Local elected officials are blasting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for fast-tracking the Delta tunnel project that could divert more water to Southern California.
Also known as the Delta Conveyance Project, the $20 billion endeavor would channel water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and direct it south. Critics, including San Joaquin County leaders and Northern California legislators, warn it could sap badly needed water from farm use.
“The Delta Tunnel is a direct attack on the region’s economy, and it’s clear that politicians care more about lawns in Beverly Hills than protecting the fruit-and-nut basket of the world,” U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy, said in a statement.
Harder has never been a fan of the project, calling it a “boondoggle” at a town hall meeting in Stockton two years ago. He reintroduced a bill in February to try to stop it.
Newsom on Wednesday warned that without the project, millions of Southern Californians could face water-delivery reductions. Water experts and state agencies say that overall, residents could lose as much as 10% of their water because of climate change, even without further growth in the region, because warmer temperatures lead to more evaporation.
To get the Delta project moving, Newsom proposed cutting red tape. He wants to streamline the permitting process and designate the Department of Water Resources as having the power to issue bonds, slowing litigation delays and getting construction moving.
“We’re done with barriers,” Newsom said. “Our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future.”
But the biggest barrier of all may be the opposition from Northern California legislators.
Local representatives of both the state Assembly and Senate came out swinging when Newsom raised the fast-track issue as part of his budget proposal.
Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy, said the tunnel not only would violate water rights, but property right as well.
“This would steal our water and harm the Central Valley’s Delta,” Ransom warned, noting that the project would represent a transfer of wealth from local cities to Southern California.
State Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, also lambasted the plan.
“Governor Newsom’s proposal to fast-track the costly and destructive Delta Tunnel Project in the state budget is a poorly conceived plan” that would destroy 4,000 acres of farmland, including salmon fisheries and tribal assets, he said.
“California should develop a sustainable water system instead of the expensive and damaging tunnel that will not add a drop of new water to the system,” McNerney said in a statement. “The Legislature and governor should pursue alternatives that would cost far less and would safeguard California’s main water supply system without inflicting major harm to it.”
He recommended strengthening Delta levees, increasing efforts to recycle water and boosting the amount of groundwater storage.
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