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Rep Devin Nunes released the following statement today concerning President Obama’s response to the California water crisis.

“Radical environmentalists have declared war on the people of the San Joaquin Valley. Whether we accept the conflict or ignore it, war is being raged nonetheless. And the enemy is winning, thanks to the cozy relationship they enjoy with the Democratic Party.

This political arrangement, whereby green activists control large portions of the Democratic Party’s agenda, has effectively neutered Democrat lawmakers when it comes to the California water crisis. Indeed, it is the reason Democrat Party leaders have refused to offer immediate solutions to the crisis.

The special relationship between green activists and the Democratic Party is why Secretary Salazar’s offer to spend $260 million on useless water projects was entirely predictable. The Secretary has been boxed-in by radicals in the environmental movement. For Secretary Salazar to offer meaningful help, turning on the Delta pumps for example, he would have to exhibit a level of political courage that no longer exists in the Democratic Party. Predictably, he didn’t. Instead, he added insult to injury by flushing hundreds of millions of dollars into the ocean, along with our precious water. During his visit to California, the Secretary didn’t even bother to visit the devastated region of the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

My message to President Obama, Secretary Salazar, and other leaders at the state and federal level has been consistent and it has been clear. Meaningful relief for the people of the San Joaquin Valley means restoring the flow of water today, not ten years from now. Meaningful relief means action today, not the promise of action at some distant point in the future.

As I have said many times, the solutions are far less complicated than some would have you believe. Democratic leaders need to take whatever action is necessary to immediately restore Delta pumping to historic levels. They must expedite the construction of a canal to bypass the sensitive Delta eco-system and deliver long-term water security to our region. And finally, Democrats must re-visit the San Joaquin River settlement to prevent the Westside crisis from occurring on the Eastside of the valley.

Don’t let community activists and Democrat leaders fool you. Ignore what they say and hold them accountable for what they do. Their words won’t deliver an ounce of water to our dry region. Only their actions, through legislation, can do that.”