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CBS-47 (
Farm Workers Demand Apology from Environmentalist
Farm workers and their families rallied on the steps of Fresno City Hall
on Monday, after controversial statements were made by a leading
environmentalist. They are now demanding an apology.
Lloyd Carter with the California Water Impact Network made the statement
last week after a public debate on water policy at Fresno State. Carter
said, “They’re not even American citizens for starters, right? Do you
think that we should employ illegal aliens? What parent raises their
child to become a farmworker? These kids, they’re the least educated
people in America or in the southwest corner of this Valley. They turn
to lives or crime, they go on welfare, they get into drug trafficking
and they join gangs.”
The farming community has now turned the focus of the debate from water
rights and the protection of the delta smelt to they statements made by
Carter. They feel his statements show how divided the debate has become
and how the environmentalists care more about a fish than for the people
of the Valley.
Mayors from rural Valley communities like Firebaugh, Mendota along with
Congressman Devin Nunes and Assemblyman Juan Arambula condemned Carter’s
statements at the Monday rally. They also condemned those they call
“radical environmentalists” who are preventing the farmers from
accessing the delta water need to save their crops in order to protect
the fish known as the delta smelt.
Congressman Nunes says without the water, 500,000 acres of farmland will
be out of production and 40,000 jobs will be lost.
Congressman Nunes said, “Those 40,000 jobs folks are going to come from
the people behind me and all around you from Fresno to Bakersfield.
That’s where those 40,000 people, that are employed now, are not going
to have work.”
Congressman Nunes is also advising Congress to support the Drought
Alleviation Act that is now being sponsored by Congressman George
Radanovich. That act would alleviate restrictions on water to farmers in
times of drought.
Lloyd Carter has since issued a written apology on his internet blog
that says, “My remarks were intended to focus on the social costs of
exploiting an immigrant worker population which is denied adequate pay,
housing and education. I now realize I made a terrible mistake in the
way I expressed myself and I humbly apologize to all who were offended.
Again I painfully realize my comments offended many people and truly
regret the error. It will not happen again. I am sick about this.”
The California Water Impact Network is a privately funded environmental
group.
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