Trump blames deadly wildfires on California governor Jerry Brown and 'environmental laws'
Donald Trump has attacked California's "environmental laws", blaming them for the recent deadly wildfires.
The president called for state governor Jerry Brown to allow the “free flow” of water he insisted was “foolishly being diverted” to the Pacific Ocean.
Mr Trump addressed the wildfire tragedy on Twitter by weighing in on what he perceives to be the issues that have “magnified” the fires.
“California wildfires are being magnified [and] made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilised,” he wrote. “It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!”
Mr Trump went on to target his criticism at Mr Brown.
"Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean," he wrote. He added that water “can be used for fires, farming and everything else.”
Mr Trump’s comments were met with public backlash on social media by people who expressed confusion over the president’s statement that “readily available water” has been “diverted into the Pacific Ocean.”
Scott McLean, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told The Independent that with bodies of water surrounding wildfires, access to water to battle the rapidly expanding fires has not been an issue.
“So no, there’s no water issues – they’re having no issues to access to water,” he said.
LeRoy Westerling, a University of California Merced professor specialising in wildfires and climatology told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mr Trump’s comments on the state’s diversion of water is mind boggling.
“On the water side, it boggles the mind,” he said. “We do manage all of our rivers in California, and all the water is allocated many times over. So I’m not sure what he was recommending.”
He added: “Even if we eliminated all habitat for riparian species and fish, and allowed saltwater intrusion into the delta and set up a sprinkler system over the state, that wouldn’t compensate for greater moisture loss from climate change.”
The Medocino Complex Fire and the Carr Fire have destroyed more than 1,000 homes combined and forced thousands to flee. Officials have declared the Medocino Complex Fire as the second-largest wildfire recorded in the state, according to Reuters. The Carr Fire has claimed the lives of at least seven victims.
In response to Mr Trump's tweets, many have taken to Twitter to address the grave effects of climate change and scientific consensus that the Earth's climate is warming.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey responded to Mr Trump's statements addressing climate change in a post published to Twitter.
"Donald Trump can try to change the topic, but he won’t be able to divert our attention away from the fact that the hotter, drier weather magnifying the California wildfires is linked to climate change," he wrote. "And it will keep getting worse as long as we fail to act."
