Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3904 Feb 1-14 | Page 24
22
Jan 31 - Feb 14, 2020
Newsom Administration
Officially Begins Delta
Tunnel Planning with
‘Notice of Preparation’
D
rawing strong criticism
from salmon advocates and
environmentalists and praise from
water agencies and agribusiness,
the Gavin Newsom Administration
formally began the planning process
for a controversial single tunnel
under the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta when the California
Department of Water Resources
(DWR) released its Delta Convey-
ance Notice of Preparation on
January 15.
The notice starts the preparation
of an Environmental Impact Report
(EIR) for the “Delta Conveyance
Project” that will divert water from
the Sacramento River through
a tunnel to the state and federal
water pumping facilities in the
South Delta, to then be shipped to
San Joaquin Valley irrigators and
Southern California water agencies.
According to the documents, the
state will consider a tunnel that
would divert 6,000 cubic feet per
second (cfs) of water from the
Sacramento River. Tunnels with
the capacity to divert 3,000 cfs and
7,500 cfs will also be considered as
alternatives.
In February of 2019, Governor
Gavin Newsom announced that
his administration was abandoning
Governor Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels
project and replacing it with a single
Delta Tunnel. The project will
require approval from both state and
federal government agencies.
In a news release, DWR said the
purpose in proposing this project “is
to develop diversion and conveyance
facilities in the Delta necessary to
restore and protect the reliability of
California’s water deliveries south of
the Delta in a cost-effective manner,
and consistent with the recently
released draft Water Resilience
Portfolio.”
“Governor Newsom directed state
agencies to pursue a single tunnel
solution to modernize our water
infrastructure, and when combined
with the broader, statewide Portfolio
approach, this project would help
safeguard a vital source of affordable
water for millions of Californians,”
said DWR Director Karla Nemeth.
“This water supply is critical to the
health of local communities, the
future of the Delta ecosystem and
the success of our state’s economy.”
In his 2019 State of the State,
Governor Newsom reiterated his
support of a single Delta Tunnel
stating “the status quo is not an
option. We need to protect our water
supply from earthquakes and rising
sea levels, preserve delta fisheries,
and meet the needs of cities and
farms.”
The release of the document
follows a week after the admin-
istration released the “water
portfolio” document that promotes
the Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir
and voluntary agreements as among
the “solutions” to California water
problems.
Conservationists, Tribal leaders,
recreational anglers, commercial
fishermen, environmental justice
advocates, boaters, Delta business
owners and elected leaders oppose
the single tunnel, just as they did
Governor Jerry Brown’s twin Delta
Tunnels, because scientists say
the project would drive already
imperiled Delta smelt, long fin smelt,
winter-run and spring-run Chinook
salmon and other species over the
edge of extinction.
The project would divert massive
quantities of water from the Sacra-
mento River rather than letting
the water flow naturally into the
San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary,
depriving the estuary of the water
that it needs to function as an
ecosystem, according to project
opponents.
Sierra Club California noted that
the document is the first step in
the environmental review process
under the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) that the project
must clear before it can be consid-
ered for permitting by other state
agencies.
In a statement, Kathryn Phillips,
Director of Sierra Club California,
said: “Here we go again.
“Since last February, when
Governor Newsom said during his
state-of-the-state address that he
would support a single tunnel, we
knew this expensive and outdated
idea wasn’t off the table.
“However, we anticipated that
there might be an effort to employ a
list of efficiency, conservation, and
other measures to reduce dependence
on a tunnel before moving forward
on such a massive and environmen-
tally harmful project. In other words,
we thought the horse would come
before the cart.
“So, now we’ll have to focus a
lot of time and energy on battling
the tunnel again. And we now
know with certainty, that Governor
Newsom’s policy on water is not a
whole lot different from Governor
Brown’s.”
Regina Chichizola, co-director
of Save California Salmon, joined
Sierra Club California in criticizing
the release of the document, saying
Newsom is “racing” to build the
project.
