Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California
This order follows on the heels of a similar order and contains more directives. It directs the federal Bureau of Reclamation to increase flow from federally-controlled facilities and waterways by ending, if necessary, cooperation with California water authorities where they have prioritized animal species protection over human uses of water. To this end it also authorizes exemptions from the federal Endangered Species and National Environmental Policy Acts.
The order also requires identification of “California State and local policies or practices inconsistent with sound disaster prevention and response,” and calls for a federal plan to spend $213 million in unused disaster preparedness funds allocated over previous years to the city of Los Angeles, along with safeguards against the city using those funds to support illegal immigrants. It directs federal agencies to develop a strategy for housing people displaced by wildfires, and a plan for removing hazardous debris. It concludes with direction to do the same for victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, along with expediting highway rebuilding in that region.
What to watch: The terminology in this order makes clear that federal officials are to override or work around California authorities wherever they deem necessary, directs agencies to identify failures by California or its localities to comply with federal grant requirements, and calls for additional terms to be placed on future grants and projects to “ensure sound disaster prevention and response.” The risk from a federalism perspective is that some agencies may pen terms that undermine the effectiveness of their grants with top-down rules that offer inadequate flexibility to deal with local conditions and unforeseen events. The order also includes a section titled: “Overriding Disastrous California Policies,” which on its face is admittedly anti-federalism. Because many of those California policies came from decisions made by its own administrative state, with little public awareness, it will be interesting to see whether the results this executive order achieves make it difficult for California officials to revert to their old practices, and whether other states glean lessons for their own water and disaster management practices.
January 24, 2025