Border Canal Dispute

The U.S. Department of Interior is set to repair a canal along the California-Baja California border that since its construction has leaked water into Mexico, supplying Mexican farmers, wetlands, and wildlife with water. The governor of Baja California wants to discuss the impact of this matter with the Department of Interior. So if Mexican farmers stop growing crops as a result, where will they find work?

Speaking from an economic and ecological perspective, these multi-billion dollar water projects out west have never made sense. Paying farmers in the desert to grow crops that could just as easily grow out east where there is a more reliable supply of water does not seem to be a good way to spend taxpayer money. Then again, without those water projects, the American West would not be as populated as it is today. So we'll pay farmers out east not to grow as much, and continue to subsideize water, crops and livestock out west.


It's a tough issue to look at either way. So do we now tell farmers out west to stop growing and take down all of the dams to let the west turn back into the desert that it really is? Or, do we repair them and then wonder what the displaced Mexican landowners and workers are going to do? Oh, I forgot, they're just going to build a huge wall to keep everyone out anyway.