws.
The order threatens adding “beneficial additional terms” to federal grants, contracts or other funding “to ensure sound disaster prevention and response.”
California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, criticized the move.
“Do not be fooled by Trump’s lies: none of the policies in this executive order will move even a single drop of extra water to communities devastated by these wildfires,” Huffman said. “This administration is presenting us with a false choice. Fishers, farmers, treasured species, and every water user all depend on our water resources — we do not have to pick winners or losers.”
The Westlands Water District, which oversees water deliveries to farms over an area the size of Rhode Island, indicated it supports Trump’s actions, asserting that decades of California and federal management have “not been working; not for the people, for agriculture or for the fish.”
“We appreciate President Trump’s readiness to address these issues head-on and look forward to collaborating with federal and state partners to bring common sense back to the Food Basket of the United States,” Allison Febbo, WWD general manager, said in a statement.
Federico Barajas, executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, similarly praised the Trump administration for highlighting water supply issues.
“We look forward to working with the Administration on a path forward to implement the Order in a way that will improve water supply reliability for the communities, farms, and ecosystems reliant on water from the Water Authority’s member agencies,” Barajas said in a statement.
But environmentalists and conservation groups criticized the move as Trump attempting to seize more water for California’s agricultural sector.
“The challenges of wildfire recovery and water management demand thoughtful, science-based, and community-driven solutions — not political strong-arming that disregards Indigenous rights, possible solutions, and essential environmental protections,” said Josa Talley, a spokesperson for Save California Salmon. “President Trump has placed an unacceptably high cost on these potential federal emergency funds. We urge California to enact state laws to help Californians prepare for fires, safeguard the drinking water quality, and ensure adequate water flows in our rivers.”
Patricia Schifferle, director of Pacific Advocates, likewise noted that the executive order reaches far beyond the region impacted by the recent wildfires, effectively running “roughshod over California water policy.”
“Trump’s Executive Order does little to help the people ravaged by the fires and instead uses the federal purse and power to take more water for central valley irrigators and his donors,” Schifferle said.
But Trump’s bid to reopen negotiations about operating the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project may be unable to create immediate action.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, suggested that even if the Trump administration finds a way to quickly reopen the record of decision finalized by Interior last year, any changes could be slowed by an expected slew of litigation, whether from California or outside groups.
“The short answer is Trump can’t do anything quickly other than demand all agencies move quickly,” Hartl said.
“It doesn’t lend itself to any easy answers because our water supplies are overdrawn,” Hartl added. “He’s not going to solve it with an executive order that pointlessly scapegoats endangered fish.”
