Reliably green and liberal, The New Republic alleges conservatives blame the CA drought on failure to use available water for human uses, ignoring the lack of rainfall. The claim is specious.
All sensible conservative voices, discussing CA water problems, begin with the fact that we live in an arid region. That is one reason CA is so comfortable, because there is no sticky humidity. The air is dry because the countryside is dry.
Where we differ with greens is in our willingness to recognize that humans inevitably impact the environment. CA's great Central Valley once flooded miles wide every spring. It no longer does because of flood control ... oh, the dreaded ecosystem change, very harmful to cattails, reeds, and mosquitos too. Actually, nobody complains.
Yes, we do advocate catching, storing, and using more of the available rain and snowfall. Thus we would allow much less to run off into the Pacific Ocean which, when viewed recently, remains full. True, certain fish species would suffer ... so? They are not important food stocks.
