Actor, comedian, and farmer, Paul Rodriguez, once a strong supporter of Democrat candidates, has switched sides. The switch didn’t hinge on issues of healthcare, or immigration reform, or even the War in Iraq. Rodriguez switched sides to rally support for a fish, specifically the Hypomesus transpacificus, known commonly as the Delta Smelt. This tiny fish could cause the ruination of Southern California’s Central Valley area, some of the most fertile land on Earth. If worst case scenarios are proven out, thousands of farmers and farmhands would be unemployed. The Delta Smelt is fish is in a fight with the farmers, and the struggle is over water.

The pumps which supply the valley with water from Northern California have been switched off after a judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) after that agency produced a report finding that the pumps are hazardous to this minnow-size fish.  Last week, Director of the California Department of Water Resources Lester Snow and other California water regulators urged the federal government to reconsider its protection of the endangered smelt.  In previous years, the volume of water pumped in has been restricted; this year it was cut off completely.  Without water, there is no farming, and the damage is made worse by the fact that crops have already been planted for the season.  The government mandated drought will cause ruin to those crops.

In response to the crisis faced by the Central Valley farming community, Rodriguez helped to create the California Latino Water Coalition, has led thousands of people in marches, and has spoken to many of the Democrats he helped get elected.  So far nothing has worked.

On the Mark Levin Show on May 13th, Rodriguez said:

“When I called [them] I was told to ‘stick to the jokes’…So now I realize that it was really the Republicans who had my best interests at heart all along.”

Unemployment, already high in California, is skyrocketing in the Central Valley.  Mendota, a small town in Fresno County, has seen its unemployment rate jump to 35% – high even for a community with a large population of seasonal farm workers.  Greater Fresno is above 13.2%, and the overall effect on California’s $20 billion agriculture industry is not yet calculable. Todd Diedrich, an almond grower, has been forced to let two-thirds of his 1,500 acre farm go fallow.

What is clear is that environmentalists, along with California lawmakers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, have teamed up to kill off farming in the 400 mile long valley.  When asked about the policy and its effects on farmers and workers, environmental activist Lloyd Carter said:

“They’re not even American citizens for starters, right? Do you think that we should employ illegal aliens? What parent raises their child to become a farm worker? These kids they are the least educated people in America, or in the southwest corner of this valley, they turn to lives of crime, they go on to go on welfare, they get into drug trafficking and they join gangs.”

To environmentalists, the farmers are irrelevant.  The food supply is irrelevant, the health of California’s agriculture industry is irrelevant.  Saving a tiny fish from harm is all that matters, and no compromise will be allowed.  It is possible that another solution can be worked out, but in the meantime trees, plants, and animals go thirsty while the workers go hungry.

It is absolutely insane.

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