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For Immediate Release
January, 31 2022, 06:14pm EDT
Contact:
Jessica Gable, (202) 683-2478, jgable@fwwatch.org
Big Ag and Big Oil Fuel Wildfires Across California, But New Research Pinpoints The Dangers to The Central Valley
WASHINGTON
When the Colorado Fire burned through 700 acres in Monterey County, Southern California received a stark reminder that drought and wildfires are no longer seasonal events that can be anticipated: they are constant crises that can strike year round. Climate change pushes our weather closer to the extreme as temperatures spike and water evaporates, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to expand. And according to new research from Food & Water Watch, the predictions are dire if we do nothing to curtail our carbon and methane emissions.
California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment report warns that the average area burned by wildfires could increase 77 percent by 2100 if emissions continue to rise. All of California suffers from the extreme impacts of climate change, but the Central Valley is poised to pay the heaviest price for Newsom's indulgence of factory farming and the fossil fuel industry.
Why is the Central Valley threatened?
As one of the regions with the worst air quality in the United States, the San Joaquin Valley has a long history of bearing the brunt of corporate pollution. More than 80 percent of California's new and active oil wells are in the Central Valley, and the region also hosts most of the state's corporate agriculture.
Between January 2018 and March 2020, the oil and gas industry used more than 3 billion gallons of freshwater that could otherwise have supplied domestic systems. Likewise, the area's mega-dairies use more than 142 million gallons of water a day. According to one analysis, more than 3,600 wells in the Central Valley could go dry this year. Nearly half of those predicted to go dry are located in the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Madera.
What is the state doing to combat these crises?
Governor Newsom's response was to allocate an unprecedented $2.7 billion in his budget proposal for "wildfire management" and $6 for drought support, but practically none for phasing out oil production or factory farms -- two of the worst contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the state and most egregious water abusers. In fact, he devoted $48 million to digester funding that would enable the expansion of mega-dairies. Anaerobic digesters process manure from factory farms to create methane of the same chemical makeup as fracked gas.
"It's not enough to treat the symptoms of climate change," said Food & Water Watch California Director Alexandra Nagy. "Governor Newsom must eliminate the root cause of the climate disasters we're seeing in California -- the greenhouse gas emissions from the fossil fuel and factory farm industries. California's most vulnerable populations are waiting for him to act even as their water is evaporating and their homes are burning."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Social Security Hearing Shows Trump Pick Bisignano Would Worsen 'DOGE-Manufactured Chaos'
"Social Security needs a commissioner whose loyalty is to beneficiaries, not Elon Musk," said one advocate.
Mar 25, 2025
As Democrats on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee grilled financial services executive Frank Bisignano at his confirmation hearing to oversee Social Security on Tuesday, a progressive think tank reported that the Trump administration's cuts to the popular program have already created "unnecessary barriers for millions of beneficiaries to access the benefits they earned."
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he is "not touching" Social Security benefits, but the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) said his insistence "may be a distinction without a difference if his administration's actions delay benefits or make it harder to get them in the first place."
The group outlined four ways in which Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire tech CEO who he named as head of the advisory board he created to slash public spending, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have created "the potential for significant damage to the program" without taking action to explicitly make cuts to the benefits relied on by 73 million retirees, people with disabilities, and survivors of deceased parents.
Trump and Musk have worked to weaken Social Security by:
- Launching rhetorical attacks on the program, including false claims of massive fraud—providing a pretext for actions that could undermine eligible beneficiaries' access to benefits, such as privatization;
- Engaging in deep cuts to staffing and new restrictions on phone-based services for the public, likely leading to the overwhelming of Social Security offices across the country, dozens of which are set to close this year under DOGE orders;
- Jeopardizing the reliability of the Social Security Administration (SSA) systems, including through the sharp reduction of staff with technical expertise; and
- Threatening the security of people's personal information by giving untrained DOGE political appointees unprecedented access to sensitive SSA data.
