The water shortage on the Valley's west side got thrust into the national spotlight Thursday as conservative commentator Sean Hannity broadcast his Fox News Channel show "Hannity" live from a farm near Huron.
Several thousand people cheered him as he made fun of "radical environmentalists," saying they are protecting the delta smelt over the needs of farmers and their workers.
Hannity also chided President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership in Washington, challenging them to "turn the water back on."
"It's becoming a Dust Bowl out here," he said.
Among his guests were former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry; comedian Paul Rodriguez, chairman of California Latino Water Coalition; and Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia; George Radanovich, R-Mariposa; and Jim Costa, D-Fresno.
The crowd cheered Autry, Rodriguez, Nunes and Radanovich, but many of them booed Costa.
"Turning the water off is not just bad politics," Autry said. "It's domestic terror."
Autry said Obama knows what's going on in the Valley, but has ignored it.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told Hannity via satellite that he was powerless to turn the water on because it was a federal issue. He blamed federal judges, saying they protected the fish, but not farmers or farmworkers "who put food on our plate."
The broadcast aired from the farm of Mark Anderson, whose family grows several thousand acres of vegetables and cotton north of Huron. The field was planted last year in cotton, Anderson said, but is fallow because of a lack of water.
Dramatic cuts in water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have hit Westlands Water District, where growers expected only 10% of their contracted federal water allocation this year -- the lowest in more than over 30 years.
In addition, pumping restrictions to protect the delta smelt and salmon make it hard for farmers to obtain surplus water from Northern California, forcing them to pump low-quality, salty ground water just to keep crops alive.
"I'm happy this is going to be serious national exposure for the issue," Nunes said. "Congress has to do something. We need to have a waiver to get these pumps running in the short term. Congress can't continue to ignore this problem as they've been doing."
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