VOL.38 • ISS. 25
By Dan Bacher
“Newsom’s water portfolio was
announced only a week ago and
already he is racing to build the one
tunnel project,” said Chichizola.
“His stated commitment to building
the proposed Sites Reservoir and
water diversions, and a new massive
tunnel are a slap in the face to the
North state and salmon dependent
people.”
“These two documents show that
Newsom is committed to the same
failed water policies that have
brought our salmon to the brink of
extinction and poisoned our drinking
water supplies. It is time to fight
back. Mark your calendars. We will
be headed south,” she urged salmon
advocates.
The dates, times and locations of
the scoping meetings for the project
are listed at the end of this article.
Likewise, Barbara Barrigan-Par-
rilla, executive director of Restore
the Delta, said, “We are disap-
pointed that the notice of preparation
for the Delta tunnel project was
released today,” citing the following
problems with the tunnel proposal:
• “A tunnel won’t resolve the
drought problems coming with
climate change and will not bring
water use and available water into
reconciliation. (We still promise
more water to users than actually
exists.)
• A Bay-Delta Water Quality Plan
has not been implemented, and the
proposed models for the Voluntary
Agreements to set flows into
and through the Delta reveal less
available freshwater for the estuary.
• The Newsom administration has
not yet filed its lawsuit against the
Trump administration’s corrupted
biological opinions, the rules for
how water export pumps operate to
protect fish.
• Water quality issues around
pollution, discharge from the San
Joaquin River, and the growth of
Harmful Algal Blooms in the Delta
have not been resolved.
• The California Aqueduct is
sinking as a result of groundwater
pumping by big agricultural users
according to a report released by the
Department of Water Resources on
December 31, 2019, and will require
costly repairs on top of the costs for
the tunnel
• A tunnel does not protect the
Delta’s 4 million people from
extreme flood threat from climate
change.”
In contrast, Jeffrey Kightlinger,
the General Manager of the Metro-
politan Water District of Southern
California, said his organization
welcomed “progress on this long-
overdue upgrade to the statewide
water delivery system, which will
better prepare California for climate
change and result in more environ-
mentally sensitive management of
the Delta.”
Public comments on the NOP are
due on March 20, 2020 by 5 p.m.
and may be submitted via email at
DeltaConveyanceScoping@water.
ca.govor mail at Delta Conveyance
Scoping Comments, Attn: Renee
Rodriguez, Department of Water
Resources, P.O. Box 942836, Sacra-
mento, CA 94236. Seven public
scoping meetings are scheduled
to receive written and verbal
comments.
It is important to note that
Governor Newsom received a total
of $755,198 in donations from agri-
business in 2018, based on the latest
data from www.followthemoney.
org. That figure includes $579,998 in
the agriculture donations category,
combined with another $116,800
from Beverly Hills agribusiness
tycoons Stewart and Lynda Resnick,
owners of the Wonderful Company
and the largest orchard fruit growers
in the world, and $58,400 from E.J.
Gallo.
SCOPING MEETINGS
Public Scoping meetings are
scheduled to take place at the
following times and locations:
• Monday, February 3, 2020, 1 p.m.
– 3 p.m. California Environmental
Protection Agency
Building, 1001 I Street,
Sacramento
• Wednesday, February 5, 2020, 6
p.m. – 8 p.m. Junipero Serra State
Building, 320 West
Fourth Street, Los Angeles
• Monday, February 10, 2020,
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Jean Harvie
Community Center, 14273
River Road, Walnut Grove
• Wednesday, February 12, 2020,
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Santa Clara Valley
Water District Board
Room, 5750 Almaden Expressway,
San Jose
• Thursday, February 13, 2020, 6
p.m. – 8 p.m. San Joaquin Council
of Governments
Board Room, 555 Weber Avenue,
Stockton
• Wednesday, February 19, 2020,
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Clarksburg Middle
School Auditorium,
52870 Netherlands Road,
Clarksburg
• Thursday, February 20, 2020,
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Brentwood
Community Center Conference
Room, 35 Oak Street, Brentwood