In recent weeks, longtime employees of the SSA have shed light on the impact of DOGE cutting 12% of the staff, with the former acting chief of staff to acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, Tiffany Flick, saying in a court filing before her retirement in February that DOGE's "disregard for critical processes... and lack of interest in understanding [SSA's] systems and programs... combined with the significant loss of expertise as more and more agency personnel leave, have me seriously concerned that SSA programs will continue to function and operate without disruption."
But at Bisgnano's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers were alarmed by his refusal to acknowledge the damage done by DOGE at SSA.
Noting that Bisignano has referred to himself as a "DOGE guy," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the nominee what grade he would give Musk's advisory body's activities at the SSA over the past two months.
"I look around and I see phones out of whack, offices out of whack, databases being invaded," said Wyden. "I'm not sure I'd give them a very good grade, but you're a 'DOGE guy.'"
Bisignano did not answer the direct question, instead saying he has spent his career pursuing "employee satisfaction" and "increasing control."
"What kind of grade would you give the DOGE people at Social Security?" - @wyden.senate.gov Bisignano refuses to answer the question.
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) told reporters after the hearing that with Bisignano signaling he is "all in on DOGE... I see no reason to trust that he is going to do anything but be an enthusiastic participant in what Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to do to Social Security, which is to cause it, as far as I can see, to collapse from the inside."
Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, noted that Bisignano's career in financial services has been "right in line with DOGE."
"He cut staffing to the bone and reportedly created toxic work environments," said Altman. "If he is confirmed, the now toxic work environment at SSA will likely get worse."
Wyden's questioning of Bisignano also revealed that the nominee was involved in discussions about DOGE at the agency, with Bisignano claiming that he was not before the senator produced a statement from a senior official saying the nominee insisted "on personally approving DOGE hires at the agency."
"Today's hearing showed that Frank Bisignano is not the cure to the DOGE-manufactured chaos at the Social Security Administration. In fact, he is part of it, and, if confirmed, would make it even worse," said Altman. "Social Security needs a commissioner whose loyalty is to beneficiaries, not Elon Musk. Bisignano would not even contradict Musk's slander that Social Security is a criminal Ponzi scheme. Every senator who cares about Social Security's future should vote no on the confirmation of Frank Bisignano. He is not only unqualified, with no expertise regarding this vital program—he is dangerous to it."
While Democrats expressed outrage over the administration's efforts to gut the program that 40% of American retirees rely on as their primary source of income, one of the Republicans on the committee, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) explicitly gave Bisignano his blessing to "go after [Social Security] the way you would in the private sector."
"With his comments today in support of Social Security office closures, Sen. Tillis revealed the fact that protecting seniors and the disabled is an afterthought for congressional Republicans and that they have one true agenda—gutting vital programs like Social Security to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires," said Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Kobie Christian. "The 73 million Americans currently receiving Social Security are not numbers on a balance sheet that Republicans should 'go after.' They are everyday people who worked hard to earn their benefits. It's time that members of Congress stop this crusade on families across the country and put an end to this pro-billionaire agenda."
As Common Dreamsreported Tuesday, the changes at SSA that Tillis endorsed and called for more of include the agency's website crashing four times in 10 days recently, panicked beneficiaries being forced to wait on hold for up to 4-5 hours, and employees left wondering whether they will receive proper training to verify people's identities at field offices as the agency prepares to end phone services at the direction of the White House.
At the hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) explained how those changes are in fact cuts to Social Security benefits—no matter how many times Trump claims otherwise.
If a 65-year-old retiree can't use the SSA's phone service to verify his identity and apply for benefits and has to wait for a family member to get a day off work to drive him two hours to the only understaffed SSA office in the area that hasn't been closed, she said, "let's assume it takes our fellow three months to straighten this out and he misses a total of $5,000 in benefits checks, which, by law, he will never get back."
"Is that a benefit cut?" Warren asked.
Bisignano did not answer the question, saying he wasn't sure "what to call" the scenario described by the senator.
