"These Farmers Dominate The Colorado River. Cross Them At Your Peril"

"The letter from Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly was greeted like an act of war in California’s Imperial Valley.

Writing in October, the astronaut-turned-politician urged the Biden administration to withhold funding for the dying Salton Sea until California committed to using less Colorado River water. Never mind that allowing the desert lake to keep drying up would result in hazardous dust pollution choking the Imperial Valley’s low-income, largely Latinx population.

Betty Miller, editor in chief of Imperial news publication the Desert Review, wrote that Kelly “is willing to subject those living around the Salton Sea, people, birds, fish, and more to a spiral of declining health so he can look like a hero to his constituents.”"

Sammy Roth reports for the Los Angeles Times January 19, 2023.