Trade bill, water articles lacking

Articles in the June 13 Spokesman-Review on the trade bill and California water shortage never got to the point.

Regarding the trade policy that President Obama wants enacted: The article sheds little light on this issue, other than it’s a matter of political dispute that Obama has lost. As for the basis of the bill, other than Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., explaining that those for this bill were lobbyists and big corporations and that, according to Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, it was just another punch in the gut for middle-class Americans and, on the other side, the bill was “a matter of American leadership and a way to remain competitive.” How all these factors relate was not explained.

As for the extreme water shortage in drought-plagued California: Some balance was needed in the article, which could have mentioned the Pacific smelt, which is apparently dying out with or without water flushed into the ocean. The drought is worsened due to environmental rules that cause huge amounts of water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to be unavailable to the nearly empty reservoirs because it is flushed into the ocean.

John Peterson

Spokane