The Battle of the Smelt

Delta smelt used be common throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin estuary until its water was diverted to supply the 25 million people and farmers who live in the area. Invasive species and changes in water salinity and clarity also played a role in the smelt’s decline. They were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1993 and a recovery plan was established in 1996. The average population between 2000 and 2006 was 353 fish. That population crashed to just 25 fish the following year. The EPA ordered to reduce the water diverted for human use and let it flow to the ocean, restoring the smelt's home environment. 

Trump is trying to undermine California's water policies that disregard the needs of the population to "protect" a barely surviving fish. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this month ordered agencies under his jurisdiction, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, to circumvent the Endangered Species Act on the pretext that water deliveries blocked by ESA rules were needed to fight California wildfires. 

California's self-imposed "drought" is difficult to understand - it is magic cult of sacred "Nature" that never existed. America is fighting Chinese competition, poverty, etc.  with one hand tied behind. Can President Trump work the miracle of dividing the waters between Man and the Smelt?