Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the historic drought that is devastating California and much of the West. To help address this disaster, today I am introducing the California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act. Let me begin by saying that the El Nino we're seeing now in California brings with it some good news. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is the deepest it has been in 5 years, and water content is up. The California Department of Water Resources reported in early- February that the statewide snowpack stands at 25.4 inches, or 130 percent of the historical average. But we are faced with three problems. First, one El Nino--even a strong El Nino--won't be sufficient to pull us out of this drought. Experts say we need at least 3 consecutive years of above-average precipitation. Second, we lack the infrastructure needed to store much of this water. We need to do more to increase the amount of water we can hold from wet years to dry years. And while river flows are extremely high from these winter storms, we are not taking advantage of them to the extent we should. What that means is tens of thousands of acre-feet are flowing out into the Pacific Ocean rather than being collected for later use. So while California is getting some much-needed rain, it's not likely to be enough to end this historic drought. Let me be clear; this drought is hurting California. Mr.…”