The federal government, at the behest of radical environmentalists, has decided over the past few years that flushing fresh water out to the Pacific Ocean in a test to save a fish was a higher priority than providing that same water to farms in the central valley of California.
This year, with drought conditions drying up other sources for water, the federal government has gone so far as to cut the farming allocations to zero. Zero water means that crops don’t get planted in many areas of this major agricultural supplier to the nation and world, and if crops don’t get planted, food is not produced.
Now, the effects of these environmentalist-driven decisions are coming home to roost across America, as Reuters reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture “has warned of sticker shock facing home chefs on the eve of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the unofficial start of the U.S. summer grilling season.”
The report puts the finger on disastrous drought conditions in California that threaten to have “large and lasting effects on U.S. fruit, vegetable, dairy and egg prices.”
Of course what the report fails to do is tie the environmentalist water wasting, smelt-saving penchant to the denial of crop-saving water to farmers.
This is the real cost of environmentalism gone wild, where destroying the food growers of California is just collateral damage on the altar of saving the planet.
And the rising cost of food cannot come at a worse time as our nation struggles with record numbers of people on food stamps.
It can be predicted that the media will bemoan rising food costs with stories about children going hungry in order to pressure Congress to increase assistance, when in fact, the drought that is causing the problems is at least partially man-made. The rising food costs are a product of environmental policies that put baby fish before the dignity of a farm worker job, and even ahead of the ability of a human child to have enough to eat.
While Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, and Barbara Boxer, all millionaires many times over, will not feel the impact of the rising food costs either in D.C. or at their swanky San Francisco five star restaurant hang outs, the rest of America will be forced to cut back once again.
The lethal combination of wage stagnation, non-existent job growth, and increasing food costs are just another nail in America’s middle class’ coffin, and no amount of income inequality demagoguery will get the left out from under their culpability for the crisis.
This Memorial Day, remember those who fought and died for your freedom, but on the Tuesday that follows, remember those whose radical environmental policies made it just a little more expensive.
Rick Manning is vice president of public policy and communications for Americans for Limited Government.