"DOGE is considering slashing up to 50% of the Social Security Administration's workforce. That means longer lines, and more errors. For everyone who gives up or who dies before they get their benefits sorted out, it is a benefit cut." - @warren.senate.gov
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— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) March 25, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Bisignano claimed at the hearing that he will "run the SSA in a way that properly serves beneficiaries," said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "But that will be impossible if he does not undo the reckless policies that acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has put in place under the influence of Elon Musk and DOGE, with the implied consent of President Trump, which have seriously disrupted customer service for seniors and people with disabilities."
"Significantly and alarmingly, Bisignano would not commit to ending Musk and DOGE's interference at SSA, nor to reversing any of their dangerous policies," said Richtman. "He cannot live up to his promises to put the interests of beneficiaries first if the man who recently called Social Security a Ponzi scheme continues to call the shots."
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Conservationists Sound Alarm as Republicans Take Aim at Endangered Species Act
"We are in a biodiversity crisis, and Congress is playing with fire," warned one wildlife defender. "These bills would accelerate extinction at a time when we can least afford it."
Mar 25, 2025
Green groups warned this week that a pair of Republican-led bills in the U.S. House of Representatives, including proposals to amend the Endangered Species Act and strip gray wolves of ESA protection, would, as Sierra Club said, "radically undercut the ability of the federal government to protect imperiled wildlife."
On Tuesday, the Republican-led House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries held legislative hearings on four bills, two of which involve the ESA.
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said his ESA Amendments Act of 2025—which aims to streamline regulatory and permitting processes—is needed because "the Endangered Species Act has consistently failed to achieve its intended goals and has been warped by decades of radical environmental litigation into a weapon instead of a tool."
However, Sierra Club said Monday that the bill would "amend the ESA beyond recognition."
Congress is trying to kill the Endangered Species Act. New bill would amend iconic law's ability to protect wildlife. Today, a House committee held a hearing on a bill that would drastically limit the Endangered Species Act's ability to protect our country's imperiled wildlife.
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— Sierra Club (@sierraclub.org) March 25, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Earthjustice warned Tuesday that the legislation "would gut the critical protections that the ESA provides for thousands of imperiled species, upend the scientific consultation process (which has been the cornerstone of American species protection for 50 years), slow listings to a crawl while fast-tracking delistings, and allow much more exploitation of threatened species and shift their management out of federal hands to the states, even while they are still nationally listed."
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said that the second bill, the Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025—which she introduced in January with Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.)—would "remove the ability of progressive judges to get in the way of science and allow states to set their own rules and regulations for managing their gray wolf population" by delisting the species from the ESA within 60 days and prohibiting judicial review of the action.
During his first administration, U.S. President Donald Trumpdelisted gray wolves from the ESA across most of the country, a move that was reversed by a federal judge in 2022.
Defenders of Wildlife senior attorney Ellen Richmond said Monday that "this bill is deceptively named and if enacted will directly undermine our nation's landmark conservation laws."
"Wolves play important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and cutting short their recovery not only harms the species but also the incredible landscapes we all love," Richmond added.
Josh Osher, public policy director for Western Watersheds Project, said Tuesday: "We are in a biodiversity crisis, and Congress is playing with fire. These bills would accelerate extinction at a time when we can least afford it."
"The Endangered Species Act isn't just about saving wolves, grizzlies, or sea turtles—it's about protecting the ecosystems that sustain us all," Osher added. "Weakening these protections pushes our planet further into collapse. Congress must open its eyes and reject these reckless attacks before it's too late."
On Monday, dozens of green groups sent a letter to senior lawmakers on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee urging them to reject the two bills, arguing they would "dramatically weaken the ESA and make it harder, if not impossible, to achieve the progress we must make to address the alarming rate of extinction our planet now faces."
