VOL . 43 • ISS . 1

January 12 , 2024

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Just in time for the Christmas Holidays and the Winter Solstice , the Gavin Newsom administration on December 21 officially approved the embattled Delta Tunnel project and published the project ’ s Notice of Determination ( NOD ), drawing outrage from conservation and environmental justice organizations . “ The Department of Water Resources ( DWR ) today approved the Delta Conveyance Project , a modernization of the infrastructure system that delivers water to millions of Californians ,” DWR proclaimed in their press statement . “ DWR has certified the Environmental Impact Report ( EIR ) and completed an extensive environmental review . DWR selected the “ Bethany Reservoir Alignment ” for further engineering , design and permitting .” The proposed underground tunnel would be 45 miles long and 36 feet in diameter . It would feature 2 new intakes on the Sacramento in the North Delta near Hood with a capacity of 3,000 cubic feet per second ( cfs ) for a total capacity of 6,000 cfs . A new pumping plant in the South Delta would connect the tunnel to the existing Bethany Reservoir on the California Aqueduct . The state is expected to lose 10 % of its water supply by 2040 due to hotter and drier conditions . DWR said the Delta Conveyance Project is “ a key part of the California ’ s Water Resiliency Portfolio and Governor Newsom ’ s Water Supply Strategy .” “ Today marks another significant milestone in our efforts to modernize state water infrastructure and adapt to the challenges of changing precipitation patterns ,” gushed Karla Nemeth , Director of the California Department of Water Resources . “ As our recent white paper The Economy of the State Water Project shows , the State Water Project is one of the most affordable sources of water in California , and we need to help local water agencies in protecting both reliability and affordability for their ratepayers .” Two conservation groups , Save California Salmon and Restore the Delta , quickly responded to the project approval — and slammed the project as a “ water grab ” by corporations and water brokers that won ’ t benefit water ratepayers while at the same time killing off salmon and the Bay-Delta ecosystem .

“ This holiday season , Governor Newsom is giving corporations and water brokers everything they asked for , the North State ’ s rivers and Delta while leaving Tribes , fishermen , and the public high and dry ,” stated Regina Chichizola for Save California Salmon . “ The fact that the Delta Conveyance Project was approved just weeks after approval of the plan to build the privately owned , 1.5 million acre-feet Sites Reservoir , demonstrates the projects are interconnected water grabs . The Governor and resource agencies are selling us , and California ’ s environment , out to those who seek to privatize California ’ s rivers while claiming to be environmental leaders .” Restore the Delta noted that the NOD is the administrative record requirement for a finalized document for a proposed project by the lead agency , in this case , the Department of Water Resources . The Department of Water Resources published the final Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Conveyance Projecton December 8 , 2023 . “ The publishing NOD begins the 30-day clock for the public to file litigation against the proposed Delta Conveyance Project Plan and Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act ,” the group stated . “ The Delta Conveyance Project still requires numerous other state and federal permits to advance and also requires the completion of documents under NEPA , federal environmental policy .” Project opponents vowed to continue fighting the project through “ all necessary processes ,” including litigation , to stop the project from becoming reality . “ We and our broad coalition of partners will engage in all necessary processes , and when necessary , litigation , to stop the Delta Conveyance Project once and for all ,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla , Executive Director of Restore the Delta in a statement . “ Sadly , the Newsom Administration is continuing to waste public dollars and time advancing a project that Californians have rejected for decades and that will not solve our climate water challenge or protect the Bay-Delta estuary . We are disappointed in the Newsom Administration ’ s recycling of failed ideas from past generations .” “ To this end , our attorneys at the Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School sent a letter to US EPA on behalf of the Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition ( Buena Vista Rancheria , Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians , Winnemem Wintu Tribe , Little Manila Rising , and Restore the Delta ) reaffirming that our Title VI complaint , which has been accepted for investigation , and our petition or rulemaking for protective flow standards for the Delta must advance rapidly ,” she said . One of the primary requests for relief to the US EPA is that a completed Bay-Delta Plan must be set in place , with protective science-based standards for estuary health , before any tunnel or major infrastructure project advances , according to Barrigan-Parrilla . “ The Newsom Administration has the order of operations backwards . The Bay-Delta Plan , along with a state water inventory of supply and demand , must be completed before wasting money and more time on wasteful infrastructure planning ,” she explained .

Fairfield ( 707 ) 920-2396

By Dan Bacher

“ We are confident that ultimately this project will die from its own bloated costs . Until then , we will continue to advance real solutions for California water management , like broad scale floodplain restoration in the Central Valley , water quality protections , and robust funding for river and Sierra wetland restoration , along with urban water resiliency projects ,” Barrigan-Parrilla concluded . After hearing about the approval of the tunnel by DWR , Bill Wells , Executive Director of the California Delta Chambers & Visitor ’ s Bureau , asked , “ How much new water does this project create ? Where are some examples of a project like this that has not destroyed the existing waterway ?” He pointed out , “ Some examples where other projects like this have been disasters are : Owen ’ s Dry Lake , Mono Lake , Buena Vista Lake , Tulare Lake , Colorado River Delta , Tigris and Euphrates River Delta and Aral Sea .” The collapse of four runs of Chinook salmon on the Sacramento River and the virtual extinction of the Delta smelt , once the most abundant fish in the entire Delta , is now taking place as the Delta Tunnel is approved . The approval of the tunnel will only make the current ecological disaster even worse , as the EIR ’ s own documents reveal . Here is the link to the official press statement from the Department of Water Resources : water . ca . gov /...

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