The Fish That (Allegedly) Destroyed California

Merry Christmas! Making this video was hell, but I learned a lot, I think. Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/afran90 Patronize me on Patreon @ https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2646842 Sources: 1. Info about the Smelt: https://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/EndangeredSpecies/Species/Accounts/DeltaSmelt/delta_smelt.pdf 2. Cadillac Desert. Reisner, Marc, and Lawrie Mott. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Penguin Books, 2017. 3. Not used as a source for the video, but the timeline Wikipedia has of the Central Valley Project is worth a look for its scope and detail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Valley_Project 4. Report on how much the smelt accounts for Westlands' water shortages from the Bay Institute: https://cah2oresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Limitations-Governing-Exports.pdf 6. Profile of Westlands Water District. Details their run in with Diane Feinstein and their role in the Fox News segment https://www.hcn.org/issues/42.1/breakdown 7. Bernhardt and Trump's influence on the Smelt issue: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/22/delta-smelt-fish-trump-california-aoe 8. Deal between Trump and Westlands https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-11-11/westlands-water-district-federal-water-contract 9. Suppression of EPA report on Sacramento salmon: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-08-20/trump-california-water-salmon-farms 10. Profile of Westlands featuring their second attempt at creating an astroturf group to pressure the government to repeal the EPA opinions: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/us/farmers-try-political-force-to-twist-open-californias-taps.html 11. Bernhardt violating his promise: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/21/david-bernhardt-water-law-interior-department-1370107 12. About halfway through making the video I discovered a PhD thesis that basically said everything I wanted to say but smarter and with more detail. So, for more information in general, this is your best bet. https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/etd/ucb/text/Scoville_berkeley_0028E_19782.pdf