Trump War On First Amendment Continues: FEMA Letter Writers Under Investigation

The Trump administration is investigating
FEMA employees who signed an August
letter warning of mismanagement at
the agency. Loyalty to Trump, well,
Trumps public safety. 

Back in August, about 180 former and then-current Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers signed a letter saying staff DOGE cutbacks and incompetent leadership was endangering U.S. citizens who will inevitably experience terrible disasters like hurricanes and severe floods. 

The dissent letter noted there was no Senate-confirmed and qualified emergency manager running the show, there were cuts to disaster mitigation and recovery efforts and training programs. Also, new policies limited employee autonomy. Micromanagement was already slowing disaster responses.

The letter also urged against politically motivated firings. 

True to form, not much came of the letter, except, of course, an investigation by the Trump administration. And possible politically motivated firings. Gawd forbid anybody even faintly criticize anything he does. 

But we're not talking about the fate of a rich late night talk show host. This is potentially life and death if disaster strikes. But no matter. Dissenters must be punished, lives and the Constitution be damned. 

Per CNN:

"The Trump administration has launched an internal investigation into FEMA employees who signed a public letter to Congress warning that the administration's overhaul of the disaster relief agency is undermining emergency response and endangering the public.

As part of the prove, the agency has ordered the employees - who were placed on leave in August - to sign non-disclosure agreements and schedule interviews with investigators, according to five sources nd internal emails reviewed by CNN

At lest seven FEMA staff emails....from investigators at the Office of Professional Responsibility, which included the non-disclose forms, the sources told CNN."

Shortly after the letter became public, FEMA put some employees on paid leave, but didn't say how many. 

The emails employee received recently said the inquiry is not a criminal investigation (at least not yet, given Trump's reputation). 

Some of those were ordered to submit to interviews within 24 hours, with requests to seek legal counsel first ignored, according to CNN.

The non-disclosure form said targets of the inquiry couldn't tell anybody about it, "except as may be appropriate under applicable law."  Failure to adhere to the gag order would lead to discipline 

CNN says, "The non-disclosure specifies that the agreement does not supersede existing whistleblower protections. However, lawyers for the FEMA employees argue the investigation is an intimidation tactic and likely constitutes illegal retaliation against the workers for exercising their first amendment and whistleblower rights."

In August, similar dissent letters came from employees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health.

Staffers at the EPA have gotten similar messages to those their colleagues at FEMA received that announce this Trump administration investigation. 

You can be sure Trump, Ice Barbie Kristi Noem and other minions are not exactly investigating the facts of the August FEMA letter. That would make way too much sense.

.. 

Wet, Snowy Western Winter Not Enough To End Water Shortage

Snow water equivalent - the amount of "rain" in the
existing snow pack, is definitely above normal in 
the mountains in the Colorado River basin, but
years of heavy precipitation is needed to end
the drought and low water levels in important reservoirs.

 Over the past year, we've seen a lot of news about low levels in the Colorado River, and now Lake Mead and Lake Powell had gotten to dangerously low levels. 

That situation endangers water supplies for something like 40 million people. Since the dams in front of the two lakes normally generate lots of electricity, even the grid out west has been threatened. 

This isn't just a problem for western states supplied by the Colorado River. If things get really bad out there with water shortages and electrical generation, the economic ripple effects would be felt nationwide, and probably worldwide. Including here in the Brave Little State of Vermont. 

However, as you also might have heard, or seen in this here blog thingy, there's been a welcome ton of rain and mountain snow out west, including in much of the Colorado River basin.

Water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell have crept up a little this winter. And, if the spring snow melt behaves well, a little bit more water will enter to the two giant reservoirs.

So all good, right?

Um, no.

The region that includes the Colorado River basin has been in a more than two-decade long mega-drought. One winter with great precipitation does not erase something like that. It would take years and years of wet weather to set things right. 

Though drought has eased in the West, it's still definitely
a factor as the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released
on February 2, shows. 

The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, most recently issued Thursday, indicates that much of the West remains in drought despite the recent storms. Though the drought has diminished some since the autumn. 

Climate change has made the West hotter, and generally drier. Hotter weather creates more evaporation, so things dry out more quickly. This winter's rain and snow is bucking the trend of a drier climate. 

That could just be a part of natural variability superimposed on the drier climate. Chances are, this stormy western winter could be just a temporary reprieve. 

As Yale Climate Connections notes:

"Some experts worry it could further delay the hard work that managers of the watershed must do to keep it healthy and make its service more inclusive as the climate grows hotter and more parched.

'As soon as water supplies increase, people tend to stop paying attention,' said Kathy Jacobs, director of the University of Arizona's Center for Climate Adaption Science and Solutions said in an interview. 'I hope people realize that even one year of good flows doesn't mean we have a trend in that direction. We really need a long-term solution.'"

Decades old water usage agreements among western states are based on river gauge readings between 1900 and 1920.

That basis is way too optimistic considering scientists have since found that those 20 years more than a century ago were among the wettest in 1,400 years. 

Oops. 

The drought, and low water levels in Lakes Mead and Powell got so low by last June that the U.S. Department of the Interior demanded states that use water from the Colorado River come up with a plan that sharply reduces usage. 

That agreement is still in the works, though Yale Climate Connections notes it's good that at least the states agree sharp cutbacks are needed, even if they don't yet agree on just how to accomplish that. 

For more info, read the entire Yale Climate Connections article here.