Hannity stumbles upon cause of west side water issues

Published online on Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009

Sean Hannity came to the San Joaquin Valley a few days ago and did what he does best. He exaggerated, distorted and turned a complex situation into a hysterical rant.

But I'll give the Fox News right-wing shouter this: citing all the wrong reasons, he unintentionally fingered the right culprit for the economic disaster unfolding on the Valley's west side and in Northern California.

To hear Hannity and his cast of local enablers tell it, farmers and farmworkers in the Westlands Water District are suffering the pain of a water shortage caused by activist federal judges, the delta smelt and President Barack Obama's administration.

Not much of that -- or anything else he said -- is true. But, in fact, the federal government does bear much of the responsibility for the mess entangling the west side, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the decline of salmon along California's coast.

Decades ago, federal authorities promised more water to farmers than they could deliver. They compounded the mistake by offering subsidies and incentives that encouraged small farmers to become mega-farmers.

Then they turned around and -- again with incentives -- encouraged small fishermen to build bigger boats and bigger fleets, further endangering salmon.

The whole time, few in the federal bureaucracy had either the wisdom or the courage to ask how much water would be needed to sustain California's fish and wildlife, much less the state's population growth.

Hannity, of course, didn't say this. He's incapable of anything but shouting, mugging to his fans and palming off his made-to-fit lies and omissions as facts.

The activist federal judge ruling on many issues affecting the delta, farmers and fishermen is Oliver W. Wanger, a conservative Republican appointed by President George H.W. Bush.

Hannity called the Central Valley "a Dust Bowl." It's not. Millions of acres are being farmed, and most farmers are getting their water deliveries. In a one-hour show alleged to be about water, there wasn't a single second devoted to an explanation of the hierarchy of water rights under California law. Or a single word about the fact that Westlands' farmers have junior water rights, meaning that by law they get what is left after all the other interests have dipped into the state's sprawling water system.

Nor did Hannity bother to explain that Westlands' water comes from the Trinity River 400 miles away and that some Valley farmers sell their water rights to cities and developers.

And somehow Hannity, a fierce opponent of illegal immigration, didn't get around to noting that some of his newfound friends in agriculture rely on illegal immigrants to harvest their crops.

Hannity came here for two things: to tell the nation that a "2-inch minnow" is killing farming in the food basket of America, and to tell Obama to turn on delta pumps that send water to Westlands.

Never mind that the pumps have been on since June 30 -- too late for spring plantings, admittedly, but on nonetheless despite claims otherwise by three local congressmen and comedian Paul Rodriguez.

In a fake attempt at balance, Hannity conned Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, to be on the show. Hannity began the short segment by calling Grader "a wacko environmentalist from San Francisco" and any chance to have a thoughtful discussion about the destruction of the salmon fishing industry was lost.

All this said, the Obama administration's response to the economic hurt on the west side has been disappointing. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made it clear during a recent interview at The Bee that the president isn't interested in entering California's water wars.

If heavy rains don't come this winter, a good argument can be made for keeping the pumps on next spring so that Westlands' soil can be planted and watered -- particularly since there is evidence suggesting that pollution and non-native species also are contributing to the decline of fish in the delta.

But the long-term answers aren't that simple. Simple, unfortunately, is the only thing that Hannity understands.