Boehner Draws On Ecological Expertise To Blame Obama For California Drought - Because Of Course

[hatrack]

EDIT

Boehner brags here about what “Congress is doing to end President Obama’s man-made water shortage in the West.” Indeed, the House just passed a bill that essentially blames environmental polices for causing the drought, specifically policies that reduce water use to protect endangered fish species.

But actual scientists aren’t saying environmental uses caused California’s worst drought in 1200 years. Actual scientists explained earlier this year that the primary extent to which the drought has a man-made component is that man-made global warming is making it a lot worse. Man-made warming, they said, has led to record high temperatures. And according to the National Science Foundation, climate change has tripled the chances of the current weather pattern that has blocked California from getting precipitation (the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge).

Meanwhile, Boehner is outraged that people are being urged not to maintain their water-intensive green lawns in a semi-arid region during this epic drought. From his Facebook post:

If ever there was a phrase that perfectly encapsulates liberal environmentalists’ backwards priorities and regressive ideology of restriction and scarcity, it is the one now displayed on a government sign in Arcadia, California: “It’s ‘green’ to go brown.”

For the record, the soil moisture deficit in the state is truly unprecedented as measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Again, according to actual scientists, “the current event is the most severe drought in the last 1200 years, with single year (2014) and accumulated moisture deficits worse than any previous continuous span of dry years. … In terms of cumulative severity, it is the worst drought on record (-14.55 cumulative PDSI), more extreme than longer (4- to 9-year) droughts.” No doubt if Boehner had been Speaker during the 1930s Dust Bowl, he’d not have been urging Oklahomans to ignore those science-based conservation efforts pushed by FDR and just keep watering their lawns.

EDIT

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/17/3681786/speaker-boehner-blames-california-drought-obama/

[Thinkingabout]

1. Yes, and ir is Obama's fault he is orange. We just love dumb GOP statements.

BTW, can we blame Obama for the rain southern California received in the last few days?