On January 24, 2025, following President Trump’s trip to tour the recent fire damage in Los Angeles, the administration issued a new Executive Order (EO) framed as a response to those fires. … This new Executive Order came on the heels of Trump’s first-day memorandum, “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California.” … (T)his is hardly the first clash between water management projects in California and the imperatives of environmental laws, including the ESA and California Endangered Species Act. In those instances, courts have consistently found that the requirements of the ESA must prevail. For example, protections for the delta smelt’s habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have resulted in the diversion of less water for agriculture and urban use.