Legislature should reject governor’s plan to fast-track Delta tunnel project | Opinion

The farmland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta area contains some of the richest soil in the nation. In fact, more than 80% of Delta farmland is classified as “prime” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — considered the most fertile in California.

But a substantial portion of that prime Delta farmland and the historic and cultural resources surrounding it are now facing a serious threat, because Gov. Gavin Newsom is plowing ahead with his plan to construct a costly and destructive water tunnel directly through the heart of the Delta.

On May 14, the governor proposed to fast-track the tunnel project via the 2025-26 state budget. The governor is proposing to greatly streamline environmental and judicial reviews of the tunnel project and allow the Department of Water Resources to issue whatever massive amount of bond debt is required to pay for the tunnel, which is currently estimated to cost at least $20 billion.

The legislature should reject the governor’s proposal. Instead, California should pursue less expensive alternatives that would safeguard our main water supply system without causing great harm to it.

The Delta currently provides freshwater to an estimated 25 million Californians and 3 million acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland. Under the governor’s plan, the tunnel would carry an estimated 1 million acre-feet of freshwater from the Sacramento River in an average year and ship it south to the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

The governor and supporters of the tunnel, known as the Delta Conveyance Project, contend that building it is essential to safeguard against climate change and earthquakes. However, a closer look reveals that the project would inflict devastating impacts on one of the most important agricultural regions in the country.

Building the Delta tunnel is expected to take at least 15 years, meaning that much of the Delta region and its 500,000 residents will be at ground zero of a giant construction project for nearly a generation. The project will require massive amounts of earth-moving because the 36-foot-wide tunnel will be 100 to 130 feet underground.

In all, the Delta tunnel would be 45 miles long, running from intakes on the Sacramento River near the town of Hood, underneath the heart of the Delta, to Bethany Reservoir, near Tracy. From there, the water would travel through the Tracy pumps to the California Aqueduct and shipped south.

The project’s own environmental impact report says it will create “significant and unavoidable impacts” — that will destroy nearly 4,000 acres of prime farmland in the fragile Delta. More than 400,000 acres in the Delta is currently used for farming.

In addition, the project will also impact salmon fisheries that are already under extreme duress and tribal resources, including burial grounds. Plus, the town of Hood will be unfairly burdened by the construction of two huge intakes on both sides of this disadvantaged community.

California’s version of the Big Dig will likely cost far more than the current $20 billion price tag — and all of those costs would be shouldered by ratepayers who are already overburdened by skyrocketing utility bills. The project would be paid entirely by higher water bills and property taxes on the 25 million Californians who would receive water from the tunnel.

The Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to much of Southern California and would be a primary funder of the project, recently raised water rates by nearly 20% and doubled property taxes on its customers. Yet none of those higher rates will pay for the tunnel.

Plus, the tunnel project simply isn’t worth the sky-high costs. The tunnel can’t redirect substantially more freshwater from the Delta because doing so will cause the largest and most important estuary on the West Coast to become overly brackish — too salty for the farms, residents and flora and fauna who depend on it.

But there are alternatives that are far more affordable and better for the environment: California can protect both the Delta region and its freshwater supplies against climate change and earthquakes by fortifying the Delta levees, increasing groundwater storage, expanding water recycling and improving water efficiency.

Other arid portions of the world have effectively managed their water systems without building extremely costly tunnels. Israel has done it. Australia has done it. California can do it.