Federal agencies in the Obama Administration that have curtailed the pumping of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are striking back after feeling the heat turned up for them to release water to more than a million acres of farmland and 25 million Californians.  Federal officials "scolded" Gov. Schwarzenegger, as described by national news analyst Sean Hannity of Fox News during a live television broadcast from a fallowed farm field on the west side of Fresno County.  Schwarzenegger had called on the officials to revisit operational decisions that have turned more water over to fish.  Federal officials responded by saying California's water problems are the result of three years of drought.

On the same day as Hannity's broadcast, U.S. Department of Interior officials in Washington, D.C., issued an arrogant statement titled "Reality Check:  California's Water Crisis."  Part of the federal statement argued that citizen calls to "turn the pumps on" are baseless since the federal pumps are currently operating at increased flows.  But the statement fails to acknowledge that the irrigation season for San Joaquin Valley farmers has passed and when the new irrigation season begins next year, environmental regulations will again disrupt the pumping process.

Executive Director Dan Nelson of the San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority took exception to the federal statement by issuing an immediate response in which he provided a statistical response that proves the environmental restrictions have created a regulatory drought. 

Interior press release

Dan Nelson response