Jerry Brown’s water-stealing Delta Tunnels are a shockingly bad investment for California

By Dan Bacher

“Today we heard from numerous experts that the Delta tunnels proposal would significantly harm the health and economy of the Bay Area, which is integrally linked to the health of the Delta. That’s something for Bay Area communities, which would be responsible for a portion of this $15 billion project, to consider. Especially in light of recent news that Westlands Water District, which would be partially responsible for the project, was fined this week for misleading investors about the state of its finances.”

That’s the word from State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who convened a panel of experts for the Senate Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The experts who testified revealed that the Delta Tunnels, now being promoted by Governor Jerry Brown, are a ‘poor investment for the Bay Area.” Below is the news release from Wolk’s Office reporting on the hearing.

Experts testify that tunnels would negatively affect Bay Area economy & environment 

SAN FRANCISCO–Several experts testified at a San Francisco hearing today that the Water Fix, a proposal to build two huge tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Bay Estuary, would be detrimental to the Bay Area’s environment and economy, including the region’s tourism and fishing industries.

The potential effects of the tunnels proposal, and other pending decisions in the Delta, on San Francisco and the Bay Area was the topic of discussion at the hearing of the Senate Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, chaired by State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis).

“No other resource is as critical as fresh water to sustaining the health of the Delta and San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary and the important tourism, fishing and other industries those environments support in the Bay-Delta regions and beyond.  Yet the connection between pending Delta policy decisions and the Bay Area—its ecosystem and economy—are often lost, overlooked or completely ignored,” said Wolk. “Today we heard from numerous experts that the Delta tunnels proposal would significantly harm the health and economy of the Bay Area, which is integrally linked to the health of the Delta. That’s something for Bay Area communities, which would be responsible for a portion of this $15 billion project, to consider. Especially in light of recent news that Westlands Water District, which would be partially responsible for the project, was fined this week for misleading investors about the state of its finances.”

Among those testifying at the committee was John Laird, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, and Diane Riddle with the Bay-Delta State Water Resources Control Board.

Jeffrey Michael, Director of the Center for Business and Policy Research at the University of the Pacific, testified at the hearing about the financial and other risks related to the tunnels proposal.

“The Delta tunnels are a poor investment for the Bay Area water agencies,” said Michael. “Not only are the tunnels far more expensive than the alternatives, these agencies are putting their credit at risk in a partnership that counts on financially shaky agricultural water districts to pay off the majority of an expected $20 billion in bonds.  Just this week, Westlands Water District became only the 2nd municipal bond issuer to ever be fined by the SEC.

“Some Bay Area business groups have been persuaded to support the tunnels because they have heard the levees could fail in a massive earthquake,” Michael continued. “Bay Area business leaders need a better understanding of all the critical regional infrastructure at risk in the Delta, including critical energy and transportation infrastructure, local farms, recreation and historic sites.  Upgrading levees is not only cheaper than Delta water tunnels, levees provide more benefits to the Bay Area, including saving lives and protecting the full range of critical infrastructure.”

Christina Swanson, Ph.D., Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Science Center, testified at the hearing that any state water plans must provide for adequate flows of freshwater from the Delta.

“The health of the San Francisco Bay depends on the Bay receiving enough freshwater flow from the Delta,” Swanson said. “Current freshwater flows are already too low to protect water quality and support the Bay’s estuarine ecosystems and its fish and wildlife populations. Ongoing state planning efforts need to improve flows rather than making them worse.”

The potential effect of large water diversions of freshwater from the Delta on water quality in the Bay Area was also addressed at the hearing.

“There is broad scientific agreement that existing water quality standards for the San Francisco Bay-Delta are insufficient to protect the ecosystem and the multiple species that depend on it,” said George Torgun with San Francisco Baykeeper. “Continuing to apply these standards to new infrastructure projects like the Delta tunnels will have disastrous consequences for the health of the estuary.”

Concerns were also raised regarding the potential effects the Delta tunnels Proposal might have on the state’s iconic salmon population.

“Salmon always lose in the water wars,” said Larry Collins, Vice President of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association. “We have to turn that around. These tunnels will make them go extinct.”

Tom Creedon, owner of Scoma’s Restaurant in San Francisco, also testified at the hearing.

“Why would we create a ‘man-made’ challenge for the fisheries and related businesses by piping water away from nature’s spawning highway for salmon, when nature is already providing her own challenges in the form of unpredicted water temperatures, toxic algae blooms, droughts, etc.?,” said Tom Creedon, Owner of Scoma’s Restaurant. “Whether or not to pipe water away is one of the few things we can control.”

Among the written comments delivered to the hearing were those of former California Congressman Pete McCloskey.

“As a Member of Congress for 15 years representing the southwestern part of the Bay, I was a co-sponsor of the 1968 Estuary Protection Act and the 1973 Endangered Species Act.  I followed the twists and turns of the California WaterFix proposals through the ill-conceived Peripheral Canal in the early 1980s and the current tunnels project,” McCloskey wrote. “I believe most people who want to balance environmental, economic and agricultural concerns would agree that to tinker with an outdated mid-20th Century centralized plumbing system—one which has never worked well—is not only a vast waste of money, but a huge experiment that will suck away funds otherwise available for 21st Century alternatives which do not include the turning of non-arable agricultural lands into productivity at the expense of historic environmental amenities and the protection of wildlife habitat.”

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