Ultimately, Congress needs to reestablish itself, not government agencies, as the main driver of Federal policy.

the reality is Congress has failed to do its job.

In the words of James Madison, the accumulation of all powers. Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

We built aqueducts to move water from wet regions to dry regions.

So, excessive Federal landownership is not protecting our forests. It is destroying them.

We could spend about $1.4 billion to raise Shasta Dam by 18 feet or spend $1 billion for another Carlsbad desalination plant.

But because we don't have the capacity to store excess water from wet years, we approach catastrophic shortages during the dry ones.

California voters approved a purported water bond in 2014 with the promise it would be used for water storage.

The Klamath Water Users Association estimates the lack of irrigated water led to the loss of $100 million in economic activity.

Should the Federal Government not take care of the land it already holds before acquiring still more lands?

It is just human nature that the most jealous guardians of a community are the members of the community, not some far off government in Washington.

So, put simply, surface water storage gives us nearly four times as much water for the dollar as desalination.