Not so.

The Tea Party Express, I and II, is a grassroots organization that traveled across the country twice in the last three months to
join with Tea Parties across the nation to bring awareness to the governments taxing policies as well as other anti Constitutional actions such as the so-called “Health Care Reform” bills which are not reform in any manner.

The Tea Party Express is involved with many issues brought to the attention of the citizens at Tea Parties across the country.

The first TPX tour attended about 40 teaparties across the country which were attended by 30-40,000 citizens to express their desire to keep our country a Constitutional Republic.

It culminated in the 9-12 rally which was attended by about 1.5 million people.

The second TPX Tour (TPXII) had 40 teaparties with about 50,000 grass roots Americans in attendance.

The Tea Party Express wishes success to these ventures described on this website.

That said, the California water crisis is big government at its worst. The state “manages” the water supply not via a free market or even a political process, but simply by just shutting it off because a tiny fish is more important than the economic lifeblood and contributions of farmers. Maybe we could find a tiny fish on capitol hill and shut off their water too.

Simply put farmers in the Central Valley don’t actually want the Federal Government involved in this at all. However, at the time the project was conceived and constructed in the early 30′s the State of California simply didn’t have the funds to complete the project. (Guess some things never change ) Therefore, to supplement the bonds that were paid for in part by California’s taxpayers but in larger part by the water users (farmers and municipal water districts) the state petitioned the federal government for monetary support and (unfortunately) they got it. The project was paid for with bond money though, so it was not a subsidy program. In fact the water that growers receive now they still pay for. It’s also important to note the Central Valley Project was constructed for several reasons; to prevent overdraft of underground aquifers by farmers and municipal users and also to prevent the flooding of many large cities, principally Sacramento, in high snow and rainfall years. The fact that the project is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation is what apparently gives Congress and the Federal Government the ability to turn off water deliveries, under the Endangered Species Act. But even this is being contested in Federal court right now by the Pacific Legal Foundation.

I’m a 25 year old fourth generation farmer in California’s Central Valley.(I also have a BS and an MBA, so I don’t know if I still qualify as a “bucktoothed” hick farmer, but I like to act the part) What is happening here is criminally unconstitutional.
The heart of the matter is a question of property rights and the right of the Federal and State government to confiscate land or water for uses that they deem fit while still forcing land owners to pay their property taxes, regardless of how worthless their land now is, and for what little water they receive. For example; in the past year growers in the Westland’s Water District which serves the area currently in question, have received 10% of their contracted water allotment while still paying 100% of their fees and taxes. Now, I don’t know how anyone else would feel about this but if I walked into a 7-11 bought a 32 oz slurpee then received only 3.2 oz while the cashier proceeded to pour the rest down the drain I’d be pretty pissed off. That’s what is happening to farmers it’s just on a way more grotesque scale, because the trickle down effect for California will be completely irreversible, entire towns will dry up so to speak.

The Central Valley is one of only 3 areas in the world, one of which is Iraq, that are bio-diverse enough with the right climate to support the varied vegetable, fruit, nut, grain, dairy, and meat production that Central California supports. California ag now produces over 400 different commodities and in 2007 recorded $36.6 billion in direct farm sales, that figure does not include value added product or supporting and secondarily related industries. We have a tremendous gift here, it would be wholly immoral to allow it to simply dry up over foolish and petty politics.

If anyone is still awake after reading this there are a lot of real good resources for information:

US Bureau of Reclamation, http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/index.html

State of California, http://www.water.ca.gov

California Department of Food and Agriculture, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov

http://www.familiesprotectingthevalley.com/ ; Nonprofit group based in Fresno that is a real clearinghouse for water information

http://www.nunes.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=350eb49e-b0d0-fc95-f8bb-37ee86400e38 ; Website of Congressman Devin Nunes discussing water issues at the Congressional level

The consequences of turning the water off have become extreme–empty fields, unemployment at nearly 40% in some cities, empty food banks that can’t meet demand. Those of us who don’t make our living in agriculture are becoming increasingly unable to fill the gap with our donations, etc. Something has to give, and soon.

Yes, regulators are human and political and will make mistakes just as certainly as people will over-consume desirable resources until they collapse.

Can we have some more FACTS here, including the history of the water resource and the agriculture in the region?