The two bills come amid wider Republican attacks on the ESA by members of Congress and the Trump administration, including Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. In a bid to boost logging on public lands, Trump is planning to establish a so-called "God Squad" committee that could veto ESA protections. DOGE, meanwhile, has fired hundreds of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees while ordering a hiring freeze on seasonal workers tasked with species protection.
"The Endangered Species Act is one of the country's most popular and successful conservation laws, and Donald Trump wants to throw it in the garbage to pad the bottom lines of his corporate supporters," Sierra Club deputy legislative director for wildlife and lands protection Bradley Williams said on Monday. "Since day one of his administration, Trump has shown again and again that he wants to hand over control of our public lands and waters to billionaires and corporations. Imperiled wildlife will suffer the consequences."
"For more than 50 years, the United States has made amazing progress bringing species back from the brink of extinction," Williams added. "It's because of the ESA that species like the grizzly bear and bald eagle are living symbols of America and not just photos in a history book. If Trump and his allies in Congress get their way, that progress won't just come to a screeching halt—it could be completely reversed."
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'This Is a Witch Hunt': Trump Admin Demands Colleges Provide Name and Nationality of Student Protesters
"There is no doubt that it can be used improperly," said one attorney.
Mar 25, 2025
Critics are raising grave civil liberties concerns after the Washington Postreported Tuesday that the Trump administration is seeking to collect the names and nationalities of "students who might have harassed Jewish students or faculty" as part of a U.S. Department of Education probe into alleged antisemitism on multiple college campuses.
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the purported aim of rooting out antisemitism at higher education institutions, and has vowed to target foreign-born students who have engaged in demonstrations against Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, but which the president describes as "pro-jihadist" protests.
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the purported aim of rooting out antisemitism at higher education institutions, and has vowed to target foreign-born students who have engaged in "pro-jihadist" protests.
His administration has already moved to deport multiple students involved in pro-Palestine organizing, including former Columbia University graduate student and green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil. A South Korean-born junior at Columbia University sued the Trump and other high-level Trump administration officials after immigration agents tried to arrest and deport her, according to a complaint filed on Monday.
According toThe Post, attorneys with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights were instructed to collect students' names and nationalities in addition to information that is routinely gathered during a civil rights investigation, citing documents and three attorneys with direct knowledge of the situation who were quoted anonymously.
"My first thought was, 'This is a witch hunt,'" one attorney told the paper.
The schools under probe are Columbia University; Northwestern University; Portland State University; The University of California, Berkeley; and The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, according to a statement from the Department of Education released on February 3.
Last week, Columbia agreed to a number of demands from the Trump administration as part of negotiations over $400 million in federal grants and contracts that the Trump administration had pulled due to the school's alleged "inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
When investigating whether a school erred when handling complaints of discrimination and harassment, the Office for Civil Rights isn't responsible for disciplining students who may have been behind harassment, so it does not usually collect student names or nationalities, per the Post.
Attorneys who spoke to the outlet said they "immediately wondered whether the list was meant as a tip sheet that the administration might use to target or deport foreign students who participated in protests."
"The request asked for a list of all students that the university notified of potential violations of the code of conduct or who were referred for suspension, suspended, expelled and/or referred to law enforcement for harassment of, or violence toward, students and faculty 'on the basis of their Jewish ancestry,'" according to the paper.
The request also asked for the students' "national origin/ethnicity/shared ancestry," per the Post. According to the outlet, it is not clear whether the five universities haver provided the students' names or information on their ethnicities.
"There is no doubt that it can be used improperly," a separate attorney told the Post.
In addition to the five schools named above, the Department of Education in early March sent letters to 60 universities "warning them of potential enforcement actions" if they do not take adequate steps to protect Jewish students.
Critics have argued that efforts to weaponize accusations of antisemitism against pro-Palestinian voices is part of a familiar playbook that aims to distract from serious war crimes and human rights abuses being carried out by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.
Lawyer and historian Fernando Oliver characterized the effort by Trump's Education Department as a continuation of the president's "campaign to end free speech," adding: "This is what dictators